Capcom vs. SNK 2 Athena Asamiya FAQ ver. 1.2 - 11.30.01 written by bellreisa [ lain (underscore) iwakura (at) softhome (dot) net ] _______________________________________________________________________________ Disclaimer: This FAQ is not to be used for profit. This FAQ may not be distributed without express permission from me, which isn't so hard because all you have to do is ask me via email. If you can't figure out how to get to my email address you probably aren't smart enough anyways. This FAQ is formatted in ASCII plaintext at 80 characters per line. For best results, view in a plaintext editor. I will be assuming that you are familiar with the basic systems of CvS2; if you want a FAQ that covers what each groove does, how to do all the little tricks associated with each groove, then look elsewhere. This FAQ is for Athena only. _______________________________________________________________________________ Updates: 11.12.01 - Version 1.2 out, added some info on her normals that I overlooked previously, and I made the grooves in their own section. Notable changes include a reassessment of her double-kick and her standing MP and MK. 11.11.01 - Version 1.1 out. Some little extra stuff for combos and I added info on her air throw (which I forgot, duh). 11.10.01 - Version 1.0 out. Corrections and info are welcome. _______________________________________________________________________________ Notation: LP/LK = Light Punch/Light Kick (Jab and Short) MP/MK = Mid Punch/Mid Kick (Strong and Forward) FP/FK = Fierce Punch/Fierce Kick (Fierce and Roundhouse) DP = Dragon Punch HCF/HCB = Half Circle Forward/Half Circle Forward QCF/QCB = Quarter Circle Forward/Quarter Circle Back DF/DB = Down-forward/Down-back UF/UB = Up-forward/Up-back _______________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents: I. Intro II. Normals and Throws III. Specials and Command Normals IV. Supers V. Combos VI. Groove Choice VII. Strategies and Tricks _______________________________________________________________________________ I. Intro Athena Asamiya is a 21-year old idol singer who also likes to fight. She first debuted in King of Fighters '94 with her team members, Chin Gentsai and Sie Kensou. Since then, she's appeared pretty much in every King of Fighters tournament since then, sporting a different stylish idol outfit each year. King of Fighters 1999 introduced a new member of the Psycho Soldiers team, Bao, but since he isn't in Capcom vs. SNK 2 he isn't important. I'm not a huge KoF fan, so I don't know everything there is to know about Athena. If anyone's willing to send me a handy-dandy bio, then I'll put it into the FAQ. I think the bios are mostly fluff, anyways. Athena isn't one of the more powerful characters in this game in my opinion, but she can be fairly effective and a nice meter-builder if used properly. Hopefully this FAQ will give you the necessary pointers to do just that. _______________________________________________________________________________ II. Normals All moves are assuming Athena is facing left. Reverse if she is on the right side. Hey, it works for Sagat's eyepatch, right? Normals are tested on "smaller" characters for wiff properties, i.e. Vice, Yuri, and Nakoruru. On larger characters, the normals that wiff crouchers may hit. Since large characters are the exception rather than the rule, the normals are rated as wiff-worthy by the lowest (pun unintended) common denominator. Standing LP - Athena does an open palm strike with her right arm. Puny range and damage, completely unremarkable. Bufferable. I think it hits crouchers as well, but it lacks the range and pushes too far back to do anything like Ibuki's jab trap or Rolento's jab guard crush tactics. Close LP - Athena does a straight elbow with her left arm. Puny damage, completely unremarkable. Bufferable. Hits crouchers. MP - Athena does an upward-angled chop. This works as good anti-air, but only farther away, because closer in Athena will do the close standing MP (which is not good anti-air). Priority on it is decent; it'll beat a lot of hits and trade on priority whores like Blanka's jumping FK and Kyo's down + HP smash punch. Close MP - Athena does the same straight elbow as close standing LP, but it has the power and stun of a MP (which isn't too remarkable still). Bufferable. FP - Athena does a lunging punch with her left fist. This has some pretty decent range (for Athena), priority, and power but it's not Guile's backfist. Not bufferable. Close FP - Athena does a downward elbow smash with her left arm. It would be a