Things to note when discussing matchups:
-General ratio
-Optimal/inoptimal spacings
-Strong/Weak buttons
-Things to watch out for
-Character specific confirms
-etc etc
Overview: A.B.A will most likely find room to transform at some point - our goal, until then, is to stay close and play offensively in order to punish at every opportunity. Once she transforms, we need to play a more defensive, spacing-based game and fish for counterhits, lest she gets a counterhitand removes 80% of our health bar in one combo. Pin is your best friend.
Positioning: Against Normal Mode A.B.A, we need to be in close proximity (though not within her 5P/2P range). Against Moroha Mode A.B.A, we want to make her approaches dangerous with pin and H disc, while attempting to call-out big buttons like j.H (which she’ll be more than eager to use).
Millia Dos:
A.B.A has a much longer wakeup timing than most characters, so adjust your meaty high/low setups accordingly. Garden setups are particularly useful for limiting ABA’s options of escaping oki since they are a lot more prevalent: we can set garden even after a j.2H ender and still be safe to wakeup throw by jumping afterwards, an interaction that doesn’t happen with any other character in the game.
Punish blood pack transformations in neutral. You won’t necessarily be able to prevent her from transforming, but you’ll will at least get one of the three knockdowns you need to de-transform her.
FD and backdash Normal Mode A.B.A’s pressure. She will frametrap you into Keygrab, and her 5P and 2P are too fast (and plus-on-block) for you to contest, so getting out is your best option.
Anti-air Normal Mode A.B.A with 6P, since she doesn’t have strong disjoints without Moroha. Anti-air Moroha Mode A.B.A primarily with a rising j.K (especially if she’s IADing towards you) - we need to catch her j.HGuardHigh/AirStartup12Recovery20Advantage- during its startup, otherwise its’ extremely difficult and risky to contest.
Use H DiscGuardAllStartup60RecoveryTotal 32Advantage- in neutral to make Moroha Mode A.B.A’s approach riskier. Be ready to FRC the disc, as she can be surprisingly fast.
Use 2D to catch Moroha A.B.A off-guard. She’ll want to run towards us and 2D’s range is deceptively large - and, on-hit, grants us one of the three knockdowns needed to de-transform her.
FD Moroha Mode A.B.A’s buttons whenever possible to create opportunities to jump or mash out of pressure.
IK A.B.A. The following knockdowns allow for an IK punish on Suka motion, once A.B.A de-transforms: (a) j.2H, (b) 6H > 236Sfrc, (c) 2D, (d) low-height pin, (e) Longinus, (f) anything with an RC.
SBing the Goku Moroha transformation allows for a quick punish that grants one of the three knockdowns needed to de-transform her.
A.B.A's ground unblockableGuardAirStartup28Recovery29Advantage- can be rolled under and punished.
Millia Don’ts:
Don’t anti-air Moroha Mode A.B.A from the ground. Contesting her j.H is risky if the hitbox gets to come out, and A.B.A gets high reward with a counterhit j.H.
Avoid air-to-ground approaches without coverage. A.B.A’s anti-airs (in all modes!) are very good and grant her either big damage or keygrabGuardAll(65 pixels)Startup13(4)Recovery30Advantage-32 transformations.
A.B.A moves to watch out for:
her 5PGuardMidStartup3Recovery7Advantage+1 is a 3f button with head-invulnerability and they can be converted into keygrab in normal mode or high damage in moroha mode, so jump-ins without pin are very ill-advised.
In Normal Mode, 5HGuardMidStartup13Recovery27Advantage-15 and 6HGuardMidStartup18Recovery25Advantage-15 are big buttons that she can use to build space to transform. They also build tons of stun, so you have to be careful.
Also in normal mode, slideGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 28Advantage- can get under your f.S and occasionally grant A.B.A a throw > Keygrab combo.
Moroha Mode j.H and f.SGuardMidStartup9Recovery16Advantage-1 are massive buttons and key tools in her pressure. 2DGuardLowStartup12Recovery23Advantage-6 is also a deceptively large low, much like our own.
2HGuardMidStartup17Recovery6Advantage+2 is a throw-invul move commonly used as a meaty, so be careful when mashing throw on wakeup.
DanzaiGuardMidStartup18Recovery25Advantage-9 is a good all-purpose move (especially the FB version), and your oki should be safe against it. For example, you can do crossups to invert her inputs, or use Secret Garden oki to punish normal Danzai and give you time to block FB Danzai).
Goku Moroha's activationGuardMidStartup15+2Recovery26Advantage+5 can and will be used to frametrap you, so expect it to appear once A.B.A gets 50% meter (and especially if she just did the 3rd hit of her rekka).
Overview: Anji has a great set of pokes to deal with our toolkit, and his autoguard can turn small reads into big damage + butterfly oki. To compensate for that, we have higher speed, and stronger oki. A very knowledge-heavy matchup.
Positioning: Millia has better mobility and good grounded normals, so you should alternate between poking Anji from 2D/f.S range or approach from the air with pin. You don’t want to be too passive or too grounded because Fuujin is a great tool to close the distance, put you in blockstun and allow Anji to run his offense.
Millia Dos:
Make extensive use of 2D. Aside from low-autoguard, Anji has a lot of trouble dealing with it.
FuujinGuardMidStartup20Recovery27Advantage-16 is particularly weak for Anji in this matchup, as our normals’ range makes it a very situational tool. Don’t let him get away with Fuujin followups if he gets to use it! React to RinGuardHighStartup27Recovery16Advantage0 with 2K, block and punish NagihaGuardLowStartup10Recovery27Advantage-19, throw/throw break IssokutobiGuardStartupRecovery24+6 after landingAdvantage-, and jump (and, if possible, punish with and air-to-air) Shin: IchishikiGuardAllStartup36RecoveryTotal 50+8 after landingAdvantage+17.
