Starfire

The 6P should be timed and spaced so that it doesn't clash, because Sol can cancel the clash into anything, like 5K, FD block or another VV.

I don't know if this was common knowledge already, but you can link TK SG off a close drill in the corner. This means you can use -K-, j.K, 2K, -P-, 22S, TK SG (1), -S-, SG (2) restand, 5D6 as a hit confirmable low mixup in the corner that does a bit more damage than the bnb one. The link is not that easy though, at least on normal weight chars. On block, it setups nobiru unsummon and leaves a puddle for a blockstring resummon.

If you have meter, you can always punish with 2H, Amorphous. Not full combo damage, but still enough to hurt. However, just c.S, 5H (3), 22H or even just Damned Fang does alright damage and gives plenty of time for the shadow to recharge. If anything, DPing against a good Zato is almost guaranteed damage, because Zato can kind of option select bait it with shadow meaty + late 6P. If they block, proceed to pressure as normal, and if they DP, you will get a high CH 6P without giving them a chance to RC. You can then follow up with either sj.KHD or sj.KH Executor.

If the opponent is in an airborne state where 2D and 22S will not knockdown, then something like 5D6, TK SG (1), -S-, SG (2) into wallslump might work. It would have the downside that you need over a Nobiru's worth of shadow gauge, so getting an UB off the second mixup in the corner is likely impossible, at least using that route. It also doesn't look like there's a huge amount of untechable time after the dust (in the video several of the combos went black), so getting the TK SG might not be a given either. I think the fastest TK SG is about 19f or 20f, so it isn't the fastest of attacks.

To clarify, the whole sequence is 236, press S (unsummon starts), immediately release S (nobiru starts), nobiru hits, unsummon activates. It should be possible to do this with any button, but I think it's easier to just tap S as quickly as possible, rather than trying to press HS and release S at the same time. Then again, maybe something like 2, 236[H] + -S- would be reliable as well, I need to test! The closer the nobiru impact is to the unsummon activation, the bigger the advantage, up to a maximum of about +9 or +10. I can't think of an easy way to test which of those two is correct. We just need to find the most reliable input to start nobiru at the same frame with unsummon, or possibly one frame after. 236S with the shortest possible S press is the one I've been using, but maybe there are easier ones. EDIT: If the situation is +10, then maybe 13f moves like 6P and 5H would interrupt a 3f jump startup like Sol's such that the opponent is still on the ground. If that is possible, I think it would confirm that it's +10.

I did some frame data testing with perfect nobiru unsummon. Perfect here means that the unsummon activates immediately after nobiru connects, leaving you with maximum advantage after the unsummon recovery. The easiest way to get it reliably is e.g. 2[P], 2[K], 236S. However, you have to cancel into unsummon from hitstop, and you must do it with the shortest S press possible. If you hold S even for a little bit, the shadow is unsummoned before nobiru connects and you're left at a big disadvantage. 9f moves like c.S, 2D and Drunkard will all combo on block (i.e. opponent never leaves blockstun), but I wasn't able to get 2H to combo. This means that nobiru unsummon is at least +9 on block, but less than +11. So it's either +9 or +10. This has the following implications: - 5P (5f) will always combo on block, even if the opponent IBs. The only way to escape is Dead Angle. You can always get a resummon off this, though not necessarily at full charge, except maybe with YRC. - 5K, 2K and 2D hit low and combo on block. If the opponent is mashing, trying to throw, jump or backdash, they will get hit. Have to experiment with good followups, maybe 2K, f.S, 5H into either drill or fresh resummon would be good. - Drunkard can only be interrupted with a DP or similar. However, you have to delay it for a little bit to get CH if the opponent goes for a throw. If you hit them in the back with nobiru unsummon, the opponent will usually be at point blank range for a long time, and it looks like you can throw, but you can't. Drunkard is -6 on block though, and it will lose to IB followed by a good OS throw like Sol 5K. - If you are out of throw range (in the corner usually), 2H and 5H will likely CH almost all non-invincible moves. 2H should also hit their jump startup, and 5H should hit backdash. They can also be cancelled into a resummon. - Imperfect nobiru unsummons should never be worse than neutral (without IB ) as long as unsummon is started before nobiru hits, and should usually give at least a small advantage. 5P, 2K and 2S should be strong at their optimal ranges. An especially nice setup for this is 22S, -S-, unsummon, as it leaves a puddle for resummoning right on top of them.

