Murderbydeath

Corner: ...Mappa RC>5D(6)>6H>5H>2H>c.S>jc>j.S>j.K>j.D (whatever short air combo you want, really) Hardmode version of that combo: ...Mappa RC>5D(6)>j.S>j.H>j.D>P Dandy Crosswise>5H>jc>j.S>j.K>j.D

Here are some things: http://seesaawiki.jp/w/ggxx_matome/d/Xrd%A1%A1%A5%B9%A5%EC%A5%A4%A5%E4%A1%BC%A1%A1%A5%B3%A5%F3%A5%DC%A5%EC%A5%B7%A5%D4

So I've been landing the inescapable resets in matches and I must say, they are tons of fun. (Mandala buff -> blah blah into Heat Riser -> blah blah into 236ABA -> microdash 5B xx 236BB -> death) Only problem is sometimes I mess up the timing for the microdash 5B and they break out of spin state and can DP me right in the tits, etc. Any tips on getting the timing 100%? It's hard to tell the very moment he recovers from 236ABA for me. Any visual cues or anything?

I assume no number means 2 hits, and if so, then I have been doing it with the correct number of hits. I still can't get it to work for some reason. I suspect this might be my problem.

I cannot get the j.2D to connect for the life of me. Is there some trick to the timing?

Oh... Well, you don't have to sj.H after Undertow! You can do a regular air combo or whatever. And 6H -> 5H in the corner is much easier than it is in a midscreen combo, so I think those are BnBs in +R. BBU, unless you hit with it raw, isn't very good damage anymore. You can get a bit more off of the Mappa loops, which also corner carry. However, on the characters that you have to use 5H 2H on, maybe it is better to BBU them... i.e.: the characters listed in the video Midscreen Mappa Loop - lightweights and odd hitboxes video. I'll make more videos soon. I had also planned on making counter hit videos and anti air videos.

I started recording basic stuff for newer players. I know it helps me a TON to see a combo when I'm trying to figure it out, particularly with Slayer. Here's what I have so far: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8-k8jstr6QPnrVVf8B-XGRHAVfhjNcQ2 Any suggestions?

So I'm new to Axl. What combos should I be learning? So far I'm just doing basic stuff like 2K 2D xx Rensen FRC dash up 6K 2S sjc.H sj.D xx Kokuu or AA 6K 2S sjc.H sj.D xx FB Bomber -> ad.D xx Kokuu.

Corner, 50% tension, overhead (crouching only): 6K/It’s Late 5K 6P FRC 6H xx 214P/K~D (early/late depending on character) 5H xx 632146P sj.H sj.D sj.2K sj.D 310+ damage on most characters starting from It's Late (PO is like 258 iirc) Edit: PO is 269 from IL, 214 from 6K

Watching more Maruken matches, I think her basic combo theory is starting to make more sense. Combos are indeed very positionally based, and it seems like knowing when to employ 2H to reposition the opponent is pretty key to optimizing your damage, and, if you go the oki route, your oki opportunities. I think the part that confuses me though is when you start involving meter to FRC things. The combo routes kind of open up at this point, and being that a lot of it is positional, it seems very loose and hard to grasp to optimize things. I did notice though that Maruken uses 2H more often than not if he's even a little bit away from the center of the screen. Furthermore, he seems to opt for damage over oki most of the time. I guess this makes sense, given that Baiken's oki seems limited to a few options, most of which involve tatami in some variety (airdash over, tatami; meaty tatami, etc.) or safe jump H. I imagine this is also kind of positional, though. New Baiken all 'bout dat position, tho.

Can someone put Baiken's combo theory very succinctly and noob friendly? I've seen Maruken do tons of things that this thread doesn't mention, like huge tatami loops involving lots of 6H from random midscreen hits, etc. I'm wondering what Baiken's basic combo theory is. From what I gather in the thread, it's pretty simply something like this: Corner? 2D xx tatami -> 2D j.P -> the rest Midscreen? Hit confirm into 6P xx 623P j.P -> the rest But again, I see very different things from match videos. Help a brother out?

