Marvel vs Capcom 3 Character Strategy Guide

Dormammu

Easily one of the game’s most irritating characters for rookies, Dormammu is a great keepaway character who has a plethora of extremely powerful projectiles. His wide array of projectiles are offset by his slow movement speed, large size and slow start-up on a lot of his moves. While Dark Hole spam may be enough to handle greenhorns, good Dormammu players will need to utilize his teleports to escape rushdown and create mixups. His Liberation special moves to do even bigger damage: (QCB + L or M) will charge one of Dormammu’s hands with red or blue energy, each hand can be charged with up to three of these moves, and (QCB + H) will unleash individual special attacks based on his current charge. Practice to get used to each move's specialized use.

Dormammu's Chaotic Flame Hyper (QCF + 2 ATK) has incredibly fast start up and can punish almost any whiffed movve, even from full screen. If you see someone get hit by a Dark Hole (QCF + ATK) immeadiately combo into Chaotic Flame. His Shard attack (Forward + H) causes wall bounce on hit and can easily be comboed into Chaotic Flame. His Purification (Dragon Punch + ATK) hits OTG and if you're fast enough, can quickly combo into, you guessed it, Chaotic Flame.

Make sure to abuse Dormammu's Pool of Flame attack (Down Forward + H). It creates aflame trap in front of him that remains on screens for about 5 seconds. Any characterhit by it can easily be comboed.It does an incredibly effective job of preventing rushdown or pressure characters from getting in on Dormammu, letting you spam projectiles as they get zoned out by the flame pool. Flame pool also hits OTG.

Strengths

Fantastic, high damage multi hit projectiles
Excellent Level one Hyper, Chaotic Flame

Weaknesses

Long start-up time on Dark Hole and Purification necessitates predicting where the enemy will be
Big hitbox, slow mobility makes him vulnerable to rush down attacks

Good for Beginners

Yes. Spam Dark Hole and Chaotic Flame all day long. Next.

Felicia

Another in-close character with high pressure ability, Felicia is, unlike other rushdown characters, capable of getting in close on her own. Her Light Hell Cat command throw (QCB + L) is also very useful as it has a good range and can be used to punish characters who get too comfortable blocking her fast combos. Despite her good options, she needs combos to do damage and a lot of them require advanced timing and hard links, making her a tough character for beginners to use succesfully.

Many of her combos revolve around her Toy Touch attack (Down Forward + M) as it hits OTG and can be used to extend her attacks. Make sure to follow up on air throws as well, as Felicia can do big damage combos off of them.

Strengths

Good, fast mobility options allow her to get in on her own
Can lure opponents into blocking her combos only to punish them with her command throw

Weaknesses

Many basic combos are hard to execute without lots of practice.
Likely too technical for beginners

Good For Beginners?

No. Felicia's individual moves need to be linked together and comboed into to do good damage and she has to play mind games to land her command throw.

Haggar

While Haggar may look like a grappler character, he’s really more of a heavy striker who deals big damage with relatively few hits. While he has a hard time with projectile heavy teams, many of his moves either cause ground bounce or big stun, making it easy for him to turn a single hit into a heavy damage combo. His strange aerial attacks have incredibly long hitboxes, making it easy for him to shut down aerial attacks once he’s in close.

Lead Pipe (Forward + H) is an extremely useful move with great range than causes huge stun, Haggar’s Lead Pipe attack can fool players who think he’s not close enough to do damage. The huge stun almost guarantees a follow up attack or combo. His Double Lariat (S+any Attack) makes Haggar spin in place and he's immune to all damage and attacks. Can be cancelled into his Hyper Moves. Note that this move cause red health damage to Haggar, even when used as an assist.

Lariat is one of the game's best assists as it works both offensively and defensively and can easily be comboed out of. It's also an excellent assist as Haggar has a huge amount of invulnerabilityduringit, meaning it'ssafe to throw out whenever and incredibly difficult to punish.

Strengths

Does very big damage with relatively simple combos
Many of his normals and Hyper Moves cause big stun or ground bounces, making it easy for him to combo into his slow attacks

Weaknesses

Virtually no long range options
Can be easily victimized by keepaway/projectile characters
Many moves have slow recovery, making him easy to punish

Good For Beginners?

Sort of. With a little practice a basic Haggar can do a huge amount of damage off of even a small opening, butlearning how to get him in striking range takes some effort and assists.

Hsien Ko

Hsien Ko is an extremely unorthodox character with a number of strange moves and weird mobility. Her ground dash is a teleport that can be used to sidestep projectiles or attacks, and her floating air dash is extremely slow. Her normal moves have good reach and hit multiple times, reminiscent of Tron Bonne’s. Her Senpu Bu (Dragon Punch + Attack) can be chained up to three times and crosses through the opponent, allowing her to create confusing cross ups, especially when used as an assist. Her throw leaves the opponent vulnerable for a huge period of time, easily allowing her to get a free Hyper Move in.

Strengths

Senpu Bu (Swinging Attack) is an excellent assist as well as main character attack
Capable of putting big aerial and cross up pressure on opponents.

Weaknesses

Strange, slowmovement requires getting used to
Her projectile attack’s random nature hampers its usefulness

Good For Beginners?

No. Hsien Ko's weird normal attacks and bizarre movement options will confuse new players, as will her weird special moves.

Hulk

Hulk is loyal to his character in MVC3 as he’s in no way subtle. Big, powerful, slow attacks are the name of the game here, and Hulk’s short combos will do as much damage as ones twice as long. His standing M and H have start up armor on them, which means Hulk can absorb a hit during the attack without being stunned. Hulk isn’t as slow as Thor by any means, but his regular movement is fairly sluggish, use his Gamma Charge to quickly close the distance between you and your opponent.

His Gamma Tsunami (QCF + 2 Attacks) is a great way to end any combo and hits characters OTG. It's also extremely effective as a Delayed Hyper Combo as it comes out fast and covers most of the screen.

Gamma Crush (QCB + 2 Attacks) does huge damage if you can get all the hits in

Strengths

High damage moves
Armor properties on some normals and specials
Lots of ground bounce options

Weaknesses

Bad aerial attacks
Suffers versus multi hit moves that break armor

Good For Beginners?

Yes. Hulk's armored, big damage normals and simple combosare very newbie friendly as his easy to Use GammaTsunami.