DIO

## Introduction

**Dio Brando** (ディオ・ブランドー *Dio Burandō*), known simply as **DIO** from *Part 3* onwards, is the main antagonist in both *Phantom Blood* and *Stardust Crusaders* and the final Boss in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage For The Future*.

DIO is a vampire and a sworn enemy of the Joestar family. After being nearly defeated and destroyed by Jonathan Joestar, DIO and his servants manage to sneak onto a ship with Jonathan and his wife Erina. Jonathan sacrifices his life to save Erina by destroying the ship's engine. In order to survive, DIO severed Jonathan's head and combined with his body, then locked himself in a coffin for nearly 100 years until he was found by a group of fishermen. After escaping his coffin, DIO searches for a new way to end the bloody feud with the Joestar family and discovers how to become a Stand user. Waiting to restore his full power and learn the abilities of his Stand 'The World', he sets his hideout in Cairo, where he plans to defeat the Joestars once and for all and take over the entire world.

In Heritage For The Future, he is regarded as debatably one of the most difficult characters to play, requiring insanely high execution for his basic combos. He is a mostly close range type character featuring some high damaging strikes and fast movement. He shares a lot of similarities with Jotaro, however, unlike him, he has several long-distance attacks in his arsenal.

### **Pros & Cons**

+ Fast movement and strong offense
+ Solid meter build
+ High damage attacks
+ Very stylish, heavy damaging and long combos
+ Possibly one of the best projectile supers in the game

- Very high learning curve and execution requirements
- Poor defense and many punishable attacks

- Weak mixup game, especially with no meter
- Tall stature; especially with Stand On
- Many horrible moves which you should avoid using at all, most notably:

* s.623+A/B/C - considered to be the worst move in the game leaves you wide open for way too long, not to mention you'll take increased damage when hit while using it.
* Guard Cancel can be quickly teched from and punished unless used to knock air attacks.
* His grab can be quickly teched and punished by everyone except for Rubber Soul. (Some punishes like Mariah's are incredibly tight and difficult to pull off and don't reward enough damage to warrant it)
* 236+AA - Stand OFF Checkmate-da! has a very long startup and almost no invincibility frames.
* 214+AA - Roadroller-da! is very predictable and will most likely be punished with a full combo.

## Combos

### **Stand ON Chain Combos**

Some of DIO's more unique chain combos. They do okay damage, for the most part, however, it is highly recommended you learn his BnBs as well. 5B and 2B are interchangeable as a second hit and 5C and 2C are interchangeable as the third hit. These combinations can be used in Tandem Attack.
s.5A>5A>5A - DIO's auto-combo. Two jabs into a high kick. The last hit cannot be canceled. 3 hit combo.
s.5A>5B>5C - 3 hit combo ending with a high kick.
s.6A>6B>6C - Shortcut for DIO's s.5A>5B>2C. The last hit is low. 3 hit combo.
s.5A>5A>5B>5C - 4 hit combo ending with a high kick.
s.5A>5A>5B>5B - 3 hit combo into a rather sluggish overhead punch. The last hit is High. Not very useful.
s.4A>4B>4C - 3 hit combo ending with a very fast low kick. The last hit recovers extremely fast and hits low.
s.2A>2B>2C - 3 hit combo ending with a sweep. The first hit is low. Hard knockdown on all enemies without their Stand ON.

### **Basic Combos**

Many of the following combos can start from any jumping attack of DIO.

#### **Stand OFF**

An important note about DIO's combos is that a lot of them use a trick called 'Negative Edge'.It is required in all of DIO's 214+A moves. Negative edge is explained thoroughly in Zarythes BnB Guide as well as the Home Page of the Wiki.

d.5C 214C d.5C - To do this combo, you have to negative edge the 214C. Essentially what you are going to be doing is 66 (dash), hold 6 while pressing C, hold C, roll the stick backward (3214), then release C at 4. Afterwards, you dash and do 5C. You can also do 2C for a knockdown, but you should only do this against opponents with their Stand OFF or else they will land after getting hit by 2C and punish you easily.

2A 2A 2A - DIO can link his crouching jabs up to 3 times. 2A can also link into 5B and 5C if needed.

2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A>5B s.214A/B/C 214A/B/C - DIO's primary meterless BnB. It is actually quite difficult to pull off but necessary to learn.

