Killer Instinct (2013)/Spinal

Overview Strategy Matchups Resources

Introduction

Spinal was once a human (duh), a bandit in ancient Babylon. Caught by the King while disrupting the city's supply lines, Spinal's flesh was burned off and his soul locked to the Mask of the Ancients as punishment. In the modern day, Spinal takes up the life of a pirate as he searches endlessly for the Mask, eventually becoming a pawn of Ultratech in the process.

Spinal PLACEHOLDER GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW

Character

Strengths

Weaknesses

Resource Denial: With his Searing Skull projectile, Spinal can stem the flow of shadow for his opponent, and even take away an entire Instinct. Anti-Zoning: Hate spamming? Power Devour forces opponents to come to you, and Heavy Skeleport completely bypasses their zoning wall. Potent rushdown: Spinal is able to keep himself at frame advantage almost constantly thanks to run cancels and M Searing Skull, allowing him to run a barrage of frame traps and mixups. This is further bolstered by his ability to turn the match into a bullet hell while he's in instinct. Vortex McGee: Thanks to skull setups, Spinal has simple and effective okizeme, especially off back throw and the 2MK HKD bug. Through these setups, Spinal gets access to dirty left/right and overhead/low mixups which can put the opponent back into the blender. The Cackle: Spinal lets out a hearty "Ya Ha Haa" with every run, teleport, and taunt. In Progress

Starts out every match at a disadvantage: Spinal needs skulls in order to access his potent rushdown and setplay that make his vortex so strong. Unfortunately, he starts every match at his weakest: with NO SKULLS. Horrible Anti-Airs: Spinal's anti-airs are stubby, awkward, and unreliable. This makes any matchup against characters with strong air mobility very difficult for him. In Progress

Character Data
Forward Walk Speed	79f to cross two large training mode squares
Backwards Walk Speed	110f to cross two large training mode squares
Forward Dash Duration	Has a forward run Cancellable into attacks after 12f
Backdash Duration	24f
Pre-Jump Frames	5f
Jump Duration	37f
Landing Recovery	4f
Advantage Post Grounded Combo Breaker	+1

Universal Mechanics

Instinct

Agent of Chaos: Spinal gets 3 skulls upfront and earns extra skulls off throws, Cr. HP, and Spectral Manuals. Searing Skulls bounce off walls, floors, and blocks. Spinal can recycle these bouncing Skulls with Power Devour. All of Spinal's specials have increased advantage.

Combat Traits

Spectral Manuals: Spinal can follow up any auto-double with a manual of the same strength. These manuals give Spinal a bonus skull and add a fair bit of Potential Damage.

Normal Moves

Standing Normals

Standing Light Punch
Stand LP/5LP

Test Caption

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
8(2%)	12(3%)	--	1.6	2.4	Mid	5	2	8	14f	+4	+6	+1	Chain
To Do

Crouching Normals

Crouching Light Punch
Stand LP/5LP

Test Caption

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
8(2%)	12(3%)	--	1.6	2.4	Mid	5	2	9	15f	+4	+6	+1	Chain
To Do

Crouching Heavy Punch
Crouch HP/2HP

Test Caption

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
30(8%)	38(10%)	--	4	4.5	Mid	10	4	16	29f	-3	+1	-6	Earns Skull
Spinal's primary anti-air with the best reward on hit (1 skull). Cancel into Shadow Searing Skull for guaranteed Instinct lock; make them really suffer for their poor jump-in!

Crouching Heavy Kick (Slide Kick)
Crouch HK/5HK

Test Caption

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
30(8%)	38(10%)	--	4	4.5	Low	11	10	24	47f	+5	+9	-15	Opener
Spinal slides a short distance forward. This is an opener that goes directly into autos and linkers (and ultras). Death on block, but can be cancelled into any shadow move.

Command Normals

Power Devour
Back LP/4LP

Test Caption

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
--	--	--	--	--	--	6	While button is held	11	16+f	--	--	--	Earns Skulls
On contact, converts all specials, shadow moves, and projectile attacks (like Riptor's flame breath) into skulls. Loses to strikes and throws. Absorbed attacks act as if they whiffed while still doing hitstop, letting Spinal prepare a huge punish on reaction.

Shield Crush
Back HP/4HP

Test Caption

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
30(8%)	38(10%)	--	4	4.5	High	18	2	27	16+f	-3	+1	-7	Overhead
Spinal drops his shield on your dome in this rather fast overhead. Run-cancelable.

Air Normals

Jumping Medium Kick
Jump MK/8MK

Test Caption

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
24(6%)	30(8%)	--	2.4	4	Mid	10	Until landing	11	20+f	+12	+22	+3	Ground bounce vs. airborne
Spinal's divekick. Not an overhead, and unsafe if performed high.

Special Moves

Boneshaker
QCF+K/236K

Test Caption

Version	Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
Skull HK	30(8%)	42(11%)	--	??	??	Mid	10	8	23	40f	+4/+6 (Instinct)	+5/+7	-2/0	Projectile invul 1-40f
As if Spinal didn't have enough anti-zoning tools, now he's got a meter-free ram attack that's immune to projectiles through recovery!

Shadow Moves

Shadow Searing Skull
QCF+PP/236PP

Test Caption

Version	Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
S	13.2(3%)	13.2(3%)	2.4(0.6%)	0	0	Mid	5+2(7)	--	31	37f	+14	+14	-2	Instinct Curse
Spinal launches a golden skull to tickle the opponent and stop them from gaining Instinct. Keeps them standing and is a totally unbreakable linker.

Shadow Boneshaker
QCF+KK/236KK

Test Caption

Version	Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
S	33.6(9%)	33.6(9%)	12(3%)	0	0	Mid	3+3(6)	10	27	42f	+5	+5	+2	Throw invul 1-15f, Projectile invul 1-16f
Throw invul, projectile invul, and plus OB? Yeah, it's pretty good.