STRATEGY

GENERAL OVERVIEW

In addition to managing his Shadow Meter and Instinct Meter, Spinal has an additional resource to manage: Skulls. These Skulls give him additional attacks and/or properties on existing attacks, but in the beginning of a match Spinal will not have any Skulls available. At this time, his primary way to build Skulls is by using Power Devour to absorb his opponent’s Special Attacks or by using throws (usually with the help of Bone Runner). Once you get a combo on the opponent, if you don’t have any Skulls available, use Spinal’s Searing Skull Ender to quickly increase your Skull count.

Aside from trying to build Skulls, Spinal can open up his opponent with Shield Crush overhead mixed up with his Slide Kick. He can also Light Skeleport to set up offense because it always places him the same small distance from his opponent. After a Light Skeleport, you can use Heavy attacks canceled into Searing Skull, Boneshaker, or Soul Sword to pressure your opponent. Look to use his crouching Heavy Punch as an anti-air into combo. For extra mobility, use Spinal’s Dive Kick or Slide Kick to get around, especially against projectiles.

Once Spinal has at least one Skull, he is able to whiff punish full-screen by using Heavy Skeleport canceled into Soul Sword or Boneshaker. Alternatively he can send out an overhead Searing Skull projectile, then use a Skeleport to mix up the opponent’s blocking direction, or use Bone Runner into an overhead/low mix up. The more Skulls you have, the more projectiles and teleports you can use to lock your opponent down and confuse his or her defense.

Finally, using Spinal’s Curses will be key to shutting down certain characters. With Curses, Spinal has the ability to steal Shadow Meter and/or Instinct Meter. This can ultimately prevent an opposing character from ever getting to use his or her Instinct in a match! Or if you are using Shadow Curses, the opponent may not be able to use Shadow Attacks, which could also dramatically change a battle.

NOTABLE NORMALS

One of Spinal’s best normal attacks yet to be mentioned is his Slide Kick, performed by crouching Heavy Kick. This slide goes under projectiles and is an Opener to start combos. His close standing Medium Punch is a shield hit that gives +1 advantage on block, making standing Light Punch afterward a frame trap. Standing Light Punch is also advantage on block! Spinal’s crouching Heavy Punch can be used as an anti-air and lead to additional combos. With Skulls available, this anti-air attack will end up taking the opponent’s meter!

Spinal’s standing Heavy Kick and standing Heavy Punch are also very useful tools for applying pressure. The standing Heavy Kick starts up a frame faster and has an extra active frame as well. The main advantage of standing Heavy Punch, though, is that it has slightly more range and a longer hitbox. This leaves Spinal safer, as his hurtbox will be farther away from the opponent, but you will need to use Medium Boneshaker after to reliably connect with a combo from max range.

Note that Spinal does not have a cross up jumping attack. He does have a Dive Kick, however, which can be performed by Medium Kick while in the air. For air-to-air attacks, you will want to use jumping Medium or Heavy Punch.

BUILDING SKULLS

Whether or not Spinal has Skulls available changes the way he is played. Without Skulls available, Spinal should be looking to gain Skulls whenever possible. This can be done by landing throws, ending combos with Searing Skull Ender, using Spinal’s Power Devour to absorb Special Moves, or by activating Instinct. To land throws, use Bone Runner into throw to close distance and get close enough, as Spinal’s throw range isn’t very far. Power Devour is a fantastic way to build Skulls because you can also start a combo with standing Light Punch (or heavier, depending on what you absorb) to punish the opponent up close. For example, if you Power Devour Jago’s Wind Kick, you can hit standing Light Punch and cancel into Boneshaker to start a combo. You can even end that combo with Searing Skull Ender if you want to gain Skulls quickly. If you feel you are behind in the match, you can activate Instinct to replenish your Skulls as well.

