TITANIUM BEAST!!!

What I do now is just guard and wait for the Nu player to make a mistake. If he dashes up, I just keep my eyes open for the throw to break. It gets difficult when you're in 5D range and the Nu player starts mixing in high/low when they have meter. Fullscreen is actually an okay place to be, since 4D is the only sword that can reach you and you can react to it (so just guard low in case of a reversed Sickle Storm, react to the 4D by blocking or dashing forward). The match requires patience, but after playing against a few decent Nus online and locally, I don't feel so bad about the matchup. It can even be fun if you get in a few early hits and then just hang out on the other side where most of her moves can't reach you; some of the players will literally just sit there and wonder why their 5D can't hit you. Wish I could play a Nu of Goryus' caliber to see what the matchup is supposed to feel like.

shrug Sol never had a move where he picked some yokel up off the ground by the neck and then pushed his shit in. That clearly makes Ragna more badass.

Strange, I read that version works on everyone. Would explain why I couldn't hit it even once in training on Jin, though.

do dash 5A-5B -> 623C etc on Jin after the first 22C.

What you can follow up 22C with depends on how many hits you did before you grabbed them. If you Rapid you can dash up and do a good bit more, but even something simple like a dash 3C into another 22C is good, since you get an extra unprorated 800 damage for every 22C you land.

Setups depend on which character you're fighting. On Jin, yeah, 50% or below. On another Ragna, his health can be as high as 65% and you'll still get the Astral. Might wanna mess around with different characters to see what the individual thresholds are.

Comboing into Astrals is a bit pointless, but the upside is that you know 100% that if it hits, the match is over. Combos into Dark Devour are more practical simply because you don't require an end-of-match condition and low life to do it, but it still ends up using 100% Heat overall, so how often will you actually get to use it?

Who are you practicing the combo on? It's character specific (doesn't work on Jin, for example).

From reading posts, it seems people have move names mixed up: Dead Spike: 214D, this is where Ragna swings his sword up and a little beastie comes out to OM NOM your ankles. Gives him a little life back on hit or block and has frame advantage (!!!). The move the OP is talking about is probably Hell's Fang, 214A, which can be followed up with a 214D for an additional punch that knocks you away and gives him some life back. And yeah, it's easy to punish if the Ragna player spams the followup or if you Instant Guard the first attack.

In general, as you get better at the game, you will not mash as much and will aim for more precise execution of your moves. However, there is "controlled mashing" at higher levels. This is where you double or triple input buttons in order to increase the likelihood that your move will execute, using techniques like drumming and double tapping. This isn't really mashing in the traditional sense, it's a controlled input technique. In BB it doesn't seem like it's really necessary. Inputs are held for up to 5 frames if you just hold the button down when you push it.

You can't really loop the 5D outside of Blood Kain. What you can do is something like, 3C-5D -> dash cancel, 6A-5D -> 214A~214D. Stuff like that, not really loops but some interesting juggles.

Holding down B will help since the game holds inputs for up to 5 frames if you hold the button down. You want to slide input the C after the B. You'll want to do it as fast as possible at first, but I'm going to experiment with how late I can do it, since the later you kara the 5B, the more range you gain. And yes, doing kara throw adds startup time to your throw. The usefulness of it is questionable, seeing as throws seem to serve a different purpose in BB compared to other games.

I just learned the timing. Practice makes perfect.