This is exactly what I've been waiting for. I love you. PS: I don't have training mode yet so this is a godsend

Ahhh, I actually figured out what I was doing wrong. For some odd reason I felt like I needed to delay the falling j.D, but that was messing up the rest of the combo. Now that I'm doing it as soon as possible, I'm getting better results. Thanks for the recording, it helped!

Yeah, I forgot the 5H somehow Thanks for the tip! Edit: I don't see how it's possible to take a step forward. It's possible to tech far too quickly after the FRC.

Sorry for the double post, but I've recently started practicing this corner combo (though I think it has applications midscreen too, just not from what I'm starting with): 6K->5K-6P FRC sjc sj.[H->D-2K->K], land, 5H xx Pilebunker I can't seem to get the PB to connect at all. Is there some secret to this, lol? Am I doing this off the wrong starter? Can anyone help me out? Edit: I guess I should mention what's happening. Usually the opponent (Axl in this case) is too high for the PB to hit. If I delay it any, Axl techs. :|

Ah, neat. Good to see Undertow being used in combos. On that note, I just did on Axl: AA 2S jc j.[K-2K -> K] djc dj.[K/S(1)(height)-2K -> D-2K -> K], land, 2S jc j.[K-2K -> K] djc dj.[K/S(1)(height/distance)-2K -> D-2K -> D] - 193 damage off of AA 2S. I'm in love with Slayer.

Yeah, I got all of that, already. I guess it's just a matter of practice at this point. Was hoping there were easier/better combos than the specific ones listed in those mentioned threads is all. If 5H no longer bounces on air hit, I wonder what you do after 2K -> 2H -> BBU, hmm... Guess I'll look around for +R information and try to adapt my combos around that, too.

Thank you for your uploads, jinbe.

I've heard that the Character Specific Combo Thread and the Slayer 101 Thread are both outdated, and reading through this thread, it just seems like a discussion of flashier combos; with that in mind, I ask: what are some basic Slayer combos I should learn? I've been learning the stuff in those threads, but if there is better or easier stuff to learn, I'd prefer to learn it.

Random question: is the OP of this thread up to date? I see it's been edited since its original post time, so I'm thinking it might be. Just hoping to be practicing the best combos. Edit: I see the edit time wasn't that long after the post time, now that I look, so it's probably outdated by now, eh?

