DBFZ/Janemba

	Ki Gain Modifier
	×0.75
	Unique Movement Options
	Phantom Shift
	Fastest Attacks
	Reversals

Overview

Combos

Strategy

Frame Data

Resources

Overview

In a game that's infamous for how many characters can skip neutral, Janemba stands out for being an anti-zoner: an excellent neutralWhen neither player is in an advantageous position in terms of stage position.-focused midscreen powerhouse that can make your Superdashing or ki blast spamming opponent respect you. Janemba's greatest strength is his capacity for controlling the field, thanks to his fantastic ranged tools and his 22SGuardStartup1Recovery13Advantage- which says "no" to projectiles altogether. His ki blastsGuardAllStartup18-27Recovery42Advantage-21 are unique tracking projectiles that can even be used in combos for a relaunch, and his very fast teleportsGuardStartupinvul frame 4Recovery20Advantage- make him incredibly difficult to hold down. All in all, he thrives off making opponents sit still so he can approach more easily, while ensuring that they're too scared to try to rush you down themselves.

Additionally, Janemba has a very solid selection of assists: Assist AGuardAllStartup35RecoveryAdvantage+50 is great for neutral, defense and even combos, but with the downside of having ki blast properties, making it less than ideal for pressure and mixups. Assist BGuardStartup25RecoveryAdvantage+29, on the other hand, is a good all-purpose assist that fits on basically any team that Assist A isn't suitable for. On top of that, his solo pressure, mixups and damage are fantastic, not to mention he's one of the few characters in the game with a solo Level 3 mixup in the corner. As such, with his great support value and effective usage of resources, Janemba is a powerful AnchorIn a 3v3 fighting game, Anchor refers to the 3rd character up to fight out of the 3 selected by the player. or MidIn a 3v3 fighting game, Mid refers to the 2nd character up to fight out of the 3 selected by the player..

Though this dark purple dictator is good at a lot of things, his simplicity makes him somewhat predictable and his large hurtboxThe hitbox specifically relating to where a character is vulnerable to an opponent's attack. Shown as blue or cyan in visualizations. makes him combo food for most of the cast. Nonetheless, Janemba is good at creating an advantage for his team and then pressing said advantage as hard as possible, making him a great support pick if you need someone to push your team to greater heights.

Janemba

Janemba is a midrange/zoning hybrid who controls massive portions of the screen with his attacks and anti-meta tools.

Pros

Cons

Space Control: Tracking ki blasts and long range, high priority Sword SpecialsGuardAllStartup15Recovery24Advantage-5 give Janemba screen control and a way around Ki Blast zoning. Dimensional HoleGuardStartup1Recovery13Advantage- forces opponents to stop using projectiles and assists during neutral.
Scary Pressure: Janemba has strong pressure, enforced by a plethora of safe normals and swift command grab in Mystical ArmGuardThrowStartup20Recovery26Advantage-.
Phantom ShiftGuardStartupinvul frame 4Recovery20Advantage-: Janemba's main mix-up tool and pseudo-reversal, being fast and invincible starting on frame 4. Chaining two of them together lets Janemba get a screen length away while being totally safe.
Support Value: Janemba's assist selection is great: Assist AGuardAllStartup35RecoveryAdvantage+50 is an air tracking Ki Blast that gives big combo extensions, Assist BGuardStartup25RecoveryAdvantage+29 is good for blockstrings and space control, and Assist CGuardAllStartup35 [20]RecoveryAdvantage+55 is a ground tracking assist that's +55 on block.

Slow Moves: The majority of Janemba's normals and special moves are on the slower side and can leave him vulnerable against faster-attacking moves.

Normal Moves

5L

Version	Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block
5L	400	All		6	3	12	-3
5LL	700	Low		9	2	22	-8
5LLL	600×2	All	U3+	36	6	21	-11

5L

Janemba moves forward during the jab.
Can be spaced to be safer.

