Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Doctor Doom FAQ v2.1 -------------------- Written & compiled by John "dragonkahn" Le Created on November 6, 2000 Last Updated on September 12, 2001 Email: dragonkahn@yahoo.com =============================================================================== Table of Contents =============================================================================== 1. Profile 2. Overview 3. Notable Normal Moves 4. Special Moves 5. Hyper Combos 6. Assist Types 7. Strategy 8. Combos 9. Partner Recommendations 10. Miscellaneous 11. Props and Credits =============================================================================== 1. Profile =============================================================================== Real Name: Victor Von Doom Height: 6' 2" Weight: 225 lbs. Place of Birth: Gypsy camp outside of Haasenstadt, Latveria Occupation: Monarch; King of Latveria First Appearance: Fantastic Four, Vol. 1 #5 Superhuman Powers: While in his armor, Dr. Doom can lift (press) approximately 2 tons. He is one of the smartest men in the world and has an almost endless variety of weapons and equipment at his disposal. At the very least, Doom's armor contains a force field and concussion beams -- though more weapons may also be included. Dr. Doom also has the ability to switch minds with another person and he possesses a small amount of mystical knowledge as well. History: Victor Von Doom was raised by gypsies in a small European county called Latveria. He lost both of his parents at a very young age. Swearing revenge, Victor began to increase both his scientific and mystical knowledge with such determination that he was given a full scholarship to Empire State University. It was at ESU that Victor met Reed Richards and Ben Grimm (current members of Fantastic Four), and where he started his extradimensional research. Doom's vanity prevented him from adjusting the schematics to one of his experiments, and the end result was an explosion that scarred Victor for life. Expelled from school, Victor began to travel the world, eventually stumbling upon a village of Tibetan monks who trained him and crafted him a suit of body armor, complete with face plate. He soon returned to Latveria, overthrew the government and crowned himself King. Ruling with an iron fist, Doom began to turn the resources of his small nation to his plans of world conquest. =============================================================================== 2. Overview =============================================================================== Doom is one of the more powerful characters in the game. By many, he is considered a part of the top tier list of characters. This list includes the likes of Cable, Storm, Sentinel, and such. Although, he is not the cream of the crop IMO. He does possess obvious weaknesses that the other top-tiers don't have, such as being rushdown-prone, even if Doom does have an AAA alongside him. But it's his ability to safely keep-away is what gives Doom his name. He's also one of the more cooler-looking villains, carrying that "I can kick your ass" look. Don't you agree? Strengths --------- Keep-away - Doom is one of the best keep-away characters in the game. He has a projectile that covers a lot of area, flight mode, and air dash, making it an uphill battle to get near him. He can cover more area than Cable and Sentinel, and with the proper assist, Doom can beat these two powerhouses with ease that so few can do. Trap - Doom is the centerpiece for a number of teams when teamed up with certain characters like Strider or Blackheart. His Molecular Shield assist can be used in traps and his Photon Shot and Fierce Beam Gun can hold your opponent on the ground. *Go to Partner Recommendations for traps. Anti-Air Assist - While Doom is on the top tier list of characters, his assist is also on the top tier list of assists. Many people love his AAA (dubbed The Rocks). This is probably the sole reason why people start to pick up and play with Doom. That's certainly how I started out a year ago. It's the Swiss army knife of assists. It will stop dash-ins and jump-ins (to a certain degree), set up traps, act as a shield, help you dash in, hold your opponent in place, chip turtlers, mini-launch opponents for an air combo, and much more. Highly abusable by many. Damage - Doom can inflict heavy damage with his specials and hypers while receiving little himself. A single Photon Array combo will take off half a lifebar. Doom himself, on the other hand, can take more hits than a typical character can. The difference is fairly miniscule though. But Doom magnifies this by trying not to take damage at all by playing tough keep-away. Almost all of his specials and hypers cause a lot of chip damage, especially his Photon Array at close range. Weaknesses ---------- Speed - Doom is slow as hell. It takes him quite a while to get from point A to point B, on the ground or in the air. Doom is very prone to Rushdown players like Mag and Storm. Even with a high-priority AAA, Doom still can't really hold off these two speed demons. Throwing Photon Shots doesn't help his cause either. His superjump doesn't give Doom much horizontal distance. This makes open to attack by wavedashers. And his flight mode is the