Tifa Lockhart (Dissidia 012)/Strategy

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Strategy

Tifa is an agile close-range fighter with fast pokes and a decent aerial moveset, but lacks effective ranged attacks and utility against lingering projectiles. Her strengths shine when fighting on the ground.

Offense (Ground)

• Poke with Waterkick and use it's Somersault HP link. It combos into assists and is difficult to react to with Assist Change.
• Utilise her fast ground dash to close distance and provoke a response from the opponent. They will want to defend against Waterkick, which informs Tifa's decision making.
• To get around blocking, mix up with jumps, a Blizzard projectile, a ground HP or Beat Rush feints. The damage on Beat Rush is not particularly high, but it is relatively safe on whiff, teleports behind the opponent when close and it can be easily hit confirmed.

Defense (Ground)

• Avoid linear attacks with Tifa's run speed by moving sideways or away from them. Depending on the match-up, this is a safe way to create situations for punishing whiffs and dodges.
• Whiff Waterkick to build assist meter faster.
• Catch an opponent's whiff with Blizzara from afar, but be wary of assist whiff punishes.
• Blizzara becomes Ranged Mid priority at the end of it’s traversal. If it hits the opponent, Tifa can charge up Meteor Strike during that period and have it’s followup punch activated for free, which has a decent amount of tracking.
• Blizzaga can also be used pre-emptively to force a dodge or punish a reckless dodge. It's slow to come out, but it spawns above the opponent with a max range restriction. So if they're already pre-occupied, Tifa can occasionally benefit from throwing out Blizzaga. It wall rushes on the ground and even combos into Waterkick, Meteodrive and Meteor Strike if she can follow up before the wall rush happens.
• Rolling Blaze has good upwards tracking, use it against airborne opponents who try to attack into Tifa.

Dodge Punishment (Ground)

• Ground Dash to follow the opponent's neutral / side dodge and dodge punish with Waterkick > Somersault.
• Burning Arrow has enough tracking to also hit neutral and side dodges. It's a single hit HP, so it bypasses EX Revenge. A good move for a decisive read.
• Rolling Blaze forward ground dodge, but misses against other ground dodges.
• Beat Rush feint is Tifa's primary post-dodge defensive option on the ground. She is invincible during the feint teleport and it can also teleport behind the opponent if they're close enough.
• Meteor Strike lowers Tifa's hurtbox, which can be used against air-to-ground dodge punish attempts.

Offense (Aerial)

With the absence of Blizzards and HP links, Tifa's aerial strategies change up a little to accomodate her feints more. Feints become more prominent in the air due to lack of aforementioned tools, but also increased (applicable) HP attack range and more braveries having a feint cancel at the beginning. Her offensive gameplan works similiarly, dashing quickly in the air to close gaps and create interactions up close.

• Elbow Smash can be used like Waterkick without an HP link. Good for approaching and poking, it combos into fast bravery assists with the first hit.
• Moonsault Kick is Tifa's high damaging midair bravery. Much like Beat Rush, Tifa can teleport behind the opponent by feinting.
• Just like on the ground, Tifa can mix up her attack timing with air jumps, feints and charging up an HP (Meteor Crusher in this case). Remember to refresh air jumps with quickmoves.
• Feinting a bravery attack during it's startup can punish reflexive blocking, because Tifa can delay the attack long enough to bypass a regular block's active period. Use this sparingly until you have a good grasp on the opponent's habits.
• Rolling Blaze feints have a lot of tracking and control a good amount of space below Tifa. Use it to pressure opponents staying below her and call out dodges with the feint followup. Grounded Rolling Blaze has good tracking as well (upwards instead of downward), but sees less overall.
• Against grounded opponents, be careful when using Falcon's Dive. It’s rather predictable in those instances, but has good reward on hit with Kuja, Sephiroth and Aerith assists.
• Against LV2 Assist Change, feints can be used to lock opponent’s assist with all of Tifa’s feint maneuvers. A similiar strategy can be applied with delayed Waterkick hp links.

Defense (Aerial)

• Elbow Smash is the primary air poke for fending off opponents with least risk.
• Use Elbow Smash and Falcon's Dive to build assist meter on whiff.
• LV2 Assist Change staggers won’t net much reward beyond Elbow Smash or Falcon Dive. However, Tifa can free air dash and then try charging up Meteor Crusher to enforce a mindgame situation with air dodges and interruptions.

Dodge Punishment (Aerial)

• Free Air Dash into Elbow Smash works as a lower risk dodge punish attempt. It's still committal though.
• Charge Meteor Crusher to catch air dodge and late block attempts. This attack has very short range without charging, so make sure to release the HP button after confirming
• Rolling Blaze feints can catch dodges below Tifa. Feint the first Rolling Blaze and try to see if the opponent dodged.

Counterstrategies

Offense

• Tifa's effective range is short and often relies on approaching with a dash or a telegraphed attack, so being able to engage from mid / long range can be very beneficial. Sephiroth is
• When dodge punishing Tifa, be mindful of her feints after a dodge. It avoids otherwise conventional dodge punish timing, but she must commit to attacking afterwards to capitalise on the whiff. Block the followup or use tracking moves like Cecil's Paladin Force to catch her after the feint teleport. Assist can also interrupt her feint followup if it's used before Tifa hits you.

Defense

• Jump to avoid Tifa's Waterkick. It is a consistent threat whenever she's fighting on the ground, but it has little to no anti-air capability.
• Rolling Blaze has good vertical tracking with feints, but they primarily move towards the opponent in one direction: Upwards on the ground and downwards in the air. Dodging above aerial Rolling Blaze makes it whiff completely and moving away from Tifa with a dash or quickmove can avoid both ground and air Rolling Blazes.
• Even though Rolling Blaze has lots of active frames, Tifa can still be hit after feinting it. She isn't vulnerable for long if she decides to Rolling Blaze once more after the feint.
• Tifa has no active hitbox when she charges forward with Meteor Crusher. If she's charging the attack, it is possible to hit her out of it on startup and during the tracking movement.
• Tifa struggles to bypass traps and discourage their use without assist. Garland's Cyclone, The Emperor's Thunder Crest and Ultimecia's charged Knight's Lance all give her a lot of trouble.

Meter Usage

• Both Blizzara and Blizzaga can be whiff punished with an assist on reaction. Aerith assist doesn't work, but other strong assists like Kuja, Jecht, Sephiroth and Tidus do.
• On hit, Meteor Strike and Meteor Crusher have a telegraphed last hit. Take advantage of LV2 Assist Change's long guard frames; Using it early to block the last HP hit creates more frame advantage, making it easier to punish overall.