Strategy

Long Range

For an aggression-focused character, Necalli has a surprising amount of tools to threaten opponents from long range. Between his Culminated Power V-Skill, his projectile-clearing Valiant Rebellion, and his projectile-armored The Disc’s Guidance, he has sufficient threats from full screen, which separates him from other grapplers like Zangief.

Necalli has no problem whatsoever dealing with zoning characters at long range. You’re spoiled by choices: you can nullify the incoming fireball with LK Valiant Rebellion, trade damage with a well-placed Culminated Power, blow through it with a good read using HP The Disc’s Guidance, or simply jump forward over it, coming down with Road of the Sun to change Necalli’s trajectory. If you opt for LK Valiant Rebellion, you won’t be gaining much traction, but you do avoid chip damage without having to sacrifice ground (as you would from guarding or neutral jumping the projectile). Also, be wary of slow-traveling projectiles followed by aggression. For instance, if Nash throws out HP Sonic Boom and trails it, you may be forced to immediately go on the defensive because he trails the Sonic Boom into melee range.

If you’re reading the enemy fireball patterns well, you can go for HP The Disc’s Guidance to absorb one hit of a projectile and punish your opponent with a knockdown from full screen. However, if you guess incorrectly, or if your adversary baits you into going for it, you’re left at -6, which is punishable by most medium-strength combos.

The safest way to punish these projectiles is to use . For the most part, you must anticipate the projectile and commit to executing Culminated Power, but Necalli’s generally safe from long range if you whiff. You’ll also most likely trade with whatever projectile is headed Necalli’s way. However, the trade is in your favor since you knock down the opponent and most projectiles don’t cause knockdown (unless it’s an EX Hadoken or something similar). This gives you time to dash into mid and close range to start your real offense.

Against grapplers and other offense-based characters, you normally won’t keep Necalli at distance long enough to use his V-Skill as a zoning tool. You’ll usually want to stand your ground and have him meet the enemy in the middle, where you can apply his mid-range strategy. However, if you manage to knock an opponent away, either with a throw or after deflecting a jumping attack with HP Raging Light, you can build a bit of V-Gauge by annoying them with correctly spaced Culminated Powers. For instance, after you perform HP Raging Light and if your foe quick-recovers, you can go for as a meaty, gaining a small amount of V-Gauge while chipping away at your enemy’s stamina.

Mid Range

Once Necalli’s at mid range, you have a few options available to you. Your primary moves will be Culminated Power (either or ), standing , standing , and dive kick.

Necalli’s best attack in terms of hitbox-to-hurtbox ratio is his standing . He lifts his front leg up, stands on his back leg, and delivers a forceful side kick to the opponent’s midsection. This move not only has an exceptional hitbox that extends slightly past its hurtbox, but it is a heavy attack, so it will beat out medium attacks in trade scenarios. It’s most effective against players who tend to use crouching in footsies play, since Necalli’s lower frontal hurtbox shrinks significantly. Off of a counter-hit, you can go for one of the many variations of Combo 12.

Alternatively, you can apply a whiff-punishing strategy with crouching . In conjunction with LK Valiant Rebellion, you can emulate a two-hit poke combo that also guarantees chip damage—much like SFIV’s Evil Ryu/Ryu crouching HP Hadoken string. Additionally, if you find a successful hit with it, you can easily confirm with a follow-up for a boost in damage with Ceremony of Honor/Soul Offering. LK Valiant Rebellion is -4 on block, though, so if Necalli is within range of a light attack, he can be punished by most characters. It’s advised that you use this move only from outside of point-blank range. Crouching doesn’t have the greatest hitbox-to-hurtbox ratio, but it’s slightly better than the average crouching , especially once you consider the possibility of an easy Critical Art combo.

When you’ve put some hesitation into your opponent’s mind with Necalli’s excellent standing and crouching attacks, you can start going for a mid-range overhead attack using Opening Dagger (). It’s a Crush Counter-capable attack that must be blocked high. Because it’s executed with a heavy attack, it has the highest attack priority, giving you extra opportunities for a Crush Counter combo (see Combo 13). However, it’s punishable on block, so it’s advised you use it near its max range, where Necalli’s less likely to be punished.

Outside of these attacks, Necalli lacks far-reaching melee pokes. However, you can use both his and as mid-ranged tools if your opponent is showing passivity in their play. It has a lengthy startup but is only -1 on block, so if you can space it properly, you will build some V-Gauge while also safely dealing some chip damage. It’s essentially a mid-range projectile, similar to using Nash’s Sonic Boom. Your adversary must either guess-jump to punish you or play very aggressively (which opens them up to being hit by the alternatives in standing or crouching ).

