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Peacock matchup thread

Age

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Favorable matchups:

Parasoul
Parasoul struggles against a basic HP qcb+HP HP qcf+HK pattern at full screen, has difficulty closing distance if you're paying attention with your item drops. Add in an assist that pushes her back or locks her down and she basically has to rely on yolo level 3.
Squigly
She's surprisingly slippery when closing distance, but she is not much better off than parasoul. If she does manage to get a charge then opera shenanigans can pose a threat, so don't let her get charge.
Painwheel
She deals with normal patterns pretty easily using flight and armor to close distance, but if you us qcf+hk and start charging an item drop immediately, her approach gets stopped a lot more often. Once you can stop her air approach reliably, her ground approach is just as susceptible as parasoul and squigly

Risky/even matchups:

Val
This may be a bad matchup, but I don't have as much experience with it. Bypass can pose a threat from any range, so keeping a shadow charging is vital. Be aware that scalpels will beat pretty much any zoning you're doing.
Filia
Filia can be tricky to lock down due to her speed, and her ability to come from any angle. You need to be ready to change styles depending on how she wants to approach. On the ground a HP qcf+HK pattern with ground bombs and item drops and hp bangs to create distance should manage. If she's coming in at iad height or using air mk hairball, charging the mp item drop early helps, and you might need to dissuade her with mp bangs. If she comes in from very high like with LK air hairballs, then something similar to what you use against painwheel would work.
Double
This is a pretty good matchup unless double has a dhc to make use of car, in which case you need to play air footsies or stick to HP (which can be cancelled to teleport post-flash) for projectiles. If you force them to block something or they jump, then you can set up some projectiles, but it's a matchup where you need to be cautious. If they have only a little meter and you have plenty of life to work with then you can probably treat double like parasoul.

Bella
This can be a favorable matchup if you have a full screen assist that hits as an attack rather than a projectile. That way, your zoning patterns are more potent and they also are less inclined to go for reflects. In other circumstances, bella's armor and reflect make it difficult to keep her out. Use charged item drops or lockdown assists to start projectile blockstrings where possible.
Fortune
Head-on fortune is similar to filia in that she can approach lots of different ways. keep her at bay with charged item drops and once you have distance go for the normal patterns. HP bangs are a good way to catch her as she tries to run under an airshow. Head-off fortune changes the match completely depending on how the characters are positioned. If you have distance from both head and body, then LK and MK bomb patterns pile on damage fast and also keep it from zooming under your feet. It is a lot harder to keep the body away from you without cornering yourself while doing this, so make use of super jumps and charged item drops to switch sides where necessary. If you get locked down with the head underneath you, you're in big trouble.

Difficult/unfavorable matchups:

Big Band
I've only played against him a little, but it definately seems like the normal peacock playstyle will not hold up. I suspect the match will need to be focused around full screen zoning that leaves you safe enough to block a knuckle, and also air footsies, but I haven't had a lot of success.
 
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Is this based on one-on-one? That's the only way I see Fillia being an even match up rather than unfavorable. Fortune is a bad match up once the head comes off, but favorable with it on. Cerebella isn't as free as people make her out to be, but it's still favorable. Valentine is definitely a bad match up and Painwheel is even. I can't say anything either way about Big Band. I'll do a write up tonight or tomorrow morning as to why I think so, but I don't really agree with your list. I'm glad somebody started this thread, though.
 
I agree with everything Age posted.
 
So yeah, Big band is a problem so far. If someone has a working strategy to deal with him it'll help us a lot.
 
Is this based on one-on-one? That's the only way I see Fillia being an even match up rather than unfavorable. Fortune is a bad match up once the head comes off, but favorable with it on. Cerebella isn't as free as people make her out to be, but it's still favorable. Valentine is definitely a bad match up and Painwheel is even. I can't say anything either way about Big Band. I'll do a write up tonight or tomorrow morning as to why I think so, but I don't really agree with your list. I'm glad somebody started this thread, though.
Peacock vs Painwheel is an even matchup if you never go air to air with Painwheel or never utilise pivot offense. If you do, I don't see how it is even at all, Painwheel struggles at all angles, item drop + air normal both out-prioritise every one of Painwheel's air approaches as well as breaks her armour, forcing her to approach from the ground.

