Overview
Yukiko Amagi is the daughter of the owner the local inn (the main tourist attraction in Inaba) in Persona 4. She is best friends with Chie and spend a lot of time hanging out when Yukiko is not busy helping at her family's famous inn. Yukiko is soft spoken and fair skinned, which has led to many suitors (all of whom she has obliviously turned down). Yukiko's inner struggle is that she feels trapped as she is expected to manage the family inn when she grows up; she overcomes her shadow with the help of the team. In Persona 4: Arena, Yukiko fights with a fan and her Persona is Konohana Sakuya.
- Health
- 8500
- Strengths
- Strong ranged game with several very good projectiles to work with. Unblockable setups using Fire Break, and high/low unblockables using Persona 2D attacks. Amazing Awakening super.
- Weaknesses
- Poor life, very dependent on Persona. Very heavily momentum based. Very low damage output from individual combos. Challenging to play.
- Movement Options
- 1 Double Jump/Airdash, Run-type Dash
- Play-style
- Yukiko can play a solid keep away game against many characters due to her great projectile attacks. All of her B normals are fan projectiles which she can toss at various heights and angles. Agi's second hit can be delayed as long as you hold the button, and her Maragi can be manually detonated by holding, then releasing the button. Her Persona's 2D attacks can also help keep the opponent locked out, due to it coming down from a 90 degree angle.
- Yukiko can also play a strong momentum game. Her mixups, okizemi, and unblockable setups can all be quite nasty if done right, and pressing her advantage after a hit is often the best way to go. Agi and Maragi are both very good for setting up Oki. Fire Break can be used to setup unblockables which force the opponent to attempt an escape. 2D attacks can be used to create a high/low unblockable as well, with the proper setup.
- Fire Boost
- Increases the damage of fire attacks. Specials are increased by +10% per level, Supers are increased by *10% per level. The max level is speculated to be 10.
- Fire Break
- Makes the next fire attack unblockable. Has a 15 second cooldown after use, even if your fire attack misses the opponent.
- Attacks that deal Fire Damage
- Agi (Explosion), Maragi, Agidyne, Maragidyne
- Attacks that require Persona
- All C & D normals, Agi, Maragi, Agidyne (Maragidyne?), Mortal Blow
Move List
Normal Attacks
5A
A fairly quick upwards fan strike. Has a pretty decent hitbox, hits well above her so it can be used as a makeshift anti-air if nothing else better is possible. Slower than most other 5A or 2A normals, but still very useful. Moves Yukiko forward slightly.
5AA
A second upward fan strike in this chain. Hitbox is still fairly good, but it's just used to continue combos or guard strings. Moves Yukiko forward slightly.
5AAA
A slow, downward fan strike. Will spike an airborne opponent (soft knockdown?), but can still be comboed after. Builds a really ridiculous amount of super meter on hit (+13SP?).
2A
A very quick, decently ranged low kick. Hits low. The speed and range makes it quite good for mixups, starting pressure, you name it. Really good.
j.A
A reasonably fast fan strike, with a very good hitbox. Makes for an excellent crossup, or air-to-air normal. You can rapidly do it even on wiff, making it even more dangerous. Pretty much an all-purpose air normal, which is a good thing because it's her only air strike that must be blocked high.
5B
A strait forward fan toss. Counts as a projectile. Flies at waist level, so it will hit characters who are crouching. Weak, but reasonably fast and good for helping to zone out the other player.
Cancels to 5BB even on wiff.
5BB
A second forward fan toss. Counts as a projectile. Flies at about head level, so it will miss on characters who are crouching and not in guard stun(?). Similar uses to 5B, helps to keep the opponent locked out, or for combos.
2B (and 1B, 3B)
Diagonal upwards fan toss. Counts as a projectile. Fairly fast, but the recovery is somewhat significant on wiff, so it can be dangerous to use as an anti-air tool, especially when Yukiko has other, better options to do so. You can adjust the angle it flies at by using down-forward or down-back instead.
- 1B flies at a 60 degree angle to the ground, the most upward moving version.
- 2B flies at a 45 degree angle to the ground.
- 3B flies at a 30 degree angle to the ground, the most forward moving version.
j.B (and j.4B, j.6B)
Diagonal downwards fan toss. Counts as a projectile. Similar to the 2B series normals but due to being an air normal, it ends up being a much safer and more effective zoning tool. On CH, causes a very large amount of hitstun which can allow you to follow it up with a combo after you land on the ground. You can adjust the angle it flies at by using forward or backward instead.
- j.4B flies at a 60 degree angle, the most downward moving version.
- j.5B flies at a 45 degree angle.
- j.6B flies at a 30 degree angle, the most forward moving version.
Guard Cancel Attack (6A+B)
Pretty standard Guard Cancel, mimics 5A in terms of hitbox. Very punishable on block, use with caution.
