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Bardock
Movement Options
Double Jump, Super Jump, 1 Air Dash, Dash Type: Run
Play-style
Rushdown
Team Role
Point, Middle
Overview
"It's up to me now...I'm...I'm gonna change the future!"
The biological father of Kakarot (AKA Son Goku/Sun Wukong). A low class Saiyan warrior, however the head of a team colloquially named the "Bardock Squad". After travelling to planet Kanassa, home of clairvoyant aliens that he had been hired by Frieza to kill, his team was killed by Dodoria, and Bardock was granted clairvoyance by the last remaining Kanassan. With this power, he discovered that Frieza planned to eradicate the entire Saiyan race and made a bold last stand. In the end, he was completely overpowered and destroyed, along with Planet Vegeta and the near entirety of his people. He died happy, however, after receiving a vision that his son, Kakarot, would defeat the tyrant and avenge his fallen race... (NOTE: This rendition of Bardock has been retconned, and his rendition in the movie Dragon Ball Super: Broly is considered "canon".) (Name trivia: Pun on Japanese root vegetable called a "Burdock".)
BardockBardock is a brawler character who dominates the neutral game with his combination of fast and far-reaching attacks.
Pros
Cons
Simple core gameplan and incredibly low execution requirements for his BnB's, which are universal.
Often regarded as possessing the strongest neutral game because of his great normals, his good ki blasts, and his signature lariat, Rebellion Spear.
Incredibly solid buttons; a good balance in speed and range.
Amazing stagger pressure capabilities. Almost all of his buttons are safe on block, making it very easy to reset pressure.
5LL infamously brings opponents down to the ground for easy hit confirms, no matter what limb or hair follicle was touched by his hands.
Well above-average corner damage solo, and very high with assists. Even with basic BnB's, he can use resources to extend his combos, which can result in a significant boost in damage.
Assist A is a fast strike that is useful in neutral and on offense.
Assist B has an incredibly high amount of both blockstun and hitstun while also hitting full-screen, virtually making it one of the best in the entire game.
Somewhat limited high/low mixups without assists. Has to rely on Assisted SD 50/50s and good stagger pressure in order to open up opponents.
Left-right mixup can be difficult to set up due to the nature of his air normals.
While he does have amazing neutral game options, he generally needs assists to accompany him with his options.
Bardock does a gut punch that moves him forward slightly. Has deceptively long range and very fast start-up speed, making it a great button for contesting the opponents pressure or to anti-air opponents who IAD.
5LL
Can be canceled into from 5L, even on whiff.
Jump cancelable on hit.
Groundbounces airborne opponents.
Auto-corrects on side switch.
Bardock does a two-handed downward smash that moves him forward slightly. Its infamously large hitbox, auto-correction, and fantastic scaling makes this an attack to be feared. Drags down arieal opponents for a full combo conversion.
5LLL
Can be canceled into from 5LL, even on whiff.
Auto-corrects on side switch.
Bardock does an uppercut that moves him forward. Just like the other two attacks in his auto combo, this move has a massive hitbox that can snipe airborne opponents, which when combined with its forward movement and auto-correction makes it track the opponent's movement. Forces a Smash, even if it has already been used in a combo, though Bardock doesn't use this for his optimal combos.
Bardock shoots a ki blast. Causes soft knockdown on hit.
Can only shoot one blast a time.
Somewhat underwhelming in neutral, although it can confirm into 236H at any range, giving it some utility. It is however one of the stronger 5S normals in the game when used in pressure.
Level 1 move, so it doesn't true blockstring into vanish
Probably one of Bardock's strongest tools, if not his best. Travels incredibly far and incredibly fast, allowing it to be used as a neutral tool. Despite being minus on block, Bardock can still block afterwards and he can cover up the blockstun with an assist, which if the lariat hits, he can get a full combo afterwards. If you use the air version and catch your opponent in the air, they are basically forced right back to the ground, allowing you to get some extra pressure. It's no wonder that some Bardock players choose to start rounds with just a raw 236L.
Ground M or 236H > L/M/H on hit
Air M or j.236H > L/M/H on hit
Damage depends on distance.
Ground version is invulnerable to head property attacks. Has recovery on the way down.
Aerial version ground bounces, spiking the opponent upwards which can lead to snapback setups.
