Seiska

Really really really Digging the 1.1 it literally makes May like 200% more playable on gamepad. The fact that you no longer need to hold P(square) when doing the OKI makes a huge difference making it a lot easier (and less painful) to use K(cross) for the initial low. Success rate for OHK went from something like 15% to 95% for me allowing me to use it in places where I formerly wouldn't even dare to try. And the fact that you can still use the negative edge if you want allows you to still use them for defense without having to open your blocking.

Thanks. Need to check out the ]k[ Combos then and maybe do some Pad May Pioneering with this button layout.

Been trying out May for a while now, taking it easy and getting used to her normal's chains etc. However after trying to hammer down her OKI for couple of lab sessions I've come to realize that the standard Button layout in GG just doesn't work for May. Holding down P(square) while doing other stuff with K(cross) is just not practical. I've been thinking switching P to R1 (trigger) since it's way easier to hold while pressing other buttons making it way easier to hold and release the P-Dolphin on her OKI but I am wondering does she use her other dolphins like this? The other ones seem more or less like tools to keep opponent away from you rather than lock them down for mix-ups. Also can't wait for the update that makes OHK a DP motion instead of "The bane of D-pad" aka 632146 motion (Literally the hardest part for it is to input a clean forward input).

Probably more convenient to have these changes quoted here as well. The biggest change seems to be that 3C no longer floats the enemy away from Platinum, which probably alters especially mid-screen combo routes quite a bit. This is probably why the removed the 3C > Persia route since it would probably allow platinum to convert pretty much all her hits in to crazy corner carry combo. I wonder will we be able to do CH 3C CT combos in 2.0 now that it no longer floats the opponent away, might allow more mid-screen damage. Have to say that it sound pretty funny if 5B > 5C > 236B no longer really works but 5B > 5C > 3C > 236B. Presents getting destroyed on hit doesn't sound fun though, would like them a lot more if they would just activate on hit teaching the opponent not to hit mines.

Then you are probably looking for Guard break / Crouch confirm / Counter Hit combos or Fan loops. Here's a 1.0 guard break combo video with few guard break examples that should work in 1.0 as well unless I have missed something. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3chlxpWb0J0

It's odd that this hasn't been mentioned here yet but.. Platinum player Pops won the recent Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 10 http://www.twitch.tv/nobodyexe/b/532052297 (Starts around 5:27:40) Amazing play by pops. Really unpredictable playstyle full of tricks, mix-ups, traps and mind games. Also liking the way he used the items, it seemed like he was comfortable with all of them, especially presents and bombs. Probably need to study his playstyle a bit and maybe steal few of his tricks for my arsenal. I was surprised to see that he was playing with a gamepad, playing with DS4 myself so felt slight joy to see him use Ds3 or something similar. Hopefully his victory will boost up Platinums popularity a bit, since all these tier lists are listing her so low just because no one plays her. Damn that Daiwa sure knows his block-strings and he resets them so well that they seem nearly endless. His play-style sure is aggressive though but seems to work so why not.

Using it on reaction isn't limited to just enemy block-strings, it can be any situation where you feel you are at disadvantage, maybe you whiffed a move or blocked a projectile or field is littered with lightning pillars, magnets and whatnot. There are plenty of moves that are "vulnerable" to happy magicka, some due to long recovery, some due to long ass animations (doll hits through the attack), some of these have crazy hitboxes or active frames making them really difficult to punish by normal means, some might even be frame-traps. Still, I have to agree that the move is severely lacking and could be a lot better. For a move that barely deals any damage, it's recovery has been greatly exaggerated and makes me wonder what Arc sys was thinking when they made the move.

Personally I think it's far better to use the move on reaction. It's pretty easy to input and can be charged while blocking down which makes it far faster/easier (at least for me) to input than regular DP motion. I have found most success with it against slow hard hitting moves that are just too risky to punish but still have enough recovery to get greeted by the doll. E.g Taokakas 6C and many of Azraels drive attacks. Occasionally I throw it at wake-up near the end of the round and RC it to 5C or something. On hit it can be combo'd to nice *if it kills* combo, On bait, the opponent might just take 5C counter hit to his face and receive the same treatment.

