[LM] Fiona Mayfield

[Shining Aquas]

Finally got a copy of the game, so I can start messing around with Ice Fiona.

Little sad that my original Excalibur reset no longer works, but here's a new one I came up with:

 

Ice: 5/2A (Optional) - 5/2B - 2C - 421C (EFC) - 5C (Full charge) - 2D (Full Charge) - 214E ~ Slight Delay (they tech here) ~ 623AB

 

If you want an actual combo, substitute the Snowflake with either 63214A - 63214AB, or even 236E - Any Super , or you could just end it with 214BC

 

The reset provides about 7-9k damage roughly plus a raw Excalibur.  The actual combo can be anywhere between 8-10k depending mostly on whether you started with the optional 5/2A.

[Sadv3]

What's a good wake up option with Fiona if any? Raw E has been working for me more often than not. Not sure if it's actually effective or I'm just getting lucky with it b/c I use it so infrequently no one expects it.

 

Are there any situations where you should use grab? From what I've played grabs suck, even in situations where I know you should be able to land one. For example a Weiss doing the super where she rushes you and I blocked it. Immediately after that I mash grab to punish b/c I know there's a considerable amount of cool down frames on her move afterwards and she's right next you. Some how, I end up getting hit by her 5a or 2a. It might've been the bad connection and my grab didn't come out, but it wasn't that bad that I couldn't perform combos after getting used to it. I guess if you can block and punish, 2a is always the better option.

[Shining Aquas]

There are no good wakeup options with Fiona.  Occasionally you can surprise someone with 623A (Homing Cancel) which might be able to get you through with it's 1-hit super armor, but Fiona has bad wakeup generally.

 

You can however use any of the Arcana in the game that have a true reversal.

[Sadv3]

There are no good wakeup options with Fiona.  Occasionally you can surprise someone with 623A (Homing Cancel) which might be able to get you through with it's 1-hit super armor, but Fiona has bad wakeup generally.

 

You can however use any of the Arcana in the game that have a true reversal.

So basically all I can do is block and take the mix-up, since I play standard Wind Fiona. I'll keep that in mind.

[.ShotS]

So basically all I can do is block and take the mix-up, since I play standard Wind Fiona. I'll keep that in mind.

Block -> Pushblock at the right time. HJG. If their pressure doesn't look solid you can try and get a 236236E since it's got 6f startup it can work vs bad pressure.

 

There's options but they're not great.

[Sadv3]

So I've been playing standard wind Fiona for a while now and the most trouble I've had so far is against Scharlachrot, Nazuna, and to a lesser extent Maori. Is there an arcana I can switch to make the matchup easier or is it just a matter of playing more patiently? Though with Scharlachrot it seems like no matter what I do, I can't open her up.

[.ShotS]

So I've been playing standard wind Fiona for a while now and the most trouble I've had so far is against Scharlachrot, Nazuna, and to a lesser extent Maori. Is there an arcana I can switch to make the matchup easier or is it just a matter of playing more patiently? Though with Scharlachrot it seems like no matter what I do, I can't open her up.

Nothing can really help you too much vs Scharl. You can counterpick Nazuna with Fenrir if you want but Wind should be good enough. I have no clue how the Fiona vs Maori MU is so you've gotta find something on your own there.

[purify]

I've fought Scharl a lot myself. It's not easy, no. I would say patience is the most important thing, you'll give her a lot of free damage if you try to get out of her strings when you really can't. Block it out and watch for habits.

I've posted this before, but this is 7thFonon and I playing: http://www.twitch.tv/ncsu_fights/c/3249758
Start at about 16:40 and you can see what I'm going for. Sorry about the stream quality. And mind you, this is vanilla AH3, but the concepts are mostly the same. It's somewhat scarier now that she can actually mix you up better.

