Beginner's Guide to Firebrand by Kresent
Movement and Neutral Options
Instant Wall Cling Fireball
When Firebrand performs his Hell Spitfire follow-up off a Wall Cling, he remains in recovery until touching the ground, as opposed to the fixed 29-frame recovery of doing a regular fireball in the air. Under normal circumstances, this is worse, but a Wall Cling done sufficiently low to the ground can recover significantly faster than normal air fireballs. The Instant Wall Cling motion drastically improves Firebrand's neutral game by allowing him to fire projectiles quicker and safer, and maximize his potential to capitalize on the pressure created by Hell Spitfire.
The 4754L input is the fastest and allows Firebrand to cling to the wall at the lowest point possible. On a stick-based controller: input back, roll to up-back, release the stick, then tap back again. On a hitbox-style controller: hold back, tap up, release both, then tap back.
The 8754L input is slightly slower but may be easier depending on your controller setup and execution.
An Instant Wall Cling Fireball done as low as possible will just barely be able to hit Morrigan when she is standing, so choosing her as a practice dummy while learning the input gives good feedback on when your inputs are perfect.
Instant Wall Cling Fireball can be looped into itself to produce large amounts or fireball pressure while staying at long range. Alternatively, Firebrand can transfer into normal fireballs, or plink dash up behind his wall cling fireballs in order to advance on a defensive opponent and attempt to open them up.
It is also possible to get Wall Cling Fireballs very low to the ground by using j.214H Hell Dive, either using a Tiger Knee motion directly off the ground, or simply jumping and inputting the special, then inputting a normal Wall Cling as Firebrand flies into the wall. This is slower than an Instant Wall Cling Fireball, but can be useful for getting off a single low-aimed projectile with minimal execution requirements.
Mobility Tools
Besides Firebrand's excellent grounded plink-dash speed, Firebrand has the following tools for moving around the stage quickly and unpredictably.
2H - Firebrand's slide moves him forward about 1/4 of fullscreen distance. It has fairly long recovery, but it can be whiff-canceled into other movement options in order to add some extra total forward movement to them.
M Demon Missile (623M) - A generic approach tool when covered by an assist. As a bonus, it passes through opponents, meaning that said assist-call may hit cross-up. Without assist coverage, it isfairly easy to punish.
Bon Boyage (236S and j.236S) - Although the point-blank frame data may give the impression that Kidnap is very punishable, it is quite difficult to punish in stray air-block situations or if it whiffs. Kidnap starts up quickly and moves very fast, allowing Firebrand to suddenly become aggressive from mid or long-range. Its hitgrab nature means that if a random Bon Voyage does happen to connect, it can ignore an opponent's assist calls or stray projectiles. Firebrand can Option Select a throw (or airthrow) with Bon Voyage by inputting 236H+S
Hell's Elevator (214X) - Moves Firebrand from the ground to hovering at jump height and one of three positions. It is mainly used to cancel into from normals. 214M can lead to cross-up potential, but is vulnerable to being airthrown by aware opponents. 5H > 214H, j.214H > j.S is a sequence that can be used to quickly evacuate from a close-range scramble to full-screen distance.
Hell Dive (j.214X) - A Pseudo-airdash in one of three directions. Like a regular airdash, Firebrand can perform an attack during the movement, and doing so will maintain Firebrand's higher top speed. Rapidly jumping and using j.324M or j.214H canceled into j.H or j.S is a great way to move around the screen while covered by a strong normal. j.214L can be used to feint this kind of movement, or to quickly escape to the ground after a failed Airthrow attempt.
Wall Cling Dismount (j.454S) - Under normal circumstances causes Firebrand to perform a very small hop off the wall. However, in specific situations, namely when Firebrand enters the stage on incoming, or if the screen is scrolling, Dismount can launch Firebrand forward an unexpectedly large distance instead.
Mixup Theory
Fuzzy Pressure
Firebrand has a very fast High/Low mixup with his 2L and j.L normals, combined with his ability to use j.L as a Fast Fall to quickly alternate between quick aerial and grounded pressure. However, Firebrand's ability to convert an Instant Overhead j.L is inconsistent on normal-sized characters. Consequently, Firebrand's offense becomes much scarier if he can utilize Fuzzy Guard to keep the opponent trapped in their standing hurtbox. Approach with high-blockstun attacks like j.H and j.5S, optionally with assist coverage, than rejump into additional overhead attacks before blockstun ends.
