LordSpectreX

Damn it, I pre-ordered this on Play-Asia forgetting I would be automatically hit by custom charges. I'll have to get it refunded and just get digital. D:

Best character. I would do some write ups, but I mostly have my hands full with BB training and Wildstar. I'll keep my eye on this though and help people wanting to learn any way I can. By the way, the wiki link you posted links to Lilica's page, Tigre. D:

My thoughts on the matchup; I'm not the most experienced with this matchup. I'm more writing this for my sake; if you have any disagreements, then you're probably right. This is just based on my perspective and results will differ largely depending on the type of Ragna you play against. Round Start; Not a lot you can do here. 5C and 3C will mostly likely get blown up by everything. Best option is to jump back or backdash. Jump forward if you filling edgy. Neutral; Ragna's 5B is just an incredible normal with even more active that Azrael's. His 6A will beat most of your jump in attempts and j.C will zone you both in the air and on the ground. Those 3, along with his other normals, do a good job at turtling Azrael. Remember, there's no real reason for you to rushdown Ragna. He cannot make you block fullscreen and start pressuring you like Mu-12 or Litchi can. The best thing you can do is turtle yourself. If you're lucky, the Ragna will get impatient and try to rush you down. In which case, feel free to blow him up with 5B, 2C, and other assorted normals. If the Ragna is good, then it will most likely result in a calm neutral dance a la street fighter. This is where Azrael has the advantage however. Your two main tools in this situation is j.2C and Gustaf. These are both moves and make you travel a far distance and force the opponent to block. You can't compete with Ragna, even at close and mid range. Long-Mid range is where you want to be. Stay calm and dance around until you find an opening to Gustaf in, j.2C in, or simply jump in if you've conditioned him to expect j.2C. Azrael's Offense/Ragna's Defense Ragna is one of the most annoying people to fight in regards to Azrael's offense. He sports a 5F 5A and a 9F DP. He has the ability to hit you out of almost any gap if he IBs enough. Don't go ham and don't be predictable. Don't be afraid to let pressure go by backdashing. Try things like Pink Throws to keep him on edge. You need to make him think about as many things as possible so he can't focus just on IBing and DPing you out. Cross up as much as you reasonably can. Azrael 6A vs Inferno Divider This "matchup" is fairly simple. If Ragna does nothing after clash, 6A, 2A wins, If he does DP again, 6A>6A wins. You can also OD the clash to win automatically (unless he does the same). It's mostly a 50-50 if the other Ragna knows. Don't bother with it midscreen, though feel free to try in the corner. Since the damage of 6A in the corner is worth the 50-50 since ID won't give nearly as much. Don't use it too much, unless the Ragna is spam DP happy ofc. Azrael's Defense/Ragna's Offense The tradeoff in this situation is that Ragna is one of the most capable characters at dealing with Azrael's defensive options. His blockstrings usually make Growler incredibly risky and liable to just randomly whiff. He can also punish backdashes extremely easily with 5C, 5B and dash 5A. Not only that, but he gets a safe jump setup off a lot of stuff in the corner, and j.C/j.B can catch you trying to do stuff on midscreen wakeup. Your defensive games is going to have to be pretty honest. However, the good news is that Ragna's actual pressure and mixup game is pretty bad. Just block his stuff and wait for an opportunity to Growler or backdash away. Conclusion Overall, I believe the matchup is about 6-4 in Azrael's favour. They both play this matchup very similarly to eachother. The main reason Azrael wins is just sheer raw ability. Azrael does more damage, has the ability to create more mindgames with forward dash input messups, has more Health, etc. Ragna just needs more opportunities and better reads. This means that while, yes, you have the advantage, you can't really be lazy about it. If you're predictable, then Ragna has the ability to blow you up for free. How easy to find this is going to depend less on how well the Ragna plays and how well you play. Though Ragna can go YOLO and steal a tournament win with a few lucky guesses. In which case...err unfortunate, pick Koko or Valk next time?

Incoming most balanced yet retarded game. Whoo!

I use it as a pseudo-comeback mechanic. Counter Assault or Growler RC probably isn't going to win you the game if they have a 90% HP life lead. Whereas Scud into a good reset very well might.