Aerial version is only U1+ Smash on air-to-air hit.
The medium version of his lariat has some niche uses during neutral. It can be used to intercept opponents who press buttons in the air, both on the ground and in the air. Despite this, the reward isn't anything significant, as vanish is mandatory to extend combos.
With the recovery on this move heavily nerfed, it can no longer be used as a mix-up tool during blockstrings. The opponent can now guard high and react to 2L very consitantly. He is now required to discover other methods to setup 50/50 mix-ups.
Ground H
Air H
Damage depends on distance: midscreen → midscreen to almost fullscreen → exactly fullscreen.
Moves straight ahead, crosses up on hit or block.
On hit, can followup with an additional attack by pressing L/M/H. This attack is identical to 236M/j.236M and doesn't cost Ki.
Now your main combo ender in most scenarios, as j.214M can no longer be comboed into. As a result though, it now causes sliding knockdown, and is a pretty good substitute for j.214M, only slightly reducing Bardock's total damage. Gives terrible oki midscreen however, meaning you probably want to end combos with j.LLL midscreen instead, as you are put much closer and can still do supers. In the corner this problem is negated and is still your go-to ender there, however you might be better off ending with j.LLL in the corner due to the trouble of landing a super after this. This is useful to use if you have too much hitstun to combo into j.S 214M.
Ground M
Air M
Causes a ground bounce sliding knockdown.
Mostly used on the ground for combos, though in the corner you can combo into this by doing a basic air combo into j.S j.214M. You have a much easier window to combo into supers from this, so it is recommended. It also gives much better oki than 214L.
Ground H
Air H
Causes a ground bounce sliding knockdown.
Okay for some extra damage, however due to the other Raging Meteors now causing SKD at all times, this has somewhat lost it's utility.
Good as a sort of reset tool in blockstrings, it's very strong if the opponent isn't paying attention because of it's insane plus frames and ability to easily get a conversion in the corner. It's slow startup time makes it so it is very easy to react and reflect and/or punish, but it still has some good utility if you don't get predictable with it.
Charged
Wallbounces.
Can be used as a reflect bait of sorts - when you use 236S in a blockstring and you charge it, it will completely beat out reflect. This is good if you know your opponent will reflect the move and you want to get an explosive punish off of it.
Bardock's assist A is pretty solid, and is always a good choice if you're looking for something that can quickly get a hit in during the mid range. It's pretty good in blockstrings as well due to it's speed, as you can throw it into a blockstring very easily without fear of it being reflected or wake-up reversal'd. You can't go wrong with this option, even with how good assist B is, so really just pick based on what your team/playstyle is looking for.
On hit, opponent kind of floats in place for a while, allowing for easy followups.
Bardock comes out and performs Tyrant Lancer. Does not do the followup on hit or block. Very good, not only does it track the opponent for long range confirms, but it has incredibly high blockstun, allowing for all kinds of setups should you so choose. While you give up the fast, strong tool of Assist A, the benefits that Bardock's Assist B offers is seriously strong, as it acts as a mixup tool due to it's blockstun, enabling mixups, and an enhancement to beams/ki blasts so that you can pick up confirms without wasting meter on Vanish. The assist is honestly kind of busted, really.
Teleports to the opponent and performs a two-hit combo. Causes groundbounce sliding knockdown on hit.
Tracks anywhere on the screen
Not really worth it. While Assist C can be good in it's own right for many characters, Bardock's other two options are just much too good to really give up. It does track anywhere on the screen - even in the air, so it does have some utility there, but even then it's hard to give up the options of assist A's fast reach and versatility, or assist B's incredibly high blockstun and easy long-range confirms on hit. Your other characters probably have better Assist C options than Bardock does, anyway.
Goes just over half screen, only does 1590 if hits at the tip.
Minimum damage: 395, 318.
Can be followed up with Riot Javelin by pressing L/M/H/S if the move hits. This version can also be directed up or down.
Relatively short recovery means that Bardock can use this super multiple times in a combo with assists. As of Season 2 however, this scales the damage heavily and is not reccomended.
Opponents can vanish on reaction to the startup, so it isn't a great reversal against normals.
Revenge Assault
Revenge Assault 214L+M or 214H+S (Air OK)
"Oh no, I won't let you get away with what you've done!"
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