Stripe, the horrible Gremlin from the similarly-named movie, has just hatched his way into MultiVersus. He’s a fast, deadly Assassin-type character with a bunch of tricks to punish his chosen target. His general playstyle is straightforward rushdown, but the best Stripe players will be those who can use his moves creatively to torment the opposition. For a little help on causing the most havoc, here’s our MultiVersus Stripe guide.
MultiVersus Stripe Guide – Basic Attacks
For the first section of the MultiVersus Stripe guide, I’ll review his normal attacks. These are usually basic claw swipes, but there are some important exceptions. Almost all of Stripe’s physical attacks apply a Targeted debuff (shown above) to enemies that lasts a couple seconds. It allows him to follow-up with his gun, which will be explained in the special attack section.
- Neutral Ground Attack: A chargeable buzzsaw throw. When it’s thrown, it crawls along the floor, including up or down walls. That makes it ideal for harassing players trying to recover with wall jumps. Throw one at a wall-hanging enemy, then intercept them when they jump away for an easy down-air dunk. It’s a fast, reliable projectile, but it’s limited by a cooldown and an ammo count of 3. Throw it out before moving into close range to start fights at an advantage. This is also Stripe’s only dedicated teamplay move. Hitting an ally with your buzzsaw makes it circle around them as a mobile hitbox. That could mess up your throws, but is mainly a good thing since it makes them a lot harder to avoid.
- Side Ground Attack: Stripe’s ground combo has three parts. The first is two quick forward swipes. The second looks and feels like Wolverine’s Berserker Barrage: an advancing series of claw swipes. The third, Stripe leans forward and takes a big bite. This string is quick, and it covers a wide area in front of him. It’s easy to cancel between steps, and doesn’t leave him as vulnerable as other characters’ melee strings. It’s great to land whenever possible, doing good damage and easily transitioning into other attacks and specials (such as gun).
- Up Ground Attack: Stripe does a handstand and kicks at the air. Its reach is a lot shorter than his side ground string, but you can substitute any of the side attack steps for this, then follow up with up special twice (and end with gun). It can’t be charged: unlike many characters, Stripe has very few charged melee attacks. That’s okay: it’s often not worth holding still to charge an attack.
- Down Ground Attack: Stripe places a radio at his feet, then jumps backward a short distance while shooting it with a crossbow. The radio explodes, and the blast knocks enemies directly upward. This unnecessarily complex attack has very poor range, but Stripe’s backstep makes it useful for punishing enemies who are trying to rush you. It’s a projectile that also applies Targeted, so you can chain it into an air combo (or just use gun).
- Neutral Air Attack: This is the chargeable buzzsaw again, but it behaves differently in the air. Stripe can aim up and down while charging, and his throw will travel through the air for a while before sticking to the ground and crawling along like normal. An airborne saw will bounce off struck targets. Stripe can actually attack a bounced-back airborne buzzsaw with his physical strikes, bouncing it back again and marking it with Targeted. He can then shoot the double bounced-back airborne buzzsaw to send it in even stranger directions. This could be used for some frightening ricochet action. Getting everything to aim correctly will take some effort, but Stripe has enough buzzsaws in reserve for it to be worth throwing them out often to see what they can do.
- Side Air Attack: A quick forward swipe. This one’s chargeable, and makes a good approach option, as well as a useful combo tool (along with gun).
- Up Air Attack: A chargeable, upwards bite. Harder to land than Stripe’s upward special, but doesn’t consume his air recovery.
- Down Air Attack: Stripe swipes downward. It’s a standard dunk on offstage opponents (and can lead into gun). It also has good kill potential onstage (especially followed by gun).
MultiVersus Stripe Guide – Special Attacks
In this section of the MultiVersus Stripe guide, I’ll cover Stripe’s special attacks. They’re straightforward, most of them being attacks using different tools (such as a gun).
- Neutral Special: This is Stripe’s signature ability: he channels the mystical power of the Mogwai and shoots his enemy with a gun. On its own, the attack is poor: it’s very short-range for a gun and has little knockback. But if an enemy is Targeted, the gun will automatically hit them at any range! That means Stripe can end ANY combo with a free extra attack. He even gets three shots! The best possible use of the gun is to seal the deal: any physical strike that almost pushes an enemy offscreen can lead into a final nudge with the gun. The three shots have a cooldown, but a bigger limiting factor is attack decay. If you use gun after every attack, it’ll decay quickly, and then it won’t have the little knockback it needs to secure kills when it counts. Managing the status of this attack will be essential in performing well as Stripe. I suspect it will be nerfed quickly.
- Side Ground Special: A rush-style attack in which Stripe rides a skateboard into the enemy. It’s chargeable before releasing, which extends its range and power. It also includes a follow-up with a second press: Stripe will hop off the board and kick it upward. The hitboxes on this attack are somewhat strange. While it’s charging, Stripe will begin to roll forward, but this isn’t part of the attack. Stripe can accidentally roll forward into enemy attacks if he’s too close when he starts charging. The flipped board has an odd timing as well. Starting the flip makes Stripe cancel his skateboard charge, and then the flipped board hits the area a little ahead of him. It’s a decent attack (and it can chain into gun), but it’s best to understand its properties before using it.
