Melty Blood: Type Lumina is the latest installment in the long-running anime fighting game series, returning from a decade-plus hiatus with the fast-paced action fans know and love so well. While it's that intense gameplay that will have fans eager to return, it can leave newcomers hesitant about picking it up.
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Type Lumina will be the first Melty Blood title for many, and understanding each character's role can be a bit tricky compared to other games in the genre. Technically, every character is classified as a "rushdown" fighter due to the game's breakneck pace. But there is much more to each character's playstyle that makes them more nuanced and vastly different than one another.
Akiha Tohno
Akiha Tohno, the sister of Shiki, is a hyper-aggressive character who thrives when applying pressure to her opponent. Akiha has many mix-up options that will keep the opposition guessing as she can perform high-low/left-right mixes in practically any situation.
When playing as Akiha, you will want to suffocate the opponent with pressure, which you can quickly achieve with her unique moveset. Tossing her Brilliant Wheel out to damage the opponent on wake up is one of many examples of Akiha's relentless playstyle. Mix that with the leaping attacks that can place her on the opposite side of the enemy if timed correctly, and you can easily see why it would be tough to pin her down once she gets in a rhythm.
Arcueid Brunestud
One of the prominent faces of Melty Blood is Arcueid Brunestud, who returns yet again in Type Lumina to wreak havoc. Arcueid's playstyle is purely rushdown, making her excel when she's in the opponent's face. She more than makes up for what she lacks in terms of ranged combat with her devastating pressure and damage output.
While not as prominent as Akiha's cross-ups, Arcueid possesses many options to keep her opponent on their toes and capitalize on their hesitation with her great specials comprising of tricky overheads and pulls. If Arcueid lands a single hit, her opponent is left wide open for many follow-up hits that will take a tremendous toll on their HP.
Ciel
As mentioned previously, Melty Blood is built around the concept of mobility, swift movement, and over-the-top action. However, Ciel takes that to the next level with some unique movement options that make it hard to take her down. One of Ciel's specialties is her command jump, which allows her to leap backward and bounce off the wall, which can then be followed up with a diving attack, projectile toss, grab, or cross-up.
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Another of Ciel's traits is her ability to toss swords out as projectiles, allowing her to keep the opposition at bay and maintain pressure from a distance. Ciel dominates the arena with aerial attacks, which is tricky to stop once she gets into a groove. Every character can apply tremendous amounts of pressure in Type Lumina, but very few can do it from a distance or while in the air, and Ciel can do it all, making her a threat from just about anywhere on the arena.
Hisui
Hisui is one of the maid characters in Melty Blood: Type Lumina and can dish out severe damage with a few charge attacks or by placing traps around the arena. Hisui can pull a chair out of thin air and smash it over her opponent's head in an instant or can charge the attack up and dart more than halfway across the screen to deliver a much more devastating chair smash to the unsuspecting enemy.
Due to Hisui's focus being primarily on using items she summons seemingly out of nowhere that gain significantly more power when charged is unique and makes her incredibly hard to predict. Hisui can control the tempo of the match and can force her opponent into situations they would rather not be in due to clever trap placements or devastating air-juggles triggered by a watering can. You never know what she will do, making her a formidable opponent.
Kohaku
Kohaku is the other maid resent in Melty Blood: Type Lumina and is a ridiculous yet very deadly character. For starters, Kohaku's broom doubles as a sword, with the blade hidden inside of the broom's handle that she unsheathes for an abnormally large anti-air attack. Pair that with her trusty cactus companion that will throw hands, and you can see why she's one of the oddest characters in the game.
Much like Hisui, Kohaku's playstyle primarily focuses on her ability to summon items at will, except that all of Kohaku's are plant-based, deadly, and incredibly silly. For example, Kohaku can call in a blue plant that shoots off into the air, diagonally, like a missile, or place a plant down that shoots fireballs from its mouth like a Pirhana Plant from Super Mario Bros. She even has a plant that will slap the lights out of her opponent with its violent rotation of destruction. There's just no telling what Kohaku will do next, making her game plan all about using her unpredictability to her advantage.
Hisui & Kohaku
If Hisui and Kohaku on their own weren't wildly unpredictable, you could double the weirdness by playing as both of them at the same time. While, for the most part, their moveset stays essentially the same, there are a few minor differences and a tag-mechanic that allows you to switch between the two mid-battle.
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However, the name of the maid's game is unpredictability, which doesn't change when the two of them are together. Tossing out projectiles, bashing people over the head with a chair, setting traps, and even summoning violent plants are still your primary focus. You just have access to so many more things due to the duo coming together. However, please note that this may not be the best option for newcomers, as controlling the pair can be daunting and overwhelming at first.
