New Testament player needs tips.

[Darkside937]

So I finally picked up a PS2 and Accent Core a few days ago, after playing #Reload for Xbox on and off since it was released. Testament is my main in both games, and his changes from #R to AC are really throwing me off. So I came here to look up some stuff, and... wow. I literally don't even know where to start. I've checked out some of the stickied threads, but I just end up getting buried in information and trying to absorb everything at once. Could someone give me some TE tips for a beginner? I wasn't great at #R, but I knew some of the basics (GD loop, FRC EXE, a few things with traps such as web okizeme). This time around though, I'd really like to learn Testament from the ground up. What are some of his techniques that I should try to learn first, or really what would be a good order in which to learn stuff every good TE player should know? Any tips for a new Testament player would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

[Tiamat]

I'm pretty new with him myself. you should abuse his H beast a lot cause it's godlike. backdash is good with him to get away, sometimes backdash into H beast (lol) learn to do tiger knee Badlands with 2147P, it's used in a lot of his combos a basic air combo into 1 hit badlands (lots of untechable time) is for example, beast frc > dash c.5S jKSH badland. after that you can land and do different things depending on distance from corner go on youtube and look for matches of shounen (sometimes shonen?). shamelessly copy him as much as possible like every other testament player does flimzee had a good video up on youtube that helped me when I started but yeah that's gone now.

[Doomscyther]

Learn the FRC's. Get use to tk badlands off many situations (throws, exe beast frc, 6k >badlands, and when you can do the right amount of badlands.) Learn match ups (prob the most important thing) and much much more!

[Blade]

Can someone explain to me (also beginning with Testament) what normals he uses to maintain/start Badlands loop? I can TK it, but the consecutive followups and positioning I'm really bad with. Basically a list of what all goes into Badlands Loop and how to maintain it/how many reps, etc.

[Caer-caveral]

setups vary depending on character, but throw > 6K > BL and HS EXE FRC > tk BL works as a starter on almost everybody. After that, you basically just do tk BL until they drop too low. It is often quite possible to get one more rep by adding in HS > BL or, when that doesn't reach (which is the norm), doing dash 5K > HS > BL. Basically BL combos from level 5 moves and from 6K and sweep while on the ground, but HS will most likely be the only real choice for chaining off of in order to keep it going. Right at the start of a loop though, it is common to do a dash and 6K > BL to get the positioning right (or start it in the first place. Random 6K is often a viable starter for a loop). Note that the 6K > BL combo will be void after only a few hits in your combo. amount of reps possible is usually 3 or 4 on midweights and 6-9 on lights, depending on the setup.

[Darkside937]

Thanks for the advice everyone; it is much appreciated.

One quick question: What exactly is the "curse loop?" I've seen it mentioned in a few of the other threads here, along with a link to a Youtube video explaining it in the videos thread, but almost all of the videos in that thread are no longer viewable (they've been removed by Youtube due to a "Terms of Use Violation").

Can anyone shed some light on this, or supply a new link?

P.S. Just looked up some vids of Shounen. Man, that guy is a beast.

EDIT: Also, could someone go into his match-ups? What are his best and worst ones? The match-up forum is nearly empty, save for Slayer...

[Tiamat]

curse loop are character specific combos from throw where you badland loop and end it with a curse

for example on anji

throw > 6K BL > tk BL > dash 6K5H BL > tk BL > tk BL > dash P skull

changes by character what combo you use though. here's a post with them:

http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showpost.php?p=145650&postcount=6

[Caer-caveral]

Yeah, it's really straightforward in theory. You do a BL loop and end it with a curse (i.e. 236P). Problem is that on many characters this is really difficult.

Anyway, how to do it is right there in that post. I have the original clips so I can upload them to my youtube account. I'll edit in the link here when it's done.

EDIT: done

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFWl_kZ5f1E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp4icZqH5sw

[Darkside937]

Thanks for the vids, Caer. Time to go practice :D

[ajinkris]

Matchup-wise, Testament does well against anyone who doesn't have projectile spam. And even then, Testament's ability to deal damage is so solid that most bad matchups are shored. Most would consider him the most powerful character in the game right now (or at least more well-rounded than Eddie.)

[Caer-caveral]

Umm... no. No way Testament is better than Eddie. And if damage output was the deciding factor, Slayer would be S+++. But Testament has always been blessed with very few bad matchups, even in Slash he was one of the most well rounded characters. It's nice.

[CopperDabbit]

Here's a good combo that seems to work on all characters. It takes a minimum of 25% tension to do, but I feel it's worth it. If I had a button that took that much tension and marked an opponent, I'd use it like mad. Whatever ending in a knockdown > HS EXE > 5S > jKSH > badlands (1 hit) > 5S > 214D > 5k 5H > BL > 236P The only thing to keep note about it the combo counter. It seems that if the combo counter is over 10 the 5H --> 214D will not combo. At least on Sol. There are also more ways to set up this particular combo, but that one listed tends to come up alot.

[Darkside937]

So I'm finally getting the timing down on HS EXE FRC, but my follow-ups need some work. Most of the time I'll dash, 6K, attempt BL loop, but this doesn't seem to work all the time and there are probably more damaging/better options out there. Does anyone know any good HS EXE FRC follow-ups? It doesn't matter if it's midscreen or corner, I need to work on both.

[DoomieJ]

Thanks for the advice everyone; it is much appreciated.

One quick question: What exactly is the "curse loop?" I've seen it mentioned in a few of the other threads here, along with a link to a Youtube video explaining it in the videos thread, but almost all of the videos in that thread are no longer viewable (they've been removed by Youtube due to a "Terms of Use Violation").

Can anyone shed some light on this, or supply a new link?

P.S. Just looked up some vids of Shounen. Man, that guy is a beast.

EDIT: Also, could someone go into his match-ups? What are his best and worst ones? The match-up forum is nearly empty, save for Slayer...

He doesn't really have any terrible bad matchups. He has some odd off the wall matches with people like ky because of the spam he can do, but mostly all is well. S-tier characters ( Slayer, Eddie, Baiken ) can give you some trouble sometimes. All you have to do is practice the matchup and you will start to see things that just flat out beat most of the things they try. Eddie and Slayer are my most played matchups and i must say i have improved tenfold from when i picked up Test a few months ago.

Learning to pull off the tk.BL loops, and the EXE FRC are especially important to his game. I have the tk down but the HS EXE FRCs are still uncertain for me. Good thing the move is soo good without the FRC too, or i would be getting annihilated nightly. Hope i helped you out, keep on practicing!!

[LearningToPlay]

I'm another new(er) player with a more basic question or two. When I do the tiger kneed BL, I see that I can pause long enough (or maybe I'm going all the way to 21478 instead of 2147) I can get a superjump shadow or whatever you call it during my BL. I did a bit of testing and I think it goes the same distance forward as a regular tk.BL but it also goes higher(?).

Youtube quality vids aren't enough and my DVD I bought isn't in yet... so I was wondering if I should be avoiding the superjump shadows or if it doesn't matter. Also, during training mode I can only tell that I'm getting a regular tk.BL by measuring forward distance against something in the background when I'm not comboing. When I am practicing combos, I'm not always sure if I miss a combo due to a missed tk motion or bad timing, etc. What should I look for ? Or any tips in this area would be greatly appreciated!

UPDATE: OK, sorry I was new the testament forums and missed this post that answered my exact question:

http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2950&page=22