Skankin Garbage

Without really seeing what's going on, I can offer two pieces of general advice: 1. If you are practicing this game anywhere else but on an emulator, know that Vampire Savior is meant to run at 59 Frames Per Second while GGPO (and probably all other emus) run it at 60 FPS. I've heard that for some people this can make a huge difference in their timing. Even in my case, without having known that for the longest time, I noticed that sometimes, certain maneuvers simply felt easier when I wasn't on GGPO. So, if you're practicing somewhere else, you might just wanna practice on an emulator. 2. The single biggest problem I see with people in this game is that they try to use their knowledge from other fighting games. Yes, there are certainly some things you can learn from other fighters that will help you in Vampire Savior; however, a lot of familiar features from other games are implemented much differently in Vampire Savior. It's a game which requires players to empty their cups, so to speak. Sorry if none of this helps, but it's hard to give specific advice without watching you guys in action. If you see me on feel free to ask me to spec (or anyone, actually - there's a lot of good players around that would love to help).

I would like to bring up the fact that in this situation for Jedah, the better thing to do is S.Lp. Here's why, from the perspective of a "DOG" player: From the ideal distance that Kyle mentions for pegging jumps early with Jedah's S.Mp, there's three things that Talbain players will have a propensity to try: 1. Dash (short hop or D.Mk, D.Lk link) 2. Jump. 3. BC/ES BC. Let's go down the list. 1. From this distance, S.Lp is extremely effective because it will stop Talbain's dashes. Seriously. Like, every day. All the time. It's ridiculous. Once Talbain learns this (and you'll have to do the work to make them realize it), they'll see that dashing isn't *actually* an option unless they've got you waaaaay off guard. 2. But wait! S.Lp won't stop an early jump attempt! This is true; however, it WILL recover with more than enough time for you to try whatever AA is suitable for you: Nero Fatica, C.Mk (not likely from this range - must be a bit farther out), or just AG (start with S.Lk as an option select for empty-jump-command-throw shenanigans). You might be reading this, outraged, and want to tell me "Dude, you don't get it. AAing with Nero Fatica is hard. Dude, yo, it's hard, yo. Yo, dude, get this, it's hard." I've heard it all before, and I really understand. I understand the concept of something being ideal on paper and difficult in practice. On the other hand, if you've truly chosen to main Jedah, then knowing the proper ranges and timings to AA with Nero Fatica is something you should be more than happy to learn and practice, as it will benefit you greatly in the long run. Once you get this, the REAL mind game is whether or not Talbain is going to jump-in with a normal attack, or do an Air BC mid-trajectory. Don't forget that you can always AG. 3. The wild-card to this whole "Just throw a S.Lp" trick is ground Beast Cannons. S.Lp can beat them, and S.Lp will probably recover in time to block a Normal BC before it connects. However, an ES BC can potentially "beat" S.Lp if done at a precise timing; it requires the Jedah player to S.Lp very late, or it requires Talbain to perform an ES BC just a hair late, hitting Jedah's S.Lp on recovery (i.e too risky to try every time and impossible to do on reaction to a jab). Since this is the only thing that can technically beat the S.Lp trick, and it's extremely high-risk for Talbain (losing this exchange will give Jedah the offensive advantage), you won't see him try this very often. So, when in this situation, try and reprogram yourselves to try this instead. Do whatever you need to do to buff your AA game - learn the timings, learn the spacings, practice your 1-hit AG like crazy. Do this, and the S.Lp defense will work wonders for you in this matchup.

I do something similar when I go for empty jump/command throw. Sometimes when I set this up, I do it intentionally so that I'll jump behind the opponent, either to (hopefully) mess up their AA attempt or (hopefully) get them to think I'm setting up a crossup. As I'm jumping over them, I'll buffer the HCB motion, and even though "back" is "towards" by the time I land, the Command Throw still executes perfectly. This is a pretty cool application of the concept, though.

