RentalBlackout

Ikemen vs Noze http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/1448202082 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/so27646696 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/so27646698 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/so27646701 Since we don't have a CF thread yet, I'm gonna leave this here. The amount of space dash TK Panzer Strike covers though. Zekuso wasn't lying.

The trajectory of Panzer Strike(the dp) looks really odd. It's almost looks more like a mix between a Tiger Knee and Adon's dp. The second hit looks really easy to punish, if you block the first hit as soon as possible. However, it being plus on block on the second hit, maybe it can be useful in neutral.

From this we do indeed see that 5D staggers on normal hit. The guy tried to combo DP in a VC combo, but it blue beat'd, although he still could follow up a little afterwords. It seems that as a starter, his DP is a very short starter or something, he couldn't RC 2B TCL afterwards, as the Rekka dropped. Oh and his voice, like everyone else has been reworked. Now he says BUSTER like the english voice.

Looking at Ragna's 22A~C OS, I wondered if Azrael could do something like that. As it turns out, it gives out a pretty meh result, but still interesting somewhat. So, 5D close knockdown midscreen, if you 22D~C immediately after, if they emergency tech, you get a meaty 2D. If they neutral tech/both rolls, you'd get a meaty 22C instead. On the forward roll, it'd vacuum them back in, but on the backward roll, it pushes them away a bit, which is sad, but you are still positive. The only problem is on delayed wakeup or quick tech, they can just mash and CH you on wakeup. Delayed neutral tech, they CH you while you're in recovery, quick tech they CH you while you're in the air. On other knockdowns(tested in the corner), like j. 2D or 2C>6D, you have to delay it somewhat to get the effect above. Else you'd get a 'pseudo-safe jump'. Pseudo, because in the case they neutral tech DP(also catches 7f supers), you can block it in time, but they could just neutral tech/quick tech mash and CH you. The 22C doesn't actually force them to block in this case. If they emergency tech, you can still get a 5A meaty after 2A whiffs iirc(22A~C, not 22D~C in this case) However, you can't block 7f supers if they neutral tech as fast as they can. The sad part in all this is that you don't actually punish them late teching because you get 22C instead, and you don't get a meaty if you 22C either, in the case of the pseudo-safe jump. I guess it might be useful in feeling out your opponents(especially the midscreen one) and tricking very skittish opponents(DP on wakeup), but overall, it's very limited in application, especially when they catch on. I haven't tested it thoroughly, what happens if I delay it so that I 2A a roll or something, though I don't really foresee much/not sure if possible. Could be wrong though. You want a safe jump, Kinkuli's setup is way more reliable and less gimmicky.

Yeah, but I personally find it hard to confirm, and well, if it doesn't CH, they can tech and punish you for it. Also somewhat height and weight dependent. If you are confident in getting a CH then by all means go for it. =D

