[CP] Rachel Alucard Gameplay Discussion

[Dreize]

I had wanted to give a more detailed response to this earlier, but this is an unfortunately very late reply, as I was at EVO and pretty much zonked out for the entire weekend. Sorry about that.

This combo is actually completely stable on Hazama. Just to double-check, I tried it with a slightly delayed BBL, with delayed j.C > dj.C, and with 6A CH > dash 5B, and it combo'd in every situation.

If you'd like, I can record a video of the combo as reference later on. It's hard to say where you might have run into problems without seeing you perform the combo, unfortunately.

My best guess is that your BBL is coming out too late. You can buffer the input of BBL during the Sword Iris and hit the button as soon as it ends.

The only other possibilities I can think of are that your j.2C (lvl 2) height is too low, or that your 236B is hitting too early. Both can potentially cause issues with opponent placement when the Sword Iris hits.

Hey, no worries. I appreciate the response.

Luckily I managed to finally get it down on Hazama 2 days ago. From what I can tell, it had something to do with my j.2C (level 2) height being too low.

Thank you for offering to record it, that is really generous of you! And I took note of the other stuff that you wrote as well and fixed a few things. Attempting to get this j.2C FC timing down as well.

If you have any questions about combos and whatnot, feel free to ask here. If you want video examples or anything, a couple of us have recording equipment, though I don't know about whether people will have time to help out or not. For the time being, I'm not highly pressed for time, so I can record things.

Anyway, glad you're learning Rachel. :D

Oh, you're too kind. I don't particularly like asking too many questions about stuff like this but I was actually wondering about one little thing.

I saw this combo a little while back that went something like this Midscreen: 6A CH > Dash > 5B > j.C > 2D > Jump Cancel > j.2C (level 2) > j.214A (I think), 4D > 5CC > 236B/C (one of the two) > (Frog) > Dash > 3C > 214B.

Can't quite remember it all too well but I do recollect it being aesthetically pleasing (in my opinion).

[Tari]

The combo you're probably thinking of is this one:

6A CH > dash 5B > jc j.C > 2D > djc j.2C (level 2) > j.214A > 1D > 5CC > 236C > dash > etc.

The wind you want is 1D, as it sucks the opponent down and towards you, putting them directly into your 5CC. The timing for the wind is right about when you recover from summoning air George. If you do the wind too early, Rachel won't move, since air summons stall her aerial momentum.

You can end with a couple of different things, though 3C > 214B is a pretty safe call.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Tari

[Dreize]

1D! I should have known. Oh well.

Just tested now, and it's definitely it. Though, I can't red beat it at the moment but I'll work on it. What is the recommended ender for damage purposes?

I find that I have serious issues with conserving meter as all my combos use 2-4 wind stock aside from a very select few. Most use 3.

Learning to balance wind usage between zoning, pumpkin, pressure, combos, etc is going to take some time.

[samthegreat]

N-O seems to be tweeting about all of the matchups. This guy is golden, fountain of knowledge on his twitter.

Says litchi is a bit tough. Someone told me litchi would be my bitch.. this a bait and switch guys?

Every Litchi player will tell you it's even, but it's not. It's not too bad in the next game though. Instant overheadsssss

[Tari]

1D! I should have known. Oh well.

Just tested now, and it's definitely it. Though, I can't red beat it at the moment but I'll work on it. What is the recommended ender for damage purposes?

I find that I have serious issues with conserving meter as all my combos use 2-4 wind stock aside from a very select few. Most use 3.

Learning to balance wind usage between zoning, pumpkin, pressure, combos, etc is going to take some time.

Generally, you'll be using that combo to push the opponent towards the corner. If you get to the corner, you can do some corner stuff for knockdown and slightly more wind regen (ie: 5CC, etc.), I believe. Can't test at the moment, but that's what I recall.

Midscreen, the 3C > 214C > 3C > 214B should work, I think?

Sorry about the unsure answers, haha.

[tofurr]

What way is the best way to do IOH j.a? 2d>j.a or j.a2d?

[samthegreat]

j.2AD. DON'T wind before you jump.

[Tari]

j.2AD. DON'T wind before you jump.

Definitely this.

If all you're trying to do is simply an instant overhead, j.2AD is the way to go. Any other way of doing the instant overhead tends to be related to specifically planned mind games or gimmicks that are pretty much unnecessary on Rachel.

edit: kod makes a good point. If you're doing the IOH from neutral, 2D first is pretty reasonable, lol. You can still do it as j.2AD, but it's notably harder when starting from neutral.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Tari

[kodimt]

2Ding people who block high on wind and then doing 2B is funny as fuck though.

Also I do 2D if I want to do jA without doing 5A/5B

[tofurr]

I've always been doing it 2D first then j.A, lol. Of course I would be doing the wrong way.

