TD

I like her shoes. Plus she wasn't too hard to pick up at all, so she ended up being a sub before even I knew it lol

6b definitely, less to input, very good hitbox, options in hit or block, not as glaringly obvious or punishable as 236c. It's only con would be that it's vertically challenged but because it beats even deep jumpins, it's worth using. does 6d have invulnerable? Not sure, pretty certain it does not though, likely just foot or lower body invulnerable after a few frames, should beat 2a reset attempts, throws, and any low profile moves in general, and leads to good damage on hit.

Against haku i like 2c in neutral when he has low meter. Max range 2c will beat kishuu attempts and forces haku into the air or to take pressure.

Timing is strict, RC point is right when Amane swing the hand holding his fan in the back of him. For an audio reference, it is immediately after the the explosion, the standard hit noise. Its like 1-2f and cannot be buffered, training required.

Answers in there somewhere

Sounds powerful.... On paper.

is anyone surprised to see Millia in the impossible tier? Lol wonder what makes Faust such a good matchup though, it doesn't look like he has trouble breaking ghosts. Although it does look like his best poke, fs, isn't as good as normally here and since he has a lot of projectiles that can be negated instantly by her force field...

Your life definitely would not be better if you drop the king of dodging the nerfbat.

You kinda do have to be a specialist to play amane (well). He has several different combos depending on screen position, different combos for different drill levels, situational awareness needs to be practice, etc etc etc. if you've been playing him awhile it's easy to feel he's not difficult, but I recall being frustrated when I first started with him and having to sacrifice time playing Rachel.

Would love if Rachel became it, but since she's destined for audience tier, I'm thinking ragna will stay the protagonist somehow. if not ragna, probably a successor of him, or a completely new character. if I had to choose from the current cast, I think makoto would be a good pick.

Uh... Cute, but "servants from hell" definitely seem more fitting lol in the axlmatchup it seems getting a ghost behind the chain-slinging Brit is best since there isn't much in the way of stopping them behind him. So when it's possible pickup- throw will help in the long run (not really short term). shes so momentum based and while it's easy to end her momentum it also looks very difficult as well if that makes sense lol. Obligatory good matchup vs pot. Poor pot. i don't know if it's just me but her 2s (vertical chain ball kick) looks like it's going to trade with a lot of stuff

With the crazy chip damage on sparrowhawk, it killing ghosts and completely stopping jack o, theres no reason not to use it lol. At least in the faust matchup she can low profile f.S with 3c

well everyone, dust off your wheelchairs. :(

It's cute lol old combos are definitely out. 4b doesn't juggle them high enough without wind and 236a also doesn't work from 6a juggle, though I didn't see every height, like the highest. Either the weight of gravity changed. Will j2c level 2 combos become the norm? either we will use a wind to continue a combo from 5cc in the corner, or substitute wind for crush trigger, or it just won't be our go to staple combo extended anymore and we will have to find something else. ivy looks like it might give a little meter as well. Even with Rachel's life low (triggering the slow meter gain), when the bats were on amane, meter gain seems to have increased substantially. Very slow move and grounded ivy summon doesn't appear to have a hitbox to keep the foe in any sort of pressure. Will hold off on judging this move too harshly for now. wind also does look very slow. Odd because she's looking more wind intensive than before. im getting weird premonitions of cs1 Rachel.............

Has anyone been watching the loketest streams? Has any Rachel's been spotted?

This does deserve some patience, and let's just hope for the best.

projectiles have their own level of hierarchy. I believe from 0 to 2.

Wow... Byakuya can turn any with meter into one of the biggest momentum swings in the game. Someone wants him in high/top tier.

These characters certainly do have a lot of personality. If this is what we have to look forward to, it's a great start.

What time zones is the tournament open to?

