Nihiru

I'm not saying it even has to be a sport. If they literally just removed the baseball theme and had it just plain and simple, people would magically understand it because it's not baseball. I honestly think too many people are way overcomplicating it simply because it has a baseball theme on it. "A character that powers up by hitting people with his weapon a certain amount of time, but loses his powers when he gets hit." Barring specifics such as numbers, anyone would understand this. If I suddenly changed it to look like: "A character that powers up by scoring homeruns when he hits people with his bat a certain amount of time, but loses his powers when he gets combo'd." All of the sudden, it's too confusing. People are making this more difficult than it should be. You hit people, you don't miss, you don't get hit. Anything more than that is extra fluff.

I can guarantee you that if they used some other cover instead of baseball for Junpei's gimmick, you would magically understand it because it's not baseball. His gimmick is complicated, but concise. You can literally sum up everything with two sentences. "Hit people with bat. Don't get hit." Everything else is extra fluff that people are overcomplicating.

Okay, I should clarify. Normal Asterius attacks were canceled during Shadow Labrys's blocks unless they had specific conditions, e.g., Uppercut's offscreen time. I didn't think it was necessary to begin with. More than likely, the reason you couldn't do a lot of Asterius attacks during block is because you're holding downback and D to keep Asterius from breaking, the recovery time for Asterius to get out of block and actually fire an attack whilst still under pressure with Shadow Labrys blocking made it extremely situational. This. With the swap of 8C and 2C and the recovery of Asterius on wake-up, it's now possible to downback on wake-up and call Asterius to do uppercut. It most likely refers to the fact that Uppercut is one of Asterius's few attacks that is not immediately canceled during Shadow Labrys blocking, so she can call Asterius to do uppercut now that she doesn't need to jump to use it.

With the change on Uppercut going from 8C to 2C, using it during block is already a possibility since the attack doesn't get canceled unless they hit you, break Asterius during his sinking, breaking Asterius during his rising, or keeping you in block as he is rising. Technically you could always do Asterius attacks during block, but they all get canceled since Shadow Labrys gets forced to block. I think you misunderstood, because what I think it actually means is that she can call out new 2C on wake-up, forcing the opponent to do certain oki or blockstrings to avoid the uppercut because Asterius does not get canceled during the time he is offscreen even if you are blocking. Before, it was difficult to do because Asterius had a small recovery time on Shadow Labrys's wake-up before he reappeared. At least, that is how I understood it. I could be wrong.

I personally see it as them attempting to polarize her more as an oki-based character. The Guillotine bounce allows for more oki options and, depending on how it works, [2]8C/D can be a potential mix-up option as well. No she doesn't have Shadow Mode.

Has a 10-0 match-up against all males.

Pretty low, especially 5A. Don't feel bad if your combos only get 1k~2k, that's about average for Shadow Labrys. Your most damaging combos will be confirming hits from Asterius such as a 5C or 236C/D into aerial combos, which are around upper-2k~3k. What you mainly need to worry about is getting into a clean knockdown so you can set-up for another combo, a couple of 2k combos will stack up. However, it is important you try to optimize combos and maximize damage when possible. For example, a clean punish with a fatal counter 5B should net you a very easy 3k meterless if you have Asterius up. I don't do anything necessarily complicated, so my damage and set-up potential is probably lower than higher level Shadow Labrys. I stick to autocombo and 2A 5B sweep and rely on Asterius oki for my 2k+ damage.

At some point, you'll really stop wanting to do air dash j.B because it's the easiest-to-counter approach of Shadow Labrys. It's simply asking to get 2B'd out of the air. j.B itself isn't bad and you'll still get a lot of use out of it because it's such a damn good aerial attack, but only air dash is a really bad approach unless you have Asterius covering you well (e.g., with a well-timed 8C). Air dash j.B is useful to quickly approach opponents when they're committing to something long-ranged, like Yu's Zio or Yukiko's fans. Outside of that, easily countered.

1) How do I launch an offense while keeping Asterius reletively safe, and how do I keep that momentum once I get it? Shadow Labrys has arguably the strongest and safest neutral game in the game. Most of your attempts at an offense should be short and concise, consisting of maneuvering with Shadow Labrys with fast attacks such as j.A, j.B, 5B, 5A, 2A, etc., as well as covering yourself with Asterius's attacks such as 8C, 5C, 2C, 236C/D, 214C/D, etc. Basically, you want to juke and jive a distance away from the opponent and force them where they are their weakest and can easily exploit them. For example, you will want to play an almost exclusive rushdown on characters like Yukiko, yet against characters like Kanji or Akihiko, zoning and keepaway is also "offensive." I think one of the problems most new players have with Shadow Labrys is that they try to let Asterius exclusively do all the neutral-offensive work, when you should actually be looking to move around in tandem, sometimes even throwing Asterius to the dogs to get the opponent to open up yourself. Once you get the momentum rolling through nearly any kind of knockdown, you set-up whatever varieties of Asterius oki you can, 5C being a simple choice and 236C/D (laser) being a very common pick. If you know how to confirm hits off these, the combos will lead into more set-ups. From there, it's just you trying to force the opponent to guess wrong on your oki. 2) How do I keep asterius from getting persona broken? Is his D his only defense? D is the only defense. However, you can "hide" Asterius with 8C, but be aware once he pops back up, he is extremely vulnerable because the recovery is huge and he is even bigger in the recovery. Or just never let the opponent hit him for free and every time he breaks, it will be worth it because you're getting health off them while they're just breaking Persona cards.

