AC: General Q&A

[Sking]

That's a nice shit man, I definely have to work on that :P I'm thinking about the uses this thing has: To win a round when your opponent is about to die and they are expecting a long frc strings To IK abba Or you can fake it to get a free combo.

[Kobayashi]

Not really gameplay related, but I didn't think it deserved it's own thread...

Does anyone know where that dude posted a list of Japanese Axl players names in kanji? I think it was in that who has the best Ax thread, but, I believe that's been deleted.

Axl アクセル

Very Good

Shoot シュウト

Niiyama ニイヤマ

Menso めんそ

Pretty Good

Akira 明

KON KON

Jun ジュン

Zenoa ゼノア

Tsubasa つばさ

Good/Not much exposure

Ke-ichi けーいち

Kuro AX 黒アク

Atsushi あつし

Nekomimi ネコミミ

[bbq sauce]

you are the man.

[Dangle]

i'm pretty new to the game in general, my question is how you get the rensen to come out as fast as you do mid combo, i've read about holding the back button mid move, but on stuff like 5K, 2D, rensen, i'm not sure how to get it out fast enough

[Silmerion]

i'm pretty new to the game in general, my question is how you get the rensen to come out as fast as you do mid combo, i've read about holding the back button mid move, but on stuff like 5K, 2D, rensen, i'm not sure how to get it out fast enough

I'm not entirely sure how to help you, but if you're anything like I was when I started playing, your problem may have something to do with inputs. For example, for a string like:

5K, c.S, 2D, Rensen

The actual input should be:

4K, 4S, 1D, 6S

Assuming you've already got that all figured out, it's just a matter of practicing the charge release until you have it down-pat.

[Dangle]

ah i get it, thanks

[Digital Watches]

Axl アクセル

Very Good

Shoot シュウト

Niiyama ニイヤマ

Menso めんそ

Pretty Good

Akira 明

KON KON

Jun ジュン

Zenoa ゼノア

Tsubasa つばさ

Good/Not much exposure

Ke-ichi けーいち

Kuro AX 黒アク

Atsushi あつし

Nekomimi ネコミミ

Mrah. I didn't get a good look at this before, but a couple of these names are not people I'd be watching for pointers. Mainly I'm thinking of Tsubasa as one not to really model yourself on. Syuuto, Niiyama, and Jun are guys to watch for sure, and Menso is decent.

[Kobayashi]

Should also add Hion 火音 to that list. He uses 5H pretty well.

[Adelheid]

One thing I've been experimenting with because I want to add it to my game is ambiguous Kokuu crossup on oki from things other than air throw. This is at least somewhat standard, if a shenanigan. At some point I noticed that it was possible to set this up off of any bomber loop, as well, just by taking a step or two back after Sensageki and then doing a run and either 764321S or 643217S. This seems like a fairly practical way to get more damage/pressure if they guess right, but I've never seen it done ever... So there's gotta be something horribly flawed with this idea. Could someone tell me what it is before I make a fool of myself trying it?

[Digital Watches]

Eh, it's just there are better/more ambiguous ways to do it. Not the least of which being just wait and jump.

[Adelheid]

It's true, I'm just trying to figure out random ways to go about things, but I mean in general I've never seen anyone try Kokuu crossup at all after Bomber loop, even though Sensageki pulls them away enough for it to be possible.

[Digital Watches]

It's true, I'm just trying to figure out random ways to go about things, but I mean in general I've never seen anyone try Kokuu crossup at all after Bomber loop, even though Sensageki pulls them away enough for it to be possible.

Aye. However, be sure to make it non-meaty, or else you're just allowing them to block it for free.

[Adelheid]

Aye. However, be sure to make it non-meaty, or else you're just allowing them to block it for free.

Of course, though there's no reason to delay it when not actually crossing them up, which is always fun times since it stifles both the "I'll block that the other way" reaction and the "I'll air throw that" reaction.

[Aurora Borealis]

2p vs 2h When should they be used, which situations calls for one over the other, and which one is better overall? S Benten has upper-body invulnerability and can be used on overheads, and H Benten has lower invulnerability and can be used on lower attacks, but do neither of them work on attacks that can be blocked either high or low? I use S Benten on wakeup a lot (maybe I shouldn't) and while it works a fair amount of the time, I'm wondering about the times they don't. When should I use the counter? It doesn't seem to come out fast enough either on wakeup or when I'm getting pressured.

