GGACR/May/Matchups

May

Overview

Starter Guide

Combos

Matchups

Things to note when discussing matchups:
-General ratio
-Optimal/inoptimal spacings
-Strong/Weak buttons
-Things to watch out for
-Character specific confirms
-etc etc

Matchup numbers represent the character whose page this is compared against the character in the leftmost column of the table.

A.B.A	-	This matchup is like 9:1 before ABA transforms, but nearly the opposite once she transforms. All her moroha normals destroy May. She is hard to combo, takes low damage, and is incredibly hard to stun. May Don'ts: Don't let her transform. Play safe, but don't give her space to blood pact. In neutral (normal mode ABA) you want stay out of range of her key grab, but close enough to hit with 5K and 5S. Watch out for slide into keygrab. Don't spam 5K though as it loses to key grab. Don't dolphin on round start. She will occasionally do 6H at round start and a counter hit 6H can instant dizzy you. You can (on reaction only) do antiair dolphin if she jumps though. Don't challenge Moroha's Danzai from the air. Don't use the standard 5S -> 6P in combos. E.g. 2D -> HHD FB -> 5S -> 6P. You have to do it when ABA is incredibly low to the ground and it's an extremely tight link (my guess is 1 frame). Don't throw out vertical dolphins on ground-to-ground neutral. (Need confirmation: if she blocks she can probably transform) May Do's: May's only consistent antiair against ABA moroha mode are dolphins (HVD most likely to catch her before her move comes out). Dealing with Danzai: You can backdash the second hit of danzai and 3K it You can also IB the second hit of danzai and 3K it if you aren't at max danzai range. You can also slashback the second hit of danzai and 3K it or possibly 2D into combo if you are close enough. Her rekka hits have very few active frames (3 active frames on the second and third hit) so you can backdash them and escape She loves to use her install super after a rekka, or after her unblockable. You can backdash the install (before superflash) if you know where she's going to do it as it's only 1 active frame. You can also learn to slashback it, but it's 15+2 so I believe that means it is a 1 frame link to slashback instead of the normal 2 frame. She requires a blood pact to do this, so you don't have to worry about it if she is out of them. How to deal with her unblockable: backdash (it is 1 active frame), FD jump, 63214H, 63214S, ?623S FRC? Learn optimal punishes, and go for knock downs against moroha mode. If you get a combo that will fully deplete her meter (and she has no burst), then end with SVD so you can IK mode activate and IK her.
Anji Mito	-	May's 2D beats Anji's usual favorite Fuujin followups (H and D) into a full combo with 25% meter. It will lose to slightly delayed S Fuujin follow-up. May's 5K beats the stomp in front of you. Anji will try to auto-guard your jump ins so do them low to the ground if possible and change timings. His best antiairs in this matchup are 5P and 6S so avoid being in those areas. He has a hard time dealing with j2H directly above him. Get used to blocking butterfly mixups. They are very varied, but May can deal with them better than lots of characters. Instant blocking the first hit allows escapes to be easier. Backdash (or double backdash) can sometimes be used to escape. Dolphins, and 2D can be used to check Anji, but if he expects it and blocks, then you're going to eat a combo after the butterfly comes down on your face. Red butterfly you either need to super or burst as he's going to go for the unblockable. He can beat wakeup 63214S by using an overdrive himself, so don't get in a habit of relying on this super alone. jH is great against Anji and you can get a lot of counter hits in this matchup with it.
Axl Low	-	He will use his 2K to beat j2H and then throw you into a combo so you need to be careful about how often you use it. Axl is the only character that it is impossible to do aerial 5S -> 6P on (e.g. 2D -> HHD FB -> Dash in -> 5S -> 6P. AB/SO/HOS are hard to do it on, but Axl is impossible. If you want corner carry you need to do 2D -> HHD FB -> Dash in -> 6P. Beat his 5P with your running 6P. Use FB Vertical Dolphins to beat his anti-airs and get in. Learn to combo from a counter hit FB Vertical Dolphin. Crossing him up multiple times can defeat his anti-airs. 9 jump over him and then double jump 7 back over to the original side. It will also make it difficult for him to DP/Super you on his wakeup. Axl Basic Strategy: Axl is trying to catch you jumping at 1/2 screen with his 5P, or his antiairs (2S/6P/DP). When you are out of Axls’s 6HS range, he has no options to hit you overhead. This means you can low block just outside of 1/2 screen distance and be A-OK. The only tool you can't block low at near full screen is that unblockable projectile, which is easy to react to at at that range. If he throws the UB projectile, just IAD jS -> jH to get in. You will spend a lot of time blocking low just outside of 1/2 screen distance. Be patient or else you'll get knocked to full screen again. If you get in, then watch out for his DP, Reversal Super, and Counter. He can't counter on his wakeup if you meaty him.