Happy belated, blade. pretty much take more breaks as already said... At this point, it's the game vs your body. If there is nothing in the market that will cushion the impact between the directional buttons/joystick and your thumbs then you have a serious problem. Same goes for the wrists. Might want to think about investing in a wrist guard. can also do wrist/thumb exercises, such as moving them in slow circular motions in both directions, moving your thumbs back and forth, etc... If the pain persists go to your local doctor and explain to him what is going on. He may be able to identify what is going on and if you can help the issues or if they will persist through your lifetime and even get worst. Info is paramount. Besides pain, the main goal in doing long combos is patience. Break every bit of the combo into chunks, doing 2 hit links and once you get that, and doing the next 2 moves in the sequence all the way to the end. This helps with control (feel what your hands and wrist feel, slowly), calm (many small victories still equal one big victory but doesn't equal all the stress), and will get you where you need to go. Granted it's slower, but learning is learning, and the characters have all day and night to execute the combo, so don't fret. Breathe, take it slow and -focus-. At the pint of doing a combo, nothing is more important than getting it - besides your injuries of course. Point being, you have to want to get it. Badly.

Now that litchi 2d staff launch doesn't hit 2 times, and Hariken drills got faster, neutral is significantly easier to play here. Litchis' more threatening tools in neutral need her to stand for a few frames to execute so 5c can really make her think twice before trying to do 5d staff set/return, 623d with no staff, and 41236d no staff. puttkng a drill underneath her isn't bad either since she has nothing to beat it especially full screen. Leads to an rps neutral with more of an advantage for you. cantching her staffless is fun and you can generally take a ton of risks with your scarf normals and Hariken full screen since the best she can do is safely try to retrieve her staff (or hit you which will pretty much guarantee staff return, but this is riskier as the angles she cover is lowered). 236d against 2d launch. Try to launch Hariken immediately after you guard point the 2d for maximum advantage. Against her 5d, try to predict the launch; Litchi should never launch the staff standing in this matchup. Generally you beat this attack by being above it, or predicting it and doing the appropriate ground attack. Blocking it is not ideal. If you have to block try to be in the air and save a zettou to fly away otherwise she can lock you down. midrange is difficult, really try to get away otherwise she can bully you here with her staff. Against max range 5b, 6b and itsuu, pre-emptive 3c. Her 6d trades with 3c, she can also iad jb or back up which leave you open. Needs to be pre-emptive or you can be hit out. Otherwise try to get back to fullscreen. Her jd is good, try to ib and get past the stick, can also hold 236d of she likes to do jdd. Be careful when you are above her but still right in front of her. No matter how high you are, her 623d with staff can snipe you so do not linger. Blocking it is in your advantage though. up close just remember she has a dp, but only with staff. Her anti airs are slow so you can do pressure with less risk than other chars, especially if she doesn't have the staff. Also has a 50 heat reversal and OD also gives her staff back.

jc hold route in this case does slightly less damage since 4b is used very early in the combo. J2c level 2 route also lets Rachel stay on the ground a little while longer than the jc hold route, so more wind and corner carry: with Rachel's back to the corner, this combo can take the foe to either corner on the screen, for example (though with different Oki situations). 2a crouching combos 2a 5b 5c 3c 236a/ summon (windless) 2a 5b 6b j3d ja ja 5a 5b 3c works on farther opponents like tager and hakumen and also leads to some gimmicks 2a 5b 5c 6cd jc 236a dash 3c(1) 214c dash 4b dash 5cc probably the best 1 wind combo, needs point blank 2a 5b 6b 3c 6d 8d dash 6a 4b dash 5cc most reliable long range combo, 2 winds though. dknt forget to use stray poles in combos. 214c combos from 6b, 5c, 3c and let you do combos windless. Like 2a 5b 5c 214c dash 6a 236a dash 3c 214c 4b 5cc. Windless 2k and 1 wind regen.

have a 4b sideswap combo. Does like 3 k and costs 2 wind, get 1 back. 4b 5c 6cd jc dash 6a delay jc 2d dj2c (lv2) delay 236b dash 3c(1) 214c dash 6a 236a dash 3c(1) 214c dash 5cc summon Also, I have 11gb worth of data from playing this game with Rachel. I was about to just wipe my harddrive, but if people are interested maybe I will start uploading them instead and deleting them.

Should work on everyone