vs. Birdie

Bashing Birdie

Bull Horn and Bull Head are both punishable on whiff or block. Look for whiffs, and punish them hard. Ditto his scary crouching . In general, all of Birdie’s actions have a lot of recovery. Although he dishes out probably the game’s highest average damage, he’s also the biggest target, and he has to take mild risks with basically anything he does. Avoid being too intimidated by the threat of his damage, and instead, dedicate yourself to punishing him when his gambles fail.

Train yourself to realize when he’s using his leaping Bull Revenger throw. This move is reliant on you having your attention elsewhere. You can easily poke him out of any non-EX version if you’re looking for it. The EX version grabs earlier, while he’s still airborne, but at least he has to spend EX Gauge to grab you that way.

Don’t mistake his Hanging Chains for projectiles, as they’re actually long-range striking moves. You can’t simply use projectile-invulnerable moves to dodge these long-range hit-throws, and you can’t clash them with projectiles; the chain will pass straight through, perhaps grabbing you before your fireball hits. If Birdie misses a Hanging Chain (or you block something like crouching HK Hanging Chain), you’ll be able to punish him if you’re even remotely close, so take advantage.

Once his V-Gauge is filled and he chows down on Enjoy Time, be even more careful. He gets faster and stronger, and all his bull-charging specials gain armor (rather than just EX Bull Head outside of V-Trigger). They’re all still very punishable guarded, so block and punish against Birdie players who think they can just mash out armored V-specials.

Use Birdie’s size against him, if your character is equipped for it. With his short jumps and huge size, he has trouble getting around dedicated zoning, and no one is more susceptible to overheads and cross-ups.