BBCS: Jin Guide by Faylar

Introduction
Jin is the most versatile in the game. He has a multitude of options and tools to tackle lots of different situations in the game. His strength is actually his weakness, however. He is neither as solid as Ragna or Hakumen, nor as fast as Taokaka or Noel. He doesn't have the keep-away mobility of Lambda or the zoning abilities of Litchi. Worse of all, he doesn't have the damage unless you managed to corner or counter hit the opponent. In other words, he is a jack-of-all-trades.

General Strategy
Jin has the fastest and easiest ways to bring the opponent to the corner. His greatest damage and options will be avaliable to him once he corners the opponent. As a Jin player, most of your gameplay should revolve around trying to corner the opponent by abusing the weakness of your opponent.

Jin does not have a general method to deal with all characters, aside from trying to push them to the corner. Although it's important to learn character matchups, it is more so for Jin since you need to know which tools are good and which are not against each member of the cast. Jin’s tools are rather situational so it’s good to learn their strengths and weaknesses before you use them.

With 5 guard primers, Jin can last a good amount of time when being pressured. Use that to your advantage.


Character Matchups
Jin is very versatile. I don't really find him having problems with most of the cast. Here's a list of my thoughts. Note that’s it’s based on my experience and is prone to be subjective.

Very Easy: Rachel

Quite alright: Noel, Tsubaki

Not so bad: Carl, Arakune, Lambda, Tager, Hakumen, Litchi, Ragna

Quite bad: Taokaka, Bang

Jin’s Drive
Jin’s Drive is called Frostbite. All Jin’s D attacks and throws have this property. When you land them the first time during a combo, the opponent will be encased in ice, opening more combo options for you. Subsequent D attacks during a combo, however, will not freeze the opponent.

You might notice that Jin has 4 separate dividers for his Heat Gauge, unlike other characters which have only 2. When Jin executes a D version of his Specials, he will spend 25% heat. A D version of any of his specials does not follow the same Frostbite rules as his normals and throws. All his D Specials will freeze the opponent regardless of whether he had been once frozen or not during a combo.

To compensate for Jin’s overuse of his Heat Guage, he gains them back significantly faster than most characters.

Jin's Normals
5A -Jin slaps with his backhand. This is Jin's fastest normal. It hits quite high so it doesn't hit crouching opponents. Link it to 5C if you manage to catch the opponent in the air with this move.

5B -Jin sticks his foot out and vacuums the opponent in with a second hit. The vacuum effect is very good as a lockdown tool and it opens opportunities for pressure. The 2nd hit has pretty bad proration on it though, so if you can combo without the 2nd hit, by all means.

5C – Jin slashes with his sword. This is Jin's most useful normal. It actually has two hitboxes. This first one covers slightly above Jin's full hitbox, making it a generally viable anti-air for catching certain characters right above your head. The second one hits horizontally in front of him. This move is also jump cancelable on block, giving you more options to play with.

5D – An ice wolf appears from Jin’s hands. This move has very slow startup, only allowing you to combo 5C to it only if it counter hits. Furthermore, you can no longer chain it to any of Jin’s Specials except for Drive Specials and Distortions. Due to its startup and recovery, this move is one of Jin’s most unsafe moves. This move is dash cancelable.

2A - Jin pokes you with his scabbard. This move is your bread and butter mashable A normal. It can be used sometimes to anti air due to Jin’s rather low crouching hit box. It also has good range.

2B - Jin swipes you with his hand. This is Jin's fastest low attack (he only has 2), although it’s a bit slow. Still, we can't complain; at least he has a low and you can combo into it from 5B. This is also the move you use to lift downed opponents with.

It has really bad proration so try not to use it unless you really need to. If you do, try to keep your combo short and sweet.

2C - Jin slashes vertically, and really high up. This Jin's main fatal counter move. Although it has a slow startup, you must give it credit for having a great hitbox. Opponents must also barrier or instant block to block this move in the air. If you wish to use it for its fatal counter properties, make doubly sure that it will hit in time. For everything else, 5C will do just fine.

This move actually reduces Jin's hitbox significantly so it is actually a viable slow anti-air option. A well aimed 2C will force some air attacks to whiff, giving you the fatal counter hit.

2D - Jin summons a giant icy sword at the front, vacuuming the opponent in. One of the few moves buffed from CT. Jin's new and improved 2D is now faster, allowing it to be a pretty good block string from 5C if you manage to get the distance right. The reward is a +5 on block or even better, a hit. Either way, you win.

It has potentially many uses like using it to catch backdashes or tech rolls. It still is unsafe on whiff, just not as bad as it used to be. Note that it is considered a projectile.

