Melty Blood: Type Lumina Vlov Arkhangel Guide by Masoma

Vlov is the dedicated zoner of the game, with many strong projectiles and normals to keep people out and control space from midrange to even fullscreen. He also boasts strong offense that locks the opponent down along with possession of high mobility in his fast dash and good airdashes and air backdash. He's able to switch between playing defensively or aggressively on the spot.

Important Buttons:

Outside of his A normals, all of Vlov's buttons are amazing for neutral as they're very big and fast for the range they cover. Particular standouts would be his 5c, 2b, and j.b.

• 5c is a 10f, very far-reaching disjointed normal that also hits IAD height
• 2b is a low that hits high enough to anti-air IAD and catch people landing from the air.
• j.b has a huge horizontal range to cover Vlov when landing from jumps or to air-to-air opponents. it's also good when combined with IABD to retreat while covering the space in front of you. 

Another great button of his but more for the offense, is his charged 5c (notated by []) 5[c] is amazing will fatal people who are doing crouch shield and is decently hard to react to when paired with 236a and 22b in pressure and can still be canceled into rebeats or plus frames afterward.

Specials:

All of Vlov's special moves are good and important to know how to use. The main one you will be using for most matchups is his 236x series. The follow-ups can also be charged making their hitbox significantly bigger and making them vastly more plus. It is fairly easy to reaction shield this, however, it does not matter too much if they shield it unless you want to deny them a free moon gauge. Just be careful of using it if you think your opponent is going to make a preemptive approach or against chars with fullscreen invincible moves like Roa, or Ciel.

• 236a shoots a horizontal fireball that travels fullscreen, it is also plus on block 
• 236b shoots a fireball that travels at a diagonal angle upwards. He also has a A and B followup for fireballs that aren't too useful in fire mode outside of confirming air unblockables with 236ba, but are very nice in ice mode as the hitbox is much better and the startup is way faster. 

Another really important special move is his 22x stomp series, Vlov stomps the ground and summons a fire (or ice) carpet that travels very fast across the ground fullscreen. Both versions are air unblockable and cover a huge amount of space. 

• 22a is the main one you'll be using for neutral, as the startup is a lot faster. it is minus, though not as much as 22b.
• 22b is 0 on block at worse, so for pressure 22b will be the main one you use his last special move series is his 214x aka his rekka. 

Both versions of 214x can be whiff canceled into the rekka followup, which is also big and air unblockable 214a is better as a preemptive check on peoples approach due to it being faster, while 214b is better as an anti-air.

• 214a is a 9f low and will swing downwards and then forward. The second hit hits high enough to catch people IADing and the first hit if they're very close also catches IAD. 
• 214b is 13f and will swing at around a 45-degree angle on the first hit and then forward like 214a does. 

Your main zoning tool is 236a, as it's decently fast and travels forward fullscreen. does good chip damage, and has relatively low recovery for what it does, making it not too high a commitment. This move is also plus enough to frame trap into his 22a at certain ranges. 

Using this move along with other special moves will condition the opponent to want to jump or shield, which you can then take advantage of to call them out for higher reward punishes. if they shield 236a and they're not in bc range you are safe from being punished and can punish B counter by either chicken blocking it or 3cing it.

235b is one of your answers to jumping opponent, and while it's air lockable, you can cancel into his 214c EX move or MD 4bc to air unblockable them while they're in blockstun. This move is also useful to bait people trying to react to 236a and vice versa. in ice mode 236b is much safer to throw out even if you're unsure if they'll jump as the bottom icicle will hit a pretty far distance in front of you making it cover both the air and some of the ground at the same time.

Your other main neutral tool is 22a. This move is amazing because of its speed, coverage, chip damage, and reward on hit as well as the threat of follow-up with 22xx. unlike 236a you cannot reaction shield this move at 3/4 of the screen or closer, and will make people scared of running forward because they don't want to get hit by it. This move does have a lot of recovery so if someone jumps over it at around half-screen you are likely to be punished for it without MD. If they are a bit farther when they jump in canceling into 236c can potentially save you from being punished or, in the best case, end up hitting your opponent. You could also get lucky doing the follow-up and anti-air them, but that's not something you can rely on.

