CrazyFingers
The Power of Lame Compels You
"The Mix Is Family" A Complete Butcher Guide
Welcome all! To my Butcher guide! Reborn and all by itself! Here we will go over everything. From the 'Must Knows" to the gimmicks. Frame data, strategy, combos, and even my thoughts on the character in the current game!
THE BUTCHER'S COOKBOOK
Butcher Leatherface is a rushdown character that opens you up with mixups and some stagger strings. He uses his constant ability to have plus frames to frustrate the opponent into making a mistake or into making them respect you more than they should which allows you to begin your mixup game. Butcher does especially well against characters who prefer to be up close and personal, due to the fact that Butcher also wants to do this. Butcher's momentum based gameplan can spiral the opponent down into a very bad situation.
COOKING UTENSILS
This part of our cook book will go over the normals, strings and specials that we use to cook up the delicious meal that is our opponent. The frame data on a lot of these seem terrible but this is corrected by our trusty mallet (will be explained in the specials section.)
NORMALS
Leatherface's normals are overall fairly good. The only problem being his lack of good mids. All of his normals by themselves have very good frames however, and you'll need to know when and how to use them to survive and eventually beat your opponent to a bloody pulp.
NOTE: If a normal is part of an important string but is terrible on its own, it will not be included in this section, it will be covered with its string in the string section.
D1-7f
Height- Mid
Block Frames- -4
Hit Advantage- +13
Frame Data After Hit
S1-8f
Height-High
Block Frames- +2
Hit Advantage- +14
Frame Data After Hit
B1-15f
Height-Mid
Block Frames- -10
Hit Advantage- +5
Frame Data After Hit
F1-7f
Height-High
Block Frames- -2
Hit Advantage- +17
Frame Data After Hit
D2-7f
Height- High
Block Frames- -18
Hit Advantage- +22
Special Property- Anti-Air/Knockdown
Breakdown: Leatherface has one of the faster D2's in the game and it has a pretty solid hit box. Basically, if you don't have enough time to think of which anti-air you want to be using on a specific jump, D2 9 times out of 10 will be correct. Get to uppercutting!
F3- 17f
Height- Low
Block Frames- -9
Hit Advantage- +15
Frame Data After Hit
D3- 6f
Height- Low
Block Frames- -8
Hit Advantage- +10
Frame Data After Hit
D4- 16f
Height- Low
Block Frames- -16
Hit Advantage- +6
Frame Data After Hit
STRINGS
Here I will tell you about the important strings that Butcher uses in his pressure/neutral game. Give you some frame numbers and breakdown when you should be using them and how you should be using them. I will only provide what jails after you hit them with the string if it is relevant to how you use the string. Otherwise I will just go over the other aspects of it. Let's get into this!
1,2-8f Start
Height- High, Overhead
Block Frames- -22
Hit Advantage- +15
Frame Data After Hit
F1, 2- 7f Start
Height- High, Mid
Block Frames- -16
Hit Advantage- +8
Breakdown: F1, 2 is a string that you will see Leatherface players as a whole use a ton and for good reason. This string is fast, it catches jump backs, it catches backdashes, it can be used to close gaps after a run and start you offense. Now a glaring issue with a lot of Leatherface's strings (as you may or may not have noticed) is that they are highly negative on block sometimes. Don't worry, this will be solved in the specials section, trust me.
22- 14f Start
Height- High, Mid
Block Frames- +2
Hit Advantage- +11
Breakdown: This string used to be the single most important Butcher string in his entire gameplan. Clocking in at a whopping +22 on hit (Correct if I'm wrong) this string used to give Butcher a true meterless vortex with a good chunk of damage that would quickly get out of hand. Now, after the hotfix that followed KP2, it is a significantly less important string, but still important none the less. Basically, after a restand, you can use this string on block to get a free 50/50. 22 into DF2 is a true block string and hits overhead while 22's cousin (22 D2) hits low which makes this string a tool that should definitely be used.
F2, 1, D2- 19f Start
Height- Overhead, Mid, Mid
Block Frames- -5
Hit Advantage- +3
Breakdown: This is possibly my favorite string in MKX, period. It has a decent range, is on the slower side (which is the norm now for overheads for the most part) and has the most satisfying series of hit sounds in the history of MKX. You will use this a string a lot. Like, a lot a lot. It is your overhead option, obviously, and is easily hitconfirmed. The strength of the fact that it's safe and easily hitconfrimed is that it is an OVERHEAD. And our best poke is a low which sets up for a ton of low conditioning, making the opponent REALLY want to block low, leaving them open to get hit by F2.
SPECIALS
Last section involving our useful cooking utensils, the special abilities. Leatherface has an assortment of useful specials that you will use basically depending on what you want. He has multiple enders, and +2 overhead and more. Let's begin shall we?
Psycho Kutter (DB1)
21f Overhead.
-24 on block.
+25 on hit.
Knockdown: HARD
TYPING: ENDER
Breakdown: This is our most advantageous on hit ender we have. I usually use this ender in conjunction with D4 as it makes it so that the D4 hits EXTREMELY meaty (Practically an OTG it's so meaty) which will guarantee either they get hit by it if they don't block or they eat some chip to possibly guarantee a round. An ender that I don't use too much but if you want to be extremely advantageous, this is your bet friend. If you EX this move, it gains 2 hits of armor which has made this Leatherface's main wakeup option.
Chain Sparks (BD4)
17f Mid
-26 on block.
+39 on hit.
Knockdown: NONE
TYPING: RESTAND
Breakdown: This is your main combo extender. Leatherface has it easy as he has a way to meterlessly extend his combos for good damage and can even just restand at the end of a combo to continue pressure. This move is very strong and while it's unsafe on block, that doesn't take away from the power of a straight up restand combo extender.
Low Grinder (EX BF3)
19f Low
-14 on block.
+13 on hit.
Knockdown: HARD
TYPING: GAP CLOSER
Breakdown: Low Grinder is going to be your way with dealing with projectiles aside from the run button and jumping. It has two hits of armor which also makes it a decent wakeup and it hitting low means you have a 50/50 on wakeup which is useful in some situations. However keep in mind this move is fairly unsafe and you will be punished most of the time when it is blocked.
Mallet Strike (DF2)
25f Overhead
+2 on block.
+14 on hit.
Knockdown: HARD
TYPING: PRESSURE TOOL
Breakdown: This move is integral to Butcher as a whole. Whenever you do a punishable string on block, you should most definitely, EVERY TIME, cancel into this move. There will be a gap yes but it is less likely that the gap will be abused than the string will be punished. Also, abusing gaps without armored launchers running around everywhere has made the risk/reward for Butcher much more in his favor. Abuse the crap out of this special on block and after the opponent blocks it make sure to go for a check with a poke or something, you're plus, remind them of that.
Skull Smash (DBF1)
8f Command Grab (High)
Unblockable.
+5 on hit/
Knockdown: RESTAND
TYPING: PRESSURE CONTINUATION
Breakdown: One of the fastest command grabs in the game (tied with Goro I believe), this command grab has no use as a tick throw, don't use his one tick throw. It's use is either just using it raw in neutral or as a restand. The meterless one is a solid ender as it does restand even though it's only +5, it guarantees some of your quicker pressure or your fast pokes as a check.
Blood Bath (DB3)
22f Mid
-17 on block.
+11 on hit.
Knockdown: HARD
TYPING: ENDER
Breakdown: This is probably the simplest of the useful specials that Butcher Leatherface has. It's Butcher's most damage combo ender. A fair bit less hit advantage than DB1 however! It has a fairly special functionality in that it guarantees a 50/50 on hit. So basically, if you time your 50/50 correctly, it will hit meaty and the opponent can't jump out or poke out. So they either have to guess or armor out and armored launchers being less good makes the opponent more likely to just take the guess rather than risk you blocking the armor and them gaining nothing from it or even possibly being punished for it.
PRESSURE COOKER
In this section, you will learn the essentials of the pressure cooker. This is what will help you force your opponent to respect you. Of course, I am speaking of your pressure game. We have gone over it a little bit with the breakdowns of the strings/specials/normals but here, we will talk about the specifics of Butcher's pressure. Strap in and enjoy the ride.
ABUSING THE PLUS FRAMES OF DF2
DF2 is +2 with some pushback. This special allows you to follow up with a decent amount of stuff and can be slapped onto the end of any string you use if you desire to. However, something I've noticed some players have trouble with is exactly how to abuse these plus frames. Afterall, the first thought that I'm sure comes to your mind when you see your opponent block this is "F1! LET'S GO!" and while this can be good, you have to understand why it's not the end all be all. F1 is a high, this poses a problem with the "Go immediately into F1 after this" style of play. You will get low poked constantly out of F1 after this if you don't force your opponent to respect you with your own pokes and while this isn't nearly as flashy or satisfying as just endlessly F12 xx DF2ing your opponent till they rage, it's the smarter way to play. After they start blocking your pokes, this is when you start to F1 more often after they block this as they have begun to respect your other options so you can use the more value filled options (F1 and eventually if they respect you hard enough, you can even go for a mixup or a throw)
WHEN TO MIXUP
Another important thing to keep in mind when playing Butcher is that unless your opponent is absurdly in love with their block button and hates pressing any other button, it's hard to actually get your F2/F3 out as they are fairly slow. This is where you need to learn when you should be mixing and when you should be playing the neutral game, both being something this character is quite capable of doing for sure. So, when do you mix? We all love the mix, and Butcher is no slouch at it but when exactly should you be doing it? Well let's go over that shall we? The following is a short list of the "Mix Moments"
Second B2 vs F1 After Restand
So if you have seen any Butcher gameplay, you probably notice that after a restand instead of doing a full combo, they end the combo prematurely and go for pressure afterwards (almost always a 50/50) and a question that I've been asked before is "Should I end with F1 or a second B2 after restand?" This is a legitimate talking point when you're discussing Butcher's pressure. B2 does more damage and is an unknown amount of plus (all I know is that it is VERY plus, plus enough where you are not poking out of it) and while F1 does less damage, it recovers faster (which catches people off guard because they expect the whole string to be completed.) and has a set amount of plus frames (+17 on hit) Personally, I prefer B2 as it just makes it so your damage output is higher but I can totally see you using F1 (Gunshow uses F1 for example.)
Using Jump In Punches After Restand
Another tool that you can use for your vortex is a jump in punch followed by a delayed mixup (F3/F2) this makes it so there is absolutely no armorable gaps. JiP1 is much easier to execute on crossover than JiP2 but this has a backdashable gap which could cause you some issue. My general thought on this is if you can't get JiP2 out reliably, do JiP1 until opponent actually starts backdashing it because if they don't backdash it, it's just as good as JiP1. No armorable gap, just mix city.
Canceling Pokes into Specials
There are gaps EVERYWHERE in this however, it sets up a couple of ideas for your opponent. One, it makes them start being scared of letting go of block after a blocked poke, which makes them almost plus in a way (this kind of idea is much stronger on characters like Bo Rai Cho and Alien but Butcher can definitely take advantage of this 'tech') Second, it possibly makes your pokes ACTUALLY plus on block if you cancel a poke into DF2, making it +2 and setting up for another poke. Lastly, it makes your opponent think you are bat-shit crazy. You want this because it creates the precedent that you are unpredictable, and can make the opponent psyche themselves out.
PERFECT COOKING TIME
The title of this section refers to the sort of mixup loop that you can instate as Butcher with your restands. While this tool is very strong and is a staple of Butcher, it is vital that you don't get too carried away and "Cash Out" eventually. Cashing out refers to stopping the loop and going for maximum damage. There are certain nuances to this idea that I will go over later in this section but first let's go over how you should handle your looping.
Loop Management
When talking about when you should stop your loop, you need to take into account two things. Your health, and their health. If you are behind on health by a decent amount, you need to start taking a risk, and using the loop multiple times in a row to catch up in health is one of these risks. It is a tool that can swing games hugely towards your favor and turn a losing game into a won game very quickly. The other half of this is when you're in the health lead. This is where you want to do little to no loops as it is an unneeded risk. If i'm ahead in life (or even equal) I tend to go for one loop and then cash out if I even go for a loop at all.
FAMILY RECIPES
THE MOMENT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! We have delicious recipes from Grandma's Homemade Apple of Your Eyeballs soup to the world famous Sawyer Family Chile! Here are your combos!
MIDSCREEN
F12 XX BD4, JiP2, B2, Cross Over JiP1, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
F21D2 XX BD4, JiP2, B2, Cross Over JiP1, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
F3 XX BD4, BD4, JiP2, B2, Cross Over JiP1, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
STARTER XX BD4, B2, B2/F1/Cross Over JiP1/2 (Meterless Loop Setup)
B1U2, RUN, F1, S12 XX BD4, B2, F21D2 XX DB3/DB1
122, NJP, F1, S12 XX BD4, JIP2, B2, F21D2 XX DB3/DB1
CORNER
F12 XX BD4, B2, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
F21D2 XX BD4, B2, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
F3 XX BD4, B2, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
S12 XX BD4, B2, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
S122, NJP, F1, F12 XX BD4, B2, F21D2 XX DB3/DB1
B1U2, NJP, F1, F12 XX BD4, B2, F21D2 XX DB3/DB1
Welcome all! To my Butcher guide! Reborn and all by itself! Here we will go over everything. From the 'Must Knows" to the gimmicks. Frame data, strategy, combos, and even my thoughts on the character in the current game!
THE BUTCHER'S COOKBOOK
- Game Plan
- Cooking Utensils
- Normals
- Strings
- Specials
- Pressure Cooker
- Perfect Cooking Time
- Family Recipes
- Meterless
- Metered
- Air to Airs
- Anti-Air
- Corner
- Metered
- Meterless
Butcher Leatherface is a rushdown character that opens you up with mixups and some stagger strings. He uses his constant ability to have plus frames to frustrate the opponent into making a mistake or into making them respect you more than they should which allows you to begin your mixup game. Butcher does especially well against characters who prefer to be up close and personal, due to the fact that Butcher also wants to do this. Butcher's momentum based gameplan can spiral the opponent down into a very bad situation.
COOKING UTENSILS
This part of our cook book will go over the normals, strings and specials that we use to cook up the delicious meal that is our opponent. The frame data on a lot of these seem terrible but this is corrected by our trusty mallet (will be explained in the specials section.)
NORMALS
Leatherface's normals are overall fairly good. The only problem being his lack of good mids. All of his normals by themselves have very good frames however, and you'll need to know when and how to use them to survive and eventually beat your opponent to a bloody pulp.
NOTE: If a normal is part of an important string but is terrible on its own, it will not be included in this section, it will be covered with its string in the string section.
D1-7f
Height- Mid
Block Frames- -4
Hit Advantage- +13
Frame Data After Hit
- F1- Jails
- S1- Jails
- B1- 2f
- D1- Jails
- S2- 1f
- F2- 6f
- F3- 4f
- D3- Jails
- D4- 3f
S1-8f
Height-High
Block Frames- +2
Hit Advantage- +14
Frame Data After Hit
- F1- Jails
- S1- Jails
- B1- 1f
- D1- Jails
- S2- Jails
- F2- 5f
- F3- 3f
- D3- Jails
- D4- 3f
B1-15f
Height-Mid
Block Frames- -10
Hit Advantage- +5
Frame Data After Hit
- F1- 2f
- S1- 3f
- B1- 10f
- D1- 2f
- S2- 9f
- F2- 14f
- F3- 12f
- D3- 1f
- D4- 11f
F1-7f
Height-High
Block Frames- -2
Hit Advantage- +17
Frame Data After Hit
- F1- Jails
- S1- Jails
- B1- Jails
- D1- Jails
- S2- Jails
- F2- 2f
- F3- Jails
- D3- Jails
- D4- Jails
D2-7f
Height- High
Block Frames- -18
Hit Advantage- +22
Special Property- Anti-Air/Knockdown
Breakdown: Leatherface has one of the faster D2's in the game and it has a pretty solid hit box. Basically, if you don't have enough time to think of which anti-air you want to be using on a specific jump, D2 9 times out of 10 will be correct. Get to uppercutting!
F3- 17f
Height- Low
Block Frames- -9
Hit Advantage- +15
Frame Data After Hit
- S1- Jails
- F1- Jails
- D1- Jails
- S2- 1f
- F2- 4f
- F3-2f
- D3- Jails
- D4- 1f
D3- 6f
Height- Low
Block Frames- -8
Hit Advantage- +10
Frame Data After Hit
- F1- Jails
- S1- Jails
- B1- 5f
- D1- Jails
- S2- 4f
- F2- 9f
- F3- 7f
- D3- Jails
- D4- 6f
D4- 16f
Height- Low
Block Frames- -16
Hit Advantage- +6
Frame Data After Hit
- F1- 1f
- S1- 2f
- B1- 9f
- D1- 1f
- S2- 8f
- F2- 13f
- D3- Jails
- D4- 10f
STRINGS
Here I will tell you about the important strings that Butcher uses in his pressure/neutral game. Give you some frame numbers and breakdown when you should be using them and how you should be using them. I will only provide what jails after you hit them with the string if it is relevant to how you use the string. Otherwise I will just go over the other aspects of it. Let's get into this!
1,2-8f Start
Height- High, Overhead
Block Frames- -22
Hit Advantage- +15
Frame Data After Hit
- S1- Jails
- F1- Jails
- D1- Jails
- D3- Jails
- F3- 2f
- S2- Jails
- F2- 4f
- D4- 1f
F1, 2- 7f Start
Height- High, Mid
Block Frames- -16
Hit Advantage- +8
Breakdown: F1, 2 is a string that you will see Leatherface players as a whole use a ton and for good reason. This string is fast, it catches jump backs, it catches backdashes, it can be used to close gaps after a run and start you offense. Now a glaring issue with a lot of Leatherface's strings (as you may or may not have noticed) is that they are highly negative on block sometimes. Don't worry, this will be solved in the specials section, trust me.
22- 14f Start
Height- High, Mid
Block Frames- +2
Hit Advantage- +11
Breakdown: This string used to be the single most important Butcher string in his entire gameplan. Clocking in at a whopping +22 on hit (Correct if I'm wrong) this string used to give Butcher a true meterless vortex with a good chunk of damage that would quickly get out of hand. Now, after the hotfix that followed KP2, it is a significantly less important string, but still important none the less. Basically, after a restand, you can use this string on block to get a free 50/50. 22 into DF2 is a true block string and hits overhead while 22's cousin (22 D2) hits low which makes this string a tool that should definitely be used.
F2, 1, D2- 19f Start
Height- Overhead, Mid, Mid
Block Frames- -5
Hit Advantage- +3
Breakdown: This is possibly my favorite string in MKX, period. It has a decent range, is on the slower side (which is the norm now for overheads for the most part) and has the most satisfying series of hit sounds in the history of MKX. You will use this a string a lot. Like, a lot a lot. It is your overhead option, obviously, and is easily hitconfirmed. The strength of the fact that it's safe and easily hitconfrimed is that it is an OVERHEAD. And our best poke is a low which sets up for a ton of low conditioning, making the opponent REALLY want to block low, leaving them open to get hit by F2.
SPECIALS
Last section involving our useful cooking utensils, the special abilities. Leatherface has an assortment of useful specials that you will use basically depending on what you want. He has multiple enders, and +2 overhead and more. Let's begin shall we?
Psycho Kutter (DB1)
21f Overhead.
-24 on block.
+25 on hit.
Knockdown: HARD
TYPING: ENDER
Breakdown: This is our most advantageous on hit ender we have. I usually use this ender in conjunction with D4 as it makes it so that the D4 hits EXTREMELY meaty (Practically an OTG it's so meaty) which will guarantee either they get hit by it if they don't block or they eat some chip to possibly guarantee a round. An ender that I don't use too much but if you want to be extremely advantageous, this is your bet friend. If you EX this move, it gains 2 hits of armor which has made this Leatherface's main wakeup option.
Chain Sparks (BD4)
17f Mid
-26 on block.
+39 on hit.
