TD

If nine has 3 runes stacked already when she uses her next normal or normals, does only the top rune change per normal or does it always replace the oldest rune?

It does seem like over time she will balance out only if there isn't some tech that breaks her down the line: given her vast move set it's very possible! kunzite Rock really does seem amazing for post oki mixup.

This is a scary character lol. No question she can do whatever she wants and her potential is completely reliant on the player. is her dp that consumes runes safe on block? Or at least unpunishable? not seeing a lot of use for sea moss gate, besides the amazing recovery frames. Stocked spells seem useless right now.

Means ignis and Ada should have problems with her normals too since they still retain the strike property? Or was that changed... Think in the Carl vs nine vid Ada seemed to still be able to attack through nine's 5b. (apparently, nine still generates runes from hitting the dolls. I wonder if hitting Rachel's frog will give her runes.)

Hm, with low mobility, I wonder how she's going to get pressure in the first place. Maybe there's going to be a move that she can use in neutral to aid her in getting in or keeping the foe out? and then there's whiffing normals in OD. Looking like momentum might be everything for this character. Does she even have a dp? Air dash?

Omg you're right! Wow, talk about giving us a reason to spam it in Neutral lol. it would appear that even though her wind gain is nerfed compared to ex, there are a number of changes that make wind the primary focus of cf and not any of her minions. This is great because Rachel has alway been fundamentally dependant on wind, and running out of wind could cost her the round commonly. my only concern besides the obvious assness that is Ivy, is her corner game. I'm sure lotus will be able to bait dps just like pumpkin, but overall, Rachel has a lot less time to react to the foes defensive actions than she did before. This not only indirectly affects her wind regen, it affects her ability to make the right mixup choice while still baiting defensive options like counter assault, for what is likely the same or less oki potential. Also, her optimal corner combos look more strict or at least require more resources and being less ground oriented for good oki. so while I don't think she will be anywhere near top tier in this game she probably will be ok. Probably mid tier as things develop, never know. ps: Ivy seems like it can serve as a passive defensive option in neutral if she keeps the bats next to her. While being pressured, the bats will slowly (and pitifully...) eat at the foe's life.

Thanks for the write up. Damn, playing this character sounds like playing card games on motorcycles :s

Interesting, can't really see how much though, maybe wind regen in air is half the rate it is on the ground? rachel combos have gotten ridiculously easy, I guess they want her to be more playable? Air juggles seem as important as ever. bbl seems to be difficult to hit with in the corner in general. Straight from 5cc, it seems to completely whiff.

She sounds gimmicky now... Damn if she kept her non-pushback moves none of this nerfs would even matter lol thanks for the write-up. Hope she gets developed soon, right now the game plan doesn't pique my interest as it did before, she might have to be on the back burner until she gets some time to develop.

Well the bats home in and are quite fast with wind on top of not disappearing on block, so you really just need to have wind available and decent foresight to use wind before being placed in blockstun. Getting hit without poles out though is going to suck lol... strategically placed poles does play a factor if she want to not use wind though. Or if used in the air I assume, if you don't want to go flying in an unwanted direction like a cow in a heavy storm.

With lotus having such awesome recovery, once a lotus bat is attached, Rachel can potentially keep summoning lotus in pressure (using a lobelia pressure reset), creating mind games: will she blow up the current bat, or summon a new one? Reminds me of how jack-o sort of does her pressure in xrd, frame trap or summon; summon being a pseudo reset on it's own, and the frame trap leading into a combo and/or oki into the same situation.

Whoa that's very very good for koko, she's looking to be extremely scary in this game. She already had good set play, now it looks like she's a mixup character again and doesn't need prior resources on the field. Safe to say she's fine in this game.. new move is so over the top it's almost ridiculous lol. But it helps with damage midscreen and likely rids koko of those annoying hurtbox characters like Noel who were hard to hit with certain optimal combos. with no glaring nerfs, it's safe to say she will be really good or at least stronger than before.

Indeed, good observation.

Looking like smp. Supers apparently count as specials, and any special used twice gets severely prorated. he can do OD stomp super into regular stomp super, but if he does two regular or two OD stomp supers, he will get smp.

