P4U2R/Sho/Combos

Sho

Overview

Combos

Strategy

Matchups

Frame Data

Resources

This section is still being written. It may be wildly inaccurate or missing significant data.

Please feel free to make edits, but include edit summaries and sources where applicable.

Combo Notation Guide

Character Name Abbreviations

7	8	9
4	5	6
1	2	3

Numbers represent direction on a keyboard numpad. For example,

+

becomes 236D.

> = Proceed from the previous move to the following move.

▷/land = Indicate that the player must land at that point in the sequence.

, = the previous move into the following move.

->/~ = the previous special into a follow-up special.

dl./delay = Delay the following move.

whiff/(whiff) = The move must whiff (not hit).

c. = Close

f. = Far

j. = Jumping/Aerial

hj./sj. = High Jump/Super Jump

jc = Jump Cancel

hjc/sjc = High Jump Cancel/Super Jump Cancel

dc/adc = Dash Cancel/Air Dash Cancel

CH = Counter Hit

AA = Anti-Air

IAS = Instant Air Special

[X] = Hold input.

]X[ = Release input.

(move) = Move is optional.

[X] or [Y] = Perform sequence X or Y.

[sequence] xN = Repeat sequence N amount of times.

(N) = Hit N of a move or move must deal N amount of hits.

AG =

Aigis

AK =

Akihiko

CH =

Chie

LZ =

Elizabeth

JU =

Junpei

KA =

Kanji

KE =

Ken

LB =

Labrys

MG =

Margaret

MA =

Marie

MZ =

Minazuki

MS =

Mitsuru

NA =

Naoto

RI =

Rise

SL =

Shadow Labrys

SH =

Sho

KU =

Teddie/Kuma

AD =

Tohru Adachi

YO =

Yosuke

YU =

Yu Narukami

YA =

Yukari

YK =

Yukiko

Combo List

Introductory / Main Combos

Primary combos that are nice for starting to play Sho, or may be all that you need to play Sho. Most of his advanced combos expand off of these routes in one way or another.

Even if not explicitly stated, a lot of these combos can have their starting normals interchanged between 5A / 5AA, 5B, 2B, 5C, 2C, and after jump-ins like j.B as long as the main structure is followed, so be sure to experiment!

#	Combo	Position	Damage	SP Gain	Works on:	Difficulty	Notes
1	5AAAA~B > jc j.B > j.214B~A	Anywhere	1723	27	All	Beginner	Simple autocombo extension that benefits from the autocombo meter boost.
2	5AAAA~B~C > 236A~A > jc j.C > j.214B~A	Anywhere	2070	32	All	x	A more optimized autocombo extension.
3	(5AA or 2A >) 2B > 5C > 5B > 2A+B > 236B~dl.B~C > 214A > jc j.C > j.214B~A	Anywhere	2884	27	All	x	Basic meterless BNB, works from either A or B normals. Omit 2B if too far away.
4	(5AA or 2A >) 2B > 5B > 5C > 236B~B~C > 236A~A > jc > j.C > j.214B~A	Anywhere	2929	27	All	x	Another meterless BNB, works from either A or B normals. Once again, omit 2B if too far away.
5	214A > jc j.B(1) > j.C > j.214B~A	Anywhere	1434	10	x	x	Basic air combo after 214A.
6	AA 2B > 5B > 5C > 236B~dl.B~C > 214A > jc j.C > j.214B~A	Anywhere	2862	21	x	x	Juggle combo from an anti-air 2B.

All Out Attack Combos

Combo routes after your Universal Overhead lands

#	Combo	Position	Damage	SP Gain	Works on:	Difficulty	Notes
1	5A+B~C > j.B(1) > j.C > jc > j.B(1) > j.C > j.214B~B	Anywhere	2480	28	x	Easy	Basic air combo from an All Out Attack.
2	5A+B~D > 66, 5B > 5C > 2B > 2A+B > 236B~dl.B~C > 214A > jc > j.C > j.214B~A	Near Corner	3157	38	x	x	Corner AoA combo for more damage and meter gain instead.

Throw Combos

Combos off of throws; if you need fully unburstable damage, you can always simply cancel the throw into an SP Skill.


#	Combo	Position	Damage	SP Gain	Works on:	Difficulty	Notes
1	C+D >	Anywhere	x	x	x	x	x

Advanced & Metered Combos

Combos that may require some practice to land consistently, or make use of resources, or in some cases both

Advanced Combos
#	Combo	Position	Damage	SP Gain	Works on:	Difficulty	Notes
1	214A > j.B(1) > j.C, land j.A > j.C(1) > jc > j.B(1) > j.C > j.214B~A	Anywhere	1923	x	All	Intermediate	Optimized rejump combo off of 214A, useful for maximizing damage off of the common teleport cross-up > 214A. Initial j.B requires a little precise delay for the rest of the combo to connect.
2	2C (FC) > 2A+B > 236B~A~C > 236A~B > j.C > 5C > hc j.C > 5C > hc j.C > 5B > 2B > 2A+B > 236B > DP(1) > 214214B	Anywhere	5953	x	All	Hard	2C FC route for damage

25 SP Combos
#	Combo	Position	Damage	SP Gain	Works on:	Difficulty	Notes
1	2B > 5C > 5B > 236A+B, 2A > 5B > 2B > 5C > 236B~B~C > 236A~A > jc > j.C > j.214B~A	Anywhere	3814	-5	All	x	Crouching hit only. 236A+B can link into 2A on crouching hit, letting Sho go back into another ground chain to improve his damage a bit.
2	2B > 5C > 5B > 2A+B > 236B~B~[C~A+B], land 2A > 5B > 5C > 2B > 2A+B > 236B~A > j.C > j.214B~A	Anywhere	3973	-6	x	x	Modified Sho BNB that utilizes a kara SB Destructive Fang. More details on the technique in the Combo Theory / Strategy section.

50 SP Combos
#	Combo	Position	Damage	SP Gain	Works on:	Difficulty	Notes
1	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

Extras & Neta

Combos that are not a priority or pivotal to a gameplan to learn, random conversions, too inconsistent to be recommended, or are just plain "neta" (gimmicks)

Combo Theory

Sho combos are pretty "easy-bake" in what you are to do, and what you can do: Chain buttons, go into rekkas, launch with rekkas and simply chain into the ender.

Combo Choice

Ender Choice

In a high hitstun scaling combo (such as off of 2A or spotdodge counter attacks), or if you aren't sure if a combo has gone on for too long, you may want to finish the combo with a regular 236A~A~A or even just a 214A~A instead of attempting a fancier ender as it may drop.

Explanations for routing choices

j.214X~A vs j.214X~B in combos

In a lot of combos, the two follow-ups to a j.214X are interchangeable, but in most combos the A ender follow-up is preferred and should be used over the other despite the fact that the B version can grant more optimized damage and meter gain, and here's why:

The A ender has faster startup, so it will connect at the end of more combos than the B version, such as longer ones, ones off of higher hitstun scaling starters (i.e. 2A, Spotdodge follow-ups), and off of weaker hit-confirm starters such as a 2AAA or 5AAA.
The A ender will leave Sho on the same side every time, while the B version can cross up when ending air combos at specific heights. This is important if you're trying to carry the opponent to the corner, so that you can do better combos into/with supers.

Overall, it's clearly more reliable, but this doesn't necessarily mean the B version is inferior:

As mentioned earlier, it does a bit more damage and gives a bit more meter. Arguably negligible, but still optimized when you can land it.
The side switch can be useful for adding mix-ups on some opponents (i.e. Side switch with 236B, cross back over with 236C > crossup 214A) or escaping the corner off of a stray hit.
There are still some combos where the B ender can be guaranteed and is preferred, such as off of good or Fatal Counter starters.