Knockdown: NONE
TYPING: RESTAND
Breakdown: This is your main combo extender. Leatherface has it easy as he has a way to meterlessly extend his combos for good damage and can even just restand at the end of a combo to continue pressure. This move is very strong and while it's unsafe on block, that doesn't take away from the power of a straight up restand combo extender.
Low Grinder (EX BF3)
19f Low
-14 on block.
+13 on hit.
Knockdown: HARD
TYPING: GAP CLOSER
Breakdown: Low Grinder is going to be your way with dealing with projectiles aside from the run button and jumping. It has two hits of armor which also makes it a decent wakeup and it hitting low means you have a 50/50 on wakeup which is useful in some situations. However keep in mind this move is fairly unsafe and you will be punished most of the time when it is blocked.
Mallet Strike (DF2)
25f Overhead
+2 on block.
+14 on hit.
Knockdown: HARD
TYPING: PRESSURE TOOL
Breakdown: This move is integral to Butcher as a whole. Whenever you do a punishable string on block, you should most definitely, EVERY TIME, cancel into this move. There will be a gap yes but it is less likely that the gap will be abused than the string will be punished. Also, abusing gaps without armored launchers running around everywhere has made the risk/reward for Butcher much more in his favor. Abuse the crap out of this special on block and after the opponent blocks it make sure to go for a check with a poke or something, you're plus, remind them of that.
Skull Smash (DBF1)
8f Command Grab (High)
Unblockable.
+5 on hit/
Knockdown: RESTAND
TYPING: PRESSURE CONTINUATION
Breakdown: One of the fastest command grabs in the game (tied with Goro I believe), this command grab has no use as a tick throw, don't use his one tick throw. It's use is either just using it raw in neutral or as a restand. The meterless one is a solid ender as it does restand even though it's only +5, it guarantees some of your quicker pressure or your fast pokes as a check.
Blood Bath (DB3)
22f Mid
-17 on block.
+11 on hit.
Knockdown: HARD
TYPING: ENDER
Breakdown: This is probably the simplest of the useful specials that Butcher Leatherface has. It's Butcher's most damage combo ender. A fair bit less hit advantage than DB1 however! It has a fairly special functionality in that it guarantees a 50/50 on hit. So basically, if you time your 50/50 correctly, it will hit meaty and the opponent can't jump out or poke out. So they either have to guess or armor out and armored launchers being less good makes the opponent more likely to just take the guess rather than risk you blocking the armor and them gaining nothing from it or even possibly being punished for it.
PRESSURE COOKER
In this section, you will learn the essentials of the pressure cooker. This is what will help you force your opponent to respect you. Of course, I am speaking of your pressure game. We have gone over it a little bit with the breakdowns of the strings/specials/normals but here, we will talk about the specifics of Butcher's pressure. Strap in and enjoy the ride.
ABUSING THE PLUS FRAMES OF DF2
DF2 is +2 with some pushback. This special allows you to follow up with a decent amount of stuff and can be slapped onto the end of any string you use if you desire to. However, something I've noticed some players have trouble with is exactly how to abuse these plus frames. Afterall, the first thought that I'm sure comes to your mind when you see your opponent block this is "F1! LET'S GO!" and while this can be good, you have to understand why it's not the end all be all. F1 is a high, this poses a problem with the "Go immediately into F1 after this" style of play. You will get low poked constantly out of F1 after this if you don't force your opponent to respect you with your own pokes and while this isn't nearly as flashy or satisfying as just endlessly F12 xx DF2ing your opponent till they rage, it's the smarter way to play. After they start blocking your pokes, this is when you start to F1 more often after they block this as they have begun to respect your other options so you can use the more value filled options (F1 and eventually if they respect you hard enough, you can even go for a mixup or a throw)
WHEN TO MIXUP
Another important thing to keep in mind when playing Butcher is that unless your opponent is absurdly in love with their block button and hates pressing any other button, it's hard to actually get your F2/F3 out as they are fairly slow. This is where you need to learn when you should be mixing and when you should be playing the neutral game, both being something this character is quite capable of doing for sure. So, when do you mix? We all love the mix, and Butcher is no slouch at it but when exactly should you be doing it? Well let's go over that shall we? The following is a short list of the "Mix Moments"
- After a Jump In
- After a hard knockdown
- When your opponent as begun to heavily respect you
- After an extremely plus restand (BD4 restands to be specific)
- Every once in awhile in the neutral (Will be explained)
Second B2 vs F1 After Restand
So if you have seen any Butcher gameplay, you probably notice that after a restand instead of doing a full combo, they end the combo prematurely and go for pressure afterwards (almost always a 50/50) and a question that I've been asked before is "Should I end with F1 or a second B2 after restand?" This is a legitimate talking point when you're discussing Butcher's pressure. B2 does more damage and is an unknown amount of plus (all I know is that it is VERY plus, plus enough where you are not poking out of it) and while F1 does less damage, it recovers faster (which catches people off guard because they expect the whole string to be completed.) and has a set amount of plus frames (+17 on hit) Personally, I prefer B2 as it just makes it so your damage output is higher but I can totally see you using F1 (Gunshow uses F1 for example.)
