Table of Contents
Buttons
cr.lp orbed – probably the most frequently used button in neutral. Use it similar to gief – a dash/neutral deterrent without committing to anything – best with ex dp buffered behind in case your opponent jumps over it (Infil does this the best).
st.lp orbed – very similar use case to cr.lp, except that it’s slightly slower, and has a better reward if you do something like st lp, cr lp xx lphp ex orb. No longer gets low profiled!
cr.lk – her best fast orb recall button, can be very aggressive with this. Dash cr lk xx recall is very hard to react to. Great after cr mk/st mp/cr mp orbless.
st.lk – her only 3f. Mostly useful for interrupting close strings/waking up as it has atrocious range.
st.mp orbed – very fast at 6f startup. This button is a much more reliable part of Menat’s gameplan since the 4.0 buff to it. It’s very rare a character can punish it if its spaced even moderately well (which is very easy). Be careful as the hurtbox extends a lot on the first few active frames – it’s only at the end when it’s disjointed. Can end jab strings with this very safely, usually opponent will be forced to block it.
cr.mp orbed – buffer this into lphp ex orb a lot, it’s a great amount of damage, and the orb is very active. Careful of it being jumped over, it’s a reasonably long duration normal (nowhere near st mp or st hp though).
st.mp/cr.mp orbless – these are basically the same button (aside from 5f vs 6f). Great frametrap button without orb, links naturally into cr lk xx recall which is great pressure. That +4 instead of +3 makes it more than worth using vs cr mk.
st.mk – her furthest recall cancel button that leads into a combo. Actually a great button, especially orbless.
cr.mk – incredible utility behind this button. +2 on block, great cancellable button. Only +3 on hit so we’re not getting anything unless it’s meaty or a counterhit (cr lp xx lphp orb usually).
st hp orbed – be very careful with this button since the 4.0 nerfs. Characters with fast horizontal moves can now reliably whiff punish this, st hp into st hp even on hit is now punishable by jump by almost the entire cast. Often we can get punished if opp dashes into this even on hit. Use sparingly – it’s the easiest way to lose a round with one mistake.
cr hp orbed – her most reliable antiair button. 9f startup, hits almost every jump arc, can cancel into lp sphere for some followup pressure at certain angles. Make sure you hit it early or more often than not you’ll trade – she rises into the opponent. Doesn’t do super well for close jumpins, but for that we have:
st hk orbed – slower than cr hp, crush counters more often, hits a little bit behind her (rip old st hk). Is also a relevant neutral button vs Abigail. Careful because it’s -8 on block grounded, and -4 on hit – most opponents don’t know this though.
cr hk orbed – goes extremely far for a sweep. 11f startup, full range is at around 13f. Important to know what this does and doesn’t punish. Very very very long duration button, can be easily punished, sometimes on reaction, with a jumpin.
cr hp orbless – still a great AA, especially when it’s hit late since it crouches on startup. Much better boxes (sans orb) than cr hp orbed.
st hk orbless – again, still a great AA, gets 2f faster but needs to be hit earlier. Crush counters a lot, we can get 300 meterless damage off antiairs in quite a few situations where orb is in the right range. Also important to note this is a great combo button since it’s +7 on hit and +2 on block. Misses on crouch from most ranges.
cr hk orbless – fantastic button to cancel recall into as it makes it -5 even without the orb connecting. Her longest range recall cancel (although since it knocks down on hit we never get a combo).
j lk – crosses up easier than j mk. Reasonable air to air. Not much other use.
j mk – her highest damage air button that doesn’t take away orb. Crossup box is very mediocre.
j hk orbed – fantastic neutral button. Can jump forward to hit opponent at nearly full screen. Tricky to antiair. Jump back hk is an incredibly safe option. This button gives up orb for a reasonable length of time.
j hk orbless – like the orbed version, with none of the good stuff.
j lp (orbed/orbless) – best used as a jump back button. By far her safest antiair option at the cost of reward/screen space.
j mp (orbed/orbless) – off the top of my head, the only use for it is to antiair Vega’s FBA by jumping back (or similar moves).
