Damn my Dante just got put on my blast.
What are some general tips for Dante's neutral? Mainly, which normals are used for poking around. Kinda want to "really" learn Dante after my previous set with TWILT.
It's really something you have to develop over time. Dante has so many damn options that you really just have to sit down and put training weights onto yourself like "I'm going to do X right now, options Y and Z are off the table" instead of autopiloting into what works immediately. Without that reliability crutch, you start finding instances and ways to apply all of his tools in a neutral situation.
Button wise, s.L is a swat. You can anti-air with it but don't expect a combo afterwards. Don't ever think of it being anything else unless you confirmed with a j.M/H beforehand. You'll get much more mileage out of it using it combined with a dash after a j.M/H box dash attempt in order to create custom strings with assists. s.M is your anti air. It can be used for some stupid crossup shenanigans too if you can eye how its arc works. s.H is your furthest poke. It's slow as all hell but leads into Weasel Shot and as such it can be used for really nice dashing pressure strings. j.M is a good air to air poke and cancels nicely into Air Play from which you can confirm into standard Dante combos (j.H - land - s.S into stuff). j.H does similar things with more hitstun and pushback while j.M has a big vertical and horizontal hitbox and is slightly faster in startup. j.M can also cross up in disgustingly good manners.
Specials are a doozy. For example, everyone starts with Air Play. Try doing j.M xx Air Play however so that you get used to both spacing and confirming into combos. Drive is the single best horizontal projectile Dante has and thanks to how it starts up and it's profile, it can sneak you and itself under a lot of really obnoxious things like Wesker gun zoning, most Nova approaches, Bolts assist and raw teleporters. Twister is the single most unappreciated tool in his moveset. It's a gigantic hitbox with absurd durability that straight up says "nope" to most of this game's projectiles while covering an area that allows a large number of assists to come in safely. WHY. ISN'T. THIS. USED. MORE. Acid Rain is a great tool to use if someone is in the air often or to force a confrontation when someone wants to stay full screen. One thing I've been meaning to play with is a max distance Stinger poke BC'd into Acid Rain as a means to "defensively harass" someone. Crystal is probably my most used special because I am (was?) a frame trap/pressure monster. I can play that way because my team allows it with tick throw back throws + Strider assist putting people into the blender, but really, Crystal is fantastic and something I'd recommend people of any level cancel their Stinger pokes into. Jam Session is Captain Corridor that can be confirmed from if you're either good with Devil Trigger activations, or have Vajra. Call Vaj + Jam and you harass so many superjumpers/fliers in the game.
That reminds me, another reason why I started moving from Air Play while learning was to get more comfortable with staying on the ground. Dante has great air options, but you get predicable when you resort to jumping/flying away in matches. People have sorta beaten this fear into people picking up or interested in the the character that he gets fucking mauled. It's true but only if you aren't patient and good with your movement. I honestly feel like a grounded Dante is far more terrifying to deal with than one that takes to the air more often.
*I apologize in advance if this is a whole lot of nothing for you specifically though. It's just general thoughts and a few ideas I was last dabbling with in game as I haven't really played this in a long while.
All the time! I can't say I've ever played a Dante that hasn't made me mad. Even if they're good, the underutilize so many of his tools that it just irks me. And the ones that only know how to j.S > Hammer make my blood boil for some reason or another.
Ironically, the ones that just raw teleport are the ones that make me the least angry, just because I get a kick out of mashing s.L from full screen with Trish/Strider and seeing them teleport right into it.
The last time I was heavily playing Marvel, I was beginning to develop a new appreciation for s.L. While it doesn't combo into anything bar your crazy assed Beehive conversion, it's seriously the funniest "get the fuck out of the air" in the game. Swatting opposing Vajras leaves you with such a good feeling inside. :lol
