RentalBlackout

So for these guys you'd delay the Dash Sentinel TK to beat their DP's? Or how would you do it? Man, Dash Sentinel TK sounds absurdly strong.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm22518087 At around 1:45, you'll see some setup on Tager that involves an unblockable Stinger. Does this only work on Tager or something?

I think to say that Azrael is quite a high tiered character is not without reason. That said however, you can't play him at a reasonable level while leaving autopilot on. I feel that while it's true he has really good tools and while they are potent, he still has his weaknesses and I'm pretty sure there is an answer to everything he possesses. People who say he's a brain-dead character are probably referring to his combos(BnB aren't really that difficult to execute, though advanced ones are certainly harder). For one, his neutral game isn't a simple walk in the park. Yes, once he gets close to you it's pretty scary what he can do but getting there is not really as easy as people think it is, especially against people who know how to zone and block properly. Gustaf is good but good players know what to do against it. You can't simply instant air dash in all the time, people who catch on will be looking to be on point with anti-airs. Forward dashing is great and all but it doesn't really have much invulnerability. If you don't understand how to play the neutral game then you're bound to get blown up for it against good players. Maybe Dash TK Sentinel really is that good, that change alone could warrant him being in S tier, especially since the other high tiered characters mainly got nerfs. It's not unmanageable but it's not exactly the easiest thing to deal with for all characters. I can see him being S tier, but we really need one of those tier lists that's dictated by match ups. Eventhub's community match up list is pretty laughable at times(Azrael 6-4 Carl, really?) so no I don't mean that.

If you know you are going to cross up, you can also 23669C, as someone else mentioned before (I don't remember who). Only works when crossing up though.

No matter which character you play, it pays to be unpredictable. Sometimes you'll see Dogura do 2B>6D, like here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHnlnkvE-2Y at around 13 seconds in the video. Is it air tight? Definitely not, but it works because it's not something he does repeatedly. In fact when you watch Dogura play it doesn't seem like he has an inherit pattern when he pressures people, and that's what makes Azrael scary. Also Fenrich, the Jin player, does it well himself not to do the same strings over and over again. Why don't people just interrupt Dogura all the time in between 2B>6D? Well that's because they don't know if he's going to do that. He could've done 2B>Gustaf, 2B>2C, or even 2B>2D(if you're in range) instead since those are all airtight on normal block. So why not do 2B>Gustaf all the time? Well if you do it all the time then people can just IB the Gustaf and you'll be in disadvantage(-2). So my point being, don't be too predictable, it's nice to do airtight strings but even those have their weaknesses. Be creative with your pressure and generally you'll be fine, and never be too predictable(something I have problems with sometimes). Be too predictable and Tager becomes a really hard opponent(those 360s and 720s hurt). Go look at Azrael's revolver action table at the end of http://www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php?title=Azrael_Frame_Data_(BBCP) and find out what you can do after each move. Play around with jump cancelling and instant air dashing, doing your mixup way earlier in a string and even just plain up dashing through the opponent for a crossup. One thing to note though I don't think you can actually cancel 5C into 5D or 2D like the wiki says. Also if you wanna see how "safe" each string is there's a section in the Strategy Thread over here that talks about Pressure Strings, so you can have a look at that.

If I recall it might also be character specific. I don't exactly remember the details however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKms8y7kGw8&t=50s Those Hornet combos look really cool and they actually seem pretty worth doing(double weakpoint and pretty good damage), but I do wonder whether the Hornet change in 1.1 affects it in anyway. Would it be easier/harder or would it pretty much not get affected at all?

It's usually the J.C, you might have to delay it a little so you don't do it immediately off the IAD. Might be the 6A as well but I doubt it, so yeah, try delaying the J.C little by little and see how that works. You want the J.C to hit just right before you land, yet still managing to actually get it off.

Yeah, definitely not the most practical thing, but pretty interesting nevertheless. That makes me wonder whether you can just throw 5Ds out in other match-ups when you expect throws to come in. 3C certainly does work pretty good though sometimes I get grabbed out of it still during its start up.

Kinda gimmicky, but Azrael's 5D actually has airborne frames somewhere in the middle of it, if you're expecting a 360A/B, you can actually go through it if you time it right for a CH combo to the wall. The issue is that you do it too early or too late you'll still get caught by it(also I haven't thoroughly tested what happens if he holds it), so it's generally much safer to just jump, but it's there. Come to think of it, it should work on 720 too. However, you might as well just 6C or even Sentinel Dump instead, or as mentioned earlier, just jump and punish accordingly. Also if you're against a Tager that's rather Voltic Hammer happy after Sledges, you can Sentinel Dump after blocking both A and B Sledge(you don't even have to IB though you have to IB on B Sledge) and you'll get a CH combo here too. Pretty sure a lot of other things beat it though if he doesn't Hammer immediately. And yeah, you can beat air throw tech>360C with j.C or j.B as LordSpectreX mentioned.