Once Firebrand has the opponent locked down, he can continue to attack with aerial normals, and use j.214L and j.214M to reset pressure and return to the ground - ambiguously either attacking with a quick Low or returning back to the air for more Overheads.
Firebrand's pressure game also lends itself well to throws and airthrows. His normals have good frame data for tick throwing, with 5L being +6 on block, 2L being roughly neutral on block, and 5H being +1 if the second hit is blocked. Firebrand can also tick throw off his aerial normals, using a sequence like j.L > j.214L, land, 6H. When attempting a ground throw, 2L is Firebrand's fastest normal and is recommended to buffer during the attempt in case the throw is teched. When going for ground throws, always prefer a Forward Throw, which is easier to convert into a combo.
Firebrand also has a few generic cross-up options, especially when paired with assist coverage. Namely, these are 623M, which passes through opponents, and 214M which leaps over opponents if done at close range.
Unblockable Basics
Firebrand can set up unblockables using his charged Demon Missile H. This seems overpowered at first glance, but there is more to it than meets the eye. As a Firebrand player, it is up to you to know what set-ups your team has, but also how to escape them. Here are some factors to be aware of when trying to unblockable an enemy:
- Incoming height/options: Different characters come in at different heights on incoming. For example, Magneto comes out significantly higher than Vergil. This makes it a lot easier for him to escape even meaty set-ups. Dante and Strider also come out significantly higher than others, but also have double jumps. This makes it a lot easier for them to escape solo or poorly timed incoming unblockables. Sentinel has an air okay invincible super, so he has a pretty good chance of escaping any unblockable that has a gap. Try to be aware of what options your opponent has on incoming and the heights their characters come in at.
- X-Factor: A lot of unblockables can be escaped using Xfactor. Set-ups that seem guaranteed can be escaped using XFactor guard cancelling. For example, Angelic's "Heaven or Hell" set-up (Shown above) can be escaped by blocking the Stalking Flare, and then XFactor cancelling the block stun and then taking the hit from the Purification assist. This carries you up too high for Firebrand to convert. Some characters can also XFactor cancel blockstun into invincible hypers. While it seems advantageous to force your opponent to use XFactor, try to be aware of how much of your resources you commit to your set-up.
- Available resources: As mentioned in the above paragraph, be very aware of your available resources. You do not want to blow all of your meter to unblockable a character and then be unable to kill them once you get the hit. You also do not want to waste a lot of meter only to have the opponent escape your set-up. Firebrand requires a lot of resource management.
- Opposing team composition: When trying to unblockable an enemy, make sure you are very aware of their team composition. If you were to get a hit on Magneto/Doom/Vergil, you could kill Magneto and attempt to unblockable Doom, but then later end up having to deal with anchor Vergil. On the other hand though, if you were to get a hit on a Magneto/Dormammu/Doom team, it would be better to unblockable Dormammu and leave the with anchor Doom. This aspect of unblockabling is open to interpretation and can vary a lot based on the player. However, it is still something to be aware of and requires a lot of thought.
- Ground vs Air: If at all possible, it is usually better to go for air-based unblockables. Only three characters in the game have air-okay invincible supers (Phoenix, Sentinel, and Morrigan). However, a large portion of the cast have invincible ground supers. Be very conscious of the opponent's available meter and whether they have XFactor, as you don't want to attempt a ground unblockable on Spencer, only for them to XFactor cancel into Bionic Arm and hit both Firebrand and the assist you are using to unblockable.
Example Unblockable Setups
Firebrand/Dorm Unblockable Setups
Firebrand/Dorm Reset into Unblockable
Firebrand/Strange/Dante Unblockable Setups
Firebrand/Storm/Doom Unblocakble
Firebrand/Ammy/Sentinel Unblockables
Guardbreak Airthrow into Unblockable with Firebrand/Strange/Skrull
Counterplay
Although perfectly-input Instant Wall Cling Fireballs can hit most characters when they are standing, the majoriity of the cast can crouch under them, and if the inputs are even slightly sloppy, many characters can stand and dash underneath them as well. Additionally, although rapid Wall Cling Fireballs can create large amounts of pressure when looped, it takes a good amount of time for Firebrand to set up the first shot, and he is vulnerable to fast or durable horizontal projectiles during that window.
