RentalBlackout

Yeah I do recall some being in his video. There's also this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE2DJMTKNo4, a lot of his stuff use phalanx in them, though most are pretty impractical. Probably can take some parts of it and use them for 1 phalanx combos. Check out his other videos too.

In some match ups you'll definitely be better off using them in neutral, since projectiles exist in them in the first place to absorb. Sometimes people forget you have a phalanx stock, you can hit them unexpectedly with it or punish moves they throw out which were meant for zoning. People who do realize you have a phalanx stock tend to act more cautiously with their zoning/spacing(or just, jump a lot more, Tager players would understand) so you'll have a somewhat easier time going in, not to mention phalanx pretty much overrides other projectiles so what generally happens is people stop throwing projectiles, or at least do it way more warily. Also, potentially, dash through tk phalanx(662147B) is probably the fastest cross up you have, though it's kinda hard to combo off of(gustaf/tk gustaf rapid into TCL). That is also how you combo off of it normally, at least, that was how Dogura was doing it. As for using them in combos, you can pretty much cancel some normals you use into them, so you can do something like corner [uW] 5B>236B>5C>TC>236D>... instead of using rapid or the 5B>2C route, for more damage too. In OD combos you can cancel any drives into it too. As for midscreen I'm not too sure, pretty sure I've seen some but I don't remember how'd they work. If you hit a phalanx midscreen you can always combo into blackhawk stinger as long as you aren't full screen in case you need to finish someone off. Else you probably would have to Dash TK Blackhawk?

Is it still possible to do a safe jump? I think as long as we can do that it's not too horrible. Maybe we can meaty as well with dash jump j.B or something. I'm not sure how much time we have after a j.D ender before they get up however so this may just be irrelevant(or whether or not we even reach them with dash jump). Maybe dash high jump? That might take too much time though. Dash IAD might be unsafe.

Lol. For your question, if memory serves me right Valiant Charger is timer based, so you might have to do the whole thing a little bit faster perhaps(especially 6*6C>6*j.C)? Another thing that could be possible is that you've mistimed the 6 after 6B before doing Sentinel Dump, maybe you're doing it too early or too late. There is the alternative of using 5B>Sentinel Dump instead, which is a special cancel so it doesn't depend on the Valiant Charger timer though you do lose out on a little damage. You also have to mind how high your opponent is when you hit Valiant Crash, if they're too high up while wall sticking in the corner 6*6B>6*3214C would whiff pretty often. Pretty sure it's either one of the two. Just grind it out and pretty sure you'll get it in no time, ez.

The Growler change gave me a thought about how in certain matchups it can be a really interesting tool. Anything with projectile property will be absorbed, so I'm thinking, maybe in certain matchups like Jin's for instance, if you feel a 5D is coming, you can absorb it and 236B>(Dash TK)236A>RC>TCL... to punish. Maybe not the best example but like Noel has tons of projectile properties in her moves and even things like Kokonoe 5C has them. However if you hit them with Growler then I don't suppose you can really combo for much, but hey, you're still out of pressure now. Pretty ballsy thing to do I guess, to call out Kokonoe 5C, so I doubt it'll be done much but it's still an option. Probably only limited to hard read situations.

Hmm yeah that's true I guess, it's more of the 2C being extremely unsafe now. Reason I like 2C>2B>TCL a lot is because on certain chars you can do Dash 5A Aerial like Rath found out, I guess it's still possible with 5A/5B TCL but stricter timing. How long exactly is the TCL wallstick? If you get a late wallstick, say, 3/4 screen into corner, can you combo into valiant or something? Also the OD guard cancel shit seems kinda scary especially with Azrael having lots of holes in his strings. Then again we also have access to it, but what are our options after ODGC, OD stinger? Iunno.

