Greyyy

More stupid questions: 1. At what point in a blockstring can I jump over my opponent and do 4b? I've seen people do it online and it looks like hella sweet mixup. 2. What are some good ways to mix my command grab into my blockstrings? 3. How do I beat tech traps/wakeup? I always get caught right after I do my roll and eat another 4k combo.

Sup guys I recently picked up Blazblue and I'm learning Bang because he's awesome. I do have a few questions though. 1. The biggest problem I have with Bang is getting close to the other guy. For example, my friend also got the game and he's learning Ragna. It feels like I only have two ways of closing the gap on him, I can either run in and hit him or I can airdash in and kick him. The problem I have is that he can basically turtle me out, since he can inferno divider my air kick if I try to dash into him, and he can outrange all my ground moves if I try to run into him. I know I can throw nails to force him to block, but they feel like a crutch and I don't like having to rely on them. Are there any other tricks I can use to close the gap with my opponent? 2. My blockstrings suck ass. All my of moves seem to knock back so far and are so short range that I can only land 3-4 attacks before the blocker is out of range of me, and then I'm back trying to close the gap with them, which I suck at. How do I keep the pressure up on the guy I'm fighting? 3. I hear all the time that Bang's wakeup game is one of the strongest, but I'm terrible at it. I don't really know what to do when the guy waking up can basically roll in one of 3 directions. I'm used to playing Zangief in SSF4 where it's just like "Oh, you're standing up? Lol I grab you.". Are there specific things I should be doing when I have the opponent on the ground? 4. I don't understand the whole "lol mash 5a" joke. When am I supposed to be mashing it? When I'm stuck in a blockstring? Do I just stick it out randomly and hope it beats moves? I realize it's fast as fuck and has high priority, but it's got tiny reach and I can't spam it the same way I can jabs in SF4. 5. Is there a reason I should learn more 5b combos when I can just keep using the same one over and over? I tried using a combo with 6C in it, but it whiffs on crouch so what's the point when I can keep using the same combo that works on everything? 6. When is a good time to use my barrier gauge? I pretty much never use it and I feel like I'm missing out. Thanks in advance for the help, I realize I'm terrible at this game but I'd really like to get better.