BBCS Character Analysis

[Spirit Juice]

I will probably update this soon with a few minor changes.

[smooshman]

I will probably update this soon with a few minor changes.

will it include Mu? I know it won't have Makoto because of her new-ness.

[Spirit Juice]

Haha no. They are way too new. Probably best to wait until Japan gets a hold of them in arcades anyways.

[GenoWhirl]

Rachel does more damage now, I hope this is realized

[Gog_]

Rachel does more damage now, I hope this is realized

Yes she does, but most of the 5k practical ones are in corner(and start from throw lol). Even the MaDao spike loop only gives us about 3-3.8k from a 5b based on how much wind you want to use, 6a is so unreliable I wouldn't count the 5k mid screen combo as practical and my 4k mid screen 3c combo needs 50 meter. So even though her overall damage and wind use is definitely better than when SJ made this, most of the combos are still Litchi BnB damage or less. (unless you can start from a j.2C FC that guarantees a 5-8k combo)

[smooshman]

Rachel does more damage now, I hope this is realized

Jin does too.... 6K corner combo ftw.... and it earns a lot of heat

[GenoWhirl]

Yes she does, but most of the 5k practical ones are in corner(and start from throw lol). Even the MaDao spike loop only gives us about 3-3.8k from a 5b based on how much wind you want to use, 6a is so unreliable I wouldn't count the 5k mid screen combo as practical and my 4k mid screen 3c combo needs 50 meter. So even though her overall damage and wind use is definitely better than when SJ made this, most of the combos are still Litchi BnB damage or less. (unless you can start from a j.2C FC that guarantees a 5-8k combo)

4.3~4.4K , 5B, 50 meter, 1~2 winds

Try harder man.

[Spirit Juice]

Regardless, Rachel is still bad. She did get a bit better... but unfortunate for her, so did everyone else!

[Synthesis]

I'm waiting to see this updated with all the new changes to the characters before the new patch comes out. ^_^ Should be interesting.

[ToastCrust]

I think post rebalance, it'd take at least 3, probably more like 6 months, before people really have a good enough idea about the characters to really make another one of these.

[Spirit Juice]

I was actually working on updating this but kind of forgot about it. May or may not update it before the balance patch comes out.

[Darkside937]

I was actually working on updating this but kind of forgot about it. May or may not update it before the balance patch comes out.

Please do so, the current version is great but I'm curious to see some updated opinions.

[kenja0]

The only real changes during the meta was Ragna's blockstring being predictable and Hazama's chains being easy to counter on paper but much harder to counter in action.

However, I would like to see this list updated with the new characters and see where they stand with their strengths and weaknesses.

[Beautiful Death]

Please do mister Ragna is third best in the game. I picked Ragna because of your analysis and all of a sudden WHOOPS JK Ragna's more like number six or so according to Japanland. I feel shafted that I'm not playing a top three dude and wish I picked Bong. I think he really should be still around top three though because of his easy peasy ditto match up. But then I suppose you could say the same about Bang and Lichen......hrmmmmmm....Oh well what CAN you do. Hee hee hee there's always CS2.

Oh and under Hakuman "Pokes" isn't bolded. It like invisible or something to untrained eye.

Edited November 6, 2010 by Beautiful Death

[TD]

Can someone explain to me, besides damage why rachel and tsubaki are so bad and why bang, litchi and hazama are so good?

Then can someone tell me how bad rachel is. Like, just AC Johnny bad or very unplayable bad.

Thanks.

[jiyuna]

Can someone explain to me, besides damage why rachel and tsubaki are so bad and why bang, litchi and hazama are so good?

Then can someone tell me how bad rachel is. Like, just AC Johnny bad or very unplayable bad.

Thanks.

Rachel has one of the worst mirrors in the game. Both players having wind gauge really messes up any semblance of control she has.

[Manta]

Litchi is easy to explain. Big damage combos, fast and long ranged pokes that still lead to good damage. The ability to attack with two things at a time in a way second only to Carl. She has no flaws that can be exploited without incompetence on the Litchi player.

Bang. Okay, he doesn't have Litchi's pokes, but he can do 3k of a 5A, which is abusrd. Whilst he doesn't have the supreme theoretical max damage of arakune and hakumen's 10k+ combos, virtually everything he hits with can be made into a 3k+ combo. Add onto that a hugely damaging distortion, FRKZ mode which gives mobility that makes Tao look like Tager and gives combos that make Hakumen look like Rachel. Finally add to that a near relentless pressure game and you have a top tier character right there. His drives can also give some headaches too.

Hazama is harder to explain, but ultimately, this guy just has options, in just about every situation he has a couple of good things to do. His drives gives everyone a headache as it makes predicting his movements so hard (will he move? will he cancel? will he stop midair? etc etc). Oh and Jayakou Houtenjin is a big contender for the best distortion ever coupled with the fact that if Hazama gained meter any faster it'd leak out of his ears.

You did mention "besides damage", but damage is so very important. If Rachel could get Bang and litchi BnB damage off of her stuff, I could easily see her being high tier, but as it stands, people just take silly risks when playing Rachel because they can afford to just not care about the damage they take if they guess wrong.

