Airk

Excellent update, looking forward to more sections.

Pfft. You woulda completely destroyed me if you hadn't dropped some of those combos. My awesome 236A 'reset' came through for me a couple of times though. (Okay, so that's really just me dropping that combo, but the way it works out actually leaves me at advantage. x.x) I REALLY need to learn the timing for reversals on wakeup, because everytime I try to DP or wakeup super it doesn't come out and I just get clobbered. x.x Good games! I'm sorry about the connection though. I would've expected it to be better than that. =/

I should be getting blown up on DJKoopa's stream shortly. :P Look for my 'trademark' blue&blonde Tsubaki. Sadly, he doesn't seem to save archives. Edit: Well, that didn't last long. I guess I caught it at the end of the fun.

He really can't - if you're losing a poking war, it's because your opponent knows his spacing better than you. Bang's 5B is pretty much the same as yours (Aside: I find it lame that Tsubaki's hurtbox extends out to include the wing.) in terms of both how it extends his hitbox and how it comes out. His 5A has a bit better range than your 5A, but pretty similar range to your 2A (which is faster and longer ranged than his 2A, though his hits low). Bang has solid normals, but they're no better than Tsubaki's. It helps if you don't stay on the ground all the time, but nails have really very, VERY little hitstop or blockstun, which means that a lot of the time if you just mash a 5A/2A, you'll CH Bang as he comes in behind them. You can also DP in this situation. Bang's pressure is definitely mean, and takes some time to get used to. Beating it is as much about figuring out how your opponent plays as anything else, but it's generally recommended to try to CA out. There are also places where you can generally DP him, but I'm not familiar enough with his strings to know when those are. Edit: Here's a good writeup detailing a lot of Bang's capabilities. It gives you a pretty good idea of what he can do when. Fu-rin-ka-ZAN!!! Uhm. Yeah. Odds are, if Bang is doing this to you and he's not already nearly dead, you're pretty much toast. His mixup is insane in this mode and his damage is very high, and the very fact that he's gotten the 4 seals he needs to activate it means he's already given you a pretty good beatdown. Your best bet here is to try to go offensive - you're not going to block his mixup, so that's pretty much a dead end street, but in this mode he can only barrier block (which means you can run down his barrier) and his dashes have no invulnerability, so it's not completely impossible to get a hit in. His wakeup is good when he has meter, but it's complete garbage otherwise - most of his drives don't have frame 1 guardpoint, and the one that does (6D) is pretty darn slow, so as long as you aren't mindlessly mashing, you're not going to get hit by it if you do a meaty. Also, all guard points are defeated by 22D unblockable, so like Kiba says, abuse this on his wakeup. Well, the thing about his drives is that they have funny windows of guard point, and different high/low properties in terms of what they guard point, so they require a fair bit of skill to use effectively.

5B if you're in range. Otherwise, Try IB > 22A. If you're quick enough, it should get you a tasty counterhit. Otherwise, maybe you could do a neutral superjump > j.214X?

I have no advice except the good old fashioned combo-training adage: If it didn't come out, you did it too fast. If it came out but didn't combo, you did it too slow.

You can't. It's +3. Depending on when they like to throw it out, you can beat it out pre-emptively with a 5B or a 22A, but it's kind tight, timing-wise. 214 series doesn't work because Dead Spike has foot attribute. Probably your best bet for "punishing" it is to pre-emptively jump forward on him, because Dead Spike doesn't hit at full height until a few frames in, so if you can interrupt it, you're good, and jumping is quicker than trying to sneak in a 5B. It's still more or less predicated on KNOWING he's going to do it though.

Most likely the former; If you don't do the j.214A fast enough, you won't be on the ground in time to dash forwards and hit them. If you watch videos of people doing that combo, Tsubaki barely seems to leave the ground at all. Then of course, you need to get the dash in quick, and hit them with 2C at pretty much the top edge of its hitbox, or they tech. There are several things that are tricky about that combo.

Thanks, that makes sense. I think I was just failing to grasp the phrasing for some reason. @_@

The hitbox is excellent, yes, but I'm not really sure what the relevance is of "less recovery frames than most invincible moves have startup" unless you're talking about using it as a bait? Edit: Also, I said "never wake up with" not "never use". For punishing holes in pressure, Tsubaki's DP does fine, though I still generally advocate not spending the charge for the D version, simply because I don't think the modest amount of additional damage gained from a 623D > j.236D > j.214D stuff is worth another charge on top of doing the same thing with 623A.

Yes, it will probably beat it if you try to DP the Rassenga on reaction - you should use 623B for this for its later invulnerability frames. If you're going to try to stuff the followup jab, 623A is what you want. Basically: Anticipation: 623A Reaction: 623B. That's not failsafe - but the gist is that if something trades or beats 623A because the invulnerability wears off, 623B will often work.

