Tidus (Dissidia 012)/Strategy

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Overview

Tidus is primarily an aerial fighter, whose mobility lends to both offense and defense, with defense being particularly strong. When going on the offense, he has to get close with dashes and pressure with Hop Step. Then when it is time to defend, he can ground dash away reliably, mitigate risk with backward air dodges and call out dodge punish attempts with a dodge attack like Cut & Run.

A very common effective strategy for Tidus is to dash feint to build assist gauge and control space between him and his opponent. This is at the core of high level Tidus play, where he can quickly transition to offense or defense with little riks.

Strategy

Offense (General)

Tidus' dash speed is great, but his mid range attacks aren't ideal for initiating offense. If you see the opponent miss an attack, this is a good opportunity to go in and provoke a response or line up a dodge punish.

• Free Air Dash / Ground Dash to the opponent and poke with Hop Step bravery. Mixup with air jumps, dash feints and blodges to keep the opponent guessing. Tidus does not have many effective offensive mixups in terms of raw attacks, so he has to utilise other techniques to punish opponents for retaliating. Maintaining position just outside of poke range with jumps and varying the timing with dash or Hop Step will help him land a hit or keep building assist gauge.

• If you are confident in reading the opponent's next attack, Energy Rain or the appropriate dodge bravery can evade it and strike back as a hard callout. Very risky, it is better to get comfortable with braveries and movement first.

Defense (General)

• Hop Step > air dodge cancel (backwards). The bread-and-butter of Tidus' defense and assist meter building strategy. Hop Step's low recovery allows Tidus to repeat this quickly, and his fast fall speed ratio after air dodge makes it hard for opponents to hit Tidus out of air dodges. Mixup with blocks, blodges and different timings; If Tidus dodges or Hop Steps again with ambigious timing, it can make opponents second guess their own approach.

• Running / air jumps. Tidus' movement speed is good enough to make some bravery attacks whiff all on their own. This does open up Tidus to fast attacks if he happens to be in its range, but it is one of his best options; It can facilitate mistakes in close range without high commitment.

• Dodge > dodge bravery attack to quickly defend after dodging. If the opponent is committed to hitting Tidus during a dodge's recovery, Tidus can evade this with a dodge attack such as Cut & Run or Stick & Move. These attacks are pretty slow to come out though, so make sure the opponent is not baiting you into using them.

• Whiff Hop Step close to the opponent. This can also be good for provoking a response out of the opponent. If they are slow to react or do something out of reflex, Tidus can still attempt a counterplay with another bravery, dodge or a blodge. The exact range can differ between matchups.

Strategy (Ground)

• Reverse Ground Dash to create space and build assist meter at the same time. Very effective in large stages, namely Order's Sanctuary where Tidus can consistently move away next to the wall.

• Call out whiffs or blocks with Sphere Shot. When used sparingly, it can complement the dash > bravery gameplan.

• Run horizontally or away from the opponent to create whiff punish opportunities.

Strategy (Aerial)

• Reflect high priority projectiles with Slice & Dice or Energy Rain.

• If a blodge staggers the opponent, punish with Full Slide.

Dodge Punishment

• Free Air Dash > Hop Step. The safest, but not necessarily the easiest method for Tidus. Very effective though, it complements his dash feints a lot when used well.

• Full Slide (call Aerith assist during startup). The increased tracking helps Tidus scoop opponents above or below him, but he must be close enough to the opponent for this to work. If Full Slide hits, Tidus can reliably confirm the followup charge for an assist combo. Good against fast fallers as well and usually not high risk for the assist character either.

Meter Usage

• BRV Assist for combos.

• LV2 Assist Change (stagger) > Free Air Dash > Hop Step.

• Aerith's Holy to enforce a situation where the opponent has to take action against Aerith herself or the Holy projectile.

• Slice & Dice > Aerith assist to clash favorably against high priority blocks. Call Aerith before Slice & Dice makes contact.

• Assist during an attack's startup to greatly increase its vertical tracking. This is good for surprise attacks, dodge punishes and punishing long-winded attacks from long distance. The most practical application is arguably with Full Slide and Slice & Dice; They can scoop opponents from below who just dodged.

