[Other: Q&A] Rachel Alucard Gameplay Questions and Answers

[LunaKage]

Nope, not at all. when someone reads you, they are reading the player, not the character.

[Speakeasy]

In addition to what LunaKage said, it's also highly unlikely that you're at an equal skill level with many characters, so you're just flipping through subs hoping to get lucky if you do this.

[Errol]

rachel's matchups are largely very different and can take a lot of experience to learn how to really play. 

 

still, this is something on you as a rachel player, you really need to know your stuff. 

 

it's legit to switch chars if you think they won't know how to play the matchup.. certainly this is more true against Rachel than against other characters... but obviously that isn't going to work at higher levels of play either.

 

lots of chars like ragna, makoto, bullet, etc can play basically the same against most characters... etc. 

[gli]

It's a topic about... not playing the character? 

This is a thinly veiled topic about counter-picking as a Rachel player.

Among other points of discussion, the premise that Rachel requires "reads to properly trap the opponent" is not purely exclusive to her. 

I believe this topic has outlived its purpose as a variety of answers have been posted.

Therefore, I am closing this topic from further discussion since it only loosely relates to Rachel and seems to put more emphasis on avoiding playing her.

[gli]

Back in business.

So my assumption was wrong.

Instead it is the opponent who is constantly switching characters and the Rachel player just goes "okay whatever."

So basically the other guy is counter-picking against your Rachel hoping that you won't know the match-up.

In tournament play sure but in the long run you are not really learning the match-up as fully as you would running a long set with the characters staying constant.

[ChibixD]

Hey guys, I'm an experienced FG player, but I'm having a really hard time getting this combo consistenly 

CH 6A > (dash) > 5B > 6A > 236A > (dash) > 3C(1) > 214C > (dash) > 6A > 4B > (dash) > 5CC

more precisely I only have problem on  "236A > (dash) > 3C(1)", the timing is kinda hard, do you guys use some visual hint or something? anything helps

[Soniti]

The important thing is learning the timing at which you recover from the 236a so you can start dashing. If you try to use the a lobelia hitting for a visual cue, you can mess yourself up because the timing of that changes depending on your spacing. The combo gets a bit easier if you can up close before the first 5b.

 

If you are trying to do the combo on Hakumen or Azrael, connecting the 3c is hard. You need to be point blank vs those characters and they need to be higher in the air than normal when the 3c hits.

[ChibixD]

I was practicing on hakumen, and it was really hard, 

Thank you for the tips! I get really mad when I get the chair instead of the sweep, but I'm getting better

also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dOUSJlh9gm4#t=4044

can someone explain me this combo?
Its just jC linking into jC or there is some kind of trick?

[TD]

if you hold jc you get j[c]. j[c] is the followup that lets rachel float in a cute way. you cant block while floating and it cancels itself when doing an offensive action.

 

in this combo, it shortens the recovery of jc, allowing two jc's to be used before pressing 2d. sometimes it is necessary, sometimes it isn't, sometimes it cannot be done.

[Kuuhaku]

I was practicing on hakumen, and it was really hard, 

Against like Hakumen and Arakune, it's not unusual to go into different routes because 236A 66 3C(1) is extremely easy to drop on them (and dropping on Hakumen could mean you die). Alternate route involves going into air route with dash 6B jc etc. Or if you want corner carry and ground knock away which is more important, just go into 3D j.B j.C 5B etc.

 

Also j.[C] counts as a different move than j.C so you can do j.[C] j.C. It's mainly used for Rachel air juggling or height correction.

[ChibixD]

I think I will go for CH 6A > (dash) > 5B > 6A > 236A > (dash) > 5B> j B C> j B C > tiny lobelia.

Its pretty much undroppable, good until I get more familiar with her, the drawback is that this combo doesn't recover much wind

[Soniti]

If at all possible, avoiding ending combos with j.236a when you could have gotten knockdown from 5cc or 3c.

Playing Rachel like that would drop her down a few tiers.

[ChibixD]

I know its, bad, but until I can get like 80% of the time in trainning mode, there is no point in using in matches.

 

I'm practicing a combo for when your opponent roll on your face.

2A > 5B> jB> jC> 2D > 6A > 4B > 66> 5CC

 

Is there something better than that?

[N0blesse]

So I picked up CP yesterday and decided on Rachel as my main. I've been trying to do some of her bnbs but I'm not familiar with microdashing. After about 2 hours of trying to get it and only succeding once I'm at the end of my patience. I'm trying to do 5BD > 6A > 4B > microdash 5CC. Am I supposed to wait for the end of the 4B animation to input it? Cause when I do the dash comes too slow and the 5C whiffs. If I do it to early the dash doesn't come out at all. I've also tried buffering it between the 4B animation and nothing comes out at the end. Please help ;__;

[TD]

Who are you doing the combo on.

[N0blesse]

Who are you doing the combo on.

On Jin, does it not work on some characters?

[Soniti]

Pretty sure it works on Jin. To answer your earlier question, yes you have to recover from 4b before you can dash.

[N0blesse]

Pretty sure it works on Jin. To answer your earlier question, yes you have to recover from 4b before you can dash.

I'll try buffering on 4B's last frames cause if I wait for it to end completely the dash comes out too late and 5C whiffs

[ShadowClawBKR]

Hi everybody. The laziest player alive is back to ask about getting out of pressure. I have no problem with blocking all day, but players that are really good at applying pressure are a big problem to me and I don't know how to deal with it at all. Does anyone have any tips?

