大乐队/策略

Strategy

Big Band's goals:

Patiently observe his opponent's habits and wait for his time to punish.
Condition his opponent so that they play into his hands.
Use his high risk, high reward tools to control space in neutral, punish his opponent, or convert off stray hits.

Big Band is a defensive playstyle character that excels at punishing his opponents habits, although not without risks in doing so. Boasting the biggest hurtbox in the game, slow mobility, and relatively slow moves emphasize his need of patient, defensive play.

Important Moves

jLK - Go-to air normal with many active frames and multiple hits
Throw - Largest throw range in the game. Mix up with 2LK
2HP - Big low crush poke. Inflicts sound stun so a combo is possible.
Brass Knuckles ([4]6P) - Armored rush punch. L version is fast and safe, M and H are armored.
H A-Train into E-Brake ([4]6HK~P) lets Big Band move across the screen with a quick burst of speed and armor.
Cymbal Clash (j214K) - A disjointed special that allows Big Band to space his opponents while in the air. Heavier versions are slower, but have more hits to break armor.
Reversals
- Beat Extend (623P) - Meterless reversal option, though each version has its own weaknesses. See the specials section for more info
- SSJ (236PP) - 2f startup post flash unblockable reversal, perhaps the best reversal in the game. Opponents can instant overhead you, but you can threaten with this.
- Tympany Drive (j.236KK) - The best reversal air super in the game. Knocks down on trade and can sometimes pick up from it.

Neutral

Big Band's neutral is a patient game of watching his opponent, using his specials to cover areas around him, capitalizing on opponents' mistakes, and making reads in neutral and defense.

Movement

His mobility isn't as great as other characters, but using Emergency Break during (H)Take the 'A' Train, is a great way to move across the ground. In order to chain together multiple E-Break H A-Trains, immediately buffer the charge motion (4) after inputting H A-Train, and delay the E-break as much as possible before the throw actually comes out.
The ground recovery after landing with j.HK can help you move across the screen, as the ground tech after landing is invulnerable, but you can be hit any time before that happens, making it risky. Fitting this in after an air parry, then teching forward, in zoning matchups helps tremendously in closing in the distance.
j.MK(2) is another way of stalling your air momentum, but it uses up your double jump and still, you are vulnerable to being hit during the animation.

Pokes & Counter-pokes

2MP: A good poke on the faster side that leads into better confirms, usually 2HP.
2HP: A fantastic disjointed hitbox directly in front of Big Band, with impressive reach vertically and horizontally. The sound stun property makes it trade favorably in most scenarios. Recommended to opt for H brass or H train hard knockdown after hitting 2HP.
2HK: Disjointed sweep that can also anti-air low jump-ins.
L Brass Knuckles: This move has a terrific hitbox and good frame advantage at -6. Most of the cast cannot punish this when spaced. This version of the special has no armor, can be difficult to convert off of, and does not give you a knockdown, however, so backing it with an assist for some extra insurance is best if possible.
M Brass Knuckles: The preferred choice of the two armored versions of Brass Knuckles. At -16, it is still somewhat difficult to punish if you space it, but nowhere near as safe as L Brass. However, the 2 hits of armor, the ability to visibly confirm into SSJ, and the Knockdown on hit makes it still useful in some scenarios, such as punishing bad assist calls.
H Brass Knuckles: Big Band's most famous long-range callout tool. Use it when you read a very committal option from fullscren, such as projectiles. Only a few assists are able to make it safe, use cautiously. Doing 5MK then canceling H brass before its recovery begins will make H brass travel further, letting you hit from corner to corner of the screen.
M Giant Step: A mid-ranged overhead, rewarding on hit because of its stronger vacuum effect than the light version's.
H Giant Step: An overhead if the pedal comes in contact with the opponent, but causes a fullscreen quake that is unblockable on the ground. Very good tool to punish lack of air mobility, or reading the startup of certain ground moves. From fullscreen, you can H brass on OTG. If you are closer, you can dash up 2LK to begin a combo.

Anti-Airs

5LP, 2HP, and 2HK are all strong at taking up space around the IAD zone of rushdown characters like Filia or Miss Fortune. The spacing between you and the opponent will determine which of these you should use.
2MK shrinks his hurtbox while surround his whole body with a hitbox, rather underutilized and unexplored as an anti-air, but deserves mention.
L Beat Extend is strike invul frame 2, and has a taller initial hitbox than the other Beat Extends, making it the best anti-air of the three. If you're concerned about crossups or taking up more horizontal space, M/H Beat Extend are better.
M Take The A-Train is tracking move that's unblockable while rising and has two hits of armor. It's great for sniping jumps in the mid-range, greatly complimenting his good ground tools.
H Take The A-Train has 3 hits of armor, meaning it will beat almost any air button. Use this when you read a jump or committal air option from long range.

Air-to-Airs

Cymbal Clash covers the downward angle below of Big Band and changes his air momentum. Massive disjointed hitbox with soundstun on hit, allowing you to convert off of it. Excellent move to poke with spaced. And takes up a huge amount of air space the opponent cannot contest. Use L Cymbals most of the time for its speed, but H Cymbals beats armor, and is more active, allowing for better reversal-baits.
j.LP/MP/HP cover the area in front of Big Band, with each button strength affecting the height, LP being the lowest and HP being the highest.

Jump-Ins

j.LK is fast, multihit, active, and plus on block, making it Big Band's most consistent jump-in
j.MK is not quite as good as j.LK for crossup purposes, but deserves note as it's a better combo starter and more consistent option for crossups.