Special Moves

LP Flash Chop

MP Flash Chop

HP Flash Chop

EX Flash Chop

Flash Chop: Alex slashes the air in front of him with his classic chop attack. This is a standard combo/poking tool with some twists. Flash Chops have projectile hitboxes, so Alex can stalemate single-hit projectiles by Flash Chopping them when properly timed. Alex’s fist around the Flash Chop crescent has a projectile-invulnerable hurtbox, which helps Flash Chop consistently defeat incoming fireballs. It will still lose head-on with high-priority/invincible enemy strikes, though.

On block, all normal versions of Flash Chop leave Alex at -4, like his Chop overhead. EX Flash Chop leaves him at -2.

Non-EX versions of Flash Chop don’t knock down, so using them as combo finishers (without canceling to Critical Art) is like some Laura combos; you continue pressuring a standing foe instead of going for okizeme. Standing MP LP Flash Chop leaves Alex at +2; standing HP MP Flash Chop leaves him at +3. And non-EX Flash Chops used as pokes allow for links afterward on counter-hit. Counter-hit LP/HP Flash Chop can link into crouching LP; counter-hit MP Flash Chop can link into standing LK for a tiny bit more damage. With EX meter available, cancel either link to EX Flash Chop for a knockdown. (More on the EX version in a bit.)

HP Flash Chop won’t combo off normals (except counter-hit standing HP!) and is much slower to startup, but allows for a cancel during recovery into Power Drop, the back-targeting version of Power Bomb. If Flash Chop is blocked when you try this, the Power Drop attempt will whiff at point-blank range, so be careful. This is best as a punish or a hard read (like you’re certain they’ll hit a button in the gap between blocked standing HP and HP Flash Chop). Alex’s Overhaul V-Skill allows you to force the issue, too. If you have a recent V-Skill buff active (and you haven’t “ticked” the opponent with anything on block or used up your V-Skill hit or been hit, any of which takes away the buff), then you can confidently attack with standing HP HP Flash Chop, knowing that it will combo and give you plenty of time to verify into Power Drop if successful.

Just like in Third Strike, EX Flash Chop should probably be the main place you find yourself investing EX gauge. The EX version comes out faster, hits twice, knocks down, and can even combo after crouching LP, so crouching LK linked to LP is a potent, low hit-check when you’re willing to spend meter. (Other useful hit-checks to EX Flash Chop include standing MP or Lariat linked to standing LK.) Furthermore, if you immediately dash forward after EX Flash Chop, Alex is left at one of the best frame situations in the game against a quick riser, at +7 versus quick rise in place and +2 against backward quick rise. This kind of situation in SFV is extremely rare. Alex has so much frame advantage that if you dash and go for Power Bomb as fast as possible it’s actually too fast, whiffing just as they rise. You have to consciously wait a split-second before going for a follow-up grab against their wakeup in this situation, but it’s a good problem to have.

All versions of Flash Chop can also potentially be used in juggle combos, which can become applicable for Alex in many situations. This includes after an air-to-air Flying Cross Chop, a crouching HP hit (anti-ground or anti-air), or MK/HK Slash Elbow popping the enemy up near a corner.

LK Slash Elbow Charge ,

MK Slash Elbow Charge ,

HK Slash Elbow Charge ,

EX Slash Elbow Charge ,

Slash Elbow: Alex’s back-charge move returns, allowing him to attack while moving forward. As a charge move, along with Air Stampede and Head Crush, this move requires some premeditation. Alex is a character who needs to be mobile, so you should never feel committed to a down-back charge you’ve built up for a charge move. He isn’t old-school turtle-mode Balrog or Guile. But if you’re going to use them, you can form useful habits, like rapidly snapping the stick/d-pad to down-back after any action using a forward direction (like his Lariat or Chop unique attacks). This gives you a little head-start on building charge.

Like Flash Chops, Slash Elbows also have projectile hitboxes (with projectile-invulnerable forward hurtboxes), although they’re harder to intentionally apply to snuff incoming fireballs. It’s more likely that you sometimes use Slash Elbow as a long-range poke when you anticipate a projectile toss and the slash snuffs the fireball at their hands as it hits them too. Heavier versions travel further and do more damage. The LK version doesn’t knock down but causes a very brief stagger, leaving you at +3. On counter-hit, LK Slash Elbow allows for a link to standing LK ( EX Flash Chop, meter permitting). LK Slash Elbow also leaves Alex at only -3 on block, making it relatively safe to abuse after exploratory standing HP or MP pokes, like Karin’s Orochi shoulder checks on block. A frame-perfect response from someone with a 3-frame jab can punish you, but this is difficult for the opponent to catch consistently. Adjust your abuse of LK Slash Elbow for close-range pressure according to whether the opponent punishes you for it.