Small hitboxA general term showing where an attack can hit the opponent and where the character is vulnerable to attack. that struggles to hit opponents Super dashA attack that causes the player character to fly to the opponents current position, being very susceptible to an antiair. inputted by pressing H+S.ing or above him. Despite this, 5L is a good tool for his pressureTo attack the opponent continuously and leave little room for counter attacks. game when combined with his 2LGuardAllStartup6Recovery9Advantage0 and 214L.

5LL

Ground bounces on hit.

Large hitbox, useful to beat mashTo press button(s) rapidly without little thought.ing and backdash. Extraordinary for combos and blockstrings. Will catch people attempting to jump 214L or out of pressure.

5LLL

Teleports forward and can cross over the opponent. The Hitbox is behind Janemba.
Switches sides on hit.

The online special. Janemba can also input 214S to fake the crossupAttacking your opponent after changing which horizontal side you are on, typically by jumping over them., but can be reacted to by watching the startupThe time before an attack is active including the first active frame. For example, an attack with 10F startup means the attack will do nothing for 9 frames, then hit the opponent on the 10th frame. animation as Janemba will leer forward with this. Very slow, has a huge gap making it mashable, and unsafe on block. Use scarcely.

5M

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
700	All		13	4	17	-5

Good range, moves Janemba forward.
Always spaces perfectly for 2L to connect on block.
Hits from round start.

Janemba's only safe medium. Makes up a large portion of his Stagger PressureThe use of intentionally delaying gatlings or cancels in order to create frame traps with the intent of catching your opponent mashing or jumping. Loses to reversals.. Decent starter in terms of damage, but 2MGuardLowStartup11Recovery24Advantage-11 is still your go-to.

5H

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
850 / 1000	All	U1	15	3	27	-12	15-17 Ki Blasts

Deflects ki blasts like other sword normals.
Smashless 5H can combo into 6SGuardAllStartup18-27Recovery42Advantage-21>Superdash anywhere on the screen, useful for vanish confirms and 236HGuardAllStartup16Recovery24Advantage-5/214HGuardThrowStartup24Recovery26Advantage- confirms.

Standard 5H. Mostly used in blockstrings, can be delayed for an extra frametrap. Comboing into j.2HGuardAllStartup11Recovery23 + 7LAdvantage- is generally better if possible, but a 5H route provides good corner carry nonetheless.

5S / 6S / 3S / 1S

(Hold OK)

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
300×4	All		18-27		42	-21

5S, 2S, j.S are similar and has some limited tracking.
Hold or mash S to shoot all 4 Ki blasts.
Can control where he shoots with
Without inputs, the order is 5316.
5 and 6 ground bounces airborne opponent.
Last Ki blast ground bounces even grounded opponent if it's 5 or 6, pops up grounded opponent if it's 1 or 3.
Tracks anywhere on the screen, however fast movement can beat the tracking.

Janemba's Ki Blast is a tool with far more nuance than most other character's Ki Blasts. It's slow, but you can force the opponent to respect it by cancelling into 236L/M/HGuardAllStartup15Recovery24Advantage-5. Doing this with the first Ki Blast can force an opponent back to the ground and be cancelled into 214L/M/H instead once the opponent is conditioned to sit still. It's also an incredible combo tool, as steering the Ki Blasts to force a ground bounce gives way to all kinds of relaunch combos.

2L

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
400	All		6	3	9	0

Not a Low AttackAn attack that the opponent must block low., but is instead 0 on block.
Really good for staggers due to its reach.

Overall amazing button and a core tool for Janemba's stagger pressure.

2M

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
700	Low		11	3	24	-11

Janemba's only low.

Too slow to allow for a High-LowA mixup where the opponent must choose between blocking high and low. 50/50A mix-up where the opponent has a choice between two options, such as strike-throw or high-low. A "true 50/50" is used to describe a mix-up in which the defender must guess and commit to one option, without any way to determine which option the opponent will choose and react accordingly., so is rather used as his best starter off unsafe moves.