The most important thing I'd say is to maintain your pressure when you do get in on her. That's not necessarily an easy thing for Fiona to do, so you'll need some Arcana help for it. I like how Sin helps me at neutral, improves my defense and I can do more damage at low life whereas Scharl takes more damage at low life, so that's an added bonus. If you push her out with Wind, she's totally okay with that, lol. Our Arcana choices are unconventional, but him and I have gone pretty far with them. He won FR a few years ago, and I beat him in winning TFC last year (I got this year too, but nobody was really there =/).

 

Maori's just a pain in the ass. I think similar advice would apply to her, you don't want to hit and run with pokes and fish carefully for knockdowns as you might be in other cases. You have to find a way to take control, bait/dodge their specials and supers and don't give them room. You may be able to find Excalibur openings if they get predictable or too crazy/disrespectful with what they're setting up on you.

I fight Nazuna more than any other character...and I'd say Wind works fine. She's huge horizontally, so look out for extra opportunities to get damage you normally couldn't, and be aggressive with crossups since they'll be easy to set up on her. Be careful how like with the other big characters, you'll be at frame disadvantage after Heaven's Fall.

[7thFonon]

Like purify said, you just have to be patient with scharl, and make sure you stay on offense once you do get her blocking. Using an arcana that has good oki and/or neutral tools should help you with this matchup as well. The matchup might be a little bit harder in ah3lm thanks to the buffs scharl got, but its still very much doable.

Also it was NEC (whichever one was December 2011) that I won. :x FR I think was beats.

[purify]

Oh hey man lol. Yeah, sorry I get tournaments mixed up.

[Sadv3]

I've fought Scharl a lot myself. It's not easy, no. I would say patience is the most important thing, you'll give her a lot of free damage if you try to get out of her strings when you really can't. Block it out and watch for habits.

I've posted this before, but this is 7thFonon and I playing: http://www.twitch.tv/ncsu_fights/c/3249758

Start at about 16:40 and you can see what I'm going for. Sorry about the stream quality. And mind you, this is vanilla AH3, but the concepts are mostly the same. It's somewhat scarier now that she can actually mix you up better.

The most important thing I'd say is to maintain your pressure when you do get in on her. That's not necessarily an easy thing for Fiona to do, so you'll need some Arcana help for it. I like how Sin helps me at neutral, improves my defense and I can do more damage at low life whereas Scharl takes more damage at low life, so that's an added bonus. If you push her out with Wind, she's totally okay with that, lol. Our Arcana choices are unconventional, but him and I have gone pretty far with them. He won FR a few years ago, and I beat him in winning TFC last year (I got this year too, but nobody was really there =/).

 

Maori's just a pain in the ass. I think similar advice would apply to her, you don't want to hit and run with pokes and fish carefully for knockdowns as you might be in other cases. You have to find a way to take control, bait/dodge their specials and supers and don't give them room. You may be able to find Excalibur openings if they get predictable or too crazy/disrespectful with what they're setting up on you.

I fight Nazuna more than any other character...and I'd say Wind works fine. She's huge horizontally, so look out for extra opportunities to get damage you normally couldn't, and be aggressive with crossups since they'll be easy to set up on her. Be careful how like with the other big characters, you'll be at frame disadvantage after Heaven's Fall.

Thanks for the help. I think at least 40 percent of matches were against Scharl and I had no idea what do against the character other than block and get her off me. I'll try out the sin arcana.

[Sadv3]

So changing to Sin definitely helped in the Fiona vs Scharlachrot matchup. I still lost, but at least it wasn't so one-sided this time. I think what it comes down to now is recognizing scharl's openings and which buttons I can press to try and open her up. I'm mostly struggling with how to get in on her at neutral which is challenging considering she has such a good anti-air or if they pick her default arcana I can't cover myself with Sin without risking getting a fenrir bullet to the face, but I think I'm finally getting somewhere. By the way is there any good way to combo into Sin eclipse or is it something in reaction to something?