good combo move, except there's only one move that could connect after this due to its pushback (and it doesn't connect fully unless in the corner). ^^;; Bufferable. Hits crouchers. LK - Athena does a mid-level kick with her left leg. It's got decent range compared to most LKs. It's also somewhat slow (but not any more so than normal LKs). Not bufferable. Hits crouchers. Close LK - Athena does a boot to the head with her left leg. Nothing really special. Bufferable. Wiffs crouchers. MK - Athena does a high-angled hook kick with her left leg. This is her second anti-air of choice if the opponent has a downward-angled kick, like Rock and King's jumping FKs, because for those kicks The Push won't hit them correctly and will be beaten out. Not bufferable. Wiffs crouchers. Close MK - Same as her close standing LK, with MK properties (if it hits). Bufferable. Wiffs crouchers. FK - Athena does a spinning kick with her left leg. It moves her forward about one step. This isn't too bad a poke, if you're not using The Push for some reason. Not bufferable. Hits crouchers. Close FK - Athena knees the opponent with her right leg. This is pretty much a copy of her close standing FP; use accordingly. Bufferable. Hits crouchers. Crouching These moves, obviously, all hit crouchers. =b She only has one variety of each of these moves, too. LP - Athena does an open-palm strike with her right hand. It's your typical jab, one that can be rapid-fired. Very small range, stay away from it. You can chain this into The Push, for what it's worth. Bufferable. MP - Athena does a left-handed lunge punch that's the same thing as her standing far FP. The fact that this is comboable can help you set up some traps with her Psycho Ball, or her Psycho Teleport. Bufferable. FP - Oh, yeah. Abuse this bitch like there's no tomorrow. Athena does a double handed push with both her arms. This thing has the best range on any of her normals, bar none. It's fast as hell and the hit box on this also reaches quite far. It also has insane priority, beating out a good deal of normals and special moves cleanly (or trade in her favor), and if someone is out of range and walks into it as she starts withdrawing, it'll still hit them. There *are* moves it can't beat cleanly (Haohmaru's pokes, Blanka's pokes). Nevertheless, this is by far Athena's best normal and probably a good 40% of her offensive arsenal. Not bufferable, sadly. This move shall be hereforth referred to as The Push. LK - Athena does a shoto-style kick with her left foot. Pretty good range and you can chain this into The Push. Bufferable. MK - Athena does a ground-hugging kick that looks like an extended version of her crouch LK. Good range, but The Push sorta beats it out, so it's rendered fairly obsolete. Plus, it's not bufferable. I haven't checked to see if you can buffer into a super, but since she's only got one that can be done on the ground it's a bit of a moot point. FK - Athena does a sort of spinning sweep with her right leg. The range on this sucker is absolutely pathetic; it's even worse than Nakoruru's sweep. If you've played Alpha 3, think of this sweep as like Cody's (except I think even Cody's has more range). Stay away from this move. Not bufferable. Jumping These will hit crouchers for the most part, if you time it right. LP - Athena does this odd double-armed angled push. It sticks out for a while but has pretty bad range. Bufferable, although it won't stun long enough to hit anything useful. MP - Athena does a downward chop with her left arm. Not too bad, not too good either. Bufferable (and this time it can land into a combo), although it's a bit difficult. FP - Athena does a sideways chop with her left arm. Pretty good priority and does okay at air-to-air (timing it right lets it beat out USA Bison's jumping HK, if I remember correctly). The range could use some work, though. Not bufferable. LK - Athena does an upward-angled kick with her left leg. It's one of those weird, useless jumping attacks. Since shorts and jabs no longer stick out forever, it's not that useful. Bufferable. Probably wiffs crouchers. MK - Athena does a looooong kick with her left leg. This has some nice cross up properties, although Athena's not at her best in the air so you shouldn't rely on this move (her jumping FK has better priority anyways). I think it's bufferable. Hits crouchers if done late. FK - Athena does what looks more or less exactly like her jumping MK (it's slightly different, but not by much; the main difference is that it doesn't stay out as long and stuns more). This is