- Side Air Special: Instead of a skateboard, Stripe produces an entire chainsaw and lunges forward through the air! It has good horizontal movement, but it also falls quickly, so it won’t help with recovery if you’re already too low. Once the move begins, Stripe’s path through the air is fixed. Proper use of the attack means understanding where it will end up. One way to alter its path is to fastfall while the move is starting, which can surprise enemies on the ground. It’s slow, but powerful if you can catch your target, locking them into a chain of hits and ending with big knockback (and a chance for gun).
- Up Special: An upward leap. It’s a poor recovery move, but a great follow-up to Stripe’s ground and air attacks. It also has a special property: it destroys enemy projectiles, even the big ones like Bugs’ rocket. When on the ground, it can be used twice in a row and chains into itself, but that consumes both of Stripe’s recovery specials. In the air, it can be angled to hit targets a little out of reach (and it can always lead into gun). There’s an oddity with this move: its description says it can latch onto enemies, but that doesn’t happen. It’s unclear whether the description is wrong, or if the move itself is broken.
- Down Special: On the first use, Stripe takes out a bundle of dynamite. On the second, instead of throwing it, he bites into it, exploding himself. He takes six damage from the burn, but briefly becomes a fast-moving, hard-hitting projectile. It’s a risky setup, and not just because of the damage: Stripe drops the dynamite if he takes a hit, making the move useless (and then anyone can pick up the dynamite). But the move hits hard enough to be worth trying. Just having the dynamite in hand might spook an enemy you’re approaching. Don’t wait too long, though. It’ll explode on its own after a few seconds. Even that has a use, though: the automatic explosion counts as triggering the move normally. Let it fire on its own to cap off a long physical combo (plus gun as needed). It also has recovery applications if you don’t fastfall accidentally while using it.
How to Win Team Battles as Stripe
For this section of the MultiVersus Stripe guide, I’ll explain some basic team strategies. Stripe is a simple guy: he hits and shoots. He can do a lot of damage very quickly, but he’s light and has poor recovery; typical Assassin qualities. He doesn’t have much teamplay besides his circling saws and his ability to move quickly to help his ally. Stripe’s job is to get kills.
A good teammate for Stripe is a Tank with low kill power that can take damage in Stripe’s place and get in the enemy’s face with saws, like Superman or Iron Giant. Another option would be a character who can augment Stripe’s poor defense, like Steven with his shields or even Velma with her bouncing projectiles. The best of all may be Wonder Woman, a frontline tank who can also provide armor.
How to Win 1v1 Battles as Stripe
Assassins are naturals at 1v1, and Stripe is no exception. He’s fast and deadly, and his gun can be extremely frustrating for everybody. His basic gameplan is to poke with buzzsaws while looking for an opening with side air attack. Once he’s in, he can tear up the enemy with his claw strings.
Although Stripe is quick, he’s punished hard if he puts a foot wrong thanks to his poor recovery. For this reason, it’s a good idea to mix riskier, stranger moves into his fighting to make the enemy nervous. His down ground trap makes a quick response for aggressive enemies, and his side air chainsaw makes a deadly counter against foes who think you’re in a vulnerable midair position – as long as your aim is right.
Best Perks For Stripe
For the last section of the MultiVersus Stripe Guide, here’s some info about his signature perks.
- Boom, Boom, Bounce! (Level 8): This causes a second dynamite explosion if the first one knocks Stripe into the wall or floor. It’s a straightforward upgrade, but it applies to Stripe’s riskiest attack, and only when angled downward. It doesn’t benefit straight forward blasts, or midair interceptions. This could make the attack more reliable from certain angles, but takes some forethought.
- He’s The Leader (Level 10): This lets Stripe leap off of his teammate’s projectiles as he can his enemies’, and gain a buff. This is the most potent Signature if you’re on a coordinated team thanks to the speed boost, but too difficult to take advantage of otherwise. It’s easier with teammates with large, slow projectiles.
- Feeding After Midnight (Level 12): This extends the length of debuffs on Stripe, in exchange for letting him pass them onto enemies with his up special. (Its description says it requires Stripe to grab on, but there is no grab. Fortunately a regular up special hit triggers the effect.) The potential here is pretty interesting. For example, it applies to the self-inflicted burn damage from his dynamite, allowing Stripe to potentially end a dynamite attack with a lunge to give the self-damage to his target! This may be valuable against enemies that rely on debuffs, like Taz’s Hungry or Batman’s Weaken. The duration self-penalty, though, makes it a risky gambit.
Boom, Boom, Bounce! is the easiest Signature Perk to use in most situations.
For secondary perks, you may think to buff Stripe’s projectiles. An ice debuff from each gunshot using Ice To Beat You sounds good, right? Wrong. Stripe’s gun doesn’t benefit from projectile debuff perks. Only his saws and radio trap apply debuffs from Ice To Beat You and That’s Flammable, Doc. They’re still worth considering since Stripe has a lot of saws, but shouldn’t be a priority.
Instead, consider perks that strengthen Stripe’s weak recovery. Triple Jump is obvious, but Fancy Footwork (extended dodge distance) can both help Stripe avoid attacks and use his dodges for better recovery. Add I Dodge You Dodge We Dodge onto that for cooldown reduction, since Stripe’s best tools (gun, saw, dynamite) all have cooldown. That should make a solid all-around setup.
