Guide - Brood Mother D'Vorah Brood Mother Complete Guide + Set Ups, Combos, Tech and More

[Vak Phoenix]

This one welcomes you.

Brood Mother does not have wasp cancels, it is replaced with bug blast and has same inputs. bug blast can be meter burned and meter burned after a meter burn. (she shoots 3 times and costs 3 bars, kind of like Scorpion can meter burn his spear and then burn it where fire travels on a spear and burns opponent.) In addition D'Vorah gains a low bug called a Krawler.

She does not gain any of variation specific normals or combos, just like she does not in any other of her variations. This makes D'Vorah's combos universal with a bit of touch on it in each variation, either ender or starter.

Brood Mother is a space control, rushdown, mix-up and set up variation, you can see the set ups performed in the video below. Her Krawler has a slow startup and goes full screen, it also travels very slowly and has a great hitbox for a low attack. Krawler is 7% on hit and gives you a chance to get a free hit in if it hits close, keep in mind that after a hit Krawler pushes opponents back. D'Vorah also keeps her puddle and ovipositor rush in this variation just like any other variation.

Once you are full screen you can release a Krawler and run in after it, after run you can get a free overhead attack for example F3 or F2, or a jump in. It is extremely hard to block Krawler and an overhead or a jump in attack at the same time. If Krawler connects and then you do a jump in the opponent gets pushed back and make sure that timing on a jump in is on point. Also Krawler takes time to recharge, which means that it has a 4.5 seconds cooldown before it is available for release again.

After a you knock your opponent down make sure that you space yourself and back up just a little bit to release the Krawler and go for a jump in or walk up and perform an overhead move, if not then Krawler will hit and push opponent back not allowing you to perform overhead attack or a jump in at the same time as the Krawler hits. Once Krawler is released it sits in one place for 0.3 seconds and goes after the opponent, the reason why it sits there for 0.3 seconds is that if opponent crosses you up, the Krawler auto-corrects its direction.

Bug blast is a projectile which is a high, and cover a nice space. startup frame is 28 and recovery frame is 10, which means that it is a quick shot, not fast nor slow. Bug blast can anti air since it covers a good enough space and can be used in a projectile battle. Releasing a Krawler and doing a Bug Blast, makes opponent either block or jump. If block they will block low and take the chip for both Krawler and a Blast, if jump the opponent will avoid the Krawler most likely and get hit by Blast or vice versa, depending on where they are jumping.

D'Vorah's puddle does not pup up high in this variation just like Venomous and it needs to be a meter burn for you to land a neutral jump after a puddle, however you can still combo after a non-meter burn version which is demonstrated in my video below.

Just as Krawler allows you to space your opponents with Blasts, and just like it can create a free overhead or a jump in situation, it also will trade with a lot of things if the Krawler is released in seconds where your opponent is about to attack you, my video demonstrates how it is good trade against Kung Jin's dive-kick and how you can get a combo after a trade, so make sure you check that out. Against Sub Zero's clones it does wonders, if you release a Krawler and then shoot a blast, one will break his clone and other one will interrupt whatever Sub Zero is doing, also demonstrated in the video. Krawler also allows you to break a lot of armors, for instance Quan Chi's armor spell, release a Krawler and go for jump or F2, also in my video. (F2 has a great range and is an overhead)

If full screen and you see opponent blocking or hit by a puddle or blast, release a Krawler and run after it, you can get pressure, free overhead attack or a jump in, or air to air if opponent decides to jump.

After doing your BnB combo and it has not started with a Krawler, make sure that instead of cancelling the very last hit into a Ovipositor Rush/Charge, cancel it into a Krawler for a set up or rush down, it is demonstrated in my video, for example : 212 meter burned puddle f34 f44 Krawler creates a great space for you to walk up and do an overhead attack or jump in, or 212 puddle f112 Krawler throws opponent away and Krawler chases after, you get to run for more pressure, free over head attack, a jump in or get to play a keep away game, now keep in mind that D'Vorah is very well rounded but she is not a strict keep-away character, she is a heavy rushdown character. Also after a Krawler if your opponent has low health and you see them jump, rush after your Krawler make sure your opponent has below 33% health you can do an air X-ray attack if you have full meter. D'Vorah can do X-Ray from air and ground as well and it is 5 frame startup.

