9:02 PM

I'm not sure how many starters will allow for this route, but the combination of d. 6C and crush trigger changes allow for 4D (FC), d, 2D, d. 6B, d. 6C, CT, 5C, hjc, j. C, j. D, xxx It's at like 21:50 in the stream Litherian linked. The round ended after the j. C, but he was at like 3100 by that point, so I would assume the whole thing is pretty damaging. If she can get in to it from different starters it seems like it would be pretty useful. I haven't watched the whole stream yet, but if she's able to work CT into more combos that alone seems like a pretty good buff since you have an option to get more damage without going all the way for a rapid.

Not really at all given the current information about Valentine. AC Dizzy has a fast run on the ground, two fast air dashes, and her whole game is based around using projectiles to zone and then set up mix-up once you knock them down. Valentine has a warp dash that doesn't look like it crosses up and doesn't seem to allow exceedingly fast ground movement, probably will not have a double air dash, has no projectile, and seems to have a lot more in common with a stance character archetype than anything else. The fact that she has a command grab in and of itself will probably make her more ground based than Dizzy. The mechanics of the combination attack mechanic seem to be the biggest mystery. Unless they're straight up combo parts they'll probably have interesting gameplay implications in one way or another, especially if she can move while they're attacking. Like, if P P K is a blockstring but P K P is a frame trap, or if there's a bigger gap between some combination like PKK to give you command grab opportunities or something. Would be even more interesting if each individual attack gave you two different choices, like instead of PPP being the same attack three times, if the first P was a different attack than the second P, which was different than the third one.

He feels like j. H is really good and that j. H, dandy step, backdash cancel Mappa, and 6HS will be the core of his neutral game. He mentions the recovery increase on 2D and range decrease in 2H being pretty big. After Mappa RC you can link Crosswise heel and some other stuff, but the scaling makes it kind of so so. He thinks it might be better to go for DOT in combos for the corner carry and scaling. 2S is a strong anti-air, but I think when he ends his thought with "対空は強い？" he's wondering if anti-airs will really be that strong in Xrd. For okizeme, you have the regular dash left/right crossup, and he says BDC or FDC P dandy step helter skelter left/right mixup seems very strong. He also mentions j. H > j. D being a link, I guess as an air combo ender, which I think is new in Xrd. If anyone who knows technical fighting game Japanese reads the blog post, is 無敵付加 like dash cancel invincibility or something?

If having a wall bounce on crush trigger leads to new combo routes it will go a long way in alleviating her biggest problem. If she can get damage (especially midscreen) without an RC or using her heat levels she might actually be viable. The buff to blackout seems strong, after a safe jump with 50 meter she'll have a legit three way mix-up with 5k waiting in the wings. I would have liked to see them speed up afterburner though, or give it a hit box like Order Sol.

You overlooked the fact that Growler does what it does against projectiles and how much that helps him defensively. A majority of the characters that have usable oki strategies use moves with projectile property to force you into a mixup. His ability to use growler not only to completely escape said mixup, but to also get phalanx in the process makes it essentially a get out of jail free card. I would also put anti-airs in the category of defensive options, in which case Azrael has multiple options that have different strengths but are all pretty rewarding. 2C is gigantic and has 9 active frames, 6B is big damage without a weak point, 5B is a great panic button with a huge hitbox. I think Azrael is fine the way he is, and I like his backdash, but to say he doesn't have really good defensive options is a tough one to understand.

The lack of a really solid anti-air is the one big hole in Zappa's game, and as such you need to really be scouting for when you think your opponent might make themselves airborne since they'll be looking to take advantage of it. Air throws are a solid option if you get the read or if they're really close, but since Zappa's j. H hitbox is behind him, his j. H/air throw option select is pretty bad, and pretty much guarantees you're going to get counter-hit out of your j. H if they have air options left. I recently started making a concerted effort to try to meet them in the air with j. P(on hit goes into j. S, dj j. S j. D naked) rather than just going for air throws and it's been really helpful. j. P is only 6 frames and has a pretty good hit box on it, and if you're thinking air to air and they're thinking air to ground, they're probably going to be going for a slower button anyway. With a summon, j. P chains on block, so if they block the air to air j. P, you can just keep mashing it until you both hit the ground again and you can start running mix-up. With ghosts, 236H (optional FRC) on reaction is strong since half the time you end up hitting them, but even if they block they plop back down to the ground into ghost pressure and you're able to do it from far enough away that you're not risking getting hit by big air normals. If you get a really good read, or your opponent jumps and exhausts their air options, anti-air 2H, especially on counter hit is usually lights out. CH 2H, dash cancel, 2H, JC, j. P, j. S, dj j. S, j. D will stun most of the cast in one combo and you can just run up IK when you land. It's the only thing he has with a vertical-ish hitbox, and the reverse gatling properties make it less of a commitment if they FD it in the air. This is especially strong in the Eddie matchup because of how flight mode hinders their ability to block. 236P can also be used as an 'Oh shit' anti-air.

Xrd is still very new so tiers are very malleable at this point, but very strong things he once had that he no longer has include Big Bang Upper, fullscreen Dead On Time, FB Pilebunker, the bite loop, the use of It's Late without having to do Under Pressure first, 5 versions of dandy step instead of 2, and having significantly higher damage than almost everyone else in the game. Slayer as he has been presented to us has a lot of room for growth as people find new combo pathways and flesh out the RC system, and his new move Helter Skelter as well as the frame data on things like 6K and Undertow will go a long way to fill in the gaps in our knowledge and give hard data, so don't get down on things.

Is midscreen 3C the only good setup for the bowling ball? I very rarely see anyone use the bowling ball for oki anymore, but it seems like you're taking a pretty big risk by just eyeballing the meaty timing on a cat jump and diving in. The risk reward in the corner is still way in her favor against pretty much anyone's reversal options, but someone help me understand why no one does any real oki with this character.

Makes perfect sense, thank you.

I played very little CSEX and even less Litchi; out of curiosity, what was the gameplay change from CSEX to CP that caused corner Kokushi oki to become less of a thing?

It's ST dhalsim. You ume-shoryu, bro.

For some reason on block or hit the FRC point on 623H gets pushed back compared to where it is on whiff way more than any other move. Sword DP has a lot of hit/block stun, and the FRC point gets put almost completely behind those frames. It feels like a good half second or more, and it lets you get away with kind of a ghetto option select in that if you whiff and FRC with the normal timing you'll get it and on hit or block, you still have time to like... FRC confirm once you see that you made contact. When I actually remember to do it, j. 236H FRC has been really good as an oh shit button when they get behind the sword in a lot of matchups. Depeding on how close they are you can neutral jump or jump back. Sword DP is arguably more rewarding on hit and gives you slightly more frame advantage on block after an FRC, but j. 236H is less of a risk in that it always brings the sword completely back to you, you're not stationary, and the hitbox is less specific. I've been spending most of my time with the dog lately. Definitely the most entertaining/challenging summon.

I have to disagree with this. It might not have been you saying it, you could have just been quoting REPTILE0009 who used the word tutorialized, but I think some people are incorrectly drawing the conclusion that lowering execution barriers or removing mechanics necessarily makes a game more simple to play at a high level. The gameplay implications of the substitution of FRCs for yellow cancels and the lack of force breaks will more likely than not end up making the game more difficult to play outside of the very specific task of hitting a 2-3 frame FRC window, which really anyone can learn. Combos will probably be easier without FRCs, but neutral will require a lot more thought, especially without force breaks. YRCs at the moment only allow you to cancel an attack during startup, and at that only specific attacks, and they still cost 25% tension. There are a lot of FRCs in AC that end up making certain moves or strategies extremely beginner friendly in the sense that you can just throw them out with little to no risk for often pretty huge reward. See: All of Zappa's sword specials that have FRC points, Tatami FRC/Sakura FRC, Gunflame FRC, etc. I actually like the FRC mechanic, and in general FRCs do ALLOW for really high level play, but at the level most people play guilty gear at, FRCs turn those moves into flashy scrub food. In that same vein, it would take an essay to explain how much of a crutch force breaks are for most players. Again, not saying it's a bad mechanic by design, just that in a lot of cases FBs do facilitate that 'just do it' playstyle, and even among better players it allows them to be really lazy in certain situations. Whether you like FBs or hate them, the fact that in competitive play you see FBs to overdrives in like a 9999/1 ratio should tell you something. The removal of slashbacks is a loss of depth I guess. I would have preferred they leave it in, but we'll have to see how Blitz Shield turns out a year from now.

