Airk

Dare I suggest that no one should be "feeling themselves" over a video game. Stop.

I'm not clear on what you're suggesting? A 'late' jump cancel? What does the (1) actually do?

Isn't this a requirement for all PS3 control devices? In any event, I'm pretty sure I can do this with a dual-modded 360 stick, so it'd be super weird if a licensed PS3 peripheral couldn't.

It kinda depends on when they try to grab you - all versions lose under the right circumstances, but B version will avoid "early" grabs (while you're still rising, but if they jumped over you so the hitbox whiffs). C version might screw up some grabs just because it launches you so much higher, but you'd never actually do this on wakeup. Time to do more wakeup 2C. :P

6D > j.D is kinda like Dead Spike - the time to punish it is BEFORE 6D comes out - it's 26 frames of startup, so it's imminently jabbable (5A only! 2A will probably whiff on the foot invulnerability) off of most gatlings (though the irritating thing about it is that he can go to 6D after almost anything - the only times he CAN'T go to 6D are after his moves with NO Gatlings (6A, 5D, 2D) or 3C) Once you've blocked the 6D you have no choice but to also block the j.D. Honestly, I'm surprised more Ragna players don't abuse this.

This may sound like a dumb question, but what do people do when caught in Ragna's 22C combo ender? I used to try to break the stagger because, hey, I'm staggered, but today I just tried blocking low and being ready to tech throws, and it seems to work way better, since I don't have to worry about hitting a button after I've auto-recovered or something, and at worst I get hit for a tiny bit of extra damage. What do other folks do?

BJ has failed me, but I found his video anyway. It's the quite poorly named "1 Charge Mugen Showcase" which makes it sound like some sort of combo exhibition, rather than the technical demo it mostly is (though I must admit that the 1 charge 6CC combo he does in the 2nd half is quite impressive.)

Not sure about your first question, unfortunately (though I'm sure someone else can assist). For the second one, have you tried just delaying the j.236D a little bit? The cancel window is relatively lenient. BattousaiJ made a video with some explanation of issues around the "3D" loop, but I can't find it now, alas. BJ, assist! >tags<

Bang match was sadmaking, except for the Mugen trolling, which was kinda hilarious. Rachel match is brought to us by "Tsubaki does weird stuff, but it works, yay Astral"

I'm extra wary of trying to 22A Litchi at round start because in addition to what everyone can do to beat this (forward jump :P ) it loses bigtime to Itsuu at round start, and LOTS of Litch players like to go for that option. It skews the risk/reward even further away from 22A as a round starter IMHO. OTOH, 3C at round start becomes a non-terrible idea because it clobbers Itsuu and doesn't lose too badly to most of her other round-start options (I don't think I've ever seen Litchi start a round by blocking low. :P ) I have a super lack of decent Litchi experience though. Haven't seen one in ages.

Now, admittedly, I only watched the Rachel fight, but I don't really think your problems are what you think your problems are. You lost the Rachel match because: A) You have a poor sense of the range/hitbox of your attacks - you did some 5D's while Rachel was right up there in your face and some 5Cs when she was a long way off B) Your combo execution was lacking - the Rachel player had at least a couple of combos that they could finish, whereas I think you finished one once. It's hard to beat an opponent who can do 3.5 per combo when you're struggling to make it to 2. C) You took a bunch of damage from randomly hitting buttons/doing moves when there was a projectile about to hit you. A) Will be solved by practice. Keep playing. B) Will be solved by practice as well - though spending some time in training mode looks like a good idea. C) Will be solved by...practice. Your blocking and patience were actually much better than your opponent in the Rachel video, at least.

What is a "VS-styled guard break"?

Then they have to block the ambiguous crossunder -and- react fast enough to punish 3C after waiting to see if you're going to do 3CC. Still works best with meter for rapid, but they need to guess right a couple of times before it becomes an issue.