If you are starting out with DIO, this is going to be one of the first combos you learn. In this combo, you start learning some things about how DIO's moves work around the negative edge and one of his most important links, 2A 6A+S. The first thing you have to learn about this combo is how to negative edge 2A into 214A. What you do is start from neutral (5), go to 2, press A as you hit 2, hold A, roll back (do 14), then release A. If you do this fast enough it should combo. You dash immediately after his Blazing Fist comes out and you reach the next quirk of Dio. His dash can be canceled as soon as it comes out by tapping down+back (1). Now you do not want to cancel the dash right away. If you do, you will be too far away by the time it comes to do 6A+S and it will either whiff or be blocked as the hitbox of s.5A moves towards the opponent. Even worse, s.5A will not even come out because you did not give enough time for the Blazing Strike to recover. The next part is doing 6A+S. This is the third unique part of DIO that takes place in this combo. DIO's 2A can be walk canceled. Essentially, after you do 1A 2A, you press 6 to walk cancel the recovery of 2A and then press S+A. What you do exactly is holding 6 then immediately after press S+A while still holding it. You should already have the last part of this combo down if you attempted to do any of his Stand ON combos mentioned before.

#### **Stand ON**

s.5A>5A>5B s.214A/B/C 214A/B/C - A very straightforward combo that ends with a Wall Rush/Hard Knockdown.
d.s.2B s.5A>5A>5B s.214A/B/C 214A/B/C - d.s.2B s.5A is a very tight link.
s.j.C d.s.2B s.5A>5B 214s.A/B/C 214s.A/B/C - The beginning of this combo is the hardest part as it requires a very precise dash after the jump-in.

s.5B s.214A/B/C 214A/B/C - Simple confirm.
s.5C s.214A/B 214A/B - This combo requires solid timing. The C variation of Blazing Strike is too slow to combo this way.
d.s.2A s.214A/B/C 214A/B/C - Requires solid timing
d.s.2B s.214A/B/C 214A/B/C - Simple confirm but you can go for s.5A after d.s.2B instead.
d.s.2C s.214A/B/C 214A/B/C - Simple confirm.

s.5A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C]\*n 66 j.C [2A]\*n 2B 236C hj.C d.5A [2A]\*n - A very important link that can combo into the Tandem Attack or Blazing Strike when you're out of meter. The timing is very precise. This combo requires 1 stock of super.

s.236+AA s.236+AA j.s.236+AA - Decent way to spend 3 stocks of super by throwing knives. Make sure the first set connects before sending out another one. If the first set of knives hits the opponent perfectly and you send another set right after, this combo will do amazing amounts of damage, but heavily relies on the first knives hitting properly which is impossible to react to because the second knives need to be thrown out right when the first set hits thus it is very difficult to perform without wasting super meter.

### **Advanced Combos**

These combos require the mastery of the following tricks: Negative Edge, Dash Cancel, Walk Cancel, Dash Buffer, 1 Frame Links and Tandem Repetitions up to atleast 5x

#### **Stand OFF**

2A 2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C]\*n 66 j.C [2A]\*n 2B 236C hj.C d.5A [2A]\*n 5C - DIO's primary Tandem Attack BnB. Requires 1 stock of super.

2A 2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C]\*n 66 j.C 2A 2A 214+A 66 1A 1A 6S+A>5B s.214+A/B/C 214+A/B/C - Alternative combo finisher. Requires 1 stock of super.

2A 2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C]\*n 66 j.C 2A 2A 214+A 1A d.5A 236+C hj.C d.5A [2A]\*n 5C - Alternative combo finisher. Requires 1 stock of super.

d.5C 214C 66 1A d.5A 236C hj.C d.5A [2A]\*n 5C - Blazing Fists combo, starting with dashing 5C. 2A d.5A is a very important link for meterless combos in Stand OFF. This combo also builds meter very effectively: If possible, it is used as a combo finisher in most combos for its meter build and hard knockdown.

d.5C 214C 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C]\*n 66 j.C [2A]\*n 2B 236C hj.C d.5A [2A]\*n 5C - Uses 1 stock of super.

2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C 5A>5B>5C 236+AA] (d.5A after third tandem hit, d.5C after sixth tandem hit) B A 6 A C - Requires 3 stocks of super. Combo ends with Bloody Summoning and hard knockdown.

2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C 5A>5B>5C 236+AA 236+AA] (66 j.5C after third tandem hit, 66 j.5C 66 after sixth tandem hit) 214+AA - Requires 4 stocks of Super. Steamroller Tandem Combo.

2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S [4A>4B>4C] j.B 6S+A 6B 6C 6 C A 6 S - Time Stop Stand Crash setup alt. Requires at least 4 stocks super.

2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C]\*1 j.B S+A>5B>62C A 6 S - Time Stop Stand Crash setup. Requires at least 4 stocks of super.

#### **Stand ON**

s.5A d.s.2B s.5A d.s.2A 214S [5A>5B>5C]\*n 66 j.C [2A]\*n 2B 236C hj.C d.5A [2A]\*n 5C - s.5A d.s.2B requires an insanely precise dash. If done right it can be looped several times, however, it is nearly frame perfect. Requires 1 stock of super.

j.s.5C d.s.2B s.5A d.s.2A 214+S [5A>5B>5C]\*n 66 j.C [2A]\*n 2B 236C hj.C d.5A [2A]\*n 5C - Uses 1 stock of super.