Your level is play is pretty reasonable for someone who has only been playing as much as you have. If there's one thing I could say to sum things up, is that you play a little bit too wild haha Anyway, you can start with these things :- Like you've mentioned, try not to throw out growler too much, unless you want to absorb a projectile. It also can be used as a pseudo DP, due to it's speed, but remember it has absolutely no invulnerability and it's highly punishable. Use 236D/214D a lot less, especially in neutral, their use are quite limited outside of combos(very very situational). The reason being that they're pretty slow and telegraphed. They may have guardpoints but it takes quite a while for them to activate. 214D can be used as a preemptive anti-air sometimes, but I really doubt it's all that useful, especially since Azrael has overall, safer and faster anti-air options. Blackhawk stinger does not have invulnerability on it(very little), it's not really like Spencer's Bionic Arm(UMVC3), so don't use it to snipe unless you know they're going to do something slow, or you want to punish their recovery on something and they're too far away. There is a certain range they cannot jump in time after the superflash, but they could just stick out a normal and beat it most of the time(unless you are pretty close). 2C used to be really good, but not so much anymore after it's nerf. Outside of pressure(and 2C pressure is very risky anyway) only use it as an anti-air when you're sure they're going to jump in at you at a relatively low height, and you need the head invulnerability, else use 5A/5B/6B, or air to air instead. Gustaf is great and all, but don't rely on it too much, as people can just avoid it totally. If you want more range on it, learn how to do 662369A, it's much faster than doing 66236A. Else, you should go for shorter/safer movement, which brings me to my next point... Movement in general is something you have to get used to with Azrael. He can't run, and this is a big deal. Forward dash thankfully can be jump canceled, and it can be barrier'd a lot faster than instant air dashing/air dashing, so this is sometime you'd wanna get used to doing. The later you cancel your forward dash, the greater the momentum you retain. Learn how to do the high jump cancel variant too, and always remember, that you have two jumps(unless you've airdashed) You can even IAD(Instant Air Dash) after a jump canceled dash if you really want to move forward quick. Don't get too predictable with your movement however. Work on your pressure strings/mixups. I think this is just you not being familiar with the character, but yeah, just explore his gatling options more. Also, remember you can jump cancel 5A/5B. Look for IceCube's old oki post in the strategy guide thread, it's still mostly relevant, except that we don't have sentinel oki anymore. This is also something you'll naturally learn, but do combos according to the situation. You don't have to end in Rekkas if you're not near the corner, as it'll just reset the situation to neutral, and you don't get to tag them with a weakpoint, you can end in Gustaf instead, or you could end in 2C>3D/6D. Use up weakpoints when you get a confirm. In general it's better to not end your combos in super as you don't really get oki off of it. Learning combos are one thing, but confirming them in the respective situation is important too. You used the right super for reversals just don't do it everytime you have meter. Remember that we have a good backdash to get ourselves out of trouble too(again, don't use it all the time, unless your opponent doesn't know how to punish it), and also remember that waking up blocking is still an option. There are a couple of other small things but if you patch these things up first then you'll already be a better than average player. Also, watch vids on Azrael being played by other people and you can learn a couple of things by putting yourself in their shoes in each situation. You can even watch older videos of Azrael, just keep in mind what you can and can't do anymore in BBCPEX. Glad that you have found somebody that suits you, I can see that you definitely had fun playing him, with the Astrals and what not hahaha.

If they're low enough that still is the most damaging route, but if they're high up go for the jump cancel, something like 6P jc j.S>j.P>j.K jc>j.S>j.6H>j. 236H, the normals may differ according to weight class. You may get the odd situation that they're far away when you hit with 6P, in that case just beak driver for a knockdown. And then there's Faust. For that you may need to leap. Someone posted a combo for Faust in one of them threads. I think it was something like 6P>leap>j.S>j.6H c.S>5H>etc..., I don't really remember.

5B>66>2A>5AA>weave c>sonic B>duck C>weave C>sonic A>hook SB>duck C>hook B> duck C>DP>5B>killrush B>weave C>hook A>weave C>cork A - 5255 damage (6920 damage with super) This was a corner combo posted a while back, I was wondering if it could be changed to a 150 meter combo(however practical that may be). I got something like this, but is it fully optimized? 5B>66>2A>5AA>weave C>sonic B>duck C>weave C>sonic A>hook SB>sonic SB>weave D>hook B> duck C>DP>2B>j.B>5B(1)>killrush B>hook A>weave C>cork A>Uppercut B x2 - 8345 dmg

6P buff mentioned is that it can be jump canceled now. Quoted from the general thread. He had slight nerfs here and there, where his damage on H normals got redistributed here and there and 6P having more recovery(like 3 frames or something) Overall the buffs outweighed the nerfs though. Some other small things worth mentioning, 5H second hit floats higher. 2D>236K works on Pot and Chipp now(due to that Elk Hunt change I guess).

