Position - Mid > (Fake) Anchor > Point

Point: Umbrella's neutral isn't the best, so she appreciates having assists to help her out. She has a much better time getting in on the opponent when she's in Ravenous with assists, and in the event that she falls into Starving, she may be able to protect herself with an assist while she gets a Taunt off to go back into Satiated state. That said, playing a game where you wait to fall into the right state is a losing game. You do give up on her generally good assists and great DHC in this spot if she dies first, which is a notable loss.

Mid: She has a great safe DHC in Retina Reflector and a point character who can play neutral for her and get Umbrella in on her own terms and start snowballing from there. She also has pretty good assists, with Cliff Hanger being a good general assist and Salt Grinder being a really nice combo tool for certain characters.

Anchor: You still get the safe DHC and more opportunities to switch into Umbrella at an advantageous situation, playing a fake anchor role. Playing without assists is pretty scary in the event that the rest of her team dies first, and if you fall into Starving state then your only hope is that your opponent decides to let you get a Taunt off uncontested. She can still snowball very quickly if she lands a hit, and meter for her utility supers can help her get into range. 

Cliff Hanger (6HP) - 

Anti-Air, Neutral, Combo Tool (Stagger)

The most useful of Umbrella's assists for the majority of the cast. The first part of the assist is a great check against aerial approaches with its disjointed hitbox, knocking the opponent high up into the air for an easy conversion on hit, or keeping them locked down on block providing you with a lot of frame advantage to create space or start your own pressure. Keep in mind that this part is coded to never hit grounded opponents, even someone as tall as Big Band. The second part reaches pretty far on the ground and inflicts a stagger state on grounded opponents while dealing a good bit of damage. The hitbox is not disjointed but attempts to challenge this assist can easily up trading which is dangerous for the opponent due to the stagger.  Easy to fit into your combo routes for frontloaded damage, and good for pressure with its great hitbox and very high blockstun for a single hit (33 frames, more than Big Band's H Brass assist). Use to keep opponents from charging at you recklessly in neutral or from escaping the corner, while also being a means for helping approach once you reach the mid-range.

Hungern Rush ([2]8HP) - 

Anti-Air, Pressure (Overstuffed)

Invincible DP assist with large vertical range but very little horizontal coverage. Does not retain the same unblockable-while-rising properties that Umbrella has when played on point. Heavily scales the follow-up combo by 55%, but does keep the opponent captured for a bit so it is easy to convert off of while giving resource characters time to build up mid-combo. Changes properties if Umbrella is in her Overstuffed state, where instead of capturing the opponent, Hungern hits both on the way up and on colliding with the ground. It's pretty good for pressure in this state. It's never a bad idea to have a DP assist, at the end of the day.

Salt Grinder (236LP) - 

Combo Tool (Stagger)

Hungern eats the opponent keeps them in place for a while, leaving them in a staggered state when spat out. Great assist for the resource characters, letting Valentine load 2 vials, Robo Fortune build 2 heads, and more. Unfortunately, Salt Grinder also has virtually no value in neutral with its short range. Forces the damage scaling down to 55%, so it is best not to use this assist early in a combo, but it does provide good damage overall. Choose over Cliff Hanger if you really want those double vials/double heads/Beowulf taunts off anything and already have a neutral assist on the team. Or you just want to melt lifebars.

Cutie Ptooie and Wishmaker (214LK and 214HK) - 

Projectile, Space Control (L), Combo Tool (H)

Umbrella launches a slow moving bubble that moves about half a screen's distance; Ptooie simply hits the opponent, while Wishmaker puts them in a special capture state. Ptooie travels upward in an arc so it can potentially stop opponents trying to jump on you. Wishmaker travels straight with less distance covered (though the distance increases if Umbrella is in Overstuffed state), but does not interact with projectiles (meaning it won't shield you from them) and disappears if Umbrella gets hit. Ptooie is better for controlling space for these reasons, while Wishmaker can be used for reset potential. As of now, it is hard to recommend either of these assists over the ones mentioned above, but these are still very much underexplored and could hold some nice potential.