So, does anyone here actually have firsthand experience trying the Saturn version? I'm thinking of buying it to see what's good, as soon as I have the money. As for the input lag in Versus Mode...I've almost never played 2P mode, but I've never had a rough time pulling off any precise maneuvers (at least, no more than usual), so I'd say the Input Lag isn't extreme. The bigger peculiarity is that the "Tech Hit" noise when performing an AG comes like, a full second after the AG. It's really, really weird. I should stress, however, that the Training Mode is just fine. It's probably the best way to practice combos while also looking at each attack's/combo's white, red, and total damage.

What frame data are you looking at? Bishamon and Jedah have roughly the same speed normals, but Bish has a lot of slower normals. Jedah also has a 4-frame startup attack, and Bish has no attack that fast. Also...Overhead LK? Also, keep in mind that knowing the Frame Data is not the same thing as knowing the timing. You might have frame advantage but if you don't know exactly when you can attack again, it doesn't always matter. This is especially true in VS where people need to hit attack buttons in order to pushblock; if they attempted a pushblock and you attacked way too late, it'll look like they're just coming out of hitstun mashing the Jab button.

Well, imo there's only two things Talbain has to bait GCs: 1. C.Lk - This is your main way to do it. Even though the frame data is the exact same as C.Lp, the hixbot itself is much safer. Learn the spacing for max range when you're expecting GCs. 2. S.Mp - This is only good for GCs that don't reach forward (i.e Demon Cradles), and I suppose it could be good for baiting GCs that are really slow to start up, like Hsien-Ko's. In any case, I don't use it often; the hitbox is rather unsafe (with Talbain's vulnerable hitbox extending almost all the way down his extended arm), and it only has two active hit frames, making it rather hard to time as a meaty. If anything, learn to bait GCs by just halting your offense for a moment; except for with characters who have no normal DP move (i.e Jedah, Rapter), they will just whiff their move, allowing you to counter-attack it.

Your longest air chain is not J.Lk -> J.Mk -> J.Hk. Actually, I'd probably never use that one. Instead, the longest chain you can do is J.Mp -> J.Mk -> J.Hp -> J.Hk. Also, another thing you can do is just do J.Mk xx Beast Cannon. In the case of Q-Bee...this might be a little advanced, but you shouldn't even be trying to force an air block from her; if she is floating when she blocks your air chain, she can get a free combo every single time. Can you elaborate? Why, exactly, are you trying to bait push blocks with Talbain in the first place?

Well, this is just a bit of speculation, but I always found that it's virtually impossible to do it without moving back to 6. I'm pretty sure that a lot of special moves in this game won't trigger if the last direction input you did was not the last directional input for the move itself. Hence, we have: - 236 for Beast Cannon; the move input ends at 6. - 9 for the jump; obviously needed for the instant air BC. - 6 again, to end the entire sequence at 6, the final directional input of the special move. It might even be that you have to be holding the final direction input for the move to work at all; I know that at least a few moves work that way. However, I lack the empirical evidence to make that claim about every single move.

I do two things: 1. Do 1236+P, or 2. Go just a hair too far when throwing the fireball...like, I'll do 236, but I'll even start to move my thumb towards 9 before I press Punch.

You can do just fine, trust me. Just make sure you find an effective way to AG with your button configuration.

Honestly, the impossible-to-react mixups only bother me with Sas and Rapter, because they can sweep, overhead, or early-AA virtually the whole cast from about the exact same range. Like, if you were to take Talbain, he gains and loses these options depending on his proximity - some options disappear when he's too far away, and some even disapear when he's too close. While he can set up a mixup that's virtually impossible to react to, he can't do it from a 'neutral' situation like Sas and Rapter can. Thus, they can create a situation where it's dangerous to block low, block high, jump, AG, not try an AG (due to command throws), GC, or Dark Force any time they are in range to hit an opponent while on the ground.