[Adelheid]

2p vs 2h

When should they be used, which situations calls for one over the other, and which one is better overall?

2P is an alright low poke and stretches father than 2H. But, 2H gets you more. In particular, it is very unsafe to 2P right next to the opponent with almost every character, but that's where 2H is best (at least as long as you make sure not to pull them in to the range they can throw you). 2H is a lot less safe on whiff than 2P, but they're both pretty bad at that. In general I would say use 2H in pressure or when you want to start pressure and 2P as something to space with, and to always try to follow it with Rensen except on Slayer.

S Benten has upper-body invulnerability and can be used on overheads, and H Benten has lower invulnerability and can be used on lower attacks, but do neither of them work on attacks that can be blocked either high or low? I use S Benten on wakeup a lot (maybe I shouldn't) and while it works a fair amount of the time, I'm wondering about the times they don't.

There are definitely some moves that neither is going to invuln through, but it's not a matter of vs. overheads/vs. highs, but rather where your hitbox is. Your hitbox is very low with S Benten, but your feet have no hitbox with H Benten. S Benten is definitely the better move... H Benten is more a move you would do when predicting them.

When should I use the counter? It doesn't seem to come out fast enough either on wakeup or when I'm getting pressured.

Use Housoubako on reaction to things. In certain matchups where you can get stray attacks to hit you, like Testament's trees, Dizzy's fish (sometimes), and Robo-Ky's homing missiles, you can make a free unblockable out of it... But in general, it's something you react to things with in order to get advantage. Tenhouseki is a much worse move and, while not useless, there's very few advantages where it's better than Housou. I'm a bit afraid to give advice on when to use it because I use it way too much.

[Digital Watches]

Um, never ever ever use 2P when 2H would work. 2P gets beaten out, low-profiled, basically outright destroyed by a whole lot of things, and nets you either nothing or a frametrap. I will use a 2P frametrap every once in a while from a huge distance, but there are characters it won't work on, and any character can just stuff it, as it's the easiest of Axl's moves to stuff. I generally use 2H either far away as a meaty, to punish backdashes, or to beat an obvious run. 2P, and I can't stress this enough, is on paper a terrible, terrible move. The hitbox is absurd, it doesn't combo into anything from the range at which it's optimal. It only has one purpose: Making the other guy nervous. It's a move whose only real application is in mindgames. Seriously. Benten has nothing to do with whether moves hit high (as in overhead, you have to block it high) or low (as in you have to block it low.) The invuln. has to do with where the hitbox is. Meaning that if a move hits in the upper portion of Axl's sprite, S Benten will go through (or trade with, since it's only invuln. until the active frames) the attack. Same with the lower portion and H. Benten. Ultimately, you have to know from experience what individual moves it'll beat, but here are some good rules of thumb: -Sweeps, 2Ks, and a few 2Ses are meaties that you'll see a lot, and that you can usually H Benten out of (if you reversal right). -Moves that seem to have a hitbox that's a straight horizontal line are great for beating with S benten. Usually these are kicks and slashes. -Moves with large hitboxes are usually a bad idea to try to DP. Stuff like slayer 5H, Axl 6H, etc. can be meatied in such a way that where (on your sprite) the hit is actually taking place is ambiguous, or worse, in both DP's hitboxes at once. Then you eat a counterhit and die. -Also pay attention to active frames. Moves that are "safe on whiff" (Usually air normals or slayer's 6K) aren't a good idea to DP either, as they'll just finish, block, and you either FRC or eat a counterhit and die. Moves with a lot of active frames can be good or bad. On the one hand, you WILL trade (or rarely, clash) if your active frames coincide with theirs. However, if the move is a low level, usually this is a good thing. It will net you a free combo from CH DP without having to spend the meter. Yay! Housou for beginners: -Do not use housou on wakeup. This becomes untrue in some high-level situations, such as an attempted crossup (many players know they can't meaty these), or an attempted bait (As in their move comes out later to avoid getting DP'd or something). Housou will NEVER beat a meaty, as it's not invincible until it activates, and can't activate until the second frame. -Housou should mostly be used on reaction. Since it comes out in two frames, there are a lot of moves you're going to be able to react to if you can input a DP fast enough. -If you're going to try to use it on prediction, make sure to set yourself up a situation where it would be useful. If you're fighting a character without a far-reaching low move, try it when you're out of their low range. If you're fighting a character with a pretty obvious blockstring with a small gap in it, IB and housou. Since starting moves aren't generally low, you can SOMETIMES get away with using it on match start to beat certain things out. -Housou is the closest thing Axl has to a jab. If it's clear that a situation is going to come down to "whose move comes out first" and the opponent's move isn't low, you can try for housou. -Try to use housou against moves that are level 3 or higher. Especially try to use housou against special moves, as unless the move you're countering is level 5 or higher (guaranteed hit), the opponent may be able to cancel a normal into an invincible special (This is especially a problem with Chipp, Sol, Robot, and Sword Zappa, who have not only low-level moves they like to throw out, but also very invincible DPs.) When to use Shiranami: -Either your opponent can cancel their move into something invincible (Even RC, since you can actually hit the RC before they can do anything else (Thanks gerVer for that one)) or housou still won't beat their move out (Generally this means the move is invincible and has a lot of active frames, like VV, although housou v. VV is actually just a bad idea in the first place). -You know you won't wallbounce, and want the damage. And because everyone and their grandma asks about this (nearly useless) move, I'll do this this one time: When to use Tenhou: -Faust's 41236K -Buffered backwards to beat Ouren or Warrant. (Cancel from normal, input as 236P (Thanks Stark for this one)) -To beat VV, if you're 100% sure the Sol will RC it, and you're 100% sure the combo from tenhou will kill him. -Axl 5P from MAX range. Since Axl is tall, 5P will hit from very far away, and you won't always have time to rensen under it. Oh, and Stark: Non-crossup meaties can also sometimes be blocked forwards. I'm pretty sure always, actually. I wouldn't try it too often, though.