This is my Demitri guide. It's a work in progress. I haven't covered everything. I'll be editing it in the coming days/weeks. Hopefully at some point I'll also have video examples. Table of contents: - Normals - Standing - Crouching - Jumping - Specials - Chaos Flare - Demon Cradle - Bat Spin - Supers - Demon Billion - Midnight Bliss - Midnight Pleasure - Dark Force - Neutral game - On the Defensive - On the Offense - Okizeme - General Information - Notable Players Demitri Demitri is a defensive character (perhaps the most defensive character in Vampire Savior) with strong normals, a crazy okizeme game, and an amazing guard cancel. He lacks great offensive options from neutral situations, but makes up for this with his great okizeme and reactionary defense. - Normals - LP Demitri's standing LP isn't used terribly often, but it is good for a few things. If you are familiar with air chains and meeting your opponent in the air in such a way that you land before they do, it is used for the unblockable reset option afterward (all grounded normals are air unblockable, except in certain situations that are rarely seen, like Zabel's option to block after j/ad.MP). It's also great for forcing a proximity block in demon setups on whiff while on offense. Since the demon input includes LP, you can whiff it in your opponent's face to force a proximity block and then go immediately into a demon. This is kind of gimmicky and shouldn't be used too often. Another use of this move is to stop the dash/airdash pressure of your opponent. Against Sasquatch, for example, if he's putting you on the roller coaster (dash LP~MP/dash MP~LP repeatedly), confirm your block of the 2nd hit, then tech hit using LP~MP~HP~HK, but bring your input back to LP after the tech hit. The reason you start with LP rather than the traditional LK for the piano method is in case you screw up and mistime your tech hit, you still get a standing jab. You'll likely get a tech hit and if Sasquatch dashes in again, you'll hit him out of his dash. This is also useful at certain ranges vs Q-Bee, Zabel, etc. f.MP Demitri's far standing MP is a decent poke on the ground. Generally you'll want to use this when you're too far away for a cl.HP but feel your opponent is going to jump on their wakeup. This will catch them and keep them grounded. cl.HP Ah, Demitri's close HP. This move has a couple of really, really good applications. For one, it serves as a really insanely good anti air up close. For two, it can be option selected with throw. This makes it an excellent meaty... If your opponent tries to jump on wakeup, he gets caught with cl.HP. If he doesn't do anything, he generally gets thrown. Be warned, however, that your opponent can hit you on wakeup instead of doing nothing or jumping, creating a metagame of "Is he going to wake up mashing or not?" If yes, meaty Demon Cradle (you can time meaty Demon Cradle in such a way that it's quite safe on block, except to 1 frame GCs and the like; ES DP will catch pre-jump frames). If no, he gets thrown or tagged with cl.HP. Chain into cr.RH for meter if it catches your opponent jumping as well as if it just catches your opponent mashing something stupid on wakeup. If your opponent is grounded, you get a knockdown. If he's jumping, you whiff cr.RH for meter. You need to hit confirm this though, as the second hit, if your opponent blocks and is anticipating your cr.RH, can be GCed. Two hits are much easier to GC than one. In lieu of godlike hit confirmation abilities, you could special cancel the cl.HP into fireball to catch tech hit attempts and GCs. Your input at this point would look something like this: 6 or 4 + HP236+P. f.HP Demitri's far HP is much the same as his far medium -- it doesn't really serve much use, but it's a decent poke on the ground. It can catch taller crouchers trying to stick something out, I believe. LK Demitri's standing LK... I find this move to actually be pretty interesting. I don't see any other Demitris do this, but you can time a meaty st.LK to be safe, since it's so fast, and hit confirm it into a chain if it hits. This catches most normals on wakeup, but will of course lose to specials and supers and the like. Admittedly, sometimes you have better options for meaties, but I find this move very interesting. You're probably better off with meaty cr.LK though, as it's a low. f.MK Demitri's far standing MK is a great tool for your arsenal. While your Demon Cradle can be air blocked, st.MK can't be, as all grounded normals in Vsav are air unblockable. This means that if your opponent is approaching you, expecting you to Demon Cradle his tits off when he jumps at you, and he's chicken blocking, you just tag him with this. It nets you an air reset and kind of a mixup afterward where you dash in and do something (demon/demon cradle). This move is especially effective at certain ranges and not so much at others; learn the spacing and utilize it well. HK Demitri's standing HK...I haven't found much use for