Hey, man. Sorry it took so long; I just wanted to be as thorough as possible. A. Hard Bread vs. Rithli - 0:18: I know that Climb Razor is the fastest way to build meter; however, most characters in this game can provide a reasonable threat from near full-screen, and Jedah is no exception. Stick do using empty J.Mk, J.Hk because if things look like trouble during your J.Mk, you've got a lot of time to replace that J.Hk with something else that might suit the situation better. - 0:21: Careful against Jedah's glide. This is Jedah's main method of killing you...or really anybody, I'd bet. It's his easiest way to get a knockdown, and if Jedah can knock you down, you're in a LOT of trouble. - 0:29: I'm interested to know what you were trying as Jedah was getting up? - 0:33: You probably know this now, but pay a lot of attention to your spacing if you're gonna jump in against Jedah. You really have to get good at mixing it up between a normal jump-in and a kara-BC from far ranges like the one at this spot in the vid where you got pegged. This happens to you a few times, so learn this lesson well. - 0:35: Be wary of trying to stick moves out in-between Jedah's block strings; Normal xx ES Wheel is a brutal frame trap if you're hit, but is AG-bait - and your ticket out of trouble - if blocked. - 1:52: If you're looking for a go-to combo when activating Dark Force, try C.Lp, C.Mk XX Beast Cannon 66 (deactivate). - 2:46: This was really nice pressure you were putting on Rithli. Be sure to gauge what your opponent is doing, though; this was the perfect time for a Dash combo. Also, from farther ranges like where you did the C.Mk XX Beast Cannon, try an ES version, as it might have been fast enough to punish Rithli's jab in its startup frames. - 3:23: If you wanna get that final hit on your ES BC, try ending with 1 (3 if you were on the other side) rather than 2 (so, 4 7 2 8 1). - 4:53: I wanted to give special attention to the way you tried to sweep on wakeup. That's a very good idea, and I rarely see Talbain players do this. Even though it didn't work, don't give that up! General notes vs. Jedah: - When jumping forward near Jedah, be mindful not to rise with J.Mk, as it will hit Jedah and leave you floating in the air, defenseless. Try to remember to use J.Mp as you rise instead. - Jedah can stuff early jump-in attempts with his S.Mp...just, in general, be careful jumping in against a good Jedah; he can handle Talbain's jumps better than most people realize. B. Hard Bread vs. Apollo, Part 1: - 0:23: When you come down and whiff an attack, you should try a command throw. In fact, you should really try feigning a jump-in into command throw more often; Talbain's command throw is extremely fast and has a lot of invincible frames. - 3:41: That drill is really hard to punish with a ground combo; I suggest reseting Rapter with a S.Lp and just going from there. - 3:50: I don't know if you tried to do this; but, if you're gonna try and AA BC someone in the corner, try 9 1 8 4 8. This is a good one to know in general, as it's the standard sequence for Guard Cancels. Hard Bread vs. Apollo, Part 2: - 0:37: Crossover BC on wakeup isn't as effective against IAD characters...simply because people who play them tend to jump right away. So, when you do a 6 4 crossover, you gotta hit 4 as quick as possible. This is generally true if you want to land this anyways, but keep in mind that it's a really unsafe maneuver - a smart player will just block it every time and punish. Use this trick to keep people honest. - 0:50: It may not be relevant in this situation, cos you got blocked anyways...But, this is the main reason I don't try walk-forward ES BCs. You have to change your sequence depending on whether or not you get the Horizontal or Diagonal BC, and it's generally too fast to hit-confirm the sequence. If you simply must do it, I would start doing the BC motion as if it were a HCF motion to eliminate any chance of getting a Diagonal. - 0:53: Early J.Lk can beat this move, instead of trading in Rapter's favor...big time. - 1:28: I can't fault you for doing this combo, since I think Climb Razor is probably Talbain's most meter-efficient move in terms of Red Damage vs. White Damage and reliability...but, just be careful. It sucks to have an ES Climb Razor blocked or whiffed. Like, a lot. - 4:07: Just like the 6 4 crossover, be careful doing 6 6/9/8. This is a risky move if blocked, and you don't want to take big risks if you corner your opponent - you're cornering them so THEY can take huge risks! - 5:22: 6 8 9 9 3. Say it one-hundred times, then go practice it one-hundred times. 6 9 whiffs Rapter and Demi; 6 8 8 whiffs Lilith. 2 Whiffs almost everyone. Thus, your corner sequence, now and forever, is 6 8 9 9 3. - 5:56: ...Lol! General notes vs. L.Rapter: - You can't just go balls out on Rapter. His air dash pretty much gives him the advantage in neutral situations. If you jump in and whiff, you're eating an air dash combo. If you jump in and get chicken guarded, you're eating a free air dash combo. If he jumps at you at the same time and does J.Hk, he's gonna get the rest almost every time, and then you're flipping a coin with 30% of your life plus a knockdown. At the beginning of the fight, move back (I try to dash back almost every time), and be ready to do an AA BC as soon as he commits to a dash. Obviously, you can't sit on the floor like a jackass and wait, or else he'll know exactly what you're doing. Do whatever you can to disguise the fact that you're waiting for his full-screen air dash. Also, learn to trust your S.Lp as an anti-air against IADs from all characters that can do so - not just Rapter. Once you get the knockdown or a reset, THEN you go in and do your thing. Get very used to this - no disrespect to Apollo, but a better Rapter would have torn your face off for trying to rush the way you did. And, once he figures a few things out, you're gonna be in serious trouble if you haven't leveled up. C. Hard Bread vs. More4YourBuck: - I have no specific notes. General notes vs. Q-Bee: - When you land from an attack and she's in the air...stand up and block. Learn