Swift's Marvel vs. Capcom 2(American arcade) Ruby Heart detailed character FAQ v1.0 < Insert Fancy Graphic Here > :Prologue: Yes, I have decided to do a FAQ for MVC2, and since there seems to be a lack of Ruby Heart on gamefaqs at this moment, she's my choice. This is a short FAQ so no table of contents or story or anything silly and pointless like that just why you should play her, what she has to offer and some strategies I have developed. Chapter 1: Why should you play Ruby? 1) She's female(you'll see a very feminine pattern developing along the way) 2) She's a pirate(no better reason that a nautical one) 3) She has a very damaging-easily comboed super 4) She has suprising low damage range 5) Her HC assists are good 6) She has an "embarrasing" super Why you shouldn't play Ruby: 1) Her normal assists are horrible 2) Her launcher really sucks(low range) 3) Her anti-air moves leave her horribly open and have poor set-up time Chapter 2: Ruby's moves Everyone does this breakdown, so I will too(ooh the peer pressure). Regular moves of note: ----------------------- Crouching Hp: Well, it's her main launcher, and it sucks. It has zero range, I rarely try to launch with her anyways. Jumping Hp: She slashes with the anchor. It has semi-good priority, I use it mid-air to catch comboers. Standing Hk: Her other launcher, also low prio. Crouching Hk: This is the suprising low damage range thing. She cracks her whip at the opponent's feet. The whip almost covers half the screen, so it's really easy to suprise someone with this, I pull it all the time on beam people like Cable, and they never figure it out. Be warned, however, this move leaves you wide open if they are in the air, it has horrible lag afterwards. Super moves: -------------- Cheval Seller qcf + P, then dir. + P x2 (air) This is easily her best move and should be used all the time. It has zero to no set-up time. Her Hp version will send you up at an angle forward for the first hit, then just hit a direction and punch after three hits two more times. Usually I get 6 hits and the third one just goes somewhere. You can combo this with just about anything. Try not to use this as an anti-air against comboers like wolverine, they'll most likely learn the timing and just hit you. Although, going under them then doubling back usually works if you mix up the direction. Suprmation qcf + K First, she whips out a book, says the words and a column of water shoots up for a few seconds. The Hk appears about 75% away from you, the Lk one hits very close, but not right at your feet. This is really good for punishing dashing assists, they will run right into the water, getting hurt. Unfortunatly this has a rather lengthy set-up time, so it's rather ineffective as an anti-air. It is really good against Cammy/Akuma people who do that mid-air diving kick thing, they always run right into it. It WONT hit someone knocked on the ground, and is poor for combos, although you can be cheesy and use it to do block damage when someone is just waking up, and it can keep the more timid, or large character using, people in a corner. I use it to start combos, I just treat it like a launcher and add in 4-10 hits with an air-combo if it hits. Fantome qcb + K Ghosties. You drop a big treasure chest and a ghost comes out. The ghost has minimal tracking abilities, and if it hits latches on and drains the victim's HC gauge. It's rather silly IMOO. It has really really long set-up delay, and I only use it as intimidation. Rafale Canon hcb + P As an Lp, she throws out a chained anchor that covers 85% of the screen horizontally. If hit, the enemy is dragged back and she shoots a little cannon at them, knocking them back. If as an Hp, she winds up the anchor and throws it at an angle up and forward. If hit, the opp will become immobilized for a short period. This move, like most of Ruby's has major set-up time. The Lp one is rather useless, although I have comboed it, but when you could do the Cheval to end the combo, why bother with the Rafale? As an Hp, I use it occasionally, but it's angle makes it useless against a super-jump, and most people can avoid it as a normal jump. It is good, however, against big people like Doom, since they are tall enough to get hit anyways. Hyper Moves: -------------- Flan Mer qcf + PP, then dir. + P x4 (air) It's the hyper version of the Cheval. Very VERY VERY VERY VERY useful. You can combo it just like the Cheval, and it hits for many more hits. Here's the trick, once you hit, aim up-right, then up, then up-left, then up-right/up, then up- left/up-right. You should be able to clock 14-18 hits, I've gotten 18 once, 16 is my average. If you hit that many times, in addition to comboing into it, you can do much damage, much more than people think Ruby can do. It's just too damned good not to use. Practice with this move to get the angle right. In addition to mass damage, I also use this to escape stuff like the head crush, since you can do it in the air and you can aim it up quickly. Pare-tonnre qcf + KK This is the big boat HC. Her ship comes from behind her, the start-up animation hits 3 times with a large blade at the head of the ship. After that, mash the buttons and you can nail someone for probably 21-30 hits with the ships cannons. It doesn't do as much damage as it looks like it does, but it can hit multiple people easily, and it's start-up is very quick. Don't try to do a beam-dual with this HC, it is too slow to counter stuff like Cool Hunting or a beam. Milles Fantomes qcb + KK The hyper version of the ghosties. A large chest drops, releasing many many ghosts. The ghosts can juggle, eash hitting once with flaming damage. It does decent damage, but the start up animation is slow. What is good about this HC is that stuff like beams and projectiles can't go through the ghosts, but the ghosts still hit the opponent, making it a good shield if you need to play keep- away. Also, in a delayed HC, or in a team HC session, the ghosts move slowly, so usually the opp lands on them, taking 3-6 extra hits. Tour de Magie HK,LP,d,LK,HP The Barrel game. NOTE: This super sucks. You WONT win the game, so don't go trying unless you know you have the match in the bag. Basically a barrel drops from over head hitting the opponent. If the opp is on the ground and isn't blocking, you'll enter the barrel game where one of your swabbies will assist you. You toss a knife at a slot in the barrel using Lp(for high) or Lk(for low). One is correct, hit the good slot and you get to throw another knife, if you hit the wrong slot, the barrel explodes