pretty much her aerial move of choice; it has nice priority and a good hitbox. Not bufferable. Hits crouchers rather easily. Throw #1 (using FP): Athena grabs her opponent with a fistful of psycho power, then flings them aside. This throw's got some nice range, better than the FK one, so use this one if you're tick-throwing the opponent. Throw #2 (using FK): Athena stands still and lets psycho power flip her opponent around. This does more damage than her other throw, so use this one if you've got a guaranteed throw opportunity. Throw #3 (using FP, in the air): Athena grabs on to the opponent and flings them to the ground. This is useful to throw in once in a while against people playing P or K and are waiting for you to do something so they can parry/Just Defend it. It also helps that Athena can mix this up with the Butt Bounce (which leaves her safe from retaliation if blocked or hit), the Shining Crystal Bit super (which is pretty much a bitch to parry/Just Defend), or a Phoenix Arrow (which will usually beat out whatever they try to do). _______________________________________________________________________________ III. Specials and Command Normals Athena's specials are, for the most part, a strange parody of your typical shoto moves. However, they were all toned down so that they don't have the same sort of usefulness. Psycho Ball QCB + P Your standard pink glowing fireball with three speeds, accompanied by the shrill cry of "Psycho BAAAAALL!" Capcom mercifully decided not to give Athena her annoying KoF98 voice; if they had, that alone would make Athena top-tier, as anyone who plays against her would scream and run out of the arcade the instant you did this move. This move cannot be combo into. Repeat, it CANNOT be comboed into. There is simply too much lag in the beginning. This move is strictly limited to being a setup device; use it from far away, or very rarely from close up to throw off an opponent's timing (off a low MP or something). It can also be used to goad the opponent into your range, as Athena's long-range game is near non-existent. Never get into a fireball fight with anyone, because you will lose. And, obviously, don't do this from afar against a decent P, S, or K groove user. Psycho Sword (can be done in air) DP + P Your wannabe Shoryuken: Athena goes straight up and a bit forward into the air, screaming "Psycho SWOOOORD!" This thing doesn't have any more priority than most anti-airs, and it has the property of being a near worthless wakeup or limb-catching move. The FP version can be comboed from a close standing FP or FK, but not for full hits unless you're in the corner. You can also get the full hits of this move from a Super Psychic Throw, even outside the corner, which is about all this is useful for. Athena's got better anti-airs. Psycho Reflector HCB + K Athena puts her hands forward and manifests a spinning orb of pink energy. This reflects normal fireballs only, and due to startup you can't use it on reaction from anywhere closer than full-screen. Athena also does a little hop before the orb comes out for the MK and FK versions. You can throw this move in once in a while to try and zone the opponent and vary the tempo of your attack, but it's mostly a one-trick pony against people who like to jump back and fireball you all day. Super Psychic Throw HCF + P Athena puts her hands forward. If her opponent's in range, she grabs onto them with psycho power, spins around once and poses as they go flying up into the air. Athena is left free to do whatever she wants afterwards. This move does pathetic damage by itself (less than a normal throw), so always, always, always follow it up with something--preferably a FP Psycho Sword, as it deals the most damage outside of a super. The range on this move is about the same as her normal throw, and I think it's about as fast, so throw this in once in a while to mix it up. Psycho Teleport DP + K Athena spins, cries out "TELEPOOORT!" and leaves an afterimage of herself sparkling behind as she rapidly... uh, teleports. The kick strength determines how far she goes. LK is approximately a third of the screen, MK is a little over half, and FK is full screen. Athena can be command thrown out of this move, although I don't think normal throws affect her. This is a great move, as it provides Athena with the ability to both pressure by getting in close (MK teleport after a LP Psycho Ball), mix up (LK teleport off a blocked MP crosses up), and run away (FK teleport out of corner). Use this move often, but don't abuse it, as it has startup