Digital Watches

1. Yeah, 63214S slides them whatever way you hit them, which means that if it doesn't cross up, it slides them forwards. I think it'll be a more viable option to start corner combos because of the slide. What I really want to know is how well 5K or c.S->2S will pop them up for combos, since I'm fairly certain that 2K prorates a ton. 2. I'd think just standard 2S, sj.H j.D FB Bomber/Bomber/Kokuu midscreen, bomber loops in the corner. Shiranami no Homura still has them floating well over long enough to get the setup, and it looks like that stuff is going to remain Axl's most damaging combo material.

Don't know if this is new in AC or not, but now Axl's Raeisageki FRC hits Potemkin, which may mean it hits Johnny as well.

Shoto: Those midscreen combos explain a lot: I was forgetting to do that dash on the first variation (Read: I didn't know that's how it was done) and that's probably why it seemed so hard. Now that I'm doing the dash, they're connecting a lot more easily. As far as the new B-loop goes, it not only seems like it's doing as much damage as in Slash, but there are also almost twice as many viable setups into it. A non-counterhit TK bomber as an overhead can lead into B-loop, as can a standard dust combo ended with a bomber, or, now that it has sliding properties, Raeisageki is a lot more viable as a setup (The variation I've been using is either Raeisageki, 2K, {2S, j.D, Bomber}-Repeat, eventually 2S, j.D, FB bomber, bomber. It also seems like you can pop them up with 5K), and combos off of throw/Tenhouseki seem to do actual damage now. Really, no setups in slash have ceased to work either, so it seems like Axl really gained a lot of options without losing any damage, which is super-awesome. Also: Pot-Only combos may not be super-powerful, but they're really funny and could be effective for stalling for time while still doing damage. Stuff like (Throw)+Short Dash+5P+2S+6K+2S+6K (One hit connects, then it's techable), or (Throw)+6K+2S+6K+2S. These could probably be stopped a little sooner or changed slightly to gain air followup options, but I haven't experimented with it too much yet.

Hm. You seem to be forgetting the highly situational "Surprise TK bomber combos" The new bomber is a great overhead with very little ground recovery, and can net better b-loops and in rare cases midscreen combos from hitting with it. Also, meaty/counterhit 6H seems to have improved quite a bit if you can hit with it, and also leads into many of these variations. I've also found throw to be a viable bomber loop setup in the corner, as well as the TK Kokuu FRC. Lastly, as you all probably know, the 214P/K counter now has a lot of potential for followups, mainly combos starting from 5P, 2S.

I dunno, now that the minimum height seems to be gone, I just do a standard TK, 6239H

Agreed with Kai, although it doesn't seem as bad as it was in Slash. Also: TK bomber as an overhead = Far too good.

Yeah, which is sweet, since it'll often net you a bomber loop if you're in the corner.

Hm. I seem to be having a bit of difficulty getting the super jump down in Axl's bnb throw combo. (Throw, 5P, 2S, sj.D, Bomber/Kokuu/FB Bomber) Is the timing tricky or is it just something I need to practice more?

Hahaha! Four FB Drill time stall. That's too hilarious. (The last set of vids, number 07, round 1)

AND SO IT BEGINS. When tournaments of this game are flooded with Testaments, I'll be glad I still play Axl, who, from the vids I've seen so far, looks super-awesome.

Thank you, motivator.

Dizzy General Strategy: With the ability to have a ton of shit on the screen and two airdashes, Dizzy can be a little scary for Axl. This match essentially boils down to "stay on top of her or you die." Spacing games: Firstly, when in a neutral situation, try to never be in Dizzy's IAD range. While an early 5P can hit her out of it, IAD j.2S is possibly the only aerial move in the entire game Axl simply can't easily deal with. Lucky for you, if she tries to airdash in from too far away, 5P will hit her even if she superjumps. Also, you should always try to not be where an ice spike can hit you when coming in from the air. Since you have 5P and IAD j.S to punish any and all summon attempts, Dizzy has to get you knocked down before she has any toys. Make sure not to throw out 5P or 2P or any poke really when Dizzy is in neutral, as a lot of Dizzy players have the mistaken impression that throwing out an ice spike randomly in hopes to counterhit you is a good idea, and letting them do it will just encourage this behavior. You can bait it for a free knockdown with rensen if it gets too annoying. When you throw something out at long range, do it on reaction to Dizzy trying to jump or summon something. If Dizzy DOES get a fish and rush in, no matter how strong the temptation, do NOT default to Housoubako. You will hit the fish and Dizzy will get her knockdown, and once she gets a knockdown, it's basically GGPO Axl. Speaking of which, Dizzy players who know the matchup well will play conservative and fish for a knockdown. If this happens, you have little to fall back on, but here's some stuff that's good to try: Defense: It's hard for Dizzy to get in, but once she does, the Japanese matchup assessment starts to make sense. Being in blockstun or knocked down in any way is highly to Dizzy's advantage, and between fish on the screen and her huge throw range she has some tick-throws that are a bitch for anyone to get out of, let alone Axl, who is probably the character worst equipped to deal with tickthrows in general. In short, defense is hard as hell and Axl can't get out very easily. It's VERY hard to FD her out as well, as you have to deal with fish while she dashes back in, so you want to be IBing and chicken-blocking (To avoid tickthrows) as often as possible. Benten (only by virtue of being throw-invincible a little bit), f.S, 2K, 5K, and sometimes 3P are your poking options, and first you have to gain frame advantage. Remember that hitting Dizzy is much better than hitting the fish, but that you have to watch out for the fish, too. In my opinion, this match is up there with Eddie and Venom as far as being hard to break out of pressure in, so try to avoid losing momentum in the first place. Pros: -Dizzy can't easily summon from neutral -Dizzy can't easily approach from the air if she's too far away to cross up. -Dizzy's big hitbox in the air makes her very easy to combo for Axl. In the corner, he can do horrible, horrible things to her for not much meter, bringing his overall damage output up significantly. Cons: -Axl has no viable way to get out of Dizzy's lockdown/Oki, so a knockdown could well be game over -j.2S at ideal range isn't something Axl can deal with very well -Tickthrows with added range are a bitch My opinion: HH calls this 6-4 Dizzy's advantage. I used to think it was a little better than that for Axl, but now I'm almost inclined to agree. Either way, Axl is solid enough overall to be tough for Dizzy when in neutral, but really suffers on the defensive, moreso probably than against most other characters.

