Orochi
Scorpion Scrub
I know there's a matchup discussion thread but the way it's setup one must read over 22 pages to catch up on strategies. I've seen a lot of new GLs lately now that the new John Stewart Skin has been released so I figure I'd give them a better idea of how to fight specific matchups, this is by no means a pro list, it's how I usually fight the match ups so don't blow me up too hard, but with the help of the fellow corps I believe we can turn this into a well detailed thread, so feel free to comment and add your thoughts/strategies and I'll quickly add it for that specific character.
I'll be adding more stuff like what stages are best for fighting a specific character and improve on this list as time goes on. Anyway here's the list and strategies.
Aquaman - Green Lantern Vs Aquaman is a pretty even match, The optimal strategy here is to gain the life lead and lame Aquaman out to come to you. This is a footsies match as jumping on Aquaman can be very dangerous because of his massive D2, fortunately B13 gives Aquaman plenty of trouble, feel free to check with b13 minigun, b13 rockets and make him impatient to make a mistake. Air rockets give Aquaman a lot of trouble as it counters both From the Deep and his Trident throw so use it as much as you can as long as you are safe. The only problem is they don't reach him at full screen so you have to make an effort to get in close enouch to check with air rockets. One of the best things you can do is learn Aquaman's strings, he has both low starters and an overhead string, that can be faked to the low string, his b2 is an overhead and his meterburn b3/f3 combos do up to 45% damage.
Ares - The best range you can be for this fight is mid range, b13 range. Ares is capable of putting some zoning pressure and if he gets a life lead it can get messy, you don't want him too far nor too close either. The basic way to blocking ares is low for his poke and sword launcher that leads to a full combo, and react to his overheads, use j1 to beat his air to air and his d2 is not so great so feel free to jump on him after checking him a couple of times with b13minigun/rocket. Feel free to check Ares with Lantern's Might as most of his normal can't check him, his wakeup is not so great so Turbine mixups and LMs resets are the way to go.
Bane - You want to zone him out because up close he can be plenty of trouble with venom, this is one of the matchups where minigun becomes vital to winning or losing as minigun MB can beat even his venom 3 charge so save meter for the machine gun and make them respect it and when they do feel free to throw rockets after they dash which you can MB for full combo. If he gets too close, use air turbine to get out and continue zoning, counter his offense with pushblock and mb b3 and feel free to go in when his venom is on cooldown.
Batgirl - One of GLs toughest matchups, You can't zone at all because Teleport will blow you up for a full combo punish and vortex setup, and she's got great footsies, Turbine setups work well here because it reverses the way they wake up and give you range for your next move and a chance to punish. You want to get the life lead and play it safe countering her zoning moves with your air rockets, you have to be really careful with the timing though, most batgirls will get bored of trying to lame you out while losing so they'll try to get close this is when you want to get them with Lantern's might or B13. If losing carefully block then dash, repeat until you are close and try to open them up with b13 minigun / rockets or jump1, then f3 or even armored f3. As for the vortex is all about guessing right, but I've found most batgirls prefer the overhead starter.
Deathstroke - Same as Cyborg patience is needed here, walking and blocking his gunshots is the smartest you can do, air turbines get blown up by most zoners so I never recommend them unless an excellent read, contrary to what most people say I think Deathstroke has a great upclose game and j3 attack, try to bait his wake up attacks with a dash/block then blow it up, otherwise be on your toes and make good reads, again life lead plays a major role on how the match will be played out just like in the Cyborg Match up.
Doomsday - Best advice for this one is to learn his strings and pressure game, practice mb b3/f3 his nova, and block his overhead/low string high always then low, so even if you're not fast enough to block the low it only does 2% damage. Pushblock and MB B3/F3 are your friends here, An Ex Minigun will completely remove doomsdays armor if he's not blocking otherwise it will stall his armored offense. F3 also stuffs some of his wake ups so this is your move to go after a knockdown and it has a good advantage on block for a followup string.
Flash - Flash's up close game is very strong and has plenty of frame traps, best thing you can do is go to the Flash forums and figure them out, he can start combos both from low and high attacks and has an overhead crossup trap, he can be slightly zoned with ex minigun and air rockets, his wakeups can beat a lot of your moves and even armored moves so I recommend blocking after a knockdown for starters then punish if he doesn't mb his wakeups. His armored head charge can be punished with d2 if you ducked it so bait it out.