TCL in the corner makes up for 2C>2B in the corner I suppose, but 3C>22C>2C>2B is gone now...mixed feelings about this. Not to mention from the way you put it, 2C seems way worse than I imagined in neutral. j.D/j.2D change sounds pretty sad too. At least TCL still wallbounces mid screen. Hopefully they plan something else with 6B, because with that being awful now, we have no safe head invul anti-airs. Gustaf and phalanx change sounds great though. All in all I guess Az got nerfed, but not as badly as Valkenhayn or other people. Suffice to say, Azreal didn't get nerfed as badly as I imagined, but he still got hit somewhat. This loketest it seems like almost everybody got nerfed however, so relatively I guess Azrael is fine? Thanks for the heads up Kinkuli.

I personally think the Gustaf change is great. In 1.1, if you manage to get Taokaka to normal block a Gustaf, even though her 2A has 6 frame start up, your 5A will lose to her every time due to the distance, which is absolutely horrible. The growler change makes people playing the projectile game think twice and well, with Azrael's flawed neutral, pretty sure this is welcome. Doesn't change much though for footsie matchups, but Gustaf should help us a little. Losing a dp is pretty...Iunno I'm pretty alright with it. Our dp was, in hindsight, quite a horrible dp in terms of hitboxes. It almost always trades with hits as well. Really easy to OS too. Sometimes the invul bites me in the back when I want to absorb a projectile and instead I'm just left in recovery for the opponent to punish me. Guess we all just need to block better on wake up now. Was laughing somewhat in the News thread when people complained about random invul/guardpoints in our moves, as though we could use those on wake up. Sure, wake up Sentinel catches people at times but it's really gimmicky. 2C nerf is not really a big deal in neutral since when I do whiff an attempted 2C anti air due to a bait, I get punished anyway. However I can see how it would be bad during certain oki attempts, 2C catches rolls and late tech after certain knockdowns, whiffing that will make it even more unsafe than it already was. Probably not a big deal I guess, since that's more of a hard read situation. That 6B change, no idea what to make of it, maybe more consistency in the valiant corner combo? I guess it doesn't launch people who get hit by it on the ground either(which would make it unsafe on hit? lol), though I hardly see people use the move anyway since it's so awkward. Probably more to the change. The only thing I'm worried about is how far away does j.D/j.2D knocks back during combos, and also what the Leopard Launcher change really means. It could mean the death of j.D RC j.C. If Leopard doesn't wall bounce midscreen that sucks. Else Azrael's fine.

Considering how often we land a hit with 2B rather than 5A/2A, I'd say it's definitely worth learning that combo.

Yeah that's pretty cool, I've seen a player use j.214C-X CS as some form of safe assault too. The distance you cover with j.214C-X CS 6D [j.2C] is ridiculous. Nice find on the B+C combo, no idea you could convert with a 2A. Was messing around in training mode, and wondered if you could tk cancel 214X, and indeed you can. It makes the webs you place way closer to the ground, TK 214C practically is on the ground. There's two ways you can tk cancel it, when you have nothing to buffer you can simply do 2147X, you can't do 2149X(or maybe it's just really really hard) However, if you can jump cancel after a hit(say 2C), you can do 2C>9214C I have not found uses for it yet but I only thought about it when I was about to call it a day. Maybe you guys can find uses for it in combos/oki and such. 2C>9214C makes them webbed really close to the ground(practically as though they've been hit by a ground web)

Some combo video lying around. Pretty thorough. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKEqUeu3Yss And this is the same guy in a match, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcmi_aOq2Ys

I don't know if it's in the earlier posts somewhere but so far I don't think I saw any combos off of uncharged 3C yet. You can do the usual side switch path; 3C j.B j.A j.C 2C 236A~4A~B j.A(whiff) 2B Rekka(forgot to note down the damage, around high 2.8k I think) For corner carry, I found that you can do; 3C 236A~6A~delay(somewhat heavy delay)~4A~A~C 214C~C~A 2C Rekka(2994 damage, I used 2C, pretty sure you can 2B instead for more damage, but I was tired and couldn't get myself to execute it again lol) A little unsure about whether you have to delay anywhere else, but I was doing this on Gordeau, not sure if smaller hitboxes make this combo invalid. I just got the game so I'm only beginning to mess around with his combos, no idea about how his neutral is like or how he plays, but he seems really fun. Earlier posts look really helpful though when the time comes to actually play him in a match. From reading earlier posts seems like he does have holes in his gameplan, but I doubt they're as big as Chaos's or Akatsuki's. Gives me the impression that he's somewhat mid tier, then again, it's only late week 1. EDIT: Easier confirms; both can't combo into 623C though Side swap, 3C 5C 214B~X~B 2B 236A~6A~4A~X~A 2B Rekka Corner carry, 3C 5C 214B~X~C 214C~X~A 2B Rekka

Aside from Dogura's match up list and as you have mentioned Dora's, the other two tier lists that I've seen(LK's tier list and Jiyuna's) put him as S as well. Personally I'll always felt like he was A+, potential to be better than A tiers, yet not quite up there with the S tiers. On paper he certainly seems S tier material, but playing a perfect neutral game to go with that is definitely not a 'braindead' easy task people think it is. Dogura and Tochigin make it look real easy, but that is why I respect them a lot, because they are able to make it look easy. EDIT: Then again S tiers don't have to dominate a game to be an S tier. Most tier lists are really theoretical, and the problem with them is the amount of subjectivity as Spectre has said. A top player's opinion isn't the same as a general opinion, and different players feel/voice differently about match ups than other players would. In SF4(AE 2012), Cammy was widely considered to be top tier but, correct me if I'm wrong, a lot of other characters won more majors. Alpha Patroklos in SC5 was generally regarded as the best character in the game, but no one could play him well enough to be consistently winning majors.

Interestingly, if you compare Azrael to the other generally agreed upon S tier chars(Carl, Litchi, Kokonoe, Rachel), Azrael lacks something they all have, which is setplay. While Azrael makes up for the lack of that by having higher rewards on average and arguably better defense in general(compared to Carl, Kokonoe and Rachel), setups require a different approach to handle. The way to beat setups is to generally just to understand when the setup can be done and what the setup is doing. Once you are more prepared for it, you don't fall for it as much. In a way, you can say that setups are really good gimmicks(hence not making them...gimmicky?) So if you want to beat Carl real easily, you'd want to emphasize more on learning what setups are available to him(problem is he has tons of them, and they're all good), but not totally ignoring how to play against him in other aspects. The more you know about the character, the easier of a time you'll have beating him/her. This is true for any other character, but it's especially true for characters like that. However, when it comes to other characters(Azrael included), all you have to do is to simply play more solidly. Tack on a few option selects and well, you can say you're able to beat any Azrael with the same skill level(or lower) as you. Also, player match ups can affect how you play against other players, but I don't think a player's playstyle can affect setups, at least not to the same degree. I'm not sure how much that contributes to how Azrael doesn't feel like an S tier char, but it's an interesting point of view to look at.

[uW] 5B>2C>6D>6A>Dash>5B>TCL>3D does work but several things can affect it. It might be because you're not doing 2C>6D>6A fast enough to launch them higher or maybe you're not dashing fast enough. It could also be that you're starting the combo too far away from the opponent, this combo works best if you're starting it right next to them. TCL>3D ender doesn't work on several people no matter how you do it(Tager and I think Arakune, probably more). To make it more consistent for other people, do 5B>2C>6D>6A>Walk forward a little>2B>TCL(no delay)>3D, more damage too. You can also do what Koopa suggested to make it more consistent if you're finding them dropping too low to use 5B.

Aside from the video aisight linked, converting random and awkward anti-air/air-to-air hits into a weakpoint is pretty important. It's not really difficult but missing a knockdown you could've gotten could potentially lose you a lot of advantage. Get used to confirming crouching combos as well. When people start waking up smartly against you; Ice Cube put up a pretty great section about it in the strategy thread. There's a new one available to Az in 1.1, that's Dash TK Sentinel after a rekka knockdown(works on less people in the corner). Covers quick tech, front and back roll(not delayed rolls or delayed neutral tech), and also safe jumps pretty much everyone if you do it fast enough, except Kagura. Azrael, Arakune and Tager can wake up backdash out of it, though you can punish it with Gustaf. Vary your strings more too. Basically don't get too predictable and explore options. Otherwise, check out the critique thread. I found myself having similar problems to what people have and the people's input over here really helps a lot. And as always, watching footage of better players teaches a lot.

Pretty agreeable list all in all. Hazama used to be hard in 1.0, but with his overall nerfs the matchup seems even now. Taokaka used to be pretty even as well but with her average damage going way down, it feels like as though Azrael is the one with 9 lives while Tao dies in 3 consecutive combos. Slightly surprising that Mu isn't even at least 5:5, though I can see why he put it in 'slightly advantageous'. I guess at Dogura's level of play, the match up isn't as problematic. Same thing with Kokonoe too I suppose, considering a lot of her setups/oki are invalid with Growler. Even though she has options to cover Growler(if I remember correctly), she still has to commit to it. All in all though, even though Azrael has many favourable matchups, the hardest aspect of him to grasp in most of these matchups is the neutral game. I liked the way Xie described Azrael while commentating EVO, easy and strong character to play, yet having difficult(not necessarily bad) match ups. In that sense, as someone else here has put it, he probably is one of the most 'fair' top tiers Blazblue has ever had, as without proper neutral, you can't get anything started.

So about the double j.D ender after 6B stuff, is it only off an anti-air hit that it's consistent? I've gotten it off the ground before but it seems to be extremely hard to do.

Any tips for doing Dash TK Sentinel fast enough to safe jump ID? I can't do it consistently enough for it to be reliable for me. I'm guessing it's because I do 6632147, and that I could shorten it to 662147 and return to 5 after dashing quicker. Also how do I confirm that I'm doing it fast enough in training mode other than recording myself doing it and testing wake up ID myself? Is there a quicker way?

(CH) 3D > 6A > 3D > 2B > TCL > 5B > 2C > 5B > Aerial = 5472 (Doesn't work on TG, maybe others?) (CH) 3D > 6A > 3D > walk forward 5C > TCL > 5B > 2C > 5B > Aerial = 5618 (Doesn't work on TG, maybe others? One of those, these assume you reach the corner. There are also double weakpoint ones, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKms8y7kGw8&t=49s, looks fancy too, for less damage however, but that's generally what you sacrifice for two weakpoints.(Except very specific ones) If you're fighting Arakune(I think) or Tager, CH 3D>6A doesn't work, so you have to do CH 3D>2C>3D instead, which will result in less damage as well but it's still in the 5k range.

This is pretty much the toughest part about playing Azrael. He's a top tier char, great offense, great defense, and pretty good neutral, but if you had to say which part of his game is the weakest, it's got to be his neutral. Anyone that can footsie well can take Azrael on, hence why Azrael doesn't roll over Ragna and has troubles against someone like Mu. A somewhat accurate description of Azrael's neutral is that he has a neutral game of a grappler, just that he doesn't grapple. About Gustaf on block, you don't necessarily have to 5A afterwards against 5 frame jabs. Pretty sure most, if not all 5 frame jabs whiff on crouchers, so you can low profile with 2A, maybe with 2B(have to test that out too) If your 5A clashes with Litchi's it probably means she IB'd it, in that case you should probably backdash out, or if at the right range jump backwards and see what happens. Pretty important to note how someone blocks your Gustaf, it can change it from being +2 on barrier block to -2 on instant block. Gustaf is good yes, but it's also fair. Proper blocking can make or break a defense against Azrael in general. Granted, it's not always possible since it can be difficult(and that's why you got to be unpredictable to keep them guessing, make it difficult for them), but instant blocking, barrier blocking and even instant barrier blocking can really make a lot of your strings whiff/unsafe. We also have a lot of gaps in our strings, so you got to respect your opponent's ability to jab/dp through. As for oki, Azrael has it pretty ok, not wonderful but it's there, we don't really have a guaranteed advantage after Drive knockdowns(perhaps one of the weaker points of Azrael). You're doing the right thing by trying to bait DP's, but that's just tough luck I guess. You can't react to what they do, it's pretty much rock paper scissors. I don't really delay the forward dash crossup after knockdown, it doesn't really have that much invulnerability if that's what you're getting at. I'm not sure which knockdowns you are referring to either(Drive knockdowns or TCL), but in general as long as you can get them to emergency tech you're forcing them to face a mixup, which is what you want. In the Strategy Thread, Ice Cube put up a pretty comprehensive guide on what we have on oki. Although now after TCL, we can Dash TK Sentinel to cover a lot of options. Now it might look as though we are forced to play a lot more defensively, but take a look at it from another point of view. We are making them commit to something. If they decide to 2A after Gustaf since we've been 2B'ing them to low profile their 5A, then that's another risk they have to take, and more things to worry about. In the end it's just one big game of mix ups and rock paper scissors, and with Azrael, when we do hit gold, we really do hit gold, since we get such high rewards.

Pretty sure you could do these last time, but landing a raw Sentinel tends to happen now somewhat and there were no Sentinel starter combos in the old thread. 214C>2C>2B>TCL>Dash jc>j.A>j.B>j.C(delay either j.B or j.C slightly)>land>hj j.C>j.D 4157 dmg ...>Dash>5A>j.A>j.B>j.C jc> j.D works for certain characters for an easier combo(less damage), courtesy of LegendaryRath, probably should get his post info in here somewhere. [uW] 214C>5B(slight delay)>2C>6D>236D>5A/5B>TCL>3D, if you reach the corner you can do TCL>Aerial instead. [uW] 214C>5B(slight delay)>2C>6D>6A>IAD>j.C>214D>5A>j.A>j.B>j.C jc>j.D You can do these with LW too, though you have to forego the 5B after Sentinel and instead go into a slightly delayed 2C>3D(delayed as well). A little unsure how it works but delaying the 3D makes the opponent bounce off the ground slightly higher. Forgot the damage for both combos but it's somewhere in the mid 4k's if I remember correctly.

I think it's something to do with how much height difference there is between you and the opponent when you do j.D RC. I also find that it works way more consistently if you delay the j.D, in fact I don't think I have ever been able to do it without delaying it. I'm not really sure what's the best frame of reference but for the right height, try doing a raw Sentinel into 5B>j.B almost immediately. That's the height you'll find that it'll be fairly consistent. It really is dependent on how much height difference there is between you and your opponent when you 5B them in the air. If you try doing 5B later(hence lower), you'll probably never be able to connect j.D RC>falling j.C Like Yuhoke said falling j.B is somewhat easier, and I think is more lenient on the height issue. Personally it's still something I can't execute all the time and pretty sure I've seen even Dogura drop it time to time, so it's certainly not an easy one.

What do you guys do for resets? It doesn't seem like Az has many resets that are worth going for from what I've seen.

I think online Az with less than at least 3 bars connection already makes some of your advanced combos difficult unless you have godlike muscle memory. Let's not forget about lag tactics either. Offline play is king. Just to put into perspective, if I'm not wrong, a ping of 50ms delays inputs by about 3 frames. I think that's already the limit of Blazblue's input buffer. I assume you're going to get pings of at least 150+, that's already 9 frames. The fastest jab is 5 frames, so no doubt everything's gonna get affected, even things like spacing. Good luck on instant blocking and teching green throws.