Nina

Queen of rushdown

Nina is the queen of rushdown, with arguably the most suffocating poke pressure in the game. She has relentless block pressure from her many fast poke strings and sidestep cancels, and can make it unwise for her opponents to challenge with her fast counterhit tools. Once she gets her opponents in the air, she can very easily carry them to the wall with her Butterfly Loops, where she boasts a strong wall game. She has a complete set of throws that can open up defensive opponents as well as erase their grey health. Heat makes her poke pressure even more terrifying, with high chip damage if you just block, and the threat of an extremely fast i11 Heat Dash if you decide to challenge. On defense, she is surprisingly evasive through her Hayashida Step, which, along with a strong power crush and a reversal, means she can punish aggressive opponents hard. Nina's poke pressure is only effective up close, and she can struggle to maintain her preferred range. Being based around primarily pokes, she lacks relatively safe, chunky mixups, and has to take risks to make a comeback. Executing her gameplan to its maximum potential places high execution demands on her pilot, with many essential techniques requiring high precision to pull off.