Baiken	-	May does huge damage against Baiken and has great mobility so abuse that in this matchup. May Do's: Summon hoop dolphins when baiken is running away (e.g. IAD back tatami). Do jS and jH low to the ground as she can't guard cancel punish them. You can punish Zakuro (412P) and Sakura (412S with no FRC) if you do your jS or jH low enough to the ground with a full combo. Learn to safe jump her so she doesn't have easy guard cancel options to punish your oki. OHK is great in this matchup as she tries to fish for guard cancels. IAD forward tatami you have to deal with. If it's done in neutral your best bet is to be in the air. On her oki you have to hold it or super. You can 3K her wakeup super. Having 50% meter makes this a safe callout as you can RC in case she doesn't do it. You can also FRC it if you have good timing. You normally can't antiair her (especially her jS). Try to jump out of her way and land a jH. Learn your combos to maximize your damage/stun against Baiken If she is doing a high falling jH you can 6P CH it... but you probably just want to dash under. May Don'ts: Don't do long blockstrings as she will guard cancel you 5H for frame trapping is not as godly as in most matchups. Still very useful to try to crush mashing in neutral, but don't abuse it in close range frame trapping.
Bridget	-	One of the few matchups where her mobility is better than yours, but your damage is way higher. May Do's:= jH all day to try to fish for counter hits. Especially in air to air. Air to air is in your favor Abuse hoops in this matchup if the Bridget player gives you space. Bridget mixups require the yoyo to be out so if they don't have the yoyo out, then you can take more risks Get your Bridget combos down as when you finally catch Bridget you want to make it count May Don'ts: Don't try to 63214S out of Bridget's Killing Machine (632146H) as it will lose. You generally have to take the mixups if Bridget does it on your wakeup. Bridget moves to watch out for: 6P is a great antiair 6S will catch you if you try to jump out of pressure 3P (Buttslam) is a bad trade with 5K as it staggers you on CH Moves that chain into Bridget's overhead (6K): 5P/2P/6P/5K/2K. Dealing with Starship (623P): 6P can beat Starship at the right range (fairly far) 3K also beats Starship. Have meter to RC/FRC if they don't do it They will probably FRC Starship to make it safe so don't expect a punish even if you block it. They might even do a second one to punish your attempted punish. (From Bridget wiki) How to punish: FD the first few hits so Bridget gets pushed out and then hit her. It is also vulnerable throws for up to 4 frames before it goes active. Kickstart my heart (236K) and its follow-ups are almost always minus without RC or cancelling into Starship FRC, but Bridgets will very often do one of those two things if they have the meter making this not risky. Bridget's delayed wakeup requires the yoyo to not be out. You can OTG to prevent delayed wakeup, but Bridget may tech out if you do. If they do Loop the Loop as a wakeup reversal the last hit (Roger slamming down) is an overhead. Don't get hit by it FB Jagged Roger (214D) tracks to you. Try to avoid. If you airdash over it to bridget they will likely air throw you. j623S FRC will probably prevent that though at the cost of 25% meter. FB Roger Rush (236D) is hard to deal with. Also try to avoid, but if they do it on your wakeup you're going to have to guess a mixup at least once. 63214S can beat it though, but can be baited with an overdrive, throw, or simply by jumping over May
Chipp Zanuff	-	Pulsr says: "Hit him first". You do explosive damage against him, but he has significantly better mobility than you. Catch him and give him a funeral procession. Chipp's jD will beat almost everything May can do in the air. He has recovery frames when landing on the ground if he doesn't cancel it into a special, but it is still very hard to deal with and punish. If the spacing is right you can instant block it in the air and air throw him, but it's not easy. His 6P will beat all of your air options if timed right, so vary your timings and try not to be predictable. Throw out jH and try to hit him Chipp's Gamma Blade (41236H) will punish your ground approaches so be wary of that and cancel your dash with FD May can 6P his Senshuu (236K) followup from his Rekka for a free dizzy (6P -> 5S -> 5H -> HVD). Do it once and it's almost guaranteed they won't use it again for a long time. Chipp's 2D will beat almost everything you do on the ground, but it's not jump cancellable. He will likely cancel it into the first hit of his Rekka (Resshou 236P) which makes it safe at -1. Make sure you are blocking low when he is at 2D range Don't throw out vertical dolphins in ground-to-ground neutral unless you know you are FRCing it. He can get a full combo off a blocked vertical dolphin with oki Punish his DPs (Beta Blade 623S) on block. If he did a dashing FB DP or a dashing DP it is going to be hard to punish. (Needs confirmation: Perhaps whale will catch it). He can FRC the first DP on block, and you don't get CH on his landing recovery. You can 6P clash them at the appropriate range (requires two clashing 6Ps against FB DP), but hard to be consistent with it.
