P4U2R/Tohru Adachi/Strategy

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 Tohru Adachi




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Resources (POTENTIALLY OUTDATED)

Adachi 1.1 pastebin made by a high level netpl- pfff ok, I can't even finish that. http://pastebin.com/iL4VmdZN
Adachi Media Playlist made by xenozades: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7Z7bIa2AcqY-WpKfxOgmZXiy8ELTtKLz
Adachi 1.1/2.5 Beginner Guide by xenozades: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rn_XkLWPRGfsxbhKNSFjimA0qSzdASBNKHQF8WvvkA0/edit?usp=sharing
Adachi 1.1 Combo Guide by Panxut: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YriQRv7owGcixiIsacUsCJy73yRgf9zBNCeJFnSowX8/edit?usp=sharing

General Strategies

The Rundown

Adachi is a rushdown character that wants to push his opponents to the corner and run a powerful pressure game against them until they either make a mistake or respect him long enough to get command grabbed. Adachi's mixup relies on conditioning the enemy to stay blocking for long periods of time before opening them up with MegidolaP4AU Adachi Megidola.pngGuardThrow (200)Startup9Recovery39Advantage-, and while it can be difficult to open people up, he can maximize his damage from command grabs quite easily with meter. Adachi's mixup is done extremely close to the opponent, putting yourself to DP range. This is very important when dealing with characters such as Akihiko, who has no reason not to mash DP every time you get close to him while trying to throw, taking your momentum and putting you in a pretty bad spot.

However, his strings have pretty few gaps if he decides to stay safe, so he only needs to take the risk when he feels like it and can stay away from reversal range most of the time. Knowing when to give your opponent breathing room and when not to is very important, because, as said before, he doesn't have any way of dealing safely with DP's aside from callouts and some very specific strings.

Adachi's main strengths are his incredible Persona normals, his ability to convert pretty much anything into high damage if he has meter for it, his lengthy and safe pressure game filled with reset points, and his very useful installs in Heat Riser and Magatsu Mandala. Adachi's main weaknesses are his reliance on Persona normals, his heavy reliance on meter to be a threat, and his lackluster defensive options.

Important Normals

Adachi's Persona normals are all great. They have massive reach, great properties, and help establish Adachi in neutral. There's no shame on relying on them at all levels of play, though their strength doesn't mean they are flawless.

On the ground, Adachi controls space in front of him with 5C, a huge disjointed normal with Persona invulnerability, making it great for poking against characters who like to throw out their Persona for space control. Even then, opponents who like to push towards Adachi will often find themselves speared by the move if they approach him carelessly. This is a fantastic move, but a slow one. Be careful with throwing it out carelessly, as it has slow startup and recovery. Cancelling into 2D can potentially cover you, but can be dashed through and punished. 2C is similarly great for tagging opponents who like to hang out at the top parts of the screen, as air unblockable and will drag them down towards the corner.

The star of the show has to be Adachi's j.C. Disjointed hitbox, massive area of effect, great damage- this normal does it all. Abusing it in neutral is practically an Adachi player's right of passage. While it does have the usual weaknesses of an aerial Persona move (beaten by anti-airs and supers with invuln, risks Persona Break), it's simply so strong that it's hard not to use it. If your opponent has no good answers to this move, j.C is your best friend and lifelong companion henceforth. If they do, then just use it a bit less or bait them with j.2D for big damage and a knockdown. Seriously, it's that darn good.

Outside of the Persona moves, Adachi comes with a suite of pretty solid normals. All of his A buttons have small reach, but are rather quick. They are very useful in pressure or keeping the offense on an opponent if you meet them air-to-air. Adachi's B normals are much slower, but all have great properties. j.B is a great button for air-to-air situations, while 5B smacks people at surprisingly far distances. 5B is also dash cancellable, making it great for pressure scenarios- more on that later. Lastly, 2B is Adachi's go-to anti-air, and it's a decent one. While very punishable on whiff, it launches on counter-hit and has some Head attribute-invuln, making it good for beating big air buttons. It can also be used in 2B > j.C as a pressure reset tool.

Important Specials

Adachi has four major specials he can use, some of which have weird names. As such, each one comes with their own easy-to-remember colloquial names in the community. There's 236A/236B, aka Pain in the Ass!P4AU Adachi StopRightThere.pngGuardStartupRecovery63Advantage-, 214A/214B aka Scared?P4AU Adachi AreYouScared.pngGuardLowStartup12RecoveryTotal 35Advantage-3, 214C/214D aka MegidolaP4AU Adachi Megidola.pngGuardThrow (200)Startup9Recovery39Advantage-, and lastly there's 236C/236D, aka Evil Smile. Let's go over each one briefly.