Managing Volv’s Meter & EX Moves:

Vlov's most important resource is his moon meter, as you generally want to keep your meter at least at 50% so you can MD to either cover whiffs or 236b unblockables. That being said Vlov’s moon skills are amazing in neutral and on offense. 

• 6bc shoots fireballs both forward and in the air creating essentially a projectile wall that's very difficult to dodge. In fire mode 6bc has a long startup but is extremely plus on block and safe vs shield bc, whereas in ice mode the startup is really fast and still plus but not as plus as it is in fire mode and is a bit less safe to shield bc. Both are very good in their own ways. 
• j.6bc is the same way but covers the ground and in front of you. It is also jump cancelable later in the animation making it safe at most ranges, and is even plus enough to do gapless IAD j.c off the jump cancel. 
• 2bc is like 22a, but the carpet travels faster and is plus on block with an insane amount of pushback. making it great in blockstrings if you just want to push the opponent out and go back to zoning farther out. it is punishable on shield, so you do need to be careful of that when using it outside of blockstrings. 4bc is a lunge that hits decently high, is pretty fast, and is air unblockable making it pretty decent at catching the startup of people jumps or as an anti-air. 

For his EX moves, the main one you will be using is 22c. This move is used to confirm your 236a hits as well as fullscreen 22a, or sometimes cover 236b whiffs. It's also 8f and can sometimes be used in certain matchups to check options in post-wakeup scrambles that are a bit farther out. This move does good chip damage and is also very plus on block making it ideal to use after your opponent blocks 22aa. it is also plus enough that you can even frame trap from a bit past half-screen with 22a and catch jump startup or even do 22c micro dash 2a and have it still be a true blockstring if close enough. 

236c His other EX move is mainly used to add damage at the end of a combo or to potentially keep yourself safe after a whiffed stomp or fireball from farther distances. at closer ranges often times you will get hit anyways for trying to cancel into 236c off a whiff, but it can still work if they mess up their timing because of flash or airdashed. 

His last EX move 214c is mainly used for his air unblockable off of 236b/low hitting 2bc. It is very big making the applicable range to do it around halfscreen and leads to high reward on hit. there's no notable usage of this move outside of that but it can sometimes be used after a whiff to try to avoid people directly above you but due to the recovery it is still liable to be punished even if you do that. 

Lastly for his supers is his arc drive. It hits fullscreen and has a lot of invulnerability making it useful to punish certain air projectiles in some mus. it's not great as a reversal as the startup is pretty slow and is punishable on shield for a full combo, even from fullscreen, if the opponent has the timing down for when to B counter.

Pros: 

• High-damaging combos on every hit from anywhere on the screen, along with a very high damage cap with a lot of resources. 
• Able to build a lot of meter and moon via threat of charge while zoning and after 236c knockdowns, he also builds a ton of meter in his combos able to go meter positive even while spending an EX move. 
• Great neutral game with plus projectiles that can cover multiple angles coupled with fast movement and great normals. 
• Offense that is farther from most other characters normals and makes them have to guess on shield or callout an option with something more risky to get along with the option to use plus frames to threaten to reset pressure off of 6bc 2bc and 22c. 
• Meter build from combos as well as the game mechanics, makes it so that with proper play. You should almost always have some form of a resource in either a bar of meter or moon gauge which is great for Vlov as he gains a lot for having access to metered options.

Cons: 

• Lack of a 5f button with 2a and 5a being 6f and 7f frames respectively. The rest of his normals are 9f or slower which results in him having a tough time scrambling in close-range situations.
• Lack of a dp also makes defense harder than most against characters with strong rebeat pressure that stays close to him, along with a 5f jump startup making it harder to jump out of pressure he's generally gonna have to rely on the system mechanics to get out of pressure. This isn't a fatal weakness given that the system mechanics are strong for defense, but it is something that can be exploited and can be hard to use past the wake-up situation.

Playing Against a Vlov:

To fight Vlov effectively, you need to be good at varying your movement in the air to make it harder for him to go for the air unblockable and either gain space or get in on him. The goal is to get close enough so that you're in range for shield bc to hit him. Being in this range makes Vlov throwing a fireball a risk as the threat of you shielding it and putting him into rps he can get hit from is not desirable for him.