Tsubaki's DP hits at ground level, so it's not that the hitbox is too low. Not being able to see what actually happened makes speculation difficult - but if it didn't clash, and instead hit you, then she must've thrown it out late enough to hit you AFTER the invulnerability frames on the DP wore off, and after the hitbox of the DP had risen enough not to hit her. If this is the case, then the different invulnerability frames on the B-DP would probably transform the whole thing into a big whifffest, but you'd still need to D-cancel or rapid cancel to not get punished on landing. Still, this is just another reason to NOT wake up with the D DP. This move is basically a waste of a charge IMHO.

Frame data says that A DP should work without trading, assuming he does his 2A anything close to immediately. Ressenga is +2 (+5 for fully charged) which means if you DP immediately after leaving blockstun, and he mashes jab immediately upon recovery, his jab will hit you 4 frames after the end of blockstun (2A hits on frame 6) or 1 frame after the end of blockstun for the fully charged version. A DP is invulnerable from frame 1 to frame 8, so will stuff both of those. Mind you don't get baited though. If you IB and mash jab perfectly, you should hit him out of his 2A as well, but you've got to be RIGHT on with the timing to not trade.

What do folks do about Hazama using the C(?) followup on the chains? (The one that pulls him in to the opposite side of you). It seems like no matter what I do, I'm free to Chain>C followup> j.2C. It seems like if I do 2C "early" it misses him because he's crossing up, and if I do it late he just hits me. Even earlier? (My reactions may be bad.) You can jump in on him with barrier - both 2C and Stance > Gashoukyaku are heavily negative on block. He can just spam 5A to AA this and leave you at more or less neutral, but if you can train him to AA with 5A, then you can jump in with actually attacks occasionally. (Still need to space them well though.). Lots of mid-level Hazama players will mash Jayoku as a reversal in the hopes that you'll either leave a gap or drop the combo. Charge cancel eats this for breakfast. Smarter players will do this sparingly, but you have to respect it, because even with the new "nerfed" proration, a properly executed combo from a reversal Jayoku can still run you 4k.

>confused< 6A doesn't go to 6B, only to 5C, which you shouldn't be able to go over (CH maybe, but not go over). Or did you mean going to 6B AFTER 5C©? Because that's a fairly common option. Do not fall prey to this fallacy. 236C (Don't call it C-Sanctus, since 236, 214 and 22 all start with Sanctus. You can call it C-Aequum if you want.) is only minus on block if it is spaced poorly. It has 10 active frames, and it doesn't go into recovery until it has finished them all, so if you're very close to Tsubaki when she does this, yes, she'll be at -5, but if she is further than about halfscreen away, she's going to be at +1 or more, up to about +5 at max range (just short of full screen). The other versions of this move work similarly but for shorter ranges, but most Tsubaki players don't use them because they don't lead into much (only the C and D versions give enough hitstun to combo into a normal, A/B only lead into like 1200 damage or so by cancelling to 214A>22A.) Lux Aeterna is indeed moderately unsafe on block, but most of the time you won't see Tsubaki doing that outside randomly of maybe some jumpback attempts to bait something.

She doesn't really need to expose herself in order to charge - quick taps at fullscreen or near fullscreen will recover in time to block chains, and low altitude jump charging is in a 'no chain' zone unless you're nearby (in which case, she shouldn't be doing it.). OTOH, her air charge has landing recovery, so you can punish that if you time it right. Jumping back with AB is not a good idea when IN her pressure thanks to the mandatory no jump-barrier time, but jumping around a lot is excellent in neutral, because your ability to attack from the air is much better than her ability to chase you up there. 3C is definitely good because it goes under her 5B. =( You should only be able to command grab her out of 22D if you've got extremely good timing, because while she's CHARGING 22D, her hitbox is actually reduced, and only starts to extend right before the attack. Still, this matchup is definitely in your favor due to your superior air game, and the threat of the reversal houtenjin.