-struggling Rachel player. :U

[gli]

Just weigh your options and follow through...

- Defensive Burst

- Counter Assault (while in blockstun, 6A+B)

- Barrier Guard to create space between you and your opponent (Barrier Guard + IB will push them back even further).

- punish gaps in your opponent's blockstrings (IB punish is sometimes necessary)

- similarly, you can punish with Overdrive (OD) in certain situations.

- mash 2C like a champ

- if knocked down you can wind tech + guard immediately

- jump backward and try to fly out of the corner

 

To get better at defense, I actually stopped playing Rachel for awhile and went to Tager. 

But you don't have to go that route. Just be mindful of what your options are.

 

Good luck.

[ShadowClawBKR]

Thanks a lot. Really. I can't wait to play offline with people when I go to Cali again. Online lag is suffering...making IB impossible. >:U

[Kuuhaku]

I'll try buffering on 4B's last frames cause if I wait for it to end completely the dash comes out too late and 5C whiffs

You don't have to microdash. Just try dashing when you see them bounce off the ground. It's not a gatling so you do have to wait for it to recover, but you have a lot of time with 4B on air hit. If they're too high then you have to adjust the timing of 4B to change how they bounce.

[GoBL1N]

this char has such a brutal learning curve its not even funny. so help is very much appreciated.

 

im getting really frustrated trying to main this char ive spent hours trying to get

5bd > 6a > 66 > 5b to land. same problem. if i wait till the 6a ends its too late, if i do the input too early i get no dash and i just 5b in place and everything else whiffs.

 

is there something i need to know or do i just need to keep working on the timing?

 

also if someone good high level rachel knowledge could help...

 

im also seeing mid screen combos like this (i believe rin hime makky does it) (off of iris):

iris > 5b jc jc(float) jc 2d land 6a 4b dash 5b 6a 236a dash 3c
iris > 5b jc jc(float) jc 2d land 6a 236a dash 3c iris dash 6a 4b dash 5cc

 

after the land 6a the next move either whiffs because the opponent is floating too high, or if i try to let the opponent drop a little lower its too late and its techable or the opponent lands.

 

heres something thats also driving me crazy:

ive seen zero and makky land this in the corner:

 

5b 5c iris dash 5b 6a 236a 5b(optional can be skipped) 6a 4b 5cc

 

heres what i concluded on my own (correct me if im wrong). after 5b 5cc if you think the followup Csword hit will whiff you can use iris if you dont want to use wind. then you can bnb corner combo from there starting with 5b. Ive tried this for hours and the 5b floats the char too much so i have . how are they doing it so that the rest of the bnb can land? I think they also land this off a random iris in a corner block string like 5bb lobel jump j-iris (they do it really fast like barely elevated land and then combo)

 

the last thing thats blowing my mind is confirming off of random air hits like jc or jb here are some combos i see:

jb jc 2d land 5b jc 2d jc 2d 6a 4b dash 6a 236a dash 3c iris dash 5cc

jb ja jc 2d jump(as opposed to just floating i think) jc 2d land 6a 4b dash 6a 236a dash 3c iris dash 5cc

jb[ch] ja jc 2d 6a 4b jc wind jc wind 6a 5b jb jc jc 236a

 

after the air hits the first time i land is usually where the combo is dropped. once again either the opponent floats too much or i take too long and they can tech out or they land. even if i get one or two hits after landing, the opponent will float too much or if i try to wait its techable. is the timing just that strict?
 

i would really love to get these down because right now my midscreen game is basically non-existent if i get an air hit. i either get 2-3 air hits then lobel or i just get that one hit with no confirm. So this is a huge hole in my game.

 

 

 

all the combos i mentioned are in this video:

it has zero, makky/rinhime and N-O all playing quite a bit so im trying to learn from it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy5zZFJGycM&list=FLkS0FEZs2RQnYHnfIbjQVZQ&index=24

 

i understand i need to get better and work on the timing. but i can sit there and grind in training mode all day for hours and not see results/improvement (actually...thats exactly whats happening), i wasnt sure what else to do then ask here to make sure someone might know what im doing wrong of if they went through the same experience.

[Amegashita]

For this combo:  5bd > 6a > 66 > 5b.  I usually just buffer the dash into the move so that just as 6A ends, the last 6 in 66 comes out.  

 

For this combo:  5b 5c iris dash 5b 6a 236a 5b(optional can be skipped) 6a 4b 5cc.  Just do the 236A later.  6A can be cancelled pretty late, so try late cancelling it so that the combo doesn't whiff.  

 

Also test the combo on different characters cause some characters may have some variations, or make it harder to hit combos on like Bang, or Taokaka for example.

[GoBL1N]

thank you that actually helps alot,

 

i didnt know you could buffer like that, i thought u had to wait to recover from previous move. ill try it out.

 

for the iris combo i thought if i tried to delay the 236a that they would be able to tech out but ill try it out.

 

for full confirms off air hits like jc/jc[ch] or jb/jb[ch] or even 6a/6a[ch] mid screen is there any combo u know i should practice? did the ones i list seem pretty regular or do you think they were char specific?

 

i may as well ask while im here, the term microdash seems pretty important for this char, what exactly does that mean? any combo that involves 5b 6a 236a microdash 3c iris i have maybe a 80% chance of the 3c whiffing. am i misunderstanding the term microdash?