[.ShotS]

So changing to Sin definitely helped in the Fiona vs Scharlachrot matchup. I still lost, but at least it wasn't so one-sided this time. I think what it comes down to now is recognizing scharl's openings and which buttons I can press to try and open her up. I'm mostly struggling with how to get in on her at neutral which is challenging considering she has such a good anti-air or if they pick her default arcana I can't cover myself with Sin without risking getting a fenrir bullet to the face, but I think I'm finally getting somewhere. By the way is there any good way to combo into Sin eclipse or is it something in reaction to something?

You generally just want to use Sin for pressure after you do a heavens fall. I also don't think Scharl should have too much trouble vs Sin due to j.6C still being a half screen reflecting horizontal fence of red but if it works for you, then that's fine.

 

Sin eclipse can probably be used after doing a 623X. Not sure how you would combo it but you should be able to and the damage should be good.

[Sadv3]

You generally just want to use Sin for pressure after you do a heavens fall. I also don't think Scharl should have too much trouble vs Sin due to j.6C still being a half screen reflecting horizontal fence of red but if it works for you, then that's fine.

 

Sin eclipse can probably be used after doing a 623X. Not sure how you would combo it but you should be able to and the damage should be good.

It's mainly just to distract her. Having stuff on the screen is better than having nothing.

[Sadv3]

So changing to Sin definitely helped in the Fiona vs Scharlachrot matchup. I still lost, but at least it wasn't so one-sided this time. I think what it comes down to now is recognizing scharl's openings and which buttons I can press to try and open her up. I'm mostly struggling with how to get in on her at neutral which is challenging considering she has such a good anti-air or if they pick her default arcana I can't cover myself with Sin without risking getting a fenrir bullet to the face, but I think I'm finally getting somewhere. By the way is there any good way to combo into Sin eclipse or is it something in reaction to something?

I also have no idea how to avoid her grab super. Is it unblockable or something?

[madworlder]

Is it unblockable or something?

no

[.ShotS]

I also have no idea how to avoid her grab super. Is it unblockable or something?

If you mean the super where she throws the chain and slams you down like 3 times? It's air unblockable(AUB)

[Sadv3]

If you mean the super where she throws the chain and slams you down like 3 times? It's air unblockable(AUB)

Ok, so it's like fiona's excalibur super.

[purify]

That really never comes up as an issue for me. If the Scharl is getting that on you frequently, then you must be doing very predictable IADs or something.

Scharl smacking the balls away isn't often an issue unless I'm doing it like a full screen away or something, which is usually a toss up whether or not it helps me approach. Instead, I use it more when I'm already closing in on her or canceling another move into it, so there's little or literally no time for her to be able to jump and 6C/other move. Heck, the guy I'm using this against plays Tone, so if I do Sin balls too far away anyway, he can just erase them.

 

Sin eclipse can be done after short combos or 623s, yeah. Speaking of, reminds me of something else I want to talk a little bit about here: post-Gae Bulg EF combos. I don't really see people doing this, but after 2C > super for instance, there's a lot of different things you can do to combo them. It's a smart thing to look into, since you'll run into situations pretty often where your ground combo route/range necessitates a Gae Bulg. If you're midscreen and have the resources, you could be getting a lot more damage out of your combo here.

Do experiment, but here's a few: All of them have to be done midscreen, especially this one: EFC > immediate Excalibur, works in most normal situations.
EFC > most eclipses (including Sin), the obvious and easiest one. This will work in non-juggle combos.
EFC > 5A/2B > air combo vs most of the cast. You should be able to get j.B > j.C > Heaven's Fall, for example. In longer combos or against certain characters, (Kira, Heart), you may have to use j.E enders.
EFC > 5B > air combo versus Nazuna (she's floating higher, but is so huge this works).

Remember that you can also do Arcana supers striaghtaway without EFCing. Things like Fire flamethrower, Fenrir cannon, Love laser etc. all work.
 

[Sadv3]

That really never comes up as an issue for me. If the Scharl is getting that on you frequently, then you must be doing very predictable IADs or something.