Dizzy	-	This is a difficult matchup for Dizzy as you can CH 6P most her ground-to-ground normals she loves to use. She has an incredibly low stun resistance (50) which allows her to be stunned incredibly easy with May. Dizzy's hurtbox is also favorable for May which makes her fairly easy to combo compared to most lightweights. May Do's: 6P her 5K, fS, jS, and jH Kill fish with hoops, vertical dolphins, horizontal dolphins, or their FB varieties to be safer. She usually has a hard time getting knockdowns on the dolphin punishes which stops the Dizzy oki loops. jS beat's Dizzy's 2S Dizzy's love to throw out IAD back and then IAD forward into jS. 6P it Watch out for FB Daggers as they track really well and do a good chunk of HP. She will hold regular daggers and try to summon more stuff if you do nothing though. (Needs confirmation: 3K beats it?)
Eddie	-	May Do's: 5H is really good against Eddie as it beats his 2S Airdashing is somewhat preferred compared to being directly above him, especially if Little Eddie is out. 2H is a strong committal, and if he summons a drill you can get a free punish with an IAD forward jS -> jH Air throw or avoid is jump-ins as nothing you can do can beat his properly timed air-to-ground normals. IB first hit of Mawaru and you can backdash out of his pressure Play somewhat defensively until Little Eddie is dead How to kill Little Eddie: Hoops for days to kill Little Eddie 63214S is great at killing Little Eddie FB HHD Spamming 2P when he starts pressuring you as if he does 2S -> Mawaru it will hit Little Eddie Good Eddie moves against May: 2K in neutral as it beats 5K 2H is a slow but great antiair if May is in that area Don't jump at him when Little Eddie is out as Little Eddie has a great antiair (Nobiru)
Faust	-	May's damage and mobility gives her a good fighting chance. May Do's: You can 6P his fS, 5K, drill and 412346H. Hoops are a great way to get in. If Faust is doing doors, then to beat all options you need to jump forward and FD. 6P CH his drill for tons of stun. If he's staying on the pogo you can punish with a vertical dolphin, but he can just get off the pogo and punish your dolphin on block. You can Hoop his 214D. Pretty hard call out but you can combo off it if you use D Hoop. Spam 'P' if he does his 236236S super before he can rotate the cups. jH and jS are still good despite Faust having plenty of antiairs that beat them. If you know Faust is jumping to do an explosive bag (j236P), then you can preemptively HHD under and behind him, and antiair him with HVD. Comboable with FRC. May Don'ts: Don't jump at him all day every day. His 2K is godlike in this matchup and will antiair you for free if well timed. 3K is beaten by 2P so you don't want to rely on this.
I-No	-	Clearly a MU in May's favor, she don't have good option for deal with HVD, a bit weak resistance to stun (55) and have difficulty to win the neutral. But she is still Ino so don't get KD. Everytime she Hoverdash use SVD or HVD (depending of the distance) for force her to block. Take care about the dive, one of her only tool who can beat HVD at the right timing. She can low profile many of you move with big tree so don't be too predictible. In fact that one of the rare MU where may don't gain so much at trying to jump.