You need to do some funky aerial acrobatics to get in and actually land a hit on Peacock. Or hope they use HP bang, because it seems useless in the matchup and really only serves to allow Painwheel to fly in for free. Avoid being cornered and the screen is yours.

I'd definitely agree that Fortune and Valentine vs Peacock seem like pretty bad matchups for her though.
 
So yeah, Big band is a problem so far. If someone has a working strategy to deal with him it'll help us a lot.


When i played tomo, i guess hes the band you are basing this on? simply holding mp item drop and using it to punish blocked knuckles, was working quite well.

From there it was mainly just being more defensive with the spam and using movement rather than attacks to keep band away. Ie super jump patterns and empty jumps. I did use bombs and stuff but not as much as i normally would. And the thing is that once i was holding item i found band to be rather lacking, so even though peacock cant necessarily throw a lot of stuff, band cant do a whole lot either when his brass can no longer be spammed.

-edit. And the val matchup might not be as bad as it once was. Watch the whole set of tj gamer versus toods val. The angle on new plane shuts down aerial bypass approaches leaving only ground vpbypass approaches which are unsafe.


Not to say it isnt still bad... Or not, just saying that that damn plane helps immensely.
 
So yeah, Big band is a problem so far. If someone has a working strategy to deal with him it'll help us a lot.
It's pretty difficult. Any projectile (s.HP, item drop, any george, etc) can be punished full screen with H Brass Knuckles, no kara needed. If you call out a forward moving assist, though, it can get in Big Band's way and give you time to safely throw something out. For your team Cilia Slide might work for this? You can also bait Knuckles with teleports.
 
HP xx fake teleport against brass knuckle. SoiD is kind if annoying to deal with as him in general.

Also I strongly believe this is a favorable MU for Filia.
 
So yeah, Big band is a problem so far. If someone has a working strategy to deal with him it'll help us a lot.
Stay in the air a lot with MP item drop charged, and use double jumps, airdashes, j.MK etc to annoy him and bait out his DP and antiair grabs. Use j.LK and the item drop to break through his armor and confirm into a combo.
 
Enjoy the wall of text, I'm very opinionated. :PUN:

Cerebella does NOT have an even matchup against Peacock, from everything I've seen. Peacock has excellent air mobility that Cerebella has no way to deal with other than an impulse Excellebella, if she got that close to begin. Tumbling Run is just an excuse to use Argus Agony of hit them with bombs and Hp Bang. Lock n' Load is the same. Cerebella's glide leaves her wide open to item drop and plane bomb. Her standard double jump lets you force bombs, an item drop, and qc.hp to connect and easily reduce the distance Cerebella gained by half.

Squigly has a bad matchup as long as you don't let yourself get caught in animations for Center Stage Battle Opera sadness. Peacock should typically have air superiority over Squigly, and except for her j.hp Battle Opera she won't have anything to really catch you with as long as you aren't letting her get close (why are you doing that? You're Peacock!). Squigly with lockdown assist has decent mixups but other than that distance is easily made and pressure is easily dealt with.

Parasoul's matchup is poor, though like Squigly she has tools to give her some opportunities. Since Parasoul has literally the worst air mobility in the game she's going to cry while approaching Peacock. Still, never underestimate a Silent Scope punish on projectile spam. While you're standing up she's going to close at least half the screen. Parasoul's Egret body shield guy can protect her full screen while she tosses tears at you, scaring you into inaction until they explode. Level 3 for the yolo of course. Once she gets close to you it isn't to hard to create more distance as long as you aren't too hasty. Let Parsoul use her j.hp THEN air dash backwards. As long as she doesn't have a lockdown assist or swats you she's easy to run from.