Our backdash is fast, so IBing ShitsuGuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 48Advantage-7 and backdashing midscreen is a strong option. It takes some learning to recognize when this is a good option or not, but keep it in mind.
Make use of meaty lows (such as 2K/2S) during disc oki. Anji has a frame 1 high-autoguard on his 6KGuardMidStartup11Recovery18Advantage-10, so you have to make use of meaty lows to discourage him from using it to punish discs.
Millia Don’ts:
Be careful with pin, and vary your pin timings! This is the one matchup where we cannot assume that throwing pin will lead to a blockstring, as Anji can autoguard it quite easily on a read.
Anji moves to watch out for:
Anji has a rather strange jump arc, and has his j.DGuardHigh/AirStartup10Recovery14+6 after landingAdvantage- to stop his air momentum, both of which allow him to bait anti-airs effectively. High-recovery anti-airs like 6P can be dangerous against him.
Anji's 5PGuardMidStartup4Recovery8Advantage+3 is very fast and an effective low-commitment anti-air vs Millia. Without pin covering approaches, our j.K/j.S need to be higher than normal to avoid 5P and punish Anji (and converting from it requires odd routing, e.g. j.SPK before landing). Best option here is to go directly with j.P, which has the highest chance of trading/winning.
Overview: A very movement-heavy matchup. Axl can punish any movement with the correct reads, but we outpace him. His defensive options are very strong, but flawed, and his buttons are slower than most characters’, so he has some trouble dealing with disc oki.
Overview: This is a matchup where we need to move very carefully and play defensively. Both characters control space in neutral very well (Baiken with tatami, us with H disc and pin), and both characters are at disadvantage by blindly playing offensively. Wait for Baiken to do larger commits and be aggressive, and punish her whenever she acts predictably.
Overview: Both characters want to snowball the game out of control, and whoever gets a knockdown will gain massive advantage. Dizzy has the damage and stronger oki, but we have better mobility and conversions from stray hits.
Positioning: Both characters will constantly be chasing each other, but we’re trying to play aggressive since:
our mobility is slightly better.
we can get knockdowns from stray hits, unlike her.
we don’t want to give her breathing room to control the screen with summons.
Millia Dos:
Punish fish summons.GuardAllStartup58~68 (26~35)Recovery12 [Total 36]Advantage- Our mobility works wonders against Dizzy, and most times we can punish fish summons and prevent Dizzy from winning neutral through it. Pin is particularly useful here.
6P is a great anti-air against Dizzy.
Winger is particularly useful against fish oki; it's a multi-hit, so it can punish Dizzy for using a meaty without risk of the hit being absorbed by the fish.
Millia Don’ts:
DAA and Burst are very bad against fish oki. The single-hit will usually kill the fish but leave Dizzy unharmed, giving her ample room to combo you into another knockdown, and into another fish oki.
Avoid doing air-to-grounds without pin coverage. Dizzy’s 2SGuardMidStartup7Recovery22Advantage-11 is one of the best anti-airs in the game and it’ll win cleanly against our j.S, allowing her a free punish as soon as we start being predictable in our air-to-grounds.
Dizzy moves to watch out for:
Dizzy’s 2S is one of the best anti-airs in the game if you’re directly above her, as mentioned above.
Dizzy’s reversal superGuardThrowStartup9+4Recovery14Advantage- is a ground-based command grab. It’s usually strong, but very weak in this matchup because we can naturally play around it without sacrificing oki strength. To play around it, use IADs during disc oki or # moves that get Millia above-ground (like 6K, 2D, haircarGuardLowStartup17Recovery18+8 after landingAdvantage-13, or TK Bad MoonGuardHigh/AirStartup11Recovery22 after landingAdvantage-15). Avoid meaty 2K and meaty 2S, if possible. haircar(whiff) > FRC > j.K is particularly strong as an oki tool.
Overview: Both characters want to get the first hit so they can start snowballing, and both characters can use their unique mobility options to make them harder to catch. Eddie has higher damage and can play evasively in neutral with tools like flight, but Millia has stronger conversions off stray hits and is overall more stable.
Positioning: Positioning is relatively flexible here. Neither party necessarily wants to be right on top of the other in neutral, so a lot of time will be spent moving around in the midrange. Millia can generally afford to be more aggressive than Eddie due to her better approach tools, and this is often recommended to keep Eddie from raw summoning.
Millia Dos:
Pin can be used to kill Little Eddie from anywhere if Eddie isn’t protecting him enough. From far enough away, you can throw pin largely uncontested, and killing Little Eddie gives you a major opportunity to go in and start your game.
Use your movement to chase Eddie down if he attempts to stall in the air with flight. Millia can generally catch him if he tries this, and moves like j.D and H Pin let her control space in the air. If he’s too high up to catch, you can rely on your grounded anti-airs to catch him.
Get comfortable with anti-airing Eddie’s normals. Eddie’s jump-ins don’t have amazing hitboxes, and an anti-air 6P is a golden opportunity to knock him down and start oki.
Learn when to disrespect Eddie’s pressure. Millia has a good backdash and can oftentimes use movement to escape Eddie’s lockdown. Keeping Eddie from overextending can be key to preventing a snowball situation.
When you get a knockdown, press your advantage as much as you can. Eddie’s defensive options are quite bad, and his durability is fairly low, so committing to looping mixups can be extremely rewarding and relatively low-risk.