Green Lantern - Gain the life lead and lame him out with rockets and bait a desperate turbine. If you are losing be patient and good luck getting in.
Harley Quinn - Shes got overhead, low mixups so make sure to learn them, Harley can outzone green lantern but when you have the life lead it's not so bad to counter with rockets, if you are trying to go in when you are close she will try to do air shots so watch out for that. It's a footsies game where both have to make risks and whoever guesses right wins the game, but you got lift so she can't jump at you.
Hawkgirl - An annoying matchup, she will mace charge from the air and mb and start a pressure few things can stop, you can throw a LM in between strings but it has to be an excellent read. She's also got good wake ups so try to bait a LM punish for them. When she's far away in the air you can turbine and LM on a good read, if she gets too close in the air you can LM.
The Joker - Joker has a great crossover j2 and an excellent anti air j3. Fortunately he's not a great zoner since he's only got guns and his gas can moves are too slow. If you are winning you can also do air rockets and bait him to come to you for a better chance for him to make a mistake. Also abuse to attack on knock down as he's got terrible wakeups
Killer Frost - Try to keep at a little over mid range, and feel free to throw LMs at this range for a chance to catch her slide, her slide is safe on wake up though so get in the habit of jumping back and doing j3 to bait a full combo punish, once they respect that you'll have a better chance at foosies. Air rockets are good but don't get too confy as killer frost can counter them at mid range with her slide. You get a grab after a slide on block so abuse it, once they tech out you can do b13.
Lex Luthor - Full screen rockets are your friends to stop his weak zoning, if he throws the electricity do air rockets, once lex notices that you know his zoning he'll try to get in this is where you bait a mistake such as his air charge. He's got mixups and good range but his gravity pull is super punishable on block, you can tech roll out of his reset where he set ups an electricity thing behind you and you can wake out of it, otherwise you'll be hit with a combo loop as you can't succesfully block the setup.
Lobo - I'm not sure about lobo since I haven't fought a good one yet, but he's very vulnerable to zoning and minigun.
Martian Manhunter - Too early to tell with him but he seems a threat at batgirls level, his teleport is an overhead and can be punished on reaction with b3 MB, otherwise feel free to do b13 after a blocked teleport. Neutral j1 on a read will take him out of his OH teleport for a combo punish, if you do LM MB reset and do a crossover j3, if he wakes up it'll whiff and you can punish him during recovering frames.
Raven - Tough fight, try to get the lead and put her in the corner and don't let her out, her main wake up is soul crush and is very punishable on block. If she puts you at full screen don't panic and slowly advance watching out for soul crush, on demon stance I wouldn't risk going forward because her zoning is tremendous and her specials can do a lot of damage. Up close she doesn't have many overhead strings so block low and block f3 high on reaction. Rockets don't work too well against her because she can absorb them and meter burn them for about 25% dmg or more if she has 2 bars.
Shazam - Outzone him if you have the chance, his charge is an overhead and his j2 can easily cross up, if you throw a rocket at him and his teleport absorbs it you can still mb it for a combo, same with minigun. He uses a string that goes into a grab on block that you can d1 out of so make sure to learn it.
Sinestro - One of the tougher fights, his air axe is safe on block, his b13 is punishable, his boulders can be dashed out of, be patient at going in when he's throwing his fireballs, turbine can be blown up by sinestro so I don't recommend it unless on a boulder read which in that case can close the gap tremendously. Of course it all goes downhill when he has his trait because his unsafe moves turn safe so if you see him do something unsafe don't get too excited and keep blocking because he might just punish you for it. Like other similar fights, try to get the lead and put him in the corner and keep him there. His main wake up is his arachnid strike so be ready to block it. You can punish his fireballs with air rockets on a read.
Superman - I think he's turning to be our nemesis nowadays. To fight his zoning throw rockets between lasers to punish him, once he respects that he'll start doing his jump lasers which are easier to go in but be careful not to get blown up by his F23, make sure to always block low in case he does a F2d1 mixup or a scoop. You don't always have to go in though specially if you have the life lead you can counter his zoning pretty good once you learn how. On footsies his main threat is F23 his main pressure is F23 breath which you can backdash and punish if he follows up with another F23. In the corner I'd save meter for a MB F3, you can still poke out of the next string but if he makes a read he can blow you up for it so be very careful and try to get out of the corner because his combos are way high and can change the outcome of the match. Another note I'd like to make on his zoning you can also counter his air lasers with a late turbine that will hit him or mb it to make it safe if you have the meter.
Zod - Haven't fought many good Zods so really can't comment on this one.
I'll be adding more stuff like what stages are best for fighting a specific character and improve on this list as time goes on. Anyway here's the list and strategies.
Aquaman - Green Lantern Vs Aquaman is a pretty even match, The optimal strategy here is to gain the life lead and lame Aquaman out to come to you. This is a footsies match as jumping on Aquaman can be very dangerous because of his massive D2, fortunately B13 gives Aquaman plenty of trouble, feel free to check with b13 minigun, b13 rockets and make him impatient to make a mistake. Air rockets give Aquaman a lot of trouble as it counters both From the Deep and his Trident throw so use it as much as you can as long as you are safe. The only problem is they don't reach him at full screen so you have to make an effort to get in close enouch to check with air rockets. One of the best things you can do is learn Aquaman's strings, he has both low starters and an overhead string, that can be faked to the low string, his b2 is an overhead and his meterburn b3/f3 combos do up to 45% damage.
Ares - The best range you can be for this fight is mid range, b13 range. Ares is capable of putting some zoning pressure and if he gets a life lead it can get messy, you don't want him too far nor too close either. The basic way to blocking ares is low for his poke and sword launcher that leads to a full combo, and react to his overheads, use j1 to beat his air to air and his d2 is not so great so feel free to jump on him after checking him a couple of times with b13minigun/rocket. Feel free to check Ares with Lantern's Might as most of his normal can't check him, his wakeup is not so great so Turbine mixups and LMs resets are the way to go.
Bane - You want to zone him out because up close he can be plenty of trouble with venom, this is one of the matchups where minigun becomes vital to winning or losing as minigun MB can beat even his venom 3 charge so save meter for the machine gun and make them respect it and when they do feel free to throw rockets after they dash which you can MB for full combo. If he gets too close, use air turbine to get out and continue zoning, counter his offense with pushblock and mb b3 and feel free to go in when his venom is on cooldown.
Batgirl - One of GLs toughest matchups, You can't zone at all because Teleport will blow you up for a full combo punish and vortex setup, and she's got great footsies, Turbine setups work well here because it reverses the way they wake up and give you range for your next move and a chance to punish. You want to get the life lead and play it safe countering her zoning moves with your air rockets, you have to be really careful with the timing though, most batgirls will get bored of trying to lame you out while losing so they'll try to get close this is when you want to get them with Lantern's might or B13. If losing carefully block then dash, repeat until you are close and try to open them up with b13 minigun / rockets or jump1, then f3 or even armored f3. As for the vortex is all about guessing right, but I've found most batgirls prefer the overhead starter.
Batman - Bats is another tough matchup and I think the outcome depends heavily on who gets the life lead, Jumpy aggressive batmans are easy because your J1 beats their j2 and you can start a turbine or LM's reset and batman's wakeups are so bad you will get a lot of opportunity for more damage. Pushblock their bats if you are winning don't let him get too close and lame him out with minigun and rockets, don't be afraid to trade rocket with bats to prevent him from going in. The difficult part is a turtling batman with a life lead is tough to get in because of his batarangs and bats, don't be afraid to use air rockets on him and carefully dash/block, watch his meter for meterburn bats which he will most likely do when you're close then he will try to b23 when you are even closer so careful with that also.
Black Adam - The king of divekick it's no longer safe on block so punish with b13, beware of his b23, d1 frametraps. Feel free to use Turbine on him to get in since he really can't do much to punish it. What you really want to be careful are keep away black adams that like to bait your air rockets with a divekick and backdash your jump for b23 punish, air rockets work well against him and counter most of his other specials if timed correctly, they also can even trade with divekick/mbdivekick if timed correctly.