and exit lag. Think of it as a glorified roll. Phoenix Arrow (air only) QCB + K Athena curls up into a ball and surrounds herself with psycho power, then dives down at the ground. LK is a very shallow angle, MK is a bit steeper, and FK is the steepest with a low-hitting kick at the end. Note that Athena is left open to fast-moving supers (Rock's level 3 Shine Knuckle, Kim's level 3 Houou Kyaku, Balrog's level 3 Gigaton Punch, etc.) and long-limbed moves for the FK version; however, if used correctly this move leaves Athena wholly safe. By "used correctly" I mean that you should only graze the opponent with it and land about one or two steps away from them. This move has fairly good air priority and beats out most normals, although the damage on it isn't great. The main use for this is to give her an aerial option select and to interrupt her jump, and maintain offensive against opponents. It's also tricky to parry or Just Defend the whole thing. Learn the angles of each Arrow and use them accordingly; don't blindly dive down each time, because you *will* get punished for it. Butt Bounce (air only) D + MK Athena turns around and aims her ass down at the lucky opponent. This move can only be done while jumping forward, and it knocks down if it hits. Either way, Athena bounces away faaaar safely (most of the time; supers and limbs that go far will catch her). The priority on this thing is pretty good if you can get the ass part to connect; there's a weird angle to it. Throw this in once in a while if you want to reset the distance game with your opponent. Double Kick towards + MK Athena does her famous two-stage hop kick. This was the key to a lot of her good combos in King of Fighters. Here, it's virtually useless. It knocks the opponent in the air if it lands, but you can't juggle them afterwards. You can't combo from it. You may be able to link into it from a LP or LK, but it's not really worth the effort. So what's good about this move? Well, the recovery is fairly good, as you can do this and if blocked you should be safe. It also moves you closer to the enemy while attacking, which is usually a plus. Still, use this move sparingly, as it tends to leave Athena open for quite a bit. _______________________________________________________________________________ IV. Supers Shining Crystal Bit HCB x 2 + P, QCB + P (can be done in air) Athena poses as two orbs of energy surround her. Doing the followup motion will make her pose with the bit on her fingertip as long as you hold down the P button (it can be held for up to three seconds real time), and letting it go will make her throw the bit. Using LP will cause the bit to go straight; MP and FP make the bit arc up near the edge of the screen. If done in the air, the bit will always go downwards and straight. The bits hit only once; the follow-up hits two, three, or four times depending on level. Note that even on level 3, this super is not wholly invincible; Athena is only safe when the bits are surrounding her, and a lucky strike can knock her even out of the level 3 version. However, this super is one of the few in the game that is good at all levels, as it acts as a great wakeup move or anti-air. Always cancel into the bit throw because the super deals pathetic damage without it (as opposed to KoF, where one hit dealt the brunt of the damage). The full uses of this move will be explained further down below. This is Athena's super of choice. Fang Arrow QCF x 2 + K (air only) Athena does repeated Phoenix Arrows: three on level 1, four on level 2, and five on level 3. Each dive hits a whole bunch, but beware, as the closer to the ground you are the less hits you deal. Not that it really matters, as this super sucks. Not only do you build a grip of meter for the other guy because of all the hits you're dealing, but you don't get a whole lot of damage out of it (probably 20-25% at level 3). The one good thing about this super is that it deals a lot of chip damage, and only C and N grooves will be able to counter out of it. You can use this super to kill someone off if you spy an opening from the air or if they're almost dead, but otherwise stay away from this. _______________________________________________________________________________ V. Combos To tell the truth, Athena really doesn't have much in the way of combos. She's more of a hit and run character who molests you for a bit, runs away, annoys you some more, and suddenly ends up winning. Here are some of her combos that do work (only two of which I actually use myself). 