The Owl says O RLY

Fun with 2C fatal and kara SB Destructive Fang: 2C FC > 2B > 5B > 5C > 236B > B > jc j. B > 5C > hc j. C > 2B > 2A+B > 236A > A > kara A+B > 2A > 5B (1) > 2B > 2A+B > 236A > 236236A (5457, -42) Uses 75 meter and builds 33, so you have to have at least 42 to start. If you don't have 150 meter to blow on the combo this route is actually pretty efficient. If you're in Awakening, A Moon Smasher at the end adds 120 damage.

One of the interesting things about Sho is that he has two roughly equivalent BnB routes, 5B > 5C > 5B > sweep > rekkas and 5B > 2B > 5C > rekkas, yet almost without exception I see Sho players only doing the first route. Let's examine them both in a little more detail. (For the purposes of this post I'm calling the 5B > 5C > 5B route Route 1 and the 5B > 2B > 5C route Route 2.) First, let's examine our meterless BnBs: 5A > 5AA > 5B > 5C > 5B > 2A+B > 236B > delay B > C > 214A > A (2651, +23) 5A > 5AA > 5B > 2B > 5C > 236B > B > C > 236A > A > A (2674, +24) Big deal, right? 23 damage and 1 meter, who cares. Even if you land 3 of these combos per round that's only a difference of 69 damage and 3 meter. Route 2 gets slightly better corner carry, but it's such a small difference that it's barely worth consideration (plus it's not like corner carry was ever an issue with Sho). But let's say we do want the maximum corner carry, via B+D > j. B+D: 5A > 5AA > 5B > 5C > 5B > 2A+B > 236B > B+D > j. B+D (2367, +20) 5A > 5AA > 5B > 2B > 5C > 236B > B > C > 236A > B+D > j. B+D (2623, +23) The difference now is 256 damage and 3 meter, plus about two character widths worth of corner carry. That's a little more significant! But maybe you value your blue life too much to ever do that combo. Maybe you're still not convinced there's a practical difference. Let's look at using supers. 5A > 5AA > 5B > 5C > 5B > 2A+B > 236B > B+D (1) > 236236B ( 3013, -33) 5A > 5AA > 5B > 2B > 5C > 236B > B > C > 236A > 236236A (3074, -33) 61 damage doesn't seem like that big a deal, right? As it turns out, Route 2 has an alternate corner-only variation as well: 5A > 5AA > 5B > 2B > 5C > 236B > B > C > 236A > B+D (1) > 236236B (3310, -30) 297 damage and 3 meter is a slightly bigger difference! Maybe you're in awakening and want to use Moon Smasher. 5A > 5AA > 5B > 5C > 5B > 2A+B > 236B > B > C > 214A > A > 214214A (3731, -26) 5A > 5AA > 5B > 2B > 5C > 236B > B > C > 236A > B+D (1) > 214214B (3590, -30) This is one situation where Route 1 comes out ahead, to the tune of 141 damage and 4 meter. There's three other areas to consider here: 1) Execution. Neither of the routes is particularly hard, but there are some places you may drop them. In Route 1, it's very possible to delay the B Soaring Fang too long and have the opponent tech out, or not delay it enough and whiff something in the ender. In Route 2 it's possible to not input the A Flash Fang fast enough and have the opponent tech out, or input it too fast and it doesn't come out. In the long term this is just a matter of practice; in the short term it can play a factor in your combo route choice, especially once nerves and/or lag get factored in. 2) Consistency/range. The good news is that because 5B travels so far forward both routes are viable from most 5A hits. The only time both combos will fail is if you're at the very tip of 5A, so far out that not even 5AA combos. Route 1 has an advantage here; for example, from a midscreen distance of "point blank, backdash, tap forward" on Chie 5AA > 5B > 5C connects, but 5AA > 5B > 2B does not. This varies from character to character; on Kanji you can be a full backdash away and still connect both combos fully. This is not an issue when the opponent is cornered; there isn't a range at which Route 2 will fail after connecting 5AA. Also note that there are some weird character/distance-specific circumstances in which you connect 5B > 5C > 5B but one or both hits of 2A+B will whiff, ending your combo prematurely. If you think this will happen the solution is a quick 236A > A > A to end the combo with a knockdown. 3) Futureproofing. Atlus finally acknowledged that hey, maybe they should get 2.0 ported over to consoles at some point. If and when that happens, 5B> 5C > 5B will no longer work; you'll have to use 5B > 2B > 5C whether you like it or not. Given that the damage only gets better, it does you no disadvantage to learn Route 2 and incorporate it into your game now, and it will give you a leg up if we ever get 2.0 (or if you take a trip to Japan). So there you have it. If you aren't already, you should be using 5B > 2B > 5C in almost all of your combos unless a) you're very far away and not absolutely sure it will connect or b) you're in Awakening and have 50 meter to spend on a Moon Smasher combo. The damage and meter benefits are small but very real and Sho is generally a pretty low-damage character, so you should be seeking to optimize your damage on every opportunity you get.