j hp orbed – hits incredibly low with very strict timing, at the cost of frame advantage. Very disjointed box. Very difficult to use.
j hp orbless – meh
Command Normals
f mk – her overhead. Pretty seeable if opp knows what they’re looking for. Can cancel into recall to be -3 without orb hitting. Pretty awful otherwise (outside of VT1).
df mk – BE VERY CAREFUL. This button is +0 AT BEST on block, and +4 AT BEST on hit. Very slow. Low profiles a lot of stuff, but in general make sure you absolutely know what you’re doing when you use this. Gains a ton of utility in VT1.
lk/mk/hk drill – endless uses. Can be spaced/aimed to be very plus (aim for the ankles). Pretty great recovery even when whiffed. Can be super minus if used wrong. Practice a lot, make sure you know the angles of each version.
Specials
lp/mp/hp orb throw – important to take these to training mode to understand general ranges/angles they hit at. mp has the longest recovery and worst frame data so most of the time it shouldn’t be used unless there’s a specific reason. Lp orb often hits meaty so it’s actually usually much better than the frame data suggests. Hp orb hits tall characters grounded and often hits far jumps – especially useful against characters like birdie (grounded) and dhalsim (in the air).
lpmp ex orb throw – not easy to combo into – cr hp and (orbless) st hp in specific circumstances work from many ranges, and cr mp and cr mk mostly work from only point blank. +3 on block minimum so usually we get a very easy st mk/cr mk xx recall afterwards for automatic pressure. Make sure this isn’t jumped over though. Get a small combo on hit.
lphp ex orb throw – our best 1 bar grounded ender. Lots of damage possible inside VT1 (although that’s outside the scope of this guide). No real oki after but lots of corner carry. Try to hit confirm this at it’s significantly minus on block/can be jumped. Great special to buffer into in neutral.
mphp ex orb throw – great oki from this. Can be used as a raw antiair for far jumps (vs abigail is where it is most useful). Great aerial 1 bar ender.
lk/mk/hk soul throw – these can be okay antiairs if we can start them up early – activating VT1 in reaction to jumps make landing this pretty free. Mostly only used otherwise for confirmed juggles. If this ‘trades’ in the air we’ll take damage and opp will take nothing, so make sure you hit this early. Very poor oki outside of VT1.
ex soul throw – our panic anti air. Decent damage, not invul on startup so can’t quite be used in the same way as a DP normally would. Make sure you don’t whiff this as the recovery is ridiculous (same with non ex versions).
st v skill – highest damage meterless ender. With orb, we reflect any non ex projectile. Without orb, we absorb any single hit projectile (there may be occasional exceptions to both rules). Orbless has much better frame data/recovery but much worse range. 3f active, but 8f reflect active.
cr v skill – better oki, worst startup/range than the standing version. Similar anti fireball properties to st vskill, except with 15f active reflect frames – and the possibility to absorb two hit fireballs if timed perfectly. A very high reward antiair if we anticipate a jumpin – be careful if opp can alter their jump arc, since it’s only active for 3f.
recall – cancels off every normal except slide. All recalls are +3 on block, +14 on hit MINIMUM. Lp almost always won’t hit airborne opponents, and mp sometimes won’t. Very important part of Menat’s gameplan.
spark – brand new in AE. Mostly has gained us a lot of traction vs zoning matchups, very little use in neutral outside of that. Won’t combo from light normals. +3 on block, easy juggle on hit.
Important Combos
This isn’t going to go into a lot of detail – her combo potential is incredibly varied depending on the exact situation, so this requires a hell of a lot of playtime to understand what we can get, in what situation. I will split this into a few categories though. Ask the discord for clarification.