[TD]

l say "not damage" because some idiot l was talking to based the tier list on just damage. According to him, "Hazama can get 5k from jayakou and Rachel can also get 5k so they are high." Also "tier lists dont matter." Bang mainer btw.

ln that case mu can turn hits into 3-4k max damage, not to mention her 7k FC but she's mid tier. l was just saying it's not solely damage that makes someone good, it's tools too. (Of course once he said rach was good l was pretty much done. She's unplayable.)

[Manta]

But Mu has a gaping character flaw of having trouble with people in her face (Not quite as bad as lambda perhaps, but still bad). Whilst the top tier lot do have some exploitable flaws, they aren't all in one place or as extreme as some of the people lower down the list. E.g.

I'm playing against Tager, I'll zone him and make him take risks to try and get close.

I'm playing against Carl, I'll try to separate Carl and Nirvana.

I'm playing against Litchi.... I'll try to separate that staff from her, despite the fact she has to willingly let go of it. Hrm

[TD]

Exactly, it proves my point even more that it's not just damage that makes a char great.

[Eshi]

My opinion on Makoto overall, for anyone that's interested.

Average damage: B-. Makoto has difficulty reaching 3k with midscreen ground combos without starting off something random like 5B, 5C. Her anti-airs (6A, jB) lead to decent damage. She needs 50 heat to reliably push up her average damage.

Max damage: S. This is where makoto excels. If she hits with a 3C/2C punish, 6B/5C/5B in a corner, and many other things, she can easily break 4-5k and do even crazier damage with a single/double BBS ender.

Pokes: D. Like Tsubaki and Rachel, all of her pokes have really bad range.

Breaking out of pressure: B. Her reversal is decent but loses to a lot of stuff and will flat out whiff against a lot of low profile moves. Parry is excellent, but gets beaten by lows. Her Counter Assault sucks.

Mix up: B. Makoto has lots of mix-up shenanigans but they are generally unsafe. Staggered 5CC is one good exception. 6B is a relatively fast and subtle overhead with useful gatlings into it, it's quite good.

Pressure: C. Makoto's pressure is destroyed by IBing. 5C© can always get punished on IB, it goes into nothing safe except 214B/C which drops all of her pressure. Improves noticeably in a corner with jD > 6B > meaty 214A.

Okizeme: B. The short range on her pokes makes it difficult to punish roll teching, and the resulting damage is negligible. 2D LV1 actually leads to respectable midscreen oki however, and again it's noticeably improved in the corner.

Against Ground: C. jC loses to pretty much every anti-air. j2C can bait anti-airs but it's an easily punished gimmick and unsafe on block low to the ground.

Against Air: B. jB is great air-to-air and induces rage on counterhit. 6A is fairly good and parry is awesome for ground-to-air.

Defense: B-. Average life and average primers, but her hit-box is a little wonky.

In general situations: C. Like Tsubaki, she really needs to be on the offensive all the time to be effective, and has a tough time getting into that position.

Overall: B. She has lots of mix-up options and insane max damage, but it's offset by her relatively low average damage and difficulty approaching characters with strong pokes or zoning.

Good matchups: Rachel, Tsubaki

Bad matchups: Litchi, Bang, Hakumen

Litchi is easy to explain. Big damage combos, fast and long ranged pokes that still lead to good damage. The ability to attack with two things at a time in a way second only to Carl. She has no flaws that can be exploited without incompetence on the Litchi player.

You left out the part that pretty much every random hit leads into a combo that generates 50 heat and ends with inescapable corner oki. And if you get hit by any of her mix-ups in the 5 seconds that she's completely controlling you, she gets to do it again. Edited November 6, 2010 by Eshi

[OmniSScythe]

My opinion on Makoto overall, for anyone that's interested.

Max damage: S+. This is where makoto excels. If she hits with 6B/5B/5C in the corner or a CH 5B/CH 5C/CH j.B/3C/2C punish anywhere, she can easily reach 6-8k+ and can do even crazier damage with a normal into particle flare / rapid off a space counter or double BBS ender.

Personal opinion on this matter but all in all I agree.

[rei-Scarred]

FRKZ mode which gives mobility that makes Tao look like Tager and gives combos that make Hakumen look like Rachel.

This is the worst analogy ever. Tao makes FRKZ Bang look like Tager. Bang basically has one good combo and FRKZ and a million ways to go into it. I honestly feel like I'm more mobile and have more combo freedom when I'm not in FRKZ.

[TD]

Oh makoto why did you go and get yourself banged up by arcsys.

She's very fine, obviously a role model for her other two dumbass low tier friends. Tsubaki, shouldn't YOU be the best?

Even if her damage is high she has to work for it which completely balances her. Unlike bang and litchi.

arcsys can be really dumb sometimes.

[seyu]

i think BBS fullscreen punish possibilitys need a mention here too. possibly in "against air" since it works well against airdashers etc. could make her potential against air into an A maybe