Necalli has a few options for an aerial offense, transitioning from mid to close range. One option is to go for a frontal jumping attack with its low-altitude point of contact, making it slightly more difficult for opponents to react to with an anti-air. The two other options are either a cross-up jumping (at closer distances) or a fake cross-up frontal dive kick using Road of the Sun. Since Necalli’s unique dive kick alters his jump trajectory, you can make his forward jump look like it will cross up, while landing on the opponent’s face with Necalli’s foot (with a possible combo, as seen in Combo 10). Road of the Sun can be tricky to anti-air, as well; there’s a slight pause as Necalli stops in mid-air before delivering his attack. Some players may mistime their anti-air normal, allowing you to avoid their active hitboxes while punishing their recovery period.

When going for a cross-up jumping , it may be difficult to get the spacing and timing correct. It’s one of the few cross-ups in SFV that often whiffs because of its smaller rear hitbox. Keep this in mind to prevent being punished with a trip guard attack.

While you’re pressuring the enemy with these attacks (especially Culminated Power), you might lure out forward jumps from an impatient opponent. Gauge your enemy’s tendencies, and if you think they will jump at Necalli, be ready to anti-air with HP Raging Light. It’s invincible for seven frames, so as long as you can execute it in time, you will beat out everything in Necalli’s way, leaving you with enough advantage for a meaty Culminated Power (against quick-rise). The only downside is that it does not cover the area directly above Necalli’s head. You can also use crouching as an anti-air against the same jump trajectory, but it’s not invincible, so you’ll have to time it exactly. The tradeoff, though, is that you can potentially land a Crush Counter combo if your adversary sticks out an attack during their jump (see Combo 14a or 14b, during Torrent of Power).

If your opponent decides to jump at Necalli from just inside of mid range, you’ll have to either use an early timed LP Raging Light (which has no upper body invincibility) or air-to-air with something like jumping or a fast three-frame jumping attack.

Against certain slow projectiles, you can use LK Valiant Rebellion to stomp them out, as long as your reactions are fast enough. For instance, against Nash’s Sonic Boom, you have enough time to execute , especially if you have a sharp eye or if your opponent’s predictable with their mid-range fireballs. It’s much harder to do this against a fast-releasing projectile like Ryu’s HP Hadoken or Chun-Li’s HP Kikoken (though it’s possible).

If you want to get Necalli into close range, you can dash in when your opponent doesn’t expect it (e.g., if you’ve instilled the fear of your standing attack). Necalli’s dash is average in both distance and duration, but it’s good enough to use to start your three-frame crouching jab pressure at close range

Close Range

Once Necalli’s in close range from either dashing in or off of a guarded jumping attack, you have a few choices to make. You can go for a crouching attack, confirmable into Combo 1 or Combo 2. However, you have to take into account the opposing character’s stance when it hits before you commit to a follow-up HP Raging Light. See the detailed notes under these combos for more details.

Another route you can take is to go for a faster three-frame crouching . It doesn’t hit low, but it will beat out most throw attempts and mistimed attacks from the opponent. On a counter-hit crouching , you can confirm with a two-step hit-check using one of the Combo 11 variations. For a normal hit-check, use Combo 1a and 1b (replace crouching with crouching ).

If you think the enemy will block while Necalli’s up close, you can go for a sequence that can be difficult to defend against, using a standing followed by a buffered LP Mask of Tlalli. This leaves a six-frame window for the opponent to react since the command throw starts at eight frames while you’re at +2 (note that throws will beat non-invulnerable strikes if active at the same time). If your adversary doesn’t react by jumping, backdashing, or inputting a quick attack, they’ll get thrown. If you think your foe will start to jump or backdash out, you can change it up and use standing into a buffered crouching ; they’ll get hit trying to get away from your supposed command throw.

Unfortunately, while playing Necalli, you’re only at +1 after your blocked jabs (whereas many other characters are at +2). But, you do have a five-frame crouching to make up for it. You can use a follow-up crouching as a frame trap after your opponent blocks standing or crouching . You’ll beat out four-frame reversal jabs, but lose to three-frame ones. On counter-hit, crouching MP combos into MK Valiant Rebellion, which links into crouching MP LP the Disc’s Guidance. During Torrent of Power, crouching MP naturally combos into MK Valiant Rebellion without the counter-hit stipulation, as seen in Combo 16.

