As I’m exploring Midori, here are random thoughts that have come to me. In no way am I saying that these are high-level play notes. I am not the Midori authority. Please feel free to add on any info that you think will be worthwhile that I have missed. Without further ado:
Random Midori Thoughts:
General:
Midori has two modes, patience and fury. As a human, you want to play very patiently and think of time being on your side because his super takes the longest to charge (Leontes: “I want to be a dragon!”). When you get dragon, then it’s the opposite. Time is not on your side. You need to take advantage of the situation as much as possible.
Human:
His nA is a very good anti-air, albeit it comes out slower than most others. It pairs very well with his parry (small pun intended). Hitting an airborne opponent will cause an air reset. So, do not use this to juggle opponents. Use fA instead. Do not follow up with flurry punch after hitting an airborne opponent. They will be able to throw you because it will whiff and the recovery is long enough. On the other hand, if you whiff an nA, you can still follow up with a flurry punch to try and catch the opponent.
Flurry punches on an opponent in the corner is generally good. You can usually follow up with another flurry punch for more chip or possible clean hit. However, be aware that it is up to -5 on block.
His fA is very good at juggling an airborne opponent because it does not cause an air reset until the second hit. Do not cancel into flurry punch. It is worse in almost all cases. However, if you whiff the first strike of fA due to the opponent jumping, you can flurry punch as an anti-air to try and catch them.
Avoid Midori’s jB (outside of certain very situational applications). It doesn’t travel as far as you think it does, and the recovery is very bad.
His parry is a key aspect of playing human well. On a successful hit from the follow up, you gain 25% super meter. You can safe jump after the parry knockdown. Another tactic you can do is walk up to the opponent. If you think they will jump to escape the command throw, do a jnA. It will catch them with pretty large knockback and another knockdown. Immediately follow up with a B to catch up so that you can repeat the same situation. Don’t use parry as a wake-up option. It has a 1 frame startup.
Beware of using B on several characters. Even on block they may be able to punish.
His throw will leave him at frame advantage against most of the cast. He is disadvantaged against Setsuki and Dragon, so beware. His back throw takes him longer to recover by 1-2 frames. You can basically consider him to be neutral against Midori/DeGrey (+1 forward throw/-1 back throw). This usually will only apply when close to the corner.
His jnA is actually pretty decent air-to-air. The steerable characteristic of it makes it useful for avoiding projectiles in a safe way.
Midori’s empty jump is actually pretty quick. However, the instant you do an aerial attack, it makes his jump very slow because of the extra hang time it tacks on. Many times if you’re trying to get over projectiles, it’s better to empty jump because the attacks take too long.
Overall, walking and blocking is a very strong tactic. The opponent has to be very wary of your parry. If you parry their jump in, then they may try to bait out the parry by doing empty jump-ins to throw. This makes it much easier for you to nA their jump-ins because you don’t have to worry about timing it late.
You will want to time Midori’s super as a reaction to an opponent or as a defensive measure to peek at what the opponent is doing.
For okizeme (when an opponent is getting up from the ground), it is possible to crossup the opponent with his gB. However, it is unsafe on block.
Dragon:
Don’t overuse his C and jC. It can lead to a lot of lost health for no gain. Instead, use setups to prepare for his use of C such as a meaty nA on wakeup into C.
His throw range is incredible (longest in the game). Walk up throw is a very threatening tactic. Beware, all of his throws leave him at a pretty steep disadvantage. This usually only applies near the corner since his throws usually put them far enough away that they cannot take advantage. Unlike human form, his back throw recovers sooner. Be especially wary of Dragon and Setsuki. He is -15 and -13 on forward throw against them. It’s not as dire as it seems because Midori is completely invincible until he fully recovers from all of his throws (dragon or human).
B is a very strong move. It has a short startup and no recovery on landing. The priority is very good. It’s actually a viable tactic to continue using B many times in a row against someone in the corner to slowly chip them. Many people will attempt to jump to avoid chip but get hit instead by a jB.
bA is very useful against projectiles. Use it to stuff the startup of a projectile or hit them in recovery. A very common tactic is to use super on reaction to a projectile so that you can bA immediately and hit the opponent in their recovery.
nA is an amazing anti-air. When human, you can super on reaction to a jump with nAA with different followups (either jA->B, jA, B, or bA). This is a very strong deterrent because it can lead to 3-5 damage.
jA is pretty oppressive. You can generally do jA from a range where anti-airs will not be able to hit you. You can also space it so that you will still be in throw range.