Use pin often. In addition to its application for killing Little Eddie, Eddie himself generally has poor answers to it; he usually can’t get out of the way of it, especially when locked into flight, and tools like his reflectorGuardMidStartup9Recovery10Advantage-6 and anti-air NobiruGuardAllStartup11Recovery23Advantage- lose to it outright.
Punish raw summons. If you give Eddie the space, he may try to summon Little Eddie in neutral, which gives him access to better damage and space control. If you think he’ll do this, you can generally run up and gain space if not punish him outright.
Millia Don’ts:
Don’t back off from Eddie for long. Preventing a raw summon is a good goal in neutral, and Millia doesn’t usually need to run away from summonless Eddie.
Don’t IAD directly into Eddie. Eddie’s 6PGuardMidStartup13Recovery12Advantage-2 has a low hitbox, making it more ideal for beating IADs than other air approaches. In addition, Nobiru is never worth trying to challenge without pin coverage due to its hitbox and high reward.
Don’t sit still in neutral. Giving Eddie a free opportunity to approach could be the start of a much more dangerous situation. You’ll usually have ways to stop Eddie from getting what he wants in neutral, so don’t be afraid to challenge him.
Don’t rely on buttons to challenge Eddie’s offense. Without shadow, Eddie can use Invite HellGuardLow/AirStartup18RecoveryTotal 42Advantage+2 as a plus on block frametrap, and with shadow, safe opportunities to mash are rare.
Eddie moves to watch out for:
Nobiru is one of the strongest anti-airs in the game, being both highly rewarding on hit and extremely difficult to contest without pin.
Invite Hell is a good midrange tool that can control space and knocks down on hit. It’s also a low, making it tricky in pressure.
Flight can make Eddie trickier to anti-air and allow him to play more evasively; playing around Eddie’s unique movement is key to the matchup.
FB Drill SpecialGuardLow/Air, All×2Startup20RecoveryTotal 62Advantage+8 is similar to Invite Hell, but massive enough to discourage a variety of approaches and usable in unblockable setups.
AmorphousGuardMidStartup8+8Recovery28Advantage-17 is Eddie’s reversal, and also a massive air-unblockable anti-air. It’s slow and has a blindspot between him and the shadow, but it’s still large and invincible, so it’s important to play around it as you would other reversals.
Overview: Faust can easily snowball the match out of control: his pokes are great, items can fill the screen and give him massive advantage, and he has strong oki and pressure. However, if we can outmaneuver him and score a knockdown, he has trouble dealing with Millia oki. Faust also has a notably large hurtbox in the air, which gives us access to large damage through Faust-only dustloop routes, allowing us to close match much faster than in other matchups.
Positioning: We are forced to play the aggressor since Faust can threaten us from afar but we cannot do the same. Our approaches have to be careful and entail as little risk as possible, but we have to approach.
Millia Dos:
Move fast, but be ready to block and/or FD break at all times. Avoid big commits in neutral - Faust loves to punish risky neutral play and will easily put you back at square one while throwing items at the same time.
Millia’s run low-profiles Faust’s f.SGuardMidStartup7Recovery28Advantage-20, weakening some of his options for space control.
Punish Faust’s large buttons on-whiff (most notably f.S and 2HGuardMidStartup14Recovery21Advantage-4). Several of his big pokes have plenty of recovery on-whiff (though are safe on-block primarily due to item toss and distance), and we can use those whiffs as opportunities to establish pressure.
Contest Faust in the air with close-range j.K and j.P if near him, but be ready to block his j.HGuardHigh/AirStartup9Recovery12Advantage- (if you’re in the same height but there’s horizontal distance between the two) and his j.D (if he’s above you). Our buttons have faster startup, but his have overall larger ranges and disjoints.
Practice dustloop routes to deal big damage to Faust! Several routes can be found in this combo video.
Millia Don’ts:
While not impossible, it's difficult to 6P anti-air Faust's j.DGuardHigh/AirStartup12Recovery21+4 after landingAdvantage-, so avoid it. It’s safer to run under and switch sides, so that Faust whiffs the j.D and you’re able to punish him for it.
Avoid using roll in neutral. While it’s a good tool for unpredictable movement (and makes several of Faust’s moves whiff, including his f.S and scalpel pullGuardMidStartup20Recovery18Advantage-11), it’s very risky since Faust can get a big punish with 2H.
Faust moves to watch out for:
Faust has very strong anti-airs in 6PGuardMidStartup8Recovery26Advantage-15, 5KGuardMidStartup7Recovery11Advantage-5, and 2KGuardMid, Low×2Startup7Recovery5Advantage+1, all of which can beat our air-to-ground j.S approaches and allow him to escape pressure.
As mentioned earlier, his 2H is a great space-control tool, but it has a grounded hitbox (so any IAD or jump will make it whiff) and has plenty of recovery. On-block, though, Faust is +4 with a reverse beat 2H > 5P(whiff).
Faust’s j.HGuardHigh/AirStartup9Recovery12Advantage- controls the air, and you have to respect it.
Overview: Justice’s matchups usually depend heavily on whether the opponent has responses to her nuke zoning. Luckily for us, Secret Garden works wonders in this matchup, so neutral is in Millia’s advantage. Justice’s defensive options are like Axl’s but worse, so she has trouble escaping Millia's oki. On the flipside, she can easily deplete our life bar in a couple hits.
Positioning: Midscreen is a little dangerous given the range of Justice’s normals, so we either want to stay at fullscreen distance or in close-range. Fullscreen, Justice cannot punish Garden sets without spending meter (and her metered answers to it are overall subpar), and the bubble gives us coverage to move into close-range proximity and establish pressure that is difficult for Justice to deal with.