Most of my 65A's become 66A's accidently so this is a welcome change as it's one of those accidents that has saved my ass in many games. But 66A is gold against moves that tend to low profile 5A like Taokakas Crawl or 2B catches many jumps as well.

The more detailed Patch notes.

Maybe you are referring to Falling melody? it has same animation but only hits once but has some sort of crazy homing property. It's special you can use after knockdown, e.g 3C and Mami circular and the input for it is 22C. If not, then you are inputting 236AA just too slow or doing 3C from too far.

Well what you should be looking at the combo thread are the "Universal standard combo", "standard combo", "anti-air" and "Corner combos" sections, these are pretty much the most commonly used combos Platinum has. Unlike 236B route, B-persia route requires you to be close enough the opponent to hit the persia after 3C, this can be uncommon in some match-ups while very common in others so it's good to know/ use both. Item combos usually just extend or alter these combos a bit. The old bubble combo is not that bad in my opinion, it's a good and item equip / discard combo that is pretty hard to fail when you get the hang of it. But generally Platinum is pretty mix-up oriented character so everything that offers OKI is often the best when not going for the kill.

http://shoryuken.com/2014/02/13/arc-system-works-releases-changelist-for-upcoming-blazblue-chronophantasma-balance-patch/ Platinum 6A – Now causes float on counter hit. Jump C – Now has more hitstun on grounded opponents. Magical Bat, Magical Fry Pan (Including Miracle Jeanne versions) – No longer has same move proration. Mystical Momo (Surprise Box, including Miracle Jeanne versions) – Now has a “Close/Mid” and “Mid/Far” set versions. Overdrive Cure Dot Typhoon – Increased the untechable time on hit. Decreased the recovery for Platinum. Looks like she got buffed a bit at least. Those will undoubtedly offer some new combo routes at least.

That's if you are using the counter incorrectly, it's fast enough to be used against slow moves on reaction, he has a lot of these. When he get's in I usually just opt to instant block his attacks, and when I see my character flash I'll just smash 5A and i'll usually be the one doing the pressure after that, or combo if he tries to press buttons since PT's 5A has like 6 frames start-up and IB seems to make pretty much all of his frame-traps unsafe. 6 Frame 5A is all you need. Solution for this would help him greatly though, and make the match a bit more interesting for me as well. The point was mainly to show the corner pressure, it's pretty much filled with 50/50 stuff and though to escape without a proper reversal. [Edit] Doguras tier-list seems far more reasonable, mainly due to C-tier making more sense and S-tier having way less characters.

Agreed with the strong fundamentals part, but isn't that really a requirement to do well even with the top-tier characters, especially the ones who lack a proper defensive options? I mostly play against few of my friends and in local fighter game scene, the one who I play most against plays Taokaka pretty well and subs Litchi and Azrael. He's mostly been complaining about how Platinum seems impossible to punish, and he has been having trouble finding any good mix-ups for Tao. Azrael seems just silly, most of the time the character can be IB'd to hell and back since his attack timings seem so goddamn obvious (links? really now...) and most of his attacks have like bazillion recovery making Happy magicka just that much more solid. Sure he deals damage and has good cross-up potential but that's not much if you can't get in. But guess me and him are just missing something. Had some problems with Tao first, mainly with her pretty much endless corner pressure, but after learning not to eat every goddamn 5C or 6C she threw at me and some funky neutral the match-up became a lot easier (still a match-up where anything can happen). Tao does seem like really tough character to use though, one failed combo or getting eaten by anti-air can cost her a lot more than some other characters. would love a better 2A and/or not so risky happy magicka for this match-up tough, other than that don't really see what the problem is. I actually find most of her normals pretty solid, especially 2B which seems to low-profile everything and has rather good range when used from dash. 5B is a pretty fast and solid poke with range that can surprise most characters. 6A is fast and denies most jump-in attempts and has ridiculous vertical hitbox (hits even crawling Tao!). Mainly her 2A is godawful outside pressure and her C-moves (not including 5C) can be a bit slow. While they are not dirty, cheap or broken her normals are pretty versatile and suit her balanced and situational play-style pretty well. Ranged warfare can be tough for most characters, but in those it's often all about timing your dashes and jumps to gaps. But still would guess that Lamda and Rachel are probably her toughest match-ups when RNG god isn't on your side. Both of them have weak defensive game though, which often leads to this.