My thoughts on this matchup; It's one of the more stranger matchups Azrael has. He has advantages over Valk that are rather unusual and disadvantages that are unusual. Typically, Valk will be playing in Wolf Form. His human form has a nice 5C that generally beats ours, but otherwise, he's rather easy to approach and out-prioritize. Wolf form on the other hand has fantastic mobility and an incredible anti air. You want him in human mode as much as possible. Valk's defense is quite weak, he lacks quick normals or a DP. Because of this, you're not going to want to beat his normals, instead, you want to trade with them so he gets hit and reverts back to human form. In neutral, your two best tools are Sentinel Dump and j.2C. Sentinel Dump catches standard 6D wolf approaches and trades with Wolf Cannon, which works out heavily in your favour even if you get hit. j.2C is normally used as a way to punish whiffed anti airs. However, Wolf 5B is fairly safe even on whiff, but what is nice is that j.2C often trades with Wolf 5B, just make sure you don't do it too close to the ground. Backdash is a bit mediocre in this matchup. I wouldn't recommend using it except to get out of pressure or when he's human form. You can occasionally use Dash Gustaf. Normally, Valk, would blow it up for free with his backdash, but stuff like Dash>Dash>Gustaf can catch him if they tries to dodge it pre-emptively. If he tries to do it on reaction, then you can instead do something like Dash>Dash>JC>IAD j.2C/TK214C. On your pressure, there's not to much to worry about. Stern Wolf is your typical metered reversal and thus can get blown up by 6A or crossup. His 6A guard point isn't used much but can blow up 6C on reaction for free, so refrain from using that. His pressure is about the same. You can't really be expected to block his mixup consistently, so try to get ready to IB as much as you can and be ready to Growler/5A his 6D pressure resets after blocking the first one or two mixups. If he decides to play safe after that, then you can start trying to 5C him or jump out. Wolf Brake j.A is pretty much unreactable in every sense of the word, but it's damage is pretty low now, so don't be frustrated if it hits you. On wakeup, don't roll. You'll get blown up automatically. Be very careful when using Growler. Wolf form has an option select with 5C that meaties you if you try to block but whiffs if you use growler. His damage isn't THAT high, so you can take a few gimmicky risks like wakeup 214C or quick tech 236D. He'll eventually blow them up, but you want Valkenhayn auto-piloting his oki as little as possible in order to make him cautious and thus give you more chances to escape. Don't push your luck, just let him know that stuff like wakeup 214C exists. Don't use Scud if he's in Wolf Form. Ever. Use your bursts for when you get hit and he has low wolf meter so he can't recover it by doing a human mode combo. My estimate is 5.5 in Azrael's favour. I feel like it's even but I do play Kiba so I'm probably just salty.

I absolutely hate doing 5C>236A>RC>3C. I feel like it never works. Unless I'm incredibly near I just go straight into 6D and be done with it.

Okay, you guys see the list I posted earlier? Well, TCL>TK Sentinel Dump midscreen can safe jump anything in the game if you're quick enough. However, the list now has another purpose. I haven't checked every character in the game, but that list should apply to what you can safejump after grounded TCL in the corner. Ofc, Azrael already has a safe jump after TCL in the corner, but what's nice about this is that it gives you more frame advantage and you're much less likely to mess it up. So there you go. Edit: That being said, trying to safejump Kagura is pretty much impossible. Even if you do it, you have to do it so early that he can actually backroll out. Hopefully the Kagura will just give you the benefit of the doubt and block :P

TK Sentinel Vs; Ragna - Loses vs Inferno Divider. . Jin - Beats C and D DP, Yukikaze doesn't freeze you. Funnily enough his Ice Arrow Super trades, but since Jin gets hit, it doesn't do all the hits. So worth it! Highly Recommended. Noel - 4D avoids it. Cannot punish with a low outside the corner. You can do Scud on reaction to the 4D to punish it. Her 632146D wins clean. Only recommend if she's under 50 meter. Viability then will depend on if Azrael can come up with a meterless punish for 4D. I doubt it. Rachel - She can wind tech to escape. #Rachel. Still recommended anyway. Carl - Escapes clean with 236B. You're plus though, so maybe do it anyway. Litchi - Loses to 623D. Wins vs her DP Super tho. So do it when she's staffless. Arakune - Super wins. Backdash can make it whiff but you're plus. Bang - He can 6D to guard point it, punish accordingly. His 236236A beats it, so do it only when he's under 50 meter. Taokaka - 236236D beats it. Again, only do under 50 meter. Tager - 720 wins. U<50 Meter. Hakumen - He can 2D for free. You'll block it but he'll get meter. Nu 13 - Calamity Sword super...trades. Anyway, at the very least, do it when she's under 50 meter or in Dia Forme. Hazama - Hotenjin trades. blah blah <50 meter. Tsubaki - Can DP C out. Same as Ragna. Mu-12 - Her DP loses (YAY), but her super will win (aww). Hooray anyway tho. Makoto - DP C wins. Wah. Valkenhayn - Super Wins. <50 meter. Platinum - Counter loses, Super wins. Relius - 236A makes SD miss, but you can punish for free. Gear Super trades, but he can combo after anyway. So <50 Meter. Amane - Super wins <50 Meter. Bullet - DP and Rush Super lose, but 720 will win. Azrael - GROWLER WINS CLEAN LOL. Izayoi - Super wins. Kagura - Lol what do you think? Terumi - Super(s) win. Kokonoe - Super wins. TP makes it whiff but you can punish. So TL;DR Spam All The Time; Jin Litchi (Staffless) Rachel Nu-13 (Worth trading so she loses 50 meter? Maybe.) Never Use it; (never say never, just don't use it when you think they're in any position to react). Ragna Tsubaki Makoto Kagura Litchi (Staff) I dunno can't be bothered to test right now: Hakumen Use it (but only when they're under 50 meter); Everyone Else.

I just spent the last 5 minutes doing Dash TK Sentinel. Feels good man.

Azrael also requires some pretense of skill in order to beat his weaknesses. Things like option selecting backdash and reacting to it. Knowing the blind spot in his 2C. IBing Gustaf to make it negative. Understanding the dead spot of Azrael's 5A and 5B where the other person's version of that move will win, spacing out Growler so it's hard to use as a reversal, be patient and just zone him out etc etc. Whereas a weakness of say, Hazama, is that you hit him to the ground then you do a mixup and he has to respect it, something anyone can do really. I don't know about other people here with diverse scenes. But I used to use Arakune and due to his "bullshit", he was hated by all players of all skill levels, regardless of wherever they consistently beat me or not. However, I have noticed a very, very strong correlation between player skill and people who think Azrael is "bullshit". Nor have I heard anyone of any real repute nor anyone of any respectable skill think that Azrael is some BS character. If Azrael is truely S Tier in 1.1, then he's going to be one of the most fair ones BB has had, since he will still lose at neutral vs a lot of the upper half of the cast, meaning he is always very beatable. Best to just leave people like those on GameFAQs, if they want to spend more time complaining and less time learning, then that's on them. Oh, also, there's something I wanted to ask. I'm sure people have encountered it, but after TCL I sometimes get into this really awkward range where it's too close to the corner for 3D, but too far for 5B. Usually this is where you'd use 2C>6D, but what's a good option if you already used up the 2C in the combo?

Fair enough. I think he is going to be a bit like Jin where people are gonna pick him up wherever they like it or not.

http://sp.uniapm.info/usage_rate_view.php Not sure if you're serious or just Skye.

Imagine it would actually just be 66432147. Do 6 then do a basic kind of rotate like a 360.

Not really. Linne's thing is her pressure, which is really strong. However, she lacks almost any mixup. She has two standing overheads and they're both really poor. She relies more on getting in your face and staying there until you mess up, a bit like Taokaka. Whereas Seth relies on evasion and dodging until he can find an opportunity to go in and start his mixup and oki game. However, is pressure game is short, he relies on conditioning you to not press buttons before doing any one of his mixups. That's why when you watch good Seths, they typically go for 2AxN then either go for a mixup or try to move around baiting buttons. They just kinda both rushdown characters with good mobility. It's kinda like saying Taokaka and Valkenhayn are the same character.

