Cheefoo

It's hard to categorize characters as "weak" or "strong". I think I'd agree with, or at least understand where Dogura is coming from with those matchups in particular. Azrael is a close-ranged character with scary mixup and high damage potential. He can have some troubles gaining an advantage in neutral because of his short ranged attacks. However, a lot of his buttons function as anti-airs (5A, 6B, 2C, 5B) and he can absorb projectiles with growler field and use them as fireballs with his phalanx. Once on the offensive, he has an opportunity to mixup the opponent with quick lows/overheads, crossups and grabs. However he lacks any solid okizeme tools, so he has trouble dealing with reversals. On the defensive, he has a great backdash and a decent reversal in the form of growler field. Tao and Valk are both high-mobility rushdown characters that tend to stay in the air. This can give Azrael an edge because of his rather large vertical hitboxes. Their short hitboxes (despite their great functional range due to their movement) are great targets for Azrael's AA game, and gives him confidence to use growler without worrying so much about it whiffing. They lack defensive options, requiring meter just to attempt a reversal, and they have rather short ranged pokes for getting out of pressure. Azrael has a number of moves that leave him at a slight frame advantage on block, and they also leave him out of the range of Tao and Valk's quick pokes. Their short range also allows Azrael to backdash through some of their offense. Ragna, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. His 5B allows him to escape Azrael's pressure a lot more easily, and it can even catch Azrael's backdash if he abuses it. Ragna has a great reversal, and Azrael has no real way around it, and has to guess every time Ragna wakes up. Azrael has problems with Ragna in neutral because of Ragna's great range normals - Azrael's 5C is his only normal that comes close in terms of range, but is far too slow to be chanced against Ragna's 5B and 5C. Ragna can keep Azrael's growler field in check by utilizing the range of his jC - he can whiff-bait Azrael's DP while being in the same position as he would be if he wanted to throw out a jC. Tager's got 360s all day. Also sledge goes through 2C. Fuck that.

Hitting with growler should give Azrael a fireball stock in the next patch. Not only would that make it recover safely (assuming it would trigger the projectile-absorbing animation), but it would give him some advantage for actually hitting with it. Blowing the opponent away fullscreen is incredibly counterproductive for Azrael's playstyle, so I think getting a fireball from it should make up for that fact slightly without making his DP too good.

5D>2D gatling would be nice, but 2D on normal hit isn't very rewarding, unless you have meter and can hit confirm it (which is really hard in CP). I'd love to see a low hitting special added to Ragna's arsenal. Something like 22D for the input, animation similar to 2D's but with like 22f startup. Has two hits, first is a normal low hitting foot property move, the second is some kind of explosion (like carnage scissors) that comes out a few frames later with a lot of blockstun and groundbounces like 2D CH. Normally like +1 on block, but with large pushback. If the first hit doesn't connect, but they block the second hit, you wouldn't get pushed back (projectile property) and you'd have a much more advantageous SD. Maybe even dash-cancelable so it could function similarly to how deadspike does now as well. Ragna really needs something to catch people holding up-back, as well as a way to continue his offense off his max range pokes. A blocked 5C at max range gets him practically nothing, unless you want to blow meter for a desperate HF>RC. Or I dunno, just make 5C jump cancelable on block?

But why? Ragna doesn't really have mixup anymore. GH is a shitty starter now, getting like 3k damage at most, and is still punishable on block. 6B gets less than 2k midscreen and fucks your pressure if it's blocked. BS and DS are pretty good for getting Ragna in close for throw mixup, but they're both slow to startup, and BS is especially punishable if your opponent knows how to react to it. GH and 6B are easily blockable with a bit of practice, and now they're less rewarding and less safe. I know Ragna's offense is supposed to be bad, to make up for the fact he has the best DP and great normals, but I'm at the point where I don't even bother using high-lows anymore, instead I just try for throws and frametraps. I've mostly been neglecting crush triggers though. Are those a legit form of "mixup" that I should learn to use more or should I save my meter for RC's?

I'm still confused as to how DS works with its dash cancel. It feels awkward and sometimes the DC timing seems inconsistent. Exactly at what point can it be cancelled? I can't find any demonstrations of midscreen 22C>DC>run>5C anywhere. I know I saw it in a video once, but I've lost it. It does work just the same on any character besides Arakune and Kokonoe, right?

Is TK bloodscythe crossup any good? It's shown here... http://youtu.be/16ZYpteDn6s?t=1m3s ...but I'm sure there are more reasonable (but less hype) options than backwards airdash jC>jD>OD, right? Also, how difficult are TK BS combos compared to Extend's 5B>6A>TK GH>5B combos?

That's pretty scrubby. Worst of all, I see high level japanese players doing this. Maybe they can't hit confirm the GH>KA, which is also kinda scrubby. One more thing about Keri Age... It seems way better for combos now, but is that because of the measly P2 buff of 60>67 or something else? Does it launch the enemy lower than before? Or was GH>KA always this good in combos, it's just we never needed to use it because everything else was so much better?

How come I see everyone doing Keri Age when their GH gets blocked? I saw the frame data and it says KA recovers a bit faster than in CS, but it can't hit crouchers. Is it unpunishable on block, or is everyone just a scrub for using it when GH gets blocked? I almost always see it get punished by 2A, because it just whiffs on the crouching hitbox, but it seems like it could get punished way harder with 2C's or something.