2H

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
850 / 1000	All	U1+	14	3	31	-17	f4 Head, 14-16 Ki Blasts

Anti-airA grounded attack that hits the opponent out of the air. Deflects Ki blasts.
Has the largest vertical range of any 2H in the game, but also has one of the worst horizontal ranges of any 2H as well.
Bad in combos because of the low horizontal range.

Your anti-air and nothing more. Useful in that it enables a j.HGuardHighStartup15Recovery20Advantage- sliding knockdown, which in turn can enable j.214HGuardAllStartup60Recovery37Advantage+24 okizeme, but that is mostly relegated to the corner.

2S

(Hold OK)

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
300×4	All		22-32		52 + 7L	-21+landing

Slightly floats off the ground.
Cancellable from 5S.
Unlike 5S and j.SGuardAllStartup18-27Recovery7 LandingAdvantage-, Janemba can't control the first Ki blast's direction.
No input order is 1536.

Similar in use to 5S, but it leaves you airborne instead of being grounded. Acts as an extension in a way, and adds an easy conversion to j.2MGuardHighStartup25-33RecoveryAdvantage-5 for a meterless sliding knockdown.

6M

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
850	High		24	6	10	0	24-29 Ki Blasts

Sword normal overheadAn attack that the opponent must block high..
Deflects Ki blasts.
Uses the gigantic hitbox of his j.H. Max range 5M > 6M can beat mashing against characters with stubbier normals.

j.L

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
400	High		7	3	15

Good range for a j.L.
Slightly slower than other j.L's

j.M

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
700	High		11	4	15

Your most common jump-in.

j.M is forced to take the spotlight because of j.H's awkwardness. All things accounted for, it still has strong frame advantageThe difference in time an attacker and a defender can begin moving again after blocking an attack. if blocked, as well as being a good crossupAttacking your opponent after changing which horizontal side you are on, typically by jumping over them..

j.H

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
850 / 1000	High	D1+ [D3+]	15	3	20		15-17 Ki Blasts

Deflects Ki blasts.
Huge hitbox
Halts momentum and ground bounces grounded opponent.
Use j.L or j.M for IADAn air dash performed from a standing position as quickly and as low to the ground as possible from a jump. Done by inputting 956 754, and depending on the game, using a dash macro right after a jump. overhead instead.

An interesting normal in Janemba's Kit, comparable to Hit's j.HGuardHighStartup13RecoveryAdvantage-. Even with its awkward animation it sometimes see niche use mainly after a launch with 2H as Janemba can cancel the smash knockdown into j.214H for okizemeFrom Japanese "起き攻め". Attacking an opponent about to wake up after they were knocked down, usually with meaty attacks or mix-ups. setups.

j.S

(Hold OK)

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
300×4	All		18-27		7 Landing

5S but in the air.
Freezes momentum.
Does not cancel into j.2HGuardAllStartup11Recovery23 + 7LAdvantage-.

Can be used to harass opponents, but mostly sees use as a combo tool into j.2MGuardHighStartup25-33RecoveryAdvantage-5, as well as a tool for whiff punishing high-recovery moves. You can use 236SGuardStartupinvul frame 4Recovery20Advantage- or your aerial Level 3 on reaction if the opponent Superdashes through the ki blasts.

j.2H

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
850	All	U1	11	4	23 + 7L		f4 Head, 11-14 Ki Blast

Wallbounces the opponent.
Deflects Ki blasts.
Moves Janemba slightly backwards.
Head Invul beginning on frame 4.

This button is Janemba's go-to for combos midscreen, notably j.214HGuardAllStartup52Recovery29Advantage+33 extensions. However, it allows for meterless j.214MGuardAllStartup60Recovery37Advantage+24 combos in the corner as well. Also used to react to Superdash because of its Head Invulnerability.

Special Moves

Shadow Kick

j.2M

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
900	High	D1	25-33			-5

Tracking overhead that causes sliding knockdown on Smash hit.
Janemba teleports to the ground on hit. This makes frame advantage the same regardless of where you use it.
Always leaves Janemba +32 on hit.