slowest among the flyers in the game. Once your opponent gets Doom in the corner, he's pretty much a sitting duck. Size & Weight - Doom is a big target. Anything you throw at him will most likely hit Doom, even when he's crouching. His size is prefect for combos since any attack will most likely hit him. His weight, too, is good for combos because he falls down at the right speed. Lag & Recovery - Most of Doom's specials and hypers either have lag or recovery time. Either you can see it coming a mile away or you can block it and then punish Doom. This really inhibits Doom's close-up game. Never ever pull out any special or super at close range, with the exception of the Air Photon Shot. You will be punished. =============================================================================== 3. Notable Normal Moves =============================================================================== jumping Fierce -------------- Rating: ****- Pressing Fierce while in the air will cause Doom to pull out a gun and shoot out a beam that travels slowly across the screen. I call this the "Beam Gun". This is mainly used to keep your opponent grounded and prevent him from jumping or dashing in on you by using this move consecutive times. To do this, jump backwards. Right when you get off the ground, hit Fierce. This will cause the beam to travel the entire length of the screen. Once you land, repeat the process over again. If you press it a little late during the jump, it won't travel the whole distance, which will allow the opponent to jump-in. As long as the beam travels the entire length of he screen, he can't dash-in or jump-in. But be careful of characters that are an exception to this rule; quick dashers like Magneto and Cammy can dash in beneath the beam and launch you. This move is also a Guard Break. *See Strategy section for his Guard Break. crouching Fierce ---------------- Rating: ****- This is Doom's main launcher. It's also Doom's main defense, besides Sphere Flame, against an opponent that is directly above Doom's head. It has a little bit of startup and recovery time. But, it covers both sides of Doom and has amazing ground-to-air priority, making jump-ins and crossovers against Doom useless. If your opponent blocks this move, cancel into Plasma Beam, since it has a lot of recovery time and the Plasma Beam will give Doom more room to recover. This move is why wavedashing Dooms are so deadly. You try to superjump on them, they quickly dash to the other side and pull off a launcher. You'll probably eat it since you don't have the reaction time to block it correctly, that is unless you actually telegraphed it. jumping Jab ----------- Rating: **--- Nothing special about this move. I'm only mentioning this move because it's Doom's main way of Guard Breaking. *See Strategy section for his Guard Break. DF + Roundhouse --------------- Rating: **--- Doom's kick launcher. It's faster and more safer to pull out than his Fierce launcher, but not as useful. This is used to combo off of Doom's Guard Break. *See Strategy section for his Guard Break. jumping Roundhouse ------------------ Rating: ****- Doom flies across the screen with a jet blast on his back, flying feet first. I call it the Dive Kick. I don't really use this as an attack. Instead, I use it as a way for Doom to get around in the air and to fake out my opponents. It travels just as fast as his Air Dash, but is a little riskier. His air Roundhouse plays a major part of Doom's mind game. You can fake out your opponent by cancelling out the Dive Kick into Photon Shot, Air Dash, or Flight Cancel. Not only that, but if you cancelled it into an Air Dash or Flight Cancel, you can call out your assist. This is the main concept of the Doom/CapCom trap. *Go to Partner Recommendations for the trap. D + Roundhouse (in air) ----------------------- Rating: **--- Same as Roundhouse Rocket Dive. He just flies at a steeper angle. Not as useful as the regular Dive Kick. =============================================================================== 4. Special Moves =============================================================================== Plasma Beam: D, DF, F + any punch --------------------------------- Rating: ***-- Has a very quick startup and knocks your opponent across the screen. But has a little bit of recovery and isn't really a true beam, does only one hit. Pull this out if your opponent is far away. Air Plasma Beam: D, DF, F + any punch (in air) ---------------------------------------------- Rating: *---- A Plasma Beam that aims 45 degrees downwards. Doom falls a lot slower while doing this move, prolonging his time in the air. But, pretty much a worthless move. Photon Shot: F, DF, D, DB, B + any punch ---------------------------------------- Rating: ****- Has slow startup and travels slowly across the screen. But it covers both sides of Doom and spreads nearly all over the screen, except above Doom's head. Nearly impossible to escape unless telegraphed, good chip damage, pushes jumpers away if blocked. Pull this out if your opponent is far away. Air Photon Shot: F, DF, D, DB, B + any punch (in air) ----------------------------------------------------- Rating: ***** A more focused Photon Shot aimed downwards. This is Doom's main keep-away weapon. Use and abuse