UMVC3/Haggar/Strategy

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< UMVC3‎ | Haggar


Movement and Neutral Options

j.2H is Haggar's defining neutral tool. It has great range and is heavily disjointed, meaning it will beat most other physical attacks cleanly. Trades are almost always in Haggar's favor, because the lengthy Ground Bounce into Hard Knockdown will give Haggar time to recover and start a combo. One of Haggar's main goals in neutral is to make an opponent block a regular jump pipe, land-cancel the recovery and dash up, then run his offense as the blockstun wears off.

Although Air Pipe is strong, it is not infaliable. Notably, when done at close range, its 13f startup is vulnerable to being airthrown. Air Pipe -> Rejump -> Airpipe in particular has a lengthy gap where opponents experienced in the Haggar matchup will consistently airthrow Haggar. In general, the more predictable Haggar is with j.2H, the more likely the opponent will be to punish it.

j.L is useful because it performs well against the things that beat Air Pipe. j.L is fast to start up (by Haggar standards) and thus performs well against airthrows. It also creates a hitbox around Haggar, including on the cross-up side. This helps protect against opponents dashing under Haggar to attempt to tag him with a cross-under crouching normal; j.L will typically trade with these.

2H gives Haggar a tool to get in on projectile-heavy zoning characters. It places Haggar into a Hard Knockdown state, during which he can not be hit except by OTG attacks. After that window, he becomes completely invincible while performing a tech roll either forward or backwards. Whiffing 2H from midscreen or fullscreen lets Haggar roll past general zoning patterns with very little risk, and wake up close to the opponent than he started.

Although Haggar has very limited options for aerial mobility, he does have access to j.63214X (Skyhigh Backdrop). Backdrop halts Haggar's aerial momentum and causes him to float in place for the duration. If Haggar is at superjump height, and something dangerous is below him that he would prefer not to contest, such as an assist call, or an opponent with an install hyper active, he can whiff Backdrop up to three times in the air to stall.

Mixup Theory

Piledriver/Lariat Option Select
Easy
63214H+S

At close range, Haggar has access to this very powerful Option Select. If the opponent is on the ground, and not in hitstun or blockstun, Haggar will command grab them. In any other case, Haggar will automatically perform his invincible Lariat instead.

This Option Select is easy to perform, but has two restrictions which limit its strength:

  • It MUST be performed with H Piledriver, which is the fastest version but has the shortest range. Performing the OS with 63214L or 63214M will always result in a Lariat.
  • It must be performed in a neutral state. If Haggar cancels a normal into the 63214H+S input, he will always perform a Lariat.

The Lariat OS is therefore mainly useful in two specific situations. At round start, Haggar can walk up to the opponent and open the round with the Piledriver/Lariat OS, which will beat all round start options except for Chicken Blocking. Haggar can then mix the opponent up with Air Throw, which beats Chicken Blocking. Also, if Haggar manages to make an opponent block a lockdown assist, such as Arthur Daggers or Doom Beam, he can dash up behind the assist, and perform the OS right as the opponent leaves blockstun. Timed correctly, the Lariat OS will beat just about any option which would work against Piledriver, including invincible reversals and Alpha Counter. Like with the round start setup, Haggar can instead attempt an airthrow to punish opponents trying to Chicken Block out of this setup.

Kara Command Grab

Haggar can take advantage of the lengthy startup of many of his grounded normals by kara-canceling them into his 63214X Piledriver command grab. The obvious choice for a kara-cancel is 6H grounded pipe. Pipe's forward movement will extend the effective range of Haggar's command grab, and opponents are naturally scared to challenge pipe, increasing the likelyhood they will hold down-back and get caught. 2H (Delay) 6H ~ 63214L and 2L 6H ~ 63214L are common setups to tick throw an opponent off a blocked normal.

Note that you cannot use Haggar's Piledriver/Lariat OS if you kara-cancel into command grab.

Resets

Haggar has two main options for attempting resets in his regular combo routes.

  • Hit an opponent who is airborne (such as after a Ground Bounce) with 5L or 5M to force an air tech, then cancel into 623H to grab them out of the air.
    • This is primarily useful when the opponent is cornered, where many characters can not escape it on their own. If attempted midscreen, it will lose to a backwards airtech.
    • Characters with a fast 8-way airdash like Magneto can escape this setup even in the corner by airdashing straight up.
  • Launch an opponent after 5S or 623L later into a combo, then superjump cancel into a j.L, which causes very little hitstun and will force an airtech. Then delay cancel j.L into j.63214X.
    • Alternatively, delay your superjump cancel, and perform a surprise superjump -> j.63214L as the opponent recovers from your launcher.

Oncoming Mixups

Haggar Oncoming Mixup Reference Part 1 Part 2

Haggar has several tools for cross-ups against an incoming character.

236L and 236M - Old Reliable. Easy to throw out against any Incoming character with minimal setup. Plus on block, starts a combo on hit (just mash 5S), catches mashed airdashes and air hypers automatically. If you aren't sure what to do against an incoming character, do one of these.

5L - Dash under to hit cross-up, or fake out a dash to hit same-side. Useful because it can be special-canceled to create a second layer to the mixup if the initial hit is blocked. 5L > (Delay) 63214L will catch opponents as they land after blocking the initial hit, where 5L > 623H will catch people trying to Up-Back or Pushblock out of the other setup. Can also cancel into 236L for a double-crossup. 5L's main weakness as an oncoming tool is that it will lose to most mashed attacks from the oncoming character.

623L - Plus on block and starts a combo on hit similar to Violent Ax. Loses to good mashed oncoming buttons like Helm Breaker and Foot Dive.

5H - Very difficult to actually make hit cross-up; in practice, you won't use it this way. 5H's purpose is to be used as a meaty against oncoming characters, because it will beat most mashed attacks as well as catch airdashes. From there, Haggar can special cancel into one of his other offensive options, including 236L or 236M

6H - Similar to 5H. Scary to press buttons against, easily starts a combo if it stuffs or trades with anything due to the Ground Bounce versus airborne. If opponents are conditioned to be scared of pipe, can kara-cancel into 236X or 63214X as they land.

Counterplay

If an opposing Haggar is autopiloting repeated j.2H Air Pipe, you have some options for contesting it. Against spammed Air Pipe, do not pushblock the pipe swing, then jump up and airthrow the second pipe. Conversely, if Haggar is only occasionally using pipe, and not using it repeatedly, pushblocking it to deny his advance is a good idea.

Many characters can also dash under Haggar during the startup of Air Pipe and attack him from behind. If attempting this, avoid using standing normals, which tend to trade unfavorably with pipe. Instead, use a good low-profile 2L or 2M if your character has one.