For okizeme, there are several great options. You can throw. You can do a meaty nA. If it hits, you can follow up with another A. If they block, you can cancel into C, throw, or delay A. You can crossup the opponent with B then follow up with jA.
Notable Combos:
Human:
jA->fA This is his normal 3 damage combo. However, if the opponent is too far, you will want to use bA instead.
Dragon:
nAA->jA->B 5 damage anti-air combo. Usually done on reaction to a jump-in as human then super.
jA->AA 4 damage combo. However, it requires a pretty close jump-in.
jA->bA 3 damage combo. More reliable than jA->AA. If you hit an airborne opponent with jA, you may need to follow up with B instead.
Character Specific:
Grave:
Human:
His hold B is very threatening. It makes it difficult for Midori to approach. If you find yourself about to jump into a large cloud, you can do jB and hope the other player does not react successfully (it’s easily punished).
Because Grave has a long recovery on B, it’s usually benefical to do jA over his projectiles.
If you block his super, you can reliably punish with jA->fA for 3 damage.
You can generally block his sword and punish with a throw or parry.
Parry usually fails against his jB because the attack will come out in the wrong direction. Use a well-timed nA instead.
Dragon:
Grave’s gS will break his C armor.
If you use super as a reaction to his jump-in and he has super meter, you may want to delay your nA and choose to block instead. If he uses jS, he’ll travel forward a little bit so you won’t necessarily be out of range by walking backwards from an attempted block. Then you can nA when it wears off.
You can C through his sword.
Be careful about using a meaty nA for okizeme if he has super.
Be careful about using B to chase down Grave because he can use sword.
Threatening walk-up throw and using bA to stop his projectiles seem to be key.
Jumping against him is dangerous due to his super.
Jaina:
Human:
Patience is key. Do a lot of walking and blocking against her arrows. Prefer empty jumps at almost all times to defend against a possible dragonheart. Approximately the range of round start is when you want to be wary of Jaina using her knee in anticipation of jumping over her arrows. You may want to use neutral jumps or block.
Your jA will lose to her fA.
When she does jS, walk forward to the point where you will block the first arrow pretty high. You will be able to jump over an unblockable ground arrow follow-up. At worst, you’ll have to block two arrows.
When she uses jC, the best time to jump over the diagonal arrow is when the arrow has fully appeared at the top of the screen. You will have just enough time to approach her and throw her if she did another jC. The timing is very tight. Using fA to approach her under the arrow is also a good tactic. Beware of whiffing the first hit, she has enough time to recover and dragonheart your second hit.
Dragon:
She can use jB to hit you while you’re on the ground.
Do not become dragon near fullscreen. Her jS is oppressive.
Jumping in on her is dangerous due to her reversal. Leads to a fullscreen jS.
Geiger:
Human:
His fA makes it difficult to safely approach. Parries can help as well as hurt due to whiff punish.
Do not jump over a delayed Time Spiral. He can punish with a Flash Gear.
The key is successfully navigating his fA and delayed Time Spirals.
Dragon:
Do not jump over any gears. Dragon hurtbox is large enough that he can flash gear reliably any time.
If he uses jS, you can C his recovery if you’re close enough. Otherwise, jump away as far as you can and block. Don’t try to avoid any gears. You can sneak in a B under the Cycloid if you only need one more damage.
Argagarg:
Human:
Do a lot of walking and blocking. Jumping is pretty dangerous. Don’t attempt to jump over blue fish. You’re almost guaranteed to get hit by his nA. If you jump over blue fish, do not use jA. It just makes you a bigger target.
His nA and bA will beat your jA.
Your jnA beats his nA. You may be able to use this to get over blue fish, but don’t count on it. Arg can pre-empt your jump with nA.
Parry is very strong against his fA. Common situation: Block blue fish, Arg follows up with fA, parry as soon as you can.
You can B his recovery on rushing river if you anticipate it.
Dragon:
You can mix up the timing on your jump-ins by choosing to do either jA or jC. If Arg tries to bA your jA, a jC will catch his recovery.
Using C against his fA is very good.
jB usually beats his nA.
You can also stall a jump-in by using super to avoid his bA.
Setsuki:
Human:
You can parry her gB kick. It’ll attack in the correct direction regardless of crossup.
If you’re close enough, you can nA her kunai and then follow up with a flurry to hit her out of recovery. If you’re closer, you can fA under her kunai.
nA is a great tool against her jump ins and starlight from neutral.
Parry is a serious threat to her neutral jump-in.
His command throw will beat her gB kick.
If you’re in the air and she is doing kunai, jB is actually a viable option.
Dragon:
B is his most powerful option against Setsuki. It is extremely oppressive in this matchup.
B will beat all of her starlight mixups except for throw and super.
B will beat her B.
B will beat kunai.
C is a pretty weak option against Setsuki because of her air options.
Valerie:
Human:
Parry is key in this matchup.
You cannot parry yellow on hit. You can parry yellow on block.
Your parry will whiff on max/near max range fA.
Command throw will beat her jB.
Parry her gS.
B is unsafe on block. She can fA.
Command throw will get you out of her rainbow disc.
Dragon:
B and fA are good options to chip away at her health.
Her bA will defeat jC cleanly.
You can safely C her gS. You won’t take any damage because it only deals damage at the very end of the animation.
If she does a high rainbow disc, you can C to get out of it. If she does a low rainbow disc, she’ll be able to jump before C grabs her.
Rook:
Human:
Delay the fight as long as possible to get dragon form.
This is a matchup where jB can be used. You can jB his vines, earthquake, jA, fA, and C. Super will still likely catch it. A very late C will as well.
jA is a losing proposition. It’s slow, so it can easily be caught with C or super.
jnA can beat Rook’s vines and jA if well spaced. It’s easily caught with C or super if within range.
You can punish a blocked landslide with a throw.
Rook’s fA is reactable at range. You can parry it.
Don’t try to use the typical okizeme strategy if you have command throw. His C and super will cleanly beat command throw.
Dragon:
C will beat his C and super.
If you’re knocked down, do not use C on wake-up. Good Rooks will crossup splash to cause you to go in the wrong direction.
jA is a pretty strong option. Be careful with it when Rook has super.
B is a strong option. It will not get caught by either Rook’s super or C.
If you throw Rook, beware Rook throwing you back because he is still in range to throw you. On forward throw, you are -9, on back throw you are -7.
Air juggles are particularly devastating on Rook due to his large hurtbox.
Midori:
Human:
Be very careful about using B. Midori can parry on reaction.
jnA cleanly beats jA.
Dragon:
He who Cs last, Cs best. (Be patient on your C if you suspect that they will C. The last person to press wins).
Lum:
Human:
Letting Lum get a collection of mini-Lums is devastating. Keep applying pressure.
Trying to parry his roll can be devastating since Lum will continue rolling through you and make you whiff your attack.
Parry his cartwheel. It shuts that option down. If the cartwheel will hit before fireworks will, you may be able to parry through the entire thing and not get hit.
You can jB or jC his attempts to melon constantly.
You can nA, bA, fA (first hit only), and flurry punch his mini-Lums.
jB will lose to mini-Lum.
You can B his panda roll.
You can bA and fA (first hit only) his dice.
You can parry his super, but it still allows one item to get out. Prefer throw to prevent any items. Technically you can throw Lum out of his super outside of his hitbox, but the range is extremely tight (about half a floorboard in the Clock Tower).
Dragon:
If you use crossup B for okizeme, Lum can stop your jA with nA if you spaced it incorrectly.
Be careful using C to power through his ground super. You can potentially take a lot of damage.
You can bA his ground super and prevent any items.
B is a strong option, but beware of Lum’s jA.
DeGrey:
Human:
Parry is a strong deterrent.
Beware jumping over his ghost when he has super.
You can throw between his AA->AA. He could bait this by not doing a second AA and then punishing your whiffed throw.
You can stop his daggerfall->fA loop by parrying after daggerfall.
Dragon:
Beware his ghost, especially when he has super. It will drain a lot of time if you get hit by ghost or his air super. It is very easy for DeGrey to hit you with his air super if you jump at all.
Once his ghost is on cooldown, it is very easy to get in.