EX Billy is a midrange character that excels at zoning with his long-reaching normals and strong pokes. He has good anti airing options in qcf qcf + K, and his qcb + P. In addition to this, Billy can also rush down to push the opponent back into the corner, where his pressure is strong and he has access to good combo damage. Billy also has access to some decent mixups with his overhead and untechable throw, as well as an excellent cross up mid screen. Billy has a fairly unique weakness in that his quickest longest pokes have very bad priority, where the hurtbox extends further out than the hitbox, meaning he is uniquely vulnerable to counter pokes when using these moves. For Billy's pokes, you only get two out of three traits: Speed, range, and a hurtbox that's behind the hitbox. Compared to Billy, EX Billy has better combos that work from farther away, but lacks a DP (though he has his own kind of anti air special move, and a desperation move that's great for anti airing), and lacks the low recovery, quick start up counters of Billy.
Changes from Previous Versions
98 to 98UM
Normals:
Added a new hitbox to st.C; it now hits diagonally upwards as well as in front
Hitbox of cr.A lengthened
New animation for cr.D, the staff now hits twice instead of one staff hit and one sweep
Raw f+B is now an overhead
Specials:
qcb+K added, diagonal anti-air move
hcb+K added, a multi-hitting staff move
Mash C reach increased, maximum number of hits increased from 6 to 8
Supers:
Added qcfx2+K, an upwards-travelling fire wheel move; MAX version shoots the ring of fire downwards after
qcfx2+P startup reduced by 5 frames and 9 frames for the normal and MAX versions respectively, both versions can combo from lights
98UM to 98UMFE
Normals:
cl.C no longer whiffs on short characters
cr.D now cancels into special moves and DMs
f+A's second hit should no longer whiff on short characters
Specials:
hcf+A has 6 frames less recovery, hcf+C has 10 frames less recovery
You can now cancel mash A/C by pressing ABCD
Normal Moves
Close
cl.A: Has good vertical reach. Decent point-blank anti air. Whiffs on short crouchers. Chainable and cancelable.
cl.B: Staple combo tool when chained into from cr.B. Chainable and cancelable.
cl.C: One of Billy's main combo tools. It has a lot of active frames, so it can be a good meaty. Cancelable.
cl.D: Whiffs on regular crouchers and lower. Can be a decent close-range anti-air. Cancelable.
Standing
st.A: Decent poke. More active than st.B. Whiffs on tiny crouchers. Cancelable.
st.B: Can be useful for stopping hops. Whiffs on short crouchers.
st.C: Long-range poke with two active parts: the first diagonally above Billy, which can stop jumps, and the second in front of him. Like many of Billy's longer pokes, it has very bad priority.
st.D: Very slow move with some low invincibility and decent hitboxes for stopping jumps. Very risky due to how slow it is; should be used with caution.
Crouching
cr.A: Long-range poke, very useful for checking grounded movement from the opponent. Bad priority.
cr.B: Billy's main low combo tool. Chainable and cancelable.
cr.C: Very fast move, which makes it an excellent combo tool. Can also be used for anti-airing or as a poke, since it also has nice forwards priority. Has a lot of recovery on whiff. Cancelable.
cr.D: Long-range sweep that is cancelable on hit, block, and whiff. Has good priority, making it a good poke as well.
Jumping
j.A: Very fast, making it excellent for air-to-airs.
nj.A: Long-reaching forwards poke that can be good for air-to-airs. Bad priority.
j.B: Good jump-in that also works as an instant overhead.
nj.B: Mostly the same as j.B, but with a different animation. Not an instant overhead.
j.C: Long-range poke with a lot of active frames. Bad priority.
nj.C: Downward-hitting long poke with good priority, making it a good jump-in and air-to-air tool.
j.D: Good for jump-ins and crossups.
nj.D: Pretty much the same as j.D, but with a different animation.
CD Normals
st.CD: Great long-range poke with nice priority. Cancelable on hit, block, and whiff.
j.CD: Great jump-in attack with good priority.
Throws
Drop into Hell:b/f+C (close)
Hold throw, not techable. Billy picks the opponent up on his pole and shakes them around a bit before slamming them down, sending them fullscreen away with a hard knockdown.
Skewering Toss:b/f+D (close)
Regular throw, techable. Billy picks the opponent up with his pole and slams them down behind him, sending them fullscreen away with a backturned hard knockdown.
Command Moves
Wide Revolving Kick:f+A
Two-hitting move with great priority on both hits. One of Billy's main pokes and combo tools.
Pole Vault Kick:f+B
Slow overhead move that travels forward a lot. Has good priority.
Special Moves
Mash moves
Billy has two mash moves: (PPPP ending in A), and PPPP ending in C.
You can press any punch button three times, but the fourth one determines which move you get.
Whirlwind Crane:PPPP ending in A
* Billy spins his staff around.