Just to add a few things to the thread. 2S does contest a lot of Axl's normals, except Axl's f. S(and you can't low profile it either), however, f. S is pretty bad on whiff(compared to Sin's 2S), and has pretty limited gatlings, so there's that. There's a certain sweet spot where you'd wanna be if you're outside of 2S range, and that's right at the edge of beak driver range. Provided you get beak driver out first, it usually would beat almost anything Axl does to poke you with, giving you a CH you can confirm into. Too late and well, you'd probably get hit out of startup. This is the move you'd wanna be playing footsies with. Be aware that he could just counter you or do something else other than trying to poke you, so(as always), be sure to mix it up. Maybe you could just not do anything and wait, or even risk a jump in/slide. I play with, who I would think to be a pretty solid Axl who knows what's he doing, and although I used to be free in this match(starting to lose a little less though!) it's mostly due to him being more experienced/a better player and me needing to improve, so I think it's safe to say it's mostly even(he thinks so too).

I play on a ps3. Hmm, I usually put it on the respective mode for the console I'm on. The friend I mentioned earlier plays on a ps4 however.

I've got the HRAP4 Kai for a while now, and I quite like it. My first stick was the wireless tekken 6 hori stick, and compared to what I have now, I'm really happy. However, sometimes something weird happens when I'm playing. It happens very rarely, only once in a while. There had been times when I wanted to IAD forwards, but instead, it made me IAD backwards, even though I did 956. There was even a time I did 214214 but it became 236236, giving me the wrong super. I am not sure when does it happen, but if I were to guess, it happens after I hold back(when blocking for example) for a long time. I think it has happened before when I held the stick in one direction to run and wanted to IAD backwards, though it made me IAD forward. Apparently, I'm not alone in this as well, as my friend who has the same stick did mention it happened to him before a couple of times, where he wanted to crouch but jumped instead. I was wondering if this has happened to anyone who has a stick with a Hayabusa lever?

All these loctest changes seem really interesting so far. The removal of SMP in normals would open a lot of new routes. Being able to use 6A, 2C, 3C and 5BB(as mentioned above) more than once in a combo. I wonder if Drive moves like 6D and 5D are considered normals. SMP not affecting hitstun something to look into as well I guess. No obvious applications that I can think of. Maybe useful for double weakpoint combos? 5D not knocking down is probably my favourite change thus far.

Word is that Azrael's Panzer Strike does have invulnerability on start up, but no mention of whether or not it's full or head only. Apparently, it's positive on block if you block the second hit, but we can assume there is a gap between the two hits, else it would sound a bit silly lol

You have to IB either the low or the straight chain and then 5K. Alternatively for the low one, you could block and then 2P. I'm not exactly sure if you need to IB for both either. Also noteworthy thing to note, the low chain is not actually a low.

Celica is such a rare character that I'm pretty sure not a lot of people have actually fought good ones. From what I've gathered, in general, she's like Jin, although her normals are worse(hurtbox issues) and she's also a lot more meter hungry. I suspect it shouldn't be worse than even, most likely advantageous for Azrael, but this is just me taking a guess. It sounds like your friend has probably never really seen a proper Celica before, therefore he's having trouble. If he's getting hit by a lot of air attacks, I think he has to resort to using 6B, and maybe even risking 2C here and there for lower air dashes. While 5A and 5B may be good anti-airs, there are times you actually need the head invulnerability, especially if the player are spacing their normals right. There are a couple of videos of Zekuso playing against Kaqn on Celica, both really good players. Do take note that these are relatively old videos however, Zekuso looked like as though he didn't know everything about Celica either. Perhaps you could ask the Celica boards instead.

We should discuss this in the match up section... But yes, that match up can be tough against a very defensive Faust. If he's turtling a lot don't hesitate to eat. Bank in on footsies with Beak Driver, slide occasionally. Don't jump/leap in on him unless you get a good read, his anti-airs are too good, and our air to ground are lacking somewhat. Use meter for safer movement. In the match up thread you can see a list of things we can low profile under.

Akatsuki comes to mind like Capconian mentioned, although I would say Gordeau isn't too far off either. The only difference is Gordeau has massive specials, though I would say he has a similar playstyle. Footsie and get in, once you are next to your opponent that is when you get really scary.

