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Brainiac Living Guide Thread

FinalBoss_FGC

Day -4MONTHS Dual Jin main
BRANIAC
THE LIVING GUIDE



Welcome to the Collector of Worlds' Living Guide Thread!

In this guide, we will provide in depth information on playing Brainiac competitively, including: breakdown on normals and strings, special move analysis, trait, BnBs, tech, set-ups, MU analysis, and more!

Brainiac is the Boss Battle at the end of Story Mode and is unlocked by completing Story Mode on any difficulty.

If you have any information that you wish to share, please DM me directly as it will be unlikely to follow this thread as comments pour in!



Disclaimer: This is for Competitive only! Gear moves, Stat boosts and so-on will not be considered
 
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FinalBoss_FGC

Day -4MONTHS Dual Jin main
Normals+Specials+Trait+Super

Normals
1 - high, 7 frame combo starter/punisher linking into 12u2 which is your standard, but unsafe meterless combo starter or 113 which is safe throughout and ends in knockdown.
d1 - low, 7 frame poke
d+f1 - low, long reaching 10 frame poke. Good for keeping them from blocking high all day.
b1 - long range mid, links into b12. Unsafe close range, relatively safe max distance
F1 - low, same range as d1 give or take and links into f12 which is a splat knockdown. F12 is -7 so pretty safe
2 - slower high, ends in 23,1+3...ideal for combo ending but changes sides
D2 - huge vertical and horizontal hit box for a d2. There is no hit box above Brainiac so it's most ideal for jump ins and not cross over
B2 - two hitting, decent speed and range mid. Links into b23 which is a decently good string at -5
F2 - avoid relying on this in base neutral. High, 18 frame start up, 3 active frames. Links into f2d1 which is a very long range low sweep that gives you good mix when canceled into f3 or into trait ...f23 in some situations is a good hard knockdown that can cancel into trait hold for HTB jip cross up set ups
3 - 11 frame mid that has a pretty large hit box and is -8 so max range will be largely safe. Great for combo extender.
b3 - universal pop-up move that can be canceled into for the cost of 2 meter; relatively short range compared to other b3s. Most use for reactions or combo off of mb divekick
f3 - universal overhead pop-up move that can be canceled into for the cost of 2 meter; pretty long range, hits from around jump in range. Comboable off of mb divekick.

D3 - long range low, forces knockdown

Specials

Brainiac's ground specials focus heavily on controlling space.

df2 - Brainiac uses his tentacles to push back the opponent with a hard knockdown, meterburn it to make it safe with plenty of pushback with good chip on block and knocks back full screen on hit, mb version hits twice from most ranges

bf3 - Brainiac uses his tentacles to lunge him forward quickly for a 3/4 screen shoulder charge. Meterburn makes it safe with plenty of pushback, on hit it pushes the opponent full screen *THIS WILL BE YOUR WAKEUP*

db2 - Brainiac uses his tentacles to create a flurry above him. Great to counter jump ins. Meterburn to increase range and length. Relatively pointless.

Brainiac's air specials provide a movement boost
(air) db2 - Brainiac has a simple divekick. Meterburning it makes Brainiac do a second stomp to pop-up the opponent. The stomp autocorrects if divekick whiffs over the opponent and is safe on block. Opponent can poke a gap between divekick's first hit and mb divekick's 2nd hit but is ideal for whiff punish for full combo or as a general combo starter.

(air) db1 - Brainiac uses a tentacle to swing across the stage at varying distances (by using db1b, db1, or db1f). Good for cross-up mixups or mindgames. You can fake a swing jump in by doing a short swing to get the opponent to jump.


Trait
Brainiac calls for a drone that can either go straight to the opponent as it's own high projectile that can extend combos during pop-up or it can fly over and drop a small projectile that hits mid.

Brainiac also has the ability to hold down the drone to delay it coming out for 6.5-7 seconds

The trait has a bar that decreases every time that you use a drone. You can send drones rapidly, sending up to 4 before bar runs out.

TRAIT IN GAME
Brainiac's trait can be held up to 6.5-7 in game seconds.
Most strings on hit~trait results in them having to block the trait due to hit stun for continued pressure
S1 is the only single button or combo that links into trait but cannot be linked from trait into another string
Block string~trait call is unsafe, regardless of normal or string as long as opponent does a reversal faster than 15* and no normal or string jails into trait
Trait goes away, whether stored or active, if you block an opponent's attack or are hit
Trait can result in some hard-to-blockable oki setups
Trait can make normal divekick comboable and safe

Super
Brainiac uses his tentacle to hit the opponent mid from a long distance. He pulls the opponent in and kicks them away. 4 Brainiac bots drop down and impale the opponent with their own tentacles and hold the opponent while Brainiac's Skull Ship creeps out of the clouds and shoots a laser down at the opponent.