We'll start with Pain in the Ass!, henceforth known as Gunshot. Upon inputting his move, Adachi will fire his pistol towards the ground. The A version fires close to him, while the B version fires a decent distance away. The SB version fires a tracking shot, which makes it a decent fullscreen poke... but Adachi needs to conserve as much meter as possible, and SB Gunshot has better uses in combos anyways. The main uses for Gunshot are harassment at midscreen with the B version, and combo-ending and pressure-ending with the A version.

Next up is Scared?, henceforth known as Walk Stance/Tackle. Inputting his move causes Adachi to slowly walk forward at different speeds depending on which button you pressed- A goes slow and has projectile invulnerability, while B goes fast. Upon pressing either of Adachi's normal buttons, he will charge forward and perform a tackle. The A version causes a soft tech situation, while the B is a hitgrab that causes Adachi to toss the opponent behind him. Walk Stance is an essential tool for Adachi to use in pressure, as it contains a huge variety of cancellable followups. While Adachi can tackle out of this stance, he can also use his Persona normals, AoA, or even other special moves, which can set up tricky tick-throw setups if the opponent is conditioned to sit still. These setups are discussed further down the page. Overall, Walk Stance and Tackle are great moves that help Adachi's gameplan along.

Next up is Adachi's command grab, Megidola. With good range, fast startup, and high damage potential, Megidola is a great move to use in pressure with lots of reward behind it. Megidola groundbounces opponents on hit, which lets Adachi combo into Heat Riser or Magatsu Mandala for instant applications of his buffs. Adachi can even combo off of these supers, potentially turning a single Megidola grab into massive damage. The C version is a very fast grab at 9 frames of startup, making it completely unreactable if done close enough. The D version has slower startup, but is still quite quick at 16 frames and does more damage. It also has throw invulnerability. Both of these grabs are also Adachi's Fatal Starters, making their damage potential extremely high if they punish something. Overall, a fantastic command grab with lots going for it.

Lastly, Adachi has a unique move called Evil Smile. For starters, performing the move causes Adachi to summon a ghost at a set distance. The C version is sent out at a little further than roundstart, while the D version is sent out nearly fullscreen. This move isn't a true projectile and thus cannot cause the opponent to block, but carries a number of interesting quirks. If the opponent is hit by the ghost, it will pass through them and inflict Fear. This move is great for adding to the opponents mental stack. Many of Adachi's best routes are accessible via counterhit, so forcing counterhit onto the opponents makes for a great way to keep the threat up even at long distances. The SB version is notably good, as it tracks to the opponent, hits crouchers, and allows Adachi to reset pressure. A unique tool in Adachi's arsenal, for sure.

Meter Use

The two primary places Adachi will be spending meter are in combos and pressure. We'll start with combos first.

Many of Adachi's best routes are accessible when he has 25 meter or more. With the ability to cancel into SB Gunshot, Adachi can launch opponents upwards after a sweep and go into his Tennis combos. These deal high damage, have excellent corner carry, and give Adachi a safejump as oki, so they're well worth the price. If Adachi has 50 meter or more though, things get really spicy. From here, Adachi can combo into Heat Riser and Magatsu Mandala to give himself a useful install. Heat Riser increases his damage by 10% while Magatsu Mandala causes all of his Persona Normals to inflict stacking status effects, which allows him to quickly snowball against the opponent and cause massive damage while putting them in a very tough spot. The former is available at any time, while the latter is his Awakening super. With the high meter gain in this game, cashing out and going into a damaging combo can be a great way for Adachi to spend meter.

Outside of combos, Adachi mostly spends his meter in pressure. Adachi's pressure is varied and lengthy when he has resources. All three of his non-Megidola SB Skills are able to be used as pressure resets. SB Gunshot is incredibly plus, SB Walk lets Adachi quickly approach for a command grab and is strike invulnerable from frames 9-32, allowing him to blow through reactive DP attempts, and SB Evil Smile is similarly plus while also inflicting Fear. SB Megidola is also nothing to sneeze at either, having the speed of the C version, while retaining the long reach of the D version, and dealing more damage than both. Examples of how to use these pressure resets can be found below, in the Pressure section.

Adachi has plenty of good places to spend meter, allowing him to freely build and expend the resource to maximize every positive interaction he has.

Neutral

Pokes

As said above, Adachi's Persona Normals make for excellent pokes. Don't be afraid to judiciously use 5C or j.C to bully your opponents back to the corner. Adachi can notably be very safe thanks to the ease with which he controls the screen alongside Magatsu Izanagi, but don't spam him too much. Magatsu Izanagi only has four cards, and losing him removes pretty much all your pressure and damage potential on top of also removing any buffs you have.

