[Xrd] Millia Gameplay Discussion

[heavymetalmixer]

I already played AC+ in my PS2 casually with friends, but I want to play Xrd better (I used Chip). So my question would be:

What features has Millia?

What makes her good?

Does she have any safe on block normals?

[Fortune]

I already played AC+ in my PS2 casually with friends, but I want to play Xrd better (I used Chip). So my question would be:

What features has Millia?

What makes her good?

Does she have any safe on block normals?

 

In a nutshell (Ronove and others could elaborate SO much better than me)

 

1. Oppressive okizeme game, second fastest mobility (only Chipp is faster) - can airdash twice in a row and her dash can low profile some things. She also has a roll and Turbofall, mobility specials that are very useful in her mixup.

 

2.  See 1. Top notch okizeme where she can vortex foes right back into knockdown again. A common knockdown situation can give alot of possibilities - High/Low/Throw/Crossup (and then faking them after conditioning people to the usual mixups). 

 

Usually the gameplan is making a stray hit turn into a knockdown and usually lay a H Tandem Top disc then do a mixup where if they block wrong, disc should knock them up where you can get them into another combo w/ knockdown (similar to Chie -though not as freely -).

 

Secret Garden ("the bubble") is also really good oki (as you can basically program the bubble to move however you want to bait DPs/escapes and lock them down for 2+ mixups in a row safely), though best in the corner after certain combos and you have the space to do it.

 

Stray hits are usually things like far S (which became better with the new RC system so she can run up afterwards), 5K if they're slightly above her to pick them up for an air combo, 2D which is a mid range sweep that knocks down and so forth.

 

In neutral, she has Silent Force ("the Hairpin") to make it easier to get in and more difficult to antiair her (though it's considerably nerfed in Xrd it's still decent if used smartly). (Think of it as Yosuke's kunai though it's only one time use until you can pick it back up.)

 

3. 6K (an overhead) is +8(?) on block, and 5K can be gatling'ed to 2K which is also safe. She's gotten better at some pressure strings in Xrd through having a new Dust and Digitalis which are good frame traps every once in a while. Things like Bad Moon and Iron Savior are unsafe on block but give strong mixup (and generally fast) when backed under disc (mixups should be especially safe under good Secret Garden and Chroming Rose patterns).

 

(Added note - I had to leave for a while before I could finish. TK Bad Moon and Iron Savior become VERY safe on block when under the effects of the new Chroming Rose super in Xrd. So much so that you can do either over and over because the rose that generates from them will keep them in blockstun - or even better HIT them.

 

THINK I covered the basics but I know several others pretty much wrote the book on Millia stateside lol. Speaking of which, Goldenrody's site has a great writeup of Millia's versions so do check it out as well.  http://www.norematch.com/ )

[D.R.F.]

I should probably let teyah do this since he knows the character a x1000 better than I, but hey lets see how well I do. You got that she's fast, 2 air dashes and the second best movement behind chip. What makes her crazy is her real strong okizeme and mixup, which are among the best in the roster.

She lots of tools to supplement her game which is to get knockdowns and more damage from knockdowns, things like her 6K which is I think a 20 (22 in XRD) frame overhead which also is +on block, Tk236P which is a 16 frame overhead, lots of fast normals like 5k and 2k, and strong footsie tools like f.s.

I think im stretching too far into what I dont know as well, but overall these are most of the reasons she is so strong

[D.R.F.]

I should probably let teyah do this since he knows the character a x1000 better than I, but hey lets see how well I do. You got that she's fast, 2 air dashes and the second best movement behind chip. What makes her crazy is her real strong okizeme and mixup, which are among the best in the roster.

She lots of tools to supplement her game which is to get knockdowns and more damage from knockdowns, things like her 6K which is I think a 20 (22 in XRD) frame overhead which also is +on block, Tk236P which is a 16 frame overhead, lots of fast normals like 5k and 2k, and strong footsie tools like f.s.

I think im stretching too far into what I dont know as well, but overall these are most of the reasons she is so strong

Yea what he said before me ahah, much better written

[Stellarcircle5]

To the people who played the game, how does Millia compare with the rest of the cast? Is she considered top-tier?

Millia is among the top characters in Xrd, though not as strong as the super derp characters like Sol, Zato, and Faust. Most people place her around the bottom of S tier or the top of A tier. Definitely a powerful character with overwhelming strengths when she gets her oki going, but she can struggle a bit with characters who posses really strong normals.

[Teyah]

I already played AC+ in my PS2 casually with friends, but I want to play Xrd better (I used Chip). So my question would be:

What features has Millia?