Val, contrary to what most people seem to think, has an even matchup against Peacock. Savage Bypass into Scalpels is frustrating the first three times it hits you, but as soon as you accept that EVERY Val uses that approach on Peacock it's easy to deal with. You just charge item drop, throw out the Airplane bomb. If they haven't jumped yet, go for some chip. If they have, don't do anything and wait for the inevitable waste or a meter. Now that Val has been given a free approach it can be annoying to deal with her, but her air dash is slow and her mixups are relatively predictable. Look for a good push block or assist call, create distance and enjoy the show as Val spends another meter getting close to you.

Big Band is theoretically an impossible matchup for a Keep-Away Peacock because of Brass Knuckles. He can close distance indefinitely with Brass Knuckles, though it leaves him susceptible to punish on whiff. The important thing is that he's a constant threat to discourage projectile spam. He has his weaknesses and won't be getting any mixups on you soon, but his potential to deal 2k of damage to you at almost any time without using meter is frightening. The key is to punish unsafe approaches and learn to read when he will or will not use the BRRRAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS.

Double is… oof. Double is a weird one. Swag Wagon is the exact same pressure as Big Band except Double has to spend meter, the advantage being she doesn't have as much of a startup since the Wagon can appear behind you. She can stick to you well with Cilia Slide/Flesh Step and an assist, though is fairly susceptible to a medium Bang. Predictable mixups at least, so defense is usually not too awful. Definitely not something I enjoy playing against either way. On the bright side, without meter she's not much better than Bella, though nobody plays Double Point so she'll usually have 2, depending on the person's play style.

Miss Fortune has paws down an excellent matchup against Peacock. Excellent ground speed with unparalleled air mobility to speed towards you. Need a boost? Just heavy Fiber Upper to close half the screen with quick startup! Now, Peacock would be able to deal with that if it weren't for THE HEAD (dun dun duuuuuuuuun). Ground bombs get hit by it and lose the ability to prevent approach. Projectile spam is ineffective because the head will smack and nom you and Fortune will get a free combo. Your only real option is to pull out item drops and the Airplane Bomb whenever the head goes through its recovery period. That's, of course, assuming she's not in your face already. If she is you have to deal with her constant high low mixups, many of which give her forward momentum that makes push blocking difficult. But as soon as you make distance don't let your guard down. The head is still nearby to prevent you from pulling out bombs or item drop without getting punished. At the very least Fortune's are very susceptible to medium Bang, since almost none of them prefer cross ups to the free mixups they get from El Gato or Cat Slide. I would literally say Fortune is Peacock's worst matchup. Outside of good assist calls or her not using the head/being god awful she should beat you any day of the week.

Painwheel and Filia are definitely a tricky matchup to discuss. The biggest thing here is to understand that Peacock gets lower on the nonexistent tier list the closer you get to her, and this weakness is emphasized with these two in particular. This is true of all characters but I feel especially these two. I'm more inclined to say that Painwheel is a negative matchup for Peacock because as soon as Painwheel gets closer than half screen Peacock does not have a way to escape her. You're forced to play air footsies since Peacock has no grounded anti-air options, and just give yourself a moment to realize you just decided to play the Air Superiority game with PAINWHEEL. Outside of a lucky medium Bang (which can easily be baited out by a flight cancel or simply avoided because she was going for a cross up), good luck creating distance again. j.Hk works but only to get mid screen distance after a successful hit plus your back air dash. The best bet is usually to call out the car bomb to interrupt Painwheel when she hits you but that's not a damage trade in your favor.
Filia can be zoned until she does the light Airball, at which point you can hopefully hit her with an item drop. Like Painwheel, once Filia gets mid screen she becomes a huge problem, the difference is that Filia won't flight cancel everything and as such is actually susceptible to push blocking. After she's been push blocked you can call in an assist and throw out a couple bombs. As with Painwheel, once Filia has closed distance Peacock has no effective way to deal with the air approaches and cross ups, so I would have to put the matchup more in Filia's favor.
tl;dr The farther Painwheel and Filia are the better your matchup. You're done without a DP assist as soon as they get close.
 
