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GENERAL INFORMATION (Courtesy of @Dawn of Musou, original source)

Health: 10,500

Combo Rate: 60%

Playstyle: Offensive, Rushdown

Overview

Naoto Kurogane is the protagonist of the Blazblue: Bloodedge Experience novel series, set 150 years before Ragna's story. He is gifted with the Hunter's Eye, an ability that allows him to see the life-force of living beings as a numerical value; his own life-force value hovered around 9,810 until Raquel Alucard saved him from death and he became her servant. He first appears as a playable character in Blazblue: Central Fiction, where he comes from the past, searching for Raquel and the Azure.

Drive: Bloodedge

Naoto's Drive allows him to manipulate his own blood in order to form various weapons. Normally, they aren't too strong. However, Naoto can charge his Drive attacks in order to increase their range and damage. Charged Drives will also cause a short guard break on non-barrier block. At any point during charging, Naoto can cancel into a dash.

Unique Ability: Enhancer

Naoto has a unique ability called Enhancer. If he performs a special or a super during a dash, they will get stronger and be given new properties. Enhancer will work off dash cancels (ex: Shift Sway>dash cancel>enhanced Inferno Crusader) and if you perform a normal during a dash and then cancel into a special right after. (ex: dash 5B>enhanced Banishing Fang). All enhanced specials will give Naoto a black afterimage while he does them and have more horizontal range.

Overdrive: Blood Repulsor

Naoto's hair turns white and his eyes will turn red, making him not look like Ragna. In Overdrive, his Drives have faster charge time and become dash-cancelable. His supers, Divine Smasher and Divine Reaper are also enhanced with new animations and better damage.

Pros/Strengths:

• Strong and consistent damage output

• Very good corner carry and side-swap opportunities

• Good mobility with fast dash speed

• Good pressure tools with a decent overhead that leads to damage anywhere, strong crossup potential and good normals

• Solid defensive options with a good DP, a good reversal super and a good anti-air.

Cons/Weaknesses:

• Short range on everything except charged Drives and Divine Smasher

• No projectiles

• Might be a struggle to fight against fast characters and zoners

• Neutral will be a challenge due to the above

• Optimal combos require a lot of micro-dashes and dash-canceling, might have a higher execution barrier because of this

Movelist (Poverty pictures included)

Normals

5A: A quick jab to the midsection. Can hit crouchers and has a followup. 6F (?)

5AA: Followup after 5A. Naoto performs a quick body-blow on the opponent. Seems good for pressure and combos off 5A.

2A: Fast and decent-ranged kick. Hits low. Good for stagger pressure. 7F (?)

6A: Hits the opponent with an overhead punch. Decent speed, can be followed up with Cs, Ds and specials. Forces crouching on hit. 24F (?)

5B: A kick aimed high. Short horizontal range but good vertical. Can be jump-canceled and is a staple for combos and pressure

2B: Another low kick with better range than 2A. Useful for dashing into specials. Good recovery

6B: A flying kick with good advantage? Can be rapid-canceled for iAD mixups.  Can only be followed up on counter hit or rapid cancel. Forces crouching on hit. Has foot invul

5C: Roundhouse kick with some horizontal range. Another staple for combos and pressure. Can be jump-canceled.

2C: A crouching uppercut with good head invul. Naoto's staple anti-air

3C: A crouching roundhouse kick. Hits low and is good for combos

6C: Does a giant leap before kicking at the opponent. Can easily crossup, safe on block and can be followed up with B normals for a good combo. Crosses up even if the opponent is in the corner. Doing it while the opponent is in the corner will actually shorten the time of the hop, making it easier to cross up. However, if Naoto does the kick directly above the opponent, they will have crossup protection. To make it work better, you'd have to do 6C at a closer range. Has a hitbox in front of Naoto despite not looking like it, so it's a strong tool overall.

j.A: Basic air jab. Can cancel into itself or j.B/j.C for easy air confirms

j.B: Hits the opponent with a diagonally-downward kick. Solid for air combos, and a very amazing crossup tool as it has a good hitbox behind Naoto.

j.C: A horizontal kick. Seems decent for air-to-air and an overall solid tool.