MK and HK Slash Elbow both pop the enemy into a floating state, with the HK version leaving them much higher in the air and easier to juggle. Both versions are punishably unsafe on block compared to Flash Chops or LK Slash Elbow, so save them for combos.

The EX version hits twice, knocks down, and has a point of armor during its transit across the screen. Alex will slide to their location before attacking, whether they’re up close or full screen. The armor expires once the move has put Alex in position to punch. In all these ways, it’s a lot like SFIV Balrog’s EX Dash Low Smash. Like other fast, forward-moving armored moves, this can blow through mid-range fireballs/pokes on reaction and smack the would-be zoner. EX Slash Elbow actually does the same stun and damage as EX Flash Chop, so when you’re ready to spend meter, the decision between them in some combos is basically between either great okizeme (EX Flash Chop) or major corner push (EX Slash Elbow).

Like with Flash Chop, you can cancel (non-EX) versions into his Critical Art, which can also be used in juggles in some situations, like anti-air, counter-hit Lariat into a juggle with MK Slash Elbow canceled to Heavy Hammer.

LK Air Knee Smash

MK Air Knee Smash Charge

HK Air Knee Smash

EX Air Knee Smash

Air Knee Smash: Alex’s anti-air knee bash returns, acting like R. Mika’s Wingless Airplane along a different trajectory. Air Knee Smash travels upward sharply, while moving forward a bit but not as much as similar moves from R. Mika or SFIII/SFIV Hugo. LK Air Knee Smash strikes about 10 percent of the screen forward, the MK version about 20 percent, HK 30 percent, and EX 40 percent. Alex strikes with a hit-throw on the way up, then glides back to the ground further than the actual attack swath. He then has an extended landing recovery period, too.

Air Knee Smash can work as an anti-air, especially the LK and EX versions against someone coming in sharply from above. Depending on positioning, Air Knee Smash can also be used to end juggle combos, which for Alex can start many different ways.

LK Air Stampede Charge

MK Air Stampede Charge ,

HK Air Stampede Charge ,

EX Air Stampede Charge ,

Air Stampede: Alex springs up to the top of the screen and crashes down with both feet, flooring anyone underneath. Air Stampede is an overhead with just two active frames, which strike a little bit back from where Alex actually lands. It’s intended as a precision knockdown tool now and cannot be used for confusing cross-up “stomp” loops against wakeup like in 3S. Think of it as fulfilling the same purpose as a sweep now–a somewhat risky footsie tool that scores a knockdown. Air Stampede isn’t even that risky compared to an actual sweep, as long as you aim it so the opponent actually has to block, which leaves Alex at -5 up close, no worse than -12 after his blocked sweep (though you might reconsider if a twitchy foe has a great 5-frame combo starter). It’s a calculated play either way. Given Alex’s laundry list of other active, forward-moving threats from different angles, Air Stampede is welcome as one more look you can sometimes throw the opponent’s way.

LK Air Stampede hits about 20 percent of the screen away. MK Air Stampede hits about 40 percent screen’s distance, while the HK version hits about 60 percent of the screen away.

EX Air Stampede is projectile invincible starting on the third frame and can be directed to travel further forward or to pull up short with or just after input. The projectile invulnerable period means that, while EX Air Stampede can’t save you from meaty fireballs, it can help plow through incoming projectiles when you’re on your feet, even arcing ones like Dhalsim’s and F.A.N.G’s. Getting a good read/guessing correctly on EX Air Stampede when the opponent tries a fireball can move you in while scoring a knockdown from almost three-fourths of the screen away. And it’s even a good entry play on block, leaving Alex at +2! Using it that way basically makes it a functionally precise divekick that knocks down, similar to Akuma’s old demon flip palm strike.

Before you try it, Air Stampede can’t hit prone targets. It’s a nice thought, though.

LP Head Crush Charge ,

MP Head Crush Charge ,

HP Head Crush Charge ,

EX Head Crush Charge ,

Head Crush: This somersaulting grab is a composite of two SFIII moves that didn’t make it here: his back-fierce head bash unique attack and his Stun Gun Headbutt Super Art, where Alex flipped at the foe and head-butted them into a dizzy state. He doesn’t quite go that nuts here, but he does leap over fireballs and other ground-level threats to grab them and bash their heads with a high-stun headbutt that doesn’t knock down, leaving Alex with minor +3 advantage.

The most noteworthy thing about Head Crush is the high stun damage dealt. 300 for EX, 250 for non-EX. This is worth keeping in mind, especially if you just knocked down the opponent with something into Power Drop, which itself deals 250-300 stun. Scoring an EX Head Crush just after you floored them with EX Power Drop is 600 stun damage already, not counting whatever led into EX Power Drop in the first place. Dizzy city, population Alex.