Still, never underestimate a Silent Scope punish on projectile spam.

Something to note is that both the M and H bombs have no frames where they can't be super cancelled. So only the L bomb has a super cancel lockout that can be silent scoped if you have meter to countersuper with a laser. Item drop calls have a smaller super cancel lockout window (7 frames) than L bombs and I've never been SS'd out of one.
 
Something to note is that both the M and H bombs have no frames where they can't be super cancelled. So only the L bomb has a super cancel lockout that can be silent scoped if you have meter to countersuper with a laser. Item drop calls have a smaller super cancel lockout window (7 frames) than L bombs and I've never been SS'd out of one.

That's true, though I really just said not to underestimate it. There are plenty of people out there who would let themselves get hit.

Also when we gonna see some Peacock X Peacock matchup discussion smh thread :^)
 
Yeah, Peacock v Peacock is pretty even. Peacock doesn't have the tools to keep Peacock blocking without an SOID, Peacock should never have the chance to SOID and run in. It's usually off of a teleport that a Peacock gets in, otherwise it's trying to make the other Peacock block long enough to get the advantage in the projectile war, or Argus punishes where possible.
 
A long set against MulNim (korean solo peacock) makes me think I've been too optimistic about Bella's options in that matchup. At least in the 1v1. Normally you'd expect Bella to own the mid range, but I was just not getting any traction except by yolo j.lp or by hanging back and waiting for stuff to reflect. As soon as I'd get into mid range I'd be locked down/out-footsied and any hit from her could lead to double or triple argus combos, whereas I found myself sitting and way more meter than I could use effectively.

Possibly an extra favorable matchup for Peacock since she already had the edge in assisted fights.
 
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how do you guys feel about hp lml against peacock?
 
As an assist it's nice, on point it's can be a liability since peacock has j.lk plus whatever projectils are on the screen to try to break the armor.
 
@Age

Mulnim super jumps a lot from
What I've seen, that may be the primary difference you are feeling in the matchup... He's also pretty unorthodox with his item calls, he'll do them
Literally point blank if he thinks he's got someone mindgamed to not be aggro... At least thats what I saw when I saw him fight gman.
 
As an assist it's nice, on point it's can be a liability since peacock has j.lk plus whatever projectils are on the screen to try to break the armor.


yee i meant as an assist. thinking of double/hp lnl for some anti cock tech
 
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yee i meant as an assist. thinking of double/hp lnl for some anti cock tech

That's actually the team I switched to after I got tired of the 1v1. It went from about 30-10 in his favor to about 40-30 so it's a decent pick. Eventually it evened out since he could 1 touch my duo characters and he started to deal with Double a bit better by hanging around at superjump height at mid range (outside luger range).
 
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How was he one touching your duos? Via reset into death? Or was he using some godlike tod?
 
How was he one touching your duos? Via reset into death? Or was he using some godlike tod?
Peacock can nearly ToD 2v2 with 2 or 3 Argus combos I think?
 
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That's actually the team I switched to after I got tired of the 1v1. It went from about 30-10 in his favor to about 30-40 so it's a decent pick. Eventually it evened out since he could 1 touch my duo characters and he started to deal with Double a bit better by hanging around at superjump height at mid range (outside luger range).

dope, thanks! good to know there's some rhyme to the reason
 
whoops, I made a typo, it went to about 40-30, I didn't win streak him for 30 games lol
 
Any advice about how to fight the mirror?

Also in particular advice for a pea mirror where one has an armored assist (namely - brass, LnL, battle butt) and the other doesn't (DPs, hornet).
 
