Has anyone checked out the rumored Terry neo max hitting fully in the corner in climax/steam edition yet? I've only seen it mentioned in comments sections so far. If this is actually the case it takes away so much of the situational (position wise) HD combos element away from Terry and makes him have a super easy set of HD combos for 3-4 bars that do 850+ to kill very quickly for minimum hits and time consumption, making him a way bigger threat in the first or second slot. I've got 862 for 3 bar and kill for 4 that are relatively easy that just depend on the spacing being mid screen off a close standing D.
This shouldn't be a rumor. It works. I always thought the standard was 3 hits for NeoMax though. Regardless, this combo doesn't change anything about how spacing strict it is to MaxCancel with Terry. Terry can potentially MaxCancel anywhere on screen with 3 hits of Neomax though. Maximizing the damage, there's about 7+ combo variations to do to cover the entire stage. For reference, 5 A knuckles cover the stage. 1 f.A = 1 A knuckle. His MaxCancels usually rely on using 0-2 f.A + 0-1 A Knuckle to get them to work. Past midscreen, there is stuff to do for slightly less damage, that is a bit more open on spacing.
The easiest combo starters in the corner would be:
cr.B > cr.A > cr.C > HD > cr.C
st.C > df.C/f.A > HD > cr.A > cr.C > Power Wave > Power Geyser > NeoMax > Burn Knuckle > Crackshoot > Tackle
st.D > f.A > HD > cr.A > cr.C
cr.B chain done at max range will not work. Same deal if you start with a jump-in and hit at max range with j.D. I think this combo is reliable enough to hit confirm if you are able to land it, but it's not reliable enough to do off any hit you land in the corner. That is what the problem is compared to the rest of the cast. Doing st.D > (delay) df.C after a full HD slide can fix this issue, but I think doing a consistently and perfectly delayed df.C is much more unrealistic.
All that said, you make a good point. Terry can potentially land 80-90% anywhere on screen from a cr.B with 3-4 bars+HD. Even if it's spacing strict, a lot of the cast can't get that much damage off a cr.B. I think 1st and 2nd are his best positions depending how you use his meter.
I'll just say after close 2 years of using Terry a lot, the only part of the screen I don't feel comfortable doing a MaxCancel, assuming on 1P side, would be after the 2P starting position, but between the corner (about 1/4 or 1/5 of the stage from the corner?). The only way to get a Max cancel here is to ommit f.A before HD activation, and activating into a st.C (1 hit) > Power Geyser.
@Crimson_King
I wouldn't mind seeing a video for this if you have the time. I've tried experimenting with it and I'm not sure to keep my opponents on their toes with it.