February 2017 – Page 24

Cloud is unarguably one of the highest-tiered characters in Super Smash Bros for Wii U: he has a great neutral game, strong combos, and amazing kill potential. You can hardly go to a tournament without seeing one in the top 8.

However, you rarely see him actually emerge the victor at an event, and never at a major. TSM|ZeRo–who has a strong pocket Cloud–explains why this is. He discusses Cloud’s one glaring flaw–his recovery. Because he has weaker recovery than the rest of the top tiers, he is able to be gimped easily. An increasing amount of players are learning how to kill Cloud early, which makes his late tournament viability lower.

ZeRo does also extrapolate on why Cloud is not only strong in doubles, but almost necessary for any chance at winning an event.

Source: ZeRo

Continuing to look at the changes to the original cast in Season 2 of Street Fighter V, VesperArcade turns his attention to the Psycho Power-fueled dictator and leader of Shadaloo, M. Bison. Considered by many to be among the bottom three in the game’s freshman Season, he received quite a few changes in the patch.

Some of the dictator’s most notable changes include his Stun Meter being increased from 950 to 1,000. His forward throw, Psycho Impact, now gives 4 more frames of hit advantage, granting him a throw loop when his opponents are cornered. Bison finally has a 3-frame normal in St.LK, but its hit advantage has been reduced to +2, stopping Counter Hit conversions into mediums. Cr.MP is now +1 on block to grant new frame traps with St.LK. Psycho Axe is 2 frames slower, but now juggles knocked-back opponents, adds 50 more stun, and now knocks downs on an air hit. Shadow Axe’s second hit has been sped up to 14 frames, and its stun output doubled to 120–but it is now only +2 on hit, preventing follow-ups.

His V-Skill, Psycho Reflect, can now store a projectile after absorbing an attack (released by inputting the command again), along with increased juggle potential on hit with the secondary attack. His V-Trigger, Psycho Power, has a longer timer–but specials now consume more of it. All three versions of Psycho Blast have reduced pushback on block, while the EX is faster–with reduced V-Trigger damage and speed–and now goes full screen. EX Head Press has 9 less recovery frames on ground hits, with reduced damage and quick recovery on air hits. The V-Trigger EX version is now fully invincible, but negative on block. All versions of Psycho Inferno have reduced damage, but increased stun, with the heavy being able to juggle with light Psycho Blast on hit. V-Trigger Double Knee Press is 3 frames faster, with the normal versions getting more damage, stun, and meter gain; EX Double Knee Press has 6 less recovery frames on hit, with reduced throw invincibility and damage in V-Trigger.

Vesper gave his opinions on these changes:

The final verdict on M. Bison is: buffed. His St. LK is now 3 frames, V-Skill got buffed, more oki options, more meter gain across the board. His EX Psycho Blast now allows pressure. More damage and stun across a lot of his specials, and of course more combo potential, because he can juggle from his Psycho Axe. Even though I’m listing so many buffs, there’s nothing really extreme for M. Bison on these notes. I would say that Bison is one of the most safely buffed characters so far. It seems like Capcom just kept him viable for Season 2, but not to the point where I would say he’s “greatly buffed,” just “buffed.” They did nerf some of his normals to make him easier to whiff punish, but they didn’t improve Bison’s movement speed. Most of his oki options can only start from light attacks, so you don’t get much damage. EX Psycho Blast offers more pressure, but he still doesn’t have good options, like an overhead or a throw bait. That’s the issue with Bison, I feel. Cammy’s similar to Bison, in that they have a lot of plus normals, but Cammy has a much easier time opening players up, because she has the walkspeed to back up that advantage.

You can see the video of his detailed changes below: