Circuitous

Only if you want me to beat you up. Also, it'd be great if none of you were stupid enough to post things like "Leo's in, called it!" or other completely useless things. We don't know anything yet. Don't ask about his playstyle. Don't bother speculating. Save me the headache.

Oh right I guess I'm going to this, whee. See you all there.

The actual IK attacks have a superflash, but it's the same as any other superflash. They still have X many frames of startup before and after that superflash that have to be accounted for. However, this startup IS reduced by the same conditions that cause IK activation freeze. Just not to 0. Also goddammit, Leo.

That's part of it. Also the lifebars are skewed a little different compared to past games, I think. Even at full health, Buster doesn't seem to take a big hit out of the bar.

The damage seemed worse, but it really isn't. 140, same as it was in every game except +R. The range is the same as before, as well. The only real changes are to the invuln. It used to be 1~15 throw invuln, and 3~5 strike invuln, which made it easier to squeeze in grabs during pressure. Now it's just 1~3 throw invuln. I don't think it'll really hurt it - Buster's only got one active frame, and command grabs rank higher than strikes on the same frame, so he can still grab people out of stuff. He just loses some safety on whiff, which I'm fine with.

You could always try tweeting them.

CH 6P doesn't offer much in the way of combos because he can't jump or special cancel it. Even with counter hit, something like 5H > Heat is the best you'll get depending on positioning. While you could RC it, it's generally more favorable to get the meter and push back in than spend it on mediocre damage even with knockdown. (In some matchups, however, it'd certainly be an option.) And then there's hitstun decay. j.H > ICPM requires not only proper enemy height, but the combo has to have been short enough to have no hitstun decay. j.H, at level 3 (level 4 compared to our old numbers) causes 16f untechable time. ICPM has 16f startup. Granted, levels could have changed, but given the finicky nature of it, I dunno if it's consistently worth going for.

Ah, thank you for the corrections! I'll edit the post.

Summary of changes from +R to Xrd, using information from the new 4Gamer wiki. Information may be incomplete since I can't translate the descriptions myself. Anyone that can do that would have my eternal thanks. 5P: Lost special untechable time. 5K: Startup increased 7 -> 10. c.S: Unchanged. f.S: Startup decreased 12 -> 11. 5H: Damage decreased 58 -> 50. 6P: Startup decreased 13 -> 11. Loses Special and Jump cancels. 6K: Completely changed. 6H: Damage decreased 90 -> 80. Frame advantage decreased -11 -> -16. Lost wall bounce on regular hit. Causes ground tumble state on counter hit. Removed initial prorate. Removed special blockstun. (Uncertain: dizzy modifier reverted to 1x? 1.5x?) 5D: Startup decreased 31 -> 27. Frame advantage decreased +3 -> +1. 2P: Damage decreased 13 -> 12. Regained self cancel. Startup decreased 9 -> 6. Frame advantage increased -2 -> +0. No longer hits low. 2K: Unchanged. 2S: Startup increased 13 -> 14. Frame advantage decreased -2 -> -6. Lost vacuum. 2H: Damage decreased 66 -> 60. 2D: Lost special cancel. Frame advantage increased -5 -> -2. Level increased 3 -> 4. j.P: Startup increased 5 -> 7. Active decreased 9 -> 6. Gained special cancel. j.K: Startup increased 9 -> 10. Gained special cancel. j.S: Startup decreased 14 -> 13. Gained special cancel. j.H: Startup increased 11 -> 13. Gained special cancel. j.D: Startup increased 11 -> 13. Recovery increased 8+Landing -> 9+Landing. Gained special cancel. Lost ability to steer during descent. Ground Throw: Damage decreased 45,30 -> 0,60. Air Throw: Range increased 104 dots -> 115 dots. Heat Knuckle: Damage increased 0,15x2,28 -> 0,15x2,40. Launches opponent away when finished, opponent can tech before landing. Heat Extend: Damage decreased 95 -> 90. Reduced untechable time, opponent can tech before landing. Mega Fist Forward: Startup decreased 25 -> 24. Mega Fist Backward: Unchanged. Slide Head: Startup increased 23,27 -> 25,29. Hammerfall: Startup changed 19~35 -> 18~31. Frame advantage increased -18 -> -16. Hammerfall Brake: Unchanged. F.D.B.: Startup decreased 21 -> 19. Reflect period increased 4~14 -> 4~18. Reflected projectile startup increased 1 -> 2. Potemkin Buster: Damage decreased 160 -> 140. Gained Roman cancel. Lost full invuln 3~5. Throw invuln decreased 1~16 -> 1~3. Trishula: New. ICPM: New. Aerial Potemkin Buster: Gone. Judge Gauntlet: Gone. Heavenly: Damage decreased 170 -> 140. Full invuln increased 1~13 -> 1~15. Gained throw invuln for duration. Giganter: Damage decreased 45 -> 30. Frame advantage decreased +9 -> 0. Gigantic Blid: Damage increased 126 -> 145. Startup decreased 51 -> 49. Frame advantage decreased -19 -> -22. Lost wall bounce on hit, can still be followed up in/near corner. Instant Kill: Changed from strike to ground throw. Startup reduced 11+6 -> 9+8 (5+6). All the available frame data has been posted to our wiki as well.

