Hello Again everyone 
back again to continue helping TJ combo players, figured that I would create another post for my more advanced findings that would be to much for a new TJ combo player to handle, as well as make my original post to long and uninteresting. so lets get right to it shall we!! some of this is from watching BxA Devilmaycare4’s breakdown video so big thanks to him for making that video taught me alot about TJ enabled me to get to Killer, watching UA Bass vs STDxRobelo/BxA Devilmaycare4’s Rough Sets and my own findings, being a lab monster and breaking down frame data, and exp playing some of the best players. Had the pleasure of playing some great players like UA Bass 2x, and HKsmash ft5 as well as some of the top 32 players.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3wEpihzEzk&t=4669s Devilmaycare4 breakdown of TJ Combo (its long about 2 hrs, but def worth to watch.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKI1biTB8lo&t=21s UA Bass vs STDx Rebelo ft10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeQECBSnmJ0&t=795s UA Bass vs BxA Devilmaycare4
so lets start with the most basic fundamentals first.
Movement
Now I know what you are thinking, “hey this is an advanced guide, I know how to move my character.” Just here me out though. So with TJ, He has Basic Movement:Back,Forward,Up,Down like all characters. Then he has Mobility in the Form of Backdash, Forward dash (again like all characters), but then he has Mobility in the form of Roll and Powerline. Roll is about half-screen and Powerline can be a full screen and canceled with either Roll or Fakeout or 4 other options.
Now this next part is purely my opinion, because you can play TJ however you feel like playing him. I believe to play TJ properly you should only be moving around with Mainly Powerline (TJ’s strongest asset) and should never be moving backwards always forward, backed by Powerlines or Tremors unless backdashing to bait or whiff punish and to NEVER EVER EVER FORWARD DASH, you forward dash and you are most likely going to eat something to the face, now why do I say this? because TJ is an Offensive, Momentum based character that relies on constantly forcing your opponent to make a choice with strong mixups and Multiple utilites in his Kit, forcing them to make the wrong choice and get opened up.
By using Powerline as your way of travel you are already forcing them to make a choice on the most basic level. what do I mean by this? Well when you do Powerline it has a distinct startup sound and very noticeable start up animation, anyone that has ever played TJ knows what is happening. Now they have to make a choice because power line will reach them, here are there choices:
1: Do nothing get hit
2: Jump
3: Block
4: Try to beat Powerline with an Attack of their own
5: Backdash
Now thats 5 Choices the opponent has to make just for TJ moving forward. they choose 1(prob because they hesitated) hey free damage thats good for you. If they choose 2 and try to jump out of the way, you can roll under them,fake out or flying knee cancel and try to catch the jump, or let Powerline rock if they timed the jump wrong, flinging them to the corner. if they choose 3 thats free damage in the form of chip (Powerline chip is no joke), or you can command Grab cancel, and if you choose to let it rock its only -3 on block only punishable by Jago/Fulgore DP. if they choose 4 they are eating a full Powerline counter hit(can be followed up with another Powerline or Superman punch) if there timing is off by 1 frame, same for choice 5.
Depending on their choice this will also tell you what type of player they are, if 1 happens they werent paying attention, dont know tj, or bad at decision making on the fly.(good for you) Choice 2. are evasive would rather fly then fight, or bad at making decisions. Choice 3. Defensive, willing to stand their ground, or bad at decisions. 4 willing to take risks for reward(probably try to counterbreak everything), or understands their characters capabilities fully, or got lucky. On the counter this will also tell the opponent what kind of TJ player you are. Just by Powerlining you are telling your opponent "Hey IM COMING FOR THAT A**"
The beauty of Powerline is, there is no right choice in how to respond. The TJ player gets SOMETHING from it no matter what you do. be it chip damage, a combo (command grab), better Positioning(right in front of your face by spinfist canceling and reseting to neutral), or Information on you as a player. And if you Fakeout they just got information for free.
This also allows you to start to condition a player which is very important for TJ more on this later. Powerline also lets you get your way into the players head and play mindgames. Should I jump? will he roll/knee/fakeout? should I block? what if he command grabs? What if he Fakes out? all these questions in as little time as 10/60ths of a second (9/3/27 +23/-3) more on advancing with Tremor later.