Once Vlov starts worrying about throwing out stomp or fireballs, you can threaten your other approach options easier such as dash button, airdash, special moves etc. Outside of when you're in this range, the next best range you want to be in is where jumping in with super jump can hit them. This is more character dependent, but when you're in this range you can rps between running at him with a button to beat 236b or super jumping to beat stomp or 236a, do be careful when punishing ice mode 236b as you need to space your button out enough to hit him while also low profiling the icicle because of how big it is.

Jumping outside of the range where he can air unblockable you is generally safe, so you can neutral jump, drift forward, or just forward jump to try to get closer to the range where you can threaten Vlov effectively. When it comes to reacting to 236b with shield, if you're in the air being able to react to the animation helps a lot, but this is both hard and can be baited by Vlov doing 236a instead of 236b, that being said it's still something to try utilizing if you can do it.

Outside of that, I would only recommend shielding fireballs to build resources or to make him guess between your follow-ups or not, as he is technically a bit more plus if you shield. Something you can do to punish Vlovs that get greedy from fullscreen when you shield a fireball is to do a delay B counter. This will punish him if he tried to take an action before the shield was gone and may even counter-hit him if depending on timing, however, I would only recommend this if both you and Vlov have MD available; otherwise only do it if Vlov doesn't have MD as he can MD cancel his special on reaction to B counter.

As for when you get in, what you should do against Vlov is to structure your pressure to be shorter so that you stick closer to him with your pressure resets. this makes it harder for him to challenge as he can't leverage the range of his normals to get out with their speed as easily. I also advise going for a neutral jump forward drift or jumping forward more often over air dashing so that 2b doesn't anti-air you (this doesn't mean don't air dash at all).

You should also be conservative in regards to spending your moon gauge for pressure as you always want to have at least 50s for BC counter if you have to go back to neutral ever or get heat by heat and decide to take a gamble with shield. If you can get Vlov to spend his MD in neutral or on defense, that's good, as Vlov is way easier to deal with when he doesn't have access to MD to cover whiffs.

Basic Combos:

The general basic combo theory as of now is to fit in 22aa or 22bb j.[c] dl j.b ender after your starter. Your ender will usually be between 5b 3c jabc air throw or 5b 6c 214aa 236c. If you want to use meter and would rather run a left/right instead of returning to neutral or doing a safe jump you can do 22c instead of 236c. You do the left/right by doing a backdash and walking forward after 22c, and the side you get is decided by how much you walk forward after back dashing or walk back before back dashing. For combos that are very prorated if you want to spend meter after 5b instead of doing 6c opt to do 5bb for rapid beat 2 (first part of the auto combo) and then do 214bb EX ender. 

Here are a few combos to start out with:

• 2aa 2c 5c 22aa j.c dl j.b 5b ender
• 2b 2c 5[c] 22bb 22aa j.[c] dl j.b 5b ender
• 2b 2c 5[c] 22bb 214bb4b j.[c] dl j.b 5b ender
  • This combo builds more meter and does more damage but doesn't give a hard knockdown with meter ender and doesn't allow 22c left/right cause of the portion
• 236a 22c 22bb j.[c] dl j.b 5b ender
  • 236a hit can be confirmed with 22c anywhere on the screen, confirming in training mode by setting the block to a random guard.
• 236a 22c 22bb 214aa4a j.[c] dl j.b 5b ender
  • More damage than the 236a combo.
• 22aa 22c 22bb j.[c] dl j.b 5b ender
  • Another combo that works from fullscreen.
• 22aa 22c 22bb 214aa4a j.pc[ dl j.b 5b ender
  • More damage, but needs to be closer.
• 214aa 2c 5[c] 22bb 214bb4b j.[c] j.b 5b ender
  • If you start with 214b it's the same combo but change 214bb4b to 214aa4a.
• 214c j.ab[c] 2b dl 2c 22bb 5b 5c 6c 22aa air throw
  • This combo also works on 3c
• 214c j.b[c] dl j.a 2b dl 2c 22bb 5b 5c 6c 22aa air throw
  • harder combo but does more damage and also works on 3c