What makes her good?

Does she have any safe on block normals?

 

Will of Fortune covered her moveset pretty well so I'll comment on some other things which I think should be focused on more.  These are just some of my thoughts on things that everyone should know about Millia, especially if you are new to the character.

 

Millia plays very differently than most other characters in Guilty Gear.  Most newer players will pick her up and think that wow, she's fast, so they should be using that speed to close in quickly and go for damage or airdash in and press buttons.  And when they do this, they find that her damage and priority is lacking and wonder why they can't win, not realizing that this isn't how she should be played.

 

If you have a habit of running in and hitting buttons, or just hitting buttons for the sake of hitting buttons, then you will need to get rid of that habit ASAP when playing Millia.  None of her normals are made for blowing through attacks and she doesn't have any "fast" ground normals (4F or 3F) like true close range characters.  Her fastest ground normals do not have very good hitboxes, so you can't count on them to beat out enemy attacks flat out.  Her ground to ground game is very poor, and her air to ground game is equally poor unless she's in the right position to throw Pin (which isn't always easy to set up).   From what I've seen over the years, players tend to play her recklessly and press buttons without any meaning behind them, which leads to them getting beat out, antiaired, thrown after landing from air dash, etc.

 

Instead, playing Millia requires you to space yourself out of the enemy's range until you get in the right positon to advance, mainly through Pin or through safe max range poking.  This is what truly kills low to mid level Millia players and is why she has the lowest win rate in Japan arcades since Xrd's release.  People try to play her like every other character (to varying degrees) and wonder why their normals are getting beat out / why they're dealing so little damage / why they're dying quickly.  They don't pause to think about the risk/reward of the buttons they're pressig, or they have habits carried over from playing/watching other characters and try similar approaches with Millia, while her moveset is entirely designed against this type of play.  Her main playstyle isn't very intuitive to most players and you'll absolutely need to do some research (watch top Japanese players) to see how she should be played.  And then always be willing to rework your playstyle to play more safely in the neutral game.

 

Aside from spacing, having a strong anti air game is crucial, since Millia has several strong AAs to choose from in 5P, 6P, 2H, and j.P.  Watch top player matches and experiment to see the ranges and situations for each of these.  At lower levels of play there are plenty of opportunities to go for AAs, so don't be afraid to sit back and focus only on anti air during casual games to get a feel for which moves is best at each range.

 

As far as normals go - throwing out normals to convert into damage or oki isn't part of Millia's main strategy.  It can be good in Xrd when you have 50% meter, since then she can combo to 5H and RC to convert that into a corner carry and oki situation.  But overall you want to use her ground normals mainly to harass the enemy (far 5S) or fish for knockdown (max range 2D).  Her air normals are what give her the best risk/reward, since it looks like she can still do random air hit j.P into full combo & corner carry, and throwing that move out there is very low risk.

 

Overall, Xrd Millia requires a much higher level of precision and stronger spacing fundamentals than her previous GGXX iterations, since she no longer has an easy way to get in (Pin was nerfed),  she doesn't have high damage combo starters in this version, and her damage output is possibly the lowest it has ever been.  But with a refined and safe playstyle, she definitely is one of the strongest characters in Xrd.

[Fortune]

^ Exhibit A on one of those who've wrote the book on Millia. #RequiredReading

[AllyOfJustice]

This really makes me want to play Millia now.

[Stellarcircle5]

Thanks for the write up, Teyah. It really put a lot of things into perspective on how I might be approaching the character.

[Ronove]

A lot of people who are new to this serie will often mistake Millia for a more "agile" version of Jam or any other rushdown character. If anyone is eager to press buttons and win poke wars they should be looking into playing other characters (like Sol). Millia's neutral revolves around space control/movement and baiting the opponent into situations where she can safely run in/dash in/throw the pin and score a knockdown.

 

p.s. I'm back! Sorry for the absence everyone, I've been really busy with work, but now I'm finally on vacation and I can get back to helping out here, uploading videos and whatnot. I'll probably won't be hunting for the vids of these past 2 months (unless there are must-see vids that anyone hasn't uploaded yet, do let me know!) and I'll directly start from the current week.

[Garuda]

I read Norematch's impressions about the new Millia in Xrd. So, basically, she got nerfed compared to what she could do before and she's a more boring / standard character to play now, whereas she's considered high tier / top tier at the same time ? It's kinda sad :/

[Ronove]

It was expected given that they've used #R as a "foundation" rather than AC. Honestly I still think she has plenty of interesting things, not to mention that it's only been like what, four months since release? There could still be new things being discovered just like it happened with all previous iterations (look at all the cool Chroming Rose setups and ways to abuse that super). She has been "nerfed" in a few aspects if you compare her to her AC iteration but her core gameplay is still there.