Drives

5D: Hits the opponent with a blade of blood. Mainly used for corner combos.

5[D]: Charged 5D. Much longer range and increased damage. Can be used to break the opponent's guard and quickly go into Divine Smasher for damage. Does more damage and charges faster in Overdrive. Charge can be canceled into a dash. Causes a long stagger on hit and a slide on air hit. From a charged 5D guard break in corner, you can go into charged 6D and follow up with a combo.

2D: Same as 5D, but hits low. Off 2D in the corner, you can do 214A>dc>en214A for a solid crossup, and even do a crossunder 2B or another en214A crossup into Phantom Pain. This move gives Naoto the most options on corner hit.

2[D]: Charged 2D. Same as 5[D], but hits low. Causes wallstick on air hit

6D: Naoto makes a blade of blood and aims upward, slashing with high diagonal range. 6D is a staple for combos, usually leading to high damage when used. CH 5C/2C>6D will lead to strong damage anywhere on screen

6[D]: Charged 6D. Naoto's best starter for high damage. Has huge range. Fatal counter. Causes a wallbounce on hit

j.D: Naoto aims downward with a blade of blood. Has decent horizontal and downward range. Good for combos.

j.[D]: Charged j.D. Slows down Naoto's descent so it can be used to bait anti-airs and the horizontal range is huge. Leads to a good combo if spaced right and is an overall good tool with many purposes. Causes groundbounce on hit

Universal Mechanics

Forward Throw - B+C: Grabs the opponent and knees them upward, causing a float midscreen and a wallstick in corner. Can be followed up with dash 5B/3C midscreen or 2C in corner for good damage. Can also OD into j.[D] in corner

Back Throw - 4B+C: Grabs the opponent and switches positions with them before hitting them with a shoulder, causing a stagger down. Can be followed up with 5B or dash 2B>enhanced Slash Kaid if you want to switch sides again.

Air Throw - j.B+C: Grabs the opponent and brings them down to the ground. Can follow up with dash 2B/2C pickup

Counter Assault - 6A+B in blockstun: Same animation as 5C. Works as every other Counter Assault does.

Crush Trigger - A+B: Smashes the opponent with an elbow to the body. Causes guard break on hit and can only be blocked with barrier. Takes a lot of the barrier gauge and can be charged to take more barrier or increase damage in combos.

Exceed Accel: Grim of Phantom - A+B+C+D during Overdrive: Naoto's Exceed Accel. Punches the opponent on startup, then knees them high up and brings them down with an axe of blood. Puts Naoto in Active Flow if he hasn't already been in it already. Has full invul and safe on block. Does 2070 damage regularly and 4122 damage in Active Flow. No minimal damage? Cannot be rapid-canceled.

Specials

Banishing Fang - 236B: Naoto hits the opponent with a powered knee. First part of a 3-hit rekka. Unpunishable on block so you can use this to end pressure if you want. Otherwise, it's mainly a combo tool. Enhanced version forces crouching and does more damage

Banishing Fang: Roar - 236B after Banishing Fang: Follows up Banishing Fang with a swipe of his hand. Main use is to go into the third hit of the Banishing Fang rekka. Can possibly be delayed to punish mashing. Can go into Raid on crouching or air hit. Enhanced version has Fatal Counter.

Banishing Fang: Bash - 236B after Banishing Fang: Roar: Follows up Roar with a dashing straight kick. One of Naoto's main combo enders. Causes Fatal Counter. Enhanced version can be dash-canceled to continue a combo.

Banishing Fang: Raid - 236C after Banishing Fang: Roar: Follows up Roar with an uppercut. Jump-cancelable on hit. Mainly used to go into an air combo ender with D Crusader.

