A jump is a generic movement option done by holding up. Holding back or forwards as well jumps back or forwards respectively. During a jump it isn't possible to guard, change direction, or cancel the jump. Jumps on their own are slow, risky, and don't have much reward (such as access to stronger neutral moves), so unlike many other fighting games they're rarely used outside of combos and setups.
Generic jumps enter a jumping state from frame 9, at which point lows are crushed and other attacks will float, possibly enabling a juggle. Jumps recover in full crouch.
It's possible to do a hop forward by tapping up and forwards. This doesn't go as high or far as a jump, lands faster, and gives access to different moves. It's not possible to hop backwards or straight up.
Akuma, Eliza, and Geese have a special jump that's floatier and enters jumping state on frame 5. This is often called a 2D jump. Akuma also has command jumps with dp+3 and dp+4 with their own arcs and which also enter jumping state on frame 5. These jumps don't recover in full crouch like generic jumps do.
Noctis has a floaty jump similar to the 2D jump, but his takes the normal 9 frames to enter jumping state.
Jump tween
A jump tween is a mechanic where the startup of a jump (i.e. the time before the jumping state: 8 frames for generic jumps and 4 frames for 2D jumps) can tween into any move that uses an up input. This is different from a cancel since the move comes out as if it started when the jump started, rather than when its input was done.
| Recovery | |
| Jumping 4 startup | |
| Active frame | |
| Hopkick startup | |
| Jump startup |
This mechanic can be useful for a few unintuitive upsides over just doing the move normally. The startup of the move is replaced in part by the startup of a jump, which won't get counter hit and has a different animation and hurtbox.
The different hurtbox is notable since a generic jump can evade some highs (such as Fahkumram, Kazuya and, Marduk's jabs; and Lee's HMS.1) on frames 6~7. This allows almost all characters to beat these jabs at -3 or -4 with a tweened hopkick. It can also make some moves which are inherently evasive even more so, since the tweening of hurtboxes isn't immediate (e.g. if you input Lars' uf+4 on frame 8 of a jump, his hurtbox on frame 8 won't be the same as if uf+4 were done normally).
The different animation is notable since it makes it harder to react to the move being done. This is particularly useful with orbitals to make them more threatening mixup tools. While it would be possible for a defender to react to the jump animation, they could be tricked by it being a sidestep into the background instead.
Generic jumping moves
- Delayed hopkick (i23 -11 launcher, not technically done from a jump)
- Jumping 2 (high risk, low reward ground hitting move)
- Jumping 4 (high damage combo tool)
- Jumping jab (floor break)
- Landing df+4 (high damage combo tool)
- Landing 3/4 (ghetto low/mid mixup)
| Mechanics |
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| Concepts |
| Techniques |
| Strategy |
| Miscellaneous |