this move. It's too slow to be a good poke, has okay range, but overall, if you can tag your opponent with a st.HK, wouldn't it be better to hit them with a cr.HK instead and get a knockdown? cr.LP Demitri's crouching LP isn't the greatest or the worst move. It's one of his many crouching moves that isn't actually a low. It's a quick move and it's great to start/hit confirm chains with, but usually you're going to want to be starting your low chains with cr.LK, as it is a low. cr.MP Demitri's couching MP will sometimes beat out other moves if you're playing footsies with your opponent, but other than that, this move doesn't have much utility outside of chain combos. It's an all right tick into things like demons, but this can be tech hit, GC'd, etc. cr.HP Demitri's crouching HP is a cool looking move, but I've never found any utility for it whatsoever, unfortunately cr.LK Demitri's crouching LK is a great poke, one of Demitri's only lows, and the way you generally want to be starting your low chains. You can chain two cr.LKs and then link other normals afterward, too, to be able to cancel into specials. A versatile move, you'll be using this one pretty often, either as okizeme, chain starter, tick into throw, or otherwise. cr.MK Demitri's crouching MK is one of his best low normals in terms of range and priority. The hitbox for this move is quite good, with the tip of Demitri's foot having no vulnerable hitbox. This move is great for whiff punishes (chain cr.MK cr.HK). It's also great to special cancel into fireballs and the like to maintain your strength in the neutral game. cr.HK Demitri's crouching HK is a great move. It's SAFE ON BLOCK in most cases, leads to a knockdown on hit, and has great range. What more is there to ask for? Well, I guess you could ask for it to be a low (it's not). End your chain combos with this and go for your oki game. You're also going to want to kara cancel this move into DPs for meter. The input is pretty simple: 623+HK~P. j.LP Demitri's jumping LP is an all right air move, but you'll probably be throwing it out while rising quite often, as one of the setups for his j.MK crossup shenanigans is to do a rising j.LP to force the opponent into a proximity block before landing the crossup j.MK. You'll understand the range to be doing this over time and experience. Not a great move to start air chains with, though. j.MP Demitri's jumping MP is an underrated move, I feel. At certain ranges, you're going to want to start an air chain with this move (j.MP j.MK j.HP, land st.LP), and it actually has a pretty decent air-to-ground hitbox. Not a move to jump in haphazardly with, but certainly not a bad move at all. You can also OS an air throw by holding 6 or 4 when jumping toward your opponent with this normal. Great for air confrontations. j.HP Demitri's jumping HP is a move you'll probably be ending a lot of air chains with. It's a pretty good air to air move and it covers a lot of space. It has an all right horizontal hitbox, making is certainly decent in the air. j.LK Demitri's jumping LK is an all right move, but it's a better meaty vs Q-Bee and Zabel and other character who like to be in the air immediately upon wakeup. You do a meaty j.LK, chain j.MK...if they jump, you continue the chain with j.HP, and if they don't, you have just hit them with a double overhead--if they blocked, continue your offense in an appropriate way (tick throw, demon setup, whatever)--if not, finish your chain into a knockdown. j.MK Demitri's jumping MK is your crossup normal in most cases. It crosses up everyone in the cast and is actually just a good jumpin normal in general. At certain ranges, you'll want to start an air chain with it (j.MK j.HP land st.LP). j.HK Demitri's jumping HK is a tad underrated, I think. It's great situationally for air to ground attacks and it has a pretty decent hitbox for this purpose. Something I like to do if I think my opponent is going to stay grounded is rising j.MK falling j.HK. This makes it look like you're going to just do j.MK and be done, tempting your opponent into trying to anti air you and that's when the j.HK tags them. It's an interesting move, to be sure. Your experience with this move will likely come in the form of whiffing it, though, to build meter. Demitri has a really effective way of building meter involving rising j.HK. The input is something like this: rising j.HK -> 236+MK~P. The idea is that you whiff a rising HK, then kara cancel a j.MK into a fireball. This builds tons of meter quickly and should be used quite often. - Specials - Chaos Flare (fireball) - 236+P Demitri throws a fireball that travels a certain distance at a certain speed, depending on strength of punch used to throw it. This is your main form of control in the neutral game, and it will serve you well if you're used to playing more of a Street Fighter type neutral game of "bait and see" tactics. It's especially useful in certain matchups where your opponent has no other choice but to jump