Big Band

Recommended Assists: 

H Brass Knuckles, L/M Beat Extend

• Brass Knuckles - Armored Neutral, Anti-Zoning 

  • Helps Umbrella force her way in when she wants to approach, being very good for helping fight zoners

  • Can serve as a wall to setup bubbles or puddles

• Beat Extend - Anti-Air DP

  • Top tier DP for a character with mediocre defensive options

  • Sets up bubble mixups

  • The version of Beat Extend you use is up to you; L is the better anti-air, M deals with crossups better, if you have a third character then check their page to see if they prefer a certain version

Pros:

• Big Band's assists are top-level for addressing Umbrella's biggest weaknesses and hardest matchups

• Umbrella's Retina Reflector DHC makes Big Band's SSJ much safer on block

• Several ways to continue the combo DHC'ing both into and out of Big Band's SSJ super midscreen and in the corner

  • Hungern Rush > Retina Reflector > SSJ - Credit to Hyggend for all 3

  • Under the Weather > SSJ

  • SSJ > Retina > Ravenous Slurp 'n' Slide

• Very high damage shell that can run over a team if they gain momentum

Cons:

• Umbrella's assists don't help much with Big Band's biggest weakness of getting in on his hardest matchups, but they are nice for bumping his damage even higher

Synergy:

• Favorite for Umbrella, Good for Big Band

• A great and powerful duo that's able to exert pressure, perform ambiguous mixups, and heavily revert a match's momentum once they get a hit.

• Any character can be added to make a great trio. Big Band and Umbrella both complement each other's weaknesses and help shore up the rest of the cast's flaws.

Double

Recommended Assists: 

Hornet Bomber

• Hornet Bomber - DP (L), Lockdown (M), Neutral (M, H), Zoning (H) 

  • All versions of Hornet Bomber are good for Umbrella, but M and H are especially strong due to the midscreen stage pressure utility

  • L Bomber can act as a safe DP, allowing Umbrella to escape pressure without commitment

Pros:

• Great multi-purpose assist support for both characters

• Safe DHC in either order, with both Reflector and Catheads

• Double works well as an anchor providing Umbrella good pressure and utility

Cons:

• None

Synergy:

• Good for Umbrella, Good for Double

• A good duo, Double works much better as the anchor than Umbrella.

• Any third character would work well.

Filia

Recommended Assists: 

H Hairball, H Updo

• Hairball - Lockdown, Neutral, Anti-Armor

  • Helps Umbrella's approach in neutral

  • Provides great lockdown for when she's running her pressure game, gives her time to dispense bubbles while the opponent is in blockstun then run her 50/50

  • Becomes a bigger neutral threat if Umbrella is in Ravenous or has a puddle in between her and the opponent, as she can then convert stray hits of Hairball into a full combo with Slurp 'n' Slide

  • Slurp 'n' Slide + assist can force Umbrella in and leaves her plus, also gives a combo on hit as long as she's not in Overstuffed

• Updo - Anti-Air DP

  • DP assist that's more reliable than Umbrella's own DP

Pros:

• Filia's assists deal with either of Umbrella's biggest weaknesses (neutral and defense)

• Umbrella's assists add nice damage to Filia's otherwise low-damage combos, and Cliff Hanger in general is nice for both neutral and pressure

Cons:

• None

Synergy:

• Favorite for Umbrella, Good for Filia

• Great synergy between the two makes this a nice duo. Neither character is an especially good anchor, but they can handle the position. Filia is not a meter-hungry character so she can save it for Umbrella if she's the last one standing.

• This shell is flexible enough to realistically take any character in any slot, though a strong anchor with a good neutral assist to help close in on opponents would be ideal.

Fukua

Recommended Assists: 

M Forever A Clone, H Platonic Drillationship

• M Clone - Neutral, Combo Tool

  • Not the most ignorant neutral assist, but still a welcome one with a very high reward if it catches someone

  • Goes clean through projectiles, widens the range where a zoner throwing bombs or beams at you is a death sentence for them

  • Gives Umbrella a meterless 2-touch route in 3v3 off a 4-way mixup vortex

    • High mix and Low mix - Credit to Cpt. Magemoe☆ and sqrt

• H Drill - Lockdown, Neutral, Anti-Armor

  • Generally good assist option to help Umbrella approach once she reaches mid-range, or protect her from certain armored approaches trying to stop her from setting bubbles in neutral

  • Good lockdown to aid her pressure

Pros:

• Fukua provides nice neutral help for Umbrella, helping her approach game and either her combo or pressure game

• Umbrella's assists are a nice complement to Fukua's space-control game and boost her low damage, along with letting her incorporate command grabs into combos thanks to 6HP and Salt Grinder inflicting stagger

• Fukua can easily tag into Umbrella after M Shadow and continue the combo; especially nice as Umbrella hits very hard (in the right states) and lets Fukua heal the red health from clone usage

• Safe-ish DHCs with Retina Reflector

Cons:

• None

Synergy:

• Good for Umbrella, Favorite for Fukua

• Very solid duo, they complement each other well.

• Any character will fit for a trio.