Jam Kuradoberi	-	The start of these matches are somewhat like ABA. Play safe initially so she doesn't get cards, but don't give her space to get them off for free. 6P beats her wakeup DP, Ryuujin (non carded only?), and the non FB puffballs. 3K beats all her pre-puffball movement (Bakushuu. 236S). Use this on reaction when you know she's going to go for a puffball. Jam's jS will destroys May in air-to-air. Do not fight her air to air above her. If you rely on 5K or j2H for oki, then you need to mix it up as she can parry them on her wakeup. Meaty 2D or 2K on her wakeup will beat this option.
Justice	-	May has quite a few tools to deal with Justice, but you have to play at her pace once you lose in neutral and she knocks you full screen. Lots of patience and blocking as well as using the following tools: D Dolphin Hoop, 2S, 3K, j623S FRC, and occasionally Whale. Don't mindlessly IAD at good Justices when you are pressuring her (especially after fS) as she can easily jP you out of it into a full combo. If going air to air with Justice it is preferred to abuse your high jump height and get above her. D Dolphin hoop can be used full screen when Justice knocks you away. If you have the life advantage she HAS to come to you, and can't summon more missiles while in the range of your hoop. 2S can be used to short-ciruit Justice's 22P (the low missile) by hitting it with the tip of 2S. If done correctly the missile will blow up, May will take a very small portion of damage, and then you can try to get in closer by running under the other missiles. You likely can't make it all the way to her but it puts you in 3K range so she can't spam summons anymore as you can punish with 3K on reaction. 3K can be used to go under Justice's 22P (the low missile). Don't rely on this too much as she can blow up the 22P missile as you are under it and punish for full damage depending on range. This is only to occasionally check Justice when she is getting greedy summoning lots of missiles back to back. Super Jump j623S FRC can be used to go over Justice's missiles (and justice) from full screen. It's somewhat of a reset of neutral. She can probably get one missile out before you land, but not much else. More useful if you are low on life and cannot take the chip or the damage from trading with 2S. Whale can be used when Justice is greedy at full screen summoning missiles. You can time it so that if she summons two missiles back to back, then you can always punish the second summon. She can probably FRC to bait it, but that's a call out of a call out so unlikely. Antiair dolphins are very good when Justice is above you. If you learn to FRC you can get a full combo off either version. SVD FRC into 5SH SVD. HVD FRC into low airdash jH -> 6HS -> HVD Justice moves to watch out for: Antiairs: 5P, 6P, 2H Michael Swords (41236S/H) is used in neutral often to try to catch you doing things. Causes a full screen knock down in neutral in which lets Justice summon one or two nukes. Always hold back if you aren't pressing a button. 2H as it will beat (or trade) your jump-in jS and jH, and she can spam it if you try to bait it with double jump. If you trade with jH she lands and recovers quicker so an abnormally bad trade for May's jH. Her backdash will be used on wakeup fairly often. If they are getting predictable you can punish with delayed normals. Her backdash is not nearly as good on wakeup as pot. If she is in the corner you can punish with a charged 6P (just make sure you are out of wakeup throw range), or a well timed charged 6HS. 2D also has 10 active frames so it's a good normal to deal with wakeup backdashes in general. Counter on wakeup. This loses to lows so get your free (out of wakeup throw range) 2D -> HHD FB combos in until she stops doing it. (Not tested ->)You can also do 2K -> 2D if you want to simultaneously bait her backdash and counter, but you might have to be close enough where she can wakeup throw you. Strike backtail (Her DP). This is actually pretty effective against May except when she is in the corner. It trades about 50/50 with May's j2H mid screen, and is not easily punished by May unless May is very close as it's only -10. If she does it close to May on the ground, then you can do 2D -> HHD FB into whatever combo you want.
Johnny	-	Johnny does a lot of damage like May, but his mobility is lacking which helps to give May a slight edge in this matchup. May Do's: May's 2D favorably trades with Johnny's 5H at the range Johnny wants to throw it out. Johnny gets knock downed so you get to get in. jK or run under his jH. Get out of it's way otherwise. Watch out for TK Ensenga RC (especially when May is in the corner). 6P (hold charge) to beat his wakeup super. You can also low profile it with 2K, 2D, 3K, or hoop (D is best to combo from). Backdash to get out of his coin range in neutral. If you know he is going to throw a coin at neutral you can run in and 6P under it. May Don'ts: 6P is not that great in this matchup. It can beat 5K, but not that reliably because it's so quick. Don't try to antiair his jH. Better to run under or get out of the way.
