One of the most iconic cartoon duos, Tom & Jerry, is also one of the most fun characters to play in MultiVersus. The pair uses weapons & techniques that are fitting with classic cartoon hijinks. From mallets to slingshots, here are all of the best ways to maximize Tom & Jerry’s moveset.
Tom & Jerry Moveset Overview – Basic Attacks
Tom & Jerry’s standard attacks stay pretty basic. Using mallets, paddleballs, and more, the dynamic duo can deal heavy damage on their enemies.
- Neutral Ground Attack: Tom charges up a tennis racket to strike his opponents. A standard attack, with good knockback if you can afford to charge it. Can also be used in combination with Neutral Special to launch tennis balls at opponents.
- Side Ground Attack: Tom uses a mallet to hit the opponents with a four-hit combo that launches upwards and forwards. A good attack to tack on extra damage to low-damage enemies.
- Up Ground Attack: Tom uses a paddleball to juggle enemies above him. If Tom still has Jerry with him, Jerry is bounced instead, giving the attack a bigger hitbox.
- Down Ground Attack: Tom charges a downward scratch to hit other grounded enemies. This attack also breaks any armor.
- Neutral Air Attack: This is the same as Tom’s Neutral Ground Attack.
- Side Air Attack: Tom scratches twice in front of him. This attack covers a lot of area in front of Tom, and the double-hit means it can break armor. These features make this one of the tomcat’s best options in neutral.
- Up Air Attack: Tom slams two trash can lids together above him. This attack covers a large area and knocks enemies upwards. One of Tom’s best kill moves at high damage.
- Down Air Attack: At a downward angle in front of himself, Tom slams a frying pan. When used onstage, it’s Tom’s best combo starter. Offstage, it’s a fantastic tool to spike enemies to their doom.
Tom & Jerry Moveset Overview – Neutral Special
Where Tom & Jerry earn the MultiVersus expert classification is with their special attacks. Using his Neutral Special, Tom launches Jerry using a slingshot. Many of their special attacks change, depending on where Jerry is located, or if he’s out of commission.
- Neutral Special (With Jerry): When Jerry is with Tom, his Neutral Special will launch Jerry in front of him with his slingshot. Jerry will stay on stage where he was launched. He has 3 bottle caps that he can fire at enemies. These bottle caps always fire whenever Tom attacks, in the direction he attacks. When deployed, Jerry can also be picked up by his ally, which then gives him two additional bottle caps to launch.
- Neutral Special (Jerry Deployed): Tom slingshots a tennis tennis ball, which Jerry hits back. This ball doesn’t do any damage from the initial launch. However, it can be hit back by Tom using his Neutral Ground Attack or Neutral Air Attack to be launched back as a damage-dealing projectile.
- Neutral Special (No Jerry): If Jerry has been defeated or launched off the map, Tom simply launches a tennis ball forward. This ball can be hit with the same attacks as with Jerry deployed to give the ball power.
Tom & Jerry’s Other Special Attacks
- Side Special: Tom casts a fishing line our in from of him. The lure can bring the enemy in to Tom to combo with his Side Ground Attack.
- Up Special (With Jerry, On Ground): Tom straps Jerry to a small rocket that is remote controlled. Can be useful to hit distant enemies, but leaves Tom vulnerable while controlling.
- Up Special (With Jerry, In Air): Launches Jerry on the rocket in a small, curved arc above Tom.
- Up Special (Jerry Deployed): Tom launches a rocket that locks onto Jerry
- Up Special (No Jerry): Tom launches a small rocket for a short distance above him. This is the same whether Tom is in the air or on the ground.
- Down Special (On Ground): Tom places an explosive mouse trap on the ground. A small cooldown applies.
- Down Special (In Air): Tom drops dynamite from the air. Can be hit with Neutral Ground and Neutral Air attacks to launch the dynamite horizontally. Has two charges that each have a short cooldown.
Tom & Jerry’s Best MultiVersus Combos
The cat & mouse duo have a good collection of combos they can utilize. Tom’s Down Air will be key to start many of these combos. However, using the duo’s wealth of projectiles, these basic combos can be combined with projectiles to fantastic effect.
- Down Air into Up Ground Attack (low damage): One of Tom and Jerry’s best combos is Down Air into Up Ground Attack. After using Down Air, charge Up Ground Attack for a short time, then release. This will make it so Up Ground hits both in front of and above Tom. Usually deals 16 damage.