If they were reacting to it I would just do an empty 2D JC into 2B.

Oh well, got j.2AD down on P1 side, now to do it on P2 side. :P

I think the joystick is going out on my 360 stick, motions like 214A aren't coming out normally.

[Rhapsody]

It took me awhile before I realized j.2AD was the way to go. I still have problems doing it raw outside of JCing the 5B and doing the fuzzy guard.

2Ding people who block high on wind and then doing 2B is funny as fuck though.

lol I'm gonna have to do that one of these days.

[sparkaura]

j.2AD. DON'T wind before you jump.

I've been doing it wrong then! I always 2d slightly before my j.A, it seemed to work. I guess that why my buddy could block it pretty often :/

[kro_]

I've been doing it wrong then! I always 2d slightly before my j.A, it seemed to work. I guess that why my buddy could block it pretty often :/

I think the important part is that you have to mix in the 2B every once in awhile. N-O does this thing where he goes 5B > delay > 2B. Delay the 2B long enough so that it hits at around the same time an instant j.A would hit. Otherwise, people will just low block after 5B and immediately switch to high block to cover both options.

[kirbster]

But then there's people like Brice who know that there's a gap if you delay 2b, so they option select a 360a that will grab you if you do it and block if you go for the j.a lol.

[sparkaura]

I think the important part is that you have to mix in the 2B every once in awhile. N-O does this thing where he goes 5B > delay > 2B. Delay the 2B long enough so that it hits at around the same time an instant j.A would hit. Otherwise, people will just low block after 5B and immediately switch to high block to cover both options.

Once I noticed he'd block my overheads, I'd do 2b or grab after 2d for some added mixup.

[Errol]

But then there's people like Brice who know that there's a gap if you delay 2b, so they option select a 360a that will grab you if you do it and block if you go for the j.a lol.

this doesn't make sense frame data wise.

5b is lvl 3, that's 16 frames of block stun. 6 active frames. 2b is 10 frames.

16 - 6(latest cancel possible, at 6th active frame) - 10(2b 10 frame startup) = 0 frame gap

360a is invuln on frame 3.

you'd have to be recovering from 5b and doing a 2b. Or he'd have to be instant blocking, with you doing a late delay 2b.

and if you just did a plain old 2b he'd probably get hit because he isn't holding downback

[kirbster]

Hmm, I might be wrong then. I'm pretty sure I got blown up for delaying 2b a few times though, maybe it was IB super or something crazy like that lol

And for the option select 360a, you're right it's my mistake. It actually works against the low option of the fuzzy guard mixup (so j.2ad > j.b > land 2b). He does it so fast that if I go low I get grabbed instantly and if I go high his stick is back to blocking high.

Though when I read what I just wrote right now, I just thought of something... Maybe if I do j.2ad > j.c > land 2b there won't be a gap? I'll have to try it out lol

[Errol]

sounds right - in theory I think it should be possible off j.B to leave no gap to 2b also, but I'm not really sure.

it's all about how quickly you touch the ground after the last air attack. like you might have to delay the j.a in order for the j.b to land late enough for there to be no gap, which doesn't help anything..

[TD]

highly likely that will work. if not, fuzzy guard into 50/50 is still possible.

[kodimt]

I don't gamble like in the matchup, it rarely seems needed. She can already jA him without wind (jB in CP?)

So I only approach when I have pumpkin/George and just play the spacing game otherwise.

[TD]

l believe they are assuming rachel was able to approach tager safely and is now putting on the pressure. kirb wanted to know is 360a could be a potential answer to the pressure. (it is not.)

also, ja can hit tager windless but you need wind, george or 50 heat to follow, and it's still only 12f. its best use is with george around really. save a wind

[kodimt]

jA j2C 5B hits Tager windless and combos on crouching, unless I'm missing something here.

It is true however that you do need wind if you want a longer combo though. But it's still helpful to know if you don't.

Edited July 21, 2013 by kodimt

[TD]

it does, which is interesting and great, thanks for that. l apologize for that bit of misinformation.

[Zoular]

Regarding the j.A2D, doing wind before j.A would be useful in corner when you have pumpkin+George lock down, you can delay the jump so you don't super jump, but still have the wind bring you back down to get an instant overhead.

N-Otoko does it all the time

[gamester]

Nicking Post 1000 for myself xD

Seriously though, with IOH. Does it matter if you do the J.2D before the A as long as you are in the air. As I can do J.2DA but not J.2AD for some odd reason if that makes any sense? It's just the A and D swapped around in the air and I've just assumed as long as you're in the air you should be fine. I don't think I've been having any gaps/problems when I've tried it. Need to check more carefully next time.

EDIT: Guess while I've made a post here I'll mention the Rankings have been updated or this week. N-O is 15th overall in Rankings for all characters/players reading Jourdal's recent tweets.

Edited July 21, 2013 by gamester