#### **The famous DIO loop**

DIO's famous infinite, the 'SouI loop'. Named after the player who popularized the use of the loop for DIO players.

This loop will **NOT** drop randomly due to the IPS and is considered the easiest infinite in the game. However, while it may be the easiest infinite it still isn't *easy.* It still requires you to know how to negative edge and dash cancel, and to do that quite fast and consistently for the loop not to drop.

The loop can be used to combo into his tandem confirm as well as his normal BnB.

In corner:

2A 2A 2A 214A 661A 2A 2A 214A...... - Remember to cancel your dash as it wont work otherwise and always go for 3 2A's as it gives you enough time to recover from the 214A.

Midscreen:

2A 2A 2A 214A 661A 2A 2A 214A.... - It's the same combo, but instead of doing the dash cancel as soon as you can, you need to time it to be as late as possible while still canceling the dash. In midscreen you need to do a 'deep dash' as i call it, basically dash deep enough to be able to link 3 2A's but still cancel the dash to not be late enough to link 214A.

#### **Stand Crash Timestop Combos**

DIO's Timestop requires a standcrash knockdown to get it off safely. Most of the time the easiest setup for standcrash is a tandem combo ending in 2C.

Here are setups for every character from all of DIO's best combo starters

(THESE SETUPS REQUIRE YOU TO KNOW HIS BASIC TANDEM BNB)

**THIS SECTION WILL BE REDONE WITH A PROPER VIDEO WHENEVER I CAN BE ARSED TO
-Zarythe**

For simplicity's sake, each notation is missing the actual tandem confirm part, which is

2A 214A 66 1A 1A 6S+A d.s.2A 214S

Tier 1

**JOTARO**

2A,2A > ABC j.A s.5A s.2C > Timestop

661A > ABC j.B s.5A s.2C > Timestop

j.C > AAB j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > AAB j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

**ICE**

2A,2A > ABC j.A s.5A s.2C > Timestop

661A > ABC j.B s.5A s.2C > Timestop

j.C > AAB j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > AB j.B s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

**CHAKA**

2A,2A > ABC j.A s.5A s.2C > Timestop

661A > ABC j.B s.5A s.2C > Timestop

j.C > AAB j.B s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > AAB j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

Tier 2

**AVDOL**

2A,2A > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

661A > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

j.C > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

**Polnareff**

2A,2A > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

661A > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

j.C > ABC j.B s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

**OLDSEPH**

2A,2A > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

661A > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

j.C > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

**IGGY**

2A,2A > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

661A > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

j.C > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > AAB j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

Tier 3

**Both Kakyoins**

2A,2A > ABC j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

661A > ABC j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

j.C > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

**Alessi**

2A,2A > ABC j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

661A > ABC j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

j.C > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > ABC j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

**Midler**

2A,2A > ABC j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

661A > ABC j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

j.C > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > ABC j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

Tier 4

**DIO**

2A,2A > AAB j.C s.5A s.5B s.2C > Timestop

661A > AABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

j.C > ABC j.B s.5A s.2C > Timestop

66C > ABC j.C s.5A s.2C > Timestop

## General Strategy

### **Summary**

DIO's general strategy is to stay unpredictable with teleports and dash-ins, stay super offensive and capitalize on every mistake the opponent makes, learning your 2A > BNB confirm is essential to catch buttons on wakeup, after a roll or punishing whiffs. DIO has no 'real' mixup game or moves but you can mix your opponent up with erratic movement and offense. This is very hard to get used to but you need to figure out what makes your opponent tick or what makes them try to disrespect offense. If for example you do 2A 2A 214A and they guard cancel it or try to press buttons, start doing gaps in your pressure to get an opening. Teleporting in a way that makes them guess which side you'll be on is also somewhat useful. 661A 214A > BNB is probably DIO's best offensive tool as it's fast, hard to react to and easy to combo into if you've got the correct distance, and 66C 236S is a great poke combo and a great check if the opponent is walking forward. To use 66C 236S you need to bait the opponent into thinking its their turn and when they try to advance, blast them with the move for good fast damage, it's also safe on block so it doesn't really matter if they block it.

Since DIO heavily lacks any mixup moves, i want to heavily encourage an erratic rush down playstyle with a stand off DIO, his pressure game is amazing when done in a smart way with his dashing and jumping moves such as 66C and 661A and a lot of his moves control the footsie game on the ground and in the air. In stand on you have multiple good short range pokes such as 5B and 2A that you can use to keep your opponent in blockstun, as well as giving you the advantage of doing a quick 236+AA super if they try to press buttons.

