Strategy

Long Range

If you’re at long range with Cammy, you were either thrown there or you’re playing against a defense-oriented zoning character keeping you out. The only time you’ll purposely stay at long range is when you’re running away with a stamina lead. As Cammy, you generally want to be glued to your opponent in close range or playing footsies just outside of it, so most of your long-range game will revolve around advancing toward the target. Against characters who also want to get into mid and close range (like Laura and Karin), this won’t be a problem—you two will just eventually meet to battle it out in a game of mid-range footsies.

Against characters with projectiles, it won’t be so easy. Cammy does have several meterless tools in dealing with fireballs, like Axel Spin Knuckle and Hooligan Combination, but you must make a well-read guess for these to pay off (and the enemy can deal with both if scouted). One of the best tools against full-screen zoning is to be patient and just block projectiles, advancing in between. The biggest mistake that newer players make is becoming irrationally impatient against long-range projectile-throwing strategies, causing them to jump in just to eat a Shoryuken. Don’t let this happen to you: it gift-wraps and hands over tempo to your opponent and forces you to play on defense, which you do not want to do as Cammy. Don’t be afraid to neutral jump projectiles repeatedly—the worst that can happen is your opponent starts to engage you into a mid-range footsie battle as Cammy lands. This is a more than acceptable situation. An alternate line of play from near-full screen is to use forward jump into low-altitude LK Cannon Strike to alter your jump trajectory without committing to a full forward jump arc, building meter and getting you closer to your opponent. With enough meter and sharp reactions, you can EX Spiral Arrow through confirmed projectiles for a near-full screen punish.

You may have especially difficult matchups against Dhalsim and F.A.N.G. These two characters have annoying parabolic projectiles that can make it difficult to approach from the air. Against these characters, your most effective strategy for rushing them down is to find points of hesitation or pauses in their defense and then dash in while you can. This is especially true against Dhalsim’s dominating, horizontal long-range pokes (coupled with his Yoga Fire, his standing is extremely annoying for Cammy to deal with). For instance, stay just outside Dhalsim’s standing range and wait for him to stick it out; while it’s retracting, immediately make your advance, either going for forward dash or Hooligan Combination. (Hooligan Combination is very effective against Dhalsim because he’s likely to jump for Yoga Teleport escapes, allowing you to air throw him with Cross Scissors Pressure.) As a Cammy player, this should be your mindset at long range. Wait for your chance to pounce, and then decisively take it. Against F.A.N.G, vigilantly keep track of his charge, especially his down charge. While he’s charging, he has access to Nishikyu (double poison projectiles). You’ll want to watch his crouching state: if he starts charging, you should start advancing in order to get within range of the projectile’s rainbow arc, or you can react with Spiral Arrow.

One of the most difficult maneuvers to perfect is safely using Spiral Arrow as a ranged poke. If you can master the distances at which you’re safe from reprisal on block, you can start using LK Spiral Arrow for chip damage and as a surprise attack. However, it can be risky.

Mid Range

Once you get into mid range, you can branch into two distinct styles of play. One is to repeatedly poke your opponent with either standing or crouching . Standing forward’s hitbox has incredible reach, staying out for a solid three active frames. Not only does it outrange most normal attacks, but it does a good job of contesting anything the enemy sticks out. While it can’t be canceled into special moves, it can be canceled into Delta Drive, enabling combos from an absurd distance. With a fully stocked V-Gauge, you can use an option-select sequence of standing outside of footsie range to confirm into Combo 8b.

Crouching should be your next most-used mid-range attack. Its hitbox doesn’t quite extend as far as it appears visually, but it still ranks as one of the best crouching attacks in the game. Additionally, it’s special-cancelable, allowing you to whiff-punish with Combo 2. It does have a glaring weakness, though. The height of its hurtbox is almost double that of the average crouching hurtbox, meaning it can actually be hit by most mid-hitting attacks (such as Ken’s standing ). Crouching is not quite a spammable move, but it’s good enough to stick out as a low check when you’re within range.

Standing used in conjunction with crouching can potentially cause a frustrated opponent to jump in at Cammy at mid range. Cammy has absolutely no problem shutting jumping attacks down, so be prepared to use the appropriate Cannon Spike version (see the Cannon Spike description for details). You can even use standing as an anti-air. When standing counter-hits, you can juggle with HK Cannon Spike (see Combo 14).

When you’re ready to close the distance into close range, you have a couple of options available. One is the Knee Bullet, performed with an input of (see the Knee Bullet description for important details). Although it doesn’t have low-crushing properties, its hitbox extends a bit past her hurtbox.

Use this attack to advance into standing range where you can start applying jab pressure. On hit, you can link into various combos depending on your distance from the enemy (see Combo 4a and Combo 4b).

With a faster-than-average dash, Cammy can transition into close range from mid range easily. From about max standing distance, you can dash close enough for a throw or to assert frame trap pressure with jabs. This is a particularly powerful technique once you’ve bullied your enemy enough with standing and crouching . The moment you sense hesitation from your foe, quickly go for a forward dash to catch them off guard.

