RentalBlackout

Yeah Tochigin is pretty noteworthy too, though he's just as hard to get to watch as the other Azraels. Btw you playing in SEAM right greatfernman? Friend of mine is in the same pool as you, you'll know which one he is, he probably is one of the very few(I'm assuming) Tagers in there. Best of luck to you and to Ice Cube as well, he used to post a lot around here didn't he?

Saki is pretty good too, but as you've said, rarely footage of anyone 15th dan+ other than Dogura. (Also might be because he's a Makoto main apparently) Whenever I see Zekuso play his Azrael it seems like he's just trolling around or something, but despite that he still manages to put up a fight and win, pretty entertaining.

Warhound pretty much answered your questions quite well. Some things to add though. 1. You can use it to stuff DPs on wakeup, or also as a meaty. Though you can't do both at the same time, the timing's different(do it earlier as a meaty, later to stuff DPs). 2. You can add in 2B before TCL. There's more options on CH(weakpoint or not). 5. Other than the double weakpoint combo(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKms8y7kGw8&t=40s), it's best to go into the j.C X3>j.2C>(5B)>j/hj.B>j.C>j.D unless the combo has gone on for very long and you need to end it, in that case j.D(doesn't happen too often though) 7. Even though it's slow, try putting in 3D/6D earlier in your blockstrings sparingly, you'll be surprised how often they don't suspect it. If you have 'conditioned' them to go through a blockstring a lot, they'll be expecting you to go through the whole blockstring, so you can be unpredictable with it. I've gotten away with 5B>3D even though it has a very large gap in between. Heck you can even do crossup j.B(blocked)>6D/3D straight up and change things up if they think you're gonna do 5C first. If the character you're against has no good defensive options on wakeup, you can also dash>6D/3D after a knockdown. 8. Taokaka has gotten some nerfs, but she still can be a little bit hard to get around(especially if you're not experienced with the match up). Long story short you gotta get a hit it somehow through good neutral play and good zoning(5B/6B/2C/j.B). She has not a lot of meterless defensive options so once you get a knockdown you get to play your own game and it doesn't take that many opportunities as she has the lowest health in the game and we have one of the highest average damage. As with any character you have trouble with, find out what they can do and what you can do in that situation. It helps to look at their Revolver Action tables or learn a little on their own game(you can even try playing them to get a better understanding) Find out what's safe and what's not safe. It really pays to watch how better players handle the match ups from videos and try to see why they did what they did in specific situations. Azrael doesn't really have many bad match ups, he only has bad match ups with Hazama, Carl, and possibly Kokonoe(though with Kokonoe it might be even as well) according to Dogura. We do have a lot of somewhat frustrating match ups but I believe they are still even, or even advantageous in some cases.

Sometimes while doing VC combos, the corner variant, I find myself whiffing the 5B/6B. This is probably due to the height at which I enter VC from, but I'm finding it difficult to find a comfortable height that would guarantee I won't drop it, at what height do you guys find it reliable?

I reckon it's because that post did not consider(or was made very early when Azrael was just released) how his gatlings had delayed links. That post probably assumed he had normal revolver action. If you wanna find out yourself I guess you'll have to read the next part where it shows how fast can you revolver action a certain move. The revolver action for 5A is at 15 frames and that it has a blockstun of 13 frames. That post earlier assumed that the revolver action for 5A was at the 6th frame, so that's a pretty large difference(7 frames of difference). According to this then, 5A>5A is actually +0 in between(instead of +7). So yeah I guess it can be DP'd on normal block if you gatling it a frame late(lol), unless I'm messing something up here. And as Spectre said, 2A>2B can indeed be DP'd even on barrier block. The inaccurate post said it was +1 in between, but by right it's -2 in between. On barrier block that would be -1, so yeah it is possible to DP through it(though very tight). Same goes for 5B, it's revolver action is on the 16F(whereas it was thought earlier to be at the 9th frame), so again that's 7 frames of difference. So 5B>5BB is really -4 in between. EDIT: If you wanna use that list, then basically just subtract the number of frames by the number listed to see the accurate one.

