Johnny is a character with a strong focus on controlling neutral with his Mist Finer specials. Given the "Zoner" designation by the game, Johnny's ideal playstyle is to train the opponent down with his long pokes. Once he's established himself, Johnny can move into a more reactive style of play by using Mist Finer to punch opponent approaches back. If opponents choose to respect Mist Finer, Johnny can then approach and begin his own excellent pressure.
The biggest problem with Johnny's gameplan is his need for precision and strong decision making. Johnny has few moves that pull double-duty for anything, and a large number of his moves are highly committal. For example, P Mist Finer covers a very specific angle despite the speed and range, allowing opponents to sneak under if it they make a read. While you can easily succeed if you're good at making the right call, Johnny can certainly overbet on his options if you play too deliberately.
Glossary
Move Notation
As Mist Finer stance is used in a number of unique ways in combos and pressure sequences, there are a number of shorthand notations used for different actions revolving around actions in stance.
The notated Mist Finer includes a forwards Mist Finer Dash before releasing the button.
4XMF
Backwards Mist Finer
The notated Mist Finer includes a backwards Mist Finer Dash before releasing the button.
MFC
Mist Finer Cancel
Indicates that Johnny enters Mist Finer stance and immediately leaves it as a type of cancel.
MS
Mist Step
Johnny enters Mist Finer stance, dashes forwards, and exits the stance.
DJk
Dash-Jump Kara Cancel
Johnny kara cancels the startup of a dash-jump into a special or Overdrive.
MFk
Mist Finer Kara Cancel
Johnny kara cancels Mist Finer Cancel into an Overdrive.
Neutral
Pokes
Johnny excels in the midrange, utilizing fast pokes with long range to keep the opponent out. It should be noted, however, that many of Johnny's pokes sport long recoveries, making them risky in situations where they are likely to whiff.
Neutral Pokes
f.S A fast, slightly disjointed poke for checking spacing
5H Higher reward and safe when MFC'd on block.
2S Long range and a low hitbox for checking low profile options
5K A low crush with fast frame data
Mist Finer Long, disjointed punish option
Johnny's pokes are the building blocks of his neutral gameplan, offering great space control and the ability to reliable whiff punish opponents from a long range. f.S is fast and has enough range to pose a serious threat to opponents with poor spacing, and offers reliable confirms into hard knockdown on hit. 5H plays a similar role to f.S, though it has longer range, better reward on hit, and is significantly safer on block at the cost of a much long startup. 2S fills a similar role, although it can catch low profile moves like Sol'sNight Raid VortexGuardAllStartup15~31 [32]Recovery32Advantage-17. When the opponent gets too close, 5K is a useful check thanks to its low crush properties and fast frame data. It (alongside 2K) gatlings into 2D, giving it reasonable reward on hit in the form of okizeme.
Mist FinerGuardAllStartup7+5Recovery30Advantage-15 has incredible range and a quick startup, allowing it to whiff punish options that f.S or 5H cannot reach. It's disjointed nature also makes it less vulnerable to reversals or 6Ps. Unfortunately, Johnny gets less reward than with his normal pokes, and can find himself in trouble as this move is -15 on block.
Anti-Airs
Most of Johnny's grounded pokes are easy to punish on read with a jump-in, making representing anti-air options a core part of Johnny's neutral gameplan.
Anti-Airs
6P A low reward anti-air with upper-body invulnerability
5P High CH reward and low commitment
c.S Fantastic AA with highest reward.
Ensenga Rewarding anti-air that can reliably call out certain tools
6K An awkward AA that has a habit of crossing under the opponent
As Johnny's grounded pokes have long recoveries, he is particularly susceptible to jump-ins in neutral. 6P and 5P are both reliable anti-air buttons that can save Johnny from jump-ins on reaction, though 6P gives very little reward. c.S is Johnny's preferred anti-air tool, as it gives massive reward on normal or counter hit, though it requires timing due to its proximity requirements.
EnsengaGuardAllStartup18Recovery20Advantage-4 and 6K both have their share of niche uses with exceptional CH reward, with Ensenga being better for punishing forwards advancing neutral tools like Potemkin'sMegafistGuardHighStartup25Recovery16Advantage-6. 6K is mainly used in situations where the opponent goes airborne while retreating, such as Axl'sRainwaterGuardAllStartup24Recovery21Advantage+3.
Though Mist FinerGuardAllStartup7+5Recovery30Advantage-15 also pokes upwards, its longer startup and low reward makes it an overall unreliable anti-air option.
Jump-Ins
Though Johnny is at his strongest on the ground, he can jump in using IAD or his excellent dash-jump to mix things up.