this, and you will be extremely powerful. A lot of people never learn this. In fact, it's something that you can apply as Talbain, too: try doing a dash attack right after a chain like C.Lp -> C.Lk -> C.Mp -> C.Mk. A lot of people don't do the smart thing and try and hit you out of your dash; they either jump back (potentially dangerous), or crouch block after getting hit by the chain (100% bad all the time, since you've already pushed yourself out of range for anything else BUT a dash attack or a BC which can be blocked standing). People do the same thing if you land a max range jump attack. You'll be too far out of range to hit with anything low, but they'll block low anyways. Abuse this...and more importantly, versus characters that can do instant overheads of any kind...don't get abused! - Don't AG too much against Q-Bee, especially on her ground pressure. Just focus on blocking until you see a clear moment to riposte or escape. If the Bee player is being really predictible, or you're sure you know what they're gonna do next, THEN you can AG. This is generally good advice against all high/low characters (Jedah, Rapter, Bee, Sas, Hsien, Morrigan). - Q-Bee players, after being reset in the air, tend to hold down-back. The smarter ones try to AG. The REALLY smart ones AG and mix in her command throw, since it's by far the most powerful one in the game in terms of priority. You won't fight a lot of REALLY smart Q-Bee players, though, so respond to their blocking/AG in kind by just running your HK Throw Option Select all day on them. The best thing is, if they wise up, you can still beat their command throw by doing a meaty low. If you find yourself getting hit by a command throw when trying this, give them a few meaty C.Hk's and see how they respond. - Let me tell you a story about wakeup versus Q-Bee: I once had the honor of playing some games on GGPO versus OraOra, aka OraQ, one of the best Q-Bee players in the world. The first time I played him, he beat the shit out of me. The second time I played him - the very next day - after I took some notes and did some homework...well, he still won more games than I did, but I didn't get laid flat, either. Now, OraOra was (and probably still is) a better player than me, so how did instantly make such a remarkable turnover? Simple. Q-Bee players just can't stop jumping back on wakeup. They don't do it every time, but even the best Bee players are going to try it. The moral of the story: Diagonal BC, or MAX RANGE C.Hp -> C.Hk for wakeup. Do this until they stop jumping all day. If that time never comes, you can win almost entirely on this. If they finally stop jumping, THEN you can try your normal wakeup game. Until then, though... D. General notes for Hard Bread: 1. Try and learn to anticipate being chicken-guarded. I see a lot of times when you jump in, your J.Mk will be blocked, and you'll follow up with nothing. The instant your rising J.Mk becomes a habit with no thought behind it, you have a huge problem on your hands. Try becoming more conscious of this, so you can possibly do longer air chains (like, starting on MP for example). If you have a specific reason you want to rise with J.Mk, start running an Option Select where you immediately hit J.Hp afterwards, too. If the J.Mk connects, you'll start an air chain. Otherwise, you won't get a J.Hp and you're free to continue with whatever move you please. Finally, doing J.Mk xx Air BC can effectively punish people for trying to chicken guard you as well, by countering their chicken guard with a knockdown. It's not always fast enough to beat their attack; but, if it's not, then you gained a little meter, and you'll be a bit farther away than before, since the beginning of Talbain's BC stops his forward momentum. 2. When you're playing shorter characters like Rapter and Bee, you've got to break your bad habit of falling from the air with only J.Hp and J.Hk. In fact, it's a worthwhile endeavor to break that habit against the entire cast. Specifically, there needs to be a lot more J.Lk in your repertoire. It has possibly the best priority of all Talbain's jumping attacks, and it's one of the most beastly crossups in the whole game. 3. I wouldn't go for C.Mk xx ES Beast Cannon every single opportunity you get. For one, it's not so easy to hit-confirm. For two, if it's blocked, it's total GC Bait against anyone with the balls to go for it. For three, if it's blocked, you've removed most of the pressure you've put on your opponent. For four, the more you do other stuff like mix up your high/low/throws, the more damage you're likely to do. And finally, throwing the ES BC into your block strings can be a frame trap if done from farther distances. Doing a jump-in into C.Mk XX ES BC has its place when you know for sure it's gonna land. Also, consider the opponent's health when doing that combo, too; if you can kill them without the meter, why use it? 4. Just so you know, the ES Wild Circular only does about a jab's worth of additional damage, does not start quicker, and has no additional frames of invulnerability. It's best to save that meter for something else. Wild Circular, however, totally rules. Do at least ten in a match. Maybe twenty. 5. Picking Dark Talbain is not as good as regular Talbain, as his low health damage scaling defense bonus doesn't come into effect as early as regular Talbain's. The Dragon Cannon may look more beastly, but the hitbox is actually the exact same. Let's apply this advice to all of your videos :P 6. Your game is going to suffer greatly if the only thing you do is jump, land, and Beast Cannon. It's absolutely imperative that you incorporate command throw into your game, as well as dashes. Work on comboing into a dash, and work on your dash links. For example, I see you cornering people a lot, but you don't do much besides neutral J.Hp and hope for a combo. Your ground combos get AG'd a lot, too. This is a perfect time to apply pressure, do some frame traps, dash-in, do an empty jump into command throw (the trick is to make it look like you're not going for an empty jump; be sure to whiff some attacks while you're at it).