- Down Air into Up Air: Another pretty basic combo. At high damage, this can be used to K.O. most enemies.
- Side Ground Attack (first 3 hits) into Neutral Special: After the first two hits of this combo, it can be useful to instead use Neutral Special. This provides plenty of knockback, and also deploys Jerry onstage to use bottle caps.
- Side Ground Attack (first hit) into Neutral Ground Attack: At high damage, after the first hit of Side Ground Attack, the opponent bounces off the ground. This gives an extra window that your adversary will still be in hitstun. This is a good opportunity to use Tom’s Neutral Ground to charge his tennis racket and deal a finishing blow to a high damage enemy.
How to Win Teams Battles as Tom & Jerry
Despite being overshadowed in the projectile meta by Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry is a great complementary combatant for many characters on the roster. He thrives when paired with a rushdown character. Many Tanks and Assassins will be great characters to team with the feline and his frenemy:
- The Iron Giant (Tank)
- Arya Stark (Assassin)
- Wonder Woman (Tank)
- Superman (Tank)
When teamed with a rushdown character, Tom & Jerry can work from the backlines. Strategic use of Jerry will be key to victory. After you launch him, pay attention to whether he’s with your teammate or not, if he still has bottle caps, and if he’s under attack from enemies. Then, use this awareness to maximize the use of projectiles to disrupt the opposition.
Remember that Jerry launches his bottle caps to the side Tom is facing. Also keep in mind that these launch whenever Tom attacks. If you’re lucky, your rivals will forget about this facet of Tom & Jerry’s moveset. Take advantage to interrupt attacks at unexpected times and throw off combos on your close-combat teammate.
How to Win 1v1 Battles as Tom & Jerry
In one-on-ones, Tom & Jerry become a little more involved. Using short hops will be critical for these two. When you approach, utilize the Side Air Attack to attack in front of you and clear a path. Down Air will also be key in your arsenal to start combos.
It is usually best for this pair of frenemies to stay distant in duos. But when put in a one-on-one situation, you’ll find they are still more than capable as solo combatants. Using the basic combos, combined with mixing up with projectiles and traps, will make you a formidable foe for any players you might face online.
Best MultiVersus Perks – Tom & Jerry
Tom & Jerry have a few perks in their loadout that simply make sense to use in nearly every situation. Of course, you can also use your judgement to switch up perks to stack with teammates or fit your individual playstyle. Regardless, here are the best perks to start with as Tom & Jerry:
- Make It Rain, Dog! (unlocked at level 2)
- That’s Flammable, Doc! (unlocked at level 4)
- Deadshot (can be trained at level 9)
- Signature Perk: Dynamite Split (unlocked at level 8)
Tom & Jerry’s best perk loadout enhances their projectiles. Make It Rain, Dog! increases projectile speed, making it even easier to catch the opposition off-guard with Jerry. That’s Flammable makes projectiles give opponents an ignite effect, if it’s followed by a melee attack. Deadshot increases the base damage of all projectiles.
The most useful of these perks is Dynamite Split. With this perk equipped using Tom’s tennis racket (Neutral Ground/Air Attack) on his dynamite (Aerial Down Special) will cause the dynamite to split into three separate dynamite sticks. This, combined with increased projectile speed, makes the dynamite cover a much wider area. This makes the attack very effective for suppressing your enemies when they try to approach.
Tom & Jerry – Gizmo Patch Changes
In the new patch that released on September 8, along with new character Gizmo, huge overhauls came for many characters. Tom & Jerry’s changes, unfortunately, were nearly all nerfs. Here’s all of the new things to know about Tom & Jerry:
- Jerry now only has two corks of ammo to launch from his bottle instead of three.
- Air Side and Air Down Attacks have additional frames of recovery.
- Ground Side Attack has a longer time before it becomes active.
- Down Special dynamite now explodes when hitting the stage if split by the Dynamite Split signature perk.
Overall, Tom & Jerry is a very fun duo to play as. While currently overshadowed by other projectile characters like Velma and Bugs Bunny in the current meta, don’t overlook these two. The expert label may scare some away, but once you get the hang of them, Tom & Jerry is an incredibly rewarding character to play as.