If opponents are approaching by the air, use 2B or j.B to smash them out of the sky. If you get a counterhit, try and combo into Tennis or pop one of your buffs. If opponents like to hang out in the top parts of the stage, use 2C to catch them.

Persona Displacement

Adachi's 2C sends Magatsu Izanagi out into the sky above midscreen. From here, Magatsu Izanagi can be used to perform a variety of actions nearly fullscreen from Adachi himself. For example, 2C > 5C sends Magatsu Izanagi out and then causes him to warp back to the ground and attack the opponent. This allows Adachi to hit from surprise angles. Magatsu Izanagi also has built-in synergy with this tactic, as many of Adachi's supers can be cast both from Magatsu Izanagi's location and Adachi's location, allowing the player to apply buffs safely or end combos at long distances.

Adachi's Persona Displacement is somewhat of a gimmick, but gimmicks can be effective nonetheless.

Approaching the Opponent

Adachi doesn't have a lot of safe tools for establishing himself at a distance, and has mediocre zoning potential. Thus, a lot of his neutral is going to be based around bullying the opponent back and aggressively approaching.

Adachi's low-commitment tools for getting in against the opponent are his good normals, and B Gunshot. As has been said many times before, Adachi's normals are all excellent and useful space-control options. Utilizing them to control neutral against your opponent is key. As for B Gunshot, it can be used as a midscreen harassment tool to help control your opponent's grounded approach. Using it excessively can force opponents to respond with a more committal approaching option, which you can punish with Adachi's pokes.

Adachi's high-commitment tools for getting in against the opponent are his D Persona Normals: 2D and 5D. The former is a tracking vertical strike that hits Mid, while the latter is a fullscreen laser that covers a huge portion of the screen after charging up. Both of these normals are high risk, high reward. 2D tracks and can be used as a strong anti-zoning option thanks to its high damage and Fatal Counter properties, but leaves Magatsu Izanagi vulnerable on block. Since Adachi is heavily reliant on his Persona, sacrificing a Persona Card just to get in can be risky. 5D causes the opponent to be carried nearly to the corner on hit and block, can stuff out aerial approaches if done early enough, and basically gives Adachi a free pressure opportunity if it catches the opponent. On the downside, enemies can IB this normal and generate tons of meter, and the chargeup time is nearly a full second or two, making it impossible to use at close ranges or against fast zoning. Overall, both of these normals are very useful for catching opponents off-guard, but must be used cautiously.

Evil Smile

Evil Smile is a great way to harass your opponent at long-distances. Sure, it does no damage, but the lingering fear of a counterhit behind any lost exchange will make your opponent play a lot more cautiously, allowing Adachi to make his way in. Plus, if they make a mistake, you can always capitalize with a high damage combo. Fear also makes both versions of Megidola automatically Fatal Counter, which makes your pressure particularly scary.

Defense

Meterless Options

Adachi's only meterless reversal is his DP, which also converts 950 HP into blue health. Getting your DP baited can kill you. Be mindful of staggers with A normals, and be aware of your opponent's jump cancellable moves.

Metered Options

Persona Broken

Having your persona broken as Adachi is VERY bad. First, any buffs received from Heat Riser and Magatsu Mandala are erased, and would have to be re-applied. Second, your stubby normals will leave you EXTREMELY vulnerable to characters with good normals and any zoning capacity. While severely disadvantaged, all hope is not lost. How do you survive long enough to get Izanagi back and try to mount a comeback? Consider the following options:

RUN!!

Without Izanagi, Adachi is outmatched by many characters in reach and damage. Adachi can no longer convert his meter into either buffs or high damage, and his pressure game loses a lot of its reset potential.

Pressure

Basic Pressure Structure

Reset Points

Tick Throw Setups with Megidola

Okizeme

Tips and Tricks

Safely Applying Magatsu Mandala

By utilizing your persona displacement potential with 2C/j.2C, you can quite easily get your Magatsu Mandala buff safely if you're in the right scenario.

Normally, doing Magatsu Mandala at random times in neutral will often get you killed since you are in a fatal recovery state when the super finishes its animation. But as mentioned before, you can setup your Mandala buff with the usage of your main persona displacement tools: 2C and j.2C. If you and the opponent are at a fair distance away from each other, you can use the moves mentioned before and then use the Magatsu Mandala (A version recommended) super to not only get one of your most useful buffs but also push the opponent back if they block the super, making you safe from a fatal counter combo.

This strategy can be also improved by doing j.2C really low to the ground, making you recover faster and thus being able to use Magatsu Mandala faster.

For visual reference on how this should look

Displacement Shenanigans

Adachi's 5C is not limited to his position, but Magatsu Izanagi's. This means that if your opponent blocks your 2D you can immediately 5C and you'll stab them fullscreen.



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