Millia Dos:
If Justice has less than 25% meter, we can freely Secret Garden fullscreen. This forces Justice to stop hiding behind nukes and forces her to jump, thus breaking her zoning game (since she’ll otherwise be stuck in blockstun long enough for us to maneuver nukes and pressure her).
We can overall anti-air Justice reliably with 6P and 5P, so don't be afraid to press if she's above you.
Millia Don’ts:
Justice can Saperia TranceGuardAllStartup12Recovery23Advantage-4~ or Michael BladeGuardMidStartup9+4Recovery46Advantage-14 to punish fullscreen Garden on reaction, so don’t Garden recklessly once she gets meter. You can use FB Garden to set the bubble in a safer way, or cancel Garden if you think Justice will attempt either of those. Be ready to throw tech against whiffed Saperia > throw.
Justice moves to watch out for:
6HGuardMidStartup17Recovery26Advantage-9 is Justice’s longest normal, and TK S Michael SwordGuardAllStartup10Recovery26+10 after landingAdvantage- has a big hitbox. We rarely want to be near those moves’ max-range, as it removes the threat of Garden and outranges our pokes.
Justice’s 2HGuardMidStartup11Recovery18Advantage-5 is a decent preemptive anti-air which leads to huge damage.
Overview: A very neutral-heavy matchup. Johnny has plenty of offensive tools with large reach but cannot afford to whiff them - and we have (risky) tools to force him to whiff, alongside the speed to punish him. In particular, the threat of low-profiling with Roll forces Johnny to underutilize his best buttons, giving us opportunities in an otherwise difficult neutral game. Millia’s f.S also shines in the grounded footsies of this matchup, as it has the ideal combination of speed and range to annoy Johnny.
Positioning: Johnny overall wants to be the aggressor - he is forced to approach, due to the risk of fullscreen-distance Millia setting H discs or Secret Gardens. We mostly stay in midrange, usually either within f.S range or barely outside of his f.S/5H range (or fullscreen, if Johnny isn’t approaching). Escaping Johnny’s pressure often means building a lot of distance between the two of you, though, so expect to switch positions a lot.
Millia Dos:
Use f.S. f.S has the ideal combination of speed and range to beat any of Johnny’s pokes that aren’t his 5KGuardMidStartup6Recovery9Advantage-2/+0/+3/+5. It won’t always combo in the situations it works best, but Johnny players hate dealing with this move, and it often helps starting our pressure.
Use Roll to low-profile his f.SGuardMidStartup8Recovery21Advantage-7/+5/+8/+10, 5HGuardMidStartup11Recovery33Advantage-16/+7/+10/+12, and 6HGuardMidStartup18Recovery32Advantage-15/+7/+10/+12. Johnny cannot afford to whiff those, so the threat of Roll forces him to use less-than-ideal buttons (like 3HGuardMidStartup11Recovery31Advantage-14/+7/+10/+12) as pokes/pressure in order to play around it. Weakening his pressure game is key to winning this matchup.
2D > Garden setups are very safe against Johnny due to his odd mobility, and are particularly strong in the corner.
Johnny is generally difficult for Millia to combo, so adjust your confirms to keep him from falling out.
Millia Don’ts:
Abuse Roll responsibly and don’t overuse it: Johnny gets a massive punish if he reads it with 3H. You want to have the opponent worried about Roll while using it as little as possible.
2K does not low-profile That’s My NameGuardMidStartup4+4Recovery22Advantage-6, so take that into account when doing reversal-safe oki.
Avoid 2K in neutral or as an abare option. Johnny’s hop-like dash makes 2K whiff.
Johnny moves to watch out for:
Johnny’s 6PGuardMidStartup11Recovery10Advantage-2/+2/+5/+7 is one of the better anti-airs in the game, and will beat any of your jump-ins, if you don’t have coverage.
Johnny’s j.HGuardHigh/AirStartup13Recovery21Advantage- is one of the best air-to-ground moves in the game. We can sometimes 6P it, but it doesn’t always work.
Overview: May has nearly unparalleled control of the air with her excellent aerial buttons and jump height, but we have a stronger ground game due to our pokes larger reach. We are forced to play very patient and focus on anti-airs and max-range pokes, lest May gets a counterhit and obliterates our health bar. May has quite a bit of difficulty escaping Millia disc oki, though.
Positioning: May wants to go to the air very often, while we want to stay primarily in the ground, at midscreen distance, where we can make use of our pokes’ range and anti-air her. That way, we force May into making large commits (or using meter) if she wants to start her pressure. Neither character gets much accomplished at fullscreen - she can set hoops and we can set garden/disc, but both have the speed to maneuver those without much trouble.
Millia Dos:
Poke May from afar with f.S and 2D, as our ground normals reach farther than hers.
H disc sets in neutral, when farther than midscreen (and especially if May wants to jump), help with controlling space and punishing linear offense.
6P works against nearly all of May’s jump-ins, and also beats Horizontal Dolphin unless she FBs it (against Horizontal Dolphin, convert from max-range 6P counterhits with IAD > j.K > j.H > rejump combo).
May's 3KGuardLowStartup8Recovery20Advantage-29 has big range for a low, so she may try to use it to counter our buttons, but it’s very unsafe. Unless she FRCs it, we can punish it on block.
If you’re in the air and in Vertical Dolphin range, FD immediately or throw pin preemptively to stop May from hitting you out of the air.
Millia Don’ts:
Don’t j.D Vertical Dolphin, if you’re in the air and in range for it. I know it looks like it should work well, but more-often-than-not it gets you killed (it often clashes or outright loses if not spaced perfectly, and both of you are moving fast so it’s hard to space it correctly).
Avoid contesting May with air-to-airs, outside of the occasional close range j.P or j.K. Her air normals are very strong and lead to big damage, and contesting them through the air often means death.
May moves to watch out for:
May's 6PGuardMidStartup16Recovery18Advantage-7 builds a lot of stun, so avoid getting hit by it at all costs.
May has two reversal supers she can use during disc oki: Ultimate WhinerGuardMidStartup7+2Recovery26Advantage-10 and SSUSWGuardMidStartup1+14Recovery15Advantage+2. To beat Ultimate Whiner, do any reversal-safe oki (block the super - which comes out in 9f - and the disc will CH her). To beat SSUSW, wait until she gets close to you and throw her before the first hit comes out (or use a super of your own to crush the armor). Disc’s hitstop should help you time the throw though, If May gets you to block a hit of SSUSW, though, the only way to punish it is to slashback > throw one of the hits.
May's j.HGuardHigh/AirStartup12Recovery15Advantage- is great for controlling air space. Outside of anti-airing with 6P, contesting it is very dangerous.
Overview: A lot of mirrors in this game are very cursed, but Millia mirrors are surprisingly “fair”: her kit has decent tools for most situations, so Millia can deal well with anything Millia can do. Movement and stray-hit conversions are crucial, and whoever gets a knockdown will be at a massive advantage.
Positioning: Expect both Millias to fly around the screen a lot.
Millia Dos:
Setplay the other Millia to death.
Millia Don’ts:
Don't get setplayed to death.
Millia moves to watch out for:
2D beats 2K - it lifts Millia’s hurtbox just enough above-ground to force 2K to whiff.
Overview: Order-Sol is a close-range monster and has quick movement and big damage. Our goal is to space him out and force him to do big commits in order to approach. Once he’s pinned down, he has decent tools for escaping setplay, but they are weaker than those of a character like Sol.
Positioning: We want to always stay at midrange, far enough so that Order-Sol's 2DGuardLowStartup9Recovery14Advantage-1 (and hopefully also his his 2SGuardMidStartup6Recovery12Advantage-1) will whiff. Farther than that, we can set H disc in neutral to make his approaches dangerous, but he can just charge if he’s patient, so we can’t abuse the defensive game. Closer than that, Order-Sol's buttons are overall much stronger than ours. Staying at midrange forces him to do larger commits, and allows us to fish for counter-hits against his approaches.
Millia Dos:
Stay out of his 2D range at all costs. Out of his 2S range too, if possible. Contesting his close-range pressure is very dangerous. Poke with the tips of f.S and 2D, even though it limits our conversions.
HOS likes to j.PGuardHigh/AirStartup4Recovery4Advantage- when in the air, and 6P anti-airs him consistently out of it.
You can punish Rock ItGuardMidStartup16Recovery10Advantage+3 with very active moves like 6P and S disc; it travels fast, but has a poor hitbox, so it loses to lingering hitboxes. Those are significant commits on our end, though, so only do it on reads;
If HOS gets hyper-aggressive, fullscreen H discs can sometimes bait him to come towards you and put himself in danger. A canceled Garden can also bait him to approach - and allow you to hit with a well-spaced 2D. (Note: do not use regular Garden in neutral. His run speed is just too fast.) If he decides to be patient and instead charge in response to H disc, an IAD j.D can force him to stop charging while keeping you in safe distances.
In the air, space your j.Ps (and be slightly above HOS in height) so that they win against his j.P. Spacing and height are key to winning air-to-airs.
If he’s in range for his 2S and 2D, low-crush with 6K. This is a significant commit on our end, though, so only do it on reads.
Millia Don’ts:
Do not 6Phis j.HGuardHigh/AirStartup9Recovery13Advantage-. You will get counterhit, and Order-Sol will get big damage.
Do not go for air-to-air without taking spacing and height into account. None of our air moves can beat his j.P in close range.
Order-Sol moves to watch out for:
Gun BlazeGuardAllStartup23RecoveryTotal 44Advantage+9 has a huge hitbox and can easily anti-air - especially if HOS is able to charge beforehand. It can also low-profile moves, but it’s beat by any low (such as 2K), due to its very horizontally-extended hurtbox.
Order-Sol's DPGuardMidStartup12Recovery22+8 after landingAdvantage-19 has a poor hitbox at Lv1 and Lv2, and which a 2K can bait in oki. Be wary of the Lv3 DP, though, as it becomes faster, more damaging, and potentially safe on block if you don't react.
Bandit Revolver Prototype Lv1GuardHigh/AirStartup22Recovery6+6 after landingAdvantage-1 can be thrown on block (or on hit, if Order-Sol doesn’t space it well and doesn’t jump/backdash to avoid the throw).
Order-Sol's 5HGuardMidStartup13Recovery16Advantage+1 serves as a grounded anti-air (and it is a very disjointed anti-air, at that), but it has to be thrown preemptively as it has a lot of startup.
Overview: Potemkin lacks mobility, so making use of our mobility is key. With that, we can force him to be proactive and take risks while playing a careful spacing game to punish his approaches. Secret Garden setups out of most knockdowns (excluding j.2H and Bad Moon) are very difficult for Potemkin to deal with provided you stay away from wakeup Potemkin Buster range (even a well-timed Flick won’t get Potemkin out of the setups, even though it weakens them!). Once Potemkin gets in, though, he can kill us in very few interactions.
Positioning: Staying midscreen and farther forces Potemkin to approach and make commits. We can choose when to close the gap and when to play it safe, since Potemkin’s mobility is very weak, while he cannot do the same.
Millia Dos:
If you plan to jump on round start, microdash > 9 j.K will usually beat Potemkin’s callout of round start Heat Knuckle;
2D > garden works very well against Potemkin, even midscreen (assuming we’re outside of the range for wakeup Potemkin Buster). He is both too big and slow to escape it effectively. In general, garden as oki works wonders against Pot.
Space anti-airs horizontally - we can anti-air even Potemkin’s j.D with a well-spaced 5P/6P.
FD Potemkin’s pressure to build distance and, once you build enough, backdash. Our backdash is fast, so it’s vital for escaping! (Potemkin can respond to this by doing more Busters when in close range, which forces us to try to disrespect his pressure a little more often).
(Difficult and not strictly necessary) Dustloops allow for big damage on Potemkin, so going for them can diminish the number of interactions we need to win!
(Difficult and not strictly necessary) Potemkin is one of the characters with the most lenience for “falling j.H > 6H” enders, which grants us free Garden setups out of air combos. Those can be Flicked, but are still very strong.
Millia Don’ts:
Do not meaty 2K/2P, as Potemkin Buster low-crushes before it goes active. Meaty with 5P/5K or 2S, instead, to automatically play around wakeup Potemkin Buster.
Although preemptive dash > 6P is often a useful tool for catching wakeup backdash, it’s not great against Potemkin: his backdash covers the entirety 6P’s active frames while simultaneously keeping him close to us and granting him a full punish. Using a button (especially a spammable one, like 5K) at the end of his backdash animation is overall much safer and much more effective in catching wakeup backdash.
Potemkin moves to watch out for:
Potemkin’s j.D is very strong, and often makes it dangerous to be below him. It’ll usually clash with our 6P, so: (a) force the clash and win the interaction afterwards; (b) backdash out of the way and punish; (c) go for an air-to-air with j.K/j.P before j.D comes out; or (d) jump and IB to punish him in the air.
Potemkin’s Flick can be used against predictable pin throws, so vary your pin timings!
Giganter is a decent reversal that allows Potemkin to deal high damage if it connects and is plus on block. It has a large startup, though, so reversal-safe oki works well against it. Garden setups deal particularly well with Giganter, as they leave Millia at a safe distance from Potemkin.
Overview: One of the weirder matchups we have, Robo can easily kill us in 1-2 interactions, provided he has the meter for that. It takes a long time for him to die and his defensive options are strong, but garden setups work particularly well against him and his mobility is on the weaker side.
Positioning: This matchup really revolves around you not letting Robo-Ky get meter, so he cannot get comfortable after putting down a mat. Bully him with pin, airdashes and ground dashes to force him to move away from the mat. As usual, be unpredictable; he has options to cover your movement approaches (e.g., 2H and the missiles to cover airdashes or slide and horsie to cover the ground) and getting counterhit by some of those may easily turn into very considerable damage against Millia.
Millia Dos:
Run (and sometimes roll) under air missiles and anti-air Robo.
Make use of 2D’s range. It might sometimes beat even a Robo-dash, if it hits before Robo expects it.
6K low-crushes Robo’s 2K slide.
Use Garden setups for oki (including after a 2D!) so that delayed wakeup doesn’t mess up your oki entirely. Or OTG him with 2K (which prevents the delayed wakeup) into FB disc.
6P (or S disc) horsie - it works similar to Slayer’s Mappa Hunch and HOS’s Rock It, in that it travels fast but has poor hitbox, and ends-up losing to very-active moves. On blockstrings, though, Robo can use horsie to frametrap you and close gaps, and rolling under it becomes our most reliable option.
6P anti-air works very well against Robo’s j.S.
Millia Don’ts:
Avoid 2K. It will most likely lose to Robo’s 2K.
Robo-Ky moves to watch out for:
Robo’s DP is 3f as soon as he has a single block of meter (and can often lead to huge damage), so almost none of your traditionally reversal-safe meaty setups will work against him. The DP has a large vertical range but poor horizontal range, so airdashing backwards and then forwards will often bait it. Its initial hitbox is a rectangle around Robo, so most crossup attempts won’t work against him;
2H has to be blocked with FD in the air, and Robo can use 2S > 2H as a frametrap;
Overview: This matchup is one of the few that forces us to think very differently about our okizeme. Slayer’s Backdash Cancel (BDC) is a great tool to get out of disc oki, so we are required to be very creative with it and to force Secret Garden setups as often as possible in order to better lockdown Slayer. In neutral, he has better grounded normals and the potential to dish out immense damage and win in a few interactions due to Millia’s low health. However, she has a much better air mobility and pin as a very strong tool to fish for counterhits, since Slayer mostly plays aggressively. That said, the best we can do in this guide is show you the strongest options in certain contexts, but everything is ultimately risky and situational.
Positioning: Slayer wants to play the aggressor, and we need to make use of mobility at all times to minimize the risk. Prioritizing the aerial game removes some of Slayer's biggest threats, by preventing him from using 5K, 2D and Mappa aggressively. It also allows us to use pin and attempt jump-ins, though those have to be unpredictable so as to play around Slayer's anti-airs - primarily 2S and 5P, which have good vertical and horizontal disjoints respectively (predictable jump-ins can also be 6P’d, leading to some of Slayer’s most damaging combos). When forced to go to the air, Slayer still has access to j.K's large horizontal range, so we want to be either completely outside of its range or deep within it (where we can make use of j.P). On the ground, Slayer presents a threat at any position that isn't fullscreen due to his normals and due to fishing for counterhits with Mappa - but his risk increases and his reward diminishes the further we are from him.