 
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FinalBoss_FGC

Day -4MONTHS Dual Jin main
Combos



Damage will be shown based on max base damage and min base damage in a (MAX-MIN) format. For example, combos done to whichever character that takes the most damage - combos done to character that takes the least damage based on defense stats.
IE - (420.32-380.62)

Midscreen meterless
12u2, d2~shoulder charge, 231+3
12u2, d2~shoulder charge, 3~ender
12u2~trait hit, b3, shoulder charge, 231+2
F3, 3~shoulder charge, 3~shoulder charge
F3, 3~shoulder charge, 231+3


Midscreen 1 bar
12u2, IA mb divekick, b3, shoulder charge, 231+3
12u2~trait hit, f3, mb divekick, 3~shoulder charge
Mb divekick, b3, shoulder charge, 231+3

Mb divekick, d2~shoulder charge, 3~shoulder charge
Mb f3, d2~shoulder charge, 3~shoulder charge
F3, 3~shoulder charge, mb divekick, 3~shoulder charge

Midscreen 2 bar
Mb f3, mb IA divekick, 3~shoulder charge
String~mb f3, 3~shoulder charge, 231+3

Mb divekick, b3, shoulder charge, IA Mb divekick, 3~shoulder charge
String~Mb f3, 3~ender

Corner meterless
12u2, d2~trait, 3~shoulder charge
F3, 3~shoulder charge, 3~ender (drill for hkd)

Corner 1 bar
Mb divekick, f3, d2~trait, 3~ender

Corner 2 bar
String~mb f3, d2~trait, 3~ender
Mb divekick, f3, d2~trait, mb divekick, 3 ender

Super
String~super
12u2~trait hit, b3, shoulder charge, 1~super
 
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FinalBoss_FGC

Day -4MONTHS Dual Jin main
Tech+Setups

Tech


Setups
Brainiac has interesting Hard-to-Block setups using his trait and jump in cross-ups.

Midscreen, you have a couple of options.
Mostly, opposed to ending combos with 231+3 or 3~shoulder charge...you'll be canceling into trait from either of these or d2 preferably, cross up ji2. Since, Brainiac's ji2 hitbox literally surrounds the lower half of his hurt box (similar but not as good as Batman's ji2) it's super ambiguous and hard to deal with. Combine that with the trait hitting from the other side, they cannot attempt to anti-air you and must block both ways.
 
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FinalBoss_FGC

Day -4MONTHS Dual Jin main
Match-Up Analysis

(? means I need to explore MU more)
Aquaman 4-6
Atrocitus 4-6
Bane 5-5?
Batman 4-6
Black Adam 3-7
Black Canary 5-5
Blue Beetle 5-5
Captain Cold 5-5?
Catwoman 3-7
Cheetah 5-5?
Cyborg 4-6?
Deadshot 5-5
Dr Fate 5-5
Firestorm 4-6?
The Flash 5-5?
Gorilla Grodd 5-5?
Green Arrow 5-5?
Green Lantern 5-5
Harley Queen 5-5
The Joker 5-5?
Poison Ivy 5-5?
Robin 5-5
Scarecrow 5-5?
Supergirl 5-5
Superman 4-6
Swamp Thing 6-4
Wonder Woman 5-5
Darkseid 4-6
Red Hood 5-5
Sub Zero ???
 
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FinalBoss_FGC

Day -4MONTHS Dual Jin main
Streams+Vids+Other

Streams of Brainiac players
twitch.tv/FinalBossFGC

Brainiac in Top 8

More
 
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FinalBoss_FGC

Day -4MONTHS Dual Jin main
Your dedication to this is amazing lmao. New username, making banners for each post and even a stream.
If you actually keep this updated I'm all for it.
I kept my Kung Jin one updated for a long time until I had too much real life stuff going on with work and such so I kind of abandoned it. Check it out!
testyourmight.com/threads/kung-jin-living-guide-thread.49650/


but this one will be much nicer!
 

FinalBoss_FGC

Day -4MONTHS Dual Jin main
Came into the thread thinking "a guide already, really?" but that template is fucking beautiful and I know you'll keep it actually as a living guide, as you were one of the few that did for MKX.

Looking forward to checking back here regularly!

Will pin/sticky it when the game is out
Thanks bud! I wanted to make it more than what my Kung Jin one was. I want it to look as badass as Brainiac is!