Mr. Compress
The elusive magician puts on an enchanting show and pickpockets with precision.
Mr. Compress is a Villain of the Support class, an expert in both offense and defense, using his high mobility to sneak up on opponents or escape tense situations. Use his Alpha to burst down opponents, his Beta to block moves aimed at you or teammates, and his Gamma to chase, flee, loot, move allies or reposition. Compress loves sticking around areas with plenty of verticality where he can easily change his elevation and mask his location, but must be very wary of close-quarter brawls.
Mr. Compress is both an excellent damage dealer and supportive teammate, so ensure you’re using his kit in a way that maximizes both of these expertise. He can be unlocked via the Special License at level 13, making him a relatively easy unlock. [You can check your progress by visiting the “License” tab and then selecting “Special.”]
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Alpha Skill - Production Magic
Mr. Compress’ Alpha is his best move by far and his most reliable source of damage. It consists of 3 main components: the initial marble he throws, the object that comes out and the shockwave once it lands.
The Marble
The marble has a few unique properties. For starters, no matter the level of your Alpha a direct hit with the marble will always deal 5 damage, a fairly insignificant amount but it starts to pile up once it gets combined with the other parts of the Alpha. On top of this extra damage, hitting an opponent who has GP will cause them to be stunned in place, allowing you to follow up with more alphas as the opponent won't be able to move. This aspect of his Alpha, alongside its really low Knockdown Value (which I’ll touch on soon) turns Compress is a GP destroying machine, very hard to counteract once you’re stunned.
The marble also travels in a different way from any other projectile currently in the game; after throwing the marble, instead of going straight forward like a generic projectile, it will actually travel on an arc. On top of that, if the marble hits a wall or the floor it will bounces off instead of dissapearing. It's very much worth noting however that both of these properties change when you enter Aim Mode: the arc/angle at which Compress throws the marble is much different, allowinging it to travel farther distances and slowing the spawning of the object inside the marble. Most importantly, because of both of these variations in Aim Mode bouncing the marble off of objects or a wall to hit enemies is much easier.
The Object
These items include the barrel at levels 1-3, the boulder at 4-6, and the truck at 7-9, each being bigger than the previous (Trucks are especially excellent at hitting enemies standing to close to the edge of a corner, like doorways for example, thanks to this expanded size and hitbox). This part of the Alpha is the move that deals most of the damage when playing Compress, and a large part of that comes from this moves incredibly low KV (knockdown value). Similar to the Marble, the Object's KD Value is so low that outside of rare circumstances and niche situations, you should really never have to worry about knocking people down, and such can just continue to blast them with trucks. It is recomended to always keep a spare charge in your pocket however, as the penalty reload time after spending all of them is much longer than the individual ones.
The Shockwave
The shockwave from Compress’ alpha comes out from wherever the released object hits the ground, with its size and damage being dictated by level just like with the object itself. There’s really nothing special about the shockwave, aside from the fact it expands the range at which you can hit enemies not currently in your line of sight.
Beta Skill - Sleight of Hand
Compress’ Beta Skill is a barrier that can stop projectiles from hurting him or allies. When a projectile hits this barrier, Compress will quickly Compress it and reflect it back, dealing some extra damage the original projectile didn't have.
Different Moves can have 3 types of interactions with Compress' Beta: reflect, block and ignore.
Reflectable Moves
These moves get sent back with extra damage if they interact with Compress' Beta: Delaware Smash Air Force, Delaware Smash Full Bullet!, AP Shot, Improvised Grenades, AP Machine Gun, Home Run Comet (thrown), Comet Bunt (uncharged), Blazing Fields of Roaring Fire, Scorching Flame Wave, Ice Fang Wind Flame, Red Strike, Create: Strike and Stop, Create: Bullet Rain (cannonball only), Electro-target, Electro-Trident, Big Fist (Copy), Stone-throwing Fist, Gale Burst, Spiraling Wave, Spiraling Surf, Texas Smash, Texas Smash Gatling, Carolina Smash (uncharged), Shouting Voice, Pillar Split (projectile), Structural Slab (projectile), Searing Arrow, Inferno Fist: Jet Burn, Prominence Nova, Wingbeat, Storm Wings, Spike Knuckle (default and giant), Earth Break (projectile), Grudge Shoot (projectile), Final Blow (charged and uncharged), Arson, Flames of Resentment, Jagged Throwing Knife, Jagged Spinning Knife, Dagger Shot, Production Magic, Underworld Crusher and Dark Matter.
Blockable Moves
These moves will get blocked, avoiding damage but not reflecting a projectile back: Blackwhip, Zodiac Wire, Fiery Prison, Ribbit Shot, Momo's third Ground Melee hit (hammer), Tracking Bolt, Spiraling Surge, Marlin Rapier (aimed and unaimed), Plasma Cannon (charged and uncharged), Binding Cloth: Crushing Strike, Persona Chords, Binding Cloth: Capture, Loud Voice (charged and uncharged), Burning Ray, Blood Sucker (Gamma), Blood Sucker (QSS Gamma), Foot Boost and Warp Gate.
If a move is not featured on either of these two lists, Compress’ beta cannot interact with it in any way. These lists will be updated as more characters and QSS release.