It's not a reversal despite the invincibility, the startup is too slow. It is instant once they touch the black hole though. Who knows what it will be used for down the road, but for now it will most likely be used to make pretty simple unblockables. You can use it with any version of Ennetsu (including the super) out; just put them in blockstun with stalking flare, black hole and you have yourself an unblockable. Gravitons, especially in OD work too. I'm not sure of the damage proration on said super, but you can just run under where they fall after the animation and pick them up for a combo instead of letting them hit the ground. I'm sure people will explore those combo pathways pretty quickly. I got some data for frame advantage on her move set last night, but I'd like to run it by someone else and see if they got similar figures; getting correct data with jump cancellable moves can be tricky, so I want to see if our figures match up. That, or if Kurushii has the official stuff on the way I'll just wait. Barrier makes it super punishable.

Repost from another thread: All of the reference images are the first FRC'able frame, and apologies for the weird video speed, but the youtube playback speed thing is strange. The FRC point for 623H (the DP) and 63214H (the slash) always begin on the same frame after startup regardless of where the sword and/or opponent are in relation to Zappa. 623H always begins on the 13th frame from when you hit H, and 63214H always begins on the 17th frame If the sword is right next to Zappa, this is what you'll be looking at: But sometimes you could be looking at something like this: The best visual cue for the DP is just before the little blood splash reaches its peak. The FRC point for 63214H always begins on the 17th frame, which looks like this: THe FRC point for j. 236H always begins on the first grounded recovery frame, which gives him a funky animation: His sword charge (236S) is probably the weirdest, the FRC point begins on frame 15 AFTER the move actually makes contact. Its' actually pretty easy to execute since the correct frames are just as he touches the ground again. I can't tell you exactly how many frames the FRC points are, but I can say that 623H and j. 236H are at least three frame windows, and 63214H I was able to successfully FRC as late as frame 22, so it's a pretty large window. Here's a reference video if you want to see everything in slow motion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYOoTIbV1O4

There's always that little detail... And yes.

Neither could I, so I spent the afternoon making a little guide on the sword FRCs. The reference images are the first FRC'able frame, and apologies for the weird video speed, but the youtube playback speed thing is strange. The FRC point for 623H (the DP) and 63214H (the slash) always begin on the same frame after startup regardless of where the sword and/or opponent are in relation to Zappa. 623H always begins on the 13th frame from when you hit H, and 63214H always begins on the 17th frame If the sword is right next to Zappa, this is what you'll be looking at: But sometimes you could be looking at something like this: The best visual cue for the DP is just before the little blood splash reaches its peak. The FRC point for 63214H always begins on the 17th frame, which looks like this: THe FRC point for j. 236H always begins on the first grounded recovery frame, which gives him a funky animation: His sword charge (236S) is probably the weirdest, the FRC point begins on frame 15 AFTER the move actually makes contact. Its' actually pretty easy to execute since the correct frames are just as he touches the ground again. I can't tell you exactly how many frames the FRC points are, but I can say that 623H and j. 236H are at least three frame windows, and 63214H I was able to successfully FRC as late as frame 22, so it's a pretty large window. Here's a reference video if you want to see everything in slow motion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYOoTIbV1O4