This is your go-to combo ender. When you're close, it allows a superjump IAD j.M safe jumpA very well-timed jump attack on a character who is rising from a knockdown. Your goal is to attack extremely close to when you land so that, if the character performs an invincible reversal attack, you will land and be able to block. The opponent is then forced to block your jumping attack, since reversaling doesn't work, which will give you some nice pressure and hopefully an opening. for easy continued pressure.

Demonic Blade

236L/M/H (Air OK)

Version	Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
236L	1100	All		15	4	24	-5	13-22 Ki Blasts
236M	1200	All	U1+	19	4	24	-5	17-26 Ki Blasts
236H	1300	All	U1+	16	4	24	-5	14-23 Ki Blasts
j.236L	1100	All		15	4	26	-2 if TK	13-27 Ki Blasts
j.236M	1200	All	U1+	19	4	27	-2 if tk	17-31 Ki Blasts
j.236H	1300	All	U1+	15	4	26	-2 if tk	13-27 Ki Blasts

Ridiculous range
Ki blast invul begins pretty late after inputting it, so it will win against ki blasts preemptively. Do not use this like Jiren's 5SGuardAllStartup21Recovery31Advantage-10.

236L

Reaches about half screen.
Safe, gapless blockstring ender.

Faster AND safer on block than a beam, but isn't fullscreen and has less active frames.

236M

Wall bounces.
Ground version takes a step forward before attacking.
Reaches fullscreen unlike the Light version.
Can be used in blockstrings over 236L to add a frame trap.

236H

Bigger wall bounce, can be comboed off of midscreen.
Reaches fullscreen like the Medium version.

Mystical Arm

214L/M/H

Version	Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery
214L	1200	Throw	D2	20	4	26
214M	1250	Throw	U1+ → D2	26	4	26
214H	1300	Throw	U1+ → D2	24	4	26

214L always causes sliding knockdown.
Will whiff when immediately cancelling from anything other than Light normals, requiring you to delay the input a slightly to tick throwA throw done after attacks, very soon after if not exactly when throw invulnerability expires on the opponent. A Tick Throw take advantage of that the opponent naturally expect a Frame Trap coming, making it very hard to react to or escape from. after other buttons.
Max range is a backdash away at 23 frame start-up.

A borderline unreactable command grab and one of the best in the game, arguably almost as good as Z Broly's. Will perfect tick throw from 5L and 2L. This gives Janemba a powerful strike/throw mixup. You should condition with this grab so that your opponent will be inclined to mash, leading into a massive punish if you hit them.

Don't be dissuaded by the slide knockdown, as you can just go into Level 3GuardAllStartup12+3RecoveryAdvantage-33. A Janemba with meter is terrifying to block because of this, you take the frametrap and heavy damage along with it or the grab into oki that will most likely kill. It's a very bad situation for your opponent all around.

214M wall bounces on Smash hit, SKD on non-Smash.
In the corner, can be followed up with 2M.
Max range is 2/3rds of the screen away at 29 frame start-up.

While initially less threatening than 214L, this grab makes up for it with it's unexpected range which is around that of his 236L, an aspect that many will not be aware of when first facing Janemba. This combined with Janemba's massive sword specials, far-reaching medium buttons and tracking ki-blasts that can bring jumping opponents to the ground make his mid-range game scary to block.

In the corner this grab can easily be converted off of with either 2M or 5L, but outside the corner will require either an assist or a tag-out.

214H does a big wall bounces on Smash hit, SKD on non-Smash.
Can be followed up midscreen.
Max range is 2/3rds of the screen away at 27 frame start-up.

Gives high reward and 24 frames isn't too awful to work with, but the light grab is still the better choice if you just want pure mix, with this also being given away more due to the EX flash.

Otherwise, it gives a best of both worlds between the light and medium grab by having the medium's range with slightly better startup and much easier combo conversions, giving an almost braindead easy conversion with the enemy flying right to Janemba's feet. Outside the corner a small microdash needs to be buffered if you want to go for routes starting with 5L.

