UMVC3/Ghost Rider

From SuperCombo Wiki


Introduction

Johnny Blaze was a stunt motorcyclist who forfeited his soul in a deal with demons from the underworld. As Ghost Rider, he channels the powers of Zarathos to spew hellfire and fly around on his cool motorcycle.


In UMvC3, Ghost Rider is a keepaway-focused character. Rather than relying heavily on projectiles like most other zoning characters, Ghost Rider zones out opponents with the incredible range on most of his H and S attacks. Although he is very immobile, Ghost Rider can force enemies to come to him (literally, using 214L), and can convert stray hits from long-range pokes into big damage.

Strengths Weaknesses
  • Extensive Range: Long ranged heavy normals and jumping S allows Ghost Rider to pester his opponents at almost full screen length and convert into full combos.
  • Excellent Snapback: Easily the best snapback in the game, with 2 frame startup and reaching about 3/4 screen distance. Raw DHC's used to get another character out can often be punished by Ghost Rider to get that character back on the field for one less meter used than his opponent.
  • Support Value: Although he favors that point position very much, Ghost Rider offers good support value. Chain of Rebuttal causes a wallbounce, allowing pick ups from anywhere on screen (including as a crossover counter where it's notably stupid), Hellfire and Heartless Spire are good OTG options for characters who need it, and Spirit of Vengeance is a fast traveling, hyper armor induced, OTG hitting freight train, making it a viable DHC option for getting out of precarious situations or long ranged pick ups.
  • Powerful Defense: Ghost Rider benefits more than anyone from smart pushblocking. Pushing your opponents away with good timing and then interrupting them from half the screen away into a full combo is a luxury only he possesses.
  • Strong Match-Up Potential: Surprisingly, he can handle many popular top tier match-ups fairly well. Characters like Wolverine and Nova can struggle to get in against him immensely, Doom has very few counters to effective zoning, and even Vergil can have trouble getting started thanks to Ghost Rider's amazing snapback.
  • Heavily Limited Mobility: Incredibly limited movement options. He has no air dash, no air specials for stalling, no unique movement options, etc. He's heavily reliant on his normal dash, which is very mediocre.
  • Struggles At Mixups: Because of his long ranged and slow normals, Ghost Rider can struggle mixing his opponents up from up close. His incoming mix is limited to simple cross ups with 5M and 2M and screen tears with 623+M.
  • Limited Keepaway Counters: Because his primary keepaway tools are physical hits and not projectiles, Ghost Rider ironically struggles against other keepaway characters running a more fireball-focused gameplan.
  • Extremely Low Damage: Possibly the lowest damage output out of the whole roster. You'll be lucky if you kill an 800K health character from a single touch. Most of his combos end in resets, which Ghost Rider does have the tools to use competently, but two touch characters do not thrive in a one touch game. He absolutely needs a damage engine behind him for strong DHCs.
  • Little Defense Versatility: Limited defensive options thanks to slow normals and Spirit of Vengeance having slow start up. If overwhelmed, it's not uncommon to spend X-Factor to guard cancel and dump 3 meters into Penance Stare (41236XX).
UMVC3 Ghost Rider Nameplate.png
UMVC3 Ghost Rider Portrait.png
Health 1,000,000
Invulnerable Reversal(s) 63214XX
Grounded Magic Series Short
X-Factor Damage Boost (1/2/3) 35% / 60% / 85%
X-Factor Speed Boost (1/2/3) 5% / 10% / 15%
Air Movement Options
Air Actions Air Jumps? Air Dash? Flight? WallJump?
0 No No No No
Minimum Attack Scaling
Normals Specials Hypers
15 15 35

Move List

Assists

Chain Rebuttal
Assist A
UMVC3 GhostRider AssistA.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
50,000 x3 39 7 120, 90
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- - Mid Wallbounce.png

THC Hyper: Hellfire Maelstrom. Chain Rebuttal is a horizontal coverage assist with decent range. It has faster startup than many common beam assists, and can be used as a counter-call to punish assists such as Plasma Beam or Sentinel Force. As a Wallbounce assist, it has useful application as a combo extension tool, and can also be used to more reliably convert instant overheads or other awkward hits.