Millia Rage General strategy: Millia's probably got some of the scariest mixup in the game on oki (A lot of which is unreactable), and it's a safe bet that the millia you're playing knows how to use it. Learn to fucking block, and make sure not to do anything too stupid. Anti-Air: Axl has a huge problem in this matchup: His AA game gets destroyed by Millia's pin, and a CH pin is something you don't want to get hit by. Basically, be very careful when Millia does have her pin, try to get her to throw one when you can block, and then puppyguard that thing like your life depends on it. Some people say go for Housou against it, but I disagree. She can block Shiranami just fine, and if you DON'T shiranami, you just get thrown. Millia likes to approach from the air, and if she doesn't have that pin, she's as much a sitting duck there as any other character. Keep it that way if at all possible. For 2K her only good anti-lowprofile air normal is j.K as far as I know, and she has to do it very low, which is not a normal part of millia's approach. Go ahead and duck under pretty much any IAD attempt, especially j.D. Waking up: Like I said before, Millia's oki is going to be a bitch to block, but you have to learn it. Her basic pattern is always going to be to put a disc on top of you and go high-low-crossup while you're forced to block it. If it's a FB disc, you cannot reversal out, period. If it's an H disc, you can get out of exactly one mixup, and that's Iron Savior. Even though it's low, it's apparently enough off the ground to get beaten by S Benten sometimes, so if Millia gets greedy, you can sometimes go for that (If it's super deep, it does hit low enough to beat S Benten, but will trade with H benten). Of course, she can always FRC and block, so don't be too confident in it working. Other than that, you just want to block. She isn't amazing at keeping pressure going, so once you block that one mixup, you have to worry about a short string and maybe a throw attempt. If she goes for bad moon and doesn't FRC it, you get to punish her a lot of the time, everything else you kind of have to wait out. If you're afraid of throws or just think you can't react, you can try to 1FJ out of anything if you can do it on reversal, but if you do it too much you might get airthrown, and for Pete's sake, remember to have enough meter to FD or you'll just get smacked by a c.S half the time. Going for throw will work sometimes, but never do it, because Millia can bait that shit all day and gets to combo you into knockdown for trying. Neutral: This may just be me being old-fashioned, but I try not to do anything too slow and low against millia. IADing over stuff is a great way for her to get in, and she'll take the opportunity where she can. Go for 3P and f.S when she's running in, and get in yourself with things like 2K or air stuff. Once you get her into your pressure, she's no different from any other character. No real reversals to speak of besides super, which is actually pretty fast, so try to avoid doing anything too risky when she has 50+ meter. Don't go for 2K in that situation, or Bomber, or 6H, just do something safe and FRCable (Raei, 2H, Benten), or run and faultless to bait it if she's way too antsy. If you feel ballsy and are sure she'll do it, you can smack her with 63214H just like any other high-recovery reversal, but that's all flashiness. Watch out for roll and fuck her up for doing it. 2H, 3P, 2K, and throw are all good tools for this. You'd think she'd be able to roll out of Rashou, but she can't, so that works as well as it does against anyone. One thing to remember is that you should probably go for knockdown from every combo on millia, and doing so off of throw is very hard, so going for throw-->Rensen is probably your best bet. Pros: -Small throw range means Millia has to work for those tick throws. -No reversal besides super, so you get to oki her most of the time. -Benten beating iron savior is still way too cool. Cons: -Pin makes it hard to AA. Luckily she only has one. -Oki mixup is way too strong -Airdashes make it a little harder to see where she'll get hit in the air, but that just means you have to be a bit faster on the draw. My opinion: 5-5 dead even. This match is a lot of hard work for Axl, but it's not in Millia's favor like some would claim. She gets to rush in a lot when she has a pin, but if you're smart, you can make life hard for her, especially from the air. If nothing else, Axl can win the war of attrition hands down. You only need two good combos to kill her (One and a half if they're corner combos), whereas she has to get you to guess wrong at least three or four times to eat your lifebar.

This is probably the lamest joke ever, but what the hell.

Hijacking this! This thread is for posting videos and discussing them. The main intention is to post matches played by members here for constructive criticism, however, if you feel that something like a Japanese match video would contribute to the discussion or prove a point, feel free to post it here as well. What we should avoid is just posting random Japanese matches and saying "Awesome!" or "Syuuto is my hero," since DL has a whole video forum for that. Original first post of thread below.

That depends on the character. A lot of characters have setups that require you to superjump, whereas some things won't work with a superjump. I don't know much about Anji, but I'm fairly certain a few of his combos won't work without super-jumping. With Axl, as another example, a TK Bomber will hit lower if a superjump is used in the TK motion, which is useful in numerous situations.