On some reversals you could maybe get a CH 2H for big damage. It worked on Storm Viper in AC, and would probably still work at least on 1-hit DPs.

If you don't have the shadow out, you should be playing keepaway until you do. If you do, I'd suggest watching what they do first. Some people will try to rush you down to avoid having to block shadow pressure. Against that, you don't have to approach and I think just fishing with nobiru, drills and 2H is often better and less risky. When you do have to approach, I think it's best to approach calmly by walking or dashing, using nobiru to cover and dodging projectiles with BTL, moguru (-H-) and jumps. A nice trick is to go into BTL and try to put the shadow behind your opponent with -H-. Then you can poke them in the back with nobiru.

Does that 1-hit SG work on every character and/or is there some specific spacing involved? If it works, this looks more reliable than the 2-hit version. 2D, -P-, SG (1), -S-, SG (2) should also be possible, if somewhat difficult to execute. Much easier from an overhead hit, and leads to good damage because the high damage first SG hit connects.

Faust is a difficult matchup to play correctly IMO. Some things you can try are summoning at full screen and then using -H- to navigate the shadow past items, and trying to get a drill puddle behind Faust and then doing a puddle summon and poking Faust in the back with the shadow. Against camping opponents I would suggest using a combination of far drills, -P- to poke from range and -H- to dodge attempts to destroy the shadow. You can also iad j.S or iad SG with Zato if you're feeling gutsy, but that involves more risk. Even a whiffed SG is surprisingly hard to punish if you can poke with the shadow to cover your recovery. If the opponent is throwing projectiles like Gun Flame from range you can try negating the projectile with a drill and then punishing the recovery with the shadow.

I heard that the japanese players don't like the fact that opponents can burst from the unblockable to force neutral with the nerfed shadow recovery, plus that the damage reward is slightly less. They prefer controlling the match with a fresh resummon instead, which is kinda similar to Millia in a way. I wonder if this means that we'll start seeing something like -P-, SG (1), -S-, SG (2), wallslump, 5D6, unsummon, 5P, 2K, 22S, resummon off the first mixup eventually to maximize damage before unsummoning.

Whenever you can get away with it! If you have room or if you can create it with e.g. a back airdash, you can H summon and try to react. If you're summoning in a riskier position (within iad range, opponent jumping in etc.) you can go for S summon to get the fastest possible Nobiru which can lead to juicy counterhits. Nobiru also has a big hurtbox so it also covers you from attacks if it has enough time to come out. If you have meter, you can also try a neutral YRC, BTL YRC or even a drill YRC to get the summon out more safely and to be able to react with it during the time stop. It's extremely hard to punish BTL YRC into summon unless you're very close to the opponent. And of course it's matchup dependent as well. Some characters can punish you easier and others have good tools for handling the shadow at range.

The easiest way is to input 2S, 22P+H, tapping both buttons quickly at the same time. Little Eddie will do shadow P because of button priority, but Zato will do 22H because there is no 22P and 2S doesn't gatling into 2P.

I guess you might have to extend the Shadow Gallery combo with a meaty 22S into a blockstring summon, but that's still pretty decent.