All Out Rush (5A+B)
Very slow, but travels very far forward and hits 'around' Yukiko. Has guard point and hits high, as is normal for these. Due to the small hitbox and bad recovery, it's very easy to punish on block. Not a particularly great tool for Yukiko, but it can be useful on occasion.
Sweep (2A+B)
A fairly fast, decently ranged sweep attack that hits low. Much faster than 2C but slower than 2A.
Persona Attacks
5C
A fairly slow, downwards swinging strike that hits 9 times. It moves a little distance forward, but the overall forward range is not that great. It's a staple normal for combos and guard strings, but doesn't have many uses otherwise. It is also fatal counters.
2C
A very long range sweep attack that hits low for 8 hits. Another staple normal for combos and pressure. It has much better range than 5C so it can be used in strings where 5C will not connect.
j.C
A very large, fairly decent speed air normal that attacks straight forward for 9 hits. It doesn't hit high unfortunately. The hitbox is quite good, but it's more useful for combo purposes than anything else.
5D (and 4D, 6D)
Konohana Sakuya dashes forward and does a huge, upward swinging attack that hits 9 times. It's very slow, but it hits a huge area. Because it can cause Fatal Counter, it can be very threatening to the other player. Getting Fatal Countered by it leaves Yukiko with a long time to rush up for a big combo followup. It's a fairly useful attack as a big, long range attack to fish for hits with, and does a good job against players who jump too much. You can control the distance it dashes before swinging by using forward or backward when you input it.
- 4D travels the shortest distance.
- 5D travels a medium distance.
- 6D travels the longest distance.
2D (and 1D, 3D)
Konohana Sakuya flies off the top of the screen, and then dives straight downward, and must be blocked high. The benefit of it traveling off the top of the screen before diving is that it is quite hard for the opponent to attack it, thus often forcing them to block or get out of the way. In addition, because it hits high, it can be used to setup for high/low unblockables. The startup time on it is somewhat lengthy, but it is an invaluable tool for many reasons for Yukiko. You can adjust the distance away from you it dives at by using down-forward or down-back when you input it.
- 1D travels the shortest distance, basically right in front of Yukiko. Useful for corner mixups.
- 2D travels a medium distance.
- 3D travels the longest distance, almost full screen.
j.D
What is this? Same as 2D?
Throws
Ground Throw (4A+B or 6A+B)
Yukiko spins the opponent around. This can always be comboed off of in the corner, and it can be comboed off of at mid screen with a One More Cancel. Otherwise, it at least leaves the opponent in a 'spin' state and Yukiko in a very good position to continue pressure and offense. Very good throw overall.
Air Throw
Yukiko tosses the opponent downwards. You can combo off it using a One More Burst, or potentially also One More Cancel. Like all air throws, it does extremely heavy damage.
R Action
Dia (B+D, Hold possible)
When activated, causes a short range physical hit that knocks the opponent far across the screen. It is completely invincible until after active. It is possible to combo after this hit if you have the opponent in the corner. Dia is Super Cancelable (on hit/guard or wiff?), which can be very useful as well. However, the move is very unsafe on block or wiff, so you must still be careful with it.
In addition, you can Hold B+D when you do the move, and Yukiko will continuously heal herself until you release. She is completely invincible to projectiles as long as you hold the buttons, so you can use Dia to beat attempts to thoughtlessly throw projectiles at you as well. This includes things like Teddie's meteors and clown ball super.
While Dia does cause Blue Life damage to Yukiko like all R-Actions, it also can easily heal this life back up. If you successfully hit the opponent with it, you may end up with more life than you started with if you hold it briefly.
Skill Attacks
Agi (236A/B or j.236A/B, Hold possible)
Konohana Sakuya does a very fast upward swing that hits, and then briefly places a small fire setup effect on the screen. This fire setup will explode when the button is released, causing a single hit of fire damage. Due to the fact that you can choose when to detonate the fire, this allows Yukiko all sorts of interesting combo, mixup, and pressure tricks. A typical strategy is to finish a combo with this move, then allow the opponent to tech without detonating the fire. This way, you can use the threat of the fire to allow you to setup mixups, or give you breathing time to setup keep away, or allow for you to use Fire Boost. This is easily one of Yukiko's best moves!
- A Version: The initial hit does not push the opponent away very far, and the fire is setup just in front of Konohana Sakuya. Useful for combos and pressure where you want to keep the opponent close to you.
- B Version: The initial hit knocks the opponent back, the whole way across the screen, and the fire is setup at almost full screen distance. Useful for combos or keep away, where you want the opponent as far away from you as possible.
- SB Version: Behaves similar to the A version, but the initial hit is a fair bit slower. However, it setups up TWO fires, one for each button. Releasing the A button detonates the closer of the two, B the farther. As expected, this is just an even better version of Agi that allows for even nastier combos and pressure!