When I said " relying too much on drive leads to bad results with most characters" I didn't mean that you should omit completely from using drive, I mainly meant that spamming drive will generally just get your ass kicked by skilled player. Personally I like to cycle them a lot, mainly to make it harder for the opponent keep track of the item. Sometimes i'll just keep that Cat hammer or Bat in my inventory just for mind games, maybe use it once to tell the opponent clearly what item I currently have (often it opens so many gaps in their pressure that you wouldn't believe!). Luckily even the Item un-equip is pretty useful against pretty much all characters that just can't keep their feet on the ground. In Platinum's chase most of her items are good in pretty much every match-up, even presents. Hell there's combo/trick or two for pretty much all of them from nearly every confirm. Sure some of them are better than others in some match-ups and stuff like bat and cat hammer can help you fill a gap in your blocking and dashing skill, but you certainly don't need any items to approach a zoner her running speed and normals are more than enough for that. She's actually fairly similar to Valkenhayn in that matter, both have strong mix-up tools but somewhat lacking on the damage department. But her mix-ups will often bring even the S-tier to their knees, most matches against Taokaka, Valkenhayn and Rachel can easily turn in to first knockdown wins if both players are skilled. If you have watched Daiwa play, you know how useful Happy magicka can be. Sure it's no DP but can really be useful against characters that rely much on their frame-traps and nearly endless pressure (e.g Litchi). Still it's pretty nice alternative to CDT when RC'd to a pressure (or combo!). Have one present under you or slightly behind you and you'll make pressuring you all that much more difficult. under appreciated yet pretty good pre-emptive defensive tool, upgraded treasure chest is even better. Not saying she's an S-tier but she fares far too well even against S-tier to be in C-tier in my opinion. She has solid pressure that includes safe pressure strings, good stagger pressure tools, 50/50's (instant overhead), one of the few good ground overheads in the game, insane anti-airs and none of these even require her drive. With drive, shit can get really nasty for most characters, especially in the corner. He's really good, and if you haven't noticed his play style is pretty different from other good japanese Platinum players. When He's at his best he does all kinds of whacky stuff with Platinum i didn't even think was possible. Maven is pretty good as well, while not as whacky as Daiwa, he still keeps amazing me with his situational awareness on his videos.

if you mean 3C > 236AA~B > sj.C then your problem is probably not delaying the last hit in air persia. If you don't delay it, the opponent get's enough time to tech before sj.c [Edit] @CakeWasBanned yes, thanks for pointing that out.

Not really, most of the time her drive is just there to give her more options for her existing game plan which in my opinion depends more on the opponent than her currently equipped item or next. At least for me, most hit confirms come from anti-airs, 2B, 6B and from her generic OKI options, relying too much on drive leads to bad results with most characters and Platinum is no exception. In my opinion people are just over thinking her situational nature, Sure she might be unable to land her most damaging combos without certain items in certain situations but it's likely that she'll be able to land something that will give her advantage or another (e.g discard unfitting item, equip better item, fill the level with all kinds of shit or just drag the opponent down to the depths of mix-up hell). But still, choosing correct course of action or combo route with her requires a bit more situational awareness than most of the cast, which is not something you can obtain in training mode alone. But as I understand difficulty had nothing to do with tiers?

You mean midscreen? Platinum has plenty of shit she can throw at you in the corner after her 3C, 6C and especially 5C, even more if you consider her items. Not that many characters can continue pressure in midscreen after doing C move other than 5C. Fast running speed and/or good poke is all you need to catch Mu doing her drive and many of her slower moves from surprisingly long distance. E.g Platinum can do this with dash 2B which leads to her common combo options. Some characters that lack this can probably lock her down with stuff like Platinum's missiles, Rachel's pumpkin and really make her life difficult on certain ranges. Mu becomes a lot easier after you learn her attack speed and range plus get good at using dash barrier cancel, provided that your character has decent normals to continue from that and your not just dashing on to her pressure. Also lol'd at the Platinum being C-tier, guess decent Platinum players are a rare breed in arcades or something. Not surprising though, many probably consider her as Joke character, when she's actually Lethal Joke Character..

