Maho

Banning specific things a character can do has been done numerous times in FGs tournaments, for exemple in KOF XI, using Oswald's 3A at a specific timing on okizeme or on an incoming character was an unescapable unblockable that leaded into a 75% damage meterless combo, this wad banned in all japanese and european tourneys (don't know in US but I guess that was the same), Ash and Shen also had the same thing, although less damaging, those were also banned. Another exemple I remember is HNK, doing Rei's infinite DP glitch was banned, specific freezes glitches were also banned. Like the Oswald unblockable, a black hole setup can't be done by mistake, it's possible to use that super in combos but it does less damage than the fireball super and the damage can't kill, so its only real use is as an unblockable starter, banning that is easely doable. For the banishing ray, I don't think that's needed, the so called infinite blockstring (that don't forget everyone can get out) has no meaning outside of gaining meter for doing a black hole, if this is taken out, it just leaves with a blockstring that builds more meter for the opponent than for yourself, and that has neither lows nor overheads, why don't you just setup a graviton and go for a mixup, it's not like Kokonoe can't do damage without meter. Also banishing ray isn't only for okis and neutral, a lot of combos uses it, actually if it wasn't for doing black hole setups, 22B wouldn't be used that much on oki as graviton + fireball oki is far superior for mixups. Of course she will still be very strong without black hole, but people shouldn't say that would change things much, the good half of the cast that has no answer to this would have a whole lot more chances, and even if she can do a lot of damage with classic mixups, she can't do as much from those than from a blackhole.

Ok so I posted info for Azrael side of the matchup on the Azrael forums, you might want to read this as IMO it's things you really want to know when going against him : http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?17701-CP-Azrael-vs-Kokonoe-Match-up-Discussion/page3&p=1595662&viewfull=1#post1595662 I said there Kokonoe must change her gameplan to fight Azrael efficiently, first thing is that you must forget about 22B and fireball okis, that's just free phallanx stocks for him and you don't want him to get those ever as it will really limit your zoning options. In the corner either do a meaty 5A (if he growlers, you get hit but no counter, that leaves you full screen at advantage for a free 22B set) or a safejump setup like the one i talk about in the Azrael forums, don't try to overextend your pressure and take too much risks, if you're not sure on what to do at one point finish by 5B/C and iad backwards with a late jB that will stop him if he tries to chase you with a 236A or 6C. Midscreen, just forget about oki unless he's ahead in life and you need the damage fast because of the time, otherwise just do your max damage combo, set a 22B and start to zone the hell out of him. Because Kokonoe's zoning is what Azrael can handle, without phallanx stocks, he has no options to get in safely when you have a 22B set a bit in front of you, one thing he can try is 66217B in the pillar but 3C stops anything he can try on the ground. Then you must know the timing when 22B will auto activate and try to cover the time you need to get one back, so you can but a graviton either in his back to reduce his horizontal movement or hj back j5D > j236D to push him back, I like more the 6D in his back as if he manages to get in, I can use it to TP safely on the other side of the screen and start my zoning again. Now fireball may be useless for oki, but it's not for neutral, a fireball and a 5D in front also a quite effective wall, there's also no delay in activation so you can pretty much do anything behind it and be safe from 236A and BHS, the downside is that is doesn't last that long. You just need to look out for him trying to growler him as he gets sucked in but it's easy to 3C him there. Between this and 22B, I'd go with 22 combined with a 6D a bit before pillar activation as it gives me a chance to get away if I mess up, the fireball setup I use mostly for Azrael that are too hungry to try growler it. Now on defense, well if that happens too bad you fucked up somewhere and now you gotta pay the bill, yu have to respect is pressure, you defense options are bad in this matchup. TP only when you have a graviton set afar and are able to evade full screen, raw TP will get you killed pretty much all the time, never, I repeat NEVER TP ON WAKEUP, all his meaties guarantees him a free CH 5B/3C if you try it if the player have somewhat work on that matchup. With TP out, fireball super is your only reversal option, beware of safe jumps setups and also know that he's not one of the character which have problems to punish it, if he blocks it you'll die, well at least when players have learn those punishes. So you have to repect his pressure, go in training mode and look at the Azrael forums to find the most used ones, if you have good reactions blocking his high/low mixups on reaction is realistic, try to work on IBing 5D as it's a 5A punish, 2D is easy to IB but the pushback makes it very hard to punish. You can't punish his 3/6D even on IB (well you can astral but let's talk about shit that happens), but remember that whatever the drive you blocked, he's negative on block and you should go back in the offense, I see so much Azraels pushing buttons after a blocked drive. Also don't fall for autopilot blockstrings like the 2C into 3/6D I see a lot online, this can be 2A'd on reaction, he can actually frame trap with 2C > 3C but the animation of drives is really different so you should be able to see it, also 3C is -9 on block, on IB that's a crouch 5B punish for a lot of damage, on normal block the pushback makes it hard to punish though. One thing that isn't really blockable on reaction is crossup TCL setups, but he needs 50% to get good damage and be safe if you happen to block, on the other hand you should be able to block stupid things like dash trough 5A/B during pressure, actually you might want to 2A him out of this. But his pressure has a real problem with barrier, and even more with IB barrier, you should try to use this as much as you can so he's forced to go for short blockstrings. So for me this matchup is really in favor of Kokonoe, but you have to adapt and learn how to use his weaknesses against him in neutral, just be sure to never give him Phallanx stocks and work on your defense for the times he'll get in.