Heavier versions travel further but take longer to grab. All non-EX versions deal the same damage and stun. Not counting the initial flip distance, relative to Alex’s body when he goes for the grab, all versions have the same throw range. This is actually Alex’s longest-reaching grab just measuring from his center to his extended reach, not even counting the flip. Because of this, although Head Crush and Air Stampede versions visually seem to travel about the same distance, equivalent Head Crush versions actually have much more range. The LP version’s reach is about one-third screen’s distance, MP Head Crush reaches across half the screen, and the HP version reaches about 75 percent of the way across.

EX Head Crush operates like EX Air Stampede. Immediately after the command input, holding or will cause Alex to drift quickly in that direction in midair. So, potentially, EX Head Crush can travel nowhere at all or full screen. EX Head Crush’s grab range on landing gives it more attack range than EX Air Stampede, but EX Head Crush lacks Stampede’s projectile-dodging period, so keep that in mind when using meter for these long-range attacks.

As a close-range mix-up, an opponent expecting to block EX Air Stampede will fall prey to EX Head Crush. If you hold after activation, either EX special can be pulled back to have nearly no attack range, making them viable second options after a blocked entry play of crouching LK, crouching LP. Go for this hit-check often since it leads to EX Flash Chop and Alex’s potent okizeme, and if you’re ticking with crouching light attacks and looking for EX Flash Chop, you’re building a down charge with EX meter to burn anyway.

LP Power Bomb

MP Power Bomb

HP Power Bomb

EX Power Bomb

Power Bomb: Alex’s centerpiece command grab. Accomplished with a half-circle motion, all versions of Power Bomb grab in six frames, slightly below-average for a SFV command grab. Get accustomed to the range, which is intentionally limited, with the LP and EX versions reaching furthest. Err toward using those versions just to maximize the odds of success, unless you know you’re close enough for heavier versions, like at point-blank range. EX Power Bomb’s benefits are higher damage and stun and a grab range that matches the LP version. Higher damage and stun are nice, especially if it will K.O. or dizzy, but since EX Power Bomb doesn’t have other attractive qualities like invulnerability, this is an opportunity to save meter for other uses and just err toward LP Power Bomb.

With six frames of startup, your ideal tick into Power Bomb is from +2 to +4. +2 is enough so an immediate Power Bomb will beat out 4-frame attacks the opponent mashes, but 3-frame attacks will still win. +3 or better removes the threat of losing to mashed 3-frame attacks (unless they’re invincible, of course). Standing/crouching LP will put you at +4 on hit, as well as low-hitting crouching LK. Lariat puts you at +3 on block. On hit, at +5, it’s actually too good and, if you go for immediate Power Bomb, it will whiff because of the brief unthrowable buffer period when an opponent leaves hitstun/blockstun. When ticking, keep in mind that Alex’s command grab is nothing like R. Mika’s EX Rainbow Typhoon or Zangief’s SPD. You’ll get one tick move at best from point-blank range before you’re pushed too far for LP/EX Power Bomb to connect.

Like Zangief’s SPD and standing HK, Alex’s Power Bomb and standing HK (“the boot”) work together to break the opponent’s defense and coax them into bad decisions. Power Bombs will encourage them to backdash, while standing HK will cause a Crush Counter crumple when you read their desire to backdash away from your throw. (There’s some synergy with Alex’s Head Crush, Slash Elbow, and Air Stampede specials too, since they’re forward-moving and can also punish backdashers with a good read.)

Like after forward normal throw, Power Bomb to LK Slash Elbow is a perfect meaty attack against quick risers. But Power Bomb into immediate forward dash leaves Alex open to 4-frame combo starters, which is basically everyone. If you’re not swiping with LK Slash Elbow, it’s best to just press your advantage by walking forward while they rise, instead of dashing.

Power Drop Cancel into from HP Flash Chop or Sledge Hammer

EX Power Drop Cancel into from HP Flash Chop or Sledge Hammer

Power Drop: This is a slightly different version of Power Bomb aimed at an opponent’s back. Cancel from HP Flash Chop or Sledge Hammer into Power Bomb and it will automatically be Power Drop if successful. Power Drop grabs in five frames rather than Power Bomb’s six, but this is relevant only to combos into Power Drop. If your lead-in to Power Drop is guarded, the throw attempt will whiff.

There’s only one non-EX version, executed with any punch button. The EX version merely adds more damage and stun. Power Drop deals less damage than Power Bomb, but more stun. EX Power Drop dishes out 300 stun, definitely the most interesting aspect of this move. Especially when you lead into EX Power Drop from a V-Trigger confirm combo into Sledge Hammer, it’s easy to see how opponents can get dizzied seemingly out of nowhere, giving Alex huge swing potential.