To complement her commanding ground game, Cammy has an excellent aerial game from mid range thanks to both her Cannon Strike dive kick and forward jumping cross-up . From about crouching distance, you can go for a low-altitude LK Cannon Strike. With its frame advantage being dependent on distancing, you can make LK Cannon Strike safe (anywhere from -2 to +1). On hit, you can link into Combo 10. Otherwise, you can use a low-altitude EX Cannon Strike to ensure a safe air strike (+2 against most medium-sized standing characters). To mix it up, you can use a forward jumping cross-up to either hit-confirm into Combo 9 or to start your in-your-face aggression.

Against short to medium-sized characters, it’s safe to go for an LP Hooligan Combination mix-up using either Hooligan Cannon Strike or Fatal Leg Twister (see the Hooligan Cannon Strike description for details). When these characters block LP Hooligan Cannon Strike standing, you’re at least safe (-2), making it an extremely effective engagement tool. On hit, you can link into either Combo 12a or Combo 12b. Taller characters like Birdie, F.A.N.G, and Zangief can punish you if they block the Cannon Strike standing, so use caution before using these dive kicks against them.

Close Range

Although Cammy’s close-range gameplay is limited due to a lack of an overhead attack, she possesses the unique option to link her jabs into , along with being able to link standing into either crouching or standing . Her normal throws are lackluster because they provide no knockdown advantage if her enemy quick-rises. Your main focus, is to set up frame traps in order to optimize your damage output with your beefier combos.

In close-quarters combat, Cammy’s go to attacks are her jabs, crouching , standing , and standing . Standing sports an impressive and far-reaching hitbox compared to the other cast members. (You can chain combo three light attacks against crouching characters with a string of crouching crouching standing .) It starts up at four frames but leaves you at +2. Crouching makes a tradeoff with a faster startup of three frames but less advantage at +1. Standing is preferable for bullying purposes, while crouching is more likely to interrupt attacks after your blockstrings.

Once you’ve penetrated your opponent’s defenses with either a well-spaced Cannon Strike or forward dash from mid range, you can start your close-range flowchart, beginning with a low-check crouching standing string. On hit, use Combo 1.

When you’ve determined that the target is afraid of your lows, you can then branch off to using standing jab pressure, forking to more aggressive decisions like a forward step frame-trap standing or forward step crouching .

Standing is the foundation of Cammy’s up-close offense. It’s +2 on block and an amazing +7 on hit, allowing for multiple possible link follow-ups (see Combo 2), including crouching . Your main mix-up while flush with your opponent should be standing or throw (forward throw if your target is nearing a wall, back throw if Cammy’s back is facing a wall). This is the crux of Cammy’s frame trap game, but it is the most difficult aspect of Cammy to master. It takes a lot of experience to feel out the timing that certain players will have in reaction to your frame traps in these suffocating situations.

While the frame trap is simple, it introduces a complex rock, paper, scissors type of mind game as soon as your standing is blocked. Your opponent has to guess whether you’ll walk forward with another standing , perform a throw, or go for a tight frame trap with an immediate three-frame crouching jab. All of these options are effective for Cammy, and the enemy must respect each one of them because of her excellent walk speed. Another dimension to this frame trap is the timing in which you hit your next frame trap attack; every frame matters in these situations. For example, you might hit a buffered standing at the tail end of your standing , which leaves a one-frame window for your foe to act. If they buffered any kind of normal attack during their guardstun from blocking standing , you’ll interrupt their move cleanly with a counter-hit.

Vary your timings as much as possible—better yet, if you can read your opponent’s defensive button timings well, you can adjust your own timing to explicitly counter-hit them. If you manage to successfully connect with standing from max range against a crouching foe, you’ll always be able to link into crouching for Combo 3a. Otherwise, if you hit max-range standing with the enemy standing, you can link into crouching or MK Cross Stinger Assault.

Another line of play off of jab pressure is to go for a standing setup, leading into either a cross-up auto-corrected Hooligan Cannon Strike or Razor Edge Slicer. Use caution with this sequence: if your enemy is on their toes, they’ll be able to hit you out of your Hooligan Combination on reaction.

If you have full V-Gauge, you can go for a one-time standing into Delta Drive for heavy damage on hit or massive frame advantage on block (+7). For instance, after a blocked crouching standing , go into a frame-trap standing . On hit, proceed to Combo 8a if you have the resources.

Cross-up Axel Spin Knuckle is another tool that you can use up close in order to open up your enemy’s defenses. As a cross-up tool, Cammy’s V-Skill is best used when you have a large blockstun or knockdown advantage, such as after blocked jumping . Note that you can be interrupted and counter-hit out of both the startup of Cammy’s hop and the frames before she performs her backhand, nullifying your attempt (although the timing can be difficult for the opponent, since they only have a small window between turning to face Cammy and hitting a light attack).

Defensively, Cammy can hold her own. She not only has an invincible reversal with all of her Cannon Spike versions, but she also has a three-frame crouching to semi-safely deflect throw attempts. Also, her V-Reversal is arguably the best one in the game with its distinctive features (see the Strike Back description for details). Taking into account how ineffective her V-Trigger can be, you’re usually better off using precious V-Gauge for V-Reversal tempo swings—especially while cornered.