this as much as possible. Molecular Shield: F, DF, D, DB, B + any kick -------------------------------------------- Rating: ***-- Has almost no startup time and does a lot of chip damage, but has a lot of recovery time. When playing against dashers, sweep them and cancel into this move. Flight: D, DB, B + both punches ------------------------------- Rating: ***-- Not really useful since Doom has the slowest flight among all flyers in the game. It's mainly used for Flight Cancelling purposes. Learn to cancel out of the Dive Kick with Flight. Use this if your opponent doesn't have good anti-air. If your opponent is in flight mode, have Doom fly too. Bring Doom to the same height as your opponent. Then pull out Fierce Beam Gun. Does about 5 hits max and good damage. Doom cannot block while in flight mode. Air Dash: any direction + both punches (in air) ----------------------------------------------- Rating: ***** Doom's main transportation in the air. Use this to escape from some supers or to get near your opponent. Can also be used in an air combo when you want to position yourself so that you can get more hits with Photon Array or when you want to throw in the corner. If playing keep away, air dash straight up and rain Photon Shots while falling down. This move, also, is used to cancel out of the Dive Kick. =============================================================================== 5. Hyper Combos =============================================================================== Electric Cage: D, DF, F + both punches -------------------------------------- Rating: ***-- Looks cool and does good chip damage. It goes across the screen very slowly and has long recovery time. Good for punishing a blocked long-range super, but it's hard to judge if it's gonna hit because of its speed. Photon Array: F, DF, D, DB, B + both punches -------------------------------------------- Rating: **--- Does a lot of chip damage if done at close range and is nearly inescapable. But has long recovery time and can't be comboed with. Don't even bother doing this move, the air version is way better. This should only be used to safely tag in Doom. Air Photon Array: F, DF, D, DB, B + both punches (in air) --------------------------------------------------------- Rating: ***** A more focused Photon Array. Does a lot of chip damage. Always waste your supers and finish your air combos with this move. Practice timing of your air combos so that you get at least 15 hits with this move. Sphere Flame: D, DF, F + both kicks ----------------------------------- Rating: *---- Doom's vertical super. Has fast startup and good horizontal range for a vertical super. But has horrible recovery and is too risky to pull out. Doom's pretty much dead if it's blocked. I find no use for this super, since Doom leaves himself so open to attack, unless it'll connect as a DHC. =============================================================================== 6. Assist Types =============================================================================== Doom has the best assists overall in the game. All three assists are quite useful compared to the assists of all the other characters'. The only characters that come close are Cammy, Storm, and Jin. Even his worst assist, Projectile, is as good as Magneto's (a top-tier character) best assist, Projectile. Alpha ----- Expansion: Photon Shot Rating: ****- Good against jumpers and flyers and regain air control. Decent assist but his Anti-Air is way better. Beta ---- Anti-Air: Molecular Shield Rating: ***** As I said before, this assist will do a lot things for you. IMO, it's the best assist in the whole game. You get free damage on superjumpers. When they jump in on you, call out Doom AAA and dash beneath to the other side. Always pick and abuse this assist. Gamma ----- Projectile: Plasma Beam Rating: **--- The worst of Doom's assists. Don't bother picking this one. =============================================================================== 7. Strategy =============================================================================== When fighting against Pixies or Rushdown Characters (i.e. Wolverine, Cammy, Magneto), play a act/react game. Keep jumping up and down, while busting out Fierce Beam Gun. As long as the beam travels the entire length of he screen, he can't dash-in. If he super jumps, throw a ground Photon Shot. If he does manage to dodge your Photon Shot and jump-in on you, throw a crouching Fierce launcher or wavedash back or beneath. Mix it up so you keep him guessing. His Fierce Launcher has amazing priority over jump-in attacks. If he dashes in, block and then pushblock to give yourself breathing room. You can also try to do the "Tiger Knee" Air Photon Array (F, DF, D, DB, B, UB + both punches) against dash-ins, If he does not block by the time the super is in freeze mode (the frame where the action stops and Doom's mug is in the background), he'll eat the super. Although, don't rely on it too much. If he does block it, then DHC into a safe super (Always have an extra super handy!), otherwise you're dead. And try to stay out of corners! Doom doesn't belong there! And remember, don't play a action game. Magneto and such will find their way around (quickly, I might add) and punish you. You must