He just has FAB as his title (which FAB himself leaves blank). The actual name on the VS screen is at the top of the card.

Final last-minute push to get a bunch of you up here for BADC this weekend.

As things stand now you'll have to come to BADC for anime in Cincinnati. Most of the anime players don't show up to weekly fight nights anymore 'cuz there just aren't enough of us that can regularly make it. Columbus has casuals on Tuesday nights and I'm pretty sure the Dayton anime crew hits those up regularly, plus the regular Columbus scene. Dunno how strong UNIEL is, though.

Now that you mention it, it didn't look like Potemkin or the fire were affected by hitstop when I've seen it connect. Also I think we discussed earlier on (very early on) that it was probably a projectile, and wondering if Potemkin could flick it.

I think Trishula might have special blockstun. I've seen it blocked and it didn't seem that negative. Hard to say, though. Also, if you're not interested in playing Potemkin seriously in +R, it may be worthwhile to practice him in #Reload on PC or something. The properties on his normals are similar between #R and Xrd and might give you a better sense of how he'll play going forward. +R Potemkin is more fun, but the gameplan is different. Note that if you do have any sort of offline scene for +R, I'd advise focusing on Potemkin there. Matches are far more valuable than training mode.

Not sure what Ain was expecting. Maybe he FD'd to stop himself to set up for another attack (after confirming the stun edge like Kooz suggested) and just didn't get a chance to go for his follow-up because of the buster. Might've even expected FAB to let the Trishula rip. Or he expected FAB to IB the stun edge and wanted to tick grab himself. Who knows? Clever move by FAB though, that's an interesting use for Trishula.

Correction: some IK activations have some form of invincibility. Potemkin gets above the knees invincibility for most of his, for example. I don't know of any that have frame 1 invul of any kind, though, so you're right on that. 'Course the 5+x+5 startup renders this entirely moot anyway. Don't wake-up instant kill, people.

Hey I'm super late but Leo having a model and portrait doesn't mean jack shit regarding his playability. The amount of work that would go into making a passable model for story mode (normal biped skeleton, standard texture set, etc.) is nothing near the level of work that would go into making a playable character (hundreds of deformation bones, endless rigging, LOD texture sets, attack designs, effects, voice acting, etc. etc.). He's relevant to the story mode, so that doesn't mean he couldn't end up playable, but this isn't enough to go on to even really speculate. At least if they made Paradigm playable they'd have a moveset and some animations to pull from. (Keep an eye out for playable Senators 1-3, all of Ky's soldiers, Illyria Citizens 1-20, and Zepp Flight Director.)

He hasn't even existed in the public eye for a week.

Totally forgot this. I can relax again. You could slashback Heat Knuckle, too, but it was glitchy and weird (you still got caught in his hand, but could act freely - so long as you blocked the extra hits and did something about Extend).

Dear God I hope not.

Discuss Xrd, dipshits. I saw something interesting today. Heat Knuckle got Blitz Shielded. Next time you're airborne against a Hammerfall YRC keep that in mind. Granted the Potemkin could just not Heat Knuckle until you're drifting down helplessly during your whiff, but that's the fun of it.

Heat Knuckle can be Blitz Shielded. I'd never seen that done before.

If you guys don't go to BADC October 18th I'll be too busy having fun to be disappointed in you.

I'd personally advise making a new thread, this one's way too cluttered for anything like this to gain traction.

5P doesn't have to hit crouch since they buffed 2P. Now they have separate purposes and this is fine. 5P whiffing crouchers even allows stupider tick grabs. Embrace it. Also, ICPM does combo from j.H if you do it at the right height (which FAB is getting much more consistently now - it's actually viable). Trishula is weird but has uses, eating projectiles and controlling space directly above him pretty well. Potemkin could use some stuff but he's not as suffering as we once believed. You'll be okay. (Except against Faust, but one of them would need a complete overhaul to make that matchup good.)