Style: Rushdown
Most Similar To: Fei Long, Dr. Doom (Marvel vs. Capcom 3)
Strengths: Of all the rushdown characters, Orchid has the best walk speed and the best mid-range pokes, which lets her control a lot of the ranges the opponent will be looking to escape her eventual mixups. To compensate, Orchid's high-low game is slightly more easy to react to, but she has tools that can make these mixups safe if she plans far enough in advance. She has one of the best air-to-air options in the game with her air throw, which recaptures the opponent for a full grounded combo. There are very few places on the screen where Orchid does not have strong tools for the situation.
Weaknesses: Most of Orchid's weaknesses will need strong defense to implement. Her main pressure tool, Ichi Ni San, is situationally shadow counterable with good reactions, and in order to get a mixup, you must commit to an unsafe option that can only be made safe through secondary tools you might not always be able to prepare. In a game full of unreactable mixups, Orchid's moves border on the slightly slow side of human reaction scale, making them more "fair", but it's still pretty easy to get hit. Orchid likes to approach with her beefy horizontally-traveling moves, so if you can occupy this space on screen effectively, Orchid can be kept away.
Openers: Flick Flack (shadow OK), Blockade Runner (shadow OK), 3rd hit of Ichi Ni San, Air Throw
Flick Flack crushes lows, even though Orchid is doing a handstand and not off the ground, which makes it a good tool in close when your opponent is not in block stun. Blockade Runner is an extremely low profile slide attack that can duck under many projectiles and mid-range pokes; the HK version goes full screen but is -10 on block with some pushback that requires a calculated punish. Her staple opener is Ichi Ni San; a three-hit rekka move that requires three individual presses of a punch button. It has a low version (LP 3rd hit), overhead version (MP 3rd hit), and a potentially safe on block version that can be held in the opponent's face (HP 3rd hit). Max charge for the 3rd hit is unblockable, like threatening to hold and release a SFIV level 3 Focus Attack, and Orchid will recover in time to block jumps if the opponent holds up and Orchid releases quickly. Trying to shadow counter Ichi Ni San on the 3rd hit is very difficult, since Orchid can hold the HP 3rd hit past the brief shadow counter window and the MP overhead is naturally two hits already. Your best bet is to try and shadow counter the first or second hit after Orchid cancels a normal attack. Only the third hit of these Ichi Ni San variations is an opener, although the 1st and 2nd hits can be canceled into shadow openers.
Linkers: Flick Flack (shadow OK), Blockade Runner (shadow OK), Ichi Ni SanOrchid's linkers are the same as her openers. Blockade Runner is the highest damaging linker, while she can take advantage of her combo trait to string together back-to-back Ichi Ni San linkers if she chooses. Ichi Ni San when used as a linker animates like the 3rd hit in the opener version, so light linker is a 1-hit low, medium linker is a 2-hit overhead swing, and heavy linker is a 3-hit attack to the body. Flick Flack performs 2, 3, and 4 hits for light, medium, and heavy respectively, making it tricky to break for the uninitiated. Shadow Flick Flack is the most difficult shadow linker to break in the game, as the hits are not evenly spaced and the timing for the three combo breaker inputs must be staggered to match. Use it against beginners who like to try to break shadow linkers and you'll often earn a free lockout.
Enders: Damage: Air Buster (shadow OK), Exchange Launcher: Flick Flack, Launcher: Ichi Ni San, Wall Splat: Blockade RunnerOrchid doesn't have a battery ender, so she'll either choose to go for damage using her Air Buster uppercut (spend shadow meter for the +1 ender level bonus if you choose), or a setup. If you perform the Ichi Ni San ender, you can jump cancel the final hit and connect with an air throw. A mid-combo air throw does not recapture (only the opener version does), instead it will bounce the opponent off the ground with a full KV meter. Hit the bouncing body with an attack like crouching HP, then cancel it into her Grenade while the blow out causes them to spin to the ground. They will wake up into the ticking grenade and be forced to block your mixup or avoid it using some projectile invincible special move. The wall splat ender can achieve a similar mixup.
Instinct Mode: Orchid calls a firecat with every press of HP+HK, including the press that activates instinct, as long as there is not one currently on the screen. They will run from off-screen behind Orchid towards the opponent, exploding on contact with waves of energy. If Orchid gets hit but has called a firecat, the opponent will get interrupted and Orchid can begin a combo. The firecat thwarts everything, including otherwise easy shadow counters and punishes on unsafe Blockade Runners or Air Busters, basically allowing Orchid to call repeated Plasma Beam assists during instinct. As you might expect, this is particularly strong. Orchid can do a full screen Blockade Runner to get in, and cover herself with a firecat at the same time. On block it will be safe because the firecat hits afterwards, and if Orchid trades, the firecat will continue on to hit the opponent. If she is able to corner you with instinct activated, you'll need to activate your best possible high-low defense and just hope you'll combo break when she finally hits you with her repeated Ichi Ni San high-low game, all covered by safe firecat assists that create confusing visual artifacts when blocked, obscuring her next mixup. Imagine if SFIII: 3rd Strike Urien had a 15 second Aegis Reflector and you've about got the gist.Normals to watch: Orchid's normals are phenomenal, so there's really no end to the normals I could list here. Her sweep
low profilesA move is low profile if it shrinks your hittable box so low to the ground that you can duck under certain attacks.
her under projectiles. Her 
+HK command overhead complements her Ichi Ni San high-low game nicely, especially with an assist on screen. Crouching MP is her best and farthest reaching low attack, and far standing MP and HP are superb mid-range pokes that hit two character lengths away, all canceled into Ichi Ni San for safe pressure or a mixup of your choice. Crouching MK is not a low, but has 5 active frames, making it a great meaty choice against characters with bad reversals. Jumping MK is also an especially good crossup.
Specials to watch: Grenade is a special move activated with 
+HP. Orchid can hold the grenade a little longer and throw it farther if you hold HP, but when thrown, it explodes on a timer (or if it hits another projectile) with a pretty significant hitbox. Finding ways to set up Grenades on the opponent safely -- for example, after certain enders or during pressure -- is an excellent way to prevent the opponent from punishing Orchid during an unsafe mixup. That's right, Grenade and instinct firecats give Orchid two different assists; it's best to think of firecats as Plasma Beams, and the Grenade like Hidden Missiles, since Grenade is considerably more difficult to set up given its long startup. If you're a projectile character, watch out for full screen HK Blockade Runners, and perhaps plan a punish for this common -10 move that will make Orchid think twice next time.
General strategy: Your opponent walks slower than you, and you should be able to abuse it with Orchid. Walking in and out of range and pressing crouching MP, standing MP, and standing HP canceled into Ichi Ni San (go with HP for safe pressure, or LP/MP as a mixup if you have an assist out or are willing to gamble) will form the cornerstone of Orchid's basic offense. She has a solid anti-air and reversal in Air Buster to complement her footsies game, a way past most zoning with Blockade Runner, the hard-to-break shadow Flick Flack when fishing for lockouts, and tools to mixup on knockdowns for all occasions. Orchid is a strong character in Killer Instinct because she has options in almost every situation and the best fundamentals to back her up.