General Tactics
Majin Buu is designed to win neutral and oppress and pressure the opponent. He has tools to function in a lot of different ways depending on the playstyle, but generally you want to stay back and wait for your opponent to make a mistake until you can safely get a hit. In neutral, his ki blasts are at great angles to pressure and poke from a distance, and whenever someone superdashes through them, even in the air the cartwheel is a threat because it can anti air and counter their superdash into a combo. His j.H and j.2H are great to stop approaches and jumping respectively, and if j.2H hits you can convert off it pretty easily. Use Fat throw whenever you can do it safely, as it allows you to dash in on anyone that has no beam to counter it. If you happen to land a stray hit into a combo your first concern should be getting that fat throw in a combo (236H), and once that's done all you have to worry about is what your mixup is going to be. If it doesn't work, strategically retreat back into neutral to do it all over again, and watch your opponent's sanity slowly being drained.
Team positioning
Point
Point is one of Buu's best spots. Having access to two assists makes him very scary in both neutral and when pressured, but its weakness is dependent on the team. Generally for a point Buu you need to have a neutral assist (like a beam) and one mixup assist (high blockstun etc), and one thing that remains constant as a weakness for point Buu is that his roundstart is not up to par with most of the top characters in the game.
Mid
Likely Buu's best option, but is debatable with point. The idea here is that you get a character that likes Majin Buu's assist and can abuse assists a bit better (examples Kid Buu, Bardock, Videl etc) and has better roundstart options to make the team more threatening at the start of the game. When the momentum is gotten, switch Buu in and then abuse your other two assists, or whatever assist is remaining for the rest of the match.
Anchor
Anchor Buu is hard, but doable. It is not suggested. There are certain setups that he can get solo to mix people up, and his neutral is solid, but those setups require decent awareness of the hitstun timer in this game as well as reduces your damage because combos must be a certain length of time to get these setups. Also, Buu's generally mediocre assists as well as reward for abuse of other assists generally doesn't warrant him being run anchor at all.
Picking Teammates
Majin Buu benefits most from assists that help him set up fat throws and aid in his neutral. The ideal team structure is one assist to aid neutral (beam) and another to aid mixups.
- Beams allow Buu to get in easily and most issues with his neutral by himself are usually solved by just having one
- Some assists such as Yamcha A, Kid Buu A, Piccolo B, Bardock A, etc have a property that leaves the opponent standing on hit. These are Buu's favorite assists for Fat Throw mixups(details in Okizeme)
- Assists with high blockstun (40+ frames) are good for Majin Buu on block, because he can use them to get mixups with 214H
- Assists that are easy to convert off of (C assist, Base Goku A, Blugeta A etc) can be used for Fat Throw mixups to a lesser extent
- People that can use Majin Buu's assists effectively themselves are generally good to have on a team (GT Goku can use the Fat Throw assist to convert off his air beam for example)
Blockstrings
Basic blockstring guideline:
- 5L > 5L > 2M > 5H > 214H > assist >
Preferably an assist like Yamcha, Gotenks or Kid Buu A, since they can't be superdashed through and hold the opponent in block for 40+ frames. This creates an unreactable High/Low mixup that is a true blockstring using those assists. Safe to Guard Cancel.
- 2L > 5L > 2M > 5H > 214L
Ending any string with 5H > 214L will leave Majin Buu spaced so far away he outranges every hit of Vegito's 5L
- ...5H > 2H > 214L or 214M
You can purposefully delay the 2H to create a gap, or leave it as a true blockstring, then use 214L to keep the string true and Majin Buu safe or 214M to create another frametrap. The cartwheels will also anti-air Guard Cancels making this blockstring extremely scary to try and get out of, and allows assists to regenerate for longer.
- ...5H > 236S > Vanish
The 236S here will true blockstring into Vanish, leaving Buu +2 and able to safely keep pressure. There is a gap between the 5H and 236S however, so use this sparingly.
- ...5H or 5S > 214S
This blockstring is not recommended like at all lol. 214S leaves Majin Buu +1 frame, meaning he can jab and beat out any button the opponent presses after it is block, but they are free to backdash, jump, vanish, reflect, or reversal as a counterplay. In addition, the fat itself comes out slow and it's almost impossible to outrange a jab so that fat beats a reaction mash, meaning the second the opponent sees Buu prepare to throw it, they can usually press a button and get a free combo. Frankly, this is only included here to let the reader know that Majin Buu is +1 on Fat Throw.