Like previously mentioned, DIO needs to play a 'fake' mixup game within his rushdown, trying to get the opponent to disrespect and catch his buttons or catch them trying to walk forward. This comes with time but for any aspiring DIO mains, it's a bad habit after practicing his BnB to always try to go for it. It becomes very predictable and thats what kills a DIO. Sometimes you need to intentionally do shorter combos from different starters to get the opponent guessing what your next move will be. Always rushing down with 661A or j.C wont get you anywhere.

If you've got the opponent in the corner, it's hard to keep them there with his normal blockstrings. Instead give the opponent some breathing room, about a dash length is optimal and wait for them to think its their turn. When they do, rush right in and depending on what they try to do choose the best move. It's really all about conditioning the opponent to things like rolling or trying to attack you from the corner so its really up to you, and your own skill to determine how to go about it.

With all this, what really differentiates great DIO's from good DIO's is their ability to pick up a combo from any stray hit they get. Its incredibly difficult given his already tight links, and now you need to react to a stray hit too.

DIO is the scramble king, if you can manage the opponent in a messy situation and pick all the right moves you are unstoppable. Create chaotic situations for the opponent and navigate trough them with the best of your abilities and get off a combo. When most people are put into situations that are messy, they tend to panic a little and get predictable, once you're comfortable with your own scramble game you can start to see the predictable moves the opponent will do and how to punish them, this is your way to victory as DIO. (In matchups against Kakyoin, Ice and Avdol, this is a very risky playstyle, in those matchups play more patiently)

But if your rushdown game isn't working, it's time to play safe and smart. Use Stand ON and hold 4 and mash s.5A to build meter, keep the opponent away checked with quick s.2A's and s.5B's and use a the rekka combo as a blockstring if they get too close. Punish any predictable moves with s.236AA. s.5C is your anti air, its decent but easily trades and that's not what you always want. Air mudas are a great way to keep an opponent away who likes to double jump a lot.

#### Stand ON / Stand OFF

One of the things you absolutely NEED to master with DIO is going from Stand OFF to Stand ON or vice versa. It's very important you have the execution to go from stand off to stand on and do whatever move you need to do in stand on. If you're in stand off and you need to quickly throw stand on knives you absolutely NEED to know how to do it fast. 236S is a great tool to go into Stand ON in a blockstring, but if whiffed its fairly slow. Get very comfortable to go from Stand OFF to Stand ON or from Stand ON to Stand OFF fast or you will never maximize your potential as a DIO player.

#### 236+S

This move is your savior in situations where you lack meter to use a reversal tandem or just really want the opponent away from you. It's DIO's fastest move at 2F, has amazing priority and damage and should be your go to move in situations where the enemy cannot meaty you in a wakeup situation. It doesn't link to any other move but it can be installed with a tandem cancel. You want to whiff s.214A at any part of the match, and if you do and it doesn't hit the enemy, your 236S becomes tandem cancellable.

5C 236C is also a way to punish unconfirmed tandems and even tandems that have no inputs in them. It's hard to do but possible. Wait for the stand to be right in front of you and do the attack. If done correctly you can punish all unconfirmed tandems, however if you miss and get hit, it could get costly for you. Use with caution.

#### Defense

With DIO, especially in defense you're always looking to maximize your perfect pushblock timings, and punishing the opponents whiffed moves with s.236AA Super. A good example is S.Dio's loop, if pushblocked correctly you can punish the whiffed S or C attack of S.Dio with your s.236AA super, doing massive damage.

Rarely do you want to use your guard cancel since it is punishable by a big part of the cast, but it can be good against characters who lack far reaching moves and jump ins. Use it carefully.

#### Air to air and Anti airs

DIO struggles a lot with defense, and its no surprise that his anti air game is weak as well. Your best options against a jump in in Stand on are to block, j.s.236A/B/C, s.5C, or surprisingly s.236A/B/C. However, s.5C has a long startup, j.s.236C is impossible to react with and s.236A/B/C might get punished.

In stand off, your best anti air moves are 5A+236S, 5B+236S and 2B, these are sleeper moves for a lot of DIO's. The hitboxes are great for hitting opponents out of the air at specific angles and you can cancel it into 236S right on hit for extra damage. The hard part comes from knowing at which angle the enemy is jumping from and using the correct punish. 2B is for opponents right above you, 5A and 5B are for opponents coming in from an angle. 5A can also be used as a tech chase if the opponent is right above you but it is a bit riskier.

For air to airs, j.s.236A/B/C and j.A/B are your buddies. j.C is a bit too slow for a decent air to air and its hitbox is downwards angled.