SKULL ABILITIES

All of the heavy versions of Spinal’s Special Attacks gain additional properties when he has Skulls available. With Skulls, Spinal gains a great projectile game from his Searing Skulls. Mix this in with his Skeleports and all of a sudden, those projectiles become a lot more useful in addition to inflicting Shadow Curses on hit. His teleport game is also stronger as he gains the option to cancel the recovery of Heavy Skeleport into a Special Attack. Without Skulls, Spinal would only be able to cancel his Skeleports with a Shadow Attack. This is fantastic to punish long-range attacks on reaction. The Heavy Skeleport only uses a Skull if it is canceled into another Special Attack. For defense, Spinal’s Heavy Boneshaker gains projectile invulnerability, giving him an additional counter for projectiles. Soul Sword is probably the least likely to be used with Skulls, but its larger hitbox helps in juggle combos and the extra hit it does can be useful for damage.

UNDERSTANDING INVULNERABILITIES

Spinal’s Skeleport on wakeup is one of his most useful ways to get out of meaty pressure. The regular Skeleport is invulnerable to everything except throws, naturally making throws the best meaty pressure to beat Skeleport. Once an opponent starts throwing Spinal on wakeup, Spinal has two options—Shadow Boneshaker for throw invulnerability or Shadow Skeleport for total invulnerability. Both of these options require Shadow Meter, however. Against characters using overheads or jump in meaty attacks, use Soul Sword, as it has upper-body invulnerability on startup. Spinal also has projectile invulnerability with his Heavy Boneshaker with Skull. Though not usually an option you would use on wakeup, it is useful in certain situations.

• Shadow Skeleport = Invulnerable to everything
• Skeleport = Invulnerable to everything except throws
• Shadow Boneshaker = Throw invulnerable
• Soul Sword = Upper-body invulnerable
• Heavy Boneshaker with Skulls = Projectile invulnerable

USING DIVE KICK

Spinal’s Dive Kick attack is his jumping Medium Kick. It attacks in a diagonal direction from the air. On hit, it grants massive frame advantage, allowing you to easily Auto-Double to start a combo, even though it isn’t classified as an Opener. On block, it is easily punishable for full combo, unless it hits very low on the opponent (around most character’s shins). Since Spinal’s back dash does not have much range, jumping back can be a better option to create space. While jumping back, look to use the Dive Kick to catch an advancing opponent off-guard to start a combo.

USING HARD KNOCKDOWNS WITH SKULLS

If Spinal has Skulls and gets a hard knockdown, his offensive options are very strong. Most of this offense begins by sending out either the low or overhead projectile. Since these travel slower, you have time to follow up with different options to break your opponent’s defense of the projectile. After a throw, you can throw out a low projectile, and before it connects, you can choose to either use Medium Skeleport to appear in front of the opponent or Heavy Skeleport to appear behind the opponent. Since the opponent has to block the projectile depending on where Spinal is, this can be difficult to deal with. After knocking down with crouching Medium Kick, you can quickly send out a low projectile and follow it up with the overhead Shield Crush.

UNDERSTANDING CURSES

One of Spinal’s greatest strengths lies in his ability to Curse his opponents to steal their meter. Connecting with Skull versions of Searing Skull projectile will inflict a Shadow Curse, which makes Spinal steal Shadow Meter from his opponent. Connecting with the Shadow version of Searing Skull will inflict an Instinct Curse to steal Instinct Meter. Shadow Curses can stack up to 5 times while Instinct Curses can stack up to 3 times to increase the drain rate. Shadow Curses last 5 seconds while Instinct Curses last 8 seconds. Both durations can be extended by stacking the same type of Curse before the duration expires. With Instinct activated, the Curses drain even faster. If Spinal is hit by the opponent, all Curses are immediately lifted.

Depending on the character you are facing, you should favor certain Curses over others. Against Thunder or Sabrewulf, both of whom excel with Shadow Meter, your focus may be to hit them with Shadow Curse as much possible. When facing Sadira or Jago, both of whom excel with Instinct Meter, your focus may be to hit them with Instinct Curses.

It is important to note that Curses continue to steal meter between downs as well. So, after you take an opponent’s first lifebar, it is a great idea to end your combo with Curses! This way the opponent cannot hit you to end the Curse for a few seconds, guaranteeing some stolen meter!

