[Xrd] Zato - General discussion and changes list

[Tomo009]

Jump, wait to fall, low airdash.

 

Your mawaru has to hit from really far away, you don't 236K but 236H, walk the shadow back a bit, -K-. This also makes you recover earlier into the mawaru animation so you can even link the airdash j.S. Abusing the long crumple animation when the dust wallstick hits the ground is key here.

 

Thank you!

 

Someone really needs to make a video guide of this showing every input at every point in real time and slow motion in good quality because the combo is soooooo much easier when you know all the little tricks.

 

I feel ready to BS people now! just need a bit of practice to get the unblockable timing well, actually unblockable.

[Rhythmic]

Speaking of unblockables, they don't work on dummies, right? Like if you set them to block switch they will perfectly block everything? Or can you still do them?

[Complexity]

Yeah they will block it perfectly because they can read the high and low frame perfect.

 

I'm still having a lot of trouble learning to play Zato. Specifically, how to control the air and ground using both Eddie and Zato together. Micro is harsh.

[tastylumpia]

So Eddie-less punish combo is 5s 5h(3) / 5s 2h into H drill or super midscreen. How about corner?

[poon]

So Eddie-less punish combo is 5s 5h(3) / 5s 2h into H drill or super midscreen. How about corner?

 

To be fair your best bet in the corner is often to knockdown into meaty drill YRC into blockstring into summon shadow.

[Mr.Biscuits]

Starting my Zato evernote tonight. It will mostly contain neutral situations.

summoning safely

Unsummon safely

When to go for Mawaru oki.

-H- on oki to bait reversals and setup a sandwich.

combos are irrelevant if you can't manage to summon and apply pressure.

Shadow less punish should be c.slash (2s) > 5H(all hits) 22H RC for maximum oki > summon or air combo.

On Faust, Potemkin not sure who else you can do c.S > 2D > j.P > j.H > air super.

Command throw punishes are good for maximum frame advantage.

[Complexity]

To be fair your best bet in the corner is often to knockdown into meaty drill YRC into blockstring into summon shadow.

 

Do you mind linking me a vid where invite hell YRC is done? I feel like it's either impossible or too hard to be done.

 

Also on the topic of corners, if you throw an opponent back into the corner, 5k lets them air tech out for free now so 5k 22s doesn't work anymore. Are there any other better options?

[Tomo009]

Do you mind linking me a vid where invite hell YRC is done? I feel like it's either impossible or too hard to be done.

 

Also on the topic of corners, if you throw an opponent back into the corner, 5k lets them air tech out for free now so 5k 22s doesn't work anymore. Are there any other better options?

I think you need to do it really early then YRC before they wake up? The drill is incredibly active anyway so it will hit meaty.

[huber]

if you yrc a drill I think the drill goes away but still leaves a puddle

[poon]

if you yrc a drill I think the drill goes away but still leaves a puddle

Oh my bad, I'm used to FRC drills so I assumed you could YRC them. I'm no Xrd expert yet.

[huber]

yeah you can get a 50 percent RC on a drill and it'll stay out but it looks like YRC makes the drill go away

[Tomo009]

if you yrc a drill I think the drill goes away but still leaves a puddle

Right, I forgot that, which is odd because it has messed me up quite a bit.

 

Annoying, but I guess it would be a bit dumb for Zato to be able to YRC a drill and probably puddle summon Eddie.

[president]

That's an exception on the mechanic just for Invite Hell. At least I wouldn't know anything else working like that. Disc stays, CSE stays, even Amorpheus stays.

[AStat]

On Faust, Potemkin not sure who else you can do c.S > 2D > j.P > j.H > air super.

 

I'm pretty sure there's a lot of the cast that works on, I'll try to do some testing this week on it.

[Mr.Biscuits]

You can't yrc drill and have it active because you'll have free unblockables.

 

On Faust, Chipp and Potemkin anything into 2D > j.K works can relaunch in corner or go directly into air super for nice damage + corner knockdown.