#### Tech Chasing

If the opponent is falling down from a jump, a hit or anything else and you're sure they've used up all their air options (which means that they cannot attack or do supers) you can actually anti air with 66C 236S or 66A/5A+236S, they cannot block it and even better is if you're crossing them under so they cannot attack you. It will launch the opponent again and you get another chance at it.

After knives, laser or any other launcher, you can start chasing them down in Stand OFF and wait for them to be in the correct height and 66C 236S them.

#### Okizeme

DIO's only meterless okizeme option is his 236C and doing 2A or hyperhopping with j.A to force the opponent into a 50/50 guess. If the 236C or your attack hit, you must immediately jump on the opposite side to confirm that the 236C keeps hitting them. On the last hits of 236C you can do 2C to sweep them down and then repeat the oki again. If the okizeme is blocked, you are left very open to many supers and punishes unless you keep your opponent in a blockstun with your 2A's or other normals.

For oki with meter, you need to use your tandem right as the opponent falls down (heavily dependent on the opponents wakeup speed) and setup either a 50/50 guess with your stands low attack or 5A 5A 5B >5B< with the last 5B becoming an overhead. If you setup the stand to do the overhead or low as a meaty on the opponents wakeup, you can go for the opposite attack creating a near unblockable situation that can be comboed into DIO's BnB.

Here is a video with most examples -->

#### Using Laser as a mindgame tool

Space Ripper Stingy Eyes is one of those moves that has multiple ways to use it offensively and defensively. Always use it fullscreen, never close up. **It's highly punishable if your opponent realizes how to play around it, most of the time it's situational, USE IT WITH CAUTION! However here are the few things I personally have found a use for it**

Option 1. If your enemy has a tendency to air tech after the laser hits them, delay your next laser right after you hit them so that after they air tech, they will fall down right into another laser.

Option 2. You can condition your opponent to never air tech the laser on hit. You can do this by using laser on them after they tech hit, after a few hits they should realize to either double jump over it with a stand, or slow their decent with a special move, however if they do not, and decide to not air tech instead, you can timestop right after the laser hits, they won't air tech it, you get a hard knockdown on them since they didn't air tech and cant get to you in time, giving you a free timestop.

Option 3. If your opponent air techs towards you so that you cannot laser them, and they are close enough to land a jump in on you, cross them under by dashing to the direction they jumped from, then dash back towards them when they're landing, and hit them with 66C 236S just before they land.

Counter 1. If you're using the laser from fullscreen every time, trying to get them to air tech into more lasers or just trying to land hits, they will learn to either double jump with stand on (active stand) or delay their fall (Hol Horse glass/s.DIO stand attack in the air). This can end poorly for you if they play around it correctly

Counter 2. Especially DIO himself, as well as Kakyoin and V.Ice, can counter your lasers from the air.

DIO can throw stand on Knives from the air dealing massive damage, Kakyoin can land a normal or a super, and V.Ice can use his ball form or air dash to get to you and punish you that way.

#### How to deal with rolls

Since DIO cannot throw rolling opponents, you can instead jump backwards when your enemy is rolling towards you, and hitting them with a jumping attack (stand off), the spacing is hard to pull off and this requires you to remember your opponents rolling habits, but once they roll and you're jumping backwards, the jump in will punish if they try to press buttons after a roll, and at the very least put them in blockstun and make them more hesitant to keep rolling.

Because of the fact that DIO cant punish rolls, pressuring in a corner becomes very difficult. It is for this reason that when cornering an opponent its smart to keep a dash length of distance between you so you can react to a roll and continue pressure. The ability to read this out and use this tactic to its fullest potential will come with experience and time.

#### Teleport usage

Use teleports as an offensive tool, and as a mixup tool. You never want to stay predictable with teleports, as they can be grabbed out of. Start off the match with using teleport to get close and maybe land a combo, later on the opponent is conditioned to expect you to teleport next to them but instead teleport in place or teleport randomly a few times and then next to your opponent so they never expect what you're going to do and have a hard time punishing you. Especially if the opponent tries to grab you after each teleport, by teleporting in place you make them whiff an 6C attack, which can give you an opening to attack.

Since DIO's grab is punishable by most of the cast, you only want to teleport grab as a finisher, its hard to counter, hard to expect and is fast. It's very reliable as a round finisher, however, getting the correct spacing to teleport right next to your opponent is difficult, and if messed up, can lead to you whiffing a grab and getting punished.

Teleport into Bloody Summoning is a great tool if your opponent has started to press buttons after you teleport, expecting to punish your 2A poke or otherwise. If you notice your opponent doing this, simply teleport next to them and in the frames that DIO is flashing and dissapears, input the Bloody Summoning input and it comes out instantly after your teleport is done. It has invisibility frames on startup, thus making it a great punish for opponents who try to press buttons after your teleport. However, do note that if they do block, and you are close when they block, you are fully punishable, but if you're blocked and a bit further away than grab range, the super is not punishable.

#### Timestop without a Stand Crash combo

A few words about DIO's Timestop. Firstly, you can land it safely in only a standcrash combo, however, there are a few ways to condition your opponent in such a way that allows you to pull it off. The first one being the previously mentioned laser conditioning, however, the laser setup requires your opponents conditioning and is heavily dependent on reads and them not realizing it. And the last two are extremely situational and mostly for style.

The first one is to wait for your opponent to jump, preferably midscreen, have your stand on, and throw 2 sets of knives, if the enemy blocks in the air, you can input the timestop while the knives are hitting your opponent, still blocking the knives in the air. The blockstun is so long that you can safely get your timestop off if your spacing was correct. This however, doesn't work on all characters. Characters that have long reaching and fast specials or normals can punish you such as Hol Horse or Kakyoin's emerald splash super. Even Jotaro can punish you with 214 A, 214C if done fast enough.

Second setup is pure style. If your opponent is DIO, and they're dumb enough to use road roller and your stand is on, you can input your timestop just as the opponent dissapears from the screen, as they land the roadroller, your timestop specials invincibility frames makes the roadroller miss, letting you safely get it off and punish it. But this is SUPER SITUATIONAL AND STYLISH, RARELY IF EVER USEFUL.

## Matchup Strategy

#### Abdul

Play the best footsie game you can, stay mostly in Stand On to stay even against his amazing normals.

If Avdol goes into remote mode, use your 623/B/C teleport move and punish with 236+S. Why 236+S instead of a combo? Because if the Avdol is expecting you to do that, he can use the stand to hit you while you're starting up your combo with normals that do not stand crash the remote stand user. Keep in mind though that if an experienced player goes into remote and wants you to try to punish them, they will go into tandem while you try to hit them.

Some of Avdol's specials are punishable on pushblock and you can catch a punish with 661A if you're fast and know when to attack in between attacks.

You can use s.236+AA to punish his supers long startup and recoveries if you're fullscreen or the super whiffs. You can also roll through some of them and punish with a combo.

#### Alessi

Alessi really likes zoning DIO out with his great s.On normals. This means getting in on Alessi is difficult, infact i would say even pressuring a good Alessi is difficult. Because of his short posture jump ins are your best bet, as well as your worst option. If you whiff the jumping attack Alessi is free to do anything he wants, and if he blocks the jumping attack he can easily pushblock and sweep you, even in longer distances. Not to mention that he has a few good anti-airs and tech chase juggle options to keep you from jumping in.

As always your best bet is to abuse the whiffed buttons and punish with s.236+AA. For rushdown i personally prefer 661A 214A >BnB as it is the fastest most unpredictable attack you can do and usually may catch them off guard. Sometimes doing teleport in front of them and jumping at them will trick them into using a sweep or a normal instead of an anti air.

#### Black Polnareff

If you block b.Pol's rekka attempts, a lot of his moves are punishable with s.236AA super. His sword spin special and Million pricks specials can both be punished if blocked or whiffed. A lot of his pokes and jumpins can also be punished with a well timed s.236AA super.

Try to be cautious of jumping in on B.Pol since his 214 AA super is air unblockable and will deal massive damage.

DO NOT whiff 236C, s.623A/B/C on B.Pol, or any moves with long recovery since he WILL deal massive damage to you with 236AA super.

#### Chaka

This is a really even matchup, if not a perfect 5:5, but the few things DIO can do to mess up Chaka are to mainly stay in stand on and look for a stand crash with your normals.

Try not to jump in too much because Chaka can do his air to air, counter, super or just a basic anti air normal to catch you.

Keep your block strings short, Chaka has the best guard cancel in the game and can combo off of it, bait it out and punish accordingly.

If you get comboed by Chaka and they leave their stand on after a knockdown, wake up with 236+S, it will stand crash Chaka, leaving you free to do any combo you want.

#### Devo

Don't allow Devo too much free time in neutral, as this allows him to position the puppet. His roll and 5C can be bothersome, but with accurate timing, they can be cut off. Watch for Devo's j.C, it crosses up and is difficult to beat outright once it has started. Stay vigilant, pushblock, and look for openings to use Checkmate, especially while the puppet is moving to attack. Devo's crouching hurtbox and hit/hurt animation are low, so s.5a won't connect in those states. You'll want to use j.a for jump ins, but Devo's 5C will trade if pressed at same time. DIO's S.on air normals cannot hit crouching Devo. You can cross up w/j.a/b while he is crouching.

#### DIO

Since it's a mirror match, you want to watch out for DIO's pressure and offense. Time your pushblocks perfectly and punish every mistake with everything you have. DIO cannot excel in defense so its going to be a very rushdown heavy match, the first DIO to land a BNB confirm will usually take corner pressure and the round.

s.236AA can be punished with your own s.236AA if done right after the opponent, road roller can be blocked and punished with your own road roller.

Be wary of the opponent using j.s.236A/B/C as a Stand Crash tool in pressure, if done properly and stopped right on standcrash, DIO can combo into tandem.

#### Hol Horse

Against Hol Horse, you want to pressure a lot. Use s.236+AA super to punish moves with long recoveries and constantly keep moving to avoid his zoning, using teleport and dashing jump ins are great. If Hol Horse rolls, never press a button because his buttons beat yours.

Never grab him, or press a button after his roll, instead either do a neutral jump and hope to catch him pressing a button, or teleport behind or away from him.

If Hol does his 236+AA/AB/AC super, you can avoid it entirely by just rolling trough it taking no chip damage, or alternatively Teleport behind them to punish.

If the Hol player likes to do j.623 you can punish with s.236+AA right before Hol starts decending towards the ground dealing massive damage.

#### Hol & Boingo

A lot of the same things that apply to Hol Horse but instead you need to be aware of his Command Grab and his faster S bullet zoning which can really mess you up.

#### Iggy

- Since DIO's normal BNB combo drops on stand off iggy due to his small hitbox, you need to capitalize on 66C 236S dash in and shorter combos as well as DIO's loop. Iggy's also like to go for grabs since his oki and biggest damage source comes from that grab, play your neutral avoiding the possibility of getting grabbed.

#### Jotaro

This matchup is very hard for DIO, everything DIO wants to do is stuffed by Jotaros great s.ON normals and since they're so fast its hard for DIO to whiff punish them and start a combo. Additionally since DIO's defensive options are weak, a lot of Jotaro's okizeme and pressure is hard or impossible to counter.

Your best bet is to stay active, aggressive and try your hardest to whiff punish some normals. s.236AA is a good way to punish long recovering moves like star finger (if not done on your wakeup) and moves like Jotaros 214A/B/C. For more predictable Jotaros, they like to do 66C in s.OFF, if you're fullscreen and see them startup a dash, immediately do s.236AA for a punish, it's a good way to condition them to be scared of dashing in.

If Jotaro is in s.OFF he is not as scary for DIO. A lot of his jabs are slower than DIO's and its easier to pressure him due to his weaker options.

For combo starting, its best to learn the moves where Jotaro is punishable. For example his full rekka combo's last hit is punishable on block and can get you a combo from 2A.

Try to avoid jumping in, Jotaro's s.ON jabs can anti air juggle you easily.

For neutral, 66C 236S is a great poke with a lot of priority, as well as staying in s.ON and doing s.5B as a jab usually confirmed into a 214A 214A rekka combo.

If there is anything you should watch out for its his 214AA super, Star Breaker. It can virtually punish anything you whiff / is blocked and does a lot of damage, this is why its so hard to pressure him since he has such a great reversal super in s.OFF and s.ON. If you notice a Jotaro player doing this, bait it out with small blockstrings and block immediately.

#### Old Joseph

Oldseph is a slow character with a fair bit of slow moves. He is easy to pressure and whiff punish and you can get a free timestop from a s.2C knockdown due to his wakeup speed.

Remember to fish for a 236+S after their custom combo to stand crash them.

#### Kakyoin

If the Kakyoin player is experienced, you need to watch out for 3 major things. His midscreen sweep, his IOH (instant overhead) and his Net setup. If you get knocked down by the sweep he can try doing it again or do IOD close up hitting you high and leading to massive combos. Getting in on Kakyoin is difficult as well due to his net setups and having excellent defense and offense. Your best bet is to s.j.5C and do s.j.236C to standcrash him, upon standcrash, you need to immediately stop doing air mudas and confirm into a tandem with 663A 214S. Active stand punches get rid of his nets, but can get you caught if you space yourself poorly.

Punishing Kakyoin's Stand on normals with s.236AA super is also a good way of dealing damage, but it wastes meter.

If the Kakyoin likes to setup nets and poke from afar, a well timed Stingy Ripper Space Eyes will catch them off guard, but beware, since Kakyoin can air dash he can get to you fast if you try to catch him again with the laser.

Both Kakyoins have a long wakeup time, giving you plenty of time to set up an oki with 236C j.A or 2A and keeping them under pressure.

This matchup is not good for DIO, having meter and ALWAYS landing your combos is your only chance against an experienced Kakyoin player.