I know this might sound unbelievable but personally I'd say Vita has the best D-pad I have used, it's pretty much the same as Dualshock 4 except the edges are not as sharp and it has these clicks that provide nice physical and sound feedback when direction is pressed. Takes some time to get used to like the Ds4 tough. Other than that, really digging the Dualshock 4, controls feel tighter and buttons less loose. Definitely less unintentional d-pad inputs, altough still sometimes missing the 4 from 632146 DD inputs.

j.C is a great air poke, but personally I think j.b is often a lot better choice, especially when relatively near the opponent. You can see some of the ways it can be used if you watch Daiwas BBCP matches 5:10 -> 5:25. The IAD > J.b > j.b is one of my personal favourites and it's mixup j.b > swallow moon > j.b is pretty whacky as well. This might help you mix up your pressure a bit as well. j.a, j.b, j.c and j.2C are all good tools for jump pressure. Personally I think you are using way too much CDT, I find it only good as reversal and most of the time you get better damage and advantage in the match just by spending your meter to item upgrade or RC'ing Mami Circular to all kinds of nasty stuff. Treasure chests are good but mostly if they are under or behind you as this way they will protect you by breaking combos heading in to that direction since they won't disappear. In the air CDT ender seems a bit unorthodox tough, most of the time I see people use it after 3C. You seem to jump a lot as well in few of those matches, this somewhat leaves Platinums excellent 66 > 2B, 5A/2A stagger pressure, and anti-air options underused. Might be to opponent only tough, as Jins projectiles seem nasty and haven't faced a good Jin yet.

Here are few combo videos that focus more on the basics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Cr9r64oLE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyqZJ-X_9iA Combo thread pretty much covers all "essential combos" there's way more than 15 there but most of them serve their purpose one way or another. Probably the most important and common ones are: Standard combo: ..5B > 5C > 236B > if corner > 2B > 5C > corner/air combo ...5B > 3C > 236AA~B > sj.c ...5B > 3C > 236AA~A > 5C corner /air combo (~ means delay.) anti-air 6A > 6C > j.236C > j.C, 66A > 236B/Air Combo Some basic pressure strings: Start (5A) > 2B > 5B > 5C > Ender 5A only against those characters that have tall hitbox when crouching, e.g Tager, Azrael. and preferably only if you are really near the opponent, otherwise 2b is better to start 90% of the time (longer range and low-profile), nothing wrong to start with 5B either might work better in some chases due to it's range and gatlings in to 2B. 5A > JC > j.d (frying pan) 5A > 236A (cross-up) > B or land 5A/2A/block* Enders 1. 3C > (214 A, B or C) or 214D (unequip) //stop at 3C if you opponent has way to punish the latter, 5C > 3C is more or less for pushback and occasional low mix-up. 2. jc > j.d (pan) 3. 41236D (Command throw) 4. Mami > RC > j.b > 2b > 5b > 5C * (can be done twice if you have 100% meter, but thats just silly) 5. 3C > 4D with bombs (may lead to combo breaker + combo?) 6. (6 >) 6B microdash if too far. 7. 3C > 236AA~A~A* (if close) *not really safe options but so silly that they may catch the over respecting opponent off guard. Not saying these are the best, but the ones which I have found to work pretty well. All feedback is welcomed tough.