to get around it (see: Sasquatch). Remember that you can j.HK kara j.MK xx Chaos Flare. Great tool to build meter. You can also link a st.LP after a fairly close jab Chaos Flare and chain into cr.RH for a knockdown. Getting hit by a Chaos Flare forces your opponent in to a standing state, so this should always work. You can also combo after an ES Chaos Flare into almost anything you want, but most common is a dashing ES DP. Demon Cradle (dragon punch) - 623+P Demitri does a spin thing and it hits people because of its insane invulnerability and great recovery time. This special is your "get off of me" button. It's your "stop doing that" button. It's your "this is actually a mixup" button. Demon Cradle has many applications. Dashing LP Demon Cradle has 1F of landing recovery, meaning that the best your opponent is going to get from you just throwing it out there whenever is usually an air reset. This is also your guard cancel, and it's one hell of a guard cancel. It has enough invulnerability to blast through most stuff in the game with ease and punish your opponent for not hit confirming their strings. More than that, if you get good at buffering GCs (63214(confirm block)~3+P), you can even punish the recovery of just 1 move. This is a very powerful defensive tool, but also a very powerful offensive tool. Demitri's basic mixup comes down to just a few options: is my opponent going to jump, reversal, or do nothing on their wakeup? If jump, you have 2 options: cl.HP (OS'ed with throw) OR ES DP. ES DP is a huge damage option that leads to another knockdown, so it's worth throwing a meaty one out there once in a while for the big damage. It will also cover the option of most reversals in the game, though, and beat them cleanly, if timed properly. This makes it a very versatile tool in Demitri's okizeme. Don't forget that you can kara cancel normals into this, such as RH, to build a ton of meter quickly (623+HK~P or 6235+HK~P or whatever you want to do). Bat Spin (...tatsu? not really) - 214+K The Bat Spin...there's a lot to be said of this move. First, I'll just say that it's not great to just throw it out there all willy nilly. It's punishable on block...and on hit. So you can imagine it's not the greatest thing in the world to just be throwing around. So if we're not using this move to deal damage, what are we using it for? Mostly okizeme. It's great to close the distance on knockdown, and if you learn the spacing of each strength of it, you can position yourself either in front of or behind your opponent, creating a which way on their wakeup. Once your opponent learns how to spot which side you're going to be on, this won't be particularly strong for landing chain combos on their wakeup, but that's when demon setups and the like come into play. The ES version is okay versus some of the cast who don't have great GCs, but generally, save your meter for other, more profitable uses (ES DPs, demons). You can "tiger knee" the bat spin to alter its trajectory slightly, as well as dash and then perform it to gain some extra distance. It's a very versatile tool to traverse the screen with, so experiment with it and figure out its many ranges. A common use for bat spin is to use it to escape the corner. You can chicken block, then bat spin, or just wakeup bat spin, or knock your opponent down and then bat spin or however you can figure it out situationally. - Supers - Demon Billion - 263+KK Just...don't. Wait, I lied. There's one situation that I've found that this is actually useful in, despite its 48 frame recovery: when Anakaris does his ground portal. That's about it though. Midnight Bliss - 263+PP Demitri says "Come on, baby" and then grabs his opponent by the throat, turning them into a girl before draining their life essence. By itself, this isn't honestly that great. It has a lot of startup and is easily poked, etc., stopping your offense dead in its tracks if applied incorrectly. There are some very situation uses for this move, though, and it generally involves when your opponent doesn't respect you when you only have 1 meter (as opposed to 2 meters, the amount required for a Midnight Pleasure). Generally though, if you're new and inexperienced, stick to saving your meters for demons and ES DPs. Midnight Pleasure - LP MP 6 MK MK (costs 2 meters) Ah, Midnight Pleasure. One of the keystones of Demitri's okizeme and offense in general. With a 2F startup, this is one scary command grab that deals HUGE damage. Compare to the startup of Midnight Bliss, 12F, and you can see why this is the preferred option. This is the crux of Demitri's gameplan, as landing one leads to big damage and another knockdown opportunity. There are many, many ways to get in and land this powerful super, and it's important to learn some of the more solid, more likely ways to land it. This is all reading dependent, though, and you need to condition your opponent to not jump or press buttons on their wakeup to start landing demons more consistently. The