[CS2] Taokaka vs Hazama

[NeoGio0o]

Making this post to give people and newer players a general idea of where you want to be when fighting/approaching hazama. The most important thing to remember in this matchup is that hazama cannot zone tao with chains so long as she is constantly moving and changing her current position.

Where you want hazama to be- Generally I try to keep Hazama mid-screen my reason for this is because if he gets a random 6D/4D, 623D his best option is 3C, 214D-A for oki because of tao being too far from the corner to get jabaki to wall bounce. Despite how good hazama's pressure is his damage midscreen is really low unless he has 50 heat or got a counter hit 5C,3C, and or random 214D-C hit. So long as the match is played mid-screen tao is definitely is at an advantage in terms of damage out put and meter gain.

Where you Tao want to be- For the most part tao wants to avoid being in the corner for too long, using her superior mobility to dodge chains and slowly approach taking as little damage as possible. Staying in the air space between 4D,6D in the air is highly recommended and extremely advantageous seeing as how tao can quickly use J.4D to punish 4D/6D on whiff from closer distances. With proper usage of triple jumps and a good mix of ground/air movement getting in on hazama isn't to problematic just avoid being predictable with your movement.

Blocked chains/hazama approaches-Despite how great tao's mobility is you have to be really gdlk to avoid blocking a chain for an entire match, but rest assured I find that tao has very good options against hazama chain approaches. Hazama's IAD doesn't travel far and he can't run, so all he really has is his chains to zone and approach from high speed angles. I'll break your options into two sections "instant block options" and "normal block options"....

*Normal block*

1)Tao can crawl all his air normal's bearing J.2C thus making it one of the best options you have on block chain seeing as how J.2C isn't good for approaching you can easily switch the momentum on a blocked chain to your favor by simply crawling his j.B/J.A (most commonly used normal's to approach with chains) and using 2A to force him blocking.

2)Tao's 6A has gotten one frame slower so it trades/loses to couple of things now, in CS1 you could 6A all his chain approaches regardless of the distance but now it's much more distance specific in usage. Hazama needs to be approaching from much further in order for 6A to anti air him on normal a lot of the time it will just point blank lose out to j.6D-D, j.B approaches. The only good thing about 6A is that it will always beat J.2C and if hazama chooses to C cancel his chain 6A will hit him despite him being behind you (lol BB hitboxes), but being overall inconsistent and hazama having a relative ease baiting anti air's it's the option I suggest using the least if your not familiar with the distance in which it should be used. As for the tao veterans use it sparingly and with good judgement of distance.

3) This last one is a little weird and I haven't really used it too much myself but I assure it works. Crouch blocking the chain is actually better than blocking it standing apparently outside of j.2C tao's crouching hit box goes under his J.b and j.a and it forces hazama to cancel into his air normal later than he would normally in order for it not to whiff. This allows for tao to use 5B as an anti air since he has to delay his input in order for it not to whiff on her crouching. Now if the hazama cancels into his normal immediately anti air 5B will not work and you will eat counter hit damage, but if you choose to stay crouching you can use 2A as an anti air as it will go right under j.B and j.A. The only thing to keep in mind is that anti air 2A will lose to his j.2C. So all in all this is a very risky option and requires you to know exactly what normal hazama will be using and observing the time in which he cancels his chains.Alternatively hazama can choose not to approach in which case you will recover from 5B before he can actually punish.

*Instant Block*

1) Anti air 5B now becomes the least riskiest option and no longer loses to any of his air normals not even j.2C so long as you time it properly (slight delay compared to j.b and j.a). Seeing as how 5B 6 frames it will be almost impossible to punish it on whiff due to how fast it recovers, but unfortunately a 6 frame air unblockable anti air it far too perfect to be 100% full proof, 5B will not auto correct itself when hazama does (chain),C cancel,j.B so you will whiff and be force to eat damage. Still this is an option that should not be forgotten and definitely has it's uses.

2)Crawl, nothings changes still faces the same problems of J.2C but remains a good option due to how bad it is for hazama to approach with J.2C.

3)6A is now insanely more consistent I want to say full proof,but I haven't tested it all that much to really be certain. Still due to hazama being able to alter his chain in momentum I find it still hard to use properly and if you lack the reactions easily punishable on whiff.

When to NOT approach hazama- Never ever try to come at hazama when he is at the distance in which he can get a 4D/6D,623D, Jabaki wall bounce combo, not only does it build him good meter it takes away tao's only legit wakeup option without 50 heat which is her above average back dash. Mid screen you can back dash his 2A,2A anti roll setup on wake up after a 3C,214D-A emergency tech, but in the corner hazama catches your backdash for free into either big damage (hit confirm corner specific houtenjin combo) or more meter putting you back in the same situation in the corner with less health. Another thing to watch out for is when hazama has his back against the corner, tao does deal more damage in the corner than mid-screen but her mix up is much weaker due to losing her cross ups. Sure you have the corner specific option of 2A,5B,IAD J.2B, 214D,j.A,hit confirm into J8D-A loop, but due to how vulnerable it is to mashing and his anti air 5A it's generally not a good idea, Plus if he blocks it now your back is to the corner and he can score bigger damage and meter gain than before.

Hazama being too flashy?- A lot of good hazama players have really good movement and understanding of his chain cancels and they have all these flashy ways of getting on on people. As nice as this movement is it doesn't work against tao all to much and is more advantageous for tao than it is for hazama. If you find your self fighting a hazama being to fancy with his movement it's safe to start fishing for high in the air counter hit J.D's, for the most part the constant movement wastes his Ouroborous stocks which will eventually leave him grounded for sometime and force to eat some pressure strings before returning to the skies.

Hazama air normal's too good- His air normal's such as J.B,J.A and occasionally 214.B are very good for keeping J.D mashing in the air at bay, generally I treat it the same way I treat everyone else's a constant switch between Air movement and ground movement nothing much else can be said about it besides that if you are having problems please redirect yourself to my post in the "tao vs Bang CS2" section for tips.

Final- Approaching hazama can be a risky task having such good normal's and anti airs a lot of your damage will have to come from a strong neutral game, knowing how to keep the pressure and knowing when to back off his key in this match up IMO. Generally if you see them almost all the way on the corner and you have the health lead just lay back and wait for him to come to you everything else really comes down to who has the better spacing/movement. Stay patient, don't mash and avoid being hit at all cost.

Will edit this post for accuracy from time to time so always look back for changes, if anyone would like to add anything please do so I'm not perfect and I do make mistakes thi sis just my two cents on the matchup.

Edited September 24, 2011 by NeoGio0o