PLAYSTYLE

Get the opponent to side-wall, then rush them down with hard mix-ups and super armor.

Jonathan, despite having a well rounded moveset, leans heavily towards rushdown. His main goal is to combo into 6H, which will send the opponent to the wall. From there, Jonathan is free to rush down fully while the enemy’s movement is restricted. Jonathan relies heavily on super armor to plow through enemy retaliations to scare them into blocking. Jonathan then uses stong mid/low mix-ups to either chop away at opponent health, or spend meter on a massive side-wall combo. Being a hamon character, Jonathan has access to his full moveset at all times.

Jonathan needs all of his moves to pin the opponent down. 236A is a low hitting projectile that’s great as a mid-range poke (EX version has super armor and launches). 214A is an overhead sword the hops over lows (EX version has infinite super armor). 623A is an anti-air with super armor (EX version is invincible and useful for combos). 46A is a fast, far reaching whiff punisher and pressure tool (EX versions launches). He must mix all these moves together to condition the opponent and open them up. Jonathan’s combo game is strong, as PCs and taunt combos can convert most openings into good damage. He can get good damage anywhere in the stage, but side-wall combos yield massive, 70%+ combos. Furthermore, Jonathan does large guard gauge damage, and will often break guard for free combos.

Jonathan does have some problems, however. Outside of his good jumping attacks, his normals are very slow and clunky. Instead, he often relies on his specials like 236L and 46L to poke. Jonathan is very reliant on meter to throw his weight around, and running out tends to put him on the defensive, where he is much weaker as a character. Jonathan will struggle when playing in the neutral, so he requires confidence in his offence and good meter management.

PROS

• Easy wall carry.
• Thrives in side-wall, which is a common situation.
• Good damage anywhere off of almost anything if he has the meter.
• Side-wall especially has huge combos, easily reaching 70% or more. 30% with a one 623S juggle.
• Strong mid/low mix-up game.
• 236L is a great low poke.
• Can revive himself to outlast opponent.
• Lots of super armor and invincibility to exploit.

CONS

• Slow, clunky normals.
• Many moves need to be PC canceled to stay safe.
• Heavily reliant on meter, forced into defense without it.
• Defence/neutral is weak due to specials being geared more towards offence.
• Some blocktrings may have parts that can be parried.