@RunwayMafia @Krayzie @HoneyBee @Blind_Ducky @Zoidberg747 @ChatterBox @chemist4hire @HellblazerHawkman @Histrionik @KillaGthug4Life @mountlover @respawn_me @stile04 @Take$$$ @TPG LiNDY @Under_The_Mayo @Xyvn @Gh0sty @Sindelia @TopTierHarley

Combos for brood mother midscreen

Meterless
ji xx 212 xx krawler xx f44 ovipos 29%
krawler xx ji xx 212 xx swarm xx f44 ovipos 33%
krawler xx ji xx 212 xx swarm xx f112 ovipos 34%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx f44 xx d4 ovipos 41%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx run b12 xx airthrow 42%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx bugblast xx run xx f44 xx run b12 xx airthrow 46%

1 Bar

krawler xx ji xx 212 xx ex swarm xx f34 xx f44 ovipos 41%
krawler xx ji xx 212 xx ex swarm xx walk forward xx nj1/2 xx f34 xx b12 xx airthrow 42%
krawler xx ji xx 212 xx ex swarm xx walk forawrd xx f44 xx f44 ovipos 43%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx ex bugblast xx run xx f44 xx run xx b12 xx airthrow 47%

Combos for brood mother corner

Meterless
ji xx f44 xx f44 xx krawler xx b12 xx airthrow 40%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx f44 xx 112 ovipos 44%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx bugblast xx b12 xx airthrow 45%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx bugblast xx 21u3 xx airthrow 48%

1 Bar

krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx ex bugblast xx b12 xx airthrow 48%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx ex bugblast xx 21u3 xx airthrow 50%

2 Bars

krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx ex bugblast *hold R2* xx b12 xx airthrow 50%
krawler xx ji xx f44 xx f44 xx ex bugblast *hold R28 xx 21u3 xx airthrow 52%

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

What's with all these long sentence things? Here, we are supposed to just say that a character is either unviable or braindead broken. Stop making me think!

But really, you make me want to check this variation out. I'm struggling against Cutthroat Kano using Venemous.

 

[Vak Phoenix]

What's with all these long sentence things? Here, we are supposed to just say that a character is either unviable or braindead broken. Stop making me think!

But really, you make me want to check this variation out. I'm struggling against Cutthroat Kano using Venemous.

if you wanna know if character is broken make sure you check out theads of people that say that D'Vorah is broken and have not even touched her lol. I played it against zoning kanos and it does its job very well, at the same time i have no problems with venomous against kano either.

 

[Take$$$]

That Krawler vs Jin dive kick tech is really cool.

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

if you wanna know if character is broken make sure you check out theads of people that say that D'Vorah is broken and have not even touched her lol. I played it against zoning kanos and it does its job very well, at the same time i have no problems with venomous against kano either.

How about cutthroat kano using venemous? His command grabs and B1 pressure were wrecking me, til I started D2'ing him, but that's a dangerous option. His armored attacks are too fast to break with B12. But to be fair, I wasn't punishing Kano Ball with F44 like I should have and I was getting read a lot with his parry. Still, he gets in very quickly and up close it's frightening.

 

[Vak Phoenix]

That Krawler vs Jin dive kick tech is really cool.

i know that fool loses his divekick raw dive kick against brood mother

 

[Vak Phoenix]

How about cutthroat kano using venemous? His command grabs and B1 pressure were wrecking me, til I started D2'ing him, but that's a dangerous option. His armored attacks are too fast to break with B12. But to be fair, I wasn't punishing Kano Ball with F44 like I should have and I was getting read a lot with his parry. Still, he gets in very quickly and up close it's frightening.

D4 him till death if you are venomous and bait him, space him for f22 as well. i didnt have any problems against m2daves kano so i dont really know what is it that bothers you against him upclose, cause you can poke out of everything he does with d4.

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

D4 him till death if you are venomous and bait him, space him for f22 as well. i didnt have any problems against m2daves kano so i dont really know what is it that bothers you against him upclose, cause you can poke out of everything he does with d4.

I assume M2Dave zones. Cutthroat is all rushdown. B1 is 9 frames and 0 on block, B13 is -1. It can be very hard to find a way out. Especially as he's throwing in d1 command grab for 17%. But again, a lot of it was errors in my own play as well. By the end of the night we were going even.

On the Krawler setups. Ending combos in F44 krawler, or F112 krawler, can they punish you with any fast wakeups while you're putting the krawler down?

 

[Vak Phoenix]

I assume M2Dave zones. Cutthroat is all rushdown. B1 is 9 frames and 0 on block, B13 is -1. It can be very hard to find a way out. Especially as he's throwing in d1 command grab for 17%. But again, a lot of it was errors in my own play as well. By the end of the night we were going even.

On the Krawler setups. Ending combos in F44 krawler, or F112 krawler, can they punish you with any fast wakeups while you're putting the krawler down?

nope, not even roll or slides

 

[KNX]

I assume M2Dave zones. Cutthroat is all rushdown. B1 is 9 frames and 0 on block, B13 is -1. It can be very hard to find a way out. Especially as he's throwing in d1 command grab for 17%. But again, a lot of it was errors in my own play as well. By the end of the night we were going even.

If he's using command grabs, then that's Commando Kano. In Cutthroat he gets the knife strings and the overhead.

Can't help with Commando though, I only have decent exp vs Cyber and Cutthroat

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

If he's using command grabs, then that's Commando Kano. In Cutthroat he gets the knife strings and the overhead.

Can't help with Commando though, I only have decent exp vs Cyber and Cutthroat

Oops. I've totally mixed up variation names. Sorry @Vak Phoenix I've been talking about Commando variation this whole time!

 

[Vak Phoenix]

Oops. I've totally mixed up variation names. Sorry @Vak Phoenix I've been talking about Commando variation this whole time!

Ohhh, d4 him to death then.

 

[Zoidberg747]

Oops. I've totally mixed up variation names. Sorry @Vak Phoenix I've been talking about Commando variation this whole time!

He has frame gaps in any string that leads into a throw, IIRC.

I don't have much commando experience though. She can d1 after b1 and at least force him to block.

 

[ChatterBox]

My training partner mains Commando Kano. He's really fun to fight and it's quite a brutal brawl of a match.

D4 and F22 are your best friends, they beat everything he has except that flying knee, and d3 beats it every time. @Zoidberg747 is right that you can armor any tick throw, though doing it off of his d1 tick is a risk. You can jump out of any tick other than the d1, which you may be able to but I never get it in a match, have to go to training to check if it's even possible. F1 for D'Vorah is the thing I use most often in the whole match. Remember to low block his air ball, it's a mid and the follow up kick is a low. His ex air ball is unblockable, not a grab, so you have to armor it or stop it from coming out. It only comes out of whiff, so you want to make sure to space yourself so that you block it if possible.

He can parry (either parry works) our wakeup ovi-rush, so remeber to use wakeup backdash to beat his command grabs if you read one. B12 doesn't stuff his non-grab wakeups, as all the ball attacks go airborne too quick to break the armor. If you stand right outside of command grab (sweep) range on his knockdown then you're in the correct range to punish every wakeup he has. Whiff punish any grabs and block kano balls.

He easily wins the fullscreen and projectile game. Knife has better startup, on hit frames, and damage. He can react to the krawler startup and punish you for it. Knife is high in commando, so ducking and walking in isn't too bad, just watch for the kano ball check. You can get him to block a puddle and run in to end his spacing advantage. His EX knife is +9 up close and even more full screen so watch for command grabs/pressure after it.

I don't like playing Brood Mother against him much, the Kano Ball attacks having armor on wakeup and ignoring the Krawler generally make it pretty useless outside of meterless combos for us. Venomous does well, as our pokes become a bigger threat and generally seem to make opponents make mistakes. However staying up close is dangerous when you give him a ton of meter for armored command grabs that do 21%. Swarm Queen lets you punish super hard with it's huge damage, as any Kano Ball attack can be punished with F1, although the straight ball is -14 so it's usually better to start with 112.

Hope this helps everyone.

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

My training partner mains Commando Kano.

Hope this helps everyone.

Yeah this is pretty spot on. It IS a fun match. One of my partners mains him too. Even when I lose hard, I just wanna go right back in. Sometimes it can be very difficult. And it hurts so bad to do EX Charge just to get parried for 17%. It's demoralizing. The only thing I would add to your matchup detail is her D2 answer to B1, B13 pressure. Since her D2 lowers her hitbox, she can D2 out of his pressure even though B1 is a mid. And her D2 has a lot of pushback too.

 

[Vak Phoenix]

Yeah this is pretty spot on. It IS a fun match. One of my partners mains him too. Even when I lose hard, I just wanna go right back in. Sometimes it can be very difficult. And it hurts so bad to do EX Charge just to get parried for 17%. It's demoralizing. The only thing I would add to your matchup detail is her D2 answer to B1, B13 pressure. Since her D2 lowers her hitbox, she can D2 out of his pressure even though B1 is a mid. And her D2 has a lot of pushback too.

Yes her d2 works wonders as well

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

Yes her d2 works wonders as well

Are there any specific matchups you really like brood mother for?

 

[Vak Phoenix]

Are there any specific matchups you really like brood mother for?

Bojutsu kung jin, sorcerrer quan, grand master sz

 

[PANDEMlC]

Is there a list of the combo and setup notations somewhere? Would make learning this a whole lot easier.

 

[Vak Phoenix]

Is there a list of the combo and setup notations somewhere? Would make learning this a whole lot easier.

Ill put them in opening message soon

 

[PANDEMlC]

Ill put them in opening message soon

 

[Vak Phoenix]

Lmfao

 

[Vak Phoenix]

updated with combos for everyone

 

[Johnny2d]

Nice guide, what I like about it is that it's completely different than my approach to playing this variation. I shall add everything from this and incorporate into my play style

Also, we should collaborate on one final brood mother guide. I'll post the same info I posted in the brood mother discussion thread in here so you can take a look at it.

(Below is the same info I posted in brood mother general discussion, but I think we should attempt to get all info together in guide form)

Somewhat guide incoming!!!

I've mained Brood Mother since launch, but haven't really had time to share my notes, although I have pages and pages and pages that I've gathered for myself. Last weekend I got 48th at Combo Breaker with just Brood Mother I know 48th isn't that great but it was my first major and got top 64 in a tourney with almost 300 people. I lost to Darth Arma and Michaelangelo in my pool but made it to loser's semis first beating everyone I played besides those two, can't be too mad about losing to Arma and Michaelangelo

My main combo I use is:
f34, d1, f34, d1, f44, Low Bug... This is the staple tactic, the go to when you can get it. It leads to all things good.

Then run up for another f34. With the low bug hitting the same time as your overhead, you are hitting twice so you beat most armor, except punchwalk and xrays. You can time it so the bug hits low first or your overhead making it a really good hard to blockable. Not only this, but you can do this setup, but then run in and f2, wasp cancel, then 50/50 with b12 or f22, or throw, whatever you like with WC shenannigans. Now, if you land the first combo, then your vortex combo, you've taken about 60% of their life, but your low bug isn't ready again by the time you finish your second combo, so you can go for damage by ending with ovipositor, or I like ending with f42 to cross under, setting up great spacing to jump over on their wakeup (try it, its gross, you'll like it).

Alternate endings:
f34, d1, f34, d1, f42... For crossunder perfect jump distance
f34, d1, f44, low bug... To maintain corner position
f34, d1, f34, d1, f44, ovipositor... For damage if your low bug hasn't reset yet
f34, d1, f34, throw... For throw resets, or for that sick brutality

From a NJP:
NJP, d1, f34, d1, f44, low bug

One more variation I use is to just end it early to make the setup happen before they have time to think about it. In this case I'll use f34, d1, f34, d1, low bug. This makes them land close, and with your bug out, you can cross up over them while they wakeup and make them block the bug and your overhead crossup at the same time. Tech roll gets them farther back to prevent crossup, but not out of range of your jump punch, so win win for deborah, you will incubate my young.

