STRATEGY

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Compared to the rest of the characters, Sadira’s main strength is her air mobility. On the ground she isn’t as fast as others, and she doesn’t really have any attacks to keep opponents off of her once she gets knocked down. Blade Demon is a fairly good whiff punisher, but her options on the ground are primarily limited to Blade Demon and normal pokes. She also has no overhead normal attacks from the grounded position. With this in mind, the majority of Sadira’s offense should come from the air. Focus on using her air double jump, Widow’s Bite, and Web Cling to be unpredictable in your movement. There is very little risk of getting hit while in the air, as most big combo damage comes from getting hit while you are on the ground. Sadira exploits this better than any other character in the game thus far. Once you are knocked down, however, you must take great care in how you get off the ground again. Pay attention to how your opponent tries to capitalize after he or she knocks you down and change up your wake-up timing to throw your opponent off.

GROUND GAME

Sadira’s strengths definitely lie in her air game; however, it is equally important to understand what she is capable of on the ground. Her standing Medium Punch is a deceivingly good poke and is positive on block. Her standing Heavy Kick is one of her best ranged normals, but when used up close it is punishable on block. Standing Heavy Punch and crouching Heavy Punch are equally useful and have good range, as the blades on her wrist extend past her hands.

Sadira’s Blade Demon is one of her best tools on the ground, as it crushes low attacks and covers good distance. This is extremely useful against players who like to poke low. Light Blade Demon into Light Blade Demon is also useful against opponents who have a habit of trying to punish everything with a crouching Light attack. If your opponent attempts to do this, he or she will only have a 1-frame window to get the punish attempt in before your opponent get crushed by the second Light Blade Demon. For anti-air, Sadira has Recluse and Fang. Recluse is fantastic as an anti-air and works much more reliably. With Fang, you can jump cancel and go into a short juggle as well.

JUMP CANCEL

Sadira has the ability to jump cancel a few of her launcher attacks. She can jump cancel from Fang, Blade Demon Ender, and Shadow Recluse Ender, as well as from her regular throws. To jump cancel, hit an up direction after you connect with the move. This will cause Sadira to jump in the air after her opponent. You can choose whether you want to jump toward your opponent or away from your opponent. From this state you can perform a small juggle. All air attacks are not breakable in a combo, so it is free extra damage.

USING DOUBLE JUMP

Sadira is the only launch character with a double jump. Once in the air from your first jump, she can jump forward, backward, or directly upward for the second jump. If used correctly, this simple mechanic can grow your offense options significantly. This is a great tool to beat out opponents who are good at anti-air attacks or bad at blocking crossups.

If your opponent is using standing normals as an anti-air attack, a good strategy is to jump at your opponent, then as he or she goes for an anti-air attack, perform your second jump to make that attack whiff, then punish your opponent on the way down for a full combo.

When immediately beside an opponent, Sadira can jump over that opponent, then jump back to the original side to confuse the opponent’s defense. Hit the opponent with this once, then the next time you jump over him or her, go for a crossup with jumping Heavy Kick without double jumping back to the original side! After knocking an opponent down, you can jump over his or her body, then double jump vertically up for a meaty ambiguous crossup attempt.

While double jump is an amazing tool in Sadira’s arsenal, overuse can lead to predictability. Be sure to mix in single jump-in attacks as well.

AIR MOBILITY AND AIR LIMITATIONS

In addition to double jump, Sadira also gains air mobility from Widow’s Bite variations, Web Cling variations, and Widow’s Drop. The goal with all of these options is unpredictability. While there are limits to how many times you can use each of these tools from a single jump, it is possible to use all of them in one jump. For example, you can double jump vertically to gain height, then Heavy Web Cling, immediately throw a Medium Widow’s Bite to send Sadira higher in the air toward your opponent, then Widow’s Drop down on top of him or her.

To best utilize these options, it is important to understand their limitations. You can only throw one Widow’s Bite in the air, the only exception being a Shadow Widow’s Bite. You can only Web Cling once in the air. After you perform a Web Cling, you can use jump attacks or Widow’s Drop, but you cannot air Special. After throwing any Widow’s Bite, you cannot use your double jump. After a Light Widow’s Bite, you cannot attack. After a Medium Widow’s Bite, you can attack or Web Cling, but you cannot do another Widow’s Bite. From Heavy Widow’s Bite on block, you can still do your jump attacks on the way down, but you cannot do any air Special attacks.

Mix and match these options to confuse your opponent, and never let him or her know exactly where you will end up once you leave the ground.

