SMS/Mercury

	Jump Speed
	2.224
	Jump Duration
	46
	Jump Distance
	115
	Forwards Speed
	3
	Backwards Speed
	2.128
	Backdash
	18f, invuln 1~>17
	Backdash Distance
	136

Overview

Starter Guide

Combos

Overview

Mercury is a highly-mobile space control expert who pushes her opponents to the corner and floods them in a torrent of water tornadoes.

No one in the cast moves like Mercury does. Her walking speed - both forward and backward - outruns the next fastest character by a significant degree, and she's blessed with a good jump arc and a wall jump. Paired with her Sonic Boom style projectileGuardMidStartup12Recovery31Advantage+6~ and great normals including a lightning-fast sweepGuardLowStartup5Recovery14Advantage+7/D, Mercury poses a threat in neutral at all ranges and can be very hard to pin down. The icing on the cake, however, is her Mercury Aqua MirageGuardMidStartup8Recovery36Advantage+2~ tornado special. Not only does this move serve as one of the best anti-airs in the game, but it also has enough frame advantage on block to be looped endlessly in the corner if spaced properly.

To counterbalance these strengths, Mercury's damage is on the lower end of the cast. In addition, her main defensive options are awkward or exploitable by most of the castGuardMidStartup7Recovery20Advantage-7~+1. It doesn't make her defense bad as a whole, but unwise usage of these moves can be disastrous.

If you want to swim across the screen and drown your opponents in a deluge of bubbles and tornadoes, pick Mercury and don't look back. Douse them in water and make them repent!

Mercury

Mercury zooms across the screen for quick low/throw/cross-up mixups until she gets corner lockdown with tornado/throw.

Pros

Cons

These Boots Are Made For Walking: Mercury possesses the fastest walk speed in the game by far and closes distances in the blink of an eye, making her very dangerous even if she's far away from the opponent.
Great Projectiles: Both Bubble Spray and Aqua Mirage are very good moves at dealing against both grounded and airborne opponents.
Sweep: Her sweep is the fastest in the game at frame 5, has great range and knocks down, watch your feet!
Flexible Kit and Mobility: Between her amazing walk speed and shimmying, good jump arc, wall jump, grounded throw, air throw, option selects and solid normals and specials, Mercury is a very flexible and mobile character that excels in different areas.

Low Damage: Outside of counterhits, Mercury doesn't deal a lot of damage compared to the rest of the cast.
Awkward Defensive Options: While not having bad defense overall, her main DP and guard cancel option is attached to a Tiger Knee motion and both her reversal are weak to certain low moves, thus making them somewhat weird and impractical at times.

Normals

5LP

5LP

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Mid	4	5	6	+6	2	3	3	3

Cute little chop. Not much to say about it.

Total Duration
14

5HP

5HP

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Mid	9	10	13	+6	7	9	11	12

Decent frame data for what it's worth, but you probably got this as a missed grab attempt. At least you looked cool doing it.

Total Duration
32

c.LK

c.LK

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Mid	4	5	6	+6	3	4	5	5

Awkward hitbox that can sometimes whiff. Try not to use this.

Total Duration
14

f.LK

f.LK

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Mid	4	5	6	+6	2	3	3	3

Long-reaching disjointed boot. Useful in neutral and pressure.

Total Duration
14

5HK

5HK

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Mid	5	6*10	14	+6	4	5	6	7

Potentially useful as a long-reaching anti-air, though only in emergencies where you don't have time to react with Tornado. The first hit, while much smaller, can also be a decent combo tool if you're close enough.

Total Duration
34

2LP

2LP

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Mid	4	5	6	+6	2	3	3	3

Can help with spacing in certain combo routes. Not very useful otherwise.

Total Duration
14

2HP

2HP

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Mid	7	9	9	+11	5	7	8	9

Another combo tool. Comes with a hefty amount of plus frames.

Total Duration
27

2LK

2LK

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Low	4	5	6	+6	2	0	3	0

Go to low button. Nice range, disjointed, quite safe. Good low.

Also shrinks her crouching hurtbox just enough to go under certain projectiles by spamming it.

Total Duration
14

2HK

2HK

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
Low	5	8	14	+7/D	7	0	11	0

They really gave a 5-frame sweep to the character with the fastest walk speed, huh? Alright, then.

Total Duration
27

j.LP

8j.LP or 7/9j.LP

Version	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
8j.LP	High	4	Until Landing	Until Landing	+7~+14	2	3	3	3
7/9j.LP	High	4	Until Landing	Until Landing	+7~+14	3	4	5	5

If you use this move, you likely missed the input for Tornado and got this instead. Whoops. It's okay, though. Practice makes perfect.

Oh, and this move is useless. Don't bother doing it on purpose.

Version	Total Duration
8j.LP	0
7/9j.LP	0

j.HP

8j.HP or 7/9j.HP

Version	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
8j.HP	High	4	18	5	+6~+14	5	7	8	9
7/9j.HP	High	4	18	5	+6~+14	5	7	8	9

If you use THIS move, you either missed an air throw attempt or a Heavy Tornado, the former of which you should only be trying seldomly, and the latter you should NEVER be trying.

This move is useless too. Don't bother doing it on purpose.