I found those combo interesting so I looked into those to see what I can get, after some time in the lab I found punishes for every situation without any phallanx stock needed, and just oploaded a video about it (btw the one you edited out with the 22C after BHS is so damn hard). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JmT2BFp6jA Now talking of the matchup in general, as a player of both characters, I found it to be very hard for Azrael, don't know yet if it's her worst matchup as most Kokonoes I play don't change their gameplan much against Azrael. But I do play the matchup on the other side with a friend, and he really hates it, especially as I'm really into zoning as Kokonoe. Anyway, here's a few things I would add: First, I wouldn't say that her j2C can't be anti aired, you sure can't use 5A or 5B but 2C and 6B will work both fine against it , j2C hitbox is big but it's a very slow jump in with 17f startup, one thing you might want to look out for graviton setups that can make it hit crossup. And even if I'm sure almost everyone knows this, be sure to tech right away if you get hit to not give her 3k more damage for free, I still get this sometimes as Kokonoe. One thing I would disagree on is Phallanx stocks being free in this matchup, this is only the case against players that won't change their gameplan and throw fireballs carelessly. As Kokonoe, I would say I still give a phallanx by mistake every one out of ten matches or so, most of the I try to bait the Azrael into thinking he can Growler one and hit him with a CH 3C. Fireball are mostly used as an offensive/oki tool but combined with a graviton in front of her, they make a good defense wall, she can summon one to cover the time between a 22B activating and setting one again, you can't 662147B it like a 22B, trying to growler it while being sucked in is asking for getting CH 3C'd. Now if you got phallanxes, this limits her options but be patient and try to use it when it will really count, the best way is to stay just outside of her 3C range, this way you can followup a Phallanx hit with 66 > tk TCL that will give 2.5k and some corner carry, you can get about 4.5k, a weak point and oki by RCing TCL, way better than going straight into BHS. From farther away you can do Phallanx > 66 tk Phallanx > 66 tk TCL but that's not easy. Punishing gravitons on reaction isn't likely but fireballs and 22Bs are easy, she can still summons fireballs in the air to avoid Phallanx but this has a lot of recovery that you should use to get closer. If you get hit by a combo ending by 236B midscreen while having 50% heat, delay emergency tech by a few frames to avoid the followup explosionand buffer a 236236, if she sets anything more than just a 22B or graviton, hit D and the BHS will punish her, punishes a fireball set in that sitation too (but most Kokos should 22B, at least I would). On defense, without a graviton set, her blockstrings suffers a lot from barrier, her 6A is amazing as it makes some reverse beats blockstring possible but it has no horizontal range so using barrier can make it whiff for a free punish, sadly Azrael isn't one of the characters which using barrier makes the meaty 2B(1) > 6A > 2B blockstring not possible, but for things like meaty 2A > 5A > 2B(1) > 6A > 2B, which gives her two shots at a 2B/jC mixup, it will make the 6A whiff. You also need to be aware of her blockstrings capabilities, the important thing is the 2B moves limitation, which means if at any point she uses 2B then 5B, the only low she can use after is 3C, 3C doesn't chain from 5B so you can get up there, also 3C is bad for her in blockstrings. Not that it's punishable with a -1 on block, but it has minimum range, if you IB the move before it, at least the first hit of 3C or even the whole move will whiff and leaves her open for a crouch punish, also if you happen to block a 3C, try to IB it so at -4, she'll be forced to back down, the second hit isn't a low if that helps you to IB. Also one thing to know is that on IB, her 2B isn't a true blocktring into anything, which means you can backdash out of the following blockstring, only thing she can do to punish is 2B into delayed 3C, with a quite strict timing to tag Azrael backdash, but that's bad for her as a blocked 3C is the end of pressure, and also can leave her exposed to a punish as I explained above. For her 6B, you should be able to block on reaction, a lot of Kokonoe will try to go for a 22A on block to keep frame advantage but it's easy to counter, from a close 6B, IB the second hit and you can CH 5A the 22A startup (beware of Azrael 5A's short range), if she's not too close when doing the 6B, IB barrier the second hit and the pillar will whiff just in front of you, allowing you to FC 5C the recovery for a nice punish. She has a safe jump setup in the corner by doing 236D > 5D > high jump cancel falling jB, will also catch forward rolls so don't try anything if someone does that, though I found this myself and didn't post it yet in the Koko forums so I don't know if others do it. On the offense, you also have a corner safe jump setup, after a grounded TCL finisher, just hold up then do a falling jB > 5B~4AB, on block this will jB 5B, if he rolls forward jB will tag him and combo into 5B for a punish, and if he super balls it will block, you'll also be able to active OD during freeze if you want. This can also be done after if the TCL hits as a juggle, you just have to delay the jump a little depending on the height TCL hits, it's not really hard to do. After a corner jD/j2D knockdown, doing meaty 5D/2D~5B will punish a reversal TP, of course using meaty 5A/5B will work too, actually TPs are bad against Azrael but you should still do TP safe okis to make the player understand he won't get away with it. So for this matchup, I would agree with Kinkuli, it's a very hard one if you're fighting a competent Koko that knows what she can't do against Azrael, but if the player hasn't work on this matchup and isn't somewhat good at zoning, you can actually make him feel a bit helpless.