Using Jump In Punches After Restand
Another tool that you can use for your vortex is a jump in punch followed by a delayed mixup (F3/F2) this makes it so there is absolutely no armorable gaps. JiP1 is much easier to execute on crossover than JiP2 but this has a backdashable gap which could cause you some issue. My general thought on this is if you can't get JiP2 out reliably, do JiP1 until opponent actually starts backdashing it because if they don't backdash it, it's just as good as JiP1. No armorable gap, just mix city.
Canceling Pokes into Specials
There are gaps EVERYWHERE in this however, it sets up a couple of ideas for your opponent. One, it makes them start being scared of letting go of block after a blocked poke, which makes them almost plus in a way (this kind of idea is much stronger on characters like Bo Rai Cho and Alien but Butcher can definitely take advantage of this 'tech') Second, it possibly makes your pokes ACTUALLY plus on block if you cancel a poke into DF2, making it +2 and setting up for another poke. Lastly, it makes your opponent think you are bat-shit crazy. You want this because it creates the precedent that you are unpredictable, and can make the opponent psyche themselves out.
PERFECT COOKING TIME
The title of this section refers to the sort of mixup loop that you can instate as Butcher with your restands. While this tool is very strong and is a staple of Butcher, it is vital that you don't get too carried away and "Cash Out" eventually. Cashing out refers to stopping the loop and going for maximum damage. There are certain nuances to this idea that I will go over later in this section but first let's go over how you should handle your looping.
Loop Management
When talking about when you should stop your loop, you need to take into account two things. Your health, and their health. If you are behind on health by a decent amount, you need to start taking a risk, and using the loop multiple times in a row to catch up in health is one of these risks. It is a tool that can swing games hugely towards your favor and turn a losing game into a won game very quickly. The other half of this is when you're in the health lead. This is where you want to do little to no loops as it is an unneeded risk. If i'm ahead in life (or even equal) I tend to go for one loop and then cash out if I even go for a loop at all.
FAMILY RECIPES
THE MOMENT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! We have delicious recipes from Grandma's Homemade Apple of Your Eyeballs soup to the world famous Sawyer Family Chile! Here are your combos!
MIDSCREEN
F12 XX BD4, JiP2, B2, Cross Over JiP1, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
F21D2 XX BD4, JiP2, B2, Cross Over JiP1, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
F3 XX BD4, BD4, JiP2, B2, Cross Over JiP1, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
STARTER XX BD4, B2, B2/F1/Cross Over JiP1/2 (Meterless Loop Setup)
B1U2, RUN, F1, S12 XX BD4, B2, F21D2 XX DB3/DB1
122, NJP, F1, S12 XX BD4, JIP2, B2, F21D2 XX DB3/DB1
CORNER
F12 XX BD4, B2, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
F21D2 XX BD4, B2, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
F3 XX BD4, B2, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
S12 XX BD4, B2, 122, NJP, F1, F12 XX DB3/DBF1/DB1
S122, NJP, F1, F12 XX BD4, B2, F21D2 XX DB3/DB1
B1U2, NJP, F1, F12 XX BD4, B2, F21D2 XX DB3/DB1
Last edited:
