Ouroboros

You can't just mash Houtenjin under pressure, you gotta wait for an opening/instant block. You could always practice with the AI while putting yourself in a position under pressure. My guess is that you gotta get a bit more practice on inputs with the stick. But heck, that's really all there is to say... it's not like there is an easier way to do 236236b Also studying your opponents moves and timings is essential.

Yeah, we've talked about this a couple of times. Dash obviously doesn't work. What I do when this happens is simply 5D~D > something to hit them and keep pressure going, they will be forced to block unless they use some random DP or 5A on wake up. I would not recommend it if you kind of know they are going to do this, just wait for the next opening... I guess.

I've fought a couple of matches against Rachels and won every single one. I dunno if it has to do with my play style or something. Although I HAVE lost a couple of rounds. The electric chair can be baited with a random chain. If they think you are going in with the chain they do the chair, that's when you do the ~A follow up and throw another chain, hit her, and go in for the BnB. If Rachel is far away and the frog is getting close to you then 3C it, I dunno if 5C will hit it but most likely since it also hits low. If not then block, or run away from it... I guess. Lobelias can be denied by the chain and thrown back, except it denies your chain as well. When you are far away you need to be careful with throwing random chains, unless you are sure you are going to go in with it fast enough then don't do it, you will see a lobelia right on your face. You can always do 6D~D > j.4D~D or 4D~D > j.6D~D to get in, instead of straight 5D~D. If you do mess up I think you have enough time to do the ~A follow up instead to get the chain away and block it. And lol yes, Mizuchi. It's funny how easily they can get caught up by it. The thing is that Rachel that are further away tend to do some pretty long moves, like throwing the frog out, perfect timing for Hazama's DD. The only problem I see is that she is one of those smaller characters which some of Hazama's combos don't work on, so keep that in mind when fighting her. It also lowers the percentage of doing things like catching her in the air with 6D or something, as opposed to someone like Tager who you can 6D all day and they will still get hit by it from doing a regular jump.

To add to that, use 5C instead of 5B at the beginning. It pushes the enemy further from you, making you able to do the 4D~A and then Jakou.

That is true, lol. I think the reason why some people do different combos at different times is to throw the opponent off. If you do the same thing over and over then you become a very predictable target. This only happens when playing the same person for a while though... so you don't need to worry about that in things like Ranked Matches, heck, you can spam the same combo as much as you want in Ranked because of the fact that they won't be expecting it. I'm sure people like Buppa, and Zakiyama, have gone up against their opponents countless times so they need to mix up their combos and do new things to throw them off. I'm sure there is more reason behind it, like the combo quickly crosses their head at the moment and they go for it. Overall, Hazama is a "many options to take" sort of character... so taking advantage of that and mixing up your game is what makes you a better player. But if you think about it, many good players out there do the same thing over and over as well. How many times have you seen Bang start up his usual combo using 5A? How many times have you seen Jin's air combo been done, or Ragna's Burial Edge combo? But, hey, what can you do?

Hazama is all about positioning so those combos you talked about at the beginning can be done either way according of the situation, how well do you feel at the moment about doing them, or just simply because one does more damage than the other. Hazama's dash is not the greatest. It's just there to quickly get in on the enemy and do something close range, like 236C or 2A for pressure. In any combo, 5C should be pretty straight forward. If 5C hits low you should be able to cancel into 2C > BnB. I dunno about hitting late or early... it doesn't make much of a difference if you land the hit, although late seems much better in my head. When you hit 5C high, like if the enemy is jumping or something, I cancel straight into 4D~A > 4D~D > j.214# or 4D~A > 4D~A > 623D if they are further away.

I saw that and as far as my understanding goes it should be something like this: After you j.214B# someone in the corner then you do 214214AB so that if they tech backwards then you simply hit them with 5A, 2A, 5B, or 2B... depending on how you press the buttons, I guess. If they tech forward then you will use Jayoku... because of the cross up and your inputs. I'm not 100% sure if this is right but I bet it is something like that.

Ah, thanks Fireryda... that's basically what I wanted to know... Btw, I never thought HC worked so well all by itself... heck, I just owned a Ragna spamming Burial Edge with it XD And a Hakumen by using 6D~A twice first, that guy loves jump and dash. Now I know how to deal with those people who jump at you but are too far for 214D~B to hit them (Tsubaki is one of those... j.214ABCD is annoying). I mean, I knew CPU U.Hazama does it all the time but I thought I didn't have the reflexes... apparently that's not entirely true.

No I know it can hit behind you... I meant doing the actual 214 motion... I don't know which way to do it. But I guess doing it the way the enemy was beforehand is the most appropriate option, I've done some pretty crazy things during cross ups before...