Kliff Undersn	-	Both damage juggernauts with huge air normals, but May has better mobility and significantly higher stun resistance. Watch out for his wakeup dodge (214P). If you do 5K as your oki it is very easy to do 4H after to throw him. If you are doing a jump-in for oki you can do the same thing, but it's not quite as good. Counterhit him. He dizzies extremely easy. Learn your post-dizzy stun combo against him (5S -> 6P -> Delayed 5H -> HHD -> Dash -> 5S -> 6P -> Dash -> 5S -> 5H -> HVD). May's jH is great but trading with Kliff's jH leads to a neutral trade as it functions similarly. His 6P is pretty good, and he can hold it. A properly spaced jS beats it though. Once you get a counterhit or two it makes it very risky for kliff to do the spot dodge (214P) so you can be more confident of your oki.
Ky Kiske	-	Ky has to play this matchup safe, but if he does this matchup is definitely in his favor. He doesn't do high damage, but he keeps May out extremely well which can be incredibly frustrating. May Do's: Use hoops a lot at near full screen. You can 6P his wakeup DP. 5K his 2S. If he is 2Sing your dash ins you can 5K -> fS -> 3K for a knockdown. IB the second hit of stun dipper to 3K him. You can punish Ride the Lightning on block with 6P -> 5S -> 6P. Learn his extremely easy post-stun corner combo that does a ton of damage: Dashing 5S -> 6P -> 5S -> 6P -> HHD -> Dash -> 5S -> 6P -> Dash -> 5S -> 5H -> HVD. May Don'ts: Don't jump at him often. His 6P is extremely good and will beat everything you can do unless he mistimes it. His 2H and jK are also great antiairs that destroy May's jump-in attempts. Don't use Dolphins in neutral. He can get a free punish on vertical dolphins into knockdown -> oki. He also can spam jD and FB j214D which will wreck dolphins.
May	-	Whoever Vertical dolphins lasts wins. Dumb matchup
Millia Rage	-	Millia is one of the few characters that has better mobility than May. If you catch Millia, though, May wrecks her. May Do's: Throw her roll or 2D it if you know it's coming. If she rolls behind you, you can do 2P -> 2D -> Jackhound (because she crosses up your charge partition). Try to land a jH counter hit. Try to be mobile as you don't want to block pin into a mixup. Roughly 45 degrees from her jump to the ground is a bad place to be. Try to keep Millia in the corner. It is likely Millia will try to super jump airdash or super jump j236K (Turbo fall) out of the corner. Try to catch it with an air throw, or a jH into an air combo. Learn how to block Millia's basic mix-ups. Good luck if Millia has meter to FB Disc and meter to FRC hair car (214P). Learn to bait and punish Millia's wakeup super 2141236H. It is -21 on block so get a good punish on it. It is FRCable but not a common one Millia's learn. They don't use it often, but when they do you want to punish it for max damage. Guard her pin if she is unable to pick it up easily. Rarely you will get the opportunity to deny her the pin because it is off the screen. If this opportunity arises and you are on the opposite side of the screen, make her come to you. Summon hoops and wait. Her neutral game is way weaker without pin. Lots of her mid screen disc oki is not meaty with just the disc. Depending on how deep the disc is on you, you can backdash out of it. Millia can put the disc out and do a meaty low to bait the backdash though. May Don'ts: Don't always wakeup 63214S on her oki when she has 50% meter. She will wait and punish it with an overdrive. Obviously it can still work, but don't rely on it all the time. Don't wakeup 63214H on her disc oki as she will just block it and punish. Millia moves to watch out for: Her 2D is really good and will beat your 2D for free. Her 6P is fantastic and will beat all your jump-ins. Her fS is great in neutral. Her jK is extremely quick (4 frames) and has a good hitbox. She will try to air-to-air you with it often when you are above her. May's j2H does trade with it in May's favor if you know she is going for it.
