Millia vs Zato-1

[Margatroid]

I fought a good Zato last night and I realized that he has several good AA options against Millia. It was difficult to start an offense in the air, and Eddie makes it hard to move in on the ground. What are the best offensive options at neutral in this matchup?

[www.keeponrock.in]

Use the pin to beat out anti-airs. Zato's anti-airs either have a lot of start up or have a lot of recovery. (Except Nobiru) Once he starts blocking more in anticipation of the pin, it should be a little bit easier to get in.

[Margatroid]

Ok, that's actually what I was thinking. I found myself intuitively pinning a lot in the fight, and it became an issue when he was blocking me from retrieving it, much moreso than it usually is.

[Rele]

Use pin to snipe Eddie.

If he's not good at guarding Eddie with drills, snipe Eddie with haircar.

Your pokes > his pokes except for maybe 2S. So once little Eddie is gone you only have to worry about that and drills.

Basically any time he has the shadow out avoid blocking anything at all costs and try to snipe Eddie (not Zato). If you hit Eddie his bar will turn red and recover much slower giving you more time to get in. If you hit Zato or make him block something the Shadow recovers almost instantly.

On the plus side once you get a knockdown on Zato he's basically done. He doesn't have an answer to Millias oki other than burst and maybe deadangle if he can block once. Amorphous is invincible but hits so far in front if him that it will pretty much always whiff on the slim Millia :x

[president]

I agree that pin should be used mostly against Eddie. Zato has a couple decent answers to pins aimed dirctly at him, from IB into 6p/2h/airthrow against follow-up airdash approaches (This didn't work in AC, but pin is so much slower in Xrd) to BTL it and throwing nobirus from under Millia. You're also not gonna get the pin back if he decides to sit on it with Eddie available.