What to take from this ALWAYS USE POWERLINE TO MOVE AROUND, KEEPS YOU ON THE OFFENSE AND OPPONENT ON THE DEFENSE) you can cancel out of it with Fakeout, reset everything to neutral with better positioning by Spinfist (0 on block), Roll (into a mixup or better positioning more on that later on), Command Grab into a combo, Powerline armor to beat non heavy attacks or chip dmg, or Flying Knee to catch jumps or Beat low attacks for an opener.
Buttons/Pokes
In my Opinion, TJ’s Buttons are sub-par(outside of instinct, during instinct hes a beast due to startup/recovery time shortened) but what is great about his buttons, is that every single button has the ability to be special canceled making them safe with Spinfist (again 0 on block) or follow up with a hit confirmed combo(Vortex, Spinfist,Shoot Toss, or Flying Knee depending on the button). Again this is opinion, his best buttons are st/cr.LP, cr.LK, cr.HP, cr.MK, jp.HK and jp+B+MP(turnaround punch). I think what TJ is really missing is a Reliable Anti-Air button.
st/cr.LP is your basic 5 frame jab 4/2/13 +1/-1 beats alot of attacks and has great pressure combined with spinfist.
cr.LK 5/3/10 +3/-2 is great for people that dont watch their toes. Combos from Superman Punch, great to use after a Fakeout, And after any jump in.
cr.MK 7/3/15 0/-1 great for rolling into range and catching people off their toes. decent poke to fish for Option selected Powerlines or Spinfists(safe pressure, more on this and option selects later). Great for whiff punishing aswell. has a tad slow speed at 8 frames.
cr.HP 9/3/19 +1/-2 another button that is Decent for pokes has a decent hitbox and range. startup is a bit slow at 10 frames.not active very long either only 3 frames.
jp.HK 12/6/4 +87/+16 (Hard Knockdown) Amazing button for corner pressure, cross’s up (really good vs big bodies because it can be really ambiguous), also changes your hurtbox and can cause some characters dp’s to wiff. (orchid, maya)
Turnaround Punch (9/4/4 +16/+12) great cross up good recovery +12 on block allowing for a nice frame trap setup with Rollercoaster(have to wait 1-2 frames).
Superman Punch (22/5/12 +8/+1) Overhead, Lowerbody Invunerable great for meaty setups, frametraps beats low attacks, able to special cancel. (if hit meaty becomes +9-12 on hit. (non meaty able to Link st/cr.LP, cl.MP, st/cr.LK, cl.MK,cr.MK. Meaty (depending on what frame you hit meaty) able to Link cr.HP, far HP, Rollercoaster, far MK, cl.HK)
** Rollercoaster** (11/1(*2)/22 -2/-2) decent command normal because it is an opener provides safe pressure aswell
Honorable Mentions
MP~HP (close -11/-12 Far -7/-8) Stagger target combo good for whiff punishes due to it moving you forward, great for catching people off guard by whiffing the MP and they go for a whiff punish, only to get clipped with a HP stagger.
Far MK (10/2/24 -4/-5) can anti air but trades more often then not.
cr.HK (12/2/23 +66/-3) has a pretty far range but comes out rather slow at 13 frames. Hard Knockdown is nice for a Oki setup.
jp.MK (7/6/4 16/+12) has an ok angle for air to air just depends on positioning, can cross up but you have to time it perfectly.
Specials
Powerline
I already went over this in alot of detail in the beginning so no need to beat a dead horse. Although there are a few things I want to point out. if you are going to do a Shoot Toss always Powerline first then immediately cancel into Shoot Toss, 2 reasons for this.
.#1 makes your opponent think you are going to Powerline so they are more inclined to just block instead of jump, again keeping them defensive and forcing those choices.
.#2 the Frame data for a raw Shoot Toss is 20/2/41 +60/-N/A. the Frame data for a Powerline canceled Shoot Toss is 16/2/42 +60/-N/A. Shoot Toss Comes out 4 frames faster when canceled out of Powerline and has 1 more frame of recovery if whiffed. So 4 frames is a pretty big difference, always use Powerline canceled shoot toss
Powerline canceled Flying Knee.
