Avdol

## Introduction

**Muhammad Avdol** (モハメド・アヴドゥル *Mohamedo Avuduru*) is a core ally in *Stardust Crusaders*.

Introduced as an old Egyptian friend of Joseph Joestar, he joins the group on their journey to defeat DIO, providing cultural wisdom and guidance along the way.

Avdol is a strong character focused around his extremely solid normals and versatile playstyle, but lacks some of the better combo tools and long, high damage combos from quick dashing starters other top tier characters have.

**Pros and Cons**

**Pros:**

* Fantastic priority on most of his normals
* Easy BnBs
* Oppressive neutral game
* Abnormally good anti-air game compared to the rest of the cast
* Damaging supers and easy tandems
* Huge guard cancel
* Versatile toolset, can change gameplan on the fly according to his need
* Awesome potential for creativity thanks to his specials
* No glaring weaknesses, can hold his own in any situation
* His stand sometimes has talons, sometimes has cool Timbs

**Cons:**

* Despite their look and apparent abusability, his normals need to be properly spaced to be most effective
* Average damage, and poor capability to convert stray hits and dash-ins into combos
* Not a great comeback character without reads
* Somewhat underwhelming rushdown and mixup without setups

## Movelist

#### Stand Off:

5A - Does a forward strike that hits with the tip of his fingers. Really fast, ok to jab the opponent out of the air.

5B - Does a front step kick. Not useful outside combos.

5C - Swings his arm in a hook like motion and hits with his palm. Moves Avdol forward.

2A - A short crouching strike angled downwards. One of only 2 comboable lows Avdol has.

2B - Magician's Red appears and makes a small flame. Good active frames, whiffs really fast. Not a low.

2C - Magician's Red does a sweeping hook. Knocks down, and is safe. Not a low.

665A - Looks like 5B, but knocks in the air on hit.

665B - Dashing 5B. Not as good as 665C.

665C - Dashing 5C.

663A - Dashing 2A. No combo potential.

663B - Same as 2B. Tandem confirm. Not a low.

663C - Same as 2C, but unsafe. Not a low.

j.A - A jumping knee strike.

j.B - Same as j.A.

j.C - A jumping kick.

#### Stand On:

s.5A - A quick strike that leaves a small flame.

s.5B - Flaming hook style punch. Excellent footsie normal.

s.5C - A front flaming roundhouse kick. Good range and also moves the player forward. 2 hits.

s.2A - Low kick with Timbs. Decievingly good range, does not chain nor link into itself.

s.2B - Flame strike aimed at the stomach. Fantastic hitbox.

s.2C - Overhand strike that looks like an overhead but isn't.

s.665A - Faster s.5B.

s.665B - Straight kick with Timbs. 2 hits.

s.665C - Cancelable s.5C.

s.663A - Version of s.2A that can't chain into other normals. Hits low.

s.663B - Same as s.2B.

s.663C - Same as s.2C but better as antiair because of the extra momentum.

j.s.A - Does a jumping angled hit with talons.

j.s.B - Same as above but a weaker variation.

j.s.C - A jumping version of the his crouching 2B.

#### **Command Normals**

**Stand OFF**

6A - Low Step kick to the shin. Pretty much useless.

6C - Does a standing version of s.2B. Godly hitbox.

**Stand ON**

s.6A - Makes a small flame appear in front of him. Whiffs on crouching characters.

s.4B - Upwards reaching AA flame strike.

Remote mode only: j.s.2A/B/C - Spinning divekick angled downwards. Available only in remote stand mode. Gets Magician's Red back on the ground really fast, and can be comboed out of. Same regardless of button used. Up to 3 hits.

### **Special Moves**

#### *Crossfire Hurricane* - **236 + A/B/C**

Fires an ankh shaped fireball across the screen. Both in stand off and stand on, the button used determines the speed of the ankh and the recovery: in stand off, it never goes further than half screen, in stand on, C goes almost fullscreen. For both, A versions are preferred, as they have the fastest recovery. Useful both when cancelled into and on its own.

#### *Fire Wall* - **623 + A/B/C**

Magician's Red appears and thrusts himself into the air. With stand off Magician's Red travels forward a little before leaping into the air for the B and C versions, the Distance/Damage/Height also vary with the strength of the button pressed. Air unblockable when hit deep, if it connects only with the outermost part of the hitbox, it will be air blockable. When used with stand on Avdol will follow Magician's Red, but they won't travel forwards across the ground first. In stand remote, Magician's Red will perform the stand off version. All stand on versions have invincibility frames on startup, but they run out soon after the hitbox appears.

#### *Flame Sensor* - **214 + A/B/C** (Can be held)

Makes a flaming cross that travels towards the opponent. Explodes when either the button is released or after a short time. The stronger the button the used, the faster and further the ankh will travel. Potentially one of Avdol's strongest tools. The number of uses for this is incredible. Can be set up in various ways, and is generally unsafe to do in neutral unless you are far away against a character with no fullscreen presence. No difference between stand off and on.

#### *Fire Eagle (In Air)* -  **236 + A/B/C**

Magician's Red appears and does an angled dive kick in which Abdul follows him down. If used with Stand ON Avdol will travel backwards a short distance while Magician's Red does the dive kick, this also activates remote control (see below). Hits overhead.