BTL has what, 13 frames of startup before it's fully invincible. It's not that impossible to get gaps that long against many characters, especially with FD pushback or IB. It's not directly comparable to FD jumping in the sense that you need a much bigger gap and take a bigger risk because of the CH, but the reward is also bigger. FD jumping doesn't guarantee getting out of pressure safely. I'm not suggesting that you mash BTL during blockstrings, but I think it's a decent option if the enemy gets pushed back a bit and needs to get back in. If you do manage to get underground and have the YRC, I think you can often get into a decent position, even if you started in the corner. And obviously, don't do it defensively without YRC. Maybe it's just that the people I've been playing against don't know how to keep me from abusing it, but I've certainly gotten some mileage out of it defensively.

Going from 6 to 7 seconds of shadow cooldown doesn't sound that bad, I was afraid it would be worse. It does remove the unblockable loops, unless it's only when the shadow is hit, but those really needed to go anyway. With 7 seconds, I think you should still be able to meaty into blockstring summon after 1 hit SG into dust (though the dust animation might be one of those periods when the shadow doesn't recharge now), which is worse than before but still decent. BTL YRC hurts, but it was pretty ridiculous before. I guess it's back to FD jumping to escape. I think I read from some japanese post that puddle summon consumes a shadow P's worth of gauge, but I don't know for sure. Unblockable damage reduction seems fair, 80% doesn't sound too bad. And we even got some buffs! Especially j.K was kinda unexpected. I think Zato can survive these nerfs without becoming garbage, but maybe he won't be number 1 anymore.

236S is an easy way to get the fastest possible Nobiru when you're summoning in a tight spot. 236K is ok to get a fast Mawaru after an Executor knockdown. Other than that, I'd stick with 236H.

You should still be able to cancel 6K into 236S to combo in the corner.

One thing with the SG RC combo is that I think the unblockable has to be perfect (both j.S and the first drill hit meaty), you have to hit with j.S close to the ground and you have to instantly cancel it into SG during hitstop. If you do it properly, the first SG should lift the opponent slightly lower than normal because the drill is keeping the opponent lower, and RC into delayed SG should bring the opponent to the ground.

