Arifureta

Oh god Litchi . EDIT: The damages are always going to be fluctuating but I think as a rule: Any combo from a chain nets ~2.5k Anything from a normal ~3k

I dunno. Many things poke me out of it, Haku 5A and Lambda 6A being some of them (and then 6A into air combo ). I think you overestimate the capability of the chains. I mean they're good, I'm not saying they're not, but they're totally unsafe if you reel yourself in on block. Next time you get the chance you can try it out. Like, just poke him. It'll hit. :V This for sure, which is why uber turtling + godlike zoning is legit for Rachel. Burns down the time while also keeping Hazama's heat gain relatively slow.

214D~A only combos into 2A on CH, Charged hit or if the dude's crouching. I throw in a little dash sometimes though, just to make sure it does connect. And the wall is like Hazama's best friend. So many things are suddenly possible. :V

Man, I can't wait for the console release. We could test all of these out for reals. :V There's like no timing involved on a blocked chain. Even if you don't IB it, any poke/anti-air will hit him out of it if he decides to commit since there's no way he can cancel that into anything until the very end. And since this is Rachel, that'd be a 6A or 5B into combo. Rinse and repeat as long as he keeps doing it Again, if Hazama commits to a direction then there's no way he can cancel it, so if he haphazardly decides to fly in on a blocked/whiffed chainhit then odds are he'll eat a lobelia or an anti-air. C won't do him any good if it's the short-range lobelia since he'll still be right in her face to eat an anti-air/poke. And while 2D~9B does launch him all the way across and makes it hard for Rachel to hit him with the lightning, the trajectory is very predictable since you know he's going to land in the corner, and so just wait for it and hit him out with the anti-air. Or, you know, just run across the other side of the screen when he does it. :V He gets two reel-ins per reset so he can't fly up really high otherwise the next one won't connect. And if he does aim a chain up, a simple lobelia to it would stop him. Plus, again, anytime Hazama goes way up in the air gives Hime-sama the time to run across to the other side. Or she could just wind him for added RAGE factor. But then doesn't spamming fireballs count as extreme punishing? I mean, there's like nothing they can do about it right?

I... Yeah, I concede that this is totally not a 50-50 match. If all you're doing is zoning, that's hardly an even match. Still, zoning is totally doable though. I mean, it'd be uber turtling on Rachel's part but it'd work. The A lobelias on the ground stops the chain and she can totally spam that too. She'd just have to not do any of the other lobelias since those are totally unsafe on whiff against this guy.

^ It's because 6B+C leads into a jyakou which then, on most characters, leads to 3C > Jayoku, so you get more damage. No worries Eclipse. Better go to sleep. Early class + Late sleep = terrible. :V

I think it's in the 3rd Nico video in the Video thread. Probably. Astrals: - (Anything that combos except 5C or j.2C since it pushes them away) > 3C > Astral Hazama in corner: - 4B+C > Astral // Easymodo :V - Jakou > Astral Opponent in corner: - 5D~D > j.2C (whiff) > 3C > Astral Flashy: - Jayoku > Jayoku ^ Dangerous. People will murder you if you do it.

^ I... kinda already said I was factoring in perfect play for both. D: Also, yes, there's a difference between perfect play and perfectly safe play. It's just that those two happen to coincide in the Rachel-Hazama matchup, at least for Rachel.

^ Yup, that one. Doesn't need to be in the corner because he did it against Dio midscreen too. Pretty smexi. *-* Also, yeah, you need the rapid cancel. You see him do it too.

Man, this matchup is like hell for me. I go for the zoning/hit confirm strategy but then her staff renders it useless. I switch gears to rush her but then one mistake and she can get a very very long combo off. I don't know what to do. Should I be playing defensively here or offensively guys?

^ True true, but then his opponent would also be at "perfect play" too, which then throws us into the realm of very shady theory fighting as to whether "he knows that I know that he knows that I know that he knows what I'm thinking he knows" or not. Also, I guess since eventually, and with enough practice, someone WILL achieve perfect/near-perfect play, placements rely only on a character's capability to punish everyone else.

