"The demon of the hidden mist" felt like an afterthought in Vanilla GNT4 due to being generally inferior to his fellow swordsmen, Kisame. Both were characterized by their big hitboxes, big damage, and slow attacks, though Zabuza lacked his counterpart's crucial chakra drain. In Super, Zabuza is one of the more dramatically re-worked characters. Compared to Kisame, Zabuza benefits from better movement options, such as and teleports, superior strings on block, his anti-KNJ, and a reversal. A moveset befitting a master of stealth and murder.
Press at Character Select.Press at Character Select.
Gameplay
Moveset
Basic Moves
Notes
15 frame high jab
Low crush
Low sweep with follow-up strings
Guard frame attack. Slow and mediocre compared to other 4B's.
Sliding elbow high crush
Launches and pushes on block. Turns Zabuza around.
Descends straight down and creates a shockwave around Zabuza. Spinning launch and good combo filler.
Special Moves
Overhead sword slash
Arcing sword slash from front to back. High crush and spinning launch. Catches both and KNJ. Hits on-the ground (OTG) following , which may also catch a substitution. May whiff on short/child characters.
Sword sweep
Teleports behind the opponent. Vanishes f19, reappears f43, actionable f55 post-reappearance. Can be delayed at the cost of chakra by holding . Can change side by holding .
Horizontal sword slash. Chargeable. 1 charge deals massive guard damage. Later charges deal massive amounts of damage. 3C is a hard knockdown.
Running teleport
Swordsmen jump slash. Staggers on hit. Hitting just before or as Zabuza lands will result in frame advantage due to the attack auto-cancelling from landing. There is a one-frame window to "phantom sword" and results in an unblockable attack.
Throws
Normal overhead throw. 20 damage.
Slam throw. 40 damage.
Super Moves
One of the rangiest supers in the game and good active frames.
Spinning multi-hit attack. Requires 75% but uses all available chakra. Can punish substitutions but loses to "baseball slide" KNJ's. Will also lose out top an early KNJ.
Reversal hit-grab. Has invulnerable frames to highs and mids. Can be followed by OTG hits.
Strategy
can be considered the signature swordsmen attack for both Zabuza and Kisame. Its big, vertical hitbox controls space and is useful for both approaches and defensive retreats. When it connects with the oppponent's guard as Zabuza descends, it frequently results in frame advantage because the attack animation is automatically cancelled once Zabuza lands on the ground. Zabuza can use this frame advantage to perform a strike/throw mix, made more potent due to Zabuza's high damage slam throw.
On hit, staggers, also resulting in a strike/throw mix, though Zabuza can combo with an attack if he desires.
The phantom sword glitch gives Zabuza access to an unblockable aerial attack if the user has good timing.
Defensively, is one of the strongest counters in the game to opposing strings which lift Zabuza into the air.
Zabuza can jump back and to punish opponents attempting to take back their turn following a Zabuza blockstring.
For okizeme, if the opponent uses neutral get up or wake-up-kick (WUK), Zabuza can jump over the opponent and then double jump back to the front side and , crossing up their guard or punishing WUK.
Both swordsmen have a faster backwalk than most other characters. This allows them to walk backwards out of some strings where other characters cannot.
Zabuza's combo game has some advantages by walls, corners or on small stages, gaining access to combos which utilize , , , and .
can be used during guard pressure to threaten a guard break.
Combos
Combos
Notes
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Changes from Vanilla
(May be outdated, please let wiki editors know if there are further updates)
All non sword attacks do -2 damage (except 5B and 5B(B))
5B: elbow hitbox does not show up on the first frame
5B(B): appears and disappears one frame later
5B(A): changed to be RA
6B: turns back turned opponents around on hit
5BBB(B): can be delayed
2B: Now does a custom animation, taken from Bloody Roar: Extreme. Hits as a low sweep with string follow-ups
8B: has less endlag; transitions to A faster; more lift; can transition on whiff
JB: ground hit stuns longer; grabbable
5A: hitbox appears one frame sooner as an untechable bounce as a high hit; frame 3 to the end does not bounce; hilt hitbox does not appear on the two frames
5AAA follow ups changed:
A does vanilla; is a hard knockdown
2A does vanilla B follow up
B follow up changed to be a custom 8A teleport
6A: charge is faster, 1C breaks guard easier, other charges do less guard damage; 3C is a hard knockdown
4A: window improved
A4A: teleports and recovers quicker
2A: Lift reduced
2AA: Added with B follow up
8A: Instead performs Kisame's A4A attack, a big, arcing flash from front to back. High crush and spinning launch.
JA: phantom sword works with both players; has one more active frame
J6A: added as a new move
5Y: made overhead throw
2Y: is slam throw
4X: Reversal hit-grab with high and mid crush frames
2X: is immune to highs and mids on startup, requires 75% meter, links better on air hits, damage reduced; hilt hitbox on first revolution is slightly bigger
and 
reversal. A moveset befitting a master of stealth and murder.
at Character Select.
and 
KNJ. Hits on-the ground (OTG) following 
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