Order-Sol	-	HOS has great normals, but weak antiair. Abuse your high mobility and his weak antiair options to get in. May Do's: 6P his Rock It (236S) when he is at level 1. He loves to abuse this to get pressure as it is +3 at level 1. At level 2 or higher 6P loses. 3K his Rock It (236S). It works on all versions, but he can punish it hard on block. Don't be predictable Bait his DP on wakeup with a well spaced 2H. If done right you will clash with the first hit. You can follow-up with a HVD into Jackhound or HVD FRC into combo to punish it. Bait his DP on wakeup with a backdash -> 6H (partial charge). If done right you will dodge the first hit, and land a meaty 6H counter-hit in the air. You can follow-up with a HVD into Jackhound or HVD FRC into combo. 2PP -> 2D his poorly spaced Gunblazes that happen to miss you, but he ends up next to you. You can also throw depending on spacing, but 2PP -> 2D is more universal. May Don'ts: Don't try to antiair his jH. You can vertical dolphin HOS's jH early if you know he's going to do it, but your best bet is to get out of the way with either a backdash or a dash under. Be careful with the 5S -> 6P in aerial combos (e.g. 2D -> HHD FB -> 5S -> 6P). It is quite difficult to do on HOS and SO. Unless sufficiently practiced, it is better to go with other options. HOS moves to watch out for: Gunblazes will blow you up if you jump around in the air too much. It is really his only good tool to deal with May's jump-ins. Significantly more dangerous if he has charge. His jP is 3 frames. It is extremely good and he will spam it when scared or uncertain at the situation. Most HOS's will spam j6P + H at the same time to option select air throws. His 2H is a fast overhead and they love to use it. He will RC it into a combo if they have the meter. It launches on CH to catch people mashing. His 2S has great range and it will be one of his most used moves in neutral. On Counter hit he can combo it into 6H for a big chunk of damage. He can even RC it and do it a couple more times if you aren't mashing out of the stagger. HOS will try to air tech chase you with his 5H. Be careful on teching at the earliest possible time. HOS's 2D CH will net him a full combo because May is so lightweight. It is also very low profile so it is hard to deal with.
Potemkin	-	Sit back and punish him trying to get in. Frustrate him into making mistakes by keeping him out. Mays Do's: 5P spam will catch his wakeup backdash. 5K beats slidehead (except at an incredibly specific range). 5K -> 2S will stuff most hammerfalls (fails to work at close range). 5K -> 3K beats hammerfall up close. Jump back jH for days. Backdash out of his pressure. j2H will beat heavenly if the j2H is already out. Should be able to combo off of if it hits low to the ground after landing with a SVD FRC -> 5SH -> HVD or a corner combo SVD FRC -> 5S -> 6P -> etc. May can punish forward mega fist (236P) with 5P/2P/2D. Hoops are ok, but try not to be predicable that he can flick them. The D hoop is harder for him to flick because it goes behind him. May Don'ts: 63214S on wakeup is terrible. He will potemkin buster you for free.
Robo-Ky	-	RoboKy is one of the few matches that can turn on a dime for May as he can easily stun her in a counter-hit or two. May's mobility does make the matchup frustrating for RO though. May is unlikely to get a stun on him as he has high stun resistance (80), but if you do the combo is easy. May Do's: Try to stay on the ground more often than most matchups as his antiair game is pretty strong, and he can get full combos off his antiairs. jH is still great despite what I said above. 5K goes over slide. 3K beats RO's fS, steam, 6P, and 5H. Robo missiles have landing recovery. Whale the recovery until he stops or spends meter to cancel with his j214D Forcebreak. OTG him to prevent delayed wakeup. Wakeup 63214S is great against him (unless he crosses you up). He can bait it with a normal grab like most characters, or use his command grab. May can actually use this super to bait his DP super because the first hit of the DP super does not count as an overdrive (it only activates if the first hit works). Use it for a hard DP call-out to finish rounds. If he doesn't DP, then you can still get some chip damage in and +20 on block. Restive roll is great at getting away from his Overclock super (236236P). Super jump j623S FRC will take you all the way across the screen. Summon dolphins and wait if you escape and it goes off. 2S is pretty good. Throw it out in neutral. His post-stun corner combo is the same as Ky: 5S -> 6P -> 5S -> 6P -> HHD -> Dash -> 5S -> 6P -> Dash -> 5S -> 5H -> HVD. Fairly easy to corner combo. May can double jump to bait his DP as her vertical jump height is so high. RO moves to watch out for: RO loves to command grab to deny you meter, and gain meter for himself. Especially Dr. Stormlocke as he has tons of gimmicks to get the command grabs off. Robo dash. He looooves to use this move as it crushes everything (except 63214S/H), but he can only do it if after running for 20+ frames. Best to get out of the way by jumping if you see him running at you from full screen. 2H and 6P are his antiairs. If you love to be in the air, then he will love 2Hing you out of it. If he has 80+ heat, then the 2H missile will come back down after a couple seconds.