USING SKELEPORT

Spinal’s Skeleports are useful for mobility and to confuse your opponent’s defense. With Shadow Meter available, you can use the medium or heavy variations, then cancel into Shadow Soul Sword or Shadow Boneshaker to whiff punish from anywhere on the screen.

Light Skeleport always puts you a set distance in front of the opponent. From here you are at the perfect range to follow up with Shield Crush overhead, standing Heavy Kick, or standing Heavy Punch. You can even cancel these back into another Skeleport for more confusion.

If you have Skulls available, you have a couple of options. First, you can cancel your Heavy Skeleport into any Special Attack for one Skull, allowing you to whiff punish full-screen without requiring Shadow Meter. With multiple Skulls, canceling Heavy Skeleport into Heavy Skeleport multiple times can be hard for your opponent to deal with.

Another use for Skeleports with Skulls available is to use the Searing Skull projectiles. The opponent has to block the projectile based on Spinal’s location, so mixing up Heavy or Medium Skeleport as the projectile is about to hit makes it an ambiguous crossup. In case the opponent blocks correctly, you can also follow up with Shield Crush overhead or a quick low as well.

Skeleport’s one major weakness is that it is vulnerable to throws, especially if you are using it on wakeup. To counter this, Spinal requires meter, as Shadow Boneshaker is throw invulnerable and Shadow Skeleport is invulnerable to everything.

USING SEARING SKULLS WITH SKULLS

With Skulls available, Spinal’s Searing Skulls should be used alongside Bone Runner and Skeleport to maximize effectiveness. The low projectile is the slowest of the three, allowing Spinal to follow up with the medium projectile at the same time. From full-screen distance, it is possible to have all three out at the same time. After the low projectile from full-screen, you can use Bone Runner to close distance and mix up the timing with Spinal’s Shield Crush overhead. Because Spinal can run faster than the projectile, you can even mix it up with a throw. Shield Crush into the low projectile is also a way to check your opponent’s defense, as he or she will have to quickly switch between high and low blocking.

Up close, say after a Light Skeleport, you can use the overhead projectile and mix up the timing with Slide Kick to throw off your opponent’s timing. Slide Kick is unsafe on block; however, you can cancel it into a Shadow Attack like Shadow Soul Sword or Shadow Boneshaker to keep frame advantage (assuming, of course, your opponent doesn’t have meter to Shadow Counter). As with the other two projectiles, you can also use Skeleport to make the projectile harder to block.

It is not uncommon to see players use their projectile invulnerable specials once Spinal’s projectiles come up. You can attempt to counter this while using Bone Runner by canceling it into Power Devour. It is also important to note that up close, low projectile can combo into medium projectile to stack Curses!

SPECTRAL MANUALS

Spinal’s unique combo mechanic is called Spectral Manuals. While manuals are generally found after Openers or Linkers, Spectral Manuals give Spinal the ability to also use manuals after Auto-Doubles. Any time after an Auto-Double in a combo, Spinal can hit the same strength button that was used for the Auto-Double to get a manual attack after. This is always the same strength manual as the Auto-Double before it. The manual is treated as any other manual in the game in that you need to go into a Linker, Shadow Linker, or Ender afterward to continue the combo. Visually, the Spectral Manuals for both punches and kick attacks are the same. Only the strength of the Auto-Double and the Spectral Manual will change its visual appearance.

USING INSTINCT

Spinal’s Instinct replenishes all of his Skulls, generates an additional Skull every 2 seconds, and causes increased drain rates of his Curses. Since the Skulls are generating so quickly, you have to take advantage of this by using your Skulls as much as possible. Strategies like canceling Heavy Skeleport into Heavy Skeleport repeatedly become viable, as you will have so many Skulls. Additionally, if you can use this to quickly start a combo and then end it with two Shadow Searing Skulls, the stacked drain rate on the Instinct will actually prevent Spinal’s Instinct from decreasing! Also, while most characters will only get to use their Instinct a maximum of twice per match, Spinal actually has the potential to get Instinct more than twice per match, depending on how much Instinct he has stolen from the opponent!