1. Any groove, corner Jump in, standing close FP, FP Psycho Sword Standing close FP into FP Psycho Sword will work outside the corner, but only two of the seven hits will land. 2. C groove, corner Jump in, level 2 Shining Crystal Bit, shoot the bit, level 1 Shining Crystal Bit, shoot the bit This is pretty much Athena's best combo in any groove, as it deals about 50% damage if all the hits land. If you only have 2 levels, you can substitute a FP Psycho Sword in the corner, or a Psycho Ball/Psycho Teleport outside the corner to maintain offensive. 3. Any groove, preferably outside corner Jump in, standing close/crouching MP, LK Psycho Teleport Not really a combo so much as a mix-up. The LK Psycho Teleport will get Athena on the other side of the opponent *quickly*, which gives you a free throw if they don't react in time. This can either be the FK throw or the Super Psychic Throw, which leads into a free FP Psycho Sword or Shining Crystal Bit. Don't do this too often, as you'll get hit as you come out of the Teleport. 4. Any groove, full screen LP Psycho Ball, MK Psycho Teleport, The Push Yeah, yeah, it's ghetto. If you're using an SNK groove, you can run instead of doing the Teleport; it's safer. 5. Any groove, close Crouch LK x 3, The Push Pretty much Athena's "bread and butter". You can chain into her FP with some practice. 6. C groove, in air Level 2 Fang Arrow, cancel into Level 1 Shining Crystal Bit once on ground A fairly "duh" combo. This is nice if you manage to get an opening to do a Fang Arrow, as you can land a Shining Crystal Bit for free. You can cancel into another level 1 Fang Arrow, but I'm fairly sure it deals less damage. 7. Any groove, close Standing close MP, standing far MK A chain. It sorta sucks. 8. Any groove, close Standing close MP, The Push Another chain. Just master the crouching LK x 3, The Push and you'll be fine, really. 9. Any groove, close Super Psychic Throw, move forward about 1.5 steps, FP Psycho Sword 10. A-groove, corner Super Psychic Throw, activate, FP Psycho Sword x 6, Shining Crystal Bit About the only useful Custom I can find for her, it deals approximately 40% damage. Not really worth it, in my opinion; you lose the power of level 3 Shining Crystal Bits and her run. This is pretty much your default followup to a Super Psychic Throw if you don't have meter, and I *think* the FP Psycho Sword deals more than her level 1 Shining Crystal Bit. You can substitute the Shining Crystal Bit super at any level after the Throw, but for it to be a guaranteed hit you need to jump up after them first and do the super in midair. And... uh, that's all for now. Like I said, Athena's not much for combos. If anyone has suggestions, feel free to email me at lain (underscore) iwakura (at) softhome (dot) net. _______________________________________________________________________________ VI. Groove Choices Which groove is best for Athena? Without a doubt, the SNK grooves. Athena absolutely needs her run to be at her optimal game; without her run, she becomes fairly limited and too defensive in style, and she isn't as good at being defensive like some other characters (i.e. Hibiki, Blanka). Here, I'll run down each of the grooves and give my personal assessment of how well Athena plays in each. For those impatient, here's my personal breakdown of the grooves Athena works best in, in order of effectiveness: N, C, K, S, P, A. N-Groove ________ This is, by far, the way to play Athena. The first and most important thing is that she has her run. She also has counterroll, which is a powerful weapon against people who like to keep you blocking (counterroll out of blockstun and go into her command throw for a chance to land her Shining Crystal Bit). The fact that you only have level 1s and 3s doesn't harm her at all, seeing as how she can break a stock to gain a bit of attack power, bust a level 3, or just hang on to her stocks for anti-air level 1 Shining Crystal Bits. C-Groove ________ I put C abouve K and S because while she doesn't have the run here, Athena builds supers fast enough for her to maintain a decent game. Her dash sort of limits her game, forcing you to use the Psycho Teleport more often; I only dash with Athena when I'm almost a full screen away, as dashing is too liable to be punished when closer to an enemy. Athena really has problems getting in on turtlers in this groove, due to the overall defensive game that C plays, and I personally think defensive Athena is boring. ^^; K-Groove ________ K-Athena isn't too bad. She's got all the bigger options that come in N, such as low jump, rolling