If you're doing Short Hops - that is, trying to manually cancel your dash - AND do Dash Links at the same time, that's never gonna work. If you do a Short Hop, you're doing it to combo a single dashing attack into a ground chain. A Dash Link implies that the entire dash runs its course. To do a dash link properly, you have to execute the first dash attack immediately after starting the dash. That's the reason I've listed which dash links work on which characters; if you try and do a Dash Link on a short character, the first attack will just fly right over them, making it useless. Also, as stated above, you can't Short Hop AND Dash Link, because you barely even have enough time to throw out one normal after manually canceling your dash. Thus, use Short Hop J.Lp on shorties, cos it's much easier to cross them up than it is to cross up other characters. As for what combos, there's a few things you could do: - C.Lp -> C.Lk -> C.Mp -> C.Mk: This is one of the most damaging combos you can do after landing from a dash, and if they're a tall character, it sets up the spacing perfectly for the D.Mk, D.Lk Dash Link. - C.Lp -> C.Lk - C.Hk: You'll eventually get a feel for whether or not you're in range to do the first chain, and when you're not, this might be a better chain to go for. - C.Lp -> C.Mp: This one is ideal if you Short Hop with D.Mk, because you won't be in range to do the other chains. If you are...you should have Short Hopped with D.Lk. - C.Lp -> S.Mk -> S.Hp: This is technically the highest-damage chain that will always be in range after a D.Lk; but, it whiffs certain characters when crouching, and is just awkward to do in general. - C.Lp XX ES Beast Cannon: I wouldn't do this, mainly because the damage scaling will be so terrible on this...especially after a Dash Link. You've simply done too many hits by this time. - C.Lp XX Moment Slice: ...Good luck.