I'm blind never mind lol

That was actually a good match too, learned a lot. with lotus being so good now, I'm thinking, maybe her neutral might end up staying strong in this game. Ivy seems like a good move in neutral vs turtles and characters with slow or linear movement. Looks easy to just avoid the bats. Looks like to maximize them in neutral, Rachel will need to wind the ivy bats on the foe ASAP and then lock them down in place for a few seconds. I'm guessing the lotus bats aid this in the sense of sword iris being a constant threat if everything goes right in neutral. With priority on corner carry and offensive momentum, ivy seems a bit counterproductive in neutral. I can see the merits of using it in the corner, but did Rachel really need poison? Heres a question, in the trailer, it seems Ivy blossom was used as an air ender, is that confirmed? Ground one doesn't seem to have a hitbox.

Ivy apparently can be winded right? Are there any videos that showcase this? Ugh, I hope something good is found with this move soon... It just makes no sense...

Honestly with j2c being short what's the point of using it as a winded overhead. It becomes redundant except maybe a little more damage than a ja starter perhaps, having a little more room to go for an IOH if she's not point blank. Might be useful as another "windless" overhead while frog is on them? cat chair combo in cpex does about 2.4k optimally, maybe 400 more damage adding in bbl.

This is why ragna isn't going anywhere. He's able to see light where others cannot. He's smarter that he looks lol.

The only thing about windless combos this time around that I don't like is that they seem to be almost as necessary as 1 wind combos in cpex, as opposed to an advantageous perk. She might get 1 wind back after a windless combo now, and of course using 1 wind in the combo in that case means that she wouldn't really be gaining a net advantage. sure they will get the job done, but for less reward that a windless combo would give in cpex, basically. The most optimal combos and bbl combos will likely give her the edge, as well as good neutral play (she doesn't seem to need wind in neutral as much as she did in any other game, that's sort of ok? I mean, she's still pretty reliant on it in general.)

I saw ch bounce, looks the same :/ either the koko didn't combo or resources required... im getting a "same but different" feel from koko. I guess that's good, she's pretty good in the current game. Can't wait to see this new spinning move she has, and how it will affect her gameplay.

Pretty sure it's because of a change in Gravity. Untech time should be the same. dang I wished that video had shown how wind affects ivy blossom. after seeing lotus in action I'm thinking it's supposed to be the new inferior pumpkin. Recovery is astonishingly fast. Pretty sure it's going to find use in oki eventually, and by extension, longer pressure strings. It is omni directional like pumpkin but has potential to cover more space for less wind, with a reward on hit or block. The fact that it doesn't cancel air options until landing on air use is a very good change. although she definitely looks worse in this version, she seems to have ways to enforce her strategy still, and with good effect. And with lotus being among one of her more priority moves now, corner carry potential could skyrocket. She still might have dp safe setups. I'm just really wondering about blossom because right now it just makes no sense in her Arsenal.

Did George have a cooldown? Ivy blossom looks cool. Nice but not very useful. Not seeing how she benefits from it or how it syncs with her strategy. If she is a mixup character why does she even need slow poison....

Midscreen 4b is going to be 4b 5c(1) 6cd jc land dash 6a delay 236a dash 3c(1) 214c dash 5cc. Can also end in 6a 4b into summon if you want to keep them close. Can also go the j2c level 2 route but that's a bit harder for not much of a damage increase. corner 4b 5c(confirm if hit or not) 6cd jc dj236c land 5b 6a tk214c 6a 236a 6a 4b summon or 4b 5cc(if you didn't confirm into 6cd. Salvage route, not bad) dash 6a delay jc delay j236c land 5b 6a tk214c 6a 236a 6a 4b summon i think 4b knockdown is better than 3c now, more untech time. tk= tiger knee, ala 2149. Done right 2149c will come out after a short delay and Rachel will be able to act immediately afterward.

Honestly looks like he's being more rewarded for using normals and command normals. Like his normals have gotten stronger and supers are even more of combo filler their particular niches are nerfed (623b and 236236a doing less damage even though they are almost purely defensive options; messenga being an offensive attack and losing offensive properties). Will he still be low tier? Yes but I think he's a little stronger than currently... Definitely.