INSTANT AIR WIDOW’S BITE / WEB CLING

Air attacks can be performed as close to the ground as possible by using a technique known in the fighting game community as the Tiger-Knee motion. Instead of the normal + attack, you would do + attack. You will need to learn the timing of exactly when to press the attack button. For instance, air Widow’s Bite, the notation would be . For instant air Web Cling, the notation would be .

A Heavy instant air Web Cling can catch your opponent off guard if you attack with Heavy Punch off the wall. Note that from an instant air Web Cling, you will not be high enough off the ground to perform Widow’s Drop.

USING WIDOW’S BITE

Widow’s Bite is the core of Sadira’s zoning game, and it can be very frustrating for opponents to deal with. The Heavy variation is your best tool to run away from your opponent because Sadira jumps backward after releasing the projectile, but it also leaves her the most open to retaliation. Generally, you will need to protect yourself on block by either using Heavy Kick early to stop air-to-air attempts or using Heavy Kick or Widow’s Drop much later to catch a dashing opponent.

The Medium variation is the most confusing for opponents to deal with, as it essentially gives Sadira an extra jump in the air. If used after a double jump, this technically gives her a triple jump. So, just when an opponent thinks he or she knows where you’re going to land, throw out a Medium Widow’s Bite, and Sadira goes higher and makes your opponent’s life harder! Another confusing use for it is to forward jump, backward double jump, then Medium Widow’s Bite.

After you have conditioned your opponent to expect Medium and Heavy variations, switch to the Light Widow’s Bite. Use it late in a jump toward your opponent, then immediately follow up with a crouching Light Kick. Your opponent is not likely to expect Sadira to land so quickly and will still be standing to block your jump in attacks. This leaves your opponent open to the crouching Light Kick into full combo.

COMBINING WIDOW’S BITE, WEB CLING, AND WIDOW’S DROP

One of the best uses for a Light Widow’s Bite is after a double jump into Heavy Web Cling. With the right spacing and timing, you can release the Widow’s Bite so it arrives on one side of the opponent while Sadira lands on the opposite side, free to attack with her crouching Light Kick. This all comes down to recognizing the required spacing. Once you get used to the spacing, you can confuse your opponent by using the Web Cling into Widow’s Drop or a crossup attempt as well.

USING INSTINCT

Sadira’s Web Traps can turn the tide of a match very quickly. The key ways to use the traps are as an offensive tool to keep yourself safe while attempting unsafe attacks, as a keep-out tool, and for juggles.

Using Web Traps as an offensive tool, place them at any time while you are attacking the opponent. Each Web Trap starts up in 11 frames, so you want to do it near the end of an attack’s active frames, allowing you time to recover and attack again. This lets you to use longer range unsafe tools like Heavy Blade Demon or Recluse followed by a Web Trap to prevent your opponent from punishing you.

To use it as a keep-out tool, place the Web Trap in front of you slightly off the ground. Your opponent’s only option to pass through is to attack it. You can stand inside it or slightly behind it and wait for your opponent’s attack to hit the Web Trap but not you, then whiff punish them with standing Heavy Kick or Blade Demon. This works particularly well if you have a life lead and are trying to time your opponent out.

For juggles, the Web Traps allow for a lot of creativity but not a lot of damage. Each Web Trap adds a significant amount to the KV meter while not dealing a significant amount of damage. They are unbreakable in a combo, though, so you can time them in sequence while walking forward to take the remainder of someone’s life. One of the best ways to maximize damage with it is to time Heavy Recluse followed immediately by a Web Trap. Then, wait for the Web Trap to pop and as they are falling, perform another Heavy Recluse followed by Web Trap, and repeat. Because they are all Special Moves, they are all unbreakable in combo.

It is also worth noting that Sadira is the only launch character with the ability to activate Instinct while in the air. So, while you are jumping around, if your opponent jumps to meet you in the air, you can activate Instinct in the air, drop a Web Trap to catch your opponent midair, then build a small juggle out of it.

With her Instinct active, Sadira is able to jump cancel all normal attacks including Auto Doubles. This can be performed on both hit and block by hitting any upward direction. This makes her combos extremely tricky to break and gives her another tool to rush down her opponent with Instinct on. After performing one normal attack on hit or block, you can repeat normal attacks in quick succession by just holding any upward direction and any normal attack. Note that Heavy Punch and Light Kick are not good options as they have too much pushback and lack the range to do repeatedly.  In combos, heavy attacks can be jump canceled into jump heavy attacks to continue the combo. Because you are airborne for jump attacks, they are unbreakable.