Millia Dos:
Prioritize Secret Garden setups to prevent Slayer from escaping okizeme with BDC jump. Even in "worse" knockdowns such as a corner 2D, Secret Garden is useful as it keeps us safe against most of Slayer's options (provided we use patterns that cover Millia's front, such a 1646) and forces him to play defensively. In the 2D > Secret Garden scenario, Slayer’s only good options in that case are defending/upbacking, both of which allow you to extend your pressure, and H Dandy Step, which can be reacted to and punished with throw.
You can’t always use Secret Garden, so whenever you have to use disc, meaty 2S/2K is usually a very strong option. A meaty button is vital to make it harder for Slayer to perform the BDC Jump, and to punish failed attempts at it. It also wins against FB Dandy on wake up, mashing etc. However, this often loses to BDC Bite, for instance, among other things, so at the end of the day you need to observe what the opponent habits in order to choose the best options during disc oki. We are only highlighting a strong one.
6P is a very effective anti-air against Slayer, so you shouldn’t allow him to jump-in freely.
If you must stay in the ground, f.S/2D are most likely our strongest normals to fish for counterhits and to possibly interrupt Dandy Step.
Haircar is an unusually strong option here. As usual, you shouldn’t abuse it, but it wins very often against Dandy Step and Mappa Hunch, so it’s valid to use it occasionally and depending on your opponent’s habits.
Disrespect Slayer okizeme and pressure: Slayer can make both 10x worse if we respect them. Look for opportunities to jump (preferably with FD); backdash away to create distance. Some of his okizeme options have short range and whiff if we backdash, such as It’s Late (which is punishable with backdash > dash > throw).
6K can be used as a callout to Slayer’s 2D; 6P and S disc can both be used as callouts to Mappa (Mappa does not have disjointed hitboxes, so it loses to any lingering hitboxes!). Those are significant commits on our end, though, and have to be used sparingly.
Our j.P is a better jump-in than j.S/j.K here, because it does much better against his 5P, a common Slayer anti-air.
Millia Don’ts:
Avoid finishing grounded blockstrings with H disc - Slayer can get a counterhit Mappa unless we FRC it.
Avoid contesting Slayer’s pressure directly with buttons - aside from his normals being great, he can also force whiffs by using BDC, meaning that Slayer being minus does not mean it’s safe to contest him. Prioritize jump-outs and backdashes.
H discs for space control are overall dangerous if not at fullscreen distance.
If using disc oki, avoid crossups - especially Roll crossups. Aside from not meatying Slayer and granting him easier access to BDC, most (though not all) left-right setups are automatically vulnerable to wakeup FB Dandy: if same-side, the FB Dandy comes out; if crossup, the FB Dandy comes out as a Big Bang Upper and hits Millia.
Slayer moves to watch out for:
Slayer’s 6K is a 21f overhead which is +5 on block. It’s one of his main mixup tools and leads to good damage.
Slayer’s j.2K alters his jump momentum, and he can use it to avoid being anti-aired.
H Dandy is an unusual form of movement which Slayer can use to escape setups while moving quickly. It can be interrupted by a low, though, and can be thrown when Slayer passes through his opponent.
K Mappa travels very far, and is both a movement option and a move that Slayer uses to fish for counterhits, despite its poor hitbox.
Slayer has two main anti-airs: 2S and 5P. The former has good vertical disjoint, while the latter has good horizontal disjoint, and both are quite fast.
Overview: Zappa can feel like a nightmarishly hard matchup because his pokes have disjoint that ours don’t, some of his summons control space very well and he can easily disrespect disc oki, given that his dash and crouch both low-profile the disc. However, Zappa often has trouble dealing with our mobility, so the name of the game becomes forcing him to take initiative and playing a patient, reaction-based game. Stray hits from max range may not necessarily grant us combos or knockdowns, but this is the one matchup where that doesn’t matter too much, as removing the summons is already half of our job.
Positioning: In general, be patient. Zappa players love to scramble, because the risk-reward favours them in this matchup. That said, positioning is largely dependent on the summon, as follows:
Naked Zappa: in this case, the opponent’s goal is to get a summon, which he can do by forcing scramble situations or by running away to summon uncontested. Therefore, you can’t be too aggressive or too defensive. Try varying between a (careful) mid-ranged poking game and air approaches, while making heavy use of FD breaks and unpredictability to bait DPs;
Dog: it is very ill-advised to approach Zappa when he has a dog, since it can (and will) be used to attack you, even if Zappa is in blockstun. Dog pressure is relentless and we don’t many strong defensive options against it (since DAA/Burst may hit the dog and leave you vulnerable), so you avoid getting close to him while putting as many hitboxes on the screen to snipe the dog and then go on the offensive again;
Triplets: a very natural enemy to Millia’s strong mobility. The tosses control the space very well by covering various angles of approach and they are designed to keep you away until a curse is set, which then allows Zappa to intensely pressure you. Thus, while you must aim to remove the triplets, you cannot afford to get cursed. To achieve that, you need to vary your approaches (dashing in from the ground vs. airdashing vs. super jumping etc.) and remain defensive until you have enough range to safely put him in blockstun (e.g., use FD breaks and air IBs, to keep yourself safe while also maintaining as many movement options as possible). Mind you, pin cancels out one toss, so you can’t rely heavily on that;
Sword: arguably the worst summon against Millia. Sword can’t cover the air and the ground simultaneously, so ideally you’ll position yourself as far away from Zappa as possible and gauge what’s the best approach based on where the sword is positioned on screen. That said, I think it’s specially important to repeat this: be unpredictable. While he can’t cover everything at once, if he guesses correctly too often, he’ll do considerable damage to you and get a lot of orbs.