Scharl smacking the balls away isn't often an issue unless I'm doing it like a full screen away or something, which is usually a toss up whether or not it helps me approach. Instead, I use it more when I'm already closing in on her or canceling another move into it, so there's little or literally no time for her to be able to jump and 6C/other move. Heck, the guy I'm using this against plays Tone, so if I do Sin balls too far away anyway, he can just erase them.

 

Sin eclipse can be done after short combos or 623s, yeah. Speaking of, reminds me of something else I want to talk a little bit about here: post-Gae Bulg EF combos. I don't really see people doing this, but after 2C > super for instance, there's a lot of different things you can do to combo them. It's a smart thing to look into, since you'll run into situations pretty often where your ground combo route/range necessitates a Gae Bulg. If you're midscreen and have the resources, you could be getting a lot more damage out of your combo here.

Do experiment, but here's a few: All of them have to be done midscreen, especially this one: EFC > immediate Excalibur, works in most normal situations.

EFC > most eclipses (including Sin), the obvious and easiest one. This will work in non-juggle combos.

EFC > 5A/2B > air combo vs most of the cast. You should be able to get j.B > j.C > Heaven's Fall, for example. In longer combos or against certain characters, (Kira, Heart), you may have to use j.E enders.

EFC > 5B > air combo versus Nazuna (she's floating higher, but is so huge this works).

Remember that you can also do Arcana supers striaghtaway without EFCing. Things like Fire flamethrower, Fenrir cannon, Love laser etc. all work.

 

I learned the basic game plan with Fiona like the air to air game, simple combos that end in heaven's fall, and the oki mix-up attempt either with j.C or arcana super. I was about to look into how to do some EFC combos next, so this actually helps me alot. I figured I could combo gae bulg from mid-screen into sin eclipse since it knocks them into a wall. The only other thing was if I should consider experimenting with any other arcanas besides wind and sin. From what I've seen Thunder, Ice, Earth, and Flower seem to be good choices, but I'm pretty sure in most situations I want to stick with Wind and Sin seems to cover whatever Wind can't.

[purify]

Sounds like you've got a good foundation built, then. Glad you're going about it that way, too many people immediately jump on the optimal details of gameplay and miss how to actually play/why the good things are good.

 

Anyway, yeah you would be mostly fine with those two Arcana, but it's a good idea to study up on what all the different Arcanas do on the wiki and see if you can find a match with something you want to do vs. certain characters or situations. A good way to go about it is to look at how you're most often losing matches and what exactly would most alleviate those problems. Covering Fiona's weaknesses and improving her strengths is a must, but looking at yourself as a player is also important.

As for EFC combos, I usually use these routes:
x to 2C > 63214A  > EFC > 2C/5B > etc (such as 623B after 2C or air combo after 5B)
j.C > 5B > 623A > EFC > etc (such as charged 5C > stuff)
air 623x hit > EFC on landing > etc

So basically, the moves you would EFC are 63214x, 623x, Gae Bulg as above and other things on block to keep safety and continue pressure.

[Sadv3]

So this is a thing that's come up more than once when I've been online, but I've noticed fiona mains or people who play her alot tend to avoid mirror matches. Is it b/c it's just one of those mirror matches that turns into who can mash more and it just becomes silly?

[madworlder]

i'm gonna be real and say that fiona tends to attract a lot of bad players. she's got high damage for low effort, and good low-level gimmicks. low-level players that use fiona are probably the same people that don't know how to deal with her.

[Sadv3]

i'm gonna be real and say that fiona tends to attract a lot of bad players. she's got high damage for low effort, and good low-level gimmicks. low-level players that use fiona are probably the same people that don't know how to deal with her.

block?

[Keita]

This is which I hate. Terrible noobs relies on Finoa. They spam her Excalibur alot, which it irks me. The main solution to deal bad Fiona's, that Excalibur is to block and punish them. I see nothing but terrible Fiona's, especially BlackNeppy comes to mind! Like the same way in Tekken Tag 2, they use Laws, Lili, and Alisa, cause they attract scrubs and spam the same moves over and over.