If I would use this exemple to teach to something to a beginner, it's that "sorta unsafe" moves become completely unsafe on IB for a guaranteed punish (btw Amane's 236C is -7, what saves you from being 5A'd on normal block is the pushback).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dB2npyMtLA Two combos to punish a Kokonoe doing back to corner fireball super.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dB2npyMtLA#t=31s I had an idea to punish the super fireball, after some tests, got 6 combos depending on the meter you have and if you want to OD or not.

She's throw invuln from frame 4 of the move, to test this I picked Tager and recorded Kokonoe doing 6B > 6C, 6B is -2 on block and -5 on IB. - IB 6B > 360B grabs on frame 1 of 6C. - IB backthrow grabs on frame 2 of 6C. - normal block > 720 grabs on frame 3 of 6C. - normal block > 360B fails to grab on frame 4 of 6C. Also not really usefull but it looks like she can't be air grabbed untill the end of active frames, doing it in the recorvery is possible if you're in her back after jumping above 6C's active frames, but she's not in CH state so she'll be able to break the grab. One thing to remember though is that 6C is quite easy to backdash and is very bad on whiff, 30f of recovery with last 5f are on the ground. Speaking of backdash, the info isn't on the wiki so I tested it a while ago, Kokonoe's backdash is 24f long and invuln for 10f. EDIT: correction, she's not airborne from frame 4, she just can't be thrown from this frame, which is the same frame as foot invuln in the frame data, maybe they just forgot to mention throw invuln there. As for being airborne, like the frame data says it's from frame 7, as you can hit her on the ground with a normal move up the 6th frame of 6C.