@Beamsprouts

I can talk about Peacock vs PW. I'd say it is one of our roughest match ups vs a decent Peacock (the reason I found this thread is I'm looking for anything that can help in it...).

A few pointers, walking George is your best friend... then teleport behind. Even if we connect (and we won't often) and confirm, it will knock us right out of the combo letting you escape and start item spam again. Also, item spam is pretty nasty. We can avoid easier than most, but this puts us in a super predictable flight pattern which Peacock can exploit.

And the great irony of PW (queen of the air) is that her air to air is weak as fuck until her moves come out... which takes forever. Her armor only takes one hit and you can easily break it playing zoning or playing aggressively. Our moves are slow enough that you can just about teleport and pretty much punish if you can read it.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't her j.HP take 2 hits of super armor now?
 
Odd, as far as I can tell from personal experience the Peacock vs Peacock matchup is 10-0.

But since I don't feel like getting too much in-depth I'll just say this from all my experience of Peacock play:
Val and Filia are bad matchups for her. And if they're good they can easily avoid bombs and get in before you call a SoID with an airdash or hairball. Plus they have amazing up close pressure to abuse her mediocre defense and if you're cornered and they have a lockdown assist you're screwed

I feel Fortune is more so an even matchup now-a-days. If you know how to use ground bombs the head works in Peacock's favor for free damage and still having a projectile or three to deal with the body. However Fortune is fast and has the tools to get through a single opening and capitalize on Peacock's poor defense.

Parasoul, Squigly, Cerebella and Painwheel have bad matchups to her. I know the vs Cerebella matchup is iffy with many but I feel calling a single ground bomb, item drop and just airdashing around is enough to leave Bella with little to no options. Plus you can bait reflects, see them coming and then fake teleport for a free bomb in her face. And every Bella I've ever played loves to eat fullscreen triple HP bang into Argus.

Double is interesting as she can always be a threat with meter, and you have to do something like a s.hp bait into teleport on reaction to get by her republican car, but even that can be tricky. I still say it's a good matchup for Peacock who can control the neutral better one on one, and if Double has no meter she's just target practice. Seriously, Item drop into 5 arguses for game, the chip will do it for you.

And for the small topic above about HP LNL against Peacock I say it is probably the best assist against her. It eats bombs and can force her to jump or make bad teleports. Though I do use Peacock myself so don't know how it works with other point characters. Seems to be the bane of Cisco so there's that.
 
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Any advice about how to fight the mirror?

Also in particular advice for a pea mirror where one has an armored assist (namely - brass, LnL, battle butt) and the other doesn't (DPs, hornet).

Peacock mirrors are the scariest to me, since it's so unpredictable. I run copter, so against something like LnL or horner bomber that dominates the full screen game, I will revert to approaching with super jumps, preferably backed by a charging shadow. That way I can either catch them pressing buttons once I get in range, or at least make them block and then go into copter lockdown.
 
Any advice about how to fight the mirror?

Also in particular advice for a pea mirror where one has an armored assist (namely - brass, LnL, battle butt) and the other doesn't (DPs, hornet).
Peacock with a zoning assist vs Peacock without a zoning assist is probably one of the worst matchups in the game tbqh

One Pro Ass Tip for the mirror is to throw your MK bomb second. It comes from off screen behind you, so if the other Peacock teleports, they'll run into the MK bomb and you get a full combo. By the same reasoning, if you wanna teleport on the other Peacock, pay attention to where their MK bomb is and if it's on cooldown and stuff. If they have LnL and you don't, you probably do need to teleport to get in since you aren't beating them from full screen, so it's even more important in that case.
 