Hell Gate

j.214L/M/H

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block
j.214L	350×3	All	60	(172) 9	37	+24
j.214M	350×3	All	60	(232) 9	37	+24
j.214H	350×6	All	52	(374) 18	29	+33

Shoots an electric ball with no active hitbox that slowly travels along the ground, bouncing off walls.
Only one ball can be on screen at a time. Ball detonates itself after a while.
Hold up during startup to make the ball floats higher up.
While the orb is out, pressing the respective button used to summon the orb (L for j.214L for example) will cause the orb to detonate instead of the button.
Big part of his combos anywhere on the screen.
The orbs go away if Janemba blocks or gets hit by anything.

Absolutely crucial to Janemba's gameplan. j.214H is an important neutral tool and can be called safely thanks to its low recovery. j.214M sees some use in corner combos, but j.214L rarely sees any use.

Despite how it looks, Hell Gate is NOT classified as a ki-blast projectile. And so, it cannot be reflected on block or Superdashed through. This allows for solo teleport okizemeFrom Japanese "起き攻め". Attacking an opponent about to wake up after they were knocked down, usually with meaty attacks or mix-ups. in the corner with a SKD (excluding j.2M), on top of its uses for neutral and combos as already mentioned above.

Phantom Shift

236S (Air & Hold OK) or 214S (Air & Hold OK)

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
			invul frame 4	invul for 13	20		4-16 All

Teleports a set distance. InvulnerableA state where a character cannot be hit. A common component of reversal moves. from frame 4, making it a very strong escape option.
After inputting either versions, holding any of the 8 directions will still make him teleport to that direction anyway. Default is for 236S and for 214S.
Grounded stays in place, and teleports slightly closer than and . All 5 off these versions keep Janemba grounded.
Air versions can only be performed once until landing, can also teleport back to the ground.
Both ground and air versions don't consume air options, they also keep super jump's momentum control.
Can be used in combos to link smash j.2H to j.L, letting Janemba confirm solo off of a raw superdash anywhere on screen.

Janemba's do-it-all character defining move. His grab is a better straightforward mix-upTo perform a maneuver that forces a defending opponent to choose between two or more options. If the opponent chooses incorrectly, then they are hit by an attack. There are many different types of mix-ups such as crossup(left/right), high/low, and strike/throw., but teleport offers one thing that the grab doesn't: fakeouts, scarier okizeme setups, and neutralWhen neither player is in an advantageous position in terms of stage position. control. Use them in tandem to make your opponent crack under pressure, and use it with 5S, 236L/M/H and 22S to make your opponent not want to move in neutral.

236S~S or 214S~S

Second teleport is invulnerable for 16 frames.
Must hold a directional input for the followup to come out, it won't happen if you do 236S~5S.
Can be delayed by 8 frames; if delayed for too long, there will be a window between teleports in which Janemba is vulnerable.

The optional followup teleport for Phantom Shift, functionally the exact same as the first one. Can similarly go in any of the 8 directions. Useful for creating more distance between yourself and the opponent than a single teleport would, making your landings unpredictable, or even mixups and baiting reversals with assists. Get creative!

Dimensional Hole

22S (Air OK)

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
22S Catch			1	31	13		1-31 Projectile Guard Point
22S Attack	600	All				+38	Until attack finishes
j.22S Catch			1	31	13		1-31 Projectile Guard Point
j.22S Attack	600	All				+38	Until attack finishes

Guard pointAn attack that automatically blocks certain attacks. Examples of this include Bang's Drive attacks, Baiken's Suzuran (63214K), and Zappa's Too Bad (214S). against non-Super projectiles and assists.
On successful parry, he becomes fully invulnerable until after recoveryThe recovery of an attack refers to the amount of time an attacker must wait before they may perform another action, even blocking. whilst also shooting a projectile that appears behind his opponent.