Okizeme
Majin Buu has pretty decent okizeme options on sliding knockdown and on level 3 hard knockdown. Here is a list of practical options:
SKD
- IAD safejump. Off 236L or M just dash into the opponent and then quickly input IAD ML. Usually non applicable midscreen, but is useful to know off a vanish conversion. On j.H sliding knockdown you can do the same, but it's harder to time and can lose to uptech and delay tech often.
- Fat Throw. Can only be done in the corner. After 236L or 236M knockdown just buffer the move, off j.H sliding microdash forward and then input it. Covers uptech and backtech and leaves Buu safe from all delay tech timings. On uptech, Buu is +24, on backtech, +18, and if reflected on backtech, +23. It's even safe to reversals and if he decides to IAD M after fat is blocked, opponent is unable to reaction 2H. Generally a fantastic setup to use if you don't want to spend meter.
Fat Throw
- Restand after using Fat Throw in a combo (details in next section)
Level 3
- Superjump IAD 50/50. Superjump and airdash, then hold up to float and do an overhead, or hold down to fast fall and then do a 2L low. Works both midscreen and corner. Overhead option is a safejump and will auto block reversals. Most reliable oki option.
- Microdash autocombo 50/50. Microdash forward, then press 5LL and either hit the second hit, or purposefully whiff it and press L again for a throw. Loses to reversals, and can be unreliable. Good to know.
- Spark bait. Airdash M, then immediately backdash and 5H upon landing. If the opponent sparked without reacting to the hit, the 5H should punish them. If 5H is blocked use 214L to be safe on block. Obvious counterplay includes reflecting the 5H, jumping out, or even backdashing.
- Vanish whiff. Useful for the corner because it lets you cross up and corner steal. Mixups off this include backward iad M, crossup j.M, meaty 2M.
Choosing an Oki Route
Because Fat Throw is generally set up by spending half a bar, if you are in the corner and don't want to spend your meter on fat, you can use the Fat Throw SKD oki setup and retain a good amount of pressure. Other than that, if you're midscreen it's best to just go for a safejump or reset to neutral.
About Buu's IAD safejump
Since Buu's j.H is so slow, it can't be used for IAD safejumping. You must use his j.M, or his j.M + j.L for double overhead. If you're certain the opponent won't anti-air, you can use j.H to condition, and later on delay the move to fake a safejump. If you superjump IAD, j.H will hit, so this is good with conditioning but generally non-applicable. It's just good to know.
Fat Throw
Video Examples
Shadowsavant0's Okizeme guide
Shadowsavant0's Fat Throw guide
Tips and Tricks
In neutral, it's important to remember the spacing on his normals. With an IAD, j.H can overhead a grounded opponent from fullscreen. Sometimes you can just run and jump forward with it and catch people off guard as it's just a huge, high blockstun hitbox that can interrupt most character's other aerials. At about center stage, a j.2H will catch anyone that tries to jump, and if they didn't block it you can just superdash into a combo. Post snapback midscreen, you can j.2H and when or if they block, superdash and call assist. Then you can either IAD j.M or fall and 2M. His 5H can hit from roundstart as well as his ki blasts. If you're looking to open someone up but they won't approach you can surprise them with a quick 236H from fullscreen. It's hard to react to, but can be 2H'd. Throwing out fat throw at a bad time will leave you open for 31 frames but once the move actually comes out you're completely safe. Anyone who tries to superdash will be caught and you can combo them after.
Fighting Majin Buu
The name of the game when playing against Majin Buu is awareness. At nearly any point, a Majin can surprise you with an IAD j.H, Fat Throw or a random 236H. Take advantage of his size and fuzzy him to death or use beam characters to your advantage. Buu likes you at a midscreen range so either get up close and corner him as much as possible or just refuse to approach. Try and snap in his teammates to save him for last, since a solo Majin Buu is near suicide. A smart Buu player might still give you a hard time anyway, but without assists he's not nearly as deadly.