Most players don't use it a lot in neutral - Grendy has special magic like that. It's pretty unsafe on block unless you space it well, in which case it's only a little negative, and you can play "watch out for the followup" games too, but it's...recommended to have 50 heat when you throw it around. Apparently Tsubaki can do pretty mean midscreen oki stuff with it if you can master the timing, which I sure haven't. x.x Felt a little sloppy tonight overall, but I've been worse.

Good games Grendy! Dunno how the heck I took that first match from you; Must've been a perfect storm or something. I have a few replays tucked away for future reference, and I really, really oughta remember not to airdash in on you in the corner. :P

Play more. Eventually it stops being "OMG! It's another person!" Also, relax. :P Cultivate a healthy "who cares?" attitude.

Whoa; Bummer. Thanks for the headsup.

Well, it's important to differentiate between a 'combo' and a 'block string'; The former is what happens when you are getting hit. The latter is what happens when you are blocking. And though they might look similar at first glance, they're really not. At the end of an opponent's combo, you are probably lying on the ground (or, occasionally, teching in the air.). Usually, your best bet after THAT is just to try to block whatever they do next, or maybe, maybe wake up with Calamity Sword. Blockstrings are a whole lot more nebulous, and you're really mostly going to need to learn from experience - there will usually be gaps in an opponent's block string (i.e. places where you are not actually in block stun.). Depending on the size of these gaps, you may be able to backdash out, jab out, or jump out... and you need to know what you can do when. Generally: #1: If you're not in the corner, you can backdash out of any gap that doesn't lead into an attack with lots of range. Lambda has an excellent backdash - it moves her fairly quickly and a pretty good distance. You should definitely learn where to backdash out of blockstrings. Once you have backdashed, you are pretty close to back in neutral and can proceed from there. #2: If you ARE in the corner, you can backdash out of gaps that are small enough that the next attack whiffs on your backdash invulnerability. This is a pretty small window, but lots of blockstrings have these sorts of small holes. It's going to take some learning to figure out when this is. Once you have backdashed and caused one of these attacks to whiff, you will generally then need to jab or throw the opponent out of their recovery, because you're still very close, but they can't cancel their attack since it whiffed. Note that if the attack they are using recovers quickly, backdashing won't help because they may be able to recover and hit you before your backdash ends. #3: Anytime you notice a place in your opponent's blockstring where they like to dash in (usually because you've been using barrier to push them back) is a good time to try jabbing them out. This may or may not be safe depending on the move they used prior to dashing in, however. (You can also backdash these gaps) #4: You can also jump or IAD backwards in some gaps; If you don't IAD, you should try to barrier ASAP because many grounded attacks can't be blocked in the air without it. There isn't really any such thing, but I always advice beginners to check out James Xie's "Beginner Mode" series. It does an excellent job of teaching about the game, though it's still not a 'step by step' guide.

Well, step 1 is to not give in to your first instinct all the time. Step 2 is to realize that a lot of the time, you're not really in any danger of getting hit - remember. Blocking low will block the vast majority of your opponent's attacks, so there's only a couple of things you even need to look out for.

The one time I bought buttons it was from Lizardlick, but they tend to be oddly understocked a lot of the time, so focusattack.com might be a better bet.

I'm always hesitant to do stuff like this because I always seem to mar the surface. That said, you shouldn't need TOO much pressure here, so as long as you use a cloth or something to keep things from scratching, this oughta work.

I don't have a picture, but here's how it works: You take the bottom off the stick. Underneath the actual joystick there is a flathead screw. You stick a screwdriver in it, just to hold it in place, and turn the ball (or hold the ball and turn the screw). If you just try to turn the ball otherwise, the stick shaft will rotate.

Oh, excellent, thank you. Let me try that out.

I had presumed that fewer hits=less susceptable to proration. It's not that unreasonable an idea, is it? :P

I'd always just assumed that since the ground ender did less damage, it was less susceptable to proration, but apparently not. How so?