cr.B is so low that she evades mid air fireballs of Athena,Robert and Kensou. Also Chris's qcf + P. Therefore, preventing herself to fall victim to their trap and dirty fighting.
cr.C and Standing CD have extremely good priority, great for anti-air attacks
cr.C can counter even Billy's cr.A & f+A and even most of Choi's attacks. Its that good!
cr.C is however better in KOF98, because it doesn't have slow recovery at all, but it doesn't hit as low as it does in KOF2002 (even hits crouching attacks).
CD is also great. It's a good anti-air (Choi killer) and its free cancel-able on every frame. So, you can do any of her move during CD animation, making it fairly safe. Be aware cr.C and st.CD have a rather slow startup and recovery. So if you miss, they are punishable. Use them wisely.
Air CD is great anti air. It also can keep your opponents staying on their side. you can follow up with qcf+B, CD (IDK if its air or ground) then follow up with qcf + A or qcb + D
O. Shermie's standing CD in '98, although i'ts not as effective as the one in 2002, it's still a good move. It's still fast and can negate lower attacks, especially sweep lovers. It can also be canceled with any move (my suggestion is to cancel it with qcf+B/C, ideal if you are fighting a sweep lover like Leona so it'll up your chances of landing a counter hit, as the lightning sphere hits it, you can follow up with a DM (Ankoku Raikouken if you catch them in the corner or qcfx2+K if mid-scree), a really nice juggle!
Her straight jump D kick is good for air to air attacks.
She also has a good crossup attack. jump-in C. However, it's hard to follow-up with standing normal because the opponent usually recovers to block quickly after it. So, it's best to use is when opponent is getting up (on wake up).
Crossup is also slightly better in KOF98.
Other than that, she is same in KOF98.
Throws
Bakura - Close, b/f + C
Wipes out - Close, b/f + D
Command Normals
Kourai - f + B
Special Moves
No Yatanagi Muchi - qcb+A/C
Shajitsu No Odori - qcb+B/D
No Mugetsu Raiun - HCF+A/B/C/D
Raijin no TSUE - qcf+B/D in air
Super Cancels
None
Free Cancel Into
qcb+P only from a non-special move
hcf+A/B/C/D only from a non-special move
qcb+K
(air) qcf+K
Free Cancel Out of
f+B
qcb + K
Cannot Free Cancel
None
Desperation Moves
Shukumei, Gen'ei, Shinshi - qcfx2+B/D
Ankoku Raikoken - qcfx2+A/C
Super Desperation Moves
Shukumei, Gen'ei, Shinshi - qcfx2+BD
Ankoku Raikoken - qcfx2+AC
Hidden Super Desperation Moves
Unmei no Ya - B, A, b+A, A/B/C/D
Strategic Run-down
O. Shermie is a mind gamer, however, be careful if you are facing a skilled Yamazaki, he might repel your spheres pretty fast and he has pretty long range attacks who can prevent you to move. The best strategy against him is attacking while waking up as he doesn't have really quick recoveries from the ground. Then, just pressure him to death!
Her hcf+A/B/C/D are good for mind games. But they also have slow recovery, so use it wisely as well.
They are excellent as an okizeme tool. For example, every time you knock down the opponent, do hcf+A and immediately run and do a jump-in C over the opponent before he gets up. It gets really confusing because you don't know which side to block, as you are between hcf+A fireball on one side and Shermie's crossup C on other. To confuse your opponent do a whiff, cr.C, b+A/C, d + C, f +A/B/C/D
If your opponent gets hit with hcf+A on the ground try using qcb+P afterwards as it's a great combo ender. After that use another hcf+A to keep the mind games going.
qcb+P is fast, but it doesn't hit crouching opponents because it will whiff and you can/will be punished afterward. So, use it only in combos or when you're absolutely sure. It can also negate fireballs and counter attack. It's especially good for short distance. Highly recommended against Athena, Kensou, and other fireball heavy characters.
She's excellent in air attacks because of her qcf+K in air. It's really difficult to counter her jump because qcf+K slightly pushes her back in air, if you see opponent's attack coming use it. Jump a lot with alternating between jump C and jump qcf+K. Keep your opponent guessing what's coming.