Heartless Spire
Assist B
UMVC3 GhostRider AssistB.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
35,000 x3 39 32 117, 87
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- - Mid Otg.png, Strk.png, Priority: Low, Beam Durability: 5 per frame for 3 frames

THC Hyper: Hellfire Maelstrom. Creates a stationary beam projectile that can be used defensively to negate incoming projectiles from the opponent, as it has a pretty significant amount of total durability. Although it hits OTG, Spire tends to knock opponents quite high into the air, which makes it harder to use for combos than his Y assist, Hellfire.

Hellfire (L)
Assist Y
UMVC3 GhostRider AssistY.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
20,000 x10 44 28 109, 79
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- - Mid Otg.png, Priority: Low, Beam Durability: 5 per frame for 10 frames

THC Hyper: Hellfire Maelstrom. Standard OTG assist for relaunches comparable to Wesker's Samurai Edge or Deadpool's Katana-Rama. Causes a significant amount of total hitstun or blockstun, but scales combos heavily due to its high hit count.

Ground Normals

Stand Light
5L
UMVC3 GhostRider 5L.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
55,000 7 3 12
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+1 -1 Mid -

Unremarkable jab. It is a little slower than most other character's 5L attacks, so Ghost Rider struggles in up-close scramble situations.

Stand Medium
5M
UMVC3 GhostRider 5M.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
75,000 10 3 16
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+2 0 Mid -

5M moves Ghost Rider a significant distance forward during its startup. Ghost Rider can kara-cancel this attack (or 2M) into specials or hypers in order to effectively extend their range. This is mainly useful for his Penance Stare level 3 command grab, but could also be used to hit characters who are standing just out of range of Chain of Rebuttal (623L), for example. Note that due to Ghost Rider's magic series type, he cannot chain this attack into H normals, and most go directly into a launcher or special attack.

Stand Heavy
5H
UMVC3 GhostRider 5H.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
90,000 15 4 27
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
-5 -7 Mid -

5H is a massive range poke and general keepaway tool, which covers up to 75% of the way across the screen. Although it is slightly minus on hit or block, 5H has several cancel options that are significantly more advantageous, including its dedicated Rage Whip followup (5H > H). Thus, 5H provides a lot of potential reward for low risk, and is a good option almost any time that both Ghost Rider and his opponent are on the ground.

This attack can whiff inconsistently against certain characters during their reeling hitstun animation, especially smaller bodies like Zero and Wolverine.


Crouching Light
2L
UMVC3 GhostRider 2L.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
45,000 7 3 13
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
0 -2 Low -

Similar to Ghost Rider's 5L, 2L is a standard light normal that is noticeably slower than average.

Crouching Medium
2M
UMVC3 GhostRider 2M.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
80,000 12 4 15
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+2 0 Mid -

Advancing shoulder check attack. This move advances Ghost Rider forward during the startup, similar to 5M. In fact, this move actually travels even further than 5M, making it an excellent kara-cancel tool. Note that due to Ghost Rider's magic series type, he cannot chain this attack into H normals, and most go directly into a launcher or special attack.

Crouching Heavy
2H
UMVC3 GhostRider 2H.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
80,000 17 4 28
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -8 Low Strk.png, Softknockdown.png

Long range poke attack comparable to 5H in range. It is a little slower and loses the Rage Whip follow-up in exchange for hitting :ow. Because Ghost Rider has access to both this move and his long-reaching overhead j.5S, he can run a moderately effective high/low game even at long range.


Launcher/Special
S
UMVC3 GhostRider 5S.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
100,000 15 6 25
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
Launch -7 Mid Launch.png, Nocancel.png

As with Ghost Rider's other H and S attacks, 5S has exceptional range. It hits a significant distance ahead of him, as well as above him. Unfortunately, Ghost Rider's aerial options are very poor, so he gets significantly less reward off landing this than most characters would.

Aerial Normals

Jumping Light
j.5L
UMVC3 GhostRider jL.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
55,000 7 3 16
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+14 +12 OH -

Is too slow and has too small of a hitbox to have any notable use.