Slayer	-	Not an easy matchup for May. Slayer does big damage, and his antiairs/normals are godlike. Mays Do's: 2K -> 2D on his wakeup to beat normal dandy. 3K can beat all his dandies. Go for OTGs to mess up his BCDs and dandy timings. May Don'ts: Don't summon hoops in neutral often. He can mappa punch you to punish. Don't be in the air all the time. Slayer moves to watch out for: Slayer's godlike 6P, 2S, and 5P antiairs. Slayer's BCDs on wakeup (BackDash Cancels) are hard to deal with. Slayer outpokes May pretty easily with 6P, 5K, 2K, 2D. Slayer's wakeup FB dandy is great. Be sure to bait it when he has meter. Big Bang Upper will murder you if you try to jump out of the corner. Try to FD when jumping out of the corner if he has meter His 6K will go over your 2D. Don't heavily rely on 2D out of his oki pressure as you'll get stuffed by him doing 6K. 2P is a better mash option as it'll hit him out of 6K.
Sol Badguy	-	Annoying matchup as you have to play his game, and Sol is fairly hard to combo for May. May Do's: May can beat Bandit bringer with FD jump or HVD if early enough. Bait his DPs on wakeup and learn how to punish them. You can safe jump them with jS. If he does the kick followup you can get a counter hit punish. For the love of god 6P his riot stomp (214P). You can do 6P -> 5S -> 5H -> HVD for a free dizzy. You can Jump Install the 5SH HVD FRC -> low jH -> 6HS -> HVD for a longer combo, but he should dizzy from those first 4 hits. Use 2S in neutral. If he is spamming DP to get you out of the air, then you need to start FD baiting it. May can punish 214S (between the last two hits) with 2P -> 2D -> HHD FB or (TIGHT LINK) 2D -> HHD FB. It is hard to punish if you block the last hit as he is out of range. If you predict a Gunflame in neutral you can IAD over jS -> jH -> land -> into combo. If you know he's going to do a Gunflame you can go over with and punish with HVD, but the timing/spacing can be tight. May Don'ts: Don't get hit by his dumb random shit. Punish riot stomp with 6P, punish 214S with a 2P combo. Don't spam 63214S on wakeup as he can safe jump into wild throwing you. Sol's moves to watch out for: fS, 2D, 5K, Gunflame, 6P, jP, jH are all godlike and May has trouble dealing with them. Wild throw leads into big damage. Try to backdash or jump out of his pressure if you feel it coming. You can punish with jump j2H if you are quick. Dashing DP is pretty impossible to punish. DP is hard to deal with as May can't really clash with it. You either have to safe jump it, back dash out of it's hit range, or block it. Punish it hard when you do properly bait it. Sol will spam jP in air-to-air. Sol will use jH mostly as a jump-in, but also sometimes jS. jH can't really be anti-aired.