On May you can do 2D > j.PSHD

 

I'll test Sin and Elphelt later but I'm positive it doesn't work on anyone else. 

[WT_Neptune]

Out of curiosity, how and why did Eddie 'click' for you guys? I am trying to figure out how people can click with bizarre/hard characters, or if this 'clicking' business can be 'earned'.

[Synyster17]

What can u do after a command throw with no shadow out. What do people normaly do after a corner nornal throw.

[Mr.Biscuits]

In corner command throw you can do 5p > j.phd or j.ph air super. If you don't have shadow available you just settle for a nice meaty close drill and go from there.

 

Edit for those having trouble with Dust combos into unblockables

6(P) > 3-D- > 2H > 22S > fly unblockable is stable on the characters that I couldn't get 2H > 2D > 5S > 2D> flight to work on consistently.  

 

For example Faust and Ramlethal the  D > 6 > 2H > 2D the 2D would wiff. 

[dehumanizer]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but be careful about YRCing drills too early. It's possible to YRC on your startup drill animation and not have a drill puddle form. This is especially important if you planned on summoning from the puddle. Otherwise, you'd get an eddie summon in front of you instead.

 

Also, break the law YRC is very useful at getting out of the corner against slow characters or when you see an opening in their blockstring and feel the air might be too dangerous.

 

Finally, I found out last night that you cant reflect Sin's red Stun edge super. At least not when I tried.

 

Xrd Zato is not too difficult if you have a solid base. Work on your fundamental Zato gameplay first, like proper zato blockstrings and knowing when to summon and unsummon. Focus on good positioning of drills and when to summon from the puddles. People will punish you or if you keep going for far drill>puddle summon if you get predictable and don't use YRCs.

 

One other thing is that the most optimal blockstring in eddie p pressure is to use 2p>2k. The reason is that 2k is +3 on block. Of course you want to space it out to frame trap them, but having the extra frame advantage helps. Of course you may go for 5k>5s, or other shennaigans, but 2p>2k is your safest option.

[president]

Edit for those having trouble with Dust combos into unblockables

6(P) > 3-D- > 2H > 22S > fly unblockable is stable on the characters that I couldn't get 2H > 2D > 5S > 2D> flight to work on consistently.  

 

For example Faust and Ramlethal the  D > 6 > 2H > 2D the 2D would wiff. 

 

I'm running j.S j.H -D-, land & wait, 2p 2d, long wait -> manual j.S timing for the unblockable. I don't think it gets any less effort and character specific than that. Was also able to react & block a couple bursts that way due to the aircombo nature.

[Mr.Biscuits]

Basic mawaru mixups.

Blocked mawaru in corner

High options

Jump forward delay airdash J.SH > Mawaru > Dust

Jump forward J.K double jump SH > mawaru > Dust

Low option

Jump forward J.K land 2K > 2S > Mawaru > Dust

Jump forward J.K Land 5K > 2S/5S > Mawaru > Dust

Empty Jump forward 2K > 2S > Mawaru > Dust

Empty Jump 5K is risky against people who mash on throw os.

Midscreen you will not do Dust, obviously. Instead you knockdown and unsummon yrc for slow down and resummon.

[poon]

Out of curiosity, how and why did Eddie 'click' for you guys? I am trying to figure out how people can click with bizarre/hard characters, or if this 'clicking' business can be 'earned'.

I like winning

 

Also I live in Lansing where there is no real scene so I either play a character that you can learn almost entirely in training mode or I won't be tournament-ready.

[WT_Neptune]

So most Zato players don't 'click' with him immediately, they just learn how to function until they are competent with him?

[dehumanizer]

Guys,

not sure if this has been emphasized already, but you can hold 6 for an auto dash after a grounded 5d. You don't need to time a 66 for dash. This makes it much easier to perform his ender combos with eddie big drill.

[Complexity]

On the topic of dusts, you can move Eddie and make him do things when Zato is in the middle of a dust cutscene. You can do 5d release d and Eddie will turn into a mine when the camera shifts.