Catwoman - This is a more tricky matchup than what it seems in my opinion, unless you are spamming minigun with mb ready to go it's hard to outzone her, along with air rockets. But normal rockets can get blown up by her EX Dash, even mini gun start up can get punished. She's got overhead and low mixups so best thing you can do is learn her strings, she's also got a long jump 3 attack that when timed right can't be beat by your j1. After an ex dash I usually go for grabs if they break grab you can follow up with b13 pressure.
Cyborg - Another tough matchup, cyborg's projectiles are fast and move him back for further zoning, he also has a great wake up that blows up a lot of GLs resets and setups. Patience is the key here and watching his meter for his air MB projectiles, getting the lead in the beginning is important because you'll be able to trade rockets on a good read otherwise if cyborg has the lead it's going to be a long frustrating fight. After a couple of matches with a decent cyborg I find that air turbine is good if you make a good read on a grounded fireball i didn't get blown up for it but needs further testing, you can also throw an OAs rocket vs his ground laser that will knock him out of his move and you can mb to close the gap.
Deathstroke - Same as Cyborg patience is needed here, walking and blocking his gunshots is the smartest you can do, air turbines get blown up by most zoners so I never recommend them unless an excellent read, contrary to what most people say I think Deathstroke has a great upclose game and j3 attack, try to bait his wake up attacks with a dash/block then blow it up, otherwise be on your toes and make good reads, again life lead plays a major role on how the match will be played out just like in the Cyborg Match up.
Doomsday - Best advice for this one is to learn his strings and pressure game, practice mb b3/f3 his nova, and block his overhead/low string high always then low, so even if you're not fast enough to block the low it only does 2% damage. Pushblock and MB B3/F3 are your friends here, An Ex Minigun will completely remove doomsdays armor if he's not blocking otherwise it will stall his armored offense. F3 also stuffs some of his wake ups so this is your move to go after a knockdown and it has a good advantage on block for a followup string.
Flash - Flash's up close game is very strong and has plenty of frame traps, best thing you can do is go to the Flash forums and figure them out, he can start combos both from low and high attacks and has an overhead crossup trap, he can be slightly zoned with ex minigun and air rockets, his wakeups can beat a lot of your moves and even armored moves so I recommend blocking after a knockdown for starters then punish if he doesn't mb his wakeups. His armored head charge can be punished with d2 if you ducked it so bait it out.
Green Arrow - Even match I'd say, check with air rockets and normal rockets, if you are managing to keep him away throw normal rockets to hit him reloading arrows, beware of his huge j3 but bait it for LMs, his most dangerous string is a mid,low,overhead so learn to block that, he has arrows mixups the low arrow or the jump overhead one so it's all about making good reads, he has great corner pressure so pushblock and get out of there asap. He can lame you out with fire arrows if he's got the lead so beware of these also.
Green Lantern - Gain the life lead and lame him out with rockets and bait a desperate turbine. If you are losing be patient and good luck getting in.
Harley Quinn - Shes got overhead, low mixups so make sure to learn them, Harley can outzone green lantern but when you have the life lead it's not so bad to counter with rockets, if you are trying to go in when you are close she will try to do air shots so watch out for that. It's a footsies game where both have to make risks and whoever guesses right wins the game, but you got lift so she can't jump at you.
Hawkgirl - An annoying matchup, she will mace charge from the air and mb and start a pressure few things can stop, you can throw a LM in between strings but it has to be an excellent read. She's also got good wake ups so try to bait a LM punish for them. When she's far away in the air you can turbine and LM on a good read, if she gets too close in the air you can LM.
The Joker - Joker has a great crossover j2 and an excellent anti air j3. Fortunately he's not a great zoner since he's only got guns and his gas can moves are too slow. If you are winning you can also do air rockets and bait him to come to you for a better chance for him to make a mistake. Also abuse to attack on knock down as he's got terrible wakeups
Killer Frost - Try to keep at a little over mid range, and feel free to throw LMs at this range for a chance to catch her slide, her slide is safe on wake up though so get in the habit of jumping back and doing j3 to bait a full combo punish, once they respect that you'll have a better chance at foosies. Air rockets are good but don't get too confy as killer frost can counter them at mid range with her slide. You get a grab after a slide on block so abuse it, once they tech out you can do b13.