I always just throw in a 2B for safe measure.

I'm saying Rachel's zoning has failed if he gets a chain hit confirm. Admittedly, Hime-sama would have to stay at the very edge of the screen THE ENTIRE TIME, but it should be possible to reaction the short range lobelia to stop any chains coming in. Using the example, his counter can still be baited. Very punishable on whiff. :V I dunno, I always assumed the tiers were perfect play. I mean, otherwise, the difficulty of an input would factor into the tier placement. And to preempt any "Rachel's pillows can be baited" comments, yes, totally possible, but short range lobelias are safe enough to throw out that she can wait until the chain is at least halfscreen to do it, and if Hazama does cancel from that far, the recovery is enough that it doesn't leave the Princess open.

^ It's because if you're in the corner, you get two free combos. One is the launcher into Jakou that throws them back into the corner and then the other is when you get to pick them up again with 2B into the C mash. It's not that it's the most damaging, it's just that since he used Jayoku facing the corner, he had to get himself into position.

Yo, I was assuming perfect play for Hazama too. Otherwise he'd have dashed through the screen by now and either ate lightning or made it. :V Perfect play Rachel: Would not let anything through Perfect play Hazama: Hit confirm everything So if he can't hit confirm with the chains, he can't do anything. And if he can hit confirm with a normal then he already made it past Rachel's zoning, which I did say was terrible for our Hime-sama.

Her zoning actually works pretty well against Hazama since even if her lobelia whiffs, she ends up with a lightning rod. Even if you cancel the chain, that rod's still going to be there so no Hazama player is going to just blindly fly through those (unless he's got GUTS). Admittedly, one mistake (e.g. standing in a position that lets the chain clamp on to her) potentially ends in a BnB, but assuming perfect play (which I think is what the tiers are based on), she can keep him away. Though, yeah, the moment he's in...

True, but if she maintains her zoning it totally stalls the match since Hazama can't really dash in without eating lightning. Timeout's a legit strategy for our Hime-sama. :V Although, yeah, 50-50 seems a little too generous now that I think about it.

Moar Buzama.

lol, I like that combo. It makes people go "wut?". Most recent Buzama vid has this combo: Midscreen: ... j.214B# > RC > 44 > 4D~D > 2B > 5C > j.214B# Except he kinda dropped it, though that might have been a mistake on the 4D~D. EDIT: You know, I never really tried throwing a 214D~B in the middle of my combos. Though I think it should combo. But again, I've never tried so maybe you do need the RC. ._.

^ No, yeah, if he gets in then Rachel is going to have a hard time but it's getting in that's the problem. And the pillows cancel the chain on clash so he can't really do any spiderman shenanigans. Besides, flying through the air with lightning rods around? Suicide.

^ I think that was a "Jayoku OR 214D~B" Yeah, the Astral starts out with potential, and then it's like "here's a giant snake eating you." True about the music though. It is pretty neat.

Same thing applies to Hazama, which stops his easy hit confirm BnBs. To his advantage, it's not like stopping his chains are gonna stall his entire gameplan.

214D~B is your anti-ANYTHING. Very spammable as long as you're not being retarded. The RC seems like a total waste there since 214D~B combos into Jyakou, or at least with the help of a few Ds. Maybe it's 3C > RC > 214D~B? Or an easier one if you catch them in the air with 214D~A: 214D~A > 214D~B > Jyakou BnB And the astral is so sad. I mean, it's just a bunch of snakes. :V It's like all the budget went to Tsubaki. She has a new stage and her Astral is godly. We get a rehashed Noel stage and a bunch of Ds. D:

Yeah, the damage you get for 2D~D isn't really worth it considering how you can just cross them up and do the corner combo for phenomenal damage. Also, yeah, RC is more for showboating or if 1 more hit will kill them. Or when everyone starts complaining about how repetitive you're being. :V

Oh no, it's not TK. My bad. I meant, jump up then finish the combo with the C mash. Depending on how high they are, you might need to super jump that.