He's actually got two command grabs as well. One in the air, one on the ground. He does have some Left Right mixup too, it's just not as simple as *jump over j.c*. His mixup is really good.

Just to confirm, it isn't just like Melty Blood's crossup detection system, it IS that. In this game, you can block moves by holding the stick in the direction your opponent is facing. This means if the opponent goes over you and hits you with a move that hits behind you, you can still hold the same direction to block as the way the oppponent is facing has not changed. One he lands, the opponent will then auto correct in the right direction, meaning that for the next resulting grounded move, you will have to block in the other direction. Seth is fairly weak, though he's not quite as weak as the tier lists make him out to be. He's a vortex character in a game where standard crossups aren't possible. He also suffers from having destroy-able projectiles (Like Naoto/Testament), small normals and having mobility in a game where a lot of characters have huge amounts of space control, like Gordeau, Merkava, etc. That being said, he is a mixup+mobility character, so guys like RIon can win any matchup with skill. He's probably so low on the in-game list cause a lot of people will pick Seth because of his design without knowing the game much at all. Just don't expect free wins with him. He will be work. But you will get rewarded for your efforts if you're good enough. If not, then just play Gordeau. Anyway, I've created a Youtube Channel dedicated to uploading Seth match videos. It's only started a couple of days ago so there's not much right now, but I plan to make it an evening side project with a few videos a night until I'm eventually up to date. Please check it out. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2hIe1KhyVqqUlqjQnTr27Q

For midscreen combos, i prioritize; Applying UW > Corner Carry > Applying LW. I generally don't like doing midscreen tcl. That being said, midscreen tcl will become a lot stronger in 1.1. My punish priority is as follows: 3D CH (24F no wps) 6D CH (27F LW) 5C CH (15F) 5B>3C CH (8F) 3C NonCh (15F) Backthrow (7F low range) 5A\5B>5BB nonch (8F, follow with rapid or oki) This is just off the top of my head. I dont remember if it's a CH punish, but since it's -14 on IB, you can't do either 5c ch or 3c raw. So the best punish would be; 5B>3C>22C>5B>TC>Situational (on ch)

Azrael's 6C has 28 frames startup and is pretty high risk. Especially since Mu can just 5C/2C/SwordsofDevastation/j.C for free for a lot of damage. Not to mention that 2B's entire duration is only 22 frames. Azrael has to make a very hard read. If you both do it even at the same time, 2B is quick enough for you to then counterhit 6C with your 6A. It's just that I see Mu's only using their As and Cs and not realizing that 2B is an incredible normal vs Azrael.

6A Clash isn't too great. He can just DP again and from what I can see, the only thing that will win is Scud. I don't feel like this matchup is very difficult but I find it hard to deal with Ragna's who turtle. 5B already zones Azrael out completely without including Ragna dashing to space it better. Getting through to him on the ground feels extremely difficult. I feel like you have to play a strong air game and hope you can bait his godlike 6A or his intercept j.A/Airthrow attempts. Along with baiting his DP. Not hard...just kinda stressful.

It's annoying cause I want to test mixup. I don't want to win just by hitting buttons in their face.

If you only play Netplay, the Links aren't really a problem. If you constantly switch between offline and online play, it becomes pretty stressful rather quickly.

2B is unbelievably good in this matchup btw. It stops gustaf in it's tracks and hits the blind spot in Azrael's normals (longer than 5B but closer than 5C). You can use it to check a lot of his ground advancements and can interrupt his pressure easily if you barrier him outside of 5B range. Strongly recommend it.

When 99% of people I fight don't understand how to play VS Azrael despite him being a 'common' character. Another is when people to to do illogical things that make no sense. Like people trying to DP out of Nu-13's Sickle Oki.

For most character's you generally mash j.A to beat it cause that's their quickest horizontal normal. But since Azrael doesn't follow that, rule, mashing j.A won't work. j.B and j.C should work fine and net you a combo. From what I tested anyway. You can also use Divekick if you're feeling sly.