ending the game. Every knife adds more damage, but it is very hard to get far in the game. I've gotten three, and trust me I use this HC all the time. Chapter Three: Assist types and uses ------------------------------------- a: Anti-Air Normal assist type: Lk Supr^mation Counter assist type: Lk Supr^mation Hyper assist type: Pare-tonnre This is probably the best choice for a normal assist type, but still it stinks. The Pare is good as an HC assist as well. B: Capture Normal assist type: HP Rafale Canon Counter assist type: HP Cheval Seller Hyper assist type: Milles Fantomes I told you the Hp Rafale angle sucks, but it is worth it to have the Fant"mes HC assist, and the Cheval for a counter(if you use them mind you) is much better than the Supr^mation. y: Enhancement Normal assist type: Power up orb Counter assist type: Lk Supr^mation Hyper assist type: Flan Mer Well, the power up orb really stinks, and so does the counter assist. Despite that, if you're needing a dash-type HC assist, this is your choice. You can't control the Flan Mer during a team super, so I find it rather useless. Chapter Four: General fighting strategies Comboing: ----------- Unfortunatly, the standard Lp->Lp->launcher doesn't really work unless you're in a corner because, as I stated before, her launchers suck. Although, you can Lp- >launcher, but don't do that, I have better things. Lp->Lp->standing Lk->standing Lk->Lp Cheval Seller This will clock in around 7 or 8 hits if you can continue the Cheval a second run, then use the third run to fly away. If you want, link this into a cheesy Supr^mation while their on the ground so they wake up to block damage, but beware of rollers. Lp->Lp->Standing Hp-> Lp Cheval Seller/Lp Rafael Canon/Flan Mer This is the all-purpose safe combo. No matter what happens, you are either flying away with the Cheval or Flan, or you are pushing them away with the Rafael Canon. This is also the best way to link into the Flan Mer, because if you use a longer combo starter, you're likely to be off target with the second wave of Flan, and you'll lose more than 10 hits that way. Team stuff: ----------- If you want to delay, Ruby is your gal. Both the Pare-tonnre and Milles Fantomes delay well, because with healthy mashing they continue for a while. If you want to team super, having her on standby is also good with all of her HC assists, although starting with them may not be the best idea. Who she teams well with: -------------------------- I feel her and Storm team well, especially with HC assists. She compliments a beamer or a spaz-comboer well, mostly because she has the speed, but fights more like the powerhouses. Chapter five: How to beat section: ----------------------------------- There are three types of fighting styles: Spaz-Combo: These are your spidermen, wolverines, striders and to a lesser degree SonSon's. They are characterized by comments like, "Oh those assist buttons are so cheesy, this isn't a real fighting game." or, "Stop turtling." or most of the time, "All you know how to use is the HK and HP buttons." This is because all they see to life is 10 hit launcher combos. They rarely use the assist button, mostly because they are too busy trying to launch you. They wont use the HC meter much, but when they do it is usually in a poor manner because all they know how to do is combo. Beware, they choose people with little-to-no delay time, and usually don't use supers, so they have very little stun time. To defeat the SC people, simply make them angry. Block low when they are on the ground, and block high when they are in the air. Using an assist person like Cammy(anti-air) or SonSon(anti-air) when they get to close. The more angry they get, the more mistakes they'll make. Ruby isn't perhaps the best choice for this type of conflict, I would call in Cammy, SonSon, or Psylocke(although they can all be spaz characters). Anyone with a vertical HC is good, because Spazers are stupid and if you find an HC with no set-up time that hits vertical, like psylocke's psi-malestrom or her butterfly thing, they have little chance because you've just disabled their main line of attack. Beam-keep away: These are your Cables, Dr. Dooms, and CapCom's. Yes CapCom too. Cable is the worst of these, he can shoot all day and if you aren't smart, he'll nail you too many times. You NEED to hyper-jump, I'd use Cheval, miss the first two and nail him the third. Supr^mation is a bad move for this conflict unless you know they can't shoot at you, IE they are in the air. Capcom is a strange one, however. Between the assistant moves, Captain fire and captain corridor, it is very hard to move in on CapCom masters. I'd sit back and just let other stuff hit him, like Supr^mation, and that crouching Hk. Ghosts are bad to call out, too slow and they can't block stuff like the fire or the viper beam. Although, set up Milles Fantome up right and it can be your best friend. Assist-happy: This is me. Quite frankly it annoys the hell out of people. Remember what assist types and who they are using. If they are using someone like SonSon or Cammy, remember that they can always have you getting hit if they are half-the screen away from you, so blocking or staying airborne is key. If they are using Juggy or Sakura, remember that those people can nail you through being hit, so be careful when you are close to their side of the screen, also beware of the double play, IE an assistant coming from the opposite side of the screen that your on-deck opponent is on, that is a scary situation. They can't call assists while super-jumping, use that to your advantage. You'll also have a chance to use the Pare to hit multiple people, just wait for and assistant to come out and nail them. Chapter six: Acknowledgements and other stuff Everything related to Capcom is registered Capcom, everything Marvel related is registered Marvel. Everything else is registered to me. Copyright: This is my property, the property of Danny Nissenfeld. If you want to use this information, go ahead, but you are banned from charging people for it's contents. If you want permission to post this on a website or print this out, you must request that permission from me, you can reach me at danissen@eagle.fgcu.edu-or-ariel@bc.seflin.org Acknowledgements: "CJayC" proprietor of Gamefaqs.com - For running the site, the largest store of free-information on games anywhere. Capcom - For making tons of money off of the general gaming populace Chris MacDonald - For listing the real names, movements and assist types to Ruby's supers and HC's in his general MVC2 faq