Designed to completely shut down projectiles and assist calls, including physical assists. Upon activation, Janemba cannot be punished and the counter projectile will give him free pressure on block or combo on hit. However, similarly to 5S, the tracking on this projectile is not unbeatable.

If you see projectiles and assists coming, there's actually no reason not to parry. Teabag away.

Z Assists

Assist A

Phantom Assault

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
250, 3×175	All		35			+50

5S but shoots from four times.
Fourth Ki Blasts ground bounces.
Fullscreen tracking, enable extensions even at high up.
Like many ki blast-based assists, can be reflected/superdashed during. Interestingly, the first Ki Blast is not reflectable.

A very strong assist and easily the best combo assist in the game. Basically a faster SSJ Vegeta A that trades the defensive usage for full screen tracking.

Fullscreen confirms off of projectiles, air DR enders and high damage combo extensions allow characters to get big boosts to damage, meter gain or both. While it shines in combos, this assist is very strong in neutral as well. Using it while your opponent is in the air forces them to hold the assist or superdash through, giving you either an easy way in or a free punish with 2H. Ultimately, Janemba A does a lot of things that few other assists can do and it does them very well.

This assist is kind of tricky to get used to and may seem weak at first, but its uses in combos and neutral more than make up for the lack of true blockstunWhen a character successfully blocks an attack while standing or crouching, the defender is forced into a stun animation for a set period of time where they are incapable of acting. This period of time is called blockstun..

Assist B

Demonic Blade

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
800			25	2,4		+29

Reflects Ki Blasts while active.

This assist, while not being as strong in combos as Assist A, is also a very potent assist. It's half-screen range allows for it to be used almost as a beam, and it's blockstun solidifies this role. Best blockstring assist outside C, making it your go-to for characters that need blockstun.

Assist C

Hellblade Flurry

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
450,315,280	All		35 [20]	5,3		+55

Teleports to the opponent's position on the ground.
3rd hit comes out only on hit.

55-frame C Assist. Useful if you absolutely need a lockdown assist, and pretty decent because Janemba doesn't really need that kind of assist himself. Startup is lessened in combos allowing for easy extensions.

Super Moves

Rakshasa's Claw

236L+M (Air OK) or j.236H+S

Version	Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
236L+M	2415	All	UDV	9+4			-18	9-18 All
j.236L+M	2415	All	UDV	9+4				9-18 All

Minimum damage: 815
Causes sliding knockdown.
Teleports back to the ground on hit.
Cinematic Super, cutting it early by DHC does slightly less damage without any benefit.
Is Janemba's DHC Super.
Always leaves you +4 on hit, no matter the height you started at before the super.

Good damage for a super. Because of it's cinematic nature, it will always result in a sliding knockdown. The entire time the opponent is falling and sliding is open for DHC's, making it really easy to extend into other supers. In terms of a normal combo ender, it does not really allow continued pressure.

Savage Skewer

236H+S

Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
1995	All	UDV	9+5			-17	9-22 All

Minimum damage: 799
Immediately puts the opponent in the corner, with Janemba fullscreen.
Also a cinematic Super, cutting it early omits the corner carry and has reduced damage.
Unscaled damage is the year that his movie came out.

Fullscreen super that can hit where 236L+M can not, but does less damage overall. This is mainly used to DHC into another characters Level 3 for corner Okizeme.

Needle Light Shower

214L+M (Air OK) or 214H+S (Air OK)

Version	Damage	Guard	Smash	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	Invuln
214L+M	220×19, 360	All	UDV	12+3			-33	1-26 All
j.214L+M	220×19, 360	All	UDV	12+3				1-26 All

Fullscreen beam super for meter dumping and acts as a frame 1 reversal. On hit, Janemba is +43 and can get a meaty in midscreen. In the corner with the right spacing, 236S[3] 2L vs 236S[6] 2L is a meaty left/right 50/50 which, if buffered correctly, is also safe against reversals with startup of 11F or slower. If not spaced out, 236S[2] 2L vs 236S[6] 2L will also work, but isn't as visually ambiguous.