I can't remember doing something like that specifically to cross them up. There are two things I'm thinking of when you describe this: 1. If I'm in the air, and I do a 3 BC (that is, diagonally down-towards), it will sometimes completely miss, fly over my opponent, and push them out of the corner, putting me in the corner. 2. Sometimes, when people roll towards me, I like to do 6 (cross over their rolling body), 4 (a bit late, intentionally leaving them enough time to get caught in an AG trap).

It's a bit of both. If someone doesn't (or won't) keep Talbain honest, you can get away with a lot of outrageous stuff, and unsafe BCs are the biggest one. The truth of the matter is that a lot of people are just too scared to try and punish Talbain, so it's not hard against most players to do sketchy crap. At the same time, BC mixups are a really important part of playing Talbain's game, so you do have to do some things. Know what's safe, know what's not, and take calculated risks. I might post a more in-depth explanation of mixups, mind games, and uses for BC in the future. I'm trying to think of what you're talking about with this Dragon Punch BC crossup. You should let me know if you ever see me do it again, heh.

I don't know exactly...but, based on the fact that you can get Jabbed out of it, SRK'd out of it, Big Towers'd out of it, Death Voltage'd out of it, DI/LI'd out of it, or combo'd as you land into a DI/LI/Moment Slice/Tenraiha/BB Hood Infinite/Dancing Flash/either of Rapter's EX moves...I'd say, there's enough frames of disadvantage that you don't really wanna dick around. This isn't even considering the fact that it's virtually GC bait if you're predictable with it, either. BC and ES BC aren't half as safe as they appear to be.

All of them. The only BC that isn't unsafe on block is diagonal-downward, and even that's unsafe if you're too high up when it's blocked.

The two methods that I know of are: 1. Buffer Hcb (or Towards to Defensive Crouch for blocking lows), then hit Offensive Crouch + P during block stun 2. Buffer a DP motion, and then hold block, hitting Punch during block stun.

No problem! Let me know if you have any questions.

Yeah. It's not always bad to be in throw range, but you have to condition your opponent to not try and throw you. If you're right on top of them every time, then of course they're gonna do the command throw every single time - why the hell not?

I'd have to know the exact situation. If he's going for command throw on you as you get up, he's always going to lose, because you have three frames of throw invulnerability. Thus, if he tries to throw you at all - normal or command throw - within the first three frames of you getting up, a throw won't even come out - he'll just get a normal move. Since Felicia's Command Throw's active grabbing frames are 2-8, it'll be faster than any of Talbain's normals, and thus, it will lose to pretty much anything he tries when you get up...provided he's in range to be thrown. In any normal situation, though, Talbain's should theoretically win; both have active grab frames on 2-8, but Talbain's has 9 frames of invulnerability, and Felicia has none. Neither throw has different frame data for their ES counterparts.