Counterstrategies

Offense

Tidus' defense can be difficult to beat consistently because of low recovery Hop Step and relatively safe air dodges. There aren't many avenues for bonafide rushdown, so you may have to structure your offense around pattern recognition and Tidus' post-dodge interactions. Fast attacks with some tracking can catch Tidus running sideways, such as Squall's Upper Blues BRV.

It is worth noting that while dodge punishing Tidus may not be feasible in most scenarios, you can still pursue him with Free Air Dash to generate assist gauge safely. This can add up over time if Tidus doesn't whiff punish in these situations, which eventually opens up the possibility of a LV2 Assist Change stagger counter if you get hit.

The defense and dodge punishment sections have more on playing around Tidus' weaknesses, so please refer to them for more information.

Defense

• Lingering traps. Namely, The Emperor's Thunder Crest and Ultimecia's charged Knight's Lance deny space in front of Tidus that he cannot easily contest with low risk.

• Command blocks. Tidus has no low commitment option to cleanly beat them without putting himself at the risk of getting hit. Well placed command blocks after dodges can especially halt his offense and skew the risk / reward in your favor.

• Mid range positioning. Tidus' mid range attacks are reactable when used further away from his opponent. Most of Tidus' interactions happen in close range, so staying outside of that range can make it harder for him to attack. Just be wary of his dodge punish attempts.

• Verticality. Without assist or Free Air Dash, Tidus cannot reliably anti-air or hit opponents below him. Because of the prominent synergy with Aerith assist, Tidus' assist punishes are also weaker. It only takes 1 or 2 dodges for Tidus to have caught up with you however.

Meter Usage

• LV1 Assist Change against HP attacks. If your character has a fast bravery with some lateral range or downward tracking, this can be an effective way to punish specific HP attacks.

Quick Hit HP link leaves Tidus most vulnerable, but also has enough active frames on the HP hit to clash with early punish attempts. Use attacks with downward tracking or line up a punish with a lateral gap closer, but be wary of Tidus' assist if it's available.

Spiral Cut is pretty much the same as Quick Hit in practice, but without the same amount of active frames.

Slice & Dice can be difficult to punish overall. LV1 Assist Change must happen immediately after the first hit, or Tidus can hit the assist and potentially dodge out of your successful punish on hit. Dodge upwards and then use an attack with lateral range.

Energy Rain is also punishable, but usually involve Precision Evasion and / or high priority command blocks. Dodge and then deflect the homing projectiles with the command block to line up a punish. With Precision Evasion, Assist Changing after the first kick and air dodging the projectiles with a quartercircle left or back-forward arc gives you the best chance at a punish. Be wary of Tidus' assist if it's available.

Jecht Shot is pretty straightforward. Assist Change as the second shot is coming out, then dodge the third shot and hit Tidus. Be wary of Tidus' assist if it's available.

• Assist punish whiffed HPs with a bravery assist. If Jecht Shot is about to hit, call the assist to interrupt it.

• EX Revenge. If Tidus ends up in an EX Revenge checkmate situation, he has no single-hit HP attacks to easily offset the disadvantage. Approach him and attempt to enforce a hit while he is building meter.

Dodge Punishment

Punishing Tidus' air dodges is pretty difficult without walls, landing lag or assist to back up interactions. Many characters have to get close for a dodge punish or meaningful reward on hit, so use your own dash and gauge Tidus' response. It is more common to punish Tidus after the usual dodge punish window, so his next move can make or break the counterplay.

Walls can reduce distance travelled with a dodge. If Tidus is close to the ground, he has to choose between vulnerable landing lag or stalling his air time with an attack. This is typically a choice between landing lag or a Hop Step which can be blocked, so use this positional awareness to inform your decision making.

If you dash to Tidus on time, the opponent may be tempted to do a dodge attack as a last resort defensive option. Waiting out this attack and then blocking it is an effective strategy, but only when you have a good read on Tidus player's patterns and the current situation. If your next hit does not cause a considerable setback for Tidus, he may not opt for a dodge attack initially. But eventually he has to if he keeps getting caught in these situations.