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| Notation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| (Leave a space) cancel from the previous normal to the following. | |
| , | Link from the previous move to the following. |
| > | Cancel the previous move into the following special / super move. |
| ~ | Cancel special into set followup or plink previous attack into the following. |
| dl. / delay | Delay the following move. |
| whiff | Must whiff the following move. |
| land | Must land on the ground before the next move. |
| rejump | Must land then jump again before the next move. |
| j. / sj. | Move is done in a jump / superjump. |
| jc / sjc | Cancel previous move into a jump / superjump. |
| ia./tk. | Instant Air or Tiger Knee Special or Super Move. |
| XX | Any two attack buttons excluding S. |
| NXX | Dash / Airdash in N direction. |
| X+S | Any other attack button and S pressed at the same time. |
| AA | Anti-Air |
| [X] | Hold input |
| -X- | Release input |
| (N) | Connect with only the Nth hit of this attack. |
| (Move) | Move is optional. |
| [sequence] x N | Repeat sequence N times. |
Beginner Combos
- Work on all or nearly all characters.
- Require little to no resources (Meter, Assists, Character Specific Stocks).
- Need minimal adjustments for positioning or starter.
Extremely basic combo, basically one extension on the standard magic series. Nevertheless it's an important combo route. The extra (L) command normals in Wolverine's chains are optional, and they do add slight scaling causing an very minor decrease to total damage. However, they make the combo more consistent and - critically - build just enough extra meter to make the combo meter-neutral, building back the exact one bar it spends rather than being slightly negative.
Wolverine can solo convert his Berserker Slash cross-up by canceling into Berserker Charge. Wolverine has several additional combo options available in Berserker Charge's speed boost, with the most common being "Berserker Slash Loops", like the one seen here. There are more optimized Berserker Slash Loops, but this variant is consistent at all screen positions and against all characters, so it is a good one to learn.
Berserker Charge disables Wolverine's meter gain for the duration, meaning these types of combo route will build close to zero meter for us while still generating a good amount of meter for the opponent. Consequently, this combo and most similar ones omit as many unnecessary hits as possible: no chain-filler M attacks except when needed to keep the juggle, and especially no extra L buttons.
Wolverine is racing against Hitstun Deterioration to reach his j.H > X+S > j.214XX combo ender before it becomes impossible. In this route, it is just barely able to connect, but if you take too long on the combo, or add any unnecessary hits, it will drop. There are two ways to avoid having to deal with this:
- Omit the final Berserker Slash loop, written in parentheses. This lowers the total damage of the combo by roughly 50,000 but makes the Fatal Claw ender very consistent. As a small consolation, you will also give the opponent slightly less meter by doing this.
- Use an alternative combo ender, such as doing a normal Air Magic Series
j.M j.M j.H > j.Sinto an assist-supported OTG.
A large part of Wolverine's offense revolves around threatening with his Airthrow, and so Wolverine players want a reliable confirm off both of his Airthrow OS Normals: j.H and j.2H. The combo itself is fairly straightforward: buffer a Drill Claw during your airthrow attempt (it won't come out if you actually throw them), then confirm into a Divekick to bring the opponent down to the ground from any height.
You can optionally include one rep of a jump loop, which is the (jump forward j.L j.M j.M j.S land) section. Including or excluding this section does not significantly change the damage output, but it does build some precious extra meter.
Core Combos
- Works against a selected set of characters.
- Can require adjustments for positioning and resources.
- Are expected to be consistently performable by a skilled player who main the character.
If Wolverine sets up Air Fatal Claw so that the opponent is juggled on top of the hyper, he can land and recover in time to link a small handful of fast attacks. Notably, he can:
- Connect 5L to force an air tech into a reset of his choice.
- Link Snapback (236A) to set up an oncoming mixup against another character.
- Link Tornado Claw (623X) and cancel one of the later hits into Fatal Claw, looping back into itself.
Wolverine can loop Tornado Claw > Fatal Claw several times to dump meter in order for high damage if needed. This is useful because standard combo enders into Air Fatal Claw create very awkward DHC spacing, so many characters in the second position will not be able to offer much damage potential. This route is a slight modification of Wolverine's regular solo BnB to set up the correct juggle height for looping Fatal Claw.
All versions of Tornado Claw have the same startup, so if you are finished dumping meter, ending with specifically 623H (mashed) provides the most damage and meter gain.
Depending on the opponent's character and screen position, it can be possible for Wolverine to link a 5H directly after Berserker Slash, remvoing the need to dash up or use intermediate normals in each rep of the loop. In situations where this is possible, it minimizes the amount of unnecessary damage scaling from M normals, and also maximizes the amount of Slash loops that you can perform in Berserker Charge's limited duration, leading to significantly improved damage. Broadly, characters fit into four significant categories:
- For small- or awkward-bodied characters, like Zero, Shuma, and Ammy, for whom this combo route does not work at any screen position.