react, grasshoppa. And always be aware if your opponent has Storm second in line. He can DHC into Hailstorm real quickly if you become careless with the Photon Shots. When fighting against beamers, try not to stay on the ground. You do not want to be in their beams' line of sight (horizontally straight). Super jump, air dash as high up a possible, and throw out Photon Shots. They may telegraph your superjump. If they do, don't throw anything out. Wait til you both start falling, then airdash up and throw Photon Shots. Just remember that you cannot block while airdashing. So time it right! If he does superjump alone and you're on the ground, quickly wavedash over and position yourself right beneath him. They're are many things you can do when he beings to fall to the ground. You can (1) superjump and throw him with roundhouse, (2) wait til he hits the ground and then throw him, or (3) dash beneath towards his backside and throw a Fierce Launcher. I prefer the third one, but you mix them up so your opponent doesn't predict you. Doc Doom will most likely chip more damage than the beamers, so go ahead and play a chipping game. If you see a beam super coming, super jump and air dash across the screen (fly, if necessary), and land behind him to combo his ass. And punish blocked beam supers with Electric Cage, or a dashed-in combo if you're within point blank range. When fighting against giants, stay away from them. There is no way they'll get near you if you play a good keep away game. Keep super jumping and throwing out Photon Shots. If you see an opening, dash-in and combo his ass. Make sure you finish off your combos with Air Photon Array since their huge size will eat almost every single shot. Fighting against Sentinel may be Doom's toughest challenge. Sentinel will have a 70/30 edge on Doom. It definitely helps if you have a high-hitting AAA such as Capcom or Cammy AAA, otherwise, you'll be fighting an uphill battle. I always have trouble against Flying Sent, so I have no clear-cut strategies against him, except to always try to stay above him. Doom's Guard Break ------------------ Doom has two Guard Breaks: For the first one, your opponent must appear in the corner. When his next character pops out, hit him with a jumping Jab (guard break) at the peak of your jump (you must jump even before he comes onto the screen). Once he blocks it, land and hit DF + Roundhouse (his kick launcher) and bust out your air combo. For the second one, again, your opponent must appear in the corner. You must be in Flight Mode even before his next character pops out. Fly as low as possible and throw a Fierce Beam Gun (guard break). He'll block it when he comes onscreen. Then, throw out Photon Array and he'll eat it. The Photon Array is not meant to cancel out the Fierce. You must wait til the whole Fierce Beam finishes, pause a little, and then throw out Photon Array. =============================================================================== 8. Combos =============================================================================== Legend ------ () = action done while standing, crouching, jumping, or superjumping (this is specified before the parentheses) xx = special/hyper cancel - jump-in (Short, Forward), standing Roundhouse xx Electric Cage - crouch (Short, Forward, Fierce), superjump (Jab, Short, Strong, Forward, Airdash up-forward xx Photon Array) - crouch (Short, Forward, Fierce), superjump (Jab, Short, Strong, Forward, Roundhouse xx airdash forward xx Photon Array) - (in the corner) crouch (Short, Forward, Fierce), superjump (Jab, Short, Strong, Forward, airdash down-forward, Fierce Throw, wait until opponent falls right beneath you, Photon Array) - DOOM INFINITE: (in the corner) crouch (Short, Forward, Fierce), superjump (Jab, Short, Strong, Forward, Roundhouse xx Flight Cancel, Short, Roundhouse xx Flight Cancel, Short, Jab, Roundhouse xx Flight Cancel, and so on and so forth.) Alternate cycles between Short-Roundhouse and Short-Jab-Roundhouse. - crouch (Short, Forward, Fierce), superjump (Jab, Short, Strong, Forward xx airdash forward, Short, Strong, Forward xx Flight Mode, FierceTthrow, wait until opponent falls right beneath you, Photon Array) *Credits to DontHateMe* Email me if you got a good combo worth posting (dragonkahn@yahoo.com). =============================================================================== 9. Partner Recommendations =============================================================================== Strider Hiryu - Strider and Doom make up for one of the most notorious traps in the game. These two are synonomous for being THE Dynamic Duo of the game. Start off by dashing in c.lk + call Doom AAA, c.lk, Fierce, Roundhouse xx Throw Bird xx activate Ouroboros. dash-in and keep throwing out lp, lk, lp. Dash in between cycles. If he pushblocks, teleport. Right when the Orb meter is down to like 1/5 or 1/6 of a meter, call Doom and teleport to the other side, Fierce, Roundhouse before you land, c.lk, c.lk, Fierce, Roundhouse xx throw Bird or Tiger xx Ouroboros. Repeat the process. Of course, you will not be following this set sequence the whole time. There will be factors that come into play, such as pushblocking and screen positioning, that will force you to adjust and try to maintain the trap