I thought I'd pitch in and start with some basic corner mawaru mixups and combos. This is typed from memory and might contain mistakes, so please correct if you find anything wrong! Basic mawaru corner mixups Zato's basic BnB corner mixup is done using -K- a.k.a. mawaru. The idea is to get the opponent to block mawaru in the corner, and follow it up with a dash jump and mixup. When done properly, the opponent will be in blockstun for the entire duration of the mixup, so they will be forced to either block and guess, reversal or dead angle. When started with a full shadow gauge and a meaty mawaru, you can even continue a blocked mixup with a new mixup, although you will have to do different combos from the later mixups to properly capitalize into an unblockable without running out of shadow gauge. In the corner, mawaru does 4 hits instead of 3, and the timing of the last hit varies based on the distance from the enemy. From the ideal distance, which I think is about the distance Damned Fang leaves you at or a bit further, all 4 hits should combo on block or hit, which is very helpful in making your empty jump low mixups throw proof. If mawaru is done from further away, it leaves a gap before the 4th hit, which can allow the enemy to throw, backdash or DP. In these situations, empty jump mixups are riskier. To do a waterproof mawaru mixup, you should also be doing the mawaru with an actual -K- input, as opposed to a K summon. Otherwise, you have much less time to jump and gaps can result. It's possible (this should be tested) that an optimally spaced K summon still allows enough time to do a j.K based mixup, but empty jumps are probably too slow. You should also make sure to jump early enough with respect to the mawaru. A good timing is to dash jump at about the same time as you release the K button. In combination with proper spacing, this should keep the opponent in blockstun long enough to do both j.K and empty jump variants safely. The basic setups to go for the mawaru mixup are good corner knockdowns, obviously. Usually, this will be a 2D cancelled to an H summon, a drill or a Damned Fang. A regular throw will also work, but care must be taken to avoid getting reversal thrown if you get left within throw range (e.g. if you throw the opponent backwards while being cornered yourself). You can also set up the mawaru mixup from a blockstring summon, although doing so will always leave some gaps that a skilled enemy could exploit. Still, it's frequently useful, for example if Eddie hasn't fully recharged when the enemy is knocked down but recharges shortly afterwards. As an example, something like meaty 22S (e.g. after a Damned Fang), dash c.S, 5H, H summon, -P-, 2S, -K- is a reasonable setup that is not easy to escape without IB and which still allows enough time to jump after 2S to do the j.K mixup variants at least. Additionally, the -P-, 2S, -K- part acts as a frame trap, and can be directly hit confirmed into a combo and unblockable using dash 5D if the opponent gets hit while trying to jump or press a button. Basic mawaru mixup guard break patterns On block, all mixups can be followed with more mixups as long as you have shadow gauge remaining. On hit, all of these mixups can lead into a corner unblockable as long as you do the proper combo variant and have enough shadow gauge left. -K-, dash jump j.K JC, j.S (breaks guard), j.H Unreactable, unprorated overhead. Try to hit with the j.K as low as possible to avoid telegraphing the fact that you're going high. If the enemy blocks j.K while you are high in the air, they can just block high by default and react or even punish you if you try land and go low. -K-, dash jump j.K JC, j.K (breaks guard), j.H A variation of the above. j.K hits farther ahead, but doesn't hit as low so it can whiff more easily on characters with tiny crouching hitboxes. This is most often used midscreen. -K-, dash jump j.K, land, 2K (breaks guard), 2S The basic safe low mixup option. As long as the j.K hits low enough, you cannot be thrown or hit out of this, even if your mawaru is imperfectly timed or spaced. -K-, dash empty jump, land, 2K (breaks guard), 2S Because people are usually conditioned to expect the j.K, this connects much more often than you'd think. However, it is only safe if the mawaru is timed and spaced correctly, otherwise you can be thrown, DPd or backdashed out of this. The flipside is that people attempting those options will get hit by this low if you do it correctly because they cannot block low while attempting those inputs. -K-, dash empty jump, land, 5K (breaks guard), c.S 5K is slower, does less damage and has more proration than 2K, so I think it's a worse low to use on the first mixup. It's important because on hit it can be comboed into 5D using -P-, which conserves shadow gauge and allows for unblockables off the second mixup. -K-, jump, low airdash j.S (breaks guard), j.H An overhead option that hits later than the other overheads, which can catch people who attempt to switch block from high to low based on timing. This will also work without a dash jump (unlike the j.K variants), which is especially useful if you try to mixup off a raw blocked K summon, because it's much easier to get the fastest jump by just holding 9 instead of trying to time a dash jump after the summon recovery ends. Basic combos off successful guard breaks These combos can be used to follow up any of the above mixup patterns. guard break, -K-, 5D, homing dash, 6P (2), -D-, 2H, 22S, meaty j.S or j.H (unblockable), 6P (2) JC, j.K, j.H, j.D, land, j.D Basic universal BnB combo into mawaru, dust and unblockable. The mine should be set somewhere between the first and second hits of 6P. I use something like 6[P], 3D (sets mine, Zato does nothing), 3H, 22S as the input. This can only be done off the first mixup (i.e. you break their guard off the first mixup after the first mawaru), otherwise you will run out of shadow gauge during the dust combo and will be unable to do the unblockable. If that happens, you should go for a knockdown combo off the dust instead to spend time and allow the shadow gauge to recharge. To do the unblockable, you can use either a flying j.S/j.H or a dash jump j.S, whichever you find easier. j.H does more damage and can be used to setup 1-hit SG combos, but is harder to time. I find dash jump j.S to be easiest and most consistent, and it allows for easier YRCing as well to mess up their reversal timing. guard break, -K-, 5D, homing dash, 2[H], 2D (sets mine), c.S, 2D, unblockable "Easy mode" corner unblockable combo. Easier to do than the 6P variant, but does not work on all characters. j.K JC, j.S (breaks guard), j.H, -P-, dash c.S, -P-, 5D, -D-, homing dash, 6P (2), c.S JC, meaty j.S or j.H (unblockable) Overhead into unblockable when the shadow gauge is low. This can be used to combo into the unblockable if the overhead connects after the second mawaru. 5K (breaks guard), c.S, -P-, 5D, -D-, homing dash, 6P (2), c.S JC, meaty j.S or j.H (unblockable) Low into unblockable when the shadow gauge is low, e.g. from an empty jump after the second mawaru. Even if the 5K is blocked, an inexperienced opponent might still eat the dust and the unblockable if they fail to switch to high block, although following up with the 5D on block is very gimmicky. guard break, -K-, 6K RC, Damned Fang, -D-, unblockable Cannot be bursted after 6K hits, except for reversal gold burst during the unblockable. If you run out of shadow gauge when doing the mawaru, this combo also lasts for some time and recharges the shadow a bit. However, if the opponent doesn't have burst, it's probably better to use the next combo and save the meter. guard break, -K-, 5D, homing dash, 6P (2), c.S, dash c.S, 5H (3), 22H Basic shadowless combo off the dust into a good knockdown that allows for decent shadowless okizeme with a close drill to recharge the shadow. This can be used if the shadow gauge runs out when doing the -K-. On some characters with narrow hitboxes, the dash before the second c.S needs to be very short to avoid the drill whiffing. I've also seen Ogawa use deep dash c.S, 2S, 5H (2), 22H, which might connect more reliably on those characters.

