Eclipse

This is the truth, haha. And in all honesty, that dash is important in a lot of situations to maximize damage. Specifically during combos where 214D~C leaves you out of range.

Yeah, 214D~B has its uses in a blockstring, but it's really gimmicky, and professional players will usually find a way around it. But that's what it is I guess, a useful gimmick to bait or catch someone off guard. I prefer my command throw, 214D~A, and honestly... Good prediction and hitconfirms from his drive, j.B, j.2C, and even Dash B. Since Hazama's pressure is so poor. I focus more on Counter Hits, and out predicting my opponent with anti-airs, etc.

So, 3C > 720D then? I'll try it, and thanks for confirming that 163C2143D works kinker, I'll test my luck with that as well.

^ Hey, those snakes may be old CGI, but they're just as beautiful. Haha, and seeing Hazama as Terumi is pretty awesome too. I'll try to confirm the forward throw thing in a few days. And yeah, 623D, Backthrows in corner, and 3C are the primary three ways to combo into your Astral. 3C's the most practical, but you have to be extremely fast with the input. I'm going to try buffering 3C and the Astral all in one motion, and see how it works. I'll let you guys know with my results. Something to the effect of: 163C2143D Wish me luck guys. I'm really looking for new original combos with Hazama. Getting so much hate mail about spamming the same combo, since j.214B# tends to be a part of every combo, people think I just spam over and over again... It gets pretty annoying after a while. 623D corner combos and any combos involving either distortion drive are pretty awesome, so I'm still looking around for new stuff.

I'll try that out, but I'm not used to buffering two moves into the same motion. I can buffer during the ending animation of a move, but combining two inputs is something I'll have to get used to I guess.

It's not as strict as it seems when you get used to it. Two keys here. 1. Make sure they're high enough after the 623D, so you have more time for MR. 2. Most importantly, buffer the 632146 motion during the ending animation of 623D, makes it much easier. Personally, I find Mu-12's loop combo, challenge 8 I believe, maybe 7, to be undoable. The corner loop is easy as hell, and I can do it flawlessly everytime. But following up with the distortion drive is impossible. Do I need to delay something to create more time? Or do I have to input the 632146C in 1/100th of a second after the 2B? Any advice here guys? Thanks, haha.

Very well put Kazukifafner. Blockstrings are all about mixing things up and having many options, which Hazama has good access to. Unpredictability is more important than pressure with Hazama, since... well.... his pressure is awful. Keep the blockstrings relatively short, but out-predict your opponent, and the results will be great. Unfortunately all I practically do is 5B > 3C > 214D~A/C... since my muscle memory is dictating my blockstrings more than my actual mind at the time. Old habits die hard I guess.

When picked off from an anti-air, it can be much easier, and even hit other members of the cast. This is because your opponent can be hit farther away or higher in the air, making the followup from 623D less tight and possible on over half of the cast.

^ If only I had this advice during the long hours it took me to beat score attack, haha. But now it's finally finished, and I have unlimited Hazama now. I'm sure that'll definitely help a lot of people though.

I always dash into 236C after a regular blockstring. Or after a 5B hit. Just try to make your dashes unpredictable or you'll get hit out of them. Personally, I've had the best use when my opponent neutral wakeups in the corner ready to block. 236C almost always catches them off guard there. And if they wise up and try to roll out, you can pick them up with 2A for an almost 3K corner combo that builds nearly 50 heat. Win/win situation, but you really need to be good at predicting how your opponent will tech if you can carry them over to the corner.

Yeah, I'd assume the same thing Fireryda, which is one reason I tend to follow up back rolls with 2A > 5C > etc...

That is a shame. So weird to see someone randomly lost from existence. I'm sort of... speechless.

Thanks for the useful advice. Hopefully some people will find it much easier to do that way Fohstick. And make sure you're using it on characters that it works on. That's available in the first post.

Oh, it's good for punishing so many things, when it's a close match. Works on Lambda's drives, if she's out of range. Carl, when he's controlling Nirvana, Jin's Ice Blades, the list goes on. Unfortunately, I try to Mizuchi Rekkazan her when she charges up for her long range distortion drive, and always get hit out. I thought I'd automatically be invulnerable all the way through. But I always end up getting hit out of it by a billion little swords.

I almost never win by time out, unless there was massive lag. I use a FC Jayoku to weaken them enough and easily go in for the kill. The problem I'm having online... is that so many matches end up having lag (even when I set the connection quality to 3 or higher), that I fail in nearly all of my combos. I can't buffer Jayoku during anything, not during blockstrings, wakeup, not even while falling in the air... They really need to patch these stupid ranked matches. I've had much more success in player matches when it comes to no lag. And people in ranked tend to skip the intro, resulting in more lag, then spamming the same combo, which I can't even jump out of at times due to the delay in the input for jumping. Sorry for the rant, but it annoys me, haha.

