TITANIUM BEAST!!!

Probably won't be getting any games in this weekend due to wedding on Sunday.

Gotta love that new thread smell.

Zidanel33t is the best Hazama on PSN. Sick player.

While I don't think Ragna is S-rank material either, I have less faith in a general ranking chart compared to, say, a matchup chart. Ultimately, matchups are what make tiers.

DID is not invincible on frame 1, it doesn't become invincible until frame 6 and then stays invincible through frame 17. CID is invincible frame 1 and stays invincible through frame 21, which makes it much more useful as a reversal. The tradeoff is that combos started with DID do more damage because it has 100% prorate as a first hit, compared to CID's 70%. CID -> Upper -> Straight, 5B-6A, HJC hj.C-D, dj.C -> BE, 3C-5D(1) -> HF -> Addition does 2364 dmg. The same combo started with DID does 3207 dmg. DID is also a bit slower (9F startup, CID is 7), but it's the invincibility that really makes the difference. DID is still relatively strong in some situations, though. It removes primer, so you can do some ghetto mindgames with it occasionally.

Probably can't do it on reaction though, and a chain that close doesn't really give Hazama good options. Rules for this match I can think of: 1. Don't jump, his air options are better than yours and he can anti air you easily. If you're going to approach, stay on the ground, your ground pokes are generally better than his. 2. Let him come to you. Don't be in a hurry to close the distance, because while his chains are less effective in close, he can punish you badly for trying to get in on him recklessly. Stay back and try to bait a bad chain that you can evade or punish. 3. Always IB chains, not only does this let you punish any of his approach options more easily, but you win the meter war this way, since you'll be getting 3 units of Heat for every 1 that he gets. 4. Always try to either be equal or have more meter than him, especially if you want to pressure him. You always need to have the option to RC available. Key example, if you make him block a 5B and he managed to IB it, he can reversal Houtenjin anything you can do after it EXCEPT for 2B. This makes 5B-2B a valuable string, but if he IBs 2B, he can punish its recovery with Houtenjin (or reversal any of your string options that follow from 2B). Without the option to RC here, you're kind of fucked for pressure. It all depends on how smart the Hazama player is. If he just busts out Houtenjin after the first thing he's blocked, use ID or BK to bait and punish. If he has meter and you don't, you can't really pressure him safely. IMO the match is all about whoever gets momentum first. Meter is extremely important and both characters build a ton of it when they get a hit in, so your best bet is to play as safely as possible and try to prompt a mistake you can punish.

I'm a little confused here. Are you saying you can hit 3C after connecting with 214A, 214D? Cuz as far as I know, that doesn't work. Or are you including the 3C as a separate scenario, and if so, what cases?

In-combo prorate for 5C is 85, while for 6A it's only 89. 6A is preferred after 5D DC, but 5C will hit in some situations where 6A won't. If you use the 5D DC combos, you have to account for this. The 3C, 2B pickup combos are not as damaging, but they are more reliable and work from further away.

j.C does more damage and has a better in-combo prorate.

I'd say a lot of it depends on the matchup too, like vs Hazama where you really want the extra meter to pressure him. Even though the mixups off of 5D -> 623D etc aren't as strong as 3C oki, they're still good enough that you can force the other person to tech in a non-ideal position and still pressure them. A lot of it will depend on your opponent as well and how well they know the matchup.

I'm all in favor of shenanigans, provided you get a bigger reward and the shenanigan is relatively difficult to defend against. Of course, when it's difficult to defend, it usually doesn't qualify as a shenanigan. Anyway, bumped oki thread with goodness.

I realize this is the shenanigan thread, but I have to say, whenever you have the opportunity to hit 3C as a juggle, you have way, way stronger oki options than this. More details in another post, in another thread. Carry on.

Block at round start is always good. Pretty much any passive action, really. Don't do any attacks unless you are 100% confident in their safety, or 100% confident that you know what your opponent is going to do.

S'okay, I still have stuff I can use for a vid, though I need proper equipment or a friend with time on their hands.

FUCK FUCK FUCK I can't believe my ideas keep showing up in videos! Fucking Double DS combo off of a 2C Fatal is MINE!!! Video overall was okay. Too much filler.

3C chains into 5D, so do that if you're close enough for the first hit of 5D to connect and do 5D pressure. If you have meter, 2D is freeeeeee, just do it and RC it whether it hits or is blocked, either way you win. When they get used to that, mix up with GH. You can also Dead Spike if you think they'll just sit there. 3C gives you a ton of options, the fact that it's JCable just adds to its safety.

I think that's excessive really, simply toning down his meter gain (especially on BE) would help, no need to remove combos. I would only agree to making BE a straight knockdown if it had faster landing recovery so you could force oki on someone. Side effect would be that blocked BE might actually be good pressure, but no big deal there either if you ask me. Honestly, if ASW is really going to tweak characters, they need to change them as little as necessary. If Blood Kain stuff got toned down, I wouldn't be that upset, because while it's really cool stuff, it's not necessary for him to be competitive and some of the BK combos do really big damage. But if they were to say, nerf 2C, or change GH back to CT where you can only combo off of the TK version, I might be peeved.