5D is a level 4 attack, which means each hit inflicts 18F of blockstun respectively. So if you dash cancel the second hit on the first active frame that it connects on, you will be at -4 frames (18F-22F = -4F). This is on normal guard, if they Instant Guard the second hit, you will be at -9 frames (13F-22F = -9F). -4 is generally safe in BB. You're at disadvantage, but you cannot be hit back. The reason ending strings with Hell's Fang is not recommended is because the move is very easy to IG and doing so renders it punishable at -9. It is also possible to IG the moves before Hell's Fang and then interrupt the move itself. However, if your opponent doesn't IG the move, yet realizes that you are at disadvantage, you can play a small mindgame by doing C Inferno Divider after it to hit them if they try to attack you. Since it's invincible for the first 21 frames, there's pretty much no chance of them interrupting you out of it, and you get a free combo if it hits (but if they block or backdash, you're screwed, so be careful). In the case of 5D dash cancel, again, if they don't IG the second hit of the move, you are at -4 and can run a similar mindgame to the one above. However, you also have the option of cancelling the 5D into one of your specials if you anticipate them trying to attack you out of a dash cancel, which may result in a counterhit and big damage for you. There is also the option of dash cancelling before the second hit of 5D connects, which usually leaves you closer and may catch your opponent off guard. However, dash cancelling before the second hit connects leaves you at a whopping -20, so this is really only if your opponent is totally frozen on defense and isn't paying attention. Jumping out from a blocked 6A or 3C isn't for continuing offense, it's for safety. Most moves in BB are negative on block and often punishable if IGed. Using moves that are JCable on block lets you protect yourself. However, you have the option of doing a TKed Gauntlet Hades off of a blocked 3C or 6A, which is fast, must be blocked high, and leads to powerful combos on hit. It's unsafe if blocked though, and you have the option of chaining into 6B from 6A for an overhead hit anyway. You can add low options to this mixup by cancelling into 3C from 6A or into 2D from 3C. 6D-j.D is advantage on guard if you delay the j.D (not sure if you cancel ASAP into it), it's one of your best options for pressure. The problems with it are speed (6D is slow to start up and can get interrupted) and range (the j.D will often whiff from further away). Your opponent can IG the 6D to interrupt between the two moves if you delay the j.D, but 6D is JCable on guard so you can protect yourself this way. You can do a high-low mixup by landing and going low or cancelling the j.D to an air Gauntlet Hades. There are a lot of options available to you, but you have to keep your opponent in mind at all times and try to predict what they will do. It's often better to play safe.

That's pretty much where I was going. For a game that seems so centered on aggression, they sure do hate the idea of making someone block for more than half a second at a time. Unless you play one of the top 3, that is.[/offtopic] Soooooo yeah, Noel. ID that bitch.

That's fucking terrible. Major sad face.

5B-5C -> 214A -> RC, dash 6D-j.D, dash 5B-3C -> 22C: 3347 dmg 5B-5C -> 632146D (delay), dash 6A -> HJC hj.C-D, dj.C-D -> 623D~236C~214C: 3916 dmg Carnage Scissors is also good off of a normal throw if they're gonna die and they still have their Burst.

Counterhit.

TK Gauntlet Hades leads to the most damaging combo I've seen with Ragna so far: Near Corner: 2147B~214D, 5B-5D(1) -> 214214D, 5B-5D(1) -> 214B~214D, 5D -> dash, 5D -> 214214D = 6260 Damage You can also do 6D-j.D, dj.D -> 623D etc instead of the last 5D in that combo and it will do 5876 damage instead, in case you don't have the necessary Heat for the Devour at the end. Also, for this combo I posted earlier: During Blood Kain, 2D, 5B-5D(1) -> 214B~214D, dash 5D(1) -> 214B~214D, dash 5D -> 214214D I found I could dash cancel the last 5D and tack on another one before the Devour, raising the damage from 5733 to 5817.

Delay the followup significantly. It should be as late as possible. For consistency's sake, practice it off of the 4B+C -> 214B~214D combo and the 6B-5C-6C -> 214B~214D combo, as these are probably the two most common scenarios where you'll get that relaunch.

4B+C -> Blood Kain, hj.D, falling j.D, 214214D For midscreen Darkness Devour combo. Tested on Ragna. Does 5336 dmg. Timing is difficult. During Blood Kain, 2D, 5B-5D(1) -> 214B~214D, dash 5D(1) -> 214B~214D, dash 5D -> 214214D Tested on Ragna, does 5733 dmg. Works from approximately midscreen.

My goal in creating this thread is to make it so I don't lose every tourney I enter with Ragna, so thanks for your great advice. jiyuna, thanks for the help, I'll try some of that out next time I play. Jumping IB in general seems very useful against the top 3 characters.

Alright, let's get the ball rolling on this one. I have yet to fight a good v-13, but even the newbies in our group who are playing her are annoying to fight. I can only imagine how bad it will be once I fight one that's actually good. It seems the trick is to get in on her, but I'm not 100% on effective tools for doing it. I know you can dash under her 6D and airdash or TK Gauntlet Hades over 5D, but this generally seems like a crapshoot. I also have difficulty blocking 5D on reaction for some reason. Anyone with experience in the matchup (I'm looking at you Veteru), please post up!

Also off of CH 2D, at least against Tager.

You're probably just mistiming it. Make sure you're as close as possible when you start the combo, dash cancel the standing D as soon as the second hit connects and execute the f+A the instant you recover and you should get it.