Beta is Compress’ most defensive tool, able to block all sorts of damage as you can see above. This has a variety of uses, the most obvious of which is to use it mid shoot off to reflect alphas at trigger happy opponents. Swapping back and forth between this and your alpha conserves your own health and can often force enemies into engaging with you close up so you can start Melee combos. This move is percentage based, meaning you can hold it up as much as you want, but the more hits it absorves the more percentage gets consumed until it's forced into reload. A helpful tip is that this move can be rolled to avoid the EndLag of deactivating it. However this isn't the only way to use your Beta; other uses consist in leaning into Compress’ Support role by protecting. teammates from taking damage too. Stand in front of allies opening boxes, supply drops or even finishing enemies to stop your opponents from interrupting your team. Even standing in front of an ally while they have a shoot off, essentially making them invincible while the fight is happening. Beta is widely considered one of the worst moves in the game, so show everyone just how useful (or annoying) it can actually be.
Gamma Skill - Magician's Choice
Mr. Compress' Gamma is all about movement. With this move, he compresses himself into a marble and performs a high leap into the air, leaving a cloud of smoke behind. This Skill can be used to reposition, run away, chase enemies, gain height, dodge attacks, truly a jack of all trades when it comes to mobility. Not only that, but when levelling this skill to level 9 you will gain a second charge, giving it even more potential uses.
While flying through the air after releasing yourself, mashing air melees will give you a bit of extra distance thanks to the extra momentum. You do need to be careful when you use it though, as due to its slow recharge time being caught without it can sometimes be a death sentence or the reason an opponent escapes. For this reason using the Gamma offensively is for the most part a fairly unwise decision when playing Compress, especially early game before you have the levels for a quicker recharge. If you do use it offensively, it's best done when you already have the second charge you get with level 9 or when you can guarantee it will do damage, such as using it to end a combo. You could also use it to catch the wake up of people who mash and don’t use their i-frames, as the explosion at higher levels has a decent size and damage. One of the main reasons that make this move good is that Compress will gain HyperArmor while doing his animation, allowing him to almost always at least enter his marble and drop his bomb on wake up catches or start his flight while running away. Somethings to keep in mind are that HyperArmor doesn't stop damage at all, it will just avoid getting knock downed, and that you do NOT have armour while in the marble itself and can be knocked out of it, essentially wasting your charge. Some moves can also hit through the moves armour and knock you down regardless.
Special Action - Magic Resurrection
Compress' Special Action lets him compress and pocket an ally at any time, as long as he is close to them. If the ally was alive when pocketed, they will stay in the pocket and regain health (HP) slowly (they can break out of the pocket at any time by pressing any attack button). If the ally was downed, Compress will still pick them up but they won't get healed over time, instead they'll get revived once uncompressed.
Now, the most clear and obvious use of this is to pick up a downed teammate in order to revive them, but this might not be the best idea in every situation. As weird as it might sound, sometimes you need to let your allies die. If, for example, a Strike Shigaraki and an All Might are both spamming Alpha on your downed teammate, not only will you probably not make it in time to save them, but you might also get killed yourself. Now this isn't to say never rescue your teammates, but just be aware of who’s around and what situation both you and your downed teammate are in before committing to the rescue. Additionally, if you do manage to pick up a downed teammate, keep in mind you don't always need to teleport away with Gamma; sometimes just walking behind cover is more than enough if the focus is elsewhere and so you don't leave your third teammate fighting alone while you're coming back from teleporting away. A lot of times picking someone up just to drop them immediately works, especially if they have their own mobility, as it means you can stay in the action to help your other teammate once more while they run and heal. This is especially good in final circles where you can’t guarantee there will even be anywhere safe to bring them if you try to Gamma away. A neat little trick you can actually do when you're the one being carried by Compress is pressing the Jump or Attack button once your time reaches zero to instantly revive yourself without needing to go through the uncompressing animation. Compress' Special Action isn't just useful for downed teammates, though. Carrying non-downed teammates can be practical: being able to carry non-mobile teammates long distance or even high mobility ones to save them from wasting their own abilities. You can use this to enter fights, traverse buildings/terrain, or even help someone escape before they go down, all while slowly regaining HP. The main advantage of this is potential heal-offs in final circles. Although not a common way for games to end, if it comes down to it, Compress can put a teammate in his pocket to not only passively heal storm damage, but also prevent storm damage affecting them whatsoever, in most situations essentially guaranteeing a win. Using it in this way is better when you can communicate with your team directly so they know why you want to pick them up, but don’t hesitate to try it with randoms either if they cooperate.
Basic Attacks
Ground Melee
Every character has a Melee, and Compress is no exception. Compress’ Ground Melee consists of 2 different hits before knocking down the opponent. With the first hit Compress will strike the enemy with his cane in a sideways motion. This is the part of Compress’ Melee you'll be using the most, and it does 29 damage. For the second hit, he spins his cane in his hand hitting the opponent multiple times and causing them to be knocked down. This deals 76 damage and it's used as a combo ender. Compress’ first Melee hit can be chained into itself a maximum of 5 times before knocking over an opponent. For this reason, it's best to hit 4 in a row and then knock over with the second hit for max damage. It's important to note that compared to many other Melees Compress’ is actually quite slow due to him reeling back the cane before his first strike. This often means that in situations where you and the enemy both go for a Melee, Compress will often be the one getting hit and allowing your opponent to start potential combos. If you're not fast enough, it can also result in your Melee chains being broken via the enemy's Melee (or roll).
Air Melee
Compress' Air Melee is an uppercut with the cane, knocking opponents into the air and dealing 57 damage. Used as a combo starter or tool to quickly knock back nearby opponents. Best used when dropping in from above, such as when falling from highground or from a Gamma teleport as the momentum allows you to combo into more Melees easier.
Leveling Paths
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Techs
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Combos
Match-Ups