Tsubaki player here, who has been blown up by Bang a lot lately. (Note: This doesn't mean the matchup is in Bang's favor, just that I suck. My performance should not be used as a measure of much of anything.) Wanted to share a few things: Jump ins are generally awkward against good players, because as noted, 2C is pretty strong, and even if you bait it with a double jump or something, it can be jump cancelled, though that doesn't leave Tsubaki in a very good position either, since he air to air options are pretty bad. Smart Tsubaki players will not try to engage you air to air, but will jump around to try to get a jump-in (her air to ground options are good) and to screw up your ground approaches. 236C confuses a lot of people, because it's not "plus on block" or "punishable on block" or "You can counterhit anything afterwards with 2D on block" or ANYTHING reliably; The relative plus/minus of the move is like Bang's 3C - the further it travels before it makes contact with you, the more plus on block it is. At absolutely perfect spacing, 236C is +5 on block, which means that ANYTHING you do without frame 1 invulnerability is going to get you facepunched, presuming Tsubaki follows up with a jab, she'll hit you 1 frame after you come out of blockstun. In theory, you could do a 6D and guard point it, but unless she's mashing, you're not going to hit her with that, since the startup on 6D is longer than her entire jab animation. Reversal Ashura might work though. On the other hand, if you see Tsubaki doing this move from anything closer than about half screen, YOU will have the frame advantage, and you should act accordingly. Be sure she's doing the C version though - it has a red "aura", which B is green and A is blue - because those have the same properties, only at shorter ranges. Most Tsubaki's don't use those versions much outside of combos though. If Tsubaki is doing a blockstring on you, she loses the ability to do an overhead after the third hit (5B, 5BB, 2B all gatling to the overhead, after that, nothing does), so you can just block low and watch for throws. After 5CC, there is a gap if she continues to 6B, so you might be able to 6D there (6B is a low, so other drives won't work.). If you don't, she will probably try to dash in for a jab reset, since 6B leaves her at +1. The other options you'll generally see after 5CC are charge cancel (which leaves her even, or -3 if you IB'd) which will bait reversals and reset her pressure assuming she can react faster than you, or going into 22A/B/C. 22C is the usual choice since it leaves her at +1 and breaks a primer, but there's enough of a gap that you can 5D this if you see her getting predictable (But be careful, since if she goes for 6B or 22B instead, you'll get CH). Your best bet in this matchup is to seize the initiative with nails and never let up. She DOES have a DP though, even though it's not particularly good, it's enough to punish holes in strings if your opponent's execution is good, but you should do your darndest to make her prove she's willing to use it, because she gets next to nothing from it without charge (like 1k) other than getting you off her. So, even moreso than on characters with GOOD DPs, don't respect the DP until she forces you to.

I knew about the frame madness (though sometimes it's hard to resist pushing a button anyway, since it LOOKS like it should be punishable. x.x). But thank you for the other stuff - that's exactly what I was hoping for. Now to go look up what 5B and 5C LOOK like. x.x (This, my friends, is just how little I know about Litchi.)

See, this is what I was sortof hoping people could provide, in general terms, because I probably have less than 10 matches against Litchi, ever. :P

Yeah (Well, except for staffless 6A, which is like -13 if you don't gatling. :P ) but somehow, it seems like 4D is the one that gets me. x.x Probably because it has a lot more range than than staffless 6A, and staff 6A gatlings to nothing.

Any tips on avoiding the 4D poledance overhead? :P

This's mostly already answered for you, but a few extra bits of info: #2: To clarify on PK's answer, 236D OTG pickup doesn't work right on Makoto, and things that involve picking him up while sliding with 5C or super don't work on Jin. You can OTG Tager, Rachel and Valkenhayn with 236C(or, presumably, A or B, but irrelevant.). I think there are some fiddly combos involving j.236D that don't work on Rachel and Tager due to large hitboxes, but overall, it's mostly just Makoto and Jin. #3: That's pretty much the smartest thing you can do on an accidental 5B AA. (Has anyone tried like, 5B, 623C, j.236D, j.214D, stuff? Does that work? prolly not optimal, but actually not too bad based on all of those moves having pretty good proration?) #4: It's basically a 'surprise! Bet you weren't expecting me to use THAT crummy move!' attack. :P Well, okay, it's not completely terrible, but as PK says, if you have no meter, it's definitely not recommended, because the risk is large and the reward is small. Having meter to RC means you reduce the risk (to "just" wasting 50 meter.) and can actually get some results off it. It has a lot of range though, especially for a low, so it can really catch people offguard. I've had some extremely modest success using it as an anti air, of all things, generally by accident. Someone jumps over me, my 2C turns into a 3C, and they land on it. :P

What PK said. Most of it is just really weird. I expect/hope it'll make more sense in the final version, but I don't think Arc is stupid enough to really mess her up. Everyone was paniced about Lambda nerfs during the CS2 Loktests, even though she was perfectly fine in CS1, and she came out just fine in the final product, so... I don't really suggest paying that much attention to any of this stuff.

If you're talking about the big overhead paw-swipe, that's actually Cat Spirit 3, not a normal. It's a pretty mean starter though, so blocking it is recommended. I think she gets way more off that than she does off the 6B butt-bump Yeah, this is me. I see the hit and I'm like "I should jump cancel!" and then I don't. I think even making the effort and having them tech out is better than letting them get away free.

Not much advice on that, honestly. Most of the stuff you were doing was fine, it's just going to come down to improving your defense (I don't know if you blocked a single overhead), and your combos/hitconfirms. (We both need to sit down and learn to hitconfirm anti-air 5B into SOMETHING.) I presume at least most of those 3Cs were misinputs? (I get 3C a lot when I'm crouchblocking and someone jumps over me and I try to 2C them. Irony? It hits a lot when that happens.)