Version	Total Duration
8j.HP	26
7/9j.HP	26

j.LK

8j.LK or 7/9j.LK

Version	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
8j.LK	High	4	Until Landing	Until Landing	+9~+14	3	4	5	5
7/9j.LK	High	4	Until Landing	Until Landing	+9~+14	4	5	6	7

A nice air-to-air button, but not very useful since you have Tornado.

Version	Total Duration
8j.LK	0
7/9j.LK	0

j.HK

8j.HK or 7/9j.HK

Version	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG
8j.HK	High	8	16	1	+7~+14	6	8	9	10
7/9j.HK	High	5	16	1	+7~+14	7	9	11	12

Long range makes for a good jump-in button. Also very useful for ambiguous cross-ups.

Version	Total Duration
8j.HK	24
7/9j.HK	24

Universal Machanics

Movement

Backdash

44

Startup	Total Duration
1	18

Strike, projectile, and throw invulnerable for 1~17 frames. Move distance: 136

Total Duration
18

Triangle Jump

Near Wall while jumping 7/9

Startup	Total Duration
1	0

Wall jump, used to escape corners.

Total Duration
0

Throws

DDT

4/6HP or j.4/6HP

Version	Range	DMG	Is Techable	Advantage
4/6HP	40	24	Yes	-6 (2P: -5, but invincible) on tech
j.4/6HP	40	28	Yes	-6 (2P: -5, but invincible) on tech

4/6HP: Relatively standard ground throw made far better when you factor in Mercury's walk speed. Punishable on tech by every character in the game if you're P1. No, I'm serious.

j.4/6HP: Though having an air throw is nice, Tornado being a safer option makes it only worth using in certain cases, such as when you really need a side switch.

Specials

Bubble Spray

[4]6LP or [4]6HP

Version	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG	Chip Damage
Bubble Spray (LP)	Mid	12	Projectile	31	+6~	8	12	14	16	2
Bubble Spray (HP)	Mid	16	Projectile	41	-4~	10	13	15	17	2

[4]6LP: Slow moving charge projectile reminiscent to Guile's Sonic Boom, and is useful for approaching, space control, projectile wars, etc. Be careful when trying to tick throw with it against characters with strong guard cancel options.

[4]6HP: Travels much faster. Though the recovery is longer than LP, it's not as long as other characters' HP projectiles, making it more useful as a result.

Version	Total Duration
Bubble Spray (LP)	43
Bubble Spray (HP)	57

30f Charge Timing

30f Charge Timing

Reverse Break Step

623LK or 623HK

Version	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG	Chip Damage
Reverse Break Step (LK)	Mid	7	3*2x9	20	-7~+1	4	5	6	7	1x7
Reverse Break Step (HK)	Mid	9	43x134	11	-22/D	12	16	18	20	3x15

The store-brand version of Spinning Bird Kick, both in terms of presentation and usability. Both versions have hitboxes that most characters can space low attacks under with no risk whatsoever. Not to be used in neutral.

623LK: Does not knock down and hits multiple times if you're close enough, but trying to combo with it requires too much setup to be practical. Not a great anti-air either, especially when you have Tornado.

623HK: Has most of the same problems as the light version, but but a bit more useful as a reversal being invincible for 12 frames on startup, which is enough to beat out every reversal special in the game even with its bad hitboxes. Can still lose to properly spaced lows, so only use it if you really need the I-frames.

Version	Total Duration
Reverse Break Step (LK)	47
Reverse Break Step (HK)	66

1~8F, 34~42F: Invincible, 44~47F: Able to guard and/or crouch

1~12F, 59~60F: Invincible, 62~67F: Able to guard and crouch

Mercury Aqua Mirage

2369LP or 2369HP

Version	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG	Chip Damage
Mercury Aqua Mirage (LP)	Mid	8	Projectile	36	+2~	12	16	18	20	3
Mercury Aqua Mirage (HP)	Mid	12	Projectile	49	-12~	14	18	21	24	3

AKA Tornado. The reason you play Mercury.

2369LP: Comes out and recovers incredibly fast, and covers a very shallow angle in front of and then above Mercury, making for an anti-air so good that it all but invalidates her other options. Also her primary guard cancel option when pressured up close due to its fast startup.

As if that wasn't good enough, a properly-spaced tornado leaves Mercury plus enough on block to throw out another one before the opponent recovers, essentially giving her infinite lockdown in the corner. The spacing keeps her safe from most guard cancels too, further limiting the opponents' options against it.

The move also has some use as a reversal, but leaves her vulnerable for 2 frames before it comes out, leaving her open for trades or (even worse) a grab.

2369HP: Worse angle, worse frame data, and VERY unsafe on block. Almost never worth using over LP.

Version	Total Duration
Mercury Aqua Mirage (LP)	44
Mercury Aqua Mirage (HP)	61

1~6F: Invincible, 7F: Guaranteed action.

1~10F: Invincible, 11F: Guaranteed action

Desperation

Water Bullet

632146HK

Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Frame Advantage	DMG	Face DMG	Counter DMG	Counter & Face DMG	Chip Damage
Mid	21	22	61	-55/D	48	62	72	72	12

Mercury handsprings off the ground and flies feet first off the screen. Its I-frames run out well before the move is active, making it a VERY high-risk reversal in more ways than one. Also worth noting that while the recovery on this move is naturally high, it only has one frame of landing lag, allowing you to go for a very quick backdash (or grab if you're feeling lucky) should the opponent tries to punish you after you land.