DictatorBot v1.0
Difficulty Moderate
Focus Mixup Defense and Meter Watching
The purpose of DictatorBot is to get the user used to meter watching and taking stock of the situation as to when to conserve ones own meter. A lot of Dictator's own pressure and ability to squash a player getting started comes from his meter. For many characters a key to dealing with Dictator himself can require meter for the more optimal response in many situations. The bot itself is relatively simple to input, so is open to variation in a few places if a player finds themselves wanting more variance in Devil's Reverse spacing and/or testing against EX Devil's Reverse.
Note that DictatorBot initially may seem easy to input due to less complicated hidden inputs, but it requires an understanding of charge timings to use a technique we will call 'edge shifting', blending the start of one action onto the end of a previous action to create a variable charge move outcome, without the drawback of creating easily predicted patterns. Players unfamiliar with charge characters/timing may need some extra practice doing these moves with the shortest charge window they can manage, so that the bot is not too slow.
Unlike other bots, DictatorBot has a lot more high low and left right mix ups (in V-trigger) and can require extra awareness and reaction from the player to defend. Keeping track of both DictatorBot's and your own meter as well as how his different spacings effect your own responses is key to confronting this bot. Characters can have sharply varying capacity to deal with Headstomp, Scissor Lick, dash up throw mixups and over all spacing caused from his attacks. Therefore the best way to deal with DictatorBot largely depends on what character tools one has and whether or not responses are metered, so no specific advice can be given in this section.
Gauge Settings
As with all bots, 1P Health should be set to "Normal". Set 1P CA Gauge to "Normal", and 1P V-Gauge to "Auto-Recover".
Settings for 2P are Health - "Auto-Recover", V-Gauge - "Auto-Recover", CA Gauge - "Normal".
Goals
Completing each action gives 1 point. Try to get to 10 points without dying.
Points System
- A - Punish Scissor Kick (official name: Double Knee Press) with throw
- B - Tech the dash-up throw
- C - Anti-air the Headstomp/Somersault Skull Diver/Devil's Reverse, or evade it and strike him quickly after
- D - Punish slide (his crouching heavy kick) with something other than a throw
Difficulty Levels
- Easy - Points given for ABCD
- Medium - Points given for BCD
- Hard - Points given for B and D only OR C and D only (change by session, or character, or whatever)
- Extreme - Points given for C and D only, 2P CA Gauge set to "Auto-Recover"
Action #1
1MP+MK, hidden [1MP, 214LP+HP], hold 1 again, end recording while holding 1, as soon as he crouches again.
This action can produce a down-back charge, but should not generally be held long enough to do so if the player can avoid it.
Action #2
Instant 6HK (FirstFrame preferred, but SecondFrame on the HK still counts as Instant for this), 66, 1LP+LK, 3HP. End the recording before Psycho Axe (the 3HP) finishes its animation.
It is fine and possibly preferable to mash the 3HP (it gives the bot a 1HP antiair and spacing option). Action #5 into Action #2 should cause Scissor Kick. It is generally better not to use HK+MK/LK for this, or the bot will do too many EX Scissor Kicks or will do them at the wrong times. If the recording was ended at the right time, Action #2 playing into Action #1 should cause either a crouching MP -> Psycho Inferno, or raw Psycho Inferno if the Psycho Axe hits.
Action #3
Instant 9LK, hidden [1LP, 1LK+MK], on landing 8LK+MK, end the recording immediately.
Action 1 into Action 3 should produce a Headstomp startup that then flows into a quick Devil's Reverse. Depending on the timing of this input, the bot may do another, EX Headstomp. This is not required. We leave this up to the user's preference, but recommend that if they do air-to-air attacks against Headstomp or Devil's Reverse, that they 'mistime' the 1 charge during the jump so that it does not do this second Headstomp. While not strictly a Variant, the 1LP can be changed to the Punch input that corresponds to whatever version of Devil's Reverse the player prefers.
Action #4
Perfect
6MP, cancel into 3HP+HK, hidden [1HP, 1LK+MK], 8LK+MK (Headstomp), End the recording immediately.
Acceptable
6MP, cancel into V-Trigger (hold any direction, or neutral, for this, whatever is easiest), hidden [1LK+MK], 8LK+MK (Headstomp), End the recording immediately.
Variant
The initial 6MP can be replaced with any punch, or any combination of punches. PPP will enable the bot to do V-Reversal, EX Devil's Reverse, and EX Psycho Burst but cause it to have stranger actions in neutral. LP will allow it to use a slightly different flow than MP. HP is not recommended but not specifically 'incorrect either. The punch or punches used in this input determine the forward movement range of Devil's Reverse, just like in Action #3.
This action should be capable of EX Headstomp when it plays back into itself, and as noted, capable of whatever version of Devil's Reverse the player chose.
Action #5
From far away: 6LK+MK, 6LK+MK, 1HK, hold 1. End the recording when he returns to regular crouching position after the slide ends.
In-Depth
Still in progress.