- For most normal-sized characters, this route works only in the corner, by using 214M Berserker Slash.
- A handful of mostly normal-sized characters have wide enough hurtboxes while being juggled that the 5H > 214M loop works midscreen.
- Against mainly big-body characters, 5H > 214M works everywhere on the screen, and additionally Wolverine can do 5H > 214L in the corner. This deals the same damage as using M Berserker Slash, but takes is faster and thus allows for additional reps in the same amount of time.
Here is a spreadsheet of every character and how they can be juggled by Berserker Slash.
Assist Extensions
Wolverine's primary use for assists in combos is to provide a way to extend off of his only OTG: 3M, which otherwise has essentially no solo follow-up potential. Wolverine can use a variety of common neutral assists for this extension, including Akuma Tatsu, Doom Beam and Doom Rocks, Rapid Slash, and basically anything else with a reasonable amount of hitstun.
This is your standard combo route so long as Wolverine has at least one assist available that can be used for 3M pick-ups. It can be done off nearly any hit-confirm and is very consistent against Hitstun Deterioration. If you can combo into a Hard Knockdown, you can almost certainly use this route. The OTG pick-up transitions nicely into the proper juggle height for Fatal Claw loops, which again means Wolverine can dump as much meter as needed, or go for resets with 5L or Snapback.
OTG pick-up with Dormammu Dark Hole assist
OTG pick-up with Akuma Tatsu assist
Double pick-up with Dorm and Iron Fist
Double extension with Doom and Vergil
Using most of the cast for Wolverine extensions
Besides the standard 3M OTG extension, Wolverine typically uses assists to convert awkward hits which he would otherwise having a difficult time picking up solo. Notably:
- Using an assist to convert off Instant Overhead j.L without needing to spend X-Factor
- Using an assist to convert off Berserker Slash (214X) without needed to cancel into Berserker Charge. Video Timestamp
Combo Video using assist extensions with Captain America and Deadpool
Comboing in X-Factor
As Wolverine is most commonly a Point character, his X-Factor will typically be at Level 1, if he uses it. The speed boost at level 1 is fairly small, and so his X-Factor combo routes are not usually much different from his normal combos. X-Factor's most important asset for Wolverine is his ability to cancel specific aspects of his offense with X-Factor activation in order to solo convert. Notably, Wolverine can solo convert the following important situations into a combo using X-Factor activation:
- Instant Overhead j.L
- Throw into OTG 3M
- Berserker Slash (214X)
Because Wolverine has strong snowball potential off repeated corner oncoming mixups, he may choose to activate X-Factor if he scores a hit on an important character or lands a Happy Birthday combo in order to secure a low-meter kill.
| Notation | Damage | Meter | Location | Video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Instant Overhead j.L > LMHS, j.M land 5M 5H 5S sjc. j.M j.M j.H > j.X+S, j.2H, land, 5H 5S sjc. j.M j.M j.H > j.X+S > j.214XX |
~970,000 |
~1.15 |
Anywhere |
|
|
Spend X-Factor to turn an Instant Overhead j.L into a dead character. Otherwise, it is a fairly normal combo route. | ||||
|
(Any Throw), Dash up 3M > LMHS, dash (jump forward j.L j.M j.M j.S land) 5M 5H 5S sjc. j.M j.M j.H > j.X+S, j.2H, land 5H 5S sjc. j.M j.M j.H > j.X+S > j.214XX (mash) |
~950,000 |
~1.5 |
Anywhere |
|
| ||||
Example XF1 kill combos with Wolverine/Doom/Vergil
Examply XF1 kill combos with Wolverine/Dorm/Iron Fist
Advanced Combos
- May only work on a few characters or in specific circumstances.
- Can have any amount of requirements such as meter, positioning, starter.
- Are not necessarily harder than core combos, but require more specific knowledge.
Very slight optimization of the normal Wolverine assisted combo route. Normally, using Divekick's Ground Bounce to set up a jump loop this way will fail because your j.5S retains the Launcher combo state and will spike the opponent down for a Hard Knockdown. It's possible to set this up so that Wolverine lands and can catch the opponent with his 5M before they reach the ground. This works on the entire cast, but requires the corner and is quite challenging to do consistently.
Wolverine's Backthrow tosses opponents far away but also quite high into the air. If Wolverine does a Backthrow midscreen and has the speed boost from Berserker Charge active, he is fast enough to chase down the opponent with a dash -> jump forward -> j.L before they fall to the ground. After that, convert into basically any combo you want. This is slightly more optimal than letting the opponent land and OTGing with 3M when it's possible, and does not require an assist or X-Factor either.
If Wolverine backthrows the opponent into the corner, no Berserker Charge or difficult is necessary, just hit them with 5M as you recover from the throw animation.
TAC Infinites
Note: None of Wolverine's TAC Infinites are currently considered to be human-practical.
