Sanji

## Introduction

Sanji does a bunch of kicking as the chef of Luffy's crew. Why kicking? Gotta keep those hands safe.

Do you like characters with a ton of built in mix-ups that can lead into some stylish pressure or crazy situational combos that can easily kill with enough meter? Sanji might be the character for you, because his A combo tree is nothing but mix-ups. Some pretty powerful ones, too. His tools are overall great and he's one of two characters with access to healing.

### **Pros & Cons**

+ Great range for how fast his jab is
+ Insane combos with R+X stun
+ His A combo tree has plenty of options for some strong mix-ups
+ Fast anti air with j.A
+ Access to the best healing support in the game
+ His dive does 50 damage rather than the normal 10
+ Best lines in the game when fighting a female character

- Little hitstun on most of his moves and poor benefit from lag cancelling means little combo potential without his R+X
- R+X is incredibly hard to hit, almost to the point where the opponent has to do the most unsafe option or you get the hardest of landing catches or reads
- j.A doesn't do enough damage when you consider it's his only good anti air option
- R+A leaves a lot to be desired as a special as it's just another way to begin your A combo tree. Blockdash A does a much better job and has less commitment

## Supports

### **Zeff**

Jump support. Low HP and good damage. Zeff has the terrible dive angle that some jump supports have causing him to jump above the opponent just to fly off and miss. Not that you'd want him to hit anyways because his attack knocks up and can ruin any sort of combos or pressure you might have just earned. Outclassed by Conis.

### **Conis**

Recovery support. Large HP. She will send out waves that will heal Sanji if he touches them. Conis is absolutely amazing as a recovery support. With the proper setup or some solid plays, you can heal a ton of HP with Conis. Her healing can potentially change the whole fight and bring Sanji back into the game if given the time to heal him. She's also great as a form of pressure. Sanji isn't the greatest at going in but with Conis out, they can't just sit there and watch you heal. By bringing Conis out, you essentially force them to come to you since their only other option would be to let you heal for free.

## Combos

* A>A, A>A>A
* R+X, j.X, A+X>A, L+(A>B), L+Y (Before multi hit of AB super), j.X, A+X>A, L+(A>B)

## Strategy

### **Vanilla**

Conis forces the opponent to fight you instead of retreating to grab chests while allowing Sanji to set up shop around chest spawns. Sanji will have to look for some opportunities to hit for some good damage in his mix-up tricks. You won't get too many combos with Sanji unless you get a stun with R+X which is easier said than done in this meta of support spam. As long as you can keep yourself healthy with Conis and outplaying their approach to stop your Conis shenanigans, you'll go places.

### **Modded**

Sanji has a quick A jab with some solid range to it but because of poor lag cancelling, you'll have to keep it for pokes. Sanji benefits from conditioning the opponent to either hold block or be quick to drop it and try to move out of the way. Sanji has an option for either choice. A>X is your main tool for opponents feeling a little too comfortable in their shields. Just continuing the combo as normal if they get used to A>X will do the job. A>A>X is a weird mix-up that's best used on guards. It can be a bit difficult to punish and you have two options out of it. You can either press X again to deliver a kick before landing or land normally and attack or grab. Solid use of this A combo tree will be your main method of fighting up close. Once you have enough meter and you're falling a bit behind, Conis will be your next option. She's a solid choice to spend a bar of meter on for most of the match. Get a nice setup to spawn her and white knight her so you can get as much healing out of her as possible. The opponent will have no choice but to approach you while Conis is out because they can't let you heal for free. Take advantage of this and form a plan to deal with their option. The pressure will be on them.

## Match-ups

### **General Information**

Sanji can struggle against opponents who never give him the chance to get into his flow as he will have difficulties properly beginning his mix-ups and opponents who are good at keeping up the aggression will likely kill Conis quite easily too. Characters who suck at approaching but benefit from stage control or zoning will have an extremely hard time dealing with Conis as long as you can protect her from the projectiles.