Yeah this seems to solve the issue pretty consistently. I think I was thinking about some other combo where sometimes 5B just isn't possible after valiant(but it's more of a timing issue than anything). Sometimes they fall too quickly due to doing valiant too late(like in airborne 5B>2C>Valiant>5A/5B).

I'm not too sure of the details but usually if you can't connect with 5B, just use 5A instead.

Hey everybody, kinda new around here. I've decided to pick up Arakune because well, he seems like such an interesting magical being(in terms of character design and playstyle). My first/main character is Azrael as BBCP was my first 2D fighting game ever(I only played 3D fighters like Soul Calibur before), I was already interested in playing Arakune but my friend told me that he's not really someone a beginner should play with due to how complex he is. Anyway, how would you guys suggest a person totally new to Arakune to learn how to play him? There's just so many different places you have to cover, such as his somewhat awkward pre-curse game, pre-curse combos, and setups/okizeme of all sorts. For now I've just been trying to do some of the pre-curse combos listed in the 1st page of this thread and I can somewhat manage(just have to get the muscle memory down). I swear, if Arakune had a somewhat "normal" IAD I think his combos would be like 20% easier. I still haven't managed to do 8744A+B, but it seems like Jdietz43(thanks!) has displayed an easy way to do it so I'll try that out later. I guess for now I should just park myself within training room grounds before I ever bring him out into the fields of play?

It's very dependent on height and distance. If you FC 5C them at a really low air height, you can do something like FC 5C>236D>5A>TCL>... The way Valiant hits is really similar to how it connects in airborne [uW] (...)>2C>6D>236D>5A/5B>TCL>... The problem with this is however is that it can be somewhat difficult to hit confirm into. If they're higher, I think the only thing that can hit them is 6C. If you want to continue the combo however, you have to delay the 6C quite a bit, so it'll look like something FC 5C>Delayed 6C>5A/5B>TCL...If they're too low or if you do it too late it'll blue beat, if too early they'd be too far away for 5A/5B to connect. An easier way out is to just end it with 6D but you have to do it pretty much immediately as well. The most simplistic way is to do 236A, but that doesn't bring you much damage/weakpoints(although you are in advantage). I find that these combos are fairly inconsistent(due to how dependent it is on distance and height) and really hard to gauge whether it's possible to do, but this was only what I could find. Even the position of the characters affect it a lot(wall bounce stuff). I think these don't work if your back is against the wall. EDIT: You can even do some form of double weakpoint combo with FC 5C>236D>(5A)>5B>2C>6D>6A>IAD>j.C>214D>5A>j.A>j.B>j.C>jc j.D, but like I said, you have to cancel 5C into 236D(and hold it) pretty much immediately, so I don't see it happening in a real match. I'd say the most practical way is to hit confirm it into delayed 6C, or 236A.

About those Hornet combos I mentioned back then, they still are possible to do. The only exception are the ones from point blank range, they seem somewhat impossible now(even if you do 214D>8*j.B>j.C>Airdash>...). Well, realistically we won't really be hitting point blank Hornet Bunkers(so it's not too bad of a loss), but it does affect the one from the backthrow starter. I haven't thoroughly tried to see if you can work it out with delays in Hornet or even the Hornet Chaser part, so it might still be possible, but the Hornet change only seems to cause problems in that regard. It also might be the case of variable character hitboxes affecting it, but I did try it out on Ragna if I remember correctly. The other ones such as CH 3D>6A>Hornet>8*j.C>Airdash>Falling j.C>Valiant>5A/5B>TCL>3D and the likes doesn't seem to have changed as much from before. On the plus side the ones where you hit airborne Hornets in the combos(TC>Hornet; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKms8y7kGw8&t=1m) seem harder to mess up now.

Neutral is not really something you can teach that easily. You kinda will grasp it eventually. Each match up you'd be playing your neutral game somewhat differently, you won't play the same way versus Hakumen the same way you would play versus Makoto for example. Of course, there are things you can apply in every match up, as your character remains the same, but you have to cater to not only what character you're up against, but also who you are against. As long as you know what options you and your opponent have at every range and what options your opponents tend to take at each respective point in a match, you're all set to go. At some point it becomes a mixup in its own way, but that's what makes fighting games interesting. In the end it'll all come down to experience. What you can do to improve your neutral game is just watch really good players play, and kinda try to find out why they did something at that point, and not something else.