I think the double 4D~A > 4D~D was put in the BnB section with the appropriate damage, so it's not just character specific on Rachel. I know what you meant with the slight variation on the combo in that section though.

I see. The 3C followup advice definitely makes sense. As well as 5B and Ouroboros hit confirms are extremely easy. I guess I need to train myself for 214D~A, and 2A/5B a bit more though.

Thanks for all the useful advice. And yeah, I buffer'd a Jayoku during Tager's DD Throw, and hit him out of it for the win. I'm surprised j.A's hit him out of AC, I thought it had a lot more head invulnerability than that. Ah well, works for me I guess. I'm pretty good at out-predicting my opponent and guessing games. That's always been a big strength of mine that I transition between fighting games.... However, hit confirming is new to me. Any advice on mastering the reaction time. I've went into training and set the computer to random block. It seems like you really need to think fast and not be on auto-pilot to hit confirm. Any advice on mastering that? Since it would certainly help me with all fighting games, hell.... it might even improve my reaction time in everything.

I can't appply pressure since I still can't really hit confirm. Instead I have to guess when my opponent will fail to block something and go straight into combo... Unless that's what hit-confirming is, but I think I need to change my reaction time. And Fireryda, I think jumping works for his 360 Command Throws. But if I remember correctly, the magnetism sucked me to him for his DD throw and I still took the 5620 damage, haha. But I hesitated a bit, if I j.6D or j.B, will it always have priority over his throw?

Improving my Hazama a lot lately one step at a time. Right now, I'm mastering improvisation and excessive zoning. Later comes the rushdown and mixup style I've always wanted to play Hazama with. One step at a time I guess. A couple, quick, relatively easy to answer questions though. 1. After Tager's Gadget Finger, if he decides to throw me with his DD, or any of his 360throws, what can I use to get out of it? Does mashing 2A work, or will that count as a throw counter. Air dashing back will have him suck you right back into his hands I think. Just trying to get an idea of what works against Tager's throws. 2. When other Hazama's spam the same combo... 5D~D > j.B > 5B > etc.... What are the best options on hitting him out of his chain when it's blocked. I've tried 214D~B'ing him with some solid success. But sometimes my timing is off due to the lag. Is 2C his most reliable anti-air, or should I use 5A > 5C? The problem I worry about with 5A is that it's range is too short to counter most long range air attacks.

Amen to that kazukifafner. I love baiting Jin's invulnerable 623A/B, etc, or whatever the command is. The problem is, I get a lot of people with a 236236B on wakeup. I know good players aren't supposed to fall for that, but it's working. I've always wondered, should I keep it up, or break the bad habits, and learn a new way to get into 236236B in the corner. I know IB'ing's great, but I haven't even close to mastered that yet. And how well does wake up 2A serve for getting out of pressure in the corner.

632146C is extremely easy after 623D. You just buffer the motion for the distortion drive during the ending animation of Jakou. Take your time with it too, don't rush it, and you'll get it more often than you think. Any advice on getting the (Dash) 3C. Is it also height dependent? And do they need to be even higher for Dash 3C after 623D than they do for Mizuchi Rekkazan? I can get Dash 3C after the backdash 6D~A > 623D in the last mission in challenge mode on a relatively consistent basis. But other than that, I can never get it. Especially after the Neutral Throw > 6D~A > 623D.

Thanks for the advice Arifureta. I know 2A can still catch them, but it's kind of a waste if they tech backwards. I really want to keep pressure on my opponent with Hazama's normals. Now do you think I should use prediction or reaction time? I'm usually one for prediction, but if I need to train my reaction time, I will. I just wonder if it's completely reactionable. And yeah, I've gotten a lot of people with 5D~D > 2C > 'Rough' BnB.

Yeah, I love the PS1 snakes. And if you get lucky, some of his Astral Quotes are awesome.

Hey, that name isn't so bad. Anyways, I've really been stepping up my game with Hazama lately, but I'm having a slight problem. I need to know/learn what to do when someone techs in the different ways. In corner, it's pretty easy, go for 2A and apply pressure, frame traps, stance mixup, etc. The only problem I have is my 2A not hitting them when they tech out, and I think it's thanks to the slight delay online.... :/ ...... Ah well. But my problem is when someone techs towards me mid-screen. And ends up on the other side of me. If they tech away I like to (Dash) 214D~A. But I can't train myself to react quick enough. Do I need to perfect my reaction time, or should I try to out-predict them? And what should I do when they tech behind me? Thanks for all the help again guys.