Stellarcircle5

Didn't know that there wasn't a thread for this considering Johnny is always such a hot topic. I haven't played too much of this matchup yet but I did find something very important. DO NOT use digitalis in pressure against Johnny. He will counter hit your recovery every time. You want to run your standard whiff punish game, but be prepared to die in one hit.

Ayy, thanks dude. I'm really glad that the critique count was at a minimum, makes me feel pretty confident in my play. I didnt actually know that it was so easy to bait scud/backdash, I'll definitely lab that up a bit. As for the w.6D > j.D mixup, I didn't know it was an uncommom thing, and I'm very flattered to have you learning from me, lol.

I think that if you're not at least looking to optimize your corner carry and oki, then you're doing something wrong. The moment I realized my combo skills were serving me well was when my friends would start saying "Wow, every hit you land is leading to full damage and putting me in the corner, its so frustrating". Being able to freestyle and think "I have X amount of meter, I'm X distance from the corner, I've gotten X starter at X height, how can I maximize the reward on this?" Is critical and a huge part in why I think having strong combo skills is important. I know people who are "afraid" of execution, and people with that mindset need to break that barrier. I'll use Ky in Xrd as an example. A standard string of c.S > magic series > Stun Dipper does around 15 - 20% damage and gets you meaty 6H for oki. Meanwhile, a c.S confirm into Vapour Thrust loops leads to 40 - 50% damage and a free 50/50 mixup on oki. The difference in reward is huge, and while having strong neutral is the core strength players should strive to have, strong neutral that kills the opponent in 2-3 hits is even scarier.

Recent tournament. First game went okay. Coming back from losers in grand finals put me on tilt though so it's hella sloppy. Losers finals Grand finals

That's basically it. Valkenhayn controls the pace of the match, and you want to kill him in 2-3 reads. Easier said than down of course, its definitely in our favour. We still have garbage options on defense, so applying pressure is still effective. Most Valk's will go for w.6D > w.jA > w.5C xN. So if you are blocking him, you want to IB w.5C and punish his command dash. Of course it gets harder when the Valk knows how to wolf brake. Your 4C is good at keeping him honest on the ground, and you can catch him if he's wolfing around on the ground with your Gurren or even better, Kishuu. There's not much to it besides that honestly. Make the read, kill him. But like you said, you'll have to brave the storm, lol.

This matchup is really even, especially in this version where Ragna shits damage for no real reason. It just boils down to a battle of footsies. Try to whiff punish him by moving around the tip of his 5B's range and punish with j.2/3D > w.jA. If you're being punished with ID for beast cannons in neutral, use that to your advantage. A Ragna that throws out DP willy nilly is one that you can easily be baited. Hang at mid range and kill him for it with w.5C. For oki, you need to be making the necessary reads. w.5C oki is inconsistent at circumventing wakeup DP, so your best bet is to run safe jump setups until you establish that it won't work and start br.jA-ing him. If he has you in corner pressure, your best bet is to jump and barrier to get out when he uses Deadspike. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I won't say its a typical Valk matchup where momentum pretty much means a win, but its doable if you play solid.

Do we know if the new meter mechanics are stacked on the existing ones? As in you still lose meter by simply being in wolf, but you accelerate it by moving? I hope that isn't the case.

The old man has apparently received some new meter nerf. Cant find the source anywhere, if someone knows, y'all should post it.

That actually sounds pretty feasible. Having 6C as a throw bait and combo tool only would make a lot more sense than the big, dumb overhead dropkick we currently have.

So I got steamrolled by Reiscarred's Bang at Combo Breaker back in May, and I've been kinda stewing on it since. It made it clear to me that I have no idea how to deal with his gimmicks (On top of having the worst tournament nerves ever). Anyone got a basic rundown on the matchup.

I don't think we needed another overhead, but hey, I'll take it :P

I bet that they will reveal her in story mode at the very least. Seeing as Faust was planning to visit the Japanese colonies at the end of -Sign-. So here's hoping!

So I've been messing around with Dandyism and its crazy fun so far, but I've got a question for you guys. What are the main frame traps Slayer uses? I can whiff punish well enough, but I'm not finding myself feeling all that scary up close. Any tips?

This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

Any examples of these character specific combos? I'm looking tighten my oki as much as possible, so this would really help out.

What are some good, consistent routes you guys use for j.H > pin > Secret garden in the corner. I always end up too close for my 2828 setup, and it looks like pin offers a much stronger knockdown than pin > 6H. Got anything I could work with?

My first big recorded set in CPEX. I'm still currently feeling things out and dropping combos, but I'd like to know how to better deal with Hakumen. I'm more or less okay with offence and defense, but I'm more concerned with the neutral game and figuring out why Hakumen did what he did. Also, I know I'm being dumb with 6A. I'm gonna stop that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivLocuynTh8

She doesn't seem to have a very threatening toolset in neutral, so we can play our game without much trouble. We can punish her fireball on reaction which is hilarious as well. Not sure how she operates up close because the few Ceilca's I've played so far didn't get to go in on me, haha. This is definitely in Valk's favor.

I got bodied by Eshi's Amane at UFGT last year, and it had nothing to do with Amane trivializing/disregarding base fighting game mechanics. I just didn't know what the hell was going on and couldn't adapt in time . I think it would be good for people to actually look into what the character is doing before screaming bloody murder. If you hate how Amane chips you, don't let him go in on you. And now I'm on a great redemption quest :V

You guys are lucky. Valk has all his windows for links and whatnot cut by about half. It will become natural in time, but the universal change to hitstun feels pretty janky. Might learn Tao though. I squealed when I saw she can reverse beat 5B.

ITS HAPPENING.

Nah man it's fine, you just need t- UNIVERSAL GUARD POINT OVERHEAD *air horns*

Tldr: Millia's pressure is pretty bad and you're using it mostly to set up an advantageous situation where you can punish a whiff or a jump out. 2K > 5S > 5H > 214K > Digitalis is a really safe string that you can use anywhere.

Yeah, 236B > 236B > br.jA is probably the tightest link in all of Valkenhayn's combos. You don't even see guys like Suya go for it very often for the sake of consistency.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. It's a matchup that is likely in Koko's favour solely due to the fact that her graviton > lightning trap > fireball setup forces Valk to take pretty huge risks otherwise he gets locked down pretty hard. Having a lightning trap out and relying on 3C and 6A is the bane of my freaking existence, I swear. When in wolf form, Valks hurtbox is long enough that he can't hang in the "dead zone" of 3C, and will just get hit regardless of positioning at close range. 6A is tha god, and will beat anything he throws at you from the air. It's literally just street fighter, lol. Round start is pretty much the best chance Valk has since if he makes the correct read he can just maul Kokonoe without much trouble, but if she makes good use of her neutral tools and sets up her projectiles, it becomes insanely hard for Valk to safely get in.