#### *Hell Fire - **63214 + A/B/C***

Hitgrab. Magician's Red grabs the opponent by the face and makes them explode. Hard knockdown. Easily comboed into and makes for a nice and flashy looking combo ender. No relevant differences between versions in stand off, and is unsafe on block. In stand on it is safe, and the stronger the version, the longer the range but the bigger the pushback on block. C is usually preferred, as it has the same startup as the others and longer range when stand on. After connecting, you can start your okizeme game or, from stand off only, combo before your opponent has a chance to recover.

#### *Remote Control -* **6 + AA**(Stand ON) or **236 + S**(Stand OFF)

Magician's Red dashes out and does a maximum of 2 hits with knockdown when using the 236 + S version. When activated you will control Magician's Red whilst Avdol stands back and poses. BE WARNED if Avdol is hit while you are using Remote Control you will take significantly increased damage. Magician's Red will have a faster walk speed and gains access to a triple jump. His s.623+A will play out the stand off version, his s.236+A will have even less recovery, and his j.s.236+A will be unchanged. Just like any other Remote Mode Stand, he will also suffer double than normal stand gauge damage on block, and half than normal stand gauge damage on hit.

#### *Guard Cancel* - **623 + A** (While blocking)

Magician's Red counter attacks with a flame pillar. In stand off you can combo out of it if you knock the opponent towards the corner. In stand off, it has quite a bit of recovery. Great guard cancel, but like other great guard cancels, overusing it is not smart.

### **Supers**

#### *Napalm Bomb -* **236 + AA**

Abdul and his stand create an explosion which travels forward dealing quite decent damage. The startup hit before the superflash will lock the opponent into getting hit by the explosions. It does have some i-frames, but they are not many, and if the opponent blocks the first hit they can interrupt the explosions after the superflash by hitting you. It moves the opponent all the way to the other side of the screen on block, and allows you to hit them when they get juggled by the flames on hit while in stand off. The hitbox is quite a bit taller than Avdol is.

#### *Crossfire Hurricane Special* - **214 + AA**

Magician's Red unleashes a barrage of flaming Ankhs. You need to be fairly close for it to do maximum damage. Okay okizeme on waking up opponents with either 2A or j.A as they get up. Slow startup, hard to combo into, but leads to very high damage.

#### *Red Heat Ankh* - **623 + AA** (Can be held with 1 Button)

Avdol sets a trap on the floor in front of him. After a short duration an ankh will burst out from the floor in that location. The duration can be extended by holding the button used. Has long recovery in stand off, and next to no recovery if you hold block in stand on. Both have i-frames on the set animation and on the release. It consumes no meter when placed, only when it explodes. Causes an untechable launch on hit, allowing for a short juggle.

## Combos

**Notes:**

Combos into stand off 623+C can be slightly unsafe, as the opponent can tech on the ground and Magician's Red takes his sweet time disappearing.

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH CANCELS INTO HITGRAB IN GENERAL!!! Avdol has absolutely horrible command overlap with his 214+A and 63214+A specials, resulting in cancels into the Sensor that were meant to be cancels into hitgrab. This means that slow execution may give you an unsafe cancel that your opponent can hit you out of and possibly combo from. To prevent 214+A from coming out, you can skip the diagonals to do the motion: 624+A will count as a valid input just like 63214+A. For some reason, if you do the full motion, depending on how much time you spend on the diagonals, the game can just give you a sensor even if you hit 6 and 3.

During tandem combos there's nothing in particular that you need to be doing for the tandem to properly continue, but you can add damage while following with j.C into 2A if you can't get to the other side and spam 2A/5A.

**Stand Off:**

**2A, 2A, 5B xx 623+C OR 63214+A/B/C**

**j.C, 5B xx 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5B/6C xx 63214+A/B/C (grab followup)**

**j.C, 6C xx 63214+C (grab followup)**

**2B, 2C**

**2B, 5B xx 623+C**

**2B, 5B xx 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5B/6C xx 63214+A/B/C (grab followup)**

**2B, 6C xx 63214+C (grab followup)**

**2B, S+5A > s.5B > s.5C**

Here you can substitute 5B and 6C with 5C: it moves Avdol forward making the cancels land even at longer ranges. Useful when landing 2B links from a jump-in. Avdol's routes are very versatile but he has a hard time landing jump-ins while stand off, as his jump C needs as low a connect as possible for him to combo out of it. In these cases, his 2B conversions are slightly more damaging but the simpler ones with 2A/5B/6C are more consistent and therefore preferred.

**j.C, 2B, 5C xx 63214+C (grab followup)**

**663B/2B xx 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5B/6C xx 63214+A/B/C (grab followup)**

**(Any tandem starter)... xx 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5C xx 236+A, (hop) j.C, S+6A > s.5A > s.5A > s.5B xx 214+S(Tandem)... (loop**) - Corner only. Avdol's tandem loop; if you end up in the corner after a tandem, this combo allows you to get another, bypassing the normal tandem lock-out time.

**663B, 2A, 5B xx 63214+A/B/C (grab followup)** - One frame link. Best combo off a confirmed 663B, but hard.

**Stand On:**

**s.5A > s.5A > s.5B > s.5C**

**s.2A > s.5B > s.5C**

**s.2A s.2B > s.2C**

**j.C/j.s.C, s.6A > s.6A > s.6A > s.5B xx s.63214+B/C OR 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5B/6C xx 63214+A/B/C (grab followup)** - Doing 4 s.6As works, but you risk of negative edge-ing an A Hellfire, which does not reach. Standing/stand on opponents only.

**j.C/j.s.C, s.5A > s.5B xx 63214+B/C OR 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5B/6C xx 63214+A/B/C (grab followup)** - Works on crouching opponents, but less consistent.

**s.2A > s.5B > xx s.63214+C**

Notes on Stand On chains:

At most ranges s.5C connects, but ending in the shorter s.2C does more damage and leaves you closer. Starting your stand on chains with s.6A makes them more reliable, but it whiffs on crouching opponents. Doing 4 s.6As still gives you a s.5B on the 4th hit, but you won't be able to chain into other normals, only cancel to special moves. Ending with a cancel into C Hellfire does more damage than full chains, and gives a hard knockdown, but is harder when the chain starts anywhere further than point blank.

**(A version of s.236+A connects) s.665A/s.665B(1 or 2 hits) xx s.63214+C** - Safe on block. s.665B goes farther but is slower. At longer ranges the hitgrab may whiff.

**(A version of s.236+A connects) s.665C xx 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5B/6C xx s.63214+A (grab followup)**

**(Remote mode ONLY) j.s.C, s.6A > s.6A > s.6A > s.5B xx s.623+C** - Unlike the stand off 623+c combos, this one is always safe on hit.

**(Remote mode ONLY) j.s.C, s.6A > s.6A > s.6A > s.5B xx s.236+AA** - Works only if you have the opponent cornered in remote mode with the screen stretched. A lot of requirements for and ok combo. If the opponent doesn't tech/neutral or backwards techs, you can juggle a remote mode s.623+C, as it is air-unblockable. Flashy AF.

**Sample grab followups**

Some characters fall down faster/slower and/or are smaller/bigger in the air, so timing and consistency of juggles greatly varies among the cast. You have a lot of freedom with these juggles, see what works for you.

**(hitgrab)... S+6A > s.5A > s.5B > s.5C** - Depending on the height you hit your opponent at it may drop before the C.

**(hitgrab)... S+5A > s.5A > s.5B > s.2C** - More consistent on late juggles, as it leaves closer.

**(hitgrab)... (opponent lands) 214+AA then hop j.A or 2A** - Basic mixup. High damage. Super and normal need to be timed differently depending on the opponent's wakeup speed, but is possible on all characters.

**(hitgrab)... 236+S** - Sets up remote mode. Only a relevant combo because its much easier than timing chains and works more reliably on some characters (ex: iggy).

In the corner, you can juggle into a s.623+C after a s.5B, but it's inconsistent as the opponent can sometimes tech before the uppercut hits.

**Sample standcrash combos**

When planning a stand crash combo using tandem, starting the chain with s.6A is better as it does more stand gauge damage and needs no precise following for it to combo.

**(Stand crash) 665C xx 63214+C(grab followup)**

**(Stand crash) 663B xx 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5B/6C xx 63214+A/B/C (grab followup)**

**(Stand crash) s.665A/s.665B(1 or 2 hits) xx s.63214+C(grab followup)**

**(Stand crash) s.665C(1st hit) xx 214+S(Tandem) [ABC]x5, j.C, 5B/6C xx 63214+A/B/C (grab followup)**

**663B/2B 214+S(Tandem) [6A]x8, 2A (Tandem ends), j.C, 6C (Stand crash) xx 236+A (Hop) j.C, 6C xx 63214+A/B/C(grab followup)**

**663B/2B 214+S(Tandem) [6A]x8, 2A (Tandem ends), j.C, 6C (Stand crash) xx 236+A (Hop) j.C, S+6A > s.6A > s.6A > s.5B xx s.63214+C**

**663B/2B 214+S(Tandem) [6A]x8, 2A (Tandem ends), j.C, 6C (Stand crash) xx 214+AA, s.6A > s.6A > s.6A > s.5B xx s.623+C** - Corner only. s.623+C here connects properly because of the hits of the super.

## General Strategy

When playing Avdol you are going to be looking to use your strong normals to dominate the neutral game. Utilizing them and your decent zoning and oki game can be enough to put someone down.

***Normals***

Details on his most important normals:

5B - Mainly a combo tool, hitbox isnt too great to use it as a poke;

5C - Ok whiff punish, combos at most ranges into command grab. Not as good as 6C for poking, whiffs slower and moves forward;

2A - Better as a tic than 5A and has combo applications. Hits low. Unfortunately it's not even comparable in strength to other top tiers' 2As. Its range is also deceivingly small, the hitbox does not actually extend on Avdol's hand;

2B - Good normal for building meter, and it's the normal you want to use to confirm into tandem. If timed right, you can punish Kakyoin's s.2C because of how fast it is even when done dashing. 6 frames startup, 6 active, +4 on block, +9 on hit, meaning you have a plethora of options out of it. When pushblocked instantly it is -4 at worst. Where Magician's Red appears, there actually is a pretty big hurtbox, so not that great of an anti-air. Not a low;

2C - Also 6 frames startup, 5 active, +7 on block, at worst -5 when pushblocked instantly, so it can be blockstringed into itself and from 2B is the opponent lets you. One of your more abusable normals, as it whiff extremely fast too. Not a low;

665C - Safe on block dashing poke that you can cancel into command grab for a combo even at max range. If you don't have bar for a tandem, this is your go-to normal to capitalize on random standcrashes. Worth noting is that because of how it moves Avdol when canceling into hitgrab, your opponent ends up falling further away than normal at ranges farther than point blank, making juggles slightly less consistent;

663B - Same as 2B, but with worse links. Incredible whiff punish tool. Sadly, not a low;

663C - Same as 2C, but actually punishable when pushblocked, so be careful. Not a low;

j.C - Not as strong as it looks in both combo potential and hitbox. Has to be hit really close to the ground to combo out of it;

6C - Active frames the button. Easy to whiff punish, otherwise a great poke. Highest damage combo normal. Also does a whopping 20 stand gauge damage, making it ideal for standcrashing;

s.5A - Fast, ok as antiair, fantastic confirm into chains. Useful to interrupt strings after pushblocking. Whiffs on some crouching characters;

s.5B: Your main poking tool when you are in stand on. Great whiff punish, outpokes most normals in the game, for example it beats out all of Kakyoin's normals. Not a bad tech chase option and far anti-air. Optimal normal to use to cancel into Crossire Hurricane. -7 on block, -6 on hit;

s.5C - Reasonably good poke, but needs to be used at its max range, as it is quite slow compared to other normals. -9 on block even when out of a chain, but high pushback;

s.2A - Timbs normal n1. Incredibly long and disjointed hitbox for a low A, actually a nice normal to interrupt the opponent's strings when s.5A would whiff. Easy chain into s.5B at all ranges where it hits.;

s.2B - Hitbox can hit opponents behind Avdol, not bad to throw out when the opponent is trying to roll around close to you if you dont feel like risking a whiffed s.5C. Tons of active frames. Hard to outpoke but easy to whiff punish. On hit can be chained on reaction to s.2C. Very useful as an easy meaty to stuff wakeup buttons/supers and get frame advantage if hit deep in its active frames. For some reason when you do it Magician's Red loses his upper body hurtbox (but not the head one) making it possible to let some projectiles go through you, but it is not very useful;

s.2C - Hitbox isn't as good as it looks, unreliable as anti-air. Your main chain finisher if your s.5B whiffs on a crouching opponent, and it is minus on hit just like s.5C, except it doesn't push the opponent as far, creating an akward situation;

s.665B - THE Timbs. 2 hits, comboable from both into command grab on reaction. Useful to close the distance if spaced properly. It is only -1 on block/hit, and whiffs fast enough that it is hard to punish if pushblocked;

s.665C - Cancelable s.5C. Not as unsafe but still minus on block AND hit. Ideally you want to cancel this into something, but it is sub-par to other normals unless you have a confirm into tandem, at which point it is your most consistent tandem starter as it works from further away than your other buttons;

s.663C - Better as antiair than s.2C because of the extra momentum. Unlike s.2C, it is at worst -1, and has enough active frames (6) to become much more + when hit spaced/deep, even enough to link out of. Great dash-in as it is as fast as your other good ones and can leave at better frame advantage than them, as well as having a better hitbox for catching jumpouts and counter hitting normals;

j.s.C - Very abusable jump-in/air to air, especially if the opponent is higher in the air than Avdol, but not as good as it looks: does not do great if the opponent uses a faster jumping normal or a good grounded antiair. Needs to be properly spaced.

s.6A - Avdol's most consistent close anti-air. Tall hitbox, the hand has no hurtbox, but whiffs on most if not all crouching opponents. Better than s.5A in some combo contexts;

s.4B - Awesome antiair, cleanly beats most jump-ins. 3 hits, does not allow the opponent to air tech immediately like most of Avdol's normals, making is safe. Useful to stop jumpouts, but whiffs on most crouching opponents. Safe on block;

**Anti-airing**

Anti-airing properly is key with in Avdol's neutral game. 5A and s.5A are fast and can be used to hit the opponent out of the air if you cross under them. Dashing low attacks can hit the opponent on their way down, especially 663C: 663B has a worse hitbox but allows you to cancel on reaction to a hit into tandem. s.2C doesn't work too well in my experience, but it is ok when done out of a dash. His s.623+A is also important to learn how to use, as it's very consistent, fast, and is sometimes the only good option against strong jump-in buttons. j.s.C is extremely effective at dissuading jumps as air to air, but it isn't unstoppable, and needs to be spaced to make effective use of it: a nice way to do so is by hopping in stand off, turn stand on mid-air then press C, to use the shorter stand off jump arc. Learn to organically switch from stand on to stand off for poking, zoning and varied anti-airs. s.623+A, s.4B, s.5B and s.6A are the most consistent anti-airs Avdol has, which makes him kind of special in a game with a general lack of strong grounded anti-airs, which translated means use them lots, as many people aren't used to dealing with them and will jump in recklessly. You will have to find out which anti-air works best in which situation/matchup, but know that you have at least one that will succeed.

**Using Crossfire Hurricane**

Avdol's Crossfire fireball is very strong, the stand off version can be chased in really fast, and can lead to tricky empty jump mixups. The best way to set it up is a cancel after a 5C or 6C (beware that canceling form 6C can give accidental cancels into his 623+A/B/C) simply followed by a hop or hyper hop. From stand on his options become a little worse but he's safer when he cancels into it. Both in stand off and in stand on, the A version is SIGNIFICANTLY better than B or C, as it has a deceivingly fast recovery, allowing you to block jump-ins/anti-air when used for zoning, or potentially follow it up as it connects. s.5A > s.5B, s.2A > s.5B, s.6A > s.5B, or just s.5B all allow you to relatively safely cancel into A Crossfire to then use:

* A walk up chain/s.5B into another Crossfire
* A standing poke
* Combos using dashing normals

If the opponent has low stand gauge, you can react and plan your string so that your next attack will stand crash and follow up with any stand crash combo you want. This also allows you to catch people who would guard cancel your full ABC chain, as most guard cancels do not reach or go through the fireball. Be wary of characters that can hit you out of the fireball or can duck under the fireball altogether, as they can often just sweep under it and hit you. Also worth mentioning, if the opponent predicts the fireball they can pushblock accordingly and jump over it, allowing for a clean hit, but often not a combo: be prepared to bait and punish such jumps by simply not canceling to anti-air them, or by completing the ABC chain.

**Using Flame Sensor**

Avdol's 214+A special may be his best neutral tool, as it controls space and limits the opponent's escape options so well it's easy to cheat out combos from impatient players. It can be used pretty well against most characters to get overhead/empty jump low/empty jump grab mixups. Great ways to use it safely is after some s.236+As from a reasonably long range, after a 236+AA super, after a 2C knockdown using the C input to negative edge the cancel, after a throw on most characters if they do not tech into you, etc. Once its out, it forces the opponent to respect it, as it puts you in an advantageous defensive position, allowing you to build meter for free, close in for a low/hop j.A/s.j.A mixup, or make your opponent overextend to hit you and delete the Sensor to then interrupt them with the mine and get a combo out of the deal. The sensor can be stopped and even snuffed out if the opponent hits it, but when they try that, when you are close enough you can tandem on reaction which will cause it to detonate while the opponent is in hitstop, making the tandem combo. I can't stress enough how good this special is. What i say here barely even scratches the surface of the potential this special move has. USE IT!

**Using Red Heat Ankh**

Same can be said of his 623+AA super, as their purpose as a deterrent is similar, but the super does more damage, does not guarantee a grounded combo, and does loads of chip damage/stand gauge damage on block: be careful though as it can be guard canceled with ease. You can use it as a simple get off me card by abusing the free i-frames you get by setting it in stand on, to then interrupt the opponent with a normal, possibly giving you a combo into hitgrab or throw, which both cancel the set trap at no cost in meter. Worth mentioning it can be used to surprise with its super flash to scare the opponent into rolling or blocking, giving you easy throw setups.

This super can be used as an extremely safe oki option. Setting up the ankh on top of the opponent allows you to go for anything you like as wake up pressure, as you can easily release the button for the trap and get instant i-frames if the opponent tries to do something on wakeup: simply wait and release the trap on reaction to a super or tandem. Be careful not to get hit by mashed out normals though. Even if you haven't recovered in time for a meaty when they wake up, you will still have i-frames from the placing animation. Again, getting a throw or a hitgrab deletes the Ankh, letting you scare your opponent without even spending meter.

It also allows you to threaten a better throw: the release has 7 frames of startup post-flash, meaning using it gives you enough time to hit 6C/4C, raising the damage as the ankh can hit the opponent as they get thrown, and giving you an untechable launch as if only the super hit. This slightly telegraphs the throw, making it easier to tech, BUT the ankh can hit them as they flip out. This is really hard to escape, let alone get a hit on Avdol.

It also triggers a double death animation if you kill with the super before the throw deals damage.

**Using Remote Mode**

Remote Control is often overlooked because of its drawbacks, but frankly it makes all of Avdol's options infinitely better other than jumping too high. His walk speed becomes ridiculous, giving him a surprise factor that shouldn't be underestimated: as a result all pressure strings become better on block, and allow new combos on hit.

214+C and 623+AA are ok ways to setup remote mode with 6+AA or j.236+A, thanks to the fact that the opponent will most likely be more defensive. This way you can bait them into overextending to reach Avdol and hit them with a tandem (which gives you i-frames and makes Magicians' Red get all the way back), the aforementioned specials or a throw. Cancels into crossfire now combo more reliably into walk up s.5A/s.6A/s.2A chains which can go into more crossfires or hitgrab. It is also possible to grab the opponent out of early pushblocks of the fireball, creating a nasty situation to deal with.

Be VERY careful to anti air properly the opponent after a throw, by walking back to Avdol and using s.6A, s.5B and s.4B to hit them out of the air and more grabs to drive them away from him. s.623+A still works perfectly, but you want to use the A version only. If after an anti-air the opponent can neutral tech into Avdol, the safest option is to cancel your anti-air into tandem, or to simply tandem, and input a s.6A and follow with a j.C. The mixups and zoning with 214+A and 623+AA also become exponentially stronger, even though converting into tandem in general becomes much much harder. Always and i mean ALWAYS throw the opponent away from Avdol.

It is most important that as soon as you smell a dangerous situation you tandem or press S to call back your stand, because the risk is NOT worth taking. That being said a desperate player with very low health can be KO'd with a trade if they don't use a stand attack to knock you out of remote mode immediately. Magicians's red will mostly be able to move and attack even if Avdol is getting hit. Some air normals unfortunately have big hitboxes that can go right over him, never allowing him to block attacks for Avdol unless he is right on top of him; these attacks often are stand normals that end remote in an instant, making you suffer extra damage. Be wary of these as they can mean a quick death.

Note that in remote mode, the stand gauge damage you take is halfed on hit but doubled on block, so things that normally would not stand crash you on block, in remote mode do, and viceversa on hit. Example: Rubber Soul's 236+AA super.