Hold onto that burst. Unless you can get a kill with random combo -> OMB -> Challenge Authority D, you are better off holding the burst as insurance for the opponent potentially making a comeback. Outside of awakening, I don't think OMB adds much more than 1.5k to Shadow Labrys combos.

... what? Shadow Labrys's strength isn't in her damage or 0-death potential. Her combo damage is crap due to high prorate in nearly every factor (character and attack) despite her raw damage being decently high. The reason no one bothers to go for IK set-ups is because the ones that go seamlessly (that is, from hit 1 to IK without a single drop/reset) require 150 meter, possibly even a 1MB for the easier one. So the cost factor is high, and unless you are doing the 1MB version, the difficulty to do the Titanomachia into IK is extremely difficult. For the cost of 100 meters, I'd rather use the opportunity to get free hits off the opponent because they're scared of me trying to IK them than actually trying to IK them. The start-up for the grab is so slow and it requires Asterius being free of any action that you would have really have to condition an opponent not to be doing something stupid when you're in their face; this is a large part of my argument because let's face it, Shadow Labrys does a lot better when the opponent is doing something stupid most of the time. Can Shadow Labrys actually combo into her IK? Yes. Is it viable that you try to? Hell no. Akihiko and Kanji has the best IK because combined with their abilities (i.e., paralysis), it's stupidly easy to get their IK.

Recommended SB Asterius attacks are the same as any match-up: 236C+D is good for forcing the opponent to defend and gives you room to breathe. If I remember correctly, laser does not break Asterius, but pillar will, you can really force some turtle play with this. 214C+D is only useful for forcing the opponent to block when Asterius is RIGHT ON THEM. Using it for the shockwave is really useless, might as well use standard, not SB. Don't remember if it breaks Asterius, my notes say no, but I feel like I forgot to test it. [4]6C+D is always situational. At best, you can use it on a cornered opponent for a fast command grab. Overall, I'd rather use the meter on 1MC or super (because her health is crap, a Challenge Authority ender might actually kill them). Using random defensive sweeps/Guillotines when someone is running at you does stupid wonders. Like, stupid. Literally. Not a lot of Shadow Labrys's attacks have better range or speed than sweep and Guillotine. Just don't do it when you notice enemy Asterius missing. Sweep can go under 2C though, so that's a safe option.

8C a lot. j.B a lot. If enemy Asterius is missing, start moving and holding 5D. See enemy Asterius trying to do something? 5B his face. See enemy Shadow Labrys trying to approach? 2C. Guillotine and sweep are good "footsie" tools, both breaks Asterius if he attempts something and could hit Shadow Labrys. Tougou likes to rushdown, DP a lot. Kappa

You will have to oki the laser when the opponent is past the halfpoint between Asterius and pillar, this will cause the laser to push the opponent range from the pillar launch. You then have to push the opponent back into the pillar before it explodes and do some kind of cross-up mix-up. Any other way will cause the blockstun to give the opponent free any-guard or whatever it is called.

That patch was months ago and it only fixed Yukiko's Fire Break Agidyne glitch. I don't see anything wrong with baiting DPs.

There was no patch I am aware of, pretty sure a patch anywhere would be big news.

Nerf? It's been like that since the game started. She has the benefit of a no-charge-required Brutal Impact A that can be used as a reversal, as well as a comboable Brutal Impact B when combined with a Titanomachia combo that gives approximately 4k off DP and 5k off FB 5B, as well as abusing the armor properties on the charging combined with Asterius to make it safer. Putting aside that her damage is naturally low to begin with, how is that in any way a nerf?

You cannot tech a throw while holding down D, even if you shortcut C+D throw to a button and press it while holding down D. You have to release D to tech a throw.

Sorry, I completely forgot that I had other engagements (going to watch Skyfall, durrrrr) today, so assume that I won't be able to attend. Hopefully next month.

Dustloop username: Nihiru PSN ID: Nihil679 Character: Shadow Labrys Location/Timezone: Oklahoma

From what I understand, Yukiko is a keepaway/zoner that heavily relies on her Persona. And from what I know about zoner characters, combos are usually short and it's just poking at the opponent with projectiles. Can't say that will be hard. Akihiko's 214 A or B is "Dageki Mikiri" or literally "Closeout Blow." It also has "According to opponent's attack," so assuming counter. His notes say "Can be derived in the operation of Ducking and Webbing." I'm assuming it means you can use them during Ducking and Webbing? I'm guessing Akihiko's hard to use just because he has no projectiles to zone out and probably has a slightly more difficult time closing gaps and requires some skill to stick on his opponent (though I hear he sticks well).

Teddy's "Fake Bear," the notes with the input reads "According to the opponent's attack," so assuming parry/counter. Edit: oh, already got that. Okay.

Pretty sure P refers to requiring a Persona to use the special, which coincides with how Yukiko's entire list is all dotted with P. And it makes sense if you check what specials require Persona, most of them are spells. If it wasn't know already, the stat chart basically reasons Top - Use Ease (Ease of use) Top Left - Persona Top Right - Aggression Attack (Aggressive ability) Bottom Left - Rapidity (Speed) Bottom Right - Defense