BBCF/Mu-12/Starter

Welcome to the Mu-12 Starter Guide

Before reading this page it is advised that one reads the characters Overview page, and for more info the Strategy and Combo pages.

Use Your Normals!

New Mu players often ignore her normals in favour of using her steins, but don't let yourself be fooled! Mu's normals are amazing and a key part of her gameplan in neutral. Knowing when to use her normals and abusing their strengths is key.

Ground Normals

2B
Fast, great range, 0 on block, a lot of gatling options.
5C
Big, disjointed, oppressive.
6A
Main anti-air, and pretty versatile.

These normals are great to enforce Mu's space control, and are very hard to contest for a majority of the cast. When possible, it's advised to use microdash 2B instead of 5C, due to its better gatling options and smaller recovery, although don't be scared to press 5C.

While 2C has a bigger vertical range than 6A, it's regarded as a "high risk high reward" option (due to its lesser invulnerability frames and bigger recovery); therefore, 6A is often more important in Mu's neutral, as well as working as a solid ground button.

Air Normals

j.B
Main jump-in and crossup.
j.C
Disjointed air to air and covers massive horizontal space.
j.2C
Slower, but huge hitbox all purpose normal.

DO NOT IAD An air dash performed from a standing position as quickly and as low to the ground as possible from a jump. Done by inputting 956 754, and depending on the game, using a dash macro right after a jump. j.2C IN NEUTRAL FROM HALF SCREEN AWAY (it's easy to react to and since you lack air options it's going to be anti-aired)

Mu's air normals play a big part in her space control game, j.C in particular controlling a large amount of screen space, and j.B acts as a useful jump-in, as well as mixup tool, remember to gatling it into j.A on block for more plus frames and potentially catching the opponent off-guard.

Steins in Neutral

Probably one of the reasons why one would choose to play Mu, her steins can be a tricky tool to use in neutral, but extremely powerful when used correctly. The objective is to use steins to aid you in space control. A few seconds after they are set Steins will shoot in the direction they are aiming in, which can cover a lot of angles in neutral, provided you don't block anything before they fire (since they become inactive).

Setting Steins by themselves in neutral can be risky in a lot of matchups, especially if the opponent has access to a fast-moving fullscreen projectile (e.g. Es), or has long normals that can hit you while setting steins (e.g. Amane). So often using the aforementioned normals is important to be able to set up steins for later use. 5C > 6C > xD is a safe way to basically set whatever you chose.

It's important to know what options Mu wants to do after setting Steins (in neutral):

Stein > Jump - Allows Mu to move quickly out of the stein spawn position, especially with a superjump, as well as to set air steins for zoning against slower characters, altho not advised for most matchups. Jumping is useful to let you block after setting a bad stein, or to sandwich yourself and the opponent with a stein, or just generally moving out of the opponent's way to make sure they don't deactivate.

Stein > C normal - Critical for ground control with the use of 5C, and situationaly anti air with 2C.

Stein > Stein - Extra stein on the screen, risky unless it's off of a 6C hit, or the opponent is very far away.

Stein > Special - Most situational of the bunch, cancelling into 236A can be useful depending on the matchup, to 63214B when you need a quick burst movement option, or even 623C as a last resource option to stop yourself from being hit, altho you usually don't want to need to resort to this.

Wich Steins I Should Use?
Generally speaking, there is not an "incorrect" stein to set at any given scenario; however, you should consider that some steins take longer to cancel than others. 4D is the fastest to cancel, followed by 5D, 6D and 2D beeing the slowest. As for how their position is relevant, it can be relative to your playstyle, where you want to move, where you think your opponent wants to move, whether they are placed charged or uncharged, etc. There're a lot of factors to consider and as said there generally isn't a "wrong" choice, so experimentation depending on the matchup is advised.

Uncharged VS Charged Steins

xD
Uncharged.
x[D]
Charged.

Uncharged Steins - Are faster and safer to set and spam; however, they only track once while being set, so if the opponent moves their shot probably won't hit. They also have shorter range than charged steins. Useful for when you want a quick set, don't want to rely on the stein shot, but want to quickly use Mu's D specials.

Charged Steins - Slow to set but with much bigger reward. Their shot goes fullscreen and has more hitstun/blockstun. They also aim 2 times, upon being set and right before they fire, so they are usually more accurate at pinning the opponent. Always useful regardless of if your neutral gameplan is hard zoning or based around movement. Although hard to set in neutral without a considerable distance, after a 6C two charged steins can be safely set.

Stein Specials
As the title suggests, Mu has 2 specials that interact with her steins, and they both serve different purposes:

236D
Fires a laser from the newest to oldest Stein then homes in on the opponent.
214D
Sends all Steins flying in the direction they are aiming.

236D - Very useful for locking down the opponent, use it when they are between steins you have set for massive + frames, recommended to use with at least 2 but preferably 3 or 4 steins. Can also save you from a combo in some situations since it stays on hit.
214D - Controls a lot of space in neutral and leads to big reward on hit, can hit the opponent when they least expect if you have offscreen steins, and stays even on block.

Hit your opponent! What now?

As a new player, 2B > 5C > 6C is your friend. After the 6C you have the opportunity to set steins, steins and 214D, charged steins, steins and 236A a lot of different options depending on the matchup and your playstyle. Instead of setting steins theres also the option of doing 6C > 63214B to get yourself closer. You then can meaty with 5C, or run deeper and hit them with 6C (altho it does not meaty). If after 6C ikutachi they hit the corner, it wallsplats and you get to do a corner ender, so its usualy the preffered option when a bit after midscreen.

When closer to an opponent, Mu can confirm into 6B, allowing her to do an air combo. An easy one without steins would be 2B > 5C > 6B > 2C Super Jump A higher than normal jump, usualy done in Arcsys games by inputting down followed by jump in quick sucession. j.C j.B dj j.B j.C j.2C.

It is recomended that a new Mu player reads the Begginer Combos page for more information.