#### Khan

Pushblock his j.C and 2A mixup and punish with s.5B, 214B, 214B or s.236AA super after pushblocking. Try not to jump in on Khan since his j.C will beat your air options

#### Mariah

DIO can use his grabs against her as long as he is not doing it near a corner. Combine it with Teleports when she is preparing to throw any of her projectile attacks from afar. Just do not teleport into her Magnets. Your grab outdamages her punish should you go for it, but you also give her a level so it is questionably worth.

#### Midler

Do not, i repeat DO NOT play a jump in heavy rushdown game against Midler. It will hurt. Her cars are amazing as anti airs and she can easily tech chase you even after the car. If you really need to rush her down, i recommend going for her when shes landing down from a jump. Try to cross her under or even go for 66C 236S as shes still in the air.

Midlers really like to jump so be prepaired to air to air and anti air midler a lot. Remember to play the footsie game at a distance, if Midler gets a grab in youre in a world of pain because her oki game is strong, so try to keep your distance if possible.

Remember that if she throws the car super out in neutral, she cannot block. If she used the car super in stand off she can roll but as long as you know when to throw out your s.236+AA you can punish that.

#### New Kakyoin

Since New Kakyoin relies a lot on his Stand off grip special you want to pushblock his attacks and punish the blocked grip with s.236AA super. In the air you should always try to keep your stand on and stay safe with air Mudas.

A lot of matchup strategy from normal Kakyoin carries over to New Kak, watch out for his nets and 50/50 setups, try to standcrash with air mudas if you can.

Both Kakyoins have a long wakeup time, giving you plenty of time to set up an oki with 236C j.A or 2A and keeping them under pressure.

#### Petshop

d.5C 236S will do a good amount of damage against him. Knives can stop him from putting pressure on the opponent, and Pet Shop's 3C is free against it. If timed right, you can punish 3C with a meterless 2A BnB.

#### Polnareff

All you can really do is punish his longer pokes with s.236+AA and try to land 661A to start a combo when the polnareff messes up. This matchup really sucks for DIO since Polnareff's Shooting Star move can destroy you as you don't have any way to fight it except for j.s.236+AA when hes about to release it, but it almost never works and costs 1 meter to just get rid of the shooting star he can set up again right after.

#### Rubber Soul

Against Rubber, you want to learn the matchup, theres a lot of specific things about rubbers combos you need to learn to block and tech out of, but generally you want to punish a lot of whiffed stand attacks with s.236AA super such as goop counter, goop grab and some air S moves he has. Watch out for rolls, while you can punish them with a grab since Rubber has a slow tech time and slow starting supers, Rubber can do a command grab right after so you still need to watch out.

Avoid getting cornered with your stand on at all costs, It's nearly impossible to escape his pressure.

#### Shadow DIO

Pushblock his loop, punish with s.236AA. Punish jump-ins or dash-ins with 66C 236S.

If Shadow DIO goes for a crossup in oki, you can reversal it with a tandem 214S and go for a combo.

Shadow DIO likes to jump S a lot, so staying in s.ON and going for s.236AA in the air or on the ground when they jump can punish that, but if missed or spaced poorly they take minimal damage and you just waste meter.

Shadow DIO is easy to pressure since he has no good reversal super and mostly saves meter for timestop, but his guard cancel is good, so watch out when pressuring the opponent.

In fullscreen, your 6, CBA, 6 Laser is faster than s.DIO's laser or knives and usually can catch him easily, however if he does knives, his animation can duck the laser and hit you with knives so be careful when you do your own laser.

#### Vanilla Ice

Since almost every option V.Ice has beats DIO's options, you want to play a very smart neutral, build meter with holding 4 and whiffing s.5A. Try to land s.j.5C into s.j.236C air mudas to standcrash, and confirm with tandem upon landing with 663A 214S.

If playing from afar and the ice player is trying to get to you with air dashes or his ballform, you can catch him with lasers or knives, however in ballform he takes less damage so make sure not to waste meter while doing so.

Close up, you really can't do much except try to catch a whiffed stand on normal with 663A 214A bnb confirm. V.Ice's normals do a lot of damage and beat a lot of DIO's offensive options so you really need to play it smart.

#### Young Joseph

A lot of things that Young Joseph wants to do can be punished with s.236+AA super, dealing massive damage. In addition staying mobile with teleport and avoiding the zoning can catch the y.joseph off guard.

A lot of his moves and supers are punishable on block so make sure to read the situation and punish accordingly.

Be wary of jump ins because of his great anti air super, if you think it is coming just don't press a button and block it in air.

## References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa5P\_vUyJN4 - Zarythe's basic BnB tutorial.
https://youtu.be/ZmhnY37Iwpc- Zarythe's DIO Combos and Setups

https://youtu.be/69a7S7i1BQw - Zarythes DIO Timestop Setups