The one I've posted above is the max damage I think but is corner only, forgot to say that you need to remove 6B at the end, so the notation is : - (crouch) jC > j236D |> 5B > 2C > 6C > jc jC > j5D > jC > j214D > jC > j2C whiff |> 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > 6[A] > 6D > 5C > 236B > 22B > 5C > 236C for 5737dmg. Midscreen unless it would kill, I use combos that end into meaty fireball setups, so the damage is a lot less, 3.5k really far from corner, 4.1k if I can end in corner, max damage I would need to check but that should be around 4.5k I think.

Per round is the correct way to go for matchups, but 3/7 is like Tager vs Nu in CT, do people think she own most of the cast as bad as that? As for potentials counters, I wouldn't call that a hard counter but I think Hakumen has a notable edge against her, she can't use her best oki tools because of counters, can't zone him properly due to passive meter gain (and everything you throw will either be cut or countered for more meter), she hardly can anti air him, he dominates her in the air and his pressure is safe against TPs. Some people think that Azrael is a problem for her (IMO it's not really), like Hakumen he negates her best okis and also is immune to Black Hole, plus his pressure auto-punishes TPs, but unlike Hakumen he can't wait looking at his meter go up and he has quite a hard time getting in, though the matchup gets a shift in his favor if he gets a phallanx.

Black hole meterless max damage? 632146D > 22B > 3C > 2C > 6C > jc jC > j5D > jC > j214D > jC > j2C whiff |> 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > 6[A] > 6D > 5C > 236B > 22B > 5C > 6B(1) > 236C : 7946dmg -50 +48heat, remove last 6B on Amane, Bullet and Isayoi. Like I say on the video description, found this while working on corner fireball oki combos, so same exact combo (starting from 2C) can be used with a graviton in place from 2B (4728) and jC (5737). From jC, I get up to 8075dmg with a little change to optimize for a double super ender, I'll put this in my corner fireball oki combos.