Jump-Ins
j.H Standard jump-in and safejump tool
j.S Air-to-Air and gimmicky mixup tool
j.K Versatile jump-in with cross-up potential
Aerial Mist Finer Niche anti-anti air option
Johnny gets a lot of value off of safe jumps in neutral, with many common situations leading to safejumps utilizing IAD j.H. j.S is an interesting jump-in as it whiffs on the entire roster standing after an IAD except for Faust and Potemkin, potentially allowing for whiff setups into throws against opponents expecting j.H. j.K is notable for its long downwards reach, allowing for F-Shiki Sometimes known as "Fuzzy Overhead". When you are in blockstun, you can switch high/low blocking, but your blocking animation and hurtbox does not change until you leave blockstun or block another attack. F-Shikis take advantage of this and use overheads that would miss on crouching characters, but not on standing characters. setups. It also hits behind Johnny, allowing for it to be used as a cross-up tool. After an IAD and on block, j.K can be followed up with Aerial DealGuardAllStartup15RecoveryUntil Landing+22Advantage- to safely land and allow for a mixup opportunity. It should be noted that all of Johnny's aerials feature a gatling into j.D, allowing for double overhead setups or the ability to make jump-ins safer on block.
Aerial Mist FinerGuardHighStartup7+5RecoveryUntil Landing+12Advantage- is an interesting neutral tool, as it leads to a hard knockdown and can out-range many traditional anti-air options. This, paired with the slight air stall Mist Finer Stance provides, can give it niche usage as an anti-anti air. However, this option is usually unsafe on block, and should not be relied upon always.
Approaches
c.S starts pressure, 2K is a low and 6K moves forward.
Mist finer dash can result in long-range pressure.
Mist finer dash into anti-approach PMF is strong.
j.P, j.S and j.H control airspace.
Fullscreen Zoning
Heavy conditioning
Keep opponents afraid of Mist Finer and use Deal up wherever you can sneak it in.
P Deal for approaches, K Deal for your own approach.
j.236H~H with 50 meter is extremely threatening.
Resource Use
Johnny loves Wild Assault and can easily convert off of it.
50 meter as usual is super good for confirms.
236236S absolutely wrecks zoners and anyone attempting to poke Johnny down.
Offense
Deal Up
Deal up is Johnny’s goal in pressure as it is a strong guard crush.
plus frames and mixup conditioner supreme
He can get it off of grabs (P Deal), combos (usually K deal) or in the corner (throw > deal, combo ender > deal)
Okizeme and Pressure
Without card, use c.S and 5K to strike throw people.
2K > 2D > SMF works and leads to card, throw gets either a safejump with 44 > IAD j.H or a card.
With MF cancelling, 5H can work as a okizeme tool, as can 6H.
Ensenga ends pressure safely and throw baits for full combo
Goal is generally to set a card somehow and at worst, Deal > RC can work to get one out.
With a card, your goal is to set up a 50/50.
Johnny’s easiest one is card > c.S >2147S/214S for a high/low which converts with Deal.
Opponents who are scared of card may be vulnerable to MF dash > throw or even card > stepdash > throw.
Alternatively, card can be used to pressure reset by cashing it out.
Card can scare people into forgetting about 2S, which can result in 2S > 5H > KMF.
Card basically makes all spacing traps real and lead to full combos, such as ensenga > 214S.
Wild assault allows Johnny to convert at max range if necessary.
Mist Cancel
Johnny's moves have lots of recovery, which can make some pressure normals like 5H unappealing to use. However, cancelling into Mist Finer stance and then leaving it immediately can reduce the recovery of each move by a considerable amount. Here's how to do it:
Do a move that is special cancelable.
Special cancel in to a Mist Finer.
Hold button to stay in Mist Stance.
While holding button, press H to Stance Cancel.
Example: 5H>214[P/K/S]~H
The button you choose to use for Mist Cancelling can be , K, or S, but you should ideally choose the version you hold based on hitconfirm situations. For example, mist cancelling ground strings with K is very important, since it is the only mist finer that will combo on hit from many of Johnny's long pokes. Near the corner, using P in order to go into a delayed Mist Finer High after blocking is also very viable.
Mist Cancel Frame Advantage Chart
Shows the frame advantage for each attack level assuming fastest possible mist cancel. The fastest recovery of Mist Finer Cancel is 7+15=22.
Hits are assumed to hit at the first active frame.
Attack Level
Normals
On-Block
MFC On-Block
Level 2
f.S
-11
-9
Level 4
2H, 5H, 6H
-14, -15, -19
-4
Notable Knockdowns
2K > 2D
Throw
KMF tumble
SMF HKD
Resource Use
Wild Assault converts everything.
236H~H is a pressure reset with 50 meter.
Card > PRC is expensive, but it helps stabilize corner pressure.
opponents jumping out? j.S > RC or j.S > j.KMF > RC > c.S > combo
Defense
Abare and Reversal
Legally mandated 2P 5f mash
... that's kinda it.
Reversal super in 623146H, good hitbox and speed.
Johnny defense isn’t particularly special, but can work fine.