Airk has a point, A causes B, but B doesn't necessarily mean A. Commie has it right though, at this point it's just semantics. Following up on that, it's hard to determine whether a character is good, when there are no other characters to put them against. Since Hokuto no Ken was mentioned in this thread, Jagi on his own might seem like a solid character(having solid tools), but not in a game like Hokuto no Ken, where characters like Toki exist(having said 1-9 matchup against him) He simply does not have good answers for tools the top characters have, while still having to take risks against other lower tiered characters. So in the end, the solid tools he has, are drowned out by the problems he has no solutions for when playing against other characters. However, this is where a good player can make a character work, solely on the strong points a character has, though you have to realize he is limited to options that may or may not be a factor against other players and their respective characters. Tools can be valued in many different ways. I think it's safe to say system mechanics also play a role in how good a character is. System mechanics in a sense are tools everybody in the game has access to. In BlazBlue for example, okizeme can seem like a gamble for certain characters outside the corner, since BlazBlue provides people with multiple options upon wake up. Rolls are usually not very strong in the corner though, so corner carry/sideswapping capabilities are important. A character that has good answers against every wake up option in the game is pretty rare and valued, whereas characters that don't have an answer, but can work around it(so what if they get away, my character's neutral is good anyway) can also be great. Taokaka is a special case, since her reset potential is strong now, you could argue she doesn't really need oki midscreen. If the reset isn't successful, it still is safe and in fact, you are still going to be pressuring them.

Well, that's why the OS isn't exactly foolproof, but the other person would have to be doing it on purpose to abuse that, which would mean he is aware that the other person is doing the OS. Time it a bit too late and they'd jump out. Though for something as slow as 6D/3D, I think people could perhaps just react to when 6D/3D starts and adjust the timing. Azrael has limited ways to gatling into 6D/3D anyway(and most of them gets beaten by mashing), so there's only a few situations you'd look out for that.

The throw barrier OS also helps you avoid those clowny situations where you predict they're going to run in and throw you, you throw tech in anticipation but they misjudge how far they have to dash and whiff a throw, causing you to whiff a throw yourself after they whiff a throw, leading into them taking advantage of your recovery frames. I speak from experience.

Well for challenge 16 you kinda just have to grind it out. Make sure you are doing high jump B for this combo. As soon as your j.2C hits, rapid immediately and hit C. Challenge 20 is not extremely difficult, but it can be challenging. There is one odd link you have to do(the 5A after 6D>BHS). Here's the video for it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXRUH5NRc3o Fun fact, this only works on Azrael, Ragna, Jin, Nu and Lambda(but the 5A>jc j.B>j.2D doesn't work on a few of them iirc) I have seen another solution for it involving starting with OD BHS into Phalanx Cannon, but I don't remember where I found the video, unfortunately. About VC, midscreen now you pretty much have to get into 3C>22C>(5B)>TC>Valiant by RCing Gustaf, etc. So instead of doing 5BB>TCL RC>Dash TK Valiant, do 5BB>Gustaf RC>(IAD j.A>j.C)>3C>22C>(5B)>TC>Valiant>... The other way to do it is airborne ...>hj.C>j.D RC>TC(first hit whiffs)>Valiant or ...>hj.C>j.D RC>6C>5A>TC>Valiant. I think you could do it from 5BB>2D(RC)>2B>TC>Valiant and probably from 5BB>Growler RC>Dash 2B>TC>Valiant as well. You should be able to do it from j.2C RC>j.C>6A>Valiant too. From an airborne 6C hit you could link into 5A>TCL if the height is right. In the corner you could do 5B>2C>5A>TC>Valiant instead and it'll be just fine. Otherwise do a crouching confirm into 3C>2B>TC>Valiant, but I find that doing 3C>2C>6D>etc... does more damage than Valiant at the end of things.

Well you've got the answer already, but I suppose it's a matter of whether they're still sliding down the wall or not. Making it hit late gets them when they're already at the bottom.

I had an odd situation where a recording I made, would backdash if I had done something, FD if I had done nothing. I could never replicate it though, it was me trying to do 6321464H+S. Messing around with just 464H+S wielded no results either. EDIT: If it means anything, I made it so the dummy would do the OS as he was landing from a jump.

So what happens if both players do the OS at the same time? Do they both just FD?