Yeah that sounds pretty good in situations like that. I found that also in Tager matches, if he's gonna backdash to punish your growler after Gadget Finger, Scud Punishment will catch it if you do that instead. Not much, though it's there. If only we'd have the ridiculous Unlimited Azrael version of Scud Punishment.

When is it ever a good time to use Scud Punishment? I feel like the 50 meter is way better spent as a Growler RC or even a Counter Assault if you're willing to spend 50 meter as a defensive option. Not to mention Scud Punishment is really slow as a reversal. The only way I can see it being used is as those really situational Valiant enders, (...236D>....>6A>OD>Scud Punishment). Big reward after but just as equally of a big risk if opponent guesses right.

I tried it out and yeah it does work, fortunately. Too bad 2D's proration isn't that great but at least it works. As for your stick problems Warhound I don't much about maintaining them.Have you tried posting about it in the other sections of this forum?

How are you doing it? I used to have a problem with this as well, but it turns out you can just hold 2 the whole time before going into TCL. Keep holding down until you have to do the qcf motion, then just do it from 2 to 6.

Yeah I definitely agree Phalanx is really strong for our neutral game and worth keeping. However in the case you can kill somebody with it, it's also probably worth using it to add the additional damage to a combo, finishing a person off. TheArm05 definitely found some good stuff.

Speaking of Phalanx cancels, what's the optimum way of tacking on extra damage in combos with it? In corners, you can do 5BB>Phalanx>5C>TC>Valiant instead of doing 5BB>TCL>RC>Valiant, saving yourself 50 meter, does more damage than 5B>2C>2B>TC>Valiant too if I'm not mistaken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DtOsc4zL3I ooest always delivers. Impractical but always delightful.

That's great haha With the hj.C too. How'd you get that to connect? I always blue beat mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cubPJfm2b2g&t=2s Well, it's not exactly the same combo, but it'll give you some help with the timing of it. Pretty sure it works on everyone, but I guess the timing might differ a little on the dash jump cancel for different characters, not too sure however.

You can do 214C>2C>2B>TCL>Forward Dash>Jump Cancel>j.A.>j.B>j.C>Jump Cancel>j.D 3962 Damage, but it's really awkward to do(you have to cancel the dash pretty late). I think you can actually even j.A>j.B>j.C>Land>hj.C>j.D but I always drop the hj.C for some reason. One thing to note, don't 2C immediately else you might have to delay some part of TCL, way easier to just delay the 2C. I guess if you're hit confirming it goes hand in hand nicely. Alternatively on some characters, you can do 214C>2C>2B>TCL>Forward Dash>5A>j.A>j.B>j.C>jc j.D 3972 Damage. For the full list of chars go back a few pages(page 18 to be precise), LegendaryRath posted quite an informative post about it.

Actually yeah, forgot about those, was half asleep when I wrote that lol Not too sure about the second one, got to test it out. EDIT: I tried doing the first one but it seems like the 5B will whiff since the target is too far, did it on Nu however. Anyway, with Azrael's improved overdrive, how often do you guys see yourself doing raw overdrive just for the things you can do with it? Unblockable setups look pretty neat and all if they don't have 50 meter to Counter Assault, but I can't help feel that people would immediately know what you're trying to do as it's kind of telegraphed. It still seems way better to save it for overdrive combos just so you don't end up being bursted while trying to finish someone off, or saving it for a burst yourself. Probably really depends on the match up I guess?

Probably not possible without Rapid Cancel. That was something I was really hoping for in 1.1 actually, I thought the change to TCL's blowback would help somewhat but it didn't really seem to do much at all in the end.

Ah that's because the combo timer for throws aren't as long, instead you have to do Forward Throw>6A>IAD j.C>214D>5A>TC>236D like LegendaryRath mentioned earlier. Things slip my mind really fast.

A lot of people have trouble with this haha As mentioned before, you just gotta delay the j.C. If you're Instant Air Dashing immediately that's great, but you have to delay the j.C so you get it off just as you hit the ground.