getup, and of course, the run. The addition of the Just Defend in exchange for her roll isn't too bad, as it helps Athena solidify her zoning games (there are some things you just can't beat with her anti-airs). I haven't played too much K-Athena myself, but I see potential for her here. The main problem I can see is that she only gets level 3 supers, so you don't have any source of big damage until you get raged up. S-Groove ________ S-Groove isn't too popular yet, but I've fiddled with S-Athena and I don't think she's half bad. She comes with the run, which is integral, and probably the most important part of playing her in S: her counterhit. Athena's knockdown counterhit is her standing FP, which has *really* good range, speed, and priority and hits both high and low. You can play some severe mindgames by running up to an opponent and dodging: if they try to attack, they'll wiff and you can counterhit them to knock down. If they do nothing, you come safely out of the dodge without lagging. The main problem with S-Groove is that it has no rolling getup, so Athena becomes a bit more defensive, and her supers aren't really an option for her (charging up a super when she has a run to use just seems contradictory to me) until she gets low on life. You can freely abuse the Shining Crystal Bit super against a non-roll groove at that point, though (except against characters with full meters, obviously), and the fact that the super can pop out of anywhere and has high priority makes Athena very difficult to approach and quite annoying near her redlife zone. P-Groove ________ I put P above A only because of the potential that parrying holds: a parry followed by either a Super Psychic Throw or The Push is a surefire way to get damage until you get a super. Otherwise, this is a fairly weak groove to play Athena in, as she becomes more of a defensive character without her run and her level 1 supers. A-Groove ________ I haven't found any good Customs for Athena yet. She has a corner Custom that I mentioned above, but the lack of damage on it and its conditional execution (it's a corner-only Custom) and lack of run makes this probably the worst groove to use her in. _______________________________________________________________________________ VII. Strategies and Tricks Athena's Best Normals In A Nutshell =================================== For those who just want to get cheap fast. Crouching FP - All purpose. Use it. Love it. Watch people call it cheap. Standing MP - Anti-air (somewhat farther) Standing MK - Anti-air (somewhat close) Crouching LK - For footsie game. Standing LK - Pokie pokie. The Push ======== Athena's main weapon is, without a doubt, her low FP. The Push does an incredible number of things that any other character would require a large arsenal to handle. The Push can go under fireballs (except stuff like Power Waves and Low Tiger Shots). It can anti-air as long as your opponent's kick isn't angled downwards (think Blanka's jumping FK, along with Rock's, King's, and such). It can poke and it guard crushes in eight clean hits. Not too shabby. Throw in The Push often, but beware of getting predictable. If you get too scrubby with it, people will roll in anticipation and punish, parry and punish, dodge and counterattack, etc. etc. A fun thing to do is if you're not too good at chaining crouching LK into The Push, you can throw out three crouching LKs at close range and wait for them to roll. Once they do, simply throw at your leisure. Annoying the Opponent ===================== Athena's no combo fiend, nor is she good at a consistent, fluid rushdown like Terry or Kim. Instead, Athena's game seems to be (based on my time of play with her) hit and go rushdown. She gets in and harasses you for a bit, beats out some of your moves, tick throws, then starts running away with Psycho Teleport. And then she does it all over again. I've managed to have the most success with playing a sort of cautious rushdown with her in C groove, although now that I'm playing her in N I have to say that she's best with the run, as she can do a fairly annoying rushdown pattern consisting of run, interrupt with The Push, repeat. The Push beats out enough moves to justify throwing it out blindly, it recovers fast enough to allow you to tech hit from being thrown if someone rolled in anticipation, and it cancels the skidding animation of stopping a run. If I'm close, I rely mostly upon her crouching LKs followed by The Push as her primary poking tool and combo. The crouching LK is also good to interrupt her run with, as