Raw Flying Knee Opener is 16/10/17 +4/-10 enabling you to Link a (testing ATM) manual afterwards, When canceled from Powerline the data is 7/11/18 +2/-12 although it comes out Considerably faster almost 2x faster and it is only +2 on hit instead of +4 you can only Link a (testing ATM) after. The rest of Powerlines cancels frames are the same
last after a certain point Powerline automatically cancels into HP armor Powerline at this point you cannot cancel anymore. now there is a trick to this. if they hit you and hit the armor there is a short pause during the armor hit animation, during this pause you can cancel Powerline into any 5 other buttons giving Shoot Toss Armor. has its applications.
Spinfist
This move is great, its 0 on block making any of your buttons/pressure safe by resetting to neutral. Doing LP xx Spinfist (block) > LP xx Spinfist (block) > LP xx Shoot Toss/Powerline/Fakeout is great mind games. Cannot count how many times I have caught players with this, or caught them on the 2nd loop with a 3 frame jab. Try to limit your usage of Spinfist as a Linker unless you are baiting a Counter Breaker, TJ spins around really slow and it makes the strength very telegraphed and easy to break.
Shoot Toss
not much to say about this other than a raw Shoot Toss vs a Combo’d Shoot Toss is that they bounce higher (over you head) when you combo into it vs a raw Shoot Toss (about top of head hight). why is this relevant? Say you want to LK Tremor immediately after Toss, if they bounce higher you are going to catch them in the earlier frames of the Tremor giving them more time to react and break.
Tremor
Tremor is a great tool for TJ to get in or open the opponent up. At long ranges you can safely advanced behind the knockdowns of Tremor. So how do you do this? After you get a hard knockdown, you can roll into a cr.MK mixup range where you can either do a low/high mixup with cr.LK/MK xx Spinfist(low) or Tremor/Superman punch(overhead). Tremor causes a hard knockdown if the opponent does not block low, sends a shockwave that does no damage but causes a Hard knockdown allowing for a meaty setup. So TJ gets setups for free if Tremor gets the knockdown. also worth noting that the only version of Tremor you can use as a Linker, is Shadow Tremor. Tremor can also be great for an anti air, catching unsuspecting players out of the air with a well timed MK or HK Tremor.
Vortex/Cyclone
Not a whole lot to say about the non shadow versions, other than they can be used as anti air, if you have the correct angles down. LP doesnt move at all causes 1 hit, MP moves slightly 2 hits, HP slides forward alot and does 3 hits. The Shadow version is your bread and butter for reversals/wakeup options, it also cashes out potential damage during a combo. it has full invunerability during the Vortex, after cyclone you can Link a LP/MP/HP button or LP/MP/HP Vortex/Cyclone.
Roll
Great for getting better positioning avoiding Jump in attempts, or avoiding High Attacks. It has Upper body Invulnerability meaning it is Immune to High attacks.
Flying Knee
I do not use this move to often due for the fact that it has 16 frames of startup making it really slow. on the plus side it has Lower Body Invulnerability, so great vs telegraphed Slide characters. During a combo use Flying knee as your go to linker, for the fact that it’s fast and harder to predict how many hits you are using, compared to the slow spinning of Backfist.
Setups
A far as oki Setups Tj has alot. So lets Explore our Options shall we. The thing with Tj’s oki setups are that you have to condition you’re opponent to make them really start having to guess what your mix-up is going to be. the list after the move will be safest to riskiest. you can always make your moves safe on block by canceling them into spinfist which is 0 on block meaning you both return to neutral with neither having an advantage.
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Meaty Superman Punch (+1 on block) Great for people that love to wakeup with down back, has 5 active frames, can be canceled into any special, can also setup a frame trap with st.jab/cr.jab.
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Meaty Far HK (+2 on block, +1 on hit) great meaty button has 6 active frames so its easy to hit meaty, can be special canceled into anything after wards. can setup a frame trap with st.jab/cr.jab
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Meaty Jumping HK (+16 on block) 6 active frames, causes a hard knock down on hit, forcing another mixup, can setup a frame trap with standing/crouching/close LP,MP,HP,LK,MK,HK if blocked.
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Meaty far MP~MK (-2 on block) 4 active frames, so timing is slightly tight, but it is rather safe pressure can cancel into anything
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Meaty close MP~HP (-3 on block) 4 active frames, again timing slightly tight, safe pressure HP causes a stagger hit allowing you to combo into Shoot Toss
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Meaty crouching MK (-3 on block) 3 active frames, timing is rather tight to connect this properly, hits low has decent range can cancel into anything
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Meaty st/cr.Jab (0 on block) only 2 active frames so you have to be frame perfect for this to connect, great for tick throws.