Inferno Crusader - 623C/D (Air OK): Naoto does a rising uppercut with his fist. Not Inferno Divider. Very very solid DP. C version has 1 hit and doesn't do much damage. D version has 2 hits, tons of invul and is used to end Naoto's combos. D version has a claw effect on it while C version does not. Enhanced C version has 2 hits and more hitstun, allowing Naoto to follow it up anywhere with 5A for a combo. Enhanced D version does 5 hits instead of 2, dealing more damage.

Overhead Kick - 2C after Inferno Crusader: Naoto brings the opponent down after Crusader with a downwards kick. Emergency-techable. His main way of ending combos.

Slash Kaid - 214D: Naoto slashes the opponent with a curved blade of blood. A fast attack with good range. Not punishable on block. Enhanced version staggers and sideswaps on close standing hit and has much more hitstun, allowing for more options to follow up with. Strong use in combos.

Shift Sway - 214A: Naoto sways back, dodging the opponent's attack. Dodges highs, mids and projectiles. Loses to lows and throws. Can dash cancel at any time during the animation, which is useful for going into enhanced specials. You can even do Shift Sway>dash cancel>Enhanced Shift Sway for a solid crossup. Enhanced version moves very fast, going behind the opponent almost instantly. Very solid crossup tool that can be used to mess with the opponent's head.

Phantom Pain - 28A after Shift Sway: After Shift Sway, Naoto will do a rising kick. If it hits, he will follow it up with a 2nd kick. Can be followed up with dash 5B for a solid combo anywhere. You can't do 2147A as there's a problem with the input, so to instantly do Phantom Pain after Shift Sway, you would have to do 2147A7A. Unfortunately, this move does not hit crouching opponents. However, it is unblockable to standing and midair opponents, even with barrier.



Distortion Drives

Divine Smasher - 632146B (Air OK): Naoto charges at the opponent with a powerful straight punch. Not Bionic Arm. Very fast, has about midscreen range. Ground version goes forward while air version aims diagonally downward. Projectile invul and is not punishable on block. Enhanced version does more damage and has more range, going almost full screen. Can also be followed up with 2A in corner for a very damaging combo. Ground version has 800 min damage, enhanced version has 950 min damage and air version has 720 min damage. Overdrive version does an additional flip kick with blood, adding more damage. Does 2610 raw damage. Good against zoners as well as a good way to end air combos if you want to kill. j.C/j.D>Smasher works fine.

Divine Reaper - 632146D: Naoto launches a blood wave that looks like a giant Dead Spike. If he's too far, only the Dead Spike will hit, dealing 1450 damage. This can potentially be followed up in corner. If he's close enough, he will do the full animation where he launches the opponent up and smashes them with a deadly elbow strike. Does 2800 raw damage and about 1050 min damage. Mainly used for big damage at the end of Naoto's combos. Enhanced version does a mini-dash before launching the wave, making it easier to catch the opponent in the full animation. Overdrive version has Naoto create a giant blood scythe after the wave and powerfully slash the opponent. Can easily be combo'd into from 5C or 3C. Does 3489 raw damage and about 1650 minimum damage. Naoto's highest-damaging combos will rely on Overdrive Reaper.

Astral Heat

Edge of Eternity (?) - 2141236C (?): Naoto's hair and eyes turn white and red, even if he isn't in Overdrive. He then prepares a giant scythe of blood and begins slashing the opponent repeatedly before ending it with his strongest slash. Not Black Onslaught.  Literally one of the easiest Astrals to combo into. 3C>astral works anywhere on screen. Good way to finish an opponent with 30% HP or less.

Damage Values

(Move/DMG/P1/P2)

5A(300/100/80)

2A(300/90/80)

6A(700/80/89) - 110% Bonus Proration

5B(550/100/89)

2B(480/90/85)

6B(750/80/92)

5C(800/100/92)

2C(850/90/89)

6C(800/80/92)

5D(900/100/89)

5[D](1350/100/94)

2D(900/90/89)

2[D](1350/90/94)

6D(1000/100/89)

6[D](1500/100/94)

Notable/Potential Players

Minami

Sencho

Raayu

Yutta

Takashima (?)

Kaqn (?)

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