6A - Jin spins his katana and bonks you with the hilt! Your one and only overhead. This move is extremely unsafe on block since you can only special cancel it only on hit. Still, at least it's faster than Hazama's and Tsubaki's.

6B - Jin jumps and kicks his opponent. His move is mainly used to punish people who try to throw or mash low attacks at you. It rather safe on block too.
This move is linkable able even from 6C and it can be special cancel-able to any of Jin’s air specials. Note that Jin doesn’t instantly jump off the ground at the start.

6C - Jin steps forward in faith and swipes upwards with his sword. This move is your standard follow up from a 5C counter hit. Canceling it to 236A makes it relatively safe. 6C can be very good against certain characters that relies a lot of jumping, or doesn’t have good damage from upfront. However, it takes time to get used to it as in anti-air.

6D - Jin creates a wall of ice. It's really slow, but it is relatively fine against most characters if you do it within 5C distance. It hits really high up, so cornered opponents who loves to jump might have some trouble escaping.
If you do manage to land it, it's free pressure game reset for you with its +12 on block on top of removing one of the opponent’s guard primers.

3C - Jin break-dances and sweeps. Jin’s sweep is potentially very good. It goes under things like Bang's 5A on startup. It's on a 10 frame startup so it's as fast as 5C. Remember that it's special cancel-able anytime during its recovery.

j.A - Jin pokes with his scabbard. It's a rather decent fast poke in the air and it's better than it looks. Use it to stuff instant air dashes against you when you expect it.

j.B - Jin swipes around him with his cloth. This is the move that everyone complains about Jin. It serves as everything: good range, good hitbox around him, good priority, meaty, good everything! It is also his move flexible air attack as it can link into any of his jumping moves.

This move actually has multiple hitboxes. It hits above Jin first, before hitting below him.

j.C - Jin stretches and reaches out with his sword horizontally. This is a little situational, but otherwise a really good poke. It’s a great move to use when you want to zone in the air.

The great thing about this move other than its reach is its recovery and its startup. You can jump, execute j.C and recover fast enough to do a double jump. This, coupled with his air projectiles, it makes Jin very flexible in zoning people in the air. Also, it’s starts up as fast as j.B.

j.2C - Jin spins to strikes above and below him. This move is fantastic lockdown both for aerial and grounded opponents, especially on jumpy, slow and fat characters like Arakune. It strikes really higher than it looks, so it can be a great tool to bring people down to ground level. The bad thing is that it can be a bit slow.

You can also link this move into j.C even on block, so it's not really a dead end for you when your opponent blocks it.

j.D - Jin stops and freezes everything around him. It’s mainly used as an air combo ender with its freezing properties. This move can also be used as a cross-up maneuver, since it hits both in front and behind him.

Jin's Throws
6B+C - Jin's forward throw. Not very combo-friendly unless you land it at the corner. You'd really rather use back throw in most situations.

4B+C - Jin's back throw. This throw is much more powerful compared to its forward variation as you can pull of a 3.5k combo into a D ice car, pushing them into the corner.

jB+C - Jin's air throw. Like his back throw, you can combo into a 3.5k combo that ends with D ice car.

Jin's Specials
Hishouken
(Ground Versions)
236A - Jin throws an ice sword horizontally. The recovery is pretty bad.

236B - Jin throws an ice sword horizontally that moves really fast. You can try to catch some characters off guard with this, but otherwise, the recovery is worse than 236A.

236C - Jin takes his time to launch a really slow ice sword that accelerates to 236B's speed. This is mainly used after his 3C sweep for pressure options. It catches tech rolls so when done at the corner, it prevents opponents from roll teching past you.

236D - Jin launches a big ice sword. It lasts for 3 hits and gives you more than enough time to recover and pressure. It's essentially a very good move to use especially if you want to break guard as your main objective. The problem is its rather slow startup. This move costs 25% heat and breaks only one guard primer.

(Air Versions)
j236A - Jin shoots a rather slow ice sword 15 degrees downwards. It's comboable at counter hit at weird angles and positions. When done high enough, you can recover before you reach the ground.

j236B - Jin shoots a rather slow ice sword 45 degrees downwards. Same as j236A as far as its properties goes.

j236C - Jin shoots a rather slow ice sword in the air that travels horizontally. This is the move that's most likely to hit your opponent. Being a projectile that moves horizontally, it covers the most distance. Like 236A and B, when done high enough, you are able to recover before you reach the ground.