it has good range and is a light move so it recovers well. I use Psycho Teleports to skirt around my opponent a bit if he's turtling, then use one to end up next to him so I can get in. This won't work against good players who know when to hit her out of her Teleport, though, which is why I recommend her run, which does a superior job of closing the gap between you and your opponent. Athena has no real distance game, as her fireball sucks. However, her hot-and- dirty closeup game sucks as well (The Push can only do so much, and Chun Li's in-close poke game is far superior to Athena's). Try to keep your opponent at a range where she can hit them with The Push if they get too close, but not close enough where they can shove a super up her ass. Ticking into her throws is another big part of her game, as Athena really has little she can do against a turtling opponent with good pokes (that bitch Blanka comes to mind). Against these people, try rolling once they attempt a long-ranged poke up close and throw them (preferably with the Super Psychic Throw, as that has more damage potential). Do a few crouching LKs, then walk a few steps forward and throw. Forget about people calling you cheap. Throwing was invented for turtling bitchasses. The Teleport ============ The Psycho Teleport is, as I previously mentioned, a sort of glorified roll. This is a great boon to people who play in P, S, or K grooves as they lack the mobility the roll provides. Athena's normal roll is fairly average, nothing as good as Terry's or Kim's. The Psycho Teleport is better than Akuma's teleport, in my opinion. Not only is it easier to do, but it's much MUCH faster and just more practical overall. Following up a Psycho Ball from a screen away with a Teleport is an old but effective strategy: if your opponent moves towards you somehow, you'll be in the right distance to begin molesting them with The Push. If they block, you can do the FK Teleport to end up on their other side and continue bothering them from there on. The thing to be careful about in using the Teleport is to not try and use it as a replacement for a roll. While I call it a glorified roll, it isn't by any means a substitute for one. It has enough lag at the front and end to make it risky to throw out randomly. Use it to get in close or get away from being cornered; for the latter, doing a FK Teleport after a blocked The Push works well. The Shining Crystal Bit ======================= The juggling properties of this move are fairly odd. Done on the ground, you have to cancel and release the bit immediately to get proper damage out of the super. Done as anti-air, it all depends on how deep they were; the bits occasionally juggle the opponent upwards and onto your fingertip, where you can let the bit sit for an extra hit (whee, rhyming) before releasing it as normal. It all depends on positioning, as the Shining Crystal Bit is a highly irregular super. Playing with Athena for a while will help you get a feel for how it works, as the timing on it takes a while to get down. Cancelling the bit is the most important part if you are blocked, as it leaves you safe. What if you do the super, misjudged, and wiff them completely? No worries: cancel immediately into the bit, as there's no time for reaction on the opponent's part between the first stage of the super and the second if you do it immediately. So now you're sitting here with a bit on Athena's fingers and an opponent within range. What do you do? This all depends on the groove he's using. If it's a non-roll groove (P, S, K) just release the bit: the worst that'll happen is that it gets parried/dodged/ Just Defended. In a roll-capable groove, things get trickier. This is where you need to employ some mind games. Some people will try to roll immediately to get to safety--throw the bit in their face. Others will wait with you, and this is where it begins sucking for you, as they can simply wait until you're forced to release the bit due to the time limit and roll then. You can delay the bit, then, for just a split second and a lot of the times this will be enough to throw off their timing enough so they end up blocking (which leaves you safe, duh). _______________________________________________________________________________ Well, that's all I have to offer for now. Feel free to send suggestions and corrections to me at lain (underscore) iwakura (at) softhome (dot) net. Thanks go to peachy from the SRK.com forums for their help in this FAQ. This FAQ may not be reproduced in any part without permission from the author.