Noctis

File:Noctis portrait.png

Noctis
Key techniques	delay FLY 2 dash jabs
Heat	{{{heat}}}
Heat Smash	{{{heatSmash}}}
Heat Engagers	{{{heatEngagers}}}
Stances	{{{stances}}}
Fastest
Launch	i15 – df2
CH launch	i13 – uf1 (high) i16 – ff1+2 (mid, homing)
Wall splat	i16 – ff1+2 (standing) i17 – f4,2 (standing) i16 FC df1 (crouching)
Archetypal moves
Parry	b+1+3 (high or mid punches, kicks, and weapons)
Mid check	d/f+1 (standing) df4 (standing) ws4 (crouching)
Hopkick	u/f+3
Power low	d/b+2
Hellsweep	d4,1:1+2
Generic moves
Remapped	(none)
Missing	(none)
External links
Lore	{{{lore}}}
Twitter	#{{{twitter}}}
Discord	[1]

Noctis excels at restricting the opponent’s movement with his key moves such as 2,2 which tracks to his left, DF4 and DB1,1+2 which track to his right and FF1+2 which is a homing, safe, long range, mid CH launcher that gives a free mix-up on normal hit.

His block punishment is solid and he has access to some of the best whiff punishment in the game, with his range allowing him to punish many pushback moves other characters can only dream of punishing. His mids are some of the best in the game with FF1+2 being a contender for the best mid in the game. He has access to solid mix-ups with Maelstrom (D4,1,1+2) as a power low and his low poking game is pretty decent with D3, D2 and FC DF2.

Noctis does require solid defense as you’re often gonna put yourself in disadvantageous situations, without access to tools such as a generic D1 or D4.

There’s three most important parts to playing Noctis: Poking and restricting the opponent’s movement while applying pressure with moves such as your 1 jab, DF1, 2,2, DB1,1+2, DF4,2, D3 and D2. This opens up the opponent to making defensive mistakes and getting caught by Counter Hits or whiff punishes. The second part is fishing for Counter Hits with tools such as UF1, 2,2,F2 and FF1+2. The third part is looking out for and baiting whiffs and punishing them heavily with your incredible whiff punishment tools such as DF2, F1+2 and F2.

You’ll generally want to play from a bit of a distance, taking advantage of your exceptional range while making it harder for the opponent to get in.

While up close fights are his weakness due to lack of a generic D1 and D4, Noctis can still do rather well in situations like these with a good Side Step, solid 1 jab, great DF1 and a decent low poke in D3. His UF1 is a really fast CH launcher at i13, on block has a decent amount of pushback and is only -4 making it a great way to get people away from you, forcing them to get in again.

You can apply heavy pressure using WR1+2, mixing it with FF1+2 to discourage stepping or interrupting as it will track the former and CH launch the latter.

While he has a rather solid mix-up game thanks to his Maelstrom which can be mixed up with many of his great mids, it can be hard to enforce in many situations as you have to get in close first before attempting Maelstrom as otherwise it’s not gonna Clean Hit, which puts you at a risk when dashing into the opponent’s face. Thankfully Noctis can discourage people from trying to challenge him with his FF1+2. There’s some situations where Maelstrom can not be backdashed out of or is very difficult to do so, such as FF1+2 on hit, DF4,2 on hit and 2,2 on hit.