Watch out for counter hits when you do this move. When you happen to be on the ground when the projectile counter hits, you can combo into the 5C 6C juggle, or catch them with 2D if they are too far away.

j236D - Jin shoots out 3 ice swords, one moving in 236A/B/C's directions. Unlike the rest of his air projectiles, Jin doesn’t recover until he reaches the ground. When one of the swords hit, the opponent is immediately frozen, regardless of him being frozen in the combo or not.

One common trick is to do 5B 5C block string and immediately IAD and do a fast 236D for a left right mixup.

Musou Senshouzan
214A - Jin rides an ice car. It's unsafe except at certain distances since you recover faster.

214B - Jin rides an ice car, and upon impact, slashes the opponent. Like all ice car attacks, it's unsafe on block, even worse on IB. Never EVER use it during a block string unless you have something funny in mind in conjunction with rapid canceling. This move removes a guard primer on its second hit (the slash).

214C - Jin floats higher and rides a pretty big ice car, and upon impact, slashes the opponent and knocks them down. This version starts up slower so it might not link during some combos. It also travels the furthest distance, second only to its D version. This move removes a guard primer on its second hit (the slash).

214D - Jin rides an ice taxi, and upon impact, slashes the opponent and sends them flying across the screen. This is THE move for getting your opponents to the corner. It is also the fastest and furthest travelling ice car, allowing you to combo what even the B version cannot. It costs 25% heat and removes a guard primer on its second hit (the slash).

Sekkajin
mash C at least 5 times - Jin swings his sword wildly. The longer you mash C. the longer it lasts. It's usually used during combos, where you mash until the 8th hit, which floats the opponent from the ground with decent untechable time.

Fubuki
623A - Jin swings his sword in a swift strike 45 degrees above him. Opponents are forced to IB or barrier it, or eat it. It is 6 frames startup easily the fastest move he has next to 5A. On counter hit at the right height, you can link his 632146D super. At corner counter hit, it just means big damage coming his way.

Don't mash it though. The recovery is pretty horrid and people who see it coming might IB it and land fast enough to put you in the world of hurt. This move breaks a guard primer.

623B - Like 623A, only slower, much more untechable time on hit, flies opponent higher, as well as invulnerability from 6th frame onwards. The invulnerability lasts quite a while so it can be used to catch people off guard. Still very unsafe though and it is too slow to use as a reliable anti-air.

Despite all its quirky properties, this move is mostly used during a corner combo. This move breaks a guard primer.

623C - Jin's only real tensionless startup-invulnerable reversal move (a.k.a shoryuken). It starts up incredibly slow, so it's easy for opponents to throw a fast attack and still recover fast enough to block it. The rewards for landing it aren’t that great though. In most cases, it's better doing the D version. This move breaks a guard primer.

623[D]]D[ - Jin's fastest shoryuken move. This move scales very well and is an incredible combo starter at the corner. Landing it on an opponent near the corner can easily net you 5-6k damage.
When you execute this move, you can hold the D button and charge the 2nd hit, and release it whenever you want. If you charge it long enough, it will become unblockable.

Both hits must be instant blocked or barriered while in the air. This is the move that most people fighting Jin fear of getting hit by. This move costs 25% heat and removes a guard primer on its second hit.

Jin's Distortion Drives
Touga Hyoujin (632146C) - Jin cuts the air, summons a fast moving freezing wave towards the opponent. It flies across the screen, stopping anything in its path. If Rachel tries to blow animals at you, you will mercilessly kill them all and hit her in the process. This is THE move to use if you really want to punish something totally out of your reach.

On ground hit, the opponent will have left stunned for a long period of time, allowing you to run forward and 2D to catch them before they can tech out.

A few things to note: it does not have invulnerability frames, and also using it too close will only result in a few hits only. It also breaks a guard primer.

Hiyoku Getsumei (632146D) - Jin shoots an arrow towards the sky. This is Jin's only distortion with invulnerability frames. It might not hit on certain crouching characters. This distortion does a lot of small hits, so it's does okay damage even when prorated badly.

You can also use this to catch characters in the air while they are doing their specials, but make sure you hit them or you will suffer for nothing.

Yukikaze! (236236D) - Jin's version of Hakumen's counter distortion. A few differences though. Firstly it doesn't counter low attacks. Secondly, it doesn't last as long. Thirdly, you can't combo after it unless you RC.

Forthly, and finally some good news, if your opponent can jump away (because you catched a projectile or something perhaps), you are totally invulnerable until you sheath your sword. This move also gives fatal counter properties.

If you wish to learn or discuss more about Jin, please visit the thread at Round1.sg forums HERE