Nice ideas, thanks a lot Ari ^^ I mean, I know a couple of things you mentioned, like the HC factor of height when using Mizuchi. For some reason, I never check HC... I'm sort of scared of doing dragon punches >_> About the 214D~B, I always get so scared of using it when this happens. That's because of the cross up if I do 2C and they jump up, it just throws me off. I do that same thing when I try to rush in on people. I also know you can do many things with Hazama's standard 66 and I've been amazed by how easily people do it to range themselves to do an attack. Heck, I probably need some training at that, since what I usually do it rush in hit the opponent and stay crouching. If nothing seems to be working I just jump back and try to get away... I seriously needed some way of getting in quickly and make the hit.

I'm having major problems about getting in on people. For some reason, I always rush in... and when I do 2C they jump up and I get screwed. When I do 2B they still jump up, retaliate, and I still get screwed. Also, I have no idea what to do if I get someone with the chain in the air, like, jump 5D and hit them. I tried j.214B but that's... I dunno... actually, I just need some practice on that one. Do you need to do 5A or 2A when these fail or something? Anyway, I need more ways to think about these situations. Btw, I hate overheads right now... so much.

Oh yeah, true that. I forgot this combo doesn't work on everybody. But you were right. It is still very tight to do... even though it is doable.

Then I might try it out, but does it really make a difference?

Does the 66 mean like a dash or something? Because that's a very basic combo, otherwise. Heck, it is one of the challenge combos, except with an added 632146C at the end...

Three 6D~A's one after the other and then Jakou... You do know that if you press A after you throw a chain it reels in faster, right? Because that's basically the idea, hit with chain, reel in, throw the next one, and so on...

You can just 6D~D and the gtfo if you don't feel like dealing with her B followup... If you are not fast enough to 214D~B it, or block, then that's an option.

After playing her, she's like another Ragna. Rush down and crazy to get in. Just keep distance, block, and punish random drives. The follow ups to 214A are so damn unpredictable though... so watch out for those. This match up is not too hard to get around to.

lol... 216C? I think only Unlimited Hazama has that move and it is like a non-distortion drivish Jayoku... Which I love very much.

Take out j.B and do j.C or j.2C? It is more damaging, even though j.2C is better for opponents on the ground. As for combos... I tried doing the j.214B# but I always fly to the other side because of the momentum, I'm sure this is doable... but you need to time it right (?).

Actually, it's probably because I haven't checked them out yet. I'm just improvising on corners. The only thing I find easier to do is the j.214B# since the enemy is not flying all over the place. But now that you mention it. I'll see if I go to the combo thread and find some good corner combos to try out, I mean, I need to know what to do on corners after all... lol.

I think they already stated this... It's 214D~C 6 > 6 5C.... You gotta start the first 6 while 214D~C is finishing, but I don't blame you. I still got trouble with it. I only did it in challenge mode and I'm not ever doing it again D: Until I actually get it down.

I remembered stating this since my main was originally Ragna in CT but Hazama is completely different, even his jump cancels. You gotta time right as opposed to Ragna, where you can mash the jump cancel and he will still do it. I mean, Hazama will do it too but that would drop off the j.214B# instantly... I basically remember that when I see Hazama going down with his j.C's that's where I have to cancel so he goes back up again with the second set of j.C's. Apart from what Fireyda said, you can also do a fairly good approach without actually pocking the opponent. By now, you should know that the chain does not reach the entire game screen, there is a limit. If the opponent is way too far then you can do a 5D~D and cancel into a j.B but late instead of sooner. This will make you go all the way across the screen. The thing is getting the momentum down, and for me, it is really fun ^^ @Phoenix - I hate corner combos with Hazama... I really do ._.

There are some pretty cool combos in his challenge mode. I got many ideas while doing them, I even did more than what I was meant to do in some of them. But most of them end up with j.214B# or 632146C :/ I'm still stuck on his 9th challenge, for some reason I can't do the stupid 2B after 2D~D D: I'm not fast enough.

lol... Start out doing the 632 while Hazama is still recovering from 623D. Then keep the 146C going when he's completely done... you just got to get his animation down. I know because I had the same problem... I failed 3 times doing this, then I got it.

Hazama's drive deals different stun time intervals according to how far the hit was. The further you are the longer the opponent will remain stun. I tried that combo out earlier and I got the same problem, then I tried again and it worked fine. The thing is that you need to give the first chain as much distance as you can and then shoot the second one pretty fast. I don't even do this anymore, even if the j.214B# is harder to do I can still manage with just one shot of the snake.