Introduction
Introducing Labrys, the most loveable robot.
Character summary
Labrys is a rushdown character who focuses on getting near the opponent, then using her large normals to pressure until the opponent breaks. By using her tools well, she can quickly gain momentum and end matches in seconds. While she is generally outclassed by the top-tiers, she is incredibly fun to play, and rewards a skilled player with almost unmatched damage from punishes, reads and good meter management.
In neutral, Labrys' normals cover a solid amount of the screen, restricting enemy movement, and hitting those who are careless in their approach. This coverage does come at the cost of startup and recovery speed, making her easy to punish/contest if her moves are used carelessly.
Her offence creates difficult situations, and results in very high damage if the opponent makes a mistake. That being said, it offers no simple way to open people up or create extended blockstrings, so relies on her ability to condition and call out specific behaviours. However, making an opponent block actually helps Labrys as it increases her Axe level, and at the highest level, causes significant chip damage even when normals are blocked!
Labrys' main weakness is that she lacks proper defensive options, as her dp and non-awakening super have guard-point instead of invulnerability, which allows most characters to counter it on reaction. Her normals are also slow, so finding gaps to press buttons can be hard. Therefore, she is heavily reliant on smart use of system mechanics and patient play to escape from pressure.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Large normals that can cover multiple situations, and solid neutral tools | Very weak defensive tools and reliance on system mechanics |
Relatively straightforward gameplan and combos with low execution difficulty | Mixups are few and weak without meter, with very poor frame data all around |
Very high damage on punish or when the momentum mechanic has been activated | Struggles against characters with zoning tools |
Not played often, so the matchup is less well known | Axe mechanic requires complex combo selection for optimal damage |
Unique mechanic: Axe level
Labrys has a unique axe icon above her SP gauge that reflects her current axe level:
The current axe level (commonly referred to by their colour: grey/blue/green/yellow/red) affects Labrys in multiple ways, namely:
Damage - her axe attacks and beast/brutal impact supers will do more damage at higher axe levels (with supers doing significantly more in red)
Meter gain - her meter gain on hit is increased at higher axe levels
Hitstun - her axe attacks will have higher hitstun in yellow and red, with unique higher damage routes available for both these levels. Grey to green have the same base hitstun.
Chip damage - at yellow and red axe, all axe normals (see move list) will also cause chip damage, most significantly in red
Fatal counters - at red axe, all axe normals (see move list) will cause fatal counter on counter hit
The axe level is actually an internal value from 0-4000, with each axe level being associated with a range of values. The ranges are as follows:
| Colour | Range | Size of range |
|---|---|---|
Grey | 0-700 | 700 |
Blue | 701-1398 | 697 |
Green | 1399-2598 | 1199 |
Yellow | 2599-3298 | 699 |
Red | 3299-4000 | 701 |
At the start of a match, the axe gauge is set to 1800, which is slightly below the centre of green axe (2000), and axe level is carried over between rounds.
The following table shows everything that can affect Labrys' axe level:
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
Passive, except when in block/hitstop or during beast/brutal impact | Slow drift to low-middle middle of green (1 per frame towards 1800) |
Inputting an axe move (occurs frame 1 of startup, even if kara cancelled) | Slight increase (+30) |
Reaching half charge for 5B and 2B | Slight increase (+30) |
Having an axe move blocked | Moderate increase (half of move value) |
Connecting with an axe move | Large increase (full move value) |
Landing the 2nd and final hits of C or SB Beast supers | Large increase (+300 for hits 2 and 3 of C beast, +100 for last 11/12 hits of SB beast) |
Being hit by the opponent | Moderate decrease during time in combo (-2 per frame, excluding hitstop) |
Using D Beast, D Brutal impact or SB Brutal impact | Sets to bottom of grey (0) |
Moves are assigned the properties of the axe level that Labrys has at the point that they are input (i.e. if a move being input pushes Labrys from yellow to red, the move will have the properties of yellow).
Axe level cannot be increased or reduced once a round has ended, with the exception of supers that set the axe level to the minimum value. Not all axe moves have equal effects on axe level (see linked document below).
A common misconception is that axe level affects blockstun - this is not the case. All of Labrys' frame data remains identical no matter the axe level, and she does not break any conventional game rules with her axe mechanic. The one exception to this is that in red axe, a counterhit grab will gain fatal counter combo properties (allowing for a high damage meterless follow-up), despite being only a normal counter being mentioned by the game.
Full information about axe level mechanics, including values for all effects and moves, can be found here. Credit to Hero for putting this together!
Gameplan
In general, Labrys wants to be close to the opponent, but not too close - this allows her to use her larger normals relatively safely while still applying pressure, threatening at any moment to punish mash or escape attempts. She can start shorter blockstrings with some slower high/low options, however to keep someone blocking, she must reset her pressure early and often, which risks getting hit by reversals. If she retreats too far, she lacks pressure at a distance, although she can use this time to set up projectiles that can aid in her approach/defence.
Labrys also has strong corner carry options, and damage from corner combos is higher than midscreen, but generally happens naturally enough that it's rare to choose a combo specifically to get someone to corner. Once she has someone there though, she can effectively wall an opponent off so they can't escape easily.
If Labrys does score a hit, she has three priorities to balance. The first is scoring a knockdown into one of her projectiles to set up an oki situation, usually achieved by ending combos early to set up a projectile. The second is to build her axe level - Labrys is most powerful at red axe, and getting there gives you the potential to kill most characters in 1-2 hits. The third is doing damage, which usually works alongside the second. Knowing when you're in kill range (which can be surprisingly early, especially with OMB) can be the difference between killing someone and having to open them up 1-3 more times.
In effect - it's all about meter management, balancing burst meters, health meters, axe meter, and SP, to find that perfect time to end it all for the opponent. Once a Labrys has shown they can do this, people will fear her.
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