Defensive Buttons
6P is really good.
2S halts all ground approaches and can convert if they don't get the message.
Resource Use
236236S snipes all zoning attempts.
RC off of any mist finer to convert and push a corner situation.
Deflect Shield is really good on Johnny as it allows him to space opponent pressure and then 5H them for a counterhit into big damage.
FD is as always king
Advanced Techniques
Kara Cancels
Johnny has two special types of kara cancel A type of cancel where the beginning of an action is quickly canceled into another before the first action completes its startup. that are unique to him. The first of these is the Dash-Jump Kara (or DJk), which allows him to cancel the startup of his dash-jump into specials and Overdrives. The second is the Mist Finer Dash Kara (or MFk), which allows him to cancel Mist Finer Cancel into Overdrives.
Dash-Jump Kara Cancel
Though all of Johnny's specials and Overdrives can utilize the Dash-Jump Kara, few are actually practical. This Kara is inputted by buffering 214 or 236, dashing, and then inputting 8 and the attack button corresponding to the desired special simultaneously. This input can be simplified considerably by using a dash macro.
DJk DealSpacing at the cost of execution.
DealGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 32Advantage- is a common setplay tool for Johnny's okizeme, though oftentimes the opponent is knocked too far away for the card to be placed in an optimal position. To solve this, Johnny can use DJk to position himself closer to the opponent without sacrificing too many frames.
Delaying the DJk can allow Johnny to slide further, making this a useful way to fine tune card placement.
This is by far the most practical use case for DJk.
DJk Mist FinerA niche punish tool with some neutral applications.
Johnny can use DJk to give Mist FinerGuardLowStartup7+5Recovery30Advantage-15 a bit more range. SMF is a useful hard knockdown tool, and is a preferable whiff punish to KMF where applicable. DJk can give this move a bit more range to help it compete with similar pokes like 2S, though the situation on block still leaves this move lacking in neutral.
A better use case for DJk SMF is as an okizeme tool, since it allows Johnny to represent SMF from further away. This is especially useful if a card is already on the ground, but slightly out of reach.
DJk EnsengaExceptionally niche option for very specific situations.
DJk EnsengaGuardAllStartup18Recovery20Advantage-4 is uniquely able to reach opponents at round start distance without requiring an extended hurtbox, though delaying the move further into the dash itself can give it some niche usage for catching distant airborne opponents.
This option is a lot worse than it probably appears.
Using this at round start is unlikely to win any interactions that regular Ensenga would not.
Mist Finer Dash Kara
Mist Finer Dash Kara is a surprisingly useful input technique both for neutral and combo applications. This Kara can be inputted by either inputting 632146H or 236236SH while in Mist Finer stance or by inputting 632146H/236236S while exiting a Mist Finer dash.
MFk That's My NameViable combo ender and risky RPS tool.
MFk That's My NameGuardAllStartup9+2Recovery60Advantage-44 is a useful tool for Johnny's combo structure, as That's My Name does more damage than Joker TrickGuardAllStartup6+1RecoveryTotal 48Advantage-16 and Johnny often sticks opponents to the wall just out of range for That's My Name to normally land.
MFk That's My Name also has uses in neutral, where it can act as a hard call out for opponents conditioned to mash against Mist Step resets in neutral.
MFk Joker TrickMetered alternative to 4KMF.
It is not uncommon for opponents to attempt to punish Johnny for entering Mist Finer stance. Due to Joker TrickGuardAllStartup6+1RecoveryTotal 48Advantage-16's fast startup and high projectile priority, it is possible for Johnny to cancel Mist Finer stance into Joker Trick on reaction to projectiles like Asuka'sHigh Compression Submicron Particle SphereGuardAll [Guard Crush]Startup6+1RecoveryTotal 32Advantage+36 [+47] that would otherwise catch him out of all other options.
Johnny can also pair Joker Trick with a backwards Mist Finer dash, acting as a damaging alternative to 4KMF that deals more damage and gives better okizeme on hit.
DealSpacing at the cost of execution.
GuardStartupRecoveryTotal 32Advantage- is a common setplay tool for Johnny's okizeme, though oftentimes the opponent is knocked too far away for the card to be placed in an optimal position. To solve this, Johnny can use DJk to position himself closer to the opponent without sacrificing too many frames.
Mist FinerA niche punish tool with some neutral applications.
GuardLowStartup7+5Recovery30Advantage-15 a bit more range. SMF is a useful hard knockdown tool, and is a preferable whiff punish to KMF where applicable. DJk can give this move a bit more range to help it compete with similar pokes like 2S, though the situation on block still leaves this move lacking in neutral.
GuardAllStartup18Recovery20Advantage-4 is uniquely able to reach opponents at round start distance without requiring an extended hurtbox, though delaying the move further into the dash itself can give it some niche usage for catching distant airborne opponents.