way you achieve this is by utilizing meaty cl.HP throw OS and meaty ES DP. Make them afraid to jump or press button on their wakeup and then go in for a demon. Try to discipline yourself enough to not just go for a demon every time you have 2 meters; your opponent will start reading this every time and stop you, wasting your 2 meters and at best going back to the neutral game. At worst, you're going to be eating some nasty combos and be forced on the defensive. I'll list some setups here, going from least good to some of what I think are the best setups, but again, these are heavily read dependent, and learning when to demon is a big part of learning Demitri. This list is by no means exhaustive or complete in any way, but is a great starting point. Some setups: - Jumpin attack, land, Pleasure (works air-to-air & blows up tech hits) www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ib2CwSr6W0E#t=1m41s www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrVEKqyOWik#t=1m43s - j.MK -> Pleasure. This is a simple setup, but it can be anti-aired, tech hit, GC'd, poked. Great for if your opponent is scared, but don't go too crazy with this. You can mix it up with j.MK -> ES DP to keep your opponent from mashing buttons or jumping the next time you go for it. - cr.attack (hit or block), Pleasure www.youtube.com/watch?&v=I7wCVOMOU8k#t=48s www.youtube.com/watch?&v=VpN2AM10D5I#t=2m42s www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ib2CwSr6W0E#t=1m19s www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ib2CwSr6W0E#t=5m58s - cr.MK/cr.HP/cr.LK/cr.LP -> Pleasure. Similar situation as above: it can be tech hit, GC'd, poked, etc. - Reset a combo into M-Pleasure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCPPrkzUVXA#t=1m44s - Cross-up j.MK, Pleasure www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEkd4muqEyk#t=40m0s This setup is good because in Vsav, if your opponent tech hits a crossup, it actually sucks you IN to them, putting you even closer to the opponent. The input for crossup demons is the direction you were facing when you landed the crossup, so this would be 9 jump MK, LP MP 6 MK MK, not 4. - About a half screen away, dash Pleasure www.youtube.com/watch?&v=I7wCVOMOU8k#t=1m18s www.youtube.com/watch?&v=rWwzokMya5s#t=9m6s www.youtube.com/watch?&v=rWwzokMya5s#t=9m22s www.youtube.com/watch?&v=rWwzokMya5s#t=15m15s www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ib2CwSr6W0E#t=3m56s www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCPPrkzUVXA#t=30s You mix this up with dashing ES DP. Don't do this all the time. - Anti air MK -> dash forward -> Pleasure. The idea here is that your opponent expects you to dash forward and demon cradle or something else after an anti air MK. You need to set this one up earlier in the match by anti airing them and then dashing forward and doing something. - Air chain, land, st.LP unblockable, dash Pleasure. This setup is especially good because you are INVULNERABLE during the point in Demitri's dash when your opponent is going to be standing up and able to reversal. This means that if they do anything that leaves them grounded, they're getting nom'ed. Good setup. Mix it up with st.LP UB into ES DP. This will watch up-backing and button pressing. The input for getting an instant dash Pleasure is kind of weird. You want to input LP MP 66 MK MK, but the timing is kind of strict. This is called a "split dash" and it will serve you well. - Dash around the opponent, Pleasure (can auto-correct for a cross-up throw) www.youtube.com/watch?&v=Tj2prjuYbhs#t=1m8s - Backdash Pleasure This is a good setup for the corner when your opponent is rolling forward. Mix it up with backdash DP/ES DP. - Bat spin whiff, Pleasure www.youtube.com/watch?&v=Tj2prjuYbhs#t=1m48s www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKMNU1CGwG8#t=29s The idea is to make your opponent so worried about blocking your mixup that they eat the demon; however, this can be jumped out of (you must condition your opponent to get hit by any demon setup). You must guess your opponent's roll to use the correct strength bat spin and get this setup on oki. You can react to their roll while you're coming in on them and buffer the Pleasure, but wait to hit the final input until you're absolutely certain they rolled the way you anticipated. - Oki st.LP WHIFF, Pleasure www.youtube.com/watch?&v=rWwzokMya5s#t=1m39s www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ib2CwSr6W0E#t=5m10s The idea here is that your opponent tries to react to your st.LP and gets eaten for it. Mix it up with whiff LP -> ES DP or cl.HP throw OS to punish jump attempts. - Oki with an empty jump or pursuit whiff, Pleasure www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEkd4muqEyk#t=1h20m50s The idea here is similar to bat spin, only it only works on back rolls for the most part. Mix it up with ES DP or cl.HP throw OS to punish jumps. - Oki with a walkthrough, Pleasure www.youtube.com/watch?