All this f34? f3 is 18 frame? You really land that slow ass overhead? In this variation yes. You put low bugs out and make them guess if your overhead step is going to hit first or the bug. This variation puts f34 to work.

Fastest punish:
11b2, d1, f34, d1, f44, low bug

212 mixups:
212 has the great mixup built in with 2 being over head, and 21 leaving you at 0 frames so you can do b12, so this is a string you'll want to use for pressure. When the overhead hits I like to follow with f34, d1, f44, low bug

What about their wakeup options?
Now, this setup alone can do work, but, people will tech roll and jump out and use wakeups that go over it, so you need to be ready to put your setup out there, then adapt when they use these options. Put the bug out then block their wakeup, or put the bug out and run in to chase down a tech roll and jump. Maybe just put the low bug out then use puddle to put them in block. The nice thing is that your low bug forces action. Remember that even if they find a way out of this setup, it still forces action, don't panic, you forced action, now find a way to capitalize on it and hurt them for it. Even if you don't get a pure vortex, they find way to get out, forcing them to play your game is incredibly valuable, now you do what dvorah wants rather than planning your own mixups.

Conditioning low:
You absolutely have to condition low in this variation, so use tons of d4 pokes, d4 into puddle, b12throws, and b14. Destroy their ankles. People will want to just high block to not take overheads because overheads lead to the setup. If they want to give away lows for free, take them. I mained skarlet for 4 years and listened to people say just stand block all day to avoid eating the overhead, I have no problem being cheap AF by taking the lows and never getting my big setups, as long as I'm getting the wins. If they want to stand for everything, I'm coming for your ankles, ggs.

Best tools:
You must use her good tools outside of f34, because no one is gonna just sit there and eat f34 the whole match. Her best tools in my opinion are still her f11 and d4 pressure tools. You still want to use these heavily. Use these, and when out of range use puddles to force block or knock down, when they get knocked down from puddle put a low bug out and run in for pressure. If you score a combo from this your low bug will have recovered by the time your combo is over so use an appropriate ender that allows you to setup your low bug game again. Always look for safe place to put low bugs out. Low bugs equal screen control.

Combos from pee puddle:
You must get damage or setups from the low puddle. Swarm queen gets easy combos from puddle, and those are great, but puddle in the other variations still get damage. Learn to maximize your touches from puddle so its not an all or nothing vs swarm queen. I think there's another thread that has variationless combos, so I'm not gonna go into depth with them here, but just wanted to say, if you want to be a Brood Mother, you need to maximize your touches without the swarm queen puddle.

Mid screen if puddle hits options:
d4, ovipositor... easy peazy get a little damage
d1, f44, low bug... a little harder but you get the setup

These are what I consider to be staple tactics for Brood Mother, and I'm positive more tech will come out. I'm experimenting with other enders like b21 and 112, and I think viable options will come from them, so lets keep working at it. As is, with this game plan, I always have a massive surplus of meter, so I'm looking for ways to actually spend it, cause as is I just keep it for breaker and xray, which is really nice, but I'd like to spend it to pour it on. Oh, since I said xray, I remembered, xray combo:

f34, d1, f34, d1, xray... does great damage

I love this variation and plan to stick with it. This is by no means a finished guide, but I've gotten mileage out of it as a starting point to build off of. This is a core toolset that anyone can use to get started, then start finding more tech and level up that spacing and footsies.

 

[Johnny2d]

One of the issues I found at Combo Breaker was that everyone tech rolls, so my setups posted above are less effective. So, I went to the lab to find setups that leave the opponent closer, making my setup even if they tech roll. While looking for these, I also happened across a setup where dvorah actually throws the bug backwards, then he runs away and comes back, giving a completely different for when the bug comes in. It's not hard to do and it's really useful.

Setup that leaves them close even if they tech roll:

Setup that sends the krawler backwards then he runs back to catch up:

Both of these use crossunder in juggles by using f1, then krawler. The setup where the bug goes the wrong way is great for jump over attempts. You can send the bug away, then cross over jip, reversing their wakeups, while the bug prevents them from back dashing, and also the bug and your jip hit overhead low at almost the same time, making the setup beat armor too. So dirty.