Good read. What about these combos? Seen few very damaging combos that have utilized normal presents just because they don't elevate the opponent as much as treasure chests. Normal presents can be pretty good, but utilizing them correctly can be a bit difficult as many will just jump over them. Usually for me they are more or less a defensive tool since I can drop them and leave them behind me as backup if opponent manages to lock me in to a pressure string. They'll have to stop their pressure or eat 3k treasure chest pressure breaker. For Missiles this seems pretty practical as well. Landing 6C can be tough, but not imposible since it's common usage is low crush and midscreen 4k~ and full-screen corner carry doesn't seem too bad. These OD combos seem pretty practical tough, sure costly but pretty good rewards considering platinum somewhat lackluster average combo damage output. Platinum's gameplay is highly situational to begin with so It doesn't really surprise me that her OD is like that as well. While the character isn't really difficult to learn, I personally think her being one of the hardest characters truly to master in this game. While being very situational, she usually has something she can pull in pretty much in every situation, but doing optimal choices on the fly with her requires far more situational awareness than most of the cast. Not to mention the fact that it's not a skill that you can just hammer down to your muscle memory. It's pretty funny to see people downplay Platinum because of her situational nature. Sure she might be unable to land her most damaging combos without certain items in certain situations but it's likely that she'll be able to land something that will give her advantage or another (e.g discard unfitting item, equip better item, fill the level with all kinds of shit or just drag the opponent down to the depths of mix-up hell).

This matchup seems to require somewhat more patience than most matchups and seems to be pretty neutral game heavy for platinum. Compared to Platinum he deals pretty heavy damage from many of his confirms, especially if he has managed to land a weakpoint or two. With 2 weakpoints he even has unblockable setup where he kicks you to blockstun and uses his unblockable distortion to blast trough. There's not much you can do against this, except if you have enough meter to counter-assault it. Since Azrael has pretty nasty frame-trap stuff and can use his dash to really mess up with your blocking, it's best not to let him in closer than 5B range. From Azreal players point of view platinum has this BOX shaped area around her, which she can protect with her attacks (2B, 5B, 6A, 2C) and Azrael needs to get inside that box to start with his pressure. From my understanding his tools to do this aren't the best, as Gustaf Buster is far from impossible to IB > 5A from that range and 6A works pretty well against jump-ins. Azrael can't run, so he relies a lot to his forward dash and moves like gustaf buster and most of these lose to Mami Circular, so it's a bit easier and safer to make reads on your opponent but having enough meter for RC is recommended as without you'll usually be exactly where Azrael want's you to be. Due to his limited movement options Bombs and presents are actually pretty useful for this matchup on neutral, but don't throw them directly at him as he'll likely just use growler, but when used defensively (4D, 214D) and he just might run to them since he's the one that needs to get really close in this matchup not you. Ground missiles feel a bit useless, but firing them slightly above azrael might make some players use growler and whiff, other than that their purpose seems pretty limited to occasional anti-air barrage, 3C > 214D and maybe OD spam. Platinums trademark Dash to 2B is great in this matchup, but only if you are near enough to surprise him, too far and he'll likely just 2C or 3C you on reaction. It's actually good to know that many of Azraels moves are relatively easy to instant block, which can really make his life really difficult and if you see him getting way too greedy Happy Magicka can serve it's purpose pretty well too although riskier since Azrael isn't one of those characters who can do like 10 hits/s which allows him to control his pressure really well. You can also try to option select his cross-ups with barrier / 2B, but don't be too obvious with it, he could just throw you (he can deal fair bit of hurt from throw). Most of the time, growler doesn't absorb the bubbles (growlers hitbox pops the bubbles before they get absorbed) so they are fairly safe to throw out.. Most of the time.. He might read you up with gustaf from fair range so don't be to obvious with them, and generally it's not item equip and bubble but one or the another. But generally unlike some match-ups this is one you just have to play a lot to get the feel. Especially against his completely brainless pressure where you can literally just smash A's and Drive randomly and maybe mix-it up dash cross-ups and what-not. Getting out of that usually requires some really good blocking, reads or reaction (e.g Happy magicka one of his Drives or 5A his cross-up). I've been using B-Bubble to after 3C (long-range) which seems fairly safe against Azrael, dunno if he has effective tools to punish it, but so far I have seen none (most attempts have lead to getting captured by the bubble). Dunno if my pressure is optimal, but generally I use 5A (if close) > 2B > 5B > 5C > 3C > 214B this works pretty well against much of the cast. To mix-it I usually go for 6B and 63214D after the C or stagger with 5A or 5B. With meter I might even go for Mami RC > j.b > 2B.

all the ruly stron platinum players use un-upgraded missiles instead of upgraded ones. you can see the fear in opponents eyes (and your friends fist on your cheek) when you let the dozen un-upgraded missiles do your bidding (FPS takes a dive).