You can also do a real quick qcf+K by executing it after a back dash. Lethal when opponent is trying to catch you on ground or run up on you.
qcb+K is useless. It's good if opponent is doing crouch D though, but I hardly ever see anyone doing spamming crouch D a lot nowadays except a few Iori's and maybe a few Kensou's. It also has poor recovery, even if you connect you and your opponent will recover almost at the same time. You can use it for mindgame situations, the D version can get you over mid-fireballs from a backstep.
Both of her DMs have great priority. Both go through almost anything. qcfx2+P is almost as good as Benimaru's qcfx2+P in KOF97.
Remember her qcf, qcf + P (DM) is your key move so whenever your opponent misses shots punish them with it.
Whenever you hit your opponent with Air qcf+B/D move, stand close to your opponent and perform her qcfx2+B (DM) before the opponent gets up. It will be unblockable cause it reverse the guard.
HSDM is useless. Don't use it since 50% of the time you'll just end up hitting yourself.
Notes
Ryodragoon
I practiced on her HSDM and I found out that if your on the left half of the screen facing right then the A version will hit you also if it connects with the opponent. B can too but because it's from a farther range it's a little safer.
C and D will have the lightning strike hit the right side of the screen when it connects. (The lighting balls appear in their respective places)
Therefore like Remukhan said, you can hit your self 50% of the time
The rule of it is the farther the ball is away from you the lest chance of being struck by lighting. The only real safe place i've seen of it is in the center.
(I don't know a about you but to me; B,A,b,A,A is harder to do the farther away the ball is. Maybe the timing changes)
I don't know if anyone didn't know that or not but it's the info i've gathered from practice (I could be wrong on some parts)
Keisukesan
how her HSDM works: You know that the end button you choose will determine where her kiss lands. If it hits she will start her countdown. Right when she initiates the storm (the HSDM bright flash) keep pressing the button you ended with. Otherwise the HSDM will backfire 50% of the time.
For example: I did B, A, b, A, B when it lands i keep pressing B because it's the last button i pressed. tada! it didn't hit Shermie.
Keep in mind when you end in A, you will have a huge probability of double hit or just hitting Shermie. what you should do is a) don't even do that at all b) right before the lightening strikes keep pulling back on joy stick.
Combos
Jump C, stand C, f + B, hcf + B (good for pressuring)
Jump C, stand C, f + B, qcb + P
Jump C, stand C, f + B, qcf, qcf + P
(If you do crossup jump C, replace (C, f B) with (crouch A x 2, B ).
Stand A/crouch A, stand B, f + B, qcb + C/qcf, qcf, + A
d + B , qcf, qcf + A/C ( SDM version also applies)
d + A x 2, crouch B/stand B (2 hits), qcf, qcf + A/C (SDM version also applies)
d + A x 2 , d + B , qcf, qcf + A/C (SDM version also applies)
Crouch C, f + B (two hits), qcb + C
sweep distance, hcf + A, crouch B, qcf, qcf+A
Crouch C, qcf, qcf + B
ken_garou
Standing C ,fwd B, DM combo will never miss against any character if opponent is facing behind or if you land a DEEP crossup which is hard to master and perfect
MAX Combos
crouch A, stand B, BC, stand B qcf, qcf+AC
crouch D, f + B, qcb + B, qcf + B/D
d + A , stand B (2 hits), BC (no run), press Standing B again(must be fast) (2 hits),qcf, qcf + AC (SDM)
close C , BC run , close C , SDM qcf, qcf + AC (SDM)
f + B (2 hits), qcf, qcf BC and then press BD(or AC) very quick to do SDM . This is a shortcut for her.
Stand C , f + B (one hit), qcf, qcf BC and then press BD(or AC) very quick to do SDM
crouch C, f + B, BC, qcb + B, qcf + B while in air then after opponent is knockdown, qcf,qcf+BD on wakeup.
It's not suggest that you always go for combos with her. Her game is not based on combos, instead she is a mind game (let the opponent guess) player.
st.C, f+B (2), qcfx2+A?
The is a list of Characters against whom you can't connect the stand C, f+B (2), qcfx2+A
Robert (Just One hit of the DM then Blockable)
Kensou
Kyo
Benimaru
Goro
Mai
Yuri
MayLee (In center just one hit of DM then blockable but in corner, full DM connects but misses two hits between the DM so it just a 5 hits combo)
Shermie
Orochi Shermie
Leona
Ralf
Clark
K9999
Kusanagi
Rugal
Note: You can connect this combo but by only using two stocks because Max bypass is needed, (st.C, f+B (1), qcfx2+BC)