Two small things: First, optimizing damage off of High Speed Movement > Soaring Fang... 236C > 214A > JC j. B > 214A > A (1475, +12) Universal combo. Needs a slight delay before j. B or it won't work. If in awakening you can tack on an A or SB Moon Smasher for more damage. 236C > 214A > JC j. B (1) > j. C (1) > 214A > A (1488, +13) For when you absolutely need that 13 damage, 1 meter, and character-specific swag. Works on Margaret, Naoto, Narukami, Yosuke, Chie, Kanji, Marie, Ken, Yukari, Aigis, Adachi, Elizabeth, and Rise. The timing is extremely finicky - what works on one character in this list won't necessarily work for another. Secondly (this is not about combos, strictly speaking): Sho's AOA is ass. Its sole saving grace is that it can cross up. However, sometimes you don't want it to. Sometimes you want another left/right mixup to keep your opponent guessing. Good news! Most of your normals can cancel into AOA, allowing for a (very unsafe without 50 meter) mixup. Due to how far forward Sho's normals move him, you can usually control for spacing at the start of a blockstring and choose to cross up or not. Generally, 5B > AOA will cross up, any number of A normals into AOA will cross up, and 2B depends on the specific case. For example: 2A > 2A > 2B (1) > AOA crosses up 2A > 2A > 2B > AOA does not 2A > 2A > 5A > AOA crosses up at point blank 2A > 4A > 4A > AOA does not 2A > 2A > 5A > 5AA > AOA crosses up 4A > 4A > 4A > AOA does not 2A > 2A > 2A > 2B > 5B > AOA crosses up 2A > 2A > 2A > 2B > 5B (1) > AOA does not There's lots of other variations. Generally, if the opponent is in the outer half of 5A's range then cancelling into AOA will not cross up. If the opponent blocks a raw 5B at the tip of only 1 hit then cancelling into AOA will not cross up. There are only two in this: 1) 5C > AOA will never cross up no matter what came before it, and 2) AOA will never cross up into the corner.

So as long as we're talking about kara helmbreaker, let's discuss possible combos off of SB Destructive Fang fatal counters, yes? That seems like an excellent thing to discuss in this combo thread. First, the sad news - as far as I can tell, you just can't get the 5C -> hc j. C route to work off helmbreaker FC. I know, it's a tragedy and a miscarriage of justice. A moment of silence, please. ... Done? Good. Now the good news - Sho has a couple of cool routes he can get off if he does get the fatal. Let's take a look. j. 236AB FC -> 5AA -> 5B -> 2B -> 5C -> 236B -> B -> C -> 236A -> A -> A 2861 damage (-23) j. 236AB FC -> 66 2B -> 5B -> 5C -> 236B -> B -> C -> 236A -> A -> A 2892 damage (-23) j. 236AB FC -> 66 2B -> 5C -> 5B -> 2AB -> 236B -> B -> C -> 214A -> A 2922 damage (-23) These are essentially just BnBs with the helmbreaker as the starter. Those microdashes are actually incredibly lenient, thanks to how long the opponent reels when they get fatal'd and SB Destructive Fang's total lack of recovery. But we can do better (and more importantly, more stylish). j. 236AB FC -> 66 2B -> 5B -> 5C -> 236B -> B -> jc j. B -> 5C -> 214A -> A 2989 damage (-23) You need a slight delay before the j. B or else the opponent will be left too high to hit with 5C before they can tech out. As far as I can determine this is the optimized universal 25 meter combo for SB helmbreaker. j. 236AB FC -> 66 2B -> 5B -> 5C -> 236B -> B -> jc j. B -> 5C -> 214214B 3853 (requires 75 meter and awakening) (-73) Adding a Moon Smasher makes everything better, right? SB the super for 4053 total damage. j. 236AB FC -> 66 2B -> 5B -> 5C -> 236B -> B -> jc j. B -> j. BD -> 236236A -> 236236A 4573 (requires 125 meter, corner only) (-123) Similar in concept to the above. The j. BD can be finicky on smaller characters; during my testing it worked great on Narukami but whiffed on Teddie half the time. You can sub a B Moon Smasher instead of the first super, but it's the same damage as the above combo and less consistent. (Side note for all these 125 meter combos - you can make the last 236236A a 236236AB for 200 extra damage at the cost of 25 extra meter.) "But strange Sho man, what about the jump loop?" I hear you ask. Well fear not! I got you covered. j. 236AB FC -> 66 2B -> 5B -> 5C -> jc j. B -> j. C (1) -> 66 5B -> 5C -> 236B -> B -> C -> 236A -> A -> A 3195 damage (-22) The big problem with the jump loop is that you just run out of hitstun proration. As far as I can tell this is the optimized 25 meter jump loop. You can cancel the last 236A into DP into either super; B Blazing Moon Barrage gives 4013 total damage and if you're in the corner you can tack on an A Blazing Moon Barrage for 5013 total, B Moon Smasher gives 4293 damage. j. 236AB FC -> 66 2B -> 5B -> 5C -> jc j. B -> j. C (1) -> 66 5B -> 5C -> jc j. B -> j. C (1) -> 66 5B -> 2AB -> 236A -> BD (1) -> 236236B -> 236236A 5018 (requires 125 meter, corner only) Okay, this one is purely for Sho-ing off. That double jump loop looks cool, and the corner carry is great. If you're somehow not in the corner by the end, either change 236236B to a Moon Smasher or leave off the 236236A. And finally, I leave you with an enigma: j. 236AB FC -> 66 2AB -> 236B -> B -> jc j. C -> 5C -> 2B -> 2AB -> 236A -> A -> A 3221 damage In all my testing I manged to connect this all of once, in the corner, against Narukami. Every other time the first hit of 2B would hit them too high for the second hit to connect and drag them down into the sweep. I know it works because I hit it once, but I can't figure out how to make it more consistent. Which is a damn shame, because it's more damaging than any other 25 meter route I've found.