So here's all the combos from my okizeme video : http://youtu.be/AI4NlCP4ynI For all combos, ender is 5D > 5B > 236A > 3C > 214A/B Bad tech/rolls punishes : - Fireball hits > 5C > 6B > ender : 2173dmg + 16 heat - Fireball hits > 6C > jc jC > j6D > j236D |> 236B > 5C > 6[A] > 6D > 5C > 6B(1) > 214A : 2606dmg +19 heat - 3C > fireball hits > 6C > j5D > late jB(1) |> 236D > dash 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > 6[A] > ender : 3490dmg +25 heat - 3C > fireball hits > 6C > jc late jB(1] |> jB > jc jB > jC > j6D > j236D |> 236B > 5C > 6[A] > 6D > 5C > 6B(1) > 214A : 3410dmg +25heat - 3C whiffs > fireball hits > 6B > ender : 1908 dmg + 14heat - Fireball hits > 22B hits > 6 > enfer : 2584dmg +19 heat Combos from the setup : - Fireball hits > 2C > 6B > ender : 2240dmg +16 heat - Fireball hits > 2B(1) > 236D > 6B > ender : 1993dmg +15 heat - Fireball hits > 2C > 6C > jB > jC > j6D > j236D |> 236B > (dash) 5C > 236C : 3164dmg +23heat - Fireball blocked > 2B hits > 236D > 6C > jB > j2C |> 5A > 5B > 6A > 22A > 6[A] > ender : 3267dmg +23 heat - Fireball hits > 2C > 6C > j5D > j236D |> 6[A] > ODC > jC > j2363214C > 5326 dmg +16 -100 heat Combos into the setup : - 6B > 8D > 6A > delay 236D > 22B > 2C > 6[A] > 6 > ender : 3625dmg +26 heat - Throw > 8D > 22B > 5A > 5C > ender : 3134dmg +22 heat - Backthrow > 9D > 236D > dash 6[A] > ender : 2876dmg +20 heat - Air throw > 9D |> dash > ender : 2524dmg +18 heat - AA 6A > jc jB > jc jB > jC > j6D > j236D > dash 2C > 6B ender : 3688dmg +26 heat - AA 6A > 6C > j5D > late jB(1) |> 236D > dash 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > 6[A] > ender : 3901dmg + 28 heat - 22B hits > 2C > 6B > ender : 3346dmg +24 heat - 22B AA hit > 6[A] > ender : 2914dmg +20 heat Crouch confirms : - (crouch) 5AA > 5B > 2C > ender : 2083dmg +20 heat - (crouch) jB |> 5B > 2C > 6C > j5D > late jB[1] |> 236D > dash 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > ender : 4012dmg +28 heat - (crouch) 5B > 2C > 6C > j5D > late jB(1) |> 236D > dash 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > 6[A] > ender : 4702dmg + 33 heat 5D set combos : - Throw > 8D > 22B > 5B > 5C > ender : 3480dmg +24 heat - 2B > 5B > 6A > 236D > 2C > 6B > ender : 2727dmg +19 heat, when close remove first 5B. - 2B > 5B > 5C > 6A > 5C > 6A > 236D > 2C > 6B > ender : 3071dmg +22 heat, won't work on Amane, Hakumen, Jin, Makoto, Mu and Valkenhayn. - (crouch) jC > j236D |> 6A > 5B > 5C > 2C > ender : 3500dmg +25 heat, remove 5C on Jin and Noel. Counter hits combos : - CH3C > 8D > 6A > delay 236D > 22B > 2C > 6[A] > 6 > ender : 4268dmg +30 heat - CH 5C > dash 2C > 6C > j5D > late jB(1) |> 236D > dash 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > ender : 4883dmg +35 heat - CH 5C > 8D > 2C > 6C > jc short delay j2C > j236D |> 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > ender : 5272dmg +37 heat - FC 2C > 8D > 6C > jc short delay j2C > j236D |> 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > 6[A] > 6B > ender : 5502dmg +39 heat - AA CH 6A > (dash) 2C > 6C > j5D > late jB(1) |> 236D > dash 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > endder : 4215dmg +30 heat Counter using meter : - GC CT > dash 2C > 6C > j5D > late jB(1) |> 236D > 22B > 5B > 5C > 6[A] > 5D > 5B > 236A > 3C > 214A : 3953dmg -25 +17 heat - CT hits > dash 2C > 6C > j5D > late jB(1) |> 236D > 22B > 5B > 5C > ender : 4672 dmg -25 +18 heat - (crouch) jC RC > delay jB(1) |> 5B > 2C > 6C > j5D > late jB |> 236D > dash 6[A] > 22B > 5B > ender : 4281dmg -50 +18 heat - 5B > 5C > 3C > RC > dash 6A > jC > j5D > late jB(1) |> 236D > 6[A] > 22B > 5B > ender : 4347dmg -50 +10 heat - 5B > 5C > 3C > slight delay 214214B > 2C > 6C > j5D |> 22B > ender: 5101dmg -50 +19 heat - 2B > 5B > 5C > 3C > slight delay 214214B > 2C > 6C > j5D |> 5D > 236A > 3C > 214A : 3687dmg -50 +14 heat - 2B > 5B > 5C > 3C > slight delay 214214B > 2C > 6C > short delay j2D |> 236A > 3C > 214A : 3687dmg -50 +14 heat - 2B > 5B > 5C > 6A > 5C > 6A > 236D > 5B > 5C > 3C > slight delay 214214A > 5D > walk back 3C > 214A : 3742dmg -50 +20 heat - 5B > 5C > 3C > ODC > 6A > 6C > j8D |> 236D > 22B > 2C > 6[A] > ender : 4754dmg +34 heat Drive meter recharge combos : - 6B > delay 22A > 6C > jB > j2C |> 5A > 6A > 22A > 6[A] > ender : 3025dmg +21 heat, can be done from CH 3C for 3551 dmg and +25 heat - GC CT > dash 2C > 6C > jB > j2C |> 5A > 5B > 6A > 22A > 6[A] > ender : 3547dmg -25 +10 heat, if CT hits, remove 2C, 3917dmg -25 +10 heat - AA CH 6A > (dash) 6C > jB > j2C |> 5A > 5B > 6A > 22A > 6[A] > ender : 3461dmg +24 heat - CH 5C > dash 2C > 6C > jB > j2C |> 5A > 6A > 22A > 6[A] > ender : 4504dmg +32 heat - FC 2C > 6C > jB > j2C |> 5A > 5B > 6A > 22A > 6[A] > 6 > ender : 4593dmg +33 heat