Note that in remote, supers that give i-frames only make Magician's Red invulnerable, so if you use one to go through a projectile special/super, it will most likely still reach Avdol.

BE VERY CAREFUL AS SOME CHARACTERS HAVE EVEN METERLESS OPTIONS TO THREATEN AVDOL REGARDLESS OF SCREEN POSITION (ex:Vanilla Ice, DIO and Midler)

**Combos**

When learning Avdol you don't really need to focus on his Tandem combos, but It's recommended to learn his basic combos with his Hell Fire command grab. **j.C, 6C xx 63214+C S+5A > s.5B > s.5C** isn't a bad place to start when. Get the hang of his stand on juggles, as they add most of the damage. Eventually you can learn to combo into his tandems with either stand on chains or 2B/663B for a longer combo and follow up the end with his Hell Fire grab. His standcrash combos are pretty tight but they are the only way to get high damage with Avdol. Normally his damage output doesn't get over 55-60, but with the right extensions and screen positions you can reach close to 100% damage combos.

**Additional notes**

The placing animation in s on of 623+AA can also be used as a roman cancel style special, letting you expand combos. Practical use for this include getting a 63214+A when you would be out of range by using a dashing attack, and getting more stand gauge damage for a stand crash combo. Going into 63214+A cancels the ankh, making it cost no meter, and, if you only have 1 bar, going into tandem instead of 63214+A also cancels the ankh as releasing the button with no meter left does not do anything, making the extension cost no extra meter. Combos like these are mostly just flashy as they add very little damage, and you'll mostly see them in combo videos. Another probably not very useful thing you can do with 623+AA is use 2 supers at the same time at the cost of one as long as you have only 1 bar left: placing the ankh and holding it with one button to then use the other 2 to input a super while releasing said button lets you release the ankh during the startup of the second super, triggering both. Unfortunately the ankh adds so much scaling if it hits that the second super will do very little damage.

Be careful not to spam s.623+AA too hard, as it can be considered use of the Avdol Ghosting exploit. Don't be surprised if you're banned from a tourney or if people quit on you when you do that.

When using remote, you will notice it can quite often cause the screen to stretch while Magician's Red or your opponent is close to the other side of the screen. This normally isn't notable, but it can be used to your advantage in some ways. Super flashes temporarily un-stretch the screen, dragging the opponent with the wall if they are outside of the normal screen space. This allows for some interesting tactics, fooling the opponent into thinking they are not in range to then pull them close with a super. An easy example is how you can get a s.214AA to connect after a standcrash at almost every range, which is your best standcrash followup.

## Matchup Strategy

#### Abdul

You can punish another Avdol for using Remote Mode with 236+AA, provided you get him to block the first hits, and as long as his Magician's Red is not close to him as he will block the fire. In stand off, you can low profile each others' 236+As, so watch out.

#### Alessi

Your normals beat almost all of his. Don't let him dash in or jump too much. You also out prioritize him in Alessi Mode. Your child form is perfect for fighting back. Jump when he's trying to hit you and press C. He probably won't be able to touch you depending on what he transformed you with. He is one of the characters that can low profile 236+A, and he can also low profile s.5B, but only while he does his 2C or when he is not holding 1 to crouch.

#### Black Polnareff

Avdol is one of the fast wakeup characters that can punish BPol's 214+AA super if he hits you while you're cornered: when that happens, he recovers slowly and right next to you in the corner, while you get up during the flash in which the screen turns to normal after being split in half. It is approximately -10, so you can use your best grounded combo. Another important tip is that your stand on anti-air normals work well against his j.B, but not his j.C. To prevent getting hit while trying to stop him from jumping in, use s.623+A, as it beats both. Try not to be too oki happy against him: he wakes up pretty fast and his super whiff punishes most of your missed meaties. He can also duck your 236+A as long as he is not holding 1 to crouch or if he uses his 2A or his 2B.

#### Chaka

Chaka can slip right below your s.236+A cancels both stand on and stand off with his slides/sweep. Furthermore, the Crossfire doesn't even hit him if he's crouching stand off. Do not use random 236+AA to push him in neutral, as his s.236+AA punishes it on reaction. Be careful not to get outpoked by his 236+S: it beats cleanly most things you can do at its max range. Other than this, you have the advantage pretty much everywhere, even if slight.

#### Devo

If his doll is on top of you when you are throwing him, he can punish it. Most of your normals trade when trying to anti-air his body drop, so use s.623+A or j.s.C. When he activates Remote Mode, a 236+AA can hit him when the doll is too far away: he can react and deactivate but if he is already blocking it, unless the doll is dragged all the way next to him, it will hit. In this case, pushblocking will work against him hit no matter what. He can low profile both your s.5B and 236+A when he is using his crouching normals in stand off.

#### DIO

DIO struggles in neutral against you if you play it safe and avoid putting yourself in situations where he can find a whiff punish, and he especially struggles against 236+A pressure, if he does not have access to his s.236+AA. This would mean that remote mode is great against him, if it wasn't for the fact that he has many ways to effectively deal with it. Even if you have a tandem ready, the risk is not worth taking most of the time.

#### Hol Horse

Your throw punish against him is, after a down tech, S+j.C, s.665B xx 63214C OR 214S(Tandem combo); be sure to practice it as it is somewhat precise. His 214+A strings aren't as good against you because of your 2C, so be sure to pushblock then punish anything that's not a normal with it. He can duck your 236+A naturally as well as with his 2A and 2C.