Light links (orbed)
- st lk, st lk/cr lp xx
- st lp, cr lp xx
- cr lk, st lk/cr lp xx
- cr lk, cr lk, cr lp xx (VT/CA ender only)
Non light links (orbed)
- st hk (orbless), cr mp/cr mk xx – most useful for recall combos and jumpins where we lose orb
- st lp (ch), cr mp xx
- cr mk (ch), cr lp xx
Punish buttons (orbed)
- st lk xx – very specific
- cr lp xx – 4f, less effective range than you might think
- st lp xx – very specific
- cr mp xx – 7f, usually very reliable
- cr hp – optimal CC punish, often range dependent
- st hk – non optimal CC punish but still a great reward. Highest damage if already in VT1
- cr hk – punishes some BUT NOT ALL sweeps/very minus moves.
- st mp – sometimes her best punish. Gets much better if we have VT1 to cancel into.
Grounded enders
- lp orb throw – often won’t combo, but it’s usually safe to throw out. Useful if we want to maintain our pressure.
- hp orb throw – hits from surprisingly far against standing characters, and is a reasonable situation on hit (cr hk xx recall).
- v skill – quite short range, so only useful in some circumstances, will whiff a lot. Can cancel into super.
- cr vskill – even shorter range but a better situation on hit. Won’t combo from lights. Can cancel into super.
- lphp ex orb throw – ol’ reliable. Will be blocked sometimes after far lights. Will almost always work from cr mp.
- lpmp ex orb throw – will pretty much only work from point blank mediums or moderately far heavies. Links into cr mp xx (but not a loop into itself). Pretty limited usage.
- super – extremely reliable from mediums, moderately reliable from lights. Many situations require xx super rather than xx v skill xx super.
Air enders
- hk soul throw – good damage at the cost of oki
- mphp ex orb throw – very slightly more for 1 bar, with the addition of great oki
- lp orb throw (whiff) – usually during scaled combos for a good oki situation.
- super – self explanatory. Tend to only use for the kill.
Crush Counter Combos – Orbed
- cr hp xx lp orb throw, st v skill xx spark, air ender – highest damage
- st hk, (dash) cr v skill, air ender – more reliable in certain situations, but a significant damage loss
Crush Counter Combos – Orbless
- st hk (cc), walk forward st hk (, cr mk) xx recall, st hk, cr mp xx – quite reliable if we’re close. Only add the extra cr mk in if you really know what you’re doing – the extra damage is negligible and the situation is much more specific
- st hk (cc), dash cr mp xx st v skill xx spark, air ender – better for far cc punishes. Make sure orb is set up right.
- st hk (cc), dash cr mp xx st v skill (xx recall) – for when orb isn’t set up right. Better than nothing.
Antiair Combos
- cr vskill, air ender – fantastic reward if we anticipate the jumpin. Quite slow at 14f startup
- (recall), st v skill – lowest reward, but most reliable for far recall hits
- (recall), cr hp (xx lp orb) – standing reset for some pressure, but less damage than vskill
- (recall), lk soul throw – still low reward, used for close recall hits
- (recall), air ender – higher reward, less reliable than the above
- (recall), cr v skill, air ender – highest reward, only for when the recall catches opp high mostly
- st hk orbless (cc) ,/xx recall, lp soul throw – MUCH lower reward than the other st hk cc combo, but works from ranges where spark won’t, and a better situation if st hk doesn’t cc.
- st hk orbless (cc) xx spark, cr vskill, air ender – INCREDIBLE reward, spark has a huge hitbox so works from a surprising amount of ranges. Makes opponents very scared to jump. We can OS this – lab it!
Grounded Recall Conversions
These ranges are very specific, and are mostly learned by practice:
- st hk (orbless), cr mp xx – highest damage but lowest effective range
- st hp (orbless) xx – quite specific usage, slightly lower damage but slightly better range
- cr mk xx – much better effective range, usually needs to be late cancelled
- cr hk (orbless) – crazy long effective range for the lowest reward
Spark Combos
- (medium button) xx spark, air ender – usually we want recall here, but there are specific situations where we don’t – if the orb won’t hit them on recall, or if we want to spend the 1 bar for mphp ex orb throw oki.
Stun Combos
- (set up hp orb) j hk, cr hp xx v skill xx spark, air ender – Optimised stun combo
- (set up mp orb) j hk, st hk, cr mk xx recall, st hk, cr mp xx – Mostly used in the corner, where spark won’t work correctly