1. Meter gain is ridiculous. 2. 2C is fine the way it is, a range increase would just make it stupid. 3. Ragna needs 22C, leave it alone. This game already has problems with a lack of options to force mixups on offense, no reason to take away one of the few good oki options. 4. Meter gain is ridiculous. 5. BK damage is really high, but there's a lot of commitment there so it should probably be left alone. 6. Did I mention Ragna's meter gain is ridiculous? Because it is. I think that about covers it. Ragna is fine, outside of METER GAAAAAAAIN.

For midscreen, the 6A combo works more easily. The problem seems to be that because of the extra hits from Belial, it becomes a lot harder to follow up. For example: 1. 5B-6A-5C(HJC), hj.C-D(JC), j.C -> BE, (dash)6D-j.D(JC), j.C -> BE: 21 hits 3407 dmg 2. 5B-6A-5C(HJC), hj.C-D(JC), j.C -> BE, 6A(HJC), hj.D(JC), j.C -> BE: 23 hits 3242 dmg In this case, combo 1 allows you to juggle your opponent with a 3C, whereas combo 2 allows them to tech too high off the ground after the second Belial. For a combo like this, if you get your opponent into the corner, you WANT 3C after a double Belial because the oki you get is too good to pass up. Combo 2 gives you fairly sucky midscreen followups too, you can do 5D into either Hell's Fang (no followup) or Inferno Divider into followups. Midscreen, Hell's Fang juggle is pretty crappy for tech catches (much better in the corner) and Inferno Divider followups give lousy oki midscreen as well. Since you can't hit your followup after Hell's Fang in this situation, you can't even try to push your opponent into the corner. The fact that combo 1 does better damage doesn't hurt either. Now look at this combo: 3. 5B-6A-5C(HJC), hj.C-D(JC), j.C -> BE, dash 3C-5D(1) -> HF -> Tsuika 3427 dmg This is an easy midscreen combo that does good damage and pushes your opponent towards the corner. Even if you do 5D into DID followups after combo 2, it still does less damage than combo 3. So really, there's no reason to use the 6A variant. You get less damage and crappy oki for no benefit other than more meter gain from double Belial. Not worth it, IMO.

Lots of dashing in and using Barrier to stop, jump in with Barrier and look for IAD throws. Try to get under her so you can 6A, that way she has to block and you don't have to worry about her awesome air moves. If she IADs at you with j.B or j.C, you can 6A those as well, but spacing and timing matters. On the ground, try to make her whiff a normal so you can punish, don't commit to anything unless she does something first. Whiffing a move and eating one of her combos is just not worth it. Once you get in, be aware of Tsubame Gaeshi (the DP), if you bait it then you get a free combo (she can't Rapid that move). Otherwise, stick to pressure with as few gaps as possible. Her command backdash is good for getting her out of trouble. Try your best to corner her if possible.

Nightmare Fiction is the Ragna/Hazama theme, Endless Despair is Unlimited Hazama theme. So yeah, wrong place.

Yeah, you're doing better. Still, sometimes you need to calm down and just block or wait a second before attacking. Still seems like you flail sometimes when there's almost no chance someone is going to stick anything out.

I think that's BB in general. Since most moves in the game are either unsafe or disadvantage on block, you're tempted to try and counter attack right away after blocking something. With that kind of mindset, someone can fuck you up badly by just being really unpredictable. Someone coming from a more traditional style of 2D fighter can really get screwed over by it. CS Ragna is overall a LOT safer than CT Ragna. The change to 5C is highly noticeable: a move that used to be death on block is practically unpunishable if spaced properly. 5B is also slightly safer depending on where it hits because they extended the active frame and reduced the recovery. The move is normally -7, but if you can get it to connect on the last active frame, it's neutral on block. In most poking situations, if you're spacing 5B, then you probably won't get punished for it. 2C, as noted earlier, is incredible. +1 on normal block, -4 if IBed, which makes it completely safe, along with very strong followup options (3C or 6D are both good options after blocked 2C). The other thing that makes CS Ragna safer is the side effect of his meter gain being huge. His combos give him between 40% and 60% Heat on average, so he almost always has meter to RC. You can basically do a lot of stupid shenanigans and RC to stay safe or even create new mixups. You do max range 5B on block and make the other guy guess between 2D or GH, which gets you a free combo either way on hit (for even MORE meter), if they block you RC and restart pressure, plus your opponent is 1 primer closer to a guard crush. This is really strong after a combo that ends in 22C in the corner, just hit them with 5B after the grab and force the mixup (or do Dead Spike for +5 and primer removal). I would say that players who are still focused on CT Ragna mindset of doing risky stuff all the time and trying to always "read" the opponent will suffer in CS. Play safe and pick your reads carefully. Ragna is top 3 for a reason.

2C is always safe if blocked. Even if your opponent IBs, you're only at -4 (fastest attack in the game is 5 frames), and the followup options from 2C are strong, so most people won't try to attack you after blocking it if they know better. The difficult part is being in range for 2C. If you can get that close, you're home free.

Basically, if you screw up positioning on BE and the opponent gets dragged down but can tech, they are considered in a downed position for a split second before they get bounced. That point is where they can tech the BE, but if they don't tech, you can continue the combo and get 22C since they were downed at that point.