#### Iggy

Your standing stand on chains whiff on him completely when he's stand off, as does your 236+A. Do not trust your 2B and 2C too much when he's very close, he may just grab your extended hurtbox before you can touch him. Try to anti-air him if he tries to hang in the air using glider, s.623+B, s.6A and s.4B are your friends. Punish his charge on hit with 2C or s.5B > s.5C. His teleport has limited range, so usually, if you're in Remote Mode, you can walk and grab him as he reappears.

#### Joseph

Don’t underestimate Old Joseph, because despite you having the upper hand, for whatever reason this matchup is still frighteningly even. This matchup is extremely neutral-based, and while Avdol’s incredible normals and tools should mean that you are winning said neutral the majority of the time, due to Avdol’s comparatively unimpressive damage and rushdown, Old Joseph needs to win neutral significantly less often to beat you.

Generally, you want to be applying as much pressure as you can, as Old Joseph’s slow attacks and terrible wakeup speeds give him trouble defensively speaking. Approaching shouldn’t be very difficult, and attacking from above with your very powerful aerials is a good strategy, since Old Joseph lacks good anti-airs other than his 236AA and counter, both of which can be easily baited and punished. If Old Joseph instead attempts to attack you from above however, thanks to your amazing anti-airs that situation is where he is at his most vulnerable and you can get free damage and advantage. What Old Joseph will want to be doing is exploiting gaps in your pressure and mistakes in neutral to lead into his confirms into hermit grab and custom combo into command grabs into oki for surprisingly insane damage. Remember to stay level-headed and simply leverage your amazing neutral game to maintain a strong advantage.

Zoning can be effective against Old Joseph, but there are very important circumstances to keep in mind. Old Joseph can d2a under your 236a, so while it’s good from far away, in closer ranges it can lead to disaster, making sensor a preferable option. Second and VERY VERY importantly however is what stage you are on. While Joseph has issues with zoning on many stages, on very small stages like Hotel and Prison, you should never use 236a, 214a or 236AA on stand on Joseph from far away, as Hermit Grab reaches full-screen on those stages and will punish it on reaction for a full combo.

#### Jotaro

He can duck your 236+A naturally as well as with his 2A and 2B.

#### Kakyoin

Your s.5B is key to stopping him from pressing whatever buttons he wants. It also stops his IAD cleanly. s.2A can interrupt his low pokes well. You can punish his s.2C with 2B or 663B into tandem/hitgrab. In stand off he can duck under your 236+A and your 5B, and can 2C under both too.

#### Khan

This MU can be tricky to deal with at first but once you get your opponents pattern and timing, its not all too tough to deal with.

Using 236a isn't advisable as he can duck under with his 2A so use flame sensor or 623aa here instead as it effectively zones him out. J.b/j.c/j.s can be hard to react due to how fast it whiffs out and good range that its  capable to rival avdol's air to air. Its usually better to pushblock it first hand and punish his mixups attempt instead. s.2b and s.623a/b stops a lot of his dash in attempts and continue jump ins.

Best way to counter his 2a is usually whiff moves like s.2a or 2c first before he does his due to both range can beat out one another. If he likes doing his charge move and tends to follow up with 623, its best to respect it and punish it after blocking since he is pretty open. His 236aa is super punishable with s.623 and even 214aa if you roll through it. Its advise to use 236aa on his jump ins rather than his dash ins because he can easily get 214aa off you if it whiffs or block on the first hit. Remote mode can be use here for short poke and not overextending your stay, or he closes the gap very quick and get a hurtful 214aa. BUT, on first hit it doesn't knock you out of remote mode so if magician's red is close to you, you can interrupt him off and he gets nothing out of it.

#### Mariah

Use s.5A to dispel outlets and s.6A or j.s.C to destroy cables. 663C and 663B will go a long way towards stopping her stuff, but be careful not to run face first into an outlet. She can duck your 236+As.

#### Midler

You can punish 2C cancels into car from a decent range with 2C. Her mouth super can easily snatch you from Remote Mode, and car super can work similarly to your 236+AA, blockstringing you into getting hit. She can duck under your 236+As with all of her stand off crouching normals.

#### Petshop

This matchup is one sided for avdol since there isn't too much you can really do here with his fast movement and unblockable unless you play strictly defensive and punish get-in attempts. Even then its pretty rough.

Playing neutral and defensively is key in this matchup. 236/214 projectiles are too slow and remote mode can be easily punished by 214aa so that's out of the window. Guard cancels are also good in this MU to avoid being block-pushed into unblockable setups. Only thing you need to keep an eye out for is unblockable setups and the vast amount of mixups and side switches petshop has.. using your priority moves and i frame moves can help against this.

623a all of petshop's dashin attempts, avdol's s.623a and 623a can provide precious I frames to keep petshop off your back. Your s.2b and 2b are very crucial in this matchup. Tandem is okay versus petshop and a 2b can convert along with a 6c which is a little bit more risky due to it's lengthy active frames. You don't want to get hit by a ceiling icicle. Keep an eye out for dual 214aa for stand crash as petshop can convert off stand crush animations and 214aa causes it. This is especially important to keep an eye out for, since this is a near guarantee way for petshop to get in if you do not detect it early.