[Neuro Chaos]

Someone should make a handy diagram with Benten hit boxes on~

[Digital Watches]

Someone should make a handy diagram with Benten hit boxes on~

If only we had such technology!

I'm surprised no one has hacked the game to put rectangles on the hitboxes yet. I don't really want to put down approximations, since it would inevitably be inaccurate.

[Adelheid]

Oh, and Stark: Non-crossup meaties can also sometimes be blocked forwards. I'm pretty sure always, actually. I wouldn't try it too often, though.

All the tests I've ever made claim that this is a property of air throws that reverse a character's orientation, such as Axl's. You previously stated that such orientation reversal breaks the game's crossup guard, but in fact it merely confuses it. For those who were not in on this conversation that occurred earlier, let me explain. You are given a short grace period of 5 frames where you may block crossups the wrong way on wakeup. When your opponent's orientation is reversed, you are automatically considered to be crossing them up, but "actually" crossing them up has no grace period - the game thinks you're not crossing them up at all. Because of this, with your opponent's orientation reversed, if they hold forward on wakeup your meaty moves will be blocked regardless of whether you cross them up or not, just as holding back will always block meaty moves if you don't reverse orientation. If you do not reverse their orientation, your non-crossup meaty attacks will never be blocked by holding forward.

[Neuro Chaos]

What's a good follow-up to a max range 3P CH? Sometimes I get it as an opening move and I'm not real sure what to do with it.

[Digital Watches]

What's a good follow-up to a max range 3P CH? Sometimes I get it as an opening move and I'm not real sure what to do with it.

At true max range, you often have to just take the knockdown and be happy with that. From a little closer (but still a good distance), you can usually run-->5k if you react fast. And of course super-close you can 6h, 5k.

[Kyle]

When's the Combo Video?

[Digital Watches]

When's the Combo Video?

I've got finals this week, and I haven't heard from Teyah yet, so probably... soon?

[Silmerion]

I've got finals this week, and I haven't heard from Teyah yet, so probably... soon?

Sooner or later, I'll gather up all my combos and put them in one post. Sooner or later.

[Luv-Sic]

I have a question. I've seen players, use the rensen geki frc, then animation slows down before they run to the opponent.

When this happens, is this a "Dash Prime"(i think that's what u call it), or is it a glitch?

Did they input 6frc6 after using rensen?

example @ 41-43 seconds into the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCSDHH-ODM&feature=related