http://youtu.be/AI4NlCP4ynI A video about midscreen fireball okizeme i've been working for some time, i'll post notations tomorrow.

Well there's a way to land a guaranteed black hole on all the cast but that completely unpractical and it would even be quite a stupid thing to do, it's by doing CH 5C and delay a black hole by a few frames to hit just when the opponent recovers from the crumple, during the 8 frames he can only block. But first the opponent can just not recover from the stagger and black hole will blue beat from 5C, and above else you can simply combo from the CH 5C for massive damage anyway. So as for real setups, no, he can growler every block hole you throw at him and punish you for it with a FC 5C. As a player of both characters, I think this matchup is in favor of Kokonoe mostly because even if growler negates some of Kokonoe offensive options, he just can't handle her zoning abilities, I'll post later in the matchups forums about it.

My midscreen 6A anti air combo : AA CH 6A > (dash if needed) 2C > 6C > j5D |> jB(1) > 236D > dash 6[A] > 22B > 5B > 5C > 5D > 5B > 5C > 236A > 3C > 236C : 4757dmg, +34 heat Notes : Dash in before 6[A] must be as deep as possible, otherwise the following 5C will get the opponent out of 22B range when it activates, if you're not sure, just drop the 5C. 236A > 3C link is really hard on Tager, you have to hold forward for 1f after 236A's recovery or else the second hit of 3C won't connect. EDIT : here's a video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCcjTO_4qJY

IBing a 3C won't get you a guaranteed punish as it makes it -4, what you can punish with IB is 6B as it makes it -5, a 720 is guaranteed there. Her 3C isn't special cancelable on block, it's only drive cancelable which makes it -16 so that should not happen that much, she can jump cancel some of the recovery of the drive but you can punish before she gets airborne with up to 11f moves. Against intant overhead jC, you can backdash it and it have a lot of recovery on whiff, you can punish it with 5C or 2C, less risky than using Sledge and you also get way more damage out of it.

Max damage for grounded BnBs are around 2.5k from 5A/2A/2B, 3k for 5B, note that 5B > 6A will miss on almost all crouched characters so you can't autopilot it too much, combos that will work both on crouch and standing will do about 500 less, proper crouch confirms 500 to 1k more, except for 5B where damage can skyrocket.

The only 2As I found that Koko's 5B might be able to evade with her airborne frames after a blocked 3C are Arakune's, Bang's, Isayoi's and Platinum's, all being slow (8 to 10f) and hitting very low to the ground, everyone else beat Koko clean, if you get beat otherwise, you're just hitting 2A too late. But the important part is that 3C is a 2 hit move, just IB the second hit and at -4 she'll never be able to hit buttons after it whoever you may play as (3C second hit isn't a low so you can stand to IB if that helps), you could say that she can cancel the 1st hit with a graviton to mess up that, but that's even better for you as she's punishable in that case. 3C > 5D > block is punishable by up to 16f moves, if she does 5D jump barrier asap, it's better for her but you can still punish with up to 11f moves. After showing