&v=rWwzokMya5s#t=4m35s The idea is to which-way your opponent, then instead of hitting them with a combo, you eat them. Mix it up with ES DP or cl.HP throw OS, as usual. - Corner knockdown, whiff a cr.HK, react to a roll forward, Pleasure - Knockdown, jump forward air fireball, react to roll (forward), land, Pleasure - Corner reset (after an air string), instant dash Pleasure Mix it up with the usual anti jump options. - P throw (TECHED), dash split demon - Fuck, this is nasty - Dark Force - Just...don't. - The Neutral Game - The neutral game for Demitri is pretty different than most other characters in the game. As opposed to spending most of your time trying to get in, Demitri spends most of his time trying to frustrate his opponents into making poor decisions trying to get in on him. You achieve this through well spaced Chaos Flares and well timed Demon Cradles/Guard Cancels. Bait your opponent into making a poor choice and then punish him for it. Get a knockdown and get Demitri's oki game going. Your main tools in the neutral game are going to be Chaos Flare, Demon Cradle, f.MK, and air chains. You should also focus on building meter in the neutral game via j.RH -> kara j.MK fireballs and cr/s.HK kara DPs. You're going to want meter for when your turn to be on the offensive arrives so that you can utilize Demitri's oki game, which consists of demon setups (2 meters), ES DPs (1 meter) and the like. Another tool you're going to be utilizing in the neutral game is pokes. Demitri's cr.MK xx fireball is a great tool to maintain spacing and frustrate your opponent after a brief confrontation and push them back out. Another tool is cr.HK. This will beat a lot of your opponent's advancing pokes and the like and score a knockdown, leading to your turn to go on the offensive. Another great tool in your kit is dashing (LP) DP. It's fairly safe on block (1F landing recovery, but can be air punished) and will help you catch your opponent poking, etc. and leads to a knockdown. - On the Defensive - On the defensive, you have some good tools available to you, but you must be careful. A lot of the time one of your best options for getting out of a situation is going to be a Demon Cradle, either raw or in GC form or dashing. Once your opponent is in, if you notice they're being haphazard with their chains, not hit confirming them and just finishing them on block, by all means, GC their ass and start your offense. However, if your opponent is smart, knows the matchup, and knows your tendencies, they're likely going to try to bait y our DPs. I must stress the importance of NOT DPing in these situations. You will eat a combo and you will be very sad about your life. Use your other defensive options, i.e.: tech hits, pokes, bat spinning out of the corner. DP is a good answer to a lot of things, but it's not always THE answer. This was honestly one of the biggest hurdles I've had to overcome playing Demitri, and I still sometimes use DP in a really bad place and eat shit for it. Don't play like me. Play smart. Something I also forgot to mention is that Demitri's dash is a great defensive tool. You can backdash -> fireball to maintain space in the neutral game. You can forward dash out of the corner if your opponent jumps at you while you're in the corner. You can bat drill out of the corner, either after a chicken block or just raw or whatever. You have many options. Use them intelligently. - On the Offense - Unless it's okizeme, Demitri honestly doesn't have a lot going for him offensively; however, his oki game is strong. Off of a knockdown, you have many options to consider: should you go in front? Behind? Go for a crossup? Should you go for a demon off of that oki? Or did he try to jump out last time...so maybe you should go for an ES DP? Or a throw OS? These are things you must think about, and sometimes the matchup makes it a little easier for you to make these reads, as certain characters have certain tendencies or weaknesses (Anakaris, for example, is obviously weak to being thrown, since he doesn't have a normal throw of his own, a fast reversal, etc.). If you find the right spacing, going for a rising j.LP into falling j.MK crossup is an okay idea when you're on the offense. A large part of maintaining your offense is getting a knockdown and guessing a roll. Be sure to keep track of your opponents' rolling habits. If he rolls forward 78% of the time, chances are he's going to roll forward next time, so be ready for it. Meet him with a demon, or if he jumps out of your setups 62% of the time, be ready to meaty ES DP or cl.HP OS throw him. Demitri on the offense is all about making smart reads and capitalizing on them. He has nothing truly solid going for his offense game, so you must play smart. - Okizeme - Ah, okizeme. Demitri's playground. Sort of. Demitri has a lot of oki options, and most of them involve which ways or demon/DP/throw. Your opponent must guess. Off of a knockdown, your typical oki situation looks like this: score a knockdown, bat