Lex Luthor - Full screen rockets are your friends to stop his weak zoning, if he throws the electricity do air rockets, once lex notices that you know his zoning he'll try to get in this is where you bait a mistake such as his air charge. He's got mixups and good range but his gravity pull is super punishable on block, you can tech roll out of his reset where he set ups an electricity thing behind you and you can wake out of it, otherwise you'll be hit with a combo loop as you can't succesfully block the setup.
Lobo - I'm not sure about lobo since I haven't fought a good one yet, but he's very vulnerable to zoning and minigun.
Martian Manhunter - Too early to tell with him but he seems a threat at batgirls level, his teleport is an overhead and can be punished on reaction with b3 MB, otherwise feel free to do b13 after a blocked teleport. Neutral j1 on a read will take him out of his OH teleport for a combo punish, if you do LM MB reset and do a crossover j3, if he wakes up it'll whiff and you can punish him during recovering frames.
Nightwing - Nightwing is trouble up close with staff and lethal in the corner, his flying grayson can be punished with d2. The good thing is he can't outzone you because he's weak against your air rockets so abuse them, but not too close as flying grayson can hit you. once he's trying to get close to you bait a flying grayson with normal rocket which you can mb for a combo. He also has a move on escrima which can crossover so watch out for that and wingdings which are overhead.
Raven - Tough fight, try to get the lead and put her in the corner and don't let her out, her main wake up is soul crush and is very punishable on block. If she puts you at full screen don't panic and slowly advance watching out for soul crush, on demon stance I wouldn't risk going forward because her zoning is tremendous and her specials can do a lot of damage. Up close she doesn't have many overhead strings so block low and block f3 high on reaction. Rockets don't work too well against her because she can absorb them and meter burn them for about 25% dmg or more if she has 2 bars.
Scorpion - If you block low you can punish his teleport with d2, if you block high punish with b13 is the easiest in case he's still airborne, there's really no jumping against a good scorpion. his Fire is unblockable and his j3 is still great, fortunately he doesn't do much damage so he has to work hard to beat you. Also minigun seems to beat his wakeups at a good range.
Shazam - Outzone him if you have the chance, his charge is an overhead and his j2 can easily cross up, if you throw a rocket at him and his teleport absorbs it you can still mb it for a combo, same with minigun. He uses a string that goes into a grab on block that you can d1 out of so make sure to learn it.
Sinestro - One of the tougher fights, his air axe is safe on block, his b13 is punishable, his boulders can be dashed out of, be patient at going in when he's throwing his fireballs, turbine can be blown up by sinestro so I don't recommend it unless on a boulder read which in that case can close the gap tremendously. Of course it all goes downhill when he has his trait because his unsafe moves turn safe so if you see him do something unsafe don't get too excited and keep blocking because he might just punish you for it. Like other similar fights, try to get the lead and put him in the corner and keep him there. His main wake up is his arachnid strike so be ready to block it. You can punish his fireballs with air rockets on a read.
Solomon Grundy - Outzone mainly with air rockets, once he realizes he has to go in throw out normal rockets and minigun to bait more damage. He's dangerous upclose and after his main string he can either go for a grab, an overhead or a low which have armor when meterburned, he can also WCC for some nifty tricks, when up close I recommend using MB F3/B3 of your own, pushblock, and air turbine to get out of there and continue zoning.
Superman - I think he's turning to be our nemesis nowadays. To fight his zoning throw rockets between lasers to punish him, once he respects that he'll start doing his jump lasers which are easier to go in but be careful not to get blown up by his F23, make sure to always block low in case he does a F2d1 mixup or a scoop. You don't always have to go in though specially if you have the life lead you can counter his zoning pretty good once you learn how. On footsies his main threat is F23 his main pressure is F23 breath which you can backdash and punish if he follows up with another F23. In the corner I'd save meter for a MB F3, you can still poke out of the next string but if he makes a read he can blow you up for it so be very careful and try to get out of the corner because his combos are way high and can change the outcome of the match. Another note I'd like to make on his zoning you can also counter his air lasers with a late turbine that will hit him or mb it to make it safe if you have the meter.
Wonder Woman - Outzone her, you can turbine her out of jumps on a read and punish her air charge with b13, the higher it hits the easier it is to punish. Up close she will try to cross you over and do a 33 which is low so make sure to block low, she also has an overhead string which has huge range so if shes out of 33 range block high.
Zod - Haven't fought many good Zods so really can't comment on this one.