Ankhs can provide precious i frames for punishing get in attempts, 236aa can catch stray button presses like petshop d.5c. Don't try to beat out 5s or 63214s at full screen.. both stand on and off versions of 236 get beat out at full screen. Unless the petshop does 5s or 63214s at midscreen or closer you can punish it with tandem through it or s+5b 214s. Keep in mind that projectiles can cause a stand crash and can also be combo'ed off of and can provide a distraction to a ceiling icicle charge for petshop. Petshop's 3c is a good tool for his mobility and mixup side switches. But, can be easily punished by a well timed normal, grabs, or any of avdol's supers. Keep in mind that smart petshop players usually cover 3c with two held icicles to force you to block into an UB setup.

In conclusion you will need to play your strengths at 100% levels! Play defensively and patiently, denying petshop's get in attempts and preventing unblockables from happening by recognizing them along with abusing your priority moves and i frame supers.

#### Polnareff

If you are up against the corner, you can do s.623+B to hit C Shooting Star out of the wall, as well as when it's flying towards it, and the A version is wide enough to hit it as it gets released. Use your faster pokes to stop dashing C Shooting Star mixups, and react to rolls with throws.

#### Shadow Dio

Most of your normals stop SDio right in his tracks as he tries to jump or dash at you. Be sure to properly pushblock his loop, to press the right buttons to halt his approach, and to anti-air as much as possible. Random 236+AA to push your ground in neutral is not good against him unless he is jumping around constantly, since he can book it and punish you with loop.

#### Rubber Soul

If you want to use remote mode against him, be careful as his 236+AA super can standcrash you on block even if you are at 100% stand gauge. He is taller in crouching size than Kak and New Kak so he can crouch only your 236+As. A well placed s.6A will do wonders to stop his pressure.

#### Vanilla Ice

There are a lot of reasons why this matchup is rather annoying. You have a better than average chance at stopping his stand on pokes than most characters, so you can try to impede his meter build as much as you can without getting hit, but i do not reccomend you do, unless you have a sensor on him: in general, accept that Ice will have meter at all times. Going out of your way to stop him will get you killed.
Instead, turtle your way to victory. Being the one that keeps calm and patiently sets up defense is what matters the most in the matchup. You are better at keeping him out that he is at keeping you out, if you do things correctly. He has a few committal ways of getting in, like Stand ON ball and teleport, for both of which you have good punishes: cover yourself with s.236As before setting sensors up, as it is liable to getting hit by those, and try to bait him into committing. The first one to get impatient will eat damage.
Taking your time to find the right moments to approach is crucial. One of these openings is when he is close to a sensor. Here you can walk in, jump in, or even try to remote for a bit, making sure he knows you can jump pop the sensor to stop buttons. Another instance where you can take your turn safely is when he is teching in the air in, especially in Stand ON. His jumping attacks are not very good to hit grounded opponents, and you can sort of toy around with him when he is in the air for extended periods of time. If he doesn't want to eat a bunch of anti airs, he needs to back away, at which point you get a free sensor. A prayer Stand ON air ball may work, depending on how close to the ground he is, so be mindful of that. On the other hand, unless theres a sensor on Ice, jumping is a bad idea for you too, as your air priority is not good enough to stop even mindless s.2B > s.2C spam, let alone s.5C/s.6C anti airs.
DO NOT risk a missed roll punish with a whiffed C. Resort to blocking if you feel like it's too late, or use s.2B's infinite active frames to hit him as he finishes rolling: even if he crosses up with the roll, s.2B will still hit him because a 9 year old at Capcom made the pushboxes and hitboxes for this game. Another way to avoid having a s.5C whiff as you are trying to punish a roll is to press s.4AC rather than just C to input a throw. This will have a s.5A come out if the oppoent was out of range, making it safe (you can also press all 3 attack buttons to do this). Be mindful as it HAS to be 4 and not 6, since doing s.6AC will activate remote, which may even come out if Ice ends up crossing up with the roll.
He can use his teleport to hit you in Remote Mode from fullscreen, but can't quite knock you out of it if you have a full stand gauge. Ball on the other hand can go past Magician's Red depending on how close he is to Avdol and if Ice crosses up with the followup.  He can duck under your 236+As. s.2A is good to try to stop his dash in attempts in Stand OFF, since its all he can do considering you outprioritize him completely when hes is in that mode. You can also punish 6C xx 214C on block with a 236AA.

#### Young Joseph

Always turn your stand off when you see him throw a clacker, and use 2C to prevent him from getting dashing pressure out of it. Guard canceling his 66S is a good way to get him off of you when you're stuck in the corner.

## EXTRA

### Frame Data

*Collected by The Final Lemon*
Stand Off Frame Graph - https://imgur.com/l7O0AsU

Stand On and Remote Mode Frame Graph - https://imgur.com/J4gegEX

### Match Videos

SQ vs WJ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clt6NrXbZkU

WJ vs various - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mui7briR1eU

SQ vs WJ(?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwFgTv63xzs - At 4:38 an example of how 236+AA can be unreliable.

Japanese Avdol players in GameVersus stream - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYH31GLaiMQ - Timestamps:

* 18:24 vs DIO
* 2:14:08 vs Old Joseph
* 3:41:30 vs Devo
* 3:47:32 vs Devo

### Tech Videos from WJ's Twitter

Double overhead with j.236+A: https://twitter.com/WJ\_HD/status/1022155421543325696

Overhead/empty jump low mixups with crossfire and standcrash combos: https://twitter.com/WJ\_HD/status/1022130008616140800 https://twitter.com/WJ\_HD/status/1021438385276170240