Parasoul

Recommended Assists: 

L Napalm Shot, H Napalm Pillar

• L Shot - Projectile, Pressure

  • Projectile that Umbrella can chase behind to approach the opponent

  • The lingering projectile makes it scarier to contest Umbrella's already frightening pressure

  • Enables Umbrella's 4-way mix setup and Ravenous 2-touches

    • Overhead (0 bar) - Low (1 bar) - Credit to Hyggend

• H Pillar - Anti-Air DP

  • Extra help for Umbrella's lackluster defense

  • Meterless 2-touches in Ravenous

    • Overhead - Low - Credit to Hyggend

Pros:

• Parasoul's assist kit help with either neutral or defense, which Umbrella appreciates

• Umbrella's assists help Parasoul control space and give a nice boost to her damage

• Umbrella's Retina Reflector makes for safe-ish DHCs in both directions

• (opponent grounded) Sniper Shot > MH Retina Reflector DHC converts from near fullscreen, making for 2 bar, but fairly safe call-out

• Parasoul can freely tag into Umbrella with 4HK > Tag and continue the combo

• They're sisters (affectionate)

Cons:

• They're sisters (derogatory)

Synergy:

• Good for Umbrella, Good for Parasoul

• A fine duo with nothing special to note.

• Any character should fit fine for a trio.

Robo Fortune

Recommended Assists: 

H Theonite Beam

• H Theonite Beam - Projectile, Anti-Armor

  • Top tier neutral assist, helping deal with Umbrella's biggest weakness of getting in on opponents and beating out opposing assists

  • Gives her time to safely blow bubbles and setup puddles to get the party started; if a puddle is already out then Umbrella can convert off of long-range Beam hits with Slurp 'n' Slide

  • Very useful in pressure situations as even though Beam is duckable, Umbrella has a command grab and instant overheads (in Ravenous) to murder the opponent for praying to the Church of Downback

  • Enables Umbrella's 4-way mix setup and Ravenous meterless 2-touches

Pros:

• Umbrella gets one of her favorite assists from Robo in beam assist

• Robo gets an assist kit that boosts her damage, defense, and two assists that let her build 2 heads in a combo for great utility

• Retina Reflector (MP+HP) into Robo's Magnet or Beam super lets Robo continue the combo afterward (pretty cool)

• Robo-Fortune can tag into Umbrella after 5HP, giving a hard knockdown if OTG was saved and letting Umbrella get an easy 50/50 if she's in Ravenous; if Robo can get the stagger from 214MK or has mine available then Umbrella can combo afterward

Cons:

• Retina Reflector: Contact Lens into Magnet DHC is NOT safe on block (but it's still a tight punish where you likely have to be point-blank)

Synergy:

• Favorite for Umbrella, Favorite for Robo Fortune

• Both characters complement each other extremely well, but in a duo situation the anchor character may run into issues; Robo with making a comeback, and Umbrella with winning neutral against certain teams if Robo wasn't able to build much meter. 

• Robo and Umbrella like the point/mid slots, so look for a character to play the anchor for a trio. A character with a strong defensive assist would be a very strong choice.

Valentine

Recommended Assists: 

H Savage Bypass

• H Bypass - Combo Tool 

  • Can be used as a combo extender and can potentially setup unique mixups (unexplored)

Pros:

• Umbrella's kit gives options for helping Valentine players who like playing a keep-away style, and all of her good assists give easy vial loads

• Umbrella gives Valentine a safe DHC out

Cons:

• Umbrella gets very little off of Valentine's assists or DHCs

Synergy:

• Poor for Umbrella, Good for Valentine

• A very weak duo with the only caveat being a safe DHC. Valentine should always be played point if you attempt this duo.

• This duo requires a third character to function properly, one that can help each other's gameplan and assist the two with approaching the opponent.

black dahlia

Recommended Assists: 

Medici Mousetrap (2MK), L/M/H Order Up! (X Shot)

• Mousetrap - Ground Space Control, Low

  • Good for corner pressure and mix

• X Shot - Projectile, Multipurpose*

  • *Slow projectile (all but shotgun and beam), combo (shotgun, ice, electric), lockdown (ice, electric, fire), long-range (beam, electric)

  • Normal bullet doesn't do much for Umbrella, Long-range bullets can help with neutral and her approach

Pros:

• Umbrella can let Dahlia play in front of her, tag-in after Dahlia 5[HP], and follow-up with a combo that puts her into Ravenous

• Last Call and Barrel DHCs

Cons:

• Neither character really cares much for the other's assist

• Both characters can hold to zoners and don't do much to help each other fight them, outside of Dahlia's special bullets

Synergy:

• Decent for Umbrella, Decent for Dahlia

• Not a good duo as the assist support isn't all there

• An anchor with a strong neutral assist would be a great asset to this shell