For starters, what do you mean by "double overheads"? If you're talking about dash links, you absolutely can use them on Rik and Felicia. Both conventional dash-links work on Rikuo (Mk, Lk and Lk, Lp), and Felicia can be hit by Lk, Lp in the corner. Otherwise, how are they beating you? I'll give you a few things work knowing for both; but it'll be easier to assess your problems when I hear what you're trying, and how you're getting beat. Here's a quick list of things I consider when fighting both. Rikuo: - Start with a neutral jump and hold back; your ground attacks are not going to beat his, and you can deal with any opener easily by responding to what he does. - Jump towards Rikuo cautiously; Poison will hit you out of everything, and it will hit you a lot, even if you think your jump is going to clear it. Hint: it probably won't. Lots of neutral jumps when neither player has the offensive advantage. - Watch for Rik players who try to play a 'ghetto ST Guile' sort of game. They will do a projectile, move in a bit, jump back to charge (as if it weren't painfully obvious), and then throw another projectile immediately after hitting the ground. If you notice a Rik doing this pattern, just hit them with a full-screen ES Beast Cannon; they've earned it. - Rikuo doesn't have the most fantastic Guard Cancel around, so you can bully him, especially if the Rikuo player doesn't AG very often. If you get good at mixing dash links into your ground rush, you can really take it to him. - Spacing-wise, your goal is to stay in the middle of the playfield; this match is technically in Rik's favor because Talbain has virtually no options for getting out of Bubble Traps. So, if you get knocked down, use it to your advantage and put yourself as far away from a corner as possible with your roll. - Your options for dealing with Bubble Trap: Guard Cancel (if they follow the Bubble with a dash attack), Roll forward INTO the Bubble (if they are not waiting to see how you react, they'll probably hit you out of it on accident). You can also jump up and either attack/Chicken Guard and counter (if he jumps towards you with an attack), ES BC - 3 8 6 ? ? (for if they wait on the ground to AA/AG you back into the Bubble). If Rik follows the Bubble up with a dash attack, you could theoretically Dark Force and P Throw him before your invulnerability runs out too, but that is kind of a big risk. Still, it would set up your Dark Force unblockable gloriously. I may test this, heh. Felicia: - Your jump is going to get owned. Felicia is one of the only characters in VS that has a definitive, easy answer for Talbain's jump-ins (her C.Mp can beat all your jump attacks, although she has to time it well). On top of that, if she meets you mid-air, her J.Hp is likely to beat your attack or initiate a throw if you try and Chicken Guard. Both of her supers can work as anti-air, and using her Dark Force to evade and counter your jump-in is a very fortuitous setup for her. So, choose your jumps carefully. - If you jump in on Felicia, you will have to choose between two options: J.Lk, or Air BC. The main difference here is that you're altering the timing on your attacks to get past her AA. - In terms of spacing, you want to get fairly close to Felicia in neutral situations. This makes it so that you can easily anti-air her attacks. This puts you at a fair amount of risk on the ground, as you can easily put yourself in her sweep range by positioning yourself that close. Thus, you want to do occasional TK Beast Cannons, too. Err on the side of being slightly too far away to AA than being slightly too close; you can always AG her jump-ins, which still takes the wind out of her rush. The worst thing to do is simply block her AA, though; as that's more-or-less the best possible situation for her. - Your Guard Cancel is quite effective on Felicia, especially against novice/intermediate players who don't incorporate overheads into her rushdown. If this is the case, let her have it. Also, be sure to look for patterns where you can be certain a ground attack will come next. For example, many Felicia players like to continue attacking with normals after a blocked Cat Spike. Look for this habit and punish accordingly. - While it's true that keeping your attack strings short during your rushdown is effective against all characters, it can be really powerful against Felicia players who like to Guard Cancel. Her Guard Cancel can either shut down your rush hardcore, or be a huge opening in her defenses; it all depends on how you use your pressure strings. Keep 'em short, and stick to light attacks and overheads until you have a hit-confirm.

The only thing I'd say is, you don't really need to be using it. Since Talbain's more often-used air normals are his kicks, there's not really much of an opportunity for the air throw. I'm pretty sure it's possible to press towards+P in between air normals (as crazy as that sounds), but for the most part, just don't worry about it - it's damn near your only disadvantage in the air, so just work around it.

Ehh. Some fights, that's just better, honestly. There are some matches where it's no good to fly around like a jackass until you have the offensive advantage (vs. Demi, Victor, Felicia), while some matches are best fought by jumping as if the floor was covered in hot coals (BB Hood, Bishamon, Rikuo). Let haters hate - when you gotta jump, jump.

Well, a Kara-Cancel by definition is canceling a move that doesn't connect. While the most common applications of Kara-Cancels that we think of (i.e Kara-Throws in 3S) don't/can't take advantage of the canceled move's active frames, there are plenty of examples where you use the active frames in tandem with the move you're canceling into - a good example is ST Ryu's foot sweep. In Vampire Savior, many normals - especially air normals - can be kara-canceled while the active frames of the attack are out. All of Talbain's cancelable air normals can be kara-canceled during active frames (they can, of course, be canceled before the active frames, but that's for building meter, and isn't a practical offensive maneuver). I'm pretty sure all of Morrigan's can, too. Another thing I didn't mention is, this is the only way in the game that most characters can throw out a normal move on the ascent of their jump, and still do a special move. Normally, if you do a normal attack in the air, you're forbidden from doing specials until you land; however, Kara-Cancels will bypass this effect with any character that has air specials.