If I remember correctly, you can also 2P, 2D or just 2D a blue burst's ground recovery into triple UB. The timing is rather tight though.

1-hit SG is possible after -K- with either TK SG FRC or carefully timed and spaced j.S, j.H, -S-, SG. I'm not sure if you can do it from the long range the -P- combo leaves you at. In any case, the combo into the drill eats up most of the guard gauge so any combo extension isn't going to do that much damage. I'd say go straight for the puddle after the drill. In general, the puddle unblockable is the best. It deals the best stun, generates a lot of tension, ends in a knockdown and leaves you with the option of going for the 22H FRC iad j.S unblockable afterwards.

As far as I can tell, the 1-hit SG combo is the best, so you should try to go for it whenever possible. If you notice you screw up the relift part with 6P, you can usually react and do the j.KHD, -S- combo instead. I'm not sure about this one, but I don't think the iad combos are noticeably better. The japanese Eddies use -K- combos usually. The -P- combo to the drill should be somewhat burst safe. Also, on block, if your opponent likes to DP/backdash/whatever between -K- hits, the -P- strings can be harder to escape from. I think the 6P, 5H combo instead of the standard 6P loop trades some stun for better damage. It might be good if you manage to catch your opponent crouching in an unprorated combo, like punishing crouching recoveries with -K- or interrupting a crouching move or something like that. I use these combos: (corner) deep dash, S©, 2S, 2H, 22D, dash sj.K(S)HD - Easy to do, 25% gauge, does not work on all characters. (corner) dash 5H (1 or 2 hits), 22S, 2K, 2H, 22D, dash sj.KHD - I think this one works on everyone. S©, 2H, 632146H - Easy damage, especially midscreen. Less hits than the 22D combos, so I think it charges the opponent's burst meter less. 632146H - If the opponent has burst, he can't burst from the super. (corner) 22D, 22D, dash j.SHD, land, sj.KHD - Easy to do, somewhat burst safe during the 22D part and very good damage for 50%.

Might be "Jun" or "Atsushi" or something else, can't say for sure.

A small mistake here. I played in Team Bullshit Warehouse, and Mio played in "Whatever, pretty random, shrug". So the correct top 4 is: 1. La Cruelle, Coungster / Joe Higashi / Oro (FRA) 2. Im Caer, Bitch, Who the fuck are you?, Caer / Xzi / Shinjin (SWE) 3. Whatever, pretty random, shrug, Lazze / Lari / Mio (FIN) 4. Bullshit warehouse, Starfire / Tsiisus / cube-m (FIN)