- Tager picks up the opponent from the floor, magnetises them (360F normally, 1000F during OD) and drops them back down, now further then previous versions. Used for okizeme, combos and timeouts.
- Attractive to mangnetised opponents during startup and active frames.
- Hold D to extend active frames.
- Disables opponent's burst until they recover.
- While it looks like it can only pick enemies off the floor, it is able to catch opponents in the airborne state (Which includes lying on the floor and jumping). The hitbox rises up enough enough to do combos where your opponent falls into an active gadget finger before they get a chance to tech as they reach the floor. For example 3C > 22D will connect.
- Only usable if the combo you're doing has fully downed your opponent at least once (Floorbounces do not count).
- These moves that force downed state are, 6B (Air hit only), 5D and 2D (Air hit only, only after floorslide begins), Crush Trigger, 360A, j.360C, impact driver, j.2C (non CH only), Air throw.
- 3C and Atomic collider have a special property where your opponent is considered to have been downed in the combo the instant these attacks connect.
- Any move where your opponent doesn't tech before going fully downed will also count, but will obviously be a blue combo.
- Uniquely, The opponent is dropped in the air in a standing histun state, leading to some odd properties:
- When the opponent touches the floor, they do not get any ukemi options, instead they recover just like if they'd been hit while standing.
- The recovery from the move only begins once they touch the floor. So if they're magnetised and Tager uses an RC, he can fling the opponent around and they will be completely unable to tech until they reach the floor.
- The recovery is affected as normal by combo length, fatal counter and, in the case of Jubei, crouching hitstun.
- Now actually has enough advantage to followup with 5A on certain characters (Subject to hitboxes), and even more on Fatal.
- 100% minimum damage. Fixed 5% heat gain.
Tager's Gadget Finger is as good as ever, and still used for a lot of things. The most obvious use is to use this as an okizeme tool. It's fast enough to combo after his "Driver" command throws, giving him easy pressure afterward, albeit one that can be disrespected with Overdrive, DP's and EA. However, with the right conditioning and setup, they won't dare to do so.
However, a smart player quickly notices that Gadget Finger allows much more than this option. For starters, it actually has infinite untech time due to it putting them in grounded hitstun in the air, which leads into two things : it allows the now infamous Timeout Tager loop (or "the circus"), or for new gimmicky combos.
The timeout is done by doing Gadget Finger, rapid-cancelling it and repeatedly doing whiffed Air Drivers (360C). This is much harder than it sounds, and must be done with great care to not launch the opponent too far away, or too high for another successful Driver whiff. If done correctly, with 100 meter, it can easily grant Tager a timeout win even when a lot of time is remaining in the match.
Even though GF drops farther back now, it actually had it's advantage after it increased, now allowing Tager to followup with 5A on characters like Arakune, Susanoo and another Tager. Fatal Counter allows GF > Spark Bolt on pretty much anyone, 5B on Tager, 5A > 3C on larger and wonky hitbox characters and even allows GF RC > 360B if the combo started with an FC. These combo paths however are more on the impractical side of the spectrum so it's better not to use them in serious gameplay.
Overall, with the new timeout and combos it gives, GF became a much more useful and threatening tool, while it's okizeme potential is left unchanged (it's harder to maintain it though due to the bigger distance between Tager and the enemy). Smart use of this move will pay off incredibly well, a 700-800 damage at the end of any combo via 360Bx2 isn't that bad either!