[Garuda]

Indeed. I saw the 39 hits Chroming Rose combo with Satou in the video thread, I must admit it was very cool haha, and I suppose it gives her new setups to discover.

[Teyah]

I'm heading off on vacation for a month, but before I go I thought I would give my Xrd Millia impressions from the (whopping one game) I got to play with her at Evo.

 

• Feels like her standard 5S-5H-2D string has less pushback among all the hits, as I wasn't having any issues comboing through to 2D due to being pushed out of range.
• Her health and damage didn't feel too significantly different than in AC, though her damage output is a bit lower.
• Silent Force (pin) has way more recovery than in +R, to the point where I couldn't even do Pin -> airdash at all even after telling myself to delay the air dash by a good margin.  I opted for Pin -> YRC -> air dash instead which worked well enough.
• Pin feels harder to pick up, feels like you have to be precisely right on top of it.  Though iirc it used to be this way too in the older games.
• Disc YRC has to be done super late, about as late as the 236H FRC in +R.  I used the #R 236H FRC timing a couple of timings, and after Millia dropped her hand the disc just disappeared.
• Chroming Rose seems pretty dumb.  I activated it and ran right into Axl, who poked me out of my run a couple of times, yet the roses still appeared and hit Axl even from a small distance away which left me at frame advantage.  Really hope her voice clip in English for this move is "You're going down."

[Garuda]

I don't understand why we don't see Chroming Rose more often in the videos. It's like most of the players prefer using their meter to RC. Maybe they don't want to use it until the console release, so it doens't get nerfed 

[Ronove]

I don't understand why we don't see Chroming Rose more often in the videos. It's like most of the players prefer using their meter to RC. Maybe they don't want to use it until the console release, so it doens't get nerfed 

It's because being able to easily convert her pokes via RC (5S>5H>RC) into solid damage and oki is a real blessing in disguise. 

 

Chroming Rose is absolutely going to be useful but given her nerfs to her pin, no airdash cancels, increased pushback from jH, it's definetely not a bad thing to be able to atleast make her pokes more threatening when she's got meter for a RC.

 

Xrd Millia has a harder time creating momentum in terms of options available when she's in neutral, but now she has an easier time confirming out of them. So it's not like she's wasting her meter if you see japanese players RCing 5S>5H most of the times.

[Garuda]

Millia seems definitely more meter reliant than before, I guess that's why ArcSys could give her such a strong super. Nevertheless, I hope to see it more often for some setups or combos, even if it's not like Koichi using Chroming Rose in the middle of the screen, to run right into FAB's Potemkin (or into Axl in Teyah's case).

On a side note, Kurobara / Toruso qualified for ArcRevo.

[D.R.F.]

It was only so much time untill that toruso is such a solid player its ridiculous

[NitroNoodlez]

Is this the same Toruso who used Eddie in Accent Core?

[Garuda]

I think it's the same player, とるそ

[NitroNoodlez]

His Eddie was really great back in Accent Core, and was one of the last one remaining in +R. I kinda wish he was still playing Zato, but I do like his Millia.

 

Also goldenrody just posted on twitter that Nakamura and Woshige are now in Arc Revo, which I think makes a total of 4 Millias that have made it in.

[Garuda]

Good news. I think it was about time, even if I was a little unsettled by Millia's changes, she looks like a strong character.

[[svx]]

I hope eki-chan tries to qualify again.

[zdravkelja]

Apparently, Milia has a mini dustloop, lol. Saw it today on Joniosan Twitch, someone was experimenting with Milia.

 

Okizeme 236HS into:

 

 > 2D > 6HS > tk.214S > j.D > dj.D > falling j.D > 6HS > j.D > iad.j.S > j.HS

 

 > 2K > 2S > jump > (236HS hits) > falling j.D (do not land) > dj.D > falling j.D > 6HS > j.D > iad.j.S > j.HS

 

 > 2K > 2S > jump > (236HS hits) > falling j.D (do not land) > dj.D > falling j.D > land > j.D > j.214S > dash > j.D > 2HS > j.D (and he messed up, but it's probably possible to finish with iad.j.S > j.HS)

[D.R.F.]

Shes always had one, just waaay harder to do than sol. Still, thats pretty awesome