Vanessa uses a very agile boxing style and makes very minimal use of kicks, with even her low attacks and kick-button attacks being punches, with kicks only seen in her blowback attacks. The downside to this is that she will hurt her hands while doing so.
Because of this, the developers created the concept of a woman in her thirties who broke all the rules and overflowed with adult appeal. Especially the female characters who were mostly teenagers. To combat this, use dp + A which is safe and has an unusual hitbox that usually catches people poking.Like Maxima, she was created as a middle-aged female to contrast the multiple teenage characters in the roster. Vanessa's biggest weakness is opponents who spam crouch B's, as it will beat out the dash puncher and teleports.constantly pressure opponent with last attack string that uses qcb + P attack string should usually be started from a sweep cancel to qcf + B forward teleport.This will work more often because it is unexpected, and the opponent is already in block stun, giving him very little time to counter or roll out Going into maxmode just to attempt this unblockable may become predictable, so it is better to enter maxmode out of the blue, such as cancelling into maxmode after a blocked cl.C (2) > f + A (1) or even a df + B (since this move is punishable) and going straight into the unblockable. Vanessa's qcf + K / qcb + K > f + C causes guard crush, and thus can be used to do unblockable combos in maxmode.This is best done when the opponent will get killed by the hop back + C hop back + C is an instant overhead if done the moment she leaves the ground, and is pretty much impossible to block on reaction.It requires running forward after dash puncher and doing a cr.C, cancel to either qcf + B or qcf + D This mixup can also be done after her dash puncher, but it is harder. The opponent is required to do a lot of guessing to get out of this mixup and the reward is very much worth it if you are proficient in combos. From here on, you can go for cl.C (2) > f + A (1) or cr.B > f + A (1) or f + A (1) into max combo, or attempt an instant overhead to finish off opponent (see below). If qcf + B is used, you will land right in front of them as they do, but they will be facing backwards, while if you use qcf + D, you will teleport all the way to the other side and land right in front of them. Then, cancel the cr.C to either qcf + B or qcf + D. Cancel the f + A to qcf + D, and do cr.C as the opponent is landing. if the f + A followup of her qcf + K teleport connects, you can start a good mixup that can easily lead into her max combos.If they happen to roll through the sweep, whiff cancelling to qcb + B / qcf + B will keep her out of danger Following up with a cr.D > qcb + B / qcf + B will hit anyone who attempts to attack her after the qcb + P. if the f + A followup of her qcf + K teleport is blocked, cancel to qcb + K to run away or qcb+ P, which gives her a frame advantage.
qcf + K teleport goes through most air projectiles (b) f + P goes through all air projectiles, including DM projectiles.
it is advisable to not keep Vanessa as the first character, as her really damaging combos waste lots of stock.dp + C > DM qcf qcf + P (Buffer: qcf + P).The f + A (1) and qcb + P cause no pushback. cr.B > f + A (1) > qcb + P, almost any combo.