spin in (which way), decide if you want to meaty ES DP, DP, go low, walk up cl.HP throw OS, set up a demon. These are all kind of situational and depend on the tendencies of your opponent. If they are more likely to jump on their wakeup, certainly don't just go for a low or something silly like that, unless you're super godly at meaty timing (meaties can actually beat wakeup jumping, but the timing is pretty strict). Walk up and cl.HP throw OS them. Meaty ES DP them. Don't waste 2 meters trying to demon them. They're probably just going to jump out. If your opponent has jumped a couple of your setups but you think he's going to be afraid to this time due to eating an ES DP or something, by all means, go for a demon. Set it up with one of the setups listed here or something else you come up with. There are tons of ways you can do it. If you think he's going to reversal you, wait a split second on his wakeup and ES DP him right in the tits. Demitri's oki game is very RPS (rock/paper/scissors), but you only need a few good reads to scare your opponent into predictability. Demitri is very scary when he has a couple of meters in stock and a knockdown. Use this to your advantage. If your opponent still doesn't respect Demitri and just does what he wants, punish him for it. Over and over and over. Play smart. - General Information - I thought I'd use this section to lay out some general info like what chains you should be using, how you should be dash DPing more than regular DPing, etc. For starters, you should be using the chain cr.LK cr.MP cr.MK cr.HK most of the time. It's Demitri's most damaging chain, leads to a knockdown, and allows you to set up your okizeme. There are exceptions to this, of course, but generally this is your best chain if you land a crossup or a random low or something like that. Your air chains that lead to unblockable ground resets are variable depending on range and height of your opponents' jump when you hit them. High jumps generally should be j.[LK MP MK HP]. Lower jumps can be shortened to j.[MP MK HP], and if you're jumping in and you're low to the ground but think your opponent is going to jump and chicken block late, you can do a late jumpin j.[MK HP] (also works as a double overhead on standing). When you DP, you should almost always be dash DPing. With LP. It has 1F landing recovery, meaning the most your opponent is going to get off of a punish is usually going to be an air reset. This is incredibly good for you. It makes dash LP DP pretty abusable. There are some matchups where it is still very dangerous, however. Zabel can punish a blocked dash LP DP with Death Voltage, which will fuck your life up. Be careful. It's all very situational. Sometimes when you are trying to hit confirm a chain, you might want to use cr.LK cr.LK renda. This gives you a renda bonus (more advantage on hit/block), which will allow you to link normals afterward or do an instant dash DP (more on that in a bit). To perform an instant dash DP (there are several methods, I'll outline just one here), input 6235...wait a split second...6+P (also delay the P just a hair). It's a very difficult input and leaves you with something like a 2 frame window to hit P, but with practice, you can probably become consistent at it. I haven't practiced it nearly enough and it's a tool that's sorely missed in my arsenal. And in my opponent's arse(nal). A note on the 263 inputs: these are not regular DP motions. It's down, forward, then hit the down+forward corner. There's an easier way to get this input, though, and it's pretty simple: 2363. - Notable Players - This list will most likely never be exhaustive or complete, but is meant to give you some idea of what to search for on YouTube should you want to watch some high level Demitri play and try to glean some information from it. Unfortunately there aren't many Demitris out there, and Dara, perhaps the most notable, quit around 2010. - Dara, usually written in hiragana (だら), but sometimes written in katakana (ダラ) - Azuwan, almost always written in katakana (アズワン)

Well, I read the entire thread, and I would like to be the first to say that "Xrd -SIGN-" is the dumbest title I've heard in recent memory. A friend pointed out to me that in the latest .hack game, the main character has a "Xth" form in it, and one of the .hack games had SIGN as a subtitle, didn't it? Maybe Daisuke is a fan. Other than that, it looks good; I don't know how they managed to make 3D models look hand drawn, but it looks nice. Other than Sol's shoulder cancer. Poor Sol.

I'm interested in this tournament.

Each input has to be deliberate and not at the same time as any other input. This doesn't mean that the input has to be slow, just that each input must be separate from any other input. LP MP MK MK

Thanks! That clears it right on up for me and explains why I wasn't able to do it on Axl, who has a particularly skinny hitbox in the air, I believe. Also gives me more damage vs lights. Thanks a bunch.