If you’re at significant advantage off of a jumping attack or from knocking down the opponent, you can start using standing for a strong tempo game up close. On block, it’s +2, so if you go for standing buffered into crouching , you’ll crush any four-frame light attacks with a counter-hit. Or, you can go for a more aggressive route, using your advantage to get Necalli closer for his three-frame jabs, a normal throw, or a command throw. On standing hit, as long as you’re charging immediately, you have enough time to execute LP The Disc’s Guidance after linking crouching (see Combo 4).

For a more rewarding counter-hit frame trap, you can use either standing or crouching canceled into or . MK Valiant Rebellion naturally combos off of standing and crouching , while the HK version only combos off crouching . See the combos listed under Combo 7 for examples. On Crush Counter, these will still work, but whenever Valiant Rebellion hits as a juggle, it knocks the opponent down to the ground. That leaves you with knockdown advantage instead of a follow-up link combo.

If you have a good read on your adversary’s up-close defense, you can go for an educated guess with a 50/50 setup when Necalli is within command-throw range. Up close, you can mix between HP Raging Light and Mask of Tlalli. This is effective because HP Raging Light starts up at a late seven frames but is also invincible for those seven frames. Mask of Tlalli starts at eight frames, so your opponent has to sit there and block your invincible attack, which is awkward because of the threat of your eight-frame command throw. Seven frames of invincibility means that there’s a relatively long period where a player’s natural instinct is to tech a throw, jump, or reversal with an invincible special. These all lose to HP Raging Light; most invincible specials are invincible for fewer than seven frames, so you’ll likely win in these scenarios. However, it’s avoidable by backdashing, so keep that in mind, and go for a counter-hit with crouching if you make this kind of read.

On defense, you can use HP/EX Raging Light to deflect the opponent’s aggression. Of course, these are all heavily punishable with Crush Counter combos, so you’ll have to assess the situation and whether or not you can afford to make this play. If successful, you get to take back tempo and go on the offensive (or follow up with a zoning strategy with Culminated Power). Additionally, having three-frame standing and crouching is invaluable in breaking slower frame traps. If you happen to connect with your chainable jab, you can combo them into for extra damage and advantage.

With Torrent of Power Activated

With Torrent of Power activated, your strategy remains roughly the same, except Necalli’s mobility is enhanced greatly. His walk speed is increased by about 10 percent, while his dash distance is increased by 30 percent. This makes your frame trap aggression much more effective because Necalli can close the distance after blocked attacks much faster. His dashes also cover about half-screen distance, so he can transition from long range into close range easily (from full screen, he only needs to dash twice to get into point-blank range, as opposed to three times during normal mode).

You gain access to a few more combos, too. The startup of The Disc’s Guidance is reduced, naturally opening up more combos when canceled from your attacks (e.g., standing HP The Disc’s Guidance works now). Standing/crouching naturally combos into MK Valiant Rebellion, as well as standing into HK Valiant Rebellion. See Combo 16 and Combo 18 for examples. On counter-hit, standing provides additional advantage during Torrent of Power (from +7 to +9), which allows for a crouching link afterwards (see Combo 19).

Another benefit of having Torrent of Power activated is that The Disc’s Guidance requires no charge time during Torrent of Power when canceled from an attack, so your link combos become easier to execute. (It still requires a charge during the neutral game, though.) More importantly, you can play a footsies game with an option-select input of standing , from outside of range. If your enemy walks into it or mistimes a poke, you’ll automatically cancel into HP The Disc’s Guidance for more than 200 points of damage (as seen in Combo 17).

Standing and standing hitboxes are also improved during Torrent of Power—Necalli’s less likely to be hit out of these attacks since the hurtboxes on these are decreased during active frames. This further improves your footsies game, on top of being able to cancel into The Disc’s Guidance on a whim.

Additionally, Necalli’s low-check combos are more likely to work (Combo 1b) because of the increased horizontal range of HP Raging Light during his transformation.

Much of Necalli’s power resides in his V-Trigger transformation, so it’s recommended that you reserve your V-Gauge for it instead of using it on V-Reversal (unless you absolutely need it to survive being cornered). It also lasts the entirety of the round once activated, so the earlier you gain access to it, the better. Necalli has few problems building V-Gauge because of his many Crush Counter opportunities and V-Gauge-building V-Skill.