KayEff

tong i beat your combo by 4 damage :v IAD DID > RC OD > j.214B >> j.214D > 236D > dc 6D > jc j.214C > 5C > 5D > dc 5D > 214D > 6D > j.D > j.214D > 214214D

you want to follow up with a delay. this will give you time to run closer to the opponent. as for 5B followups, you can either go straight into 5D (in some cases), or you can go into 6A > air combo. in very rare instances, you can follow 5B into 5C, and then into other things, but it's incredibly specific.

2D is long enough to land in most instances. the only case where it would not land would be if 5C hit at its extreme tip.

another new thing i discovered, although it's less practical in FC and OD, 6D > j.D[w] loop works. which means you can do crazy stuff when you have FC, such as: FC 214D > OD > 5C > [6D > j.D[w]]*2 > 214B >> 214D > jc 236D > 6D > j.D[w] > 5D > dc 6D > j.D > j.214D > 214214D not entirely sure if this combo works. you can test for yourself and adjust accordingly by adding/removing moves, but it certainly makes OD combos a lot more fun

you can't cancel a clash into barrier, only into an attack

pretty much. one way to go about it (which is incredibly basic but works wonders) is run to the opponent, keep running when you make contact, then do a 2A into throw. psychologically, most people will see the running as a throw attempt. you trick the opponent into thinking that you're going to throw, then mess up the timing and get a TRM. it's hard to pull off because you need to force the opponent to not press any buttons, which is not as easy as it sounds. but at least it feels really good when you pull it off! :v

this seems more like a post for the gameplay discussion, so i'm moving it there. unfortunately, you can't do anything to fix a character that is fundamentally impaired. once you exhaust all your mixup/pressure options on an opponent and even that ends up not being enough, you're pretty much fucked in that regard. the only way you would then be able to to damage the opponent would be to rely on your neutral. if that's not what you want, then your only other choices are to either hit training mode and find some gimmicks that nobody has seen before (good luck), or play a different character. i know that this response sounds pretty negative, but there's a very fine line between being optimistic and being delusional.

it's possible that the game only recognizes a certain number of bits.

maybe it's just 4A+B

in tong's video of the set of ragna casuals vs that jin, i noticed a new midscreen combo route GH > late 5D > DS > dc HF after messing around with it, the route isn't actually all that hard, although it's still a bit of a timing issue. you cannot use 5D too early, or else DS will whiff the opponent. the time frame isn't that big either, so it's also easy to be too late when you use 5D. ideally, you should hit the opponent with DS's late active frames, while you're dash cancelling. naturally, this route is more optimal than the regular GH > 5D > HF route, and even more than the GH > tk BS route (though i don't think it has more lifesteal). the corner carry is fucking crazy on this route though, you can go from corner to corner with little effort, but you have to be careful that the hitstun will be heavily reduced after HF, so you'll most likely have to end with an air combo. either way, i'm probably gonna start using this route more often now.

i wouldn't suggest doing that first combo. the timing is very finicky and more often than not you're going to drop it. what i suggest doing is this 5B+C > 214A > 5B > 5C > 5D > 214B >> 214D > 623D >> 236C >> 214D as for the second combo, you can watch ragna's animation for an easy reference. there's not really much else to it.

you can add a 5C before the 5D for 200 more damage

slight delay between GH and KA slight delay between landing and then using 6A the key to landing that move consistently and correctly is to have him move as far forward as possible, all without sending your opponent too high

i'd rather do 6D > j.D w > 5B > 5D(1) > HF > stuff

startup did not change at all it's important to note that only the hitbox at the base of ragna's leg has the 8 frame startup. the extension past that is roughly 12 frames or so.

2a and 2b are your best options in pressure use 2c after 5c to put yourself in frame advantage. however don't use 5c a lot in blockstrings because you don't have very many options off of it, which means overuse will get you read hard like a book 5d is terrible to use in blockstrings because it offers very little mixup opportunities and every option off of it is either risky or unsafe and do you really need a followup to throw? if it whiffs, just do whatever you want, it's a throw whiff ffs your best bet with ragna mixup is to be unreadable. study his gatlings, learn what's safe and what's not, and use that knowledge to randomize your blockstrings to keep the opponent guessing since ragna is such an easy to read and hard to win character, it's hard to find people who are legit good (and by that i mean they actually win tournaments). there's really no single person out there who stands out far, or even slightly above the rest by the way i'm moving this topic to the gameplay discussion as it belongs there

ax kick

given how limited your followups to 6D are, i highly doubt you'd be able to get more. maybe add a gauntlet hades after 2C > 5C.

well it actually does less damage than the optimal one that kid posted. but i guess it's interesting none the less? does 4499 if you're interested.

was messing around with ragna combos the other day, came across this weird yet probably more damaging combo corner FC BS > dash 2C > 3C > 22C >> DS > 2C > 5C > hjc j.C > BE > late 6C > late 6D > j.BS > 5B > d.ID >> AX

ragna also got increased negative penalty resistance and BK dead spike being able to land all hits in the corner. they're not big changes honestly. all in all ragna is exactly the same character

> lifesteal > astral > mfw lifesteal doesn't even matter

the only time i can see him "forcing" you into the air is when you tech after a combo. in which case you should probably change when and where you tech. the problem isn't hazama's reversal being godlike (because it kinda isn't, honestly), it's that ragna's mixup is really monotonous and incredibly straightforward. once a person gets to know ragna's mixups, you can expect him to be blocking just nearly every mixup he has. his mixup is just that bad. what really separates the ragna players who win from the ones who lose is the unpredictability factor. you can't be using mixups that everyone sees/uses all the time (such as what SKD does). evolve your mixups from time to time so that your opponent never knows what to expect.

dash 5B? that seems to work for me. hazama's aerial normals should be the least of your worries. i can tell though that since you're complaining about 5C being air unblockable, that you're spending way too much time in the air. ragna's neutral is best on ground, not in the air. you should spend most of your time on the ground. that way, if hazama does 5C afterwards, you have an easier time dealing with any followup he does. 5A is a good alternative to 6A, as it's fast and often stuffs hazama's approaches. of course, hazama can still beat you out of 5A if he uses chain into j.A or early j.B, but there's no reason to be too scared of that. it's better to try and beat hazama out of any momentum rather than hazama set up all over your face. in short, you have to start playing more patiently. hazama has much better space control than you, so in order to get in on hazama, you have to look for those golden opportunities to advance and wail on him.

i guess that just kinda invalidates any merit behind j.D's extra hitstun then