- Air Versions: More or less identical to the ground versions, except they have less recovery. Good for pretty much all the same things as the ground versions.
Maragi (236C/D, Hold possible)
Konohana Sakuya sends a flame wave along the ground, which hits low. It has significantly longer startup than Agi. If you do not hold the button when doing this move, the flame will travel forward and explode into a fire column if it makes contact with the opponent. If you hold the button, you can manually detonate the flame wave by releasing it. The fire column has a very large vertical hitbox, does very substantial damage, and causes a very long amount of hit stun. The hitbox, along with being able to manually detonate the wave, allows Maragi to be used as a powerful zoning and anti-air tool. And due to the damage and hitstun it causes, it can be very powerful for starting combos, and being used in the middle of them. Very good special move overall, but the slow startup is something that must be considered when using it. It also can be at very large frame advantage on block, depending on how close it is blocked to Yukiko, so it can also be useful for starting pressure or mixups.
- C Version: Travels slowly.
- D Version: Travels quickly.
- SB Version: ???
Fire Boost (214C)
After a short pose, Yukiko gains a Fire Level, which increases the damage of all attacks that deal Fire damage. Using this move causes a small amount of Blue Life damage to Yukiko.
While a single Fire Level offers a very small increase in damage, many fire levels can add up to a significant boost, especially to Maragidyne. Unfortunately, none of Yukiko's normals are not fire based, and her simple/common B&B combos often don't involve any fire damage at all, so the effect of building Fire Levels is often not seen at all! In addition, due to the highly momentum based gameplay of Yukiko, it is often very difficult to find time to use Fire Boost at all. These two things, along with the fact that it causes Blue Life damage to herself, mean that many players choose to simply not use Fire Boost AT ALL!
The damage increase per level is as follows:
- Specials: Damage is increased by +10% per Fire Level. So a 1000 damage Fire attack at Level 5 would deal 1500 damage (150%).
- Supers: Damage is increased by *10% per Fire Level. So a 1000 damage Fire super at Level 5 would deal 1610 damage ((1.1)^5 = ~161%).
Fire Boost High (214C+D)
More or less identical to Fire Boost, except a Skill Boost, thus costing 25SP. The upside is that it builds 2 Fire Levels at once. The downside is that it costs twice as much Blue Life health to Yukiko. Seems to be completely not worth spending meter to do this at all.
Fire Break (214D)
After a decent length pose, Yukiko gains Fire Break. This causes the next Fire Damage based move used to become unblockable. Using Fire Boost also causes a fairly decent amount of Blue Life damage to Yukiko (more than Fire Boost High). Fire Break will remain ready until Yukiko uses it, but after using an unblockable move, she will have a 15 second cooldown during which she cannot use Fire Break again (time remaining indicated by a meter above her SP bar).
Note that moves already on screen DO NOT gain the unblockable property. Fire Break will take effect on the NEXT fire attack used. If an Agi is setup AFTER Fire Break is used, that Agi will have the unblockable property once released, but the cooldown timer will immediately begin as soon as the Agi is placed.
Super Attacks
Agidyne (236236C/D, Hold possible)
Konohana Sakuya does a rapid spin attack just in front of Yukiko, dealing Fire damage and hitting many times, and then shoots a large fireball across the screen. Does fairly decent damage and is a staple combo ender for Yukiko. Holding the button causes Konohana Sakuya to fly up the screen, which will take the opponent with it on hit. It is also possible to combo AFTER this super, though it may be difficult to at the end of long combos, or at mid screen.
- Version differences? Any?
Awakened Super Attacks
Maragidyne (214214C/D)
Two large fire wave travel along the floor, dealing massive Fire damage and hitting many times. Very difficult to avoid due to wide horizontal hitbox and tall vertical hitbox. Used along with Fire Break, you can create extremely dangerous, unblockable walls of damage. Yukiko is also at decent advantage on block with the C version of this super, so it is possible to use it to setup for a Fire Break as well! Potentially a very lethal, match turning super if used correctly. However, the super has some startup, and it is possible to avoid or punish it on reaction for some characters.
- C Version: The fire columns start at Yukiko and travel outwards, away from her. Leaves her at big advantage on block, and the opponent far away from her. This one is possible, but very difficult, to roll through though.
- D Version: The fire columns start at the far end of the screen and travel inwards, pulling the opponent towards Yukiko. Leaves the opponent very close to her, which allows her to combo after it, thus generally making it the best for use in combos, after a D Agi. It can be very difficult for the opponent to deal with this super if it used with Fire Break.
Mortal Blow
Flower Flame Turbulence (222C+D)
After a very long startup, Konohana Sakuya rushes forward with a huge attack that is identical to her 5D. Obviously if it connects, it kills the opponent instantly. The startup is fully invincible, but the move is blockable, and punishable on block. Might be useful to reaction punish some supers maybe? But definitely not something you should ever just throw out there.