Raou: don’t be scared and don’t let him take the initiative. Any hit will kill you, probably, and if you decide to block, he’ll most likely chip you to death. Therefore, go on the offensive, preferably with pin, and be wary of his fireballs and his DP. The two most common fireballs can be rolled under.
Millia Dos:
Naked Zappa: 6K can low crush his 2P. His 2P has disjoint and will usually win against our low pokes, though.
Naked Zappa: Occasionally using 2H as a low-risk, slightly-disjointed poke can help playing footsies while being mostly safe to dash > DP.
Naked Zappa: FD brake is very useful to move without putting ourselves in danger of Zappa’s DP. Most Zappa players are fearless with their DP, but it is punishable on block, so varying between dash 2K/FD break can help in baiting it and punishing him.
Triplets: Our goal is to maneuver around ghosts very carefully. Block and be patient - we don’t want to get cursed at all costs. Find an opening to air-to-air j.K/j.P or poke him from far-away.
Triplets: IB in the air is very useful, as it recovers air options and allows us to chase Zappa a bit better.
Triplets: horizontal ghost (236S) can be low profiled by roll. While this (sometimes) loses to the 236K ghost trajectory, doing dash > roll > throw is a very strong counterplay against a grounded Zappa with triplets.
Sword: Our goal is to outmaneuver Zappa - once we pass through the sword’s position, his options become much more limited. The air is much safer than the ground overall, so go to it if you can. Roll passes under the joust special, which is one of Zappa’s main options once we pass the sword. j.2366D and Turbo Fall > FRC/Special cancel are riskier options for quick air movement, but can be used if mixed well enough with “regular” options that approach by passing under/over the sword.
Dog: Surprisingly not an “outmaneuver Zappa” summon, unlike the others. Instead, it’s a summon where both players want to camp: we have difficulty playing offensive vs a Zappa with dog (as it tanks a hit and gives him access to the dog’s “flash kick” 8D), and he doesn’t want to play the offensive since it separates him from the dog. Camp with H discs, and force Zappa to take the initiative (e.g. with a canceled secret garden) - or at least don’t immediately go charging towards him. If he’s able to start dog pressure, FD Zappa’s buttons (and IB the dog’s moves, if you can) so as to create openings for you to jump away.
Dog: If Zappa tries to use his own grounded overheads (5H/6H/5D) during Dog pressure, mash - they have a large startup, so the dog pressure now has a decently-big gap.
Raou: Always bait DPs (or cross him up to change his inputs!). A Zappa with Raou will DP, and you will die if he hits it.
All summons: Prioritize Secret Garden/FB Secret Garden setups. It doesn’t have to be the only setplay we do, but it’s the only setplay that forces Zappa to block (e.g. 2D > FB Garden with a “1” as the first input, and Longinus ender > 2828 garden in the corner).
Millia Don’ts:
Naked Zappa: Be careful with our f.S/2D. They’re very useful, but our extended hurtbox makes us vulnerable to options like summon DP.
Dog: Approaching in the air is dangerous, as Dog can 8D to easily punish strings, or tank a hit for Zappa and allow him to press buttons. In general, forcing Zappa to move the dog is safer, before attempting to put him in blockstun.
All summons: ending blockstrings with H disc for space control is overall not recommended, as Zappa’s dash allows him to disrespect it without any second thoughts. If Zappa is used to disrespecting it, though, H disc FRC > 2K/2S/block could catch him off-guard.
Zappa moves to watch out for:
Sword: 2S is the only sword low (aside from the 2nd hit of 6H, which you can react to by blocking the first hit high), and Zappa has a very specific animation while doing 2S. Learn that animation, and react to it by blocking high afterwards (and be ready to jump at all times - you don’t want to give Zappa an opportunity to stagger pressure, since it’d mean he can use multiple 2Ss in a blockstring). Do know he can also do a low, for oki, by whiffing the 1st hit of 6H.
Triplets: Zappa can cross-up with j.H as oki.
Dog: the Dog’s dive is an overhead that Zappa can use for unblockable setups.
Naked: Airthrow grants Naked Zappa a free summon, Dog Zappa strong mixups if the dog is nearby, and Triplets Zappa free curses. Overall, it’s a fairly low-risk, but high-reward option for him.
This page covers advanced topics which require competitive expertise to confirm.
A.B.A
Anji Mito
Axl Low
Baiken
Bridget
Chipp Zanuff
Dizzy
Eddie
Faust
I-No
Jam Kuradoberi
Justice
Johnny
Kliff Undersn
Ky Kiske
May
Millia Rage
Order-Sol
Potemkin
Robo-Ky
Slayer
Sol Badguy
Testament
Venom
Zappa
Millia Rage
A.B.A [★]
Anji Mito [★]
Axl Low [★]
Baiken [★]
Bridget [★]
Chipp Zanuff [★]
Dizzy [★]
Eddie [★]
Faust [★]
I-No [★]
Jam Kuradoberi [★]
Johnny [★]
Justice [★]
Kliff Undersn [★]
Ky Kiske [★]
May [★]
Millia Rage [★]
Order-Sol [★]
Potemkin [★]
Robo-Ky [★]
Slayer [★]
Sol Badguy [★]
Testament [★]
Venom [★]
Zappa [★]