Testament	-	Testament is pretty dumb in this version, but your mobility and damage is what makes this matchup more fair. May Do's: Hoops are good to take out nets Dolphins clear traps (you generally want to whiff them to clear traps as they can punish on block). Testament is really easy to corner combo so learn them. May can 6P CH their Grave Digger, but it's a pretty hard call out. Jumping Restive Roll (j623S) to go over powered up trees (especially if they put out a couple). 63214S is FANTASTIC at clearing out traps. Use and abuse it if they get powered up traps. They can super it if they have the meter, but if they just supered they probably won't have the meter to punish. Meaty their wakeup so they can't Warrant on wakeup. Then you can frame trap bait it on your second attack. If you meaty a 2D in the corner you can do this combo: 2D -> 2P -> 2S -> HHD into corner combo. May can 3K under Testament's wakeup Nightmare Circular (RC it for a combo). OHK can beat webs and trees as it has strike invul for the last 6 frames. OHK is pretty good in neutral. This matchup is much scarier for Testament when you are good with OHK. jP and jK are good quick normals for taking out nets in the air. May Don'ts: Don't not meaty them. Don't airdash at them unless you know they don't have any traps set. Don't use Vertical Dolphin in neutral unless you intend to FRC it. They can antiair it with 2S into combo, or block it to punish it into knockdown with oki very easily. Don't use Horizontal Dolphin often in neutral. They can trade/win with forward exe beast or 6P it into a full combo. Testament moves to watch out for: Testament's 2S is godlike and can beat everything May can do in the air, and it can beat dolphins. Nets and trees. Nets are more obvious, but the set tree animation is quite subtle. Make sure you are watching them in neutral and remember where the traps are. May also needs to worry about the nets even if you are comboing them as they can interrupt your combos. End combos early and get oki if you know a trap is going to interrupt your combo. Badlands and Grave Digger in neutral. They love to use this to catch you doing anything. Forward Exe Beast is extremely good in this matchup. It makes it very hard for May to approach on the ground. Testament players love to abuse Warrant (their counter). Learn how to bait and punish this move. Testament players will also summon exe beasts for oki and then teleport behind you while releasing the beast for a crossup. Wakeup Nightmare Circular will be used on their wakeup to get out of pressure. They can also hold it and release it later for pressure.
Venom	-	May Do's: You can 6P his fS. Dash up 6P will counterpoke it. He will probably switch to using 2S. 3K also beats his fS. Sadly, his 2S beats 3K. At pretty much max range 6H beats his 2S. May can follow-up with Jackhound for a combo. It's a pretty sick punish, but not easy to do. Play safe and try not to get knocked down. You can 6P through some of the horizontal balls if you want to not block or jump them. Venom moves to watch out for: Venom's antiairs in this version aren't the best against May so jumping at him is pretty effective. Venom's 2D is great and hard to deal with. Mad struggle in neutral is bad (more likely Venom will use it in the corner). Punish it with jump back jH. FB Mad Struggle will be used for an instant overhead on oki. It forces you to block high occasionally. If he does a meaty Dark Angel (2141236S) or double Dark Angel, and you are low on resources, then the optimal use of meter/health is to wait to hold FD until you get pushed into the corner. If he does Dark Angel in neutral, then j623S can easily get over it to completely avoid it.
Zappa	-	Zappa is oppressive in +R, but May can do very high damage against him and has great mobility to bring this to be a more balanced matchup. May Do's: j2H his DP. j2H (higher) his wakeup centipedes). Against sword try to use hoops, 3K, or j623S/H FRC. 6P (or 3K) his Roah DP on his wakeup. 6P clashes with it, and then you can 5S -> 2D -> HHD FB. He combos pretty easily and has medium stun resistance (60). Antiair Vertical Dolphins are pretty good against him as long as he doesn't have ghosts. May Don'ts: Try not to get hit by Ghosts. Play safe and patient. If you get hit by a ghost, then don't go full yolo. Be even more patient until it wears off. A good zappa is going to block everything, and only go in when an item is about to hit you. Ghost mixups/crossups are fairly easy to block so don't panic. Zappa moves to watch out for: Zappa's Summon DP (214P). He loves to use it as an antiair or as a dashing counter-poke. Try not to let him get full screen so he gets a free summon, but sometimes it can't be helped. If you block it up close you can punish it with 2P -> 2D -> HHD FB -> combo. Backdash. He has the best backdash in the game and he loves to abuse it. 11 frames total with 10 frames invincibility. It also moves him extremely far compared to most characters, and he doesn't nerf his tension pulse as much as most characters. Zappa's 6P is extreme low profile. Zappa's spit is very annoying to deal with. He does it wanting you to jump or IAD at him. He will air throw you for free. 5K can go over it if done late, or beat it if done early. Dog pressure is insane. Try not to get pinned between him and the dog. Sword is even more dumb. He can chain certain moves into his high/low mix-ups. (*Add notes about what those moves are*)