Cancel it into ID. Or if you're feeling extra pro you could use DID and get that fatal counter.

In CSEX these were Ragna's options off of a blocked 5D -deadspike (avoided by up-back usually - can be punished hard if the opponent jumps forward over it) -gauntlet hades (blocked by up-back and can then be punished unless Ragna has meter) -hells fang (blocked by up-back - can be punished if IB'd - hitting with hell's fang gives little reward - non-IB can allow Ragna to employ gimmicky frame traps/throw mindgames) -inferno divider (no) -let 5D recover (can be punished, though large pushback, especially while barriered, may make it difficult, and most opponents are hesitant to try, because Ragna can cancel late into his specials - generally the best way to not get fucked if you accidentally press 5D) -RC 2B (can be implicitly avoided by being non-existant) Now in BBCP he has a few more options off of a blocked 5D (keeping in mind I haven't the game myself, but I've been watching matches for 10+ months) -deadspike (easier to jump away from, but at longer ranges the frame advantage is more rewarding - punishing if jumped over towards Ragna might be more difficult because he could potentially dash cancel and throw them off) -bloodscythe (can be punished with anti-airs or well timed air-grabs - if you try to jump away, chances are you're going to block it, and Ragna can keep you in pressure with 5A - up close it can cross up, possibly avoiding and fatally punishing AA's) -gauntlet hades (avoided by up-back and punished just like before) -hells fang (blocked easily, but might be more rewarding now if you hit opponents during jump startup - I'm not sure if there's a way to time it so HF connects just when they're trying to up-back away from a DS or GH - of course it can still be used for gimmicks on block) -let 5D recover (a much better option now, recovering something like 10 frames faster - if you think your opponent is going to up-back and you're afraid they're going to air-grab any BS, you could just let 5D recover and be able to defend yourself if the opponent tries to air-dash at you) So it definitely seems less shitty, but there are usually better options. Now that 5D(1) is level 5 too, you could cancel that right away to throw your opponent off.

So are we finally sure how advantageous deadspike is on block if you dash cancel it ASAP? Is it truly +7?

Can someone see how much damage they can get off of midscreen 6B>5D(2)>OD>5C>2D>dc etc. at full health?

BBIV stands for Blazblue Interplanar Vortex. BBIII being Blazblue Instant Inverse Ignition of course.

Hype values are unaffected by proration.

2C>(slight delay)>5C(CH)>6C>combo 2C>(no delay)>2D(CH)>combo I usually use these to catch mashers. 2C>2D also catches people holding up-back, and if you can react to the 2D hit (hope you're playing offline) you can also RC it and get a combo even off a normal hit. CH will, of course, give you a few days to confirm into anything you want.

You should avoid using hell's fang that early in a combo. It has awful protation, so it's best to save it for the last hit, or avoid it altogether unless you're forced to because they're out of range of all your other moves (though the follow up gives good knockdown and meter gain). Your corner combos should look something like this: 5B>5C>2D>RC>5C>jC>jD>j214C>6B>2C>5D(1)>214D>2C>5D(2)>623C*>236C>236C>44>3C>22C** *or 623D if you can cancel so only the first hit comes out - generally not worth fretting about **you can just jump cancel the 3C for oki if you don't mind losing the damage/crumple or 214A>214D if you want meter If they tech before they hit the ground after the straight punch wallbounce, that means you're too prorated. If they hit the ground and tech, it means you simply did it too slow. Also, the 22C timing can be a bit more difficult on certain characters.

Don't they both need CH to combo? But I guess everyone tries to mash out anyway, seeing as 6B is totally unblockable. Also, did I hear somewhere that AA 6B can be followed up?

So why exactly does this work? Does 22C has more active frames in CP? If that's an air tech, I'd imagine they could just tech forwards or backwards and dodge the 22C, right?

I think people need to use 6D more. Characters with worse pressure? Arakune... Lambda... uhh Relius...? If you could give Ragna one new cancel to enhance his pressure and overall offensive capabilities, what would it be? Nothing too silly like 5D>2A or anything, though.

Crossup j623D is a lot more rewarding now, too. I don't seem to see many people going for that very much, however. On the topic of D divider, is there any other fatal with 7 frame startup in the game?

Ragna's definitely in the upper half based on what I've seen in the dozens of matches I've watched. His damage was reduced, but his corner carry was actually buffed quite noticeably. Deadspike is buffed and blood scythe is absolute shit very strong a welcome new option interesting...

We're probably going to have to wait another year for a localized console release. I say do it. I love technical videos.

Is doing 360A as a wakeup reversal really a bad idea? I rarely see anyone doing legit meaties, probably thanks to delayed techs and techrolls etc. Also, I hear busters do more damage if you mash the Xbox360 home button.

Fighting AI is a good way to practice hitconfirms and combos. AI almost never blocks. They backdash way too much on wakeup and they never stop pressing buttons. They love to input read and hit you with a reversal, but some characters tend to do so more (Valk loves his reversal super and Tsubaki loves her shitty DP's). Protip for defeating any AI opponent (hell mode arcade, unlimited mars, score attack, survival etc.): step 1 pick Ragna, step 2 press 6, step 3 press 2, step 4 press 3, step 5 press C, step 6 do shitty 1-2k combo, step 7 go to step 2. Besides using them as glorified punching bags, they're pretty shit.

More belts.