accordingly. Many mistakes I've seen done by inexperienced Strider/Doom players is that they ALWAYS call out Doom whenever Strider's Orbs are on. That is a mistake that is done so many times. Doom needs to be called out so that Strider can deactivate and then reactivate orbs by the time Doom leaves. I believe that you don't always hafta teleport to the other side after calling Doom. It's all depending on where you position yourself on the screen. Sometimes, it's better to call Doom and then not teleport. The trick is to give the Orbs, upon deactivation, little distance to walk out of the screen. The faster the Orbs gets out of the screen, the faster you can reactivate the orbs. So no, you don't necessarily hafta teleport if you position correctly relative to the screen. If you have questions regarding the Strider/Doom trap, email me at dragonkahn@yahoo.com Blackheart - Doc Doom and Blackheart are perfect partners for traps since you can have either Doom or Blackheart as the trap assist for the other one. If Doom is out, keep busting out Fierce Beam Gun while jumping up and down. If your opponent super jumps, call out Blackheart's Anti-Air assist. Another Doom trap is to call out Blackheart's assist and super jump. Throw out Photon Shots while falling down. If Blackheart is out, call out Doom's Anti-Air assist while superjumping and throwing out Roundhouse demons. Captain Commando - Doom can trap at point with CapCom as an assist. The whole premise of this trap is keep Doom in the air the whole time while using CapCom to prevent your opponent from superjumping. This is what you do: superjump, Photon Shot, Dive Kick, cancel into Airdash going up-back, while you are airdashing, call out CapCom AAA, cancel into Flight, Photon Shot, Photon Shot, Dive Kick, and so on and so forth. With practice, you won't get hit by your opponent's CapCom AAA, which is the trap's main problem. My homeboy Jonathon a.k.a Shogun got this trap down pat. Even when I'm playing my Cable/CapCom against his Doom/CapCom, he still manages stay above my Cable and not get hit by CapCom AAA. So I'm telling you right now that it's possible to completely avoid getting hit by CapCom AAA, for those that are in doubt of this trap. Spiral - Not a trap team and not as effective as Spiral/Sent, but they're still decent. Basically, just load up swords and throw them to gain ground control. If your opponent tries to superjump in, call out Doom, and wavedash back. He'll land into Doom's Rocks. Cover Doom by throwing swords. Repeat. Sentinel - In a nutshell, Sentinel is flying around while trying to keep you grounded with Fierce, Roundhouse, and Doom AAA. The corner is where you want to keep your opponent at. Stomp him a few times while calling out Doom AAA. Once Doom leaves, stomp him a few more times and cancel out of Flight and repeat. This is a loose strategy so don't follow this exactly; you'll want to mix some stuff up. If your opponent tries to superjump in, just call out Doom, wavedash back, Fierce Beam xx Drone Swarm. Drone Super + Doom AAA chips a lot. So try pulling out a couple of those. Cable - A scrub's keep away team, I like to call it. There are many variations to do it, and you must adjust accordingly to your opponent's actions. What I do is normal jump + call Doom AAA, HK grenade, land, Doom AAA hits, standing Fierce (one bullet only), cancel into Electric Grab move or LK Grenade. It's mainly to chip and let Cable build up battery for himself. Iron Man - Similar to the Cable/Doom team concept, except it involves Smart Bombs and Flight Cancelling. Doom can set up for Iron Man's infinite by doing this: c.lk + call Doom AAA, c.lk, opponent falls down, Doom's Rocks will hit him and OTG him, the moment he pops up, normal jump up-forward, lk, lp, lk, Up + Fierce, land, and begin the infinite from there. =============================================================================== 10. Miscellaneous =============================================================================== - My favorite teams: Spiral/Strider/Doom and Spiral/Storm/Cammy - My Money Teams: Spiral/Cable/Sentinel and Storm/Cable/Captain Commando - Team in experimental stage: Magneto/Cable/Cammy - My favorite character: Cammy - My favorite Top-Tier character: Spiral - The Unsung Hero/Heroine: Sonson - No respect for: BH/Capcom teams (geez, show some more skill, doods) - Mad props to: Magneto, Iron Man, and Strider/Doom players (Rock on.) - Arcades I go to: Burbank All-Amusement, SHGL - What I want: all-black Strider outfit, all-white Spiral outfit OH BOY!!! =O =============================================================================== 11. Props and Credits =============================================================================== Props to... ------------ - Gen2000, stuc2k, striderhiryu827, sinawe358 - Soo a.k.a. SooMighty for teaching me the Art of Mag Rushdown. Thank you, Sensei -_- - and to all the puny, little scrubs that I have crushed to get to where I am today. Credits to... ------------- - DontHateMe - Marvel Enterprises for the Doctor Doom profile =============================================================================== What ya think of my FAQ? Email me at dragonkahn@yahoo.com I would luv to hear from ya © 2000-2001 John "dragonkahn" Le Long Live the Dragon