Peacock vs Parasoul: 7-3 at best, maybe worse if you don't start with Parasoul on point because starting the fight at full screen is a huge problem
Peacock vs Bella: 6-4, Bella has tools to work with but there's no way this is an even matchup
Peacock vs Squigly: 6-4, Squigly has an easier time getting in than those other two but her standard blockstrings are full of hole that you can MP Bang though and Squigly can't punish MP bang on block from most ranges without spending meter

Peacock vs Band: ?????, Not sure but having played it a couple of times I'm not convinced its in Big Band's favor. HK Giant Step has a lot of startup, its not easy to find a gap big enough to use it. H Brass doesn't hit consistently full screen unless you kara it, which opens you up to it getting stuffed, and its horribly unsafe on whiff or block. Plus if Peacock goes into rushdown mode Big Band is actually in a lot of trouble since Band can't force her to play footsies with him at mid-range like he does to keep other rushdown characters off of him and you're constantly losing your charge to teleport crossups. Also, Band can't really use his most damaging combos against Peacock because they all throw her out to full screen, the same goes for doing a reversal SSJ against Peacock's pressure, it puts her right back where she wants to be. Big Band's best option seems to be using Emergency Break to force his way in semi-safely, and once you get a hit, end all your combos with Brass Knuckles, A-train or Timpani Drive to keep her in the corner.

The wildcard is Parry xx HK Giant Step. Not sure how this changes the matchup. If that turns out to be super useful once people learn how to parry it could turn the whole matchup on its head. I'm not convinced that it will though, since by the time Peacock's bombs make it full screen she has already recovered.
 
How is peacock vs parasoul 7-3 but squigly is 6-4???
 
Because Squigly has a double jump and she can't argus out of level 1 sing xx opera in the beta anymore (she can still do MP bang but only if she hasn't committed to a special move already). Also j.HP, Opera is pretty useful.

Honestly it has less to do with Squigly and more to do with Parasoul having a really really awful matchup against Peacock.

But feel free to disagree, I'm sure you're a much better Parasoul player than I am.
 
I'm kinda the BEST parasoul in the world IMO



Is what I WOULD say if I was even a decent parasoul.

But nah having a double jump doesn't really help vs soid and plane. Squigly's normals get stuffed reaaally easily from my experience on both sides of the match up and in order for squigly to get started she NEEDS charge. But charging sing is ridiculously hard vs a peacock who is paying any attention.

Squigly without sing is worse vs peacock than parasoul imo. Both mus are pretty bad
 
If you neutral jump as Squigly then jump forward with your double jump, you usually will get over plane. Item drop still hits you though, but if you just do it when you know item drop is on cooldown you don't gotta worry about that.
 
How do you deal with plane, soid and j.hk/j.hp?
 
j.hk/j.hp is not an issue until you're already at a range where Squigly can actually play the game instead of just eating chip all day.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't her j.HP take 2 hits of super armor now?

As far as I know, no. There was a very, very brief period in which it did (like a day on beta maybe?) which was unintentional. Since, there has been some rumblings among PWs that we would like 2x absorb to deal with Peacock/Parasoul, but it looks like they went with unfly instead.
 
j.hk/j.hp is not an issue until you're already at a range where Squigly can actually play the game instead of just eating chip all day.

Those moves alone yes. But combine them with peacocks other projectiles and that's where the issues begin. She throws projectiles and then uses those normals to create space while you're in block stun or to keep you blocking if you happened to avoid the things on screen.
 
@Spencer

Yeah, I don't remember exactly how I worded it but with Painwheel I feel like if you're she can't effectively approach Peacock. My biggest point was that I don't' think Peacock does a good job dealing with Painwheel's pressure once she's up close. Except for the up close part the matchup is unfortunate for Painwheel since flight leaves her vulnerable to projectiles.

@everybodyelse
Mirror matchup really depends a lot on which projectiles the other Peacock decides to use. I've tried using TeleBomb but people usually start blocking as soon as they see a tele, and the bomb comes out slow. Using s.HP into teleport is actually sometimes fast enough that they'll get caught by it if they were spamming projectiles, but then you have to be careful of MK bomb. If you're looking to win the projectile war then LnL is there to soak up bombs and fireballs and HP item drop is your best friend, it's fast enough to catch people in animations.