* Can be cancelled by pressing ABCD.
* Crushes projectiles. If you predict a projectile and you start this move in time, to immediately cancel it, you can get some nice frame advantage in neutral where blocking the projectile would normally make you negative. It takes time to mash out though, so has to be done somewhat predictively.
* If the opponent rolls in to it, you can let it rock for good damage.
* It's positive on block if you cancel it to avoid whiffing, if you can ever manage to make it touch the opponent
* If standing CD is cancelled to it, and it is immediately cancelled, then standing CD becomes neutral on block, where it's normally negative.
Focus Continuous Beat Canes:PPPP ending in C
* Billy rapidly and repeatedly thrusts his staff.
* Can be cancelled by pressing ABCD.
* Neutral on block. You can cancel cr.D to this, then cancel the move itself so you don't end up whiffing, to improve its frames on block.
* It's a poke with a good hitbox and hurtbox, but takes execution to be able to use fluently in neutral. It also only has quick start up if you can buffer its four punches in some thing like a jump, since otherwise you have to whiff a normal, which then cancels to this.
* You can let it do more hits to push your opponent away. If this move is out and the opponent rolls, you can let it rock to catch them.
Midsection Club Cruncher:hcf+A/C
Billy thrusts his pole forwards. The A version starts up faster but recovers slower than the C version.
The A version is your go-to combo tool, as the C version is too slow to combo.
The C version is the better choice for neutral use, as its faster recovery makes it a bit safer to whiff.
Has a ton of priority, so it can almost be considered a projectile in use.
Flaming Midsection Club Cruncher:qcf+A/C (during hcf+P)
Followup move to the Club Cruncher. Billy's extended pole erupts into a burst of flames, causing a soft knockdown.
Will only come out at about 3/4ths of the move's range, so it won't come out if you hit them at the tip.
Only comes out on hit.
Pursuing Fire Dragon Cane:qcb+B/D
Billy delivers a series of 4 strikes with his pole.
A version starts up and recovers faster, but deals a bit less damage than the C version.
This can be a fairly safe chipping tool, as it has a lot of pushback, leaving you at zoning range afterwards.
All of the strikes have good priority on them.
Can be a decent combo ender.
Sparrow Drop:qcb+A/C
Billy thrusts his pole diagonally out into the sky.
The A version starts up faster and recovers a bit faster, but does less damage.
Kinda hard to use as an anti-air on reaction, but the A version is the one that should be used for it.
For preemptive anti-airing on a read, the C version will deal more damage.
This move cannot hit grounded opponents at all, so only use it when you're sure they're going to be in the air, as whiffing it will lead to a guaranteed punish.
Soaring Crackdown Cane:dp+B/D
Billy pole vaults into the air and comes down about a half screen away from the starting position of the move.
On hit, launches the opponent for juggle followups.
The B version is faster but leaves the opponent closer to the ground when it finishes, leaving less time for followups.
The D version is slower and harder to combo into, but leads to better juggles.
Neither version combos from lights but both combo from heavies.
In the corner this move is extra deadly because you can combo a DM afterwards for big damage.
Desperation Moves
Crimson Lotus Crush:qcfx2+B/D
Billy creates a ring of fire with his pole and jumps into the air.
Can be used for reversals or anti-airing.
Will combo from both lights and heavies.
MAX version does more damage.
Super Fire Wheel:qcf,hcb+A/C
Billy spins his pole around, creating a ring of fire, then sends it flying forwards after a short time.
Both A and C versions are fairly similar, they mostly have different timing for the hits.
Mostly used for a corner combo after dp+K.
MAX version does more damage.
Salamander Stream:qcfx2+A/C
Billy strikes with his pole, creating fire in front of him.
Has good range, so this is his primary combo DM.
Combos from lights and heavies.
MAX version does more damage.
Combos
General Notes
Meterless
Low
cr.B, cr.B, cl.B, f+A
Basic low confirm combo into a safe ender that doubles as a good blockstring.
Mid/Jump-In
(j.X), cr.C, hcf+A > qcf+P
Meterless combo from heavies and jump-ins.
With Meter
Low
cr.B, cr.B, cl.B, qcfx2+P
Low confirm combo into DM.
Corner
(j.X), cr.C, dp+B, qcf,hcb+C
Corner combo into DM from heavies or jump-ins. dp+K can be prone to whiffing if spacing isn't on point.
With Quick MAX
Corner
(j.X), cl.C, f+A, ABC, qcfx2+C
Quick MAX combo where you link a DM after f+A. Best used in the corner since the pushback can make the DM whiff midscreen.
cr.C, dp+B, ABC, qcfx2+B
Quick MAX combo for SDM in the corner for a dp punish. qcfx2+K SDM does more damage than qcfhcb+P this way. For maximum damage quick max must be done while falling.