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Meaty Shoot toss (-41 if you whiff) if you have conditioned them not to jump or press buttons, if not your in for a huge punish
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Meaty LK Tremor (-6 on block) if the like to down back on wake up, throw, or press crouching buttons. can link a manual st/cr.lp after a raw Tremor
here are some follow ups you can do.
-Backdash *(frames 1-7 invulnerable) backs off pressure while also baiting buttons or dp’s from opponent
-Jumping HK (+16 on block) causes hard knockdown if the get hit, can cross up aswell and if they block they are forced to eat another mixup, against certian characters if you jump foward for cross up will make thier dp’s whiff aswell because it changes the shape of your hit box orchid, maya are good examples
-Jumping turnaround punch (+12 on block) (opener) cross up, can setup a frame trap aftewards
-Jumping LK (+8 on block) great for a tick throw setup or frame trap with jab, close/far/crouching MP, causes flipout if they try to jump.
-Shadow Powerline (+2 on block, 4 freeze frames, 3 startup frames) if they have no meter, has super armor, wallsplats and you can setup a frame trap afterwards if they block.
-standing/crouching jab (0 on block) frame trap after a superman punch since you are +1 if you are frame tight that means your jab will be active on the 3rd frame only punishable by Shago/Fulgore DP,backdash can bait a dp
-Spinfist (0 on block) (opener) If you want to back off pressure and return neutral. backdash can bait a dp
-cr.LK (-2 on block) combos from a on hit superman punch can be special canceled into anything backdash can bait a dp
-Rollercoaster (D,F+MP) (-3 on block) (opener) if you want to continue with safe pressure (only punishable by 3 frame DP’s fulgor/jago) and you can cancel it into spinfist to make it completely safe. Backdash can bait a dp
-cr.MK (-3 on block) can special cancel into anything. Backdash can bait a dp
-Light Tremor (-6 on block) If you want to do another surprise overhead if you think they will still block low, press crouching buttons, or try to grab.
-Vortex/Cyclone (-9 on block) if you hit confirmed or If you think they will push buttons, if not you are eating a huge punish.
-Flying Knee (-10 on block) if you think they will mash crouching buttons since knee has lower body invulnerability
-Shoot Toss (-41 if wiffed) If you have conditioned them not to jump or press buttons.
Conditioning a player
So what does it mean to Condition a player? Why do I need to know this? Why is it so important to TJ?
Conditioning a player means that you make your mixups predictable meaning they think they have figured you out and will react accordingly to what you have been doing, only for you to then do a different mixup. In example: the past 2 mixups I go cr.MK xx Spinfist into combo X, now my opportunity for mixup 3 of the game has occured, my opponent is more inclined to wake up holding down back(conditioned) because I have went low the past 2 mixups, only for their surprise I try to open them up with a Superman Punch or Tremor(overhead).
TJ has some unsafe Oki options that are very rewarding if connected. IE: Meaty Shoot Toss. If you have not conditioned a player to not wake up jump/backdash/DP then you are going to eat a punishment.
Safe Pressure
What is pressure? Pressure is a Psychological attack towards an opponent by advancing towards an opponents comfort zone, or using attacks to stress an opponents mind. Ever play a “Pro” player that feeling of Anxiety or nervousness, that causes you to drop your combo? That is pressure, they get free pressure just based on their status as a player, or as a new player you are silver and playing against a Killer.
How do you apply Safe pressure as TJ because he has Few “Safe” buttons, only 1 Grounded that is + on block, all his jump ins are +.The beauty of TJ is all of his normals can be special canceled. And Spinfist is 0 on block resetting to neutral. IE: your far.MP~HP (-8) has just been blocked!!! what can you do, well instead of continuing into a fakeout or Shoot toss or worse of all Nothing, you can just cancel HP into a Spinfist, making your you’re -8 string that was just blocked -0.
Using Tremor’s Hard Knockdown at full screen to advance, using Powerline canceled into Spinfist for better position. This is all Safe Pressure TJ can utilize.
Enders
When should I use, which Ender?
Well this is all situational as well as positional.