Kouma Kishima
Kouma Kishima is the closest you'll get to a grappler in Melty Blood: Type Lumina and is a pretty decent one at that. While Kouma lacks the one key aspect of any great grappler, being godlike damage output, he can still deliver powerful attacks and punish his opponents with unblockable command grabs that can set him up for success early in the match.
One of Kouma's unique traits is his ability to gain super armor during grabs, allowing him to tank a hit while still performing the action, making the opposition think twice before charging in for an attack or spamming an ability on wake up. If the idea of a rushdown Grappler sounds cool to you, then Kouma is the guy for you.
Michael Roa Valdamjong
One of the best mid-zoners in the game is Michael Roa Valdamjong, who focuses primarily on mid-range attacks with some fun movement options thrown into the mix. While Roa's moves aren't the craziest by any stretch, he possesses some unique, powerful attacks that make him a decent option for beginners and can control the pacing of the match quite easily.
Michael can dart across the screen with a quick lightning strike and launch devastating projectiles from mid-range to force the opponent to block, jump, or try countering. He can toss a projectile and immediately dart towards you or fake you out and throw out another one, punishing you for getting complacent or making the wrong prediction.
Miyako Arima
If you thought Akiha was hard to block, say hello to the new mix-up queen with Miyako, who is maybe the most complicated character to guard in all of Melty Blood: Type Lumina. Miyako can follow up a cross-up with another cross-up and even has some mix-ups that make her invincible, allowing her to punish anyone who tries attacking her in the process.
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Miyako's playstyle is pure aggressiveness. You can never be too aggressive with her, as her toolkit enables her to charge in and dominate her opponent for simply guessing wrong. Miyako possesses a basic set of moves, making her a decent choice for newcomers who want to play overaggressively.
Noel
Noel is one of the few range-based characters in Melty Blood: Type Lumina and achieves that playstyle via her spear and limited projectiles. While her spear will be the primary source of her attacks and damage, Noel's throwing knives allow her to do some pretty crazy things, making her one of the strongest ranged fighters in the game.
Noel has a limited number of projectiles because of how strong they are in terms of follow-up attacks and their overall potential in-game. For example, Noel can throw a knife out and immediately charge behind it, allowing her to either set up a high-low attack, combo off of it if it hits, or cross the enemy up if they successfully block it. Additionally, her spear is an excellent way to keep pressure on the enemy from a decent range, making it hard for them to close in on her.
Red Arcueid
Red Arcueid is the same character as Arcueid Brunestud but possesses a much different set of skills that make her more formidable than ever before. Unlike the "default" version, Red Arcueid can now launch projectiles, which allows her to control the screen and keep the opposition at bay.
Furthermore, another one of Red Arcueid's tricks is her hyper armor on specific attacks, which enables her to take an unlimited amount of hits during the attack's animation, punishing anyone who attacks on wakeup or tried to rush in with wild attacks. While she loses some of the rushdown goodness of her original kit, she more than makes up for it with her raw power, projectiles, and absurd protection on some attacks.
Saber
Saber, who has excellent combo and cross-up potential, makes an appearance from the Fate series as a guest character in Melty Blood: Type Lumina. Due to being a guest character, Saber's moveset isn't terribly complex, but she's still fun and feels powerful to play.
Complete with diving aerial specials, an excellent re-combo special, and swift attacks, Saber is a great starter character for newcomers and a solid rushdown character that can deal significant damage with just about any attack. She may not offer anything extraordinary, but that's fine as she accomplishes what she sets out to do expertly.
Shiki Tohno
The protagonist of the series, and brother of Akiha, is Shiki Tohno, a straightforward rushdown fighter. Shiki's primary focus is to apply massive pressure and never let it up, allowing him to control the match's pace and end things quickly if the opponent makes too many mistakes.
Shiki has many unblockable attacks, allowing him to bait enemy attacks and open them to devastating combos. Due to Shiki being the main character, he doesn't possess an overly complicated command list, making him an excellent entry fighter for newcomers to the series or genre.
Vlov Arkhangel
Vlov Arkhangel is another example of a zoner fighter in Melty Blood: Type Lumina and relies heavily on projectiles and applying pressure from range. Vlov can land devastating combos off his projectiles alone and even get in close and combo into a command grab that can then get chained into yet another series of attacks, which is quite insane even for Melty Blood standards.
However, even with his absurd close-range potential, Vlov's primary source of damage will come from his wide range of ranged attacks, which can set up gruesome combos, keep the opponent at bay, or seal the match. There aren't many zoners in Melty Blood, but Vlov may be the best of what's available.
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