Jumping Medium
j.5M
UMVC3 GhostRider jM.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
78,000 10 5 23
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+18 +16 OH -

Can be used as a fuzzy-guard instant overhead against normal-sized characters, and works naturally as an instant overhead against big body characters. Also against large bodies, Ghost Rider can solo convert this instant overhead with j.5M > j.5S, land, 5L. Against normal-sized characters, the j.5S will whiff, and Ghost Rider needs assists or X-Factor to confirm this hit. Besides this use, j.5M is mostly air combo filler.

Jumping Heavy
j.5H
UMVC3 GhostRider jH.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
90,000 17 3 31
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+21 +19 OH Nocancel.png, except for TACs

Ghost Rider swings his chain, covering a large area in front of him, as well as above him. This is a solid air-to-air option, since opponents will often try to approach Ghost Rider from above. Unfortunately, j.5H does not chain into j.5S, and thus this move has no cancel options at all except for TACs. This move should be omitted from air combos and generally avoided, for this reason.

Jumping Special
j.5S
UMVC3 GhostRider jS.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
50,000 x3 15 10 36
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+21 +18 OH Aircombofinisher.png

One of Ghost Rider's best keepaway tools. A downward-angled chain attack with similar range and speed to 5H. Hits three times, each with a significant amount of hitstop, which makes confirming very easy. This move can be used at the start of a jump as a fairly fast overhead even from range, or used while falling in order to follow up with other attacks upon landing. j.5S has a blind spot immediately below Ghost Rider which normal-sized opponents can use to evade it.

Command Normals

Rage Whip
5H > H (on contact)
UMVC3 GhostRider 5HH.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
95,000 5 3 18
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+5 +3 Mid -

Follow-up attack for Ghost Rider's 5H, which is significantly more advantageous on block. Pulls opponents slightly closer on contact, which can be useful to ensure that special moves such as 623L or 214L connect properly. In particular, 5H > H xx 623X is a relatively safe sequence that Ghost Rider can throw out to get a little free chip damage on block, or start a combo on hit.


Heartless Spire
4H
UMVC3 GhostRider 4H.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
35,000 x3 15 32 25
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
+6 +4 Mid Otg.png, Chipdamage.png, Nocancel.png Priority: Low, Beam Durability: 5 per frame for 3 frames, scales by 0.9

Creates an eruption in front of Ghost Rider, acting as a sort of defensive wall. Spire has enough durability to destroy most non-hyper projectiles that enter its range, and so it can be used to cover him against fireball pressure for a time. Hits OTG, but Ghost Rider needs assists in order to convert further.

Special Moves

Hellfire
236X
UMVC3 GhostRider 236L.png
UMVC3 GhostRider 236M.png
UMVC3 GhostRider 236H.png
L
Qcf.png + L.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
20,000 x10 20 28 18
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
-2 -4 Mid Otg.png Priority: Low, Beam Durability: 5 per frame for 10 frames
M
Qcf.png + M.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
20,000 x10 21 27 18
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
-1 -3 Mid Priority: Low, Beam Durability: 5 per frame for 10 frames
H
Qcf.png + H.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
20,000 x10 21 27 18
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
-1 -3 Mid Priority: Low, Beam Durability: 5 per frame for 10 frames

Ghost Rider spews flame from his mouth, creating a ball of flame directly in front of him. H version is angled upwards, M appears directly in front of him, and L is aimed down towards the ground. Deals pretty significant chip, but opponents can pushblock early to avoid the vast majority of it. Hellfire is primarily used for the OTG property on the L version, in order to end combos with a pickup into Hellfire Maelstrom.


Chain of Rebuttal
"Eat chain"
623L
UMVC3 GhostRider 623L.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
50,000 x3 15 7 29
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -8 Mid Wallbounce.png

Important combo tool for Ghost Rider. Usually, you want to hitconfirm his keepaway normals into this special in order to start a combo. Ghost Rider can always pick up the Wallbounce from any screen position with 5H > H into another special move.

Chain of Punishment
"Eat chain"
623M
UMVC3 GhostRider 623M.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
50,000 x3 15 7 29
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -8 Mid Wallbounce.png

Almost identical to 623L, except aimed diagonally upwards instead of straight ahead. This move is mainly useful if the opponent has already been knocked in the air by assist hits. As a raw anti-air, it is quite slow, and difficult to connect.

Judgement Strike
"Eat (lots of) chain"
623H
UMVC3 GhostRider 623H.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
25,000 x10 25 - 30
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
-5 -7 Mid Priority: Low, Durability: 5 per projectile

Unlike the L and M versions, 623H fires a shotgun blast of projectiles which travel almost fullscreen before dissipating. This move does not combo from 5H > H like the other Chain specials, and in general has limited combo use. Instead, Judgement Strike is primarily a keepaway and chip damage tool.


Chaos Bringer
214X
UMVC3 GhostRider 214L.png
L (and H) version
UMVC3 GhostRider 214M.png
M Version
UMVC3 GhostRider 214L Grab.png
Grabbing with L or M version
UMVC3 GhostRider 214H.png
Grabbing with H Version
Chaos Bringer
Qcb.png + L.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
60,000 + 56,000 15 3 43
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -22 Mid Hardknockdown.png
M
Qcb.png + M.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
60,000 + 17,500 x5 + 35,000 15 3 43
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -22 Mid Hardknockdown.png
H
Qcb.png + H.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
60,000 + 105,000 15 3 43
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -22 Mid Hardknockdown.png

Although not a throw, this move starts a throw-like animation on hit where both Ghost Rider and his opponent are invulnerable to outside effects. This can be utilized to evade assist attacks from the opponent if you manage to catch the point character. L version pulls the opponent immediately in front of Ghost Rider, where he can follow up with any of his OTG attacks. H version deals a significant amount of damage but ends with the opponent on the ground a significant distance away. However, Ghost Rider can still combo after 214H with Spirit of Vengeance (623XX).

Hyper Combos

Hellfire Maelstrom
"Face Me!"
236XX (1 bar)
UMVC3 GhostRider 236XX.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
20,000 x17 + 50,000 + 80,000 13+1 85(12)32 50
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -42 Mid mashable, raising total hits to 42. Hardknockdown.png, Priority: High, Durability: 5

Standard combo-ending hyper, typically as a followup to OTG 4H or 236L.


Spirit of Vengeance
623XX (1 bar)
UMVC3 GhostRider 623XX.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
20,000 x11 20+1 56 -
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- - Mid Otg.png, Hyper Armored frames 21-79, has different follow-up attacks (see below)

Ghost Rider drives his motorcycle across the stage. Pressing L, M, H, S or no button causes different enders to this hyper, changing its recovery and properties. Ghost Rider can extend after this hyper when pairing the correct ender with certain assists. This move can not be X-Factor canceled while Ghost Rider is on the motorcycle, only after he hops off.

Spirit of Vengeance (followups)
Atk.png (during Spirit of Vengeance)
UMVC3 GhostRider 623XXL.png
L Follow-up
UMVC3 GhostRider 623XXM.png
M Follow-up
UMVC3 GhostRider 623XXH.png
H Follow-up
UMVC3 GhostRider 623XXS.png
S Follow-up
No followup
-
Damage Startup Active Recovery
30,000 - - 52
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -42 Mid Softknockdown.png
L
L.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
150,000 1 30 50
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -56 Mid Hardknockdown.png, Hyper Armored frames 1-30
M
M.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
160,000 15 26 65
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -62 Mid Hardknockdown.png, Hyper Armored frames 1-40
H
H.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
200,000 8 12 81
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -57 Mid Wallbounce.png, Hardknockdown.png, Hyper Armored frames 1-50
S
S.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
35,000 x9 15 25 46
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -73 Mid Hardknockdown.png, Hyper Armored frames 1-85 (!!)

S ender is typically the most damaging, although other enders may be useful if you intend to follow-up using assists or DHCs. The no-input ender is basically useless and should be avoided.


Penance Stare
63214XX (3 bars)
UMVC3 GhostRider 63214XX.png
UMVC3 GhostRider 63214XX Grab.png
"Look into my eyes..."
Damage Startup Active Recovery
450,000 3+0 2 28
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- - Throw Invuln until frame 10, Crumple.png

Highly damaging command grab. It can also be used as a reversal due to its invulnerability and fast startup, or used to punish otherwise safe attacks as a X-Factor Guard Cancel. 5M or 2M can be kara-canceled into this hyper in order to extend its range. In particular, a dash > 5M > 63214XX sequence allows Ghost Rider to suddenly grab opponents from about 3/4s screen distance, making it a serious threat on the ground. This move leaves the opponent in a crumple state afterwards, allowing Ghost Rider a full combo afterwards. Since this command throw is a Hyper, it will not apply the grab penalty, so the following combo can hit for full damage.

Universal Mechanics

Ground Throw
6H, 4H
UMVC3 GhostRider GroundThrow.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
80,000 1 1 -
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- - Throw Hardknockdown.png

Kicks opponent a significant distance away from Ghost Rider. A follow-up with Spirit of Vengeance is possible with good timing (easier if the opponent is thrown into the corner) but otherwise combo potential is very limited.

Air Throw
j.6H, j.4H
UMVC3 GhostRider AirThrow.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
80,000 1 1 -
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- - Airthrow Hardknockdown.png

Can only be followed up if the opponent is thrown into the corner.


Snap Back
Qcf.png+A1.png/A2.png
UMVC3 GhostRider 5H.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
50,000 2 4 27
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- --7 Mid Snapback

Animation and hitbox based on 5H (although it has very slightly lower range). Considering its 2f startup, this makes it a pretty powerful button outside of its meter cost.


Hard Tag
Hold 14f A1.png/A2.png
UMVC3 GhostRider HardTag.png
Damage Startup Active Recovery
30,000 - 19 33
On Hit On Block Guard Properties
- -13 OH Softknockdown.png

-

Team Position

Ghost Rider is usually picked as a Point character. As a zoning character, he is very reliant on assists to cover the holes in his defense, to convert off hits from range, and to extend his otherwise short combos. His effectiveness declines rapidly if he only has access to one or no assists. He also makes a very poor anchor, as although he can zone enemies out for a long time, he does not deal a threatening amount of chip, and has almost no mixup game.


Notable Synergies

Arthur: Despite being a keepaway character himself, Ghost Rider struggles against the projectiles of other zoning-heavy characters, since his chain won't clash with them. Arthur's assist represents a great way to deal with that problem. This is especially true if you can upgrade Arthur to Golden Armor, which improves the durability on his Dagger Toss assist.

Players to Watch: Sacktap (Ghost Rider/Arthur/Haggar)

Doctor Doom: As one would expect, Doom provides a lot of support potential with either Plasma Beam or Hidden Missiles assist. With Hidden Missiles, Ghost Rider can be covered from above, protecting the large deadzone in his keepaway game. He can also call it before a 623XX hyper and then continue to combo afterwards, an extension unique to this shell. With Plasma Beam, Ghost Rider can call Doom during many of his keepaway options, such as a retreating j.5S, and either keep pressure on block or convert into a combo on hit.

Players to Watch: IGT (Ghost Rider/Skrull/Doom)

Haggar: Haggar's Lariat is one of the few properly invincible assists in the game, and serves as an excellent "get off me" assist for someone like Ghost Rider, whose up-close attacks are very slow. Lariat can also be used to extend combos after OTG 4H, making it doubly useful. Additionally, while Ghost Rider's DHC options are usually quite poor, Spirit of Vengence > Giant Haggar Press connects in the corner for very big damage.

Players to Watch: Sacktap (Ghost Rider/Arthur/Haggar)

Other Players to Watch: JakoMan (Ghost Rider/Felicia/Nemesis) Metorinass (Hulk/ sentinel/ ghost rider)

Alternate Colors

Color 1 Color 2 Color 3 Color 4 Color 5 Color 6 Alt Color
UMVC3 Ghost Rider Color 1.png UMVC3 Ghost Rider Color 2.png UMVC3 Ghost Rider Color 3.png UMVC3 Ghost Rider Color 4.png UMVC3 Ghost Rider Color 5.png UMVC3 Ghost Rider Color 6.png UMVC3 Ghost Rider Color Alt.png