Close to a wall? Powerline ender for that extra push to the corner and wallsplat.
already in the Corner? Vortex Ender with LK Linker for a Flipout mixup
mid screen with them not locked out? Flying Knee (they can quick rise into a meaty attack) or Tremor (if you need meter or round has ended) Auto Barrage (try to force a lockout, if they dont lockout you can chicken out and do an advantage ender)
mid screen with them locked out? Auto Barrage ( AND PUNCH THEM THROUGH THE GROUND HUMPHHH)
Note…if you end the round during a combo, drop your combo and immediately transition (if you need meter) into HP Auto Double xx LK Flying Knee Linker until KV meter is at last hit then LP Spinfist Linker xx Tremor Ender. doing this with a low KV meter will give you 1 Bar of Shadow Meter.
thats all for now next update will finish out this Guide. if you like what you read leave a comment and like!!
Season 3 Frame Data
I ran all these through the training data so its all 100% accurate.
Frame Data
(Move) (Startup/Active/Recovery) (On hit/On block) (Special properites)
Grounded Normals
st.LP 4/2/13 +1/-1
cr.LP 4/2/13 +2/-1
cl.MP 7/4/23 -5/-6
Far MP 8/2/24 -4/-5
cr.MP 8/2/22 -2/-4
Rollercoaster 11/1(*2)/22 -2/-2
cl.HP 19/4/29 -11/-12 (causes Stagger)
Far HP 10/4/27 -7/-8 (causes Stagger)
cr.HP 9/3/19 +1/-2
Superman punch 22/5/12 +8/+1 (Overhead, Lower Body Invunerable)
st.LK 5/3/14 +1/-2 (causes flipout/reset)
cr.LK 5/3/10 +3/-2
cl.MK 7/4/28 -10/-11
Far MK 10/2/24 -4/-5
cr.MK 7/3/15 0/-1
cl.HK 10/3/31 -12/-13
Far HK 16/6/19 +1/+2
cr.HK 12/2/23 +66/-3
Target Combos
cl.MP~MK -10/-11
Far Mp~MK -4/-5
cl.MP~HP -11/-12 (stagger)
Far MP~HP -7/-8 (stagger)
LP~LP 4/13/13 -2/-3
LP~LP~LP 4/13/2 0/-2
LP~LP~LP~LP 4/13/12 +1/-4
j.LP~LK 7/6/4 +15/+8 (flipout)
j.LP~MP 6/3/4 +16/+12 (juggle)
j.LP~HP 7/4/4 +20/+17 (Hard Knockdown)
Jumping Normals
jp.LP 5/3/4 +15/+8
jp.MP 7/3/4 +16/+12
jp+B+MP 9/4/4 +16/+12 (crossup)
jp.HP 19/6/4 +20/+17
jp.LK 7/6/4 +15/+8 (flipout/reset)
jp.MK 7/6/4 +16/+12 (cross up)
jp.HK 12/6/4 +87/+16 (Hard Knockdown)
Specials
Spin fist 8/3/10 +1/+0
Shoot Toss 20/2/41 +60/- n/a (command grab, ground bounce)
Power Line 9/3/27 +23/-3 (wall splat)
Powerline Cancels
LP spinfist 8/3/10 +1/+0
MP shoot toss 16/2/42 +60/-n/a
HP powerline 9/3/27 +23/-3
LK fakeout 17/0/0
MK roll 21/0/0
HK flying knee 7/11/18 +2/-12
Vortex/Cyclone
LP 6(3*)/1(4)/20 +76/-9 (Launcher)
MP 7(3)/2(4)/20 +76/-9 (Launcher)
HP 8(3)/4(*4)/20 +76/-9 (Launcher)
Tremor
LK 23/32/5 +11/-6 (recapture)
MK 22/33/29 +8/-8 (recapture)
HK 21/35/5 +5/-10 (recapture)
Fake Out 17/0/0 +na/-na
Roll 21/0/0 +na/-na (Projectile Invulnerable,Upper Body Invulnerable)
Flying Knee 16/10/17 +4/-10 (Lower Body Invulnerable)
Shadow Moves
Powerline 5,3/1/28 +17/+2 (Super Armor, Wallsplat)
Flying Knee 2,12/15/29 +6/-0
Tremor 3,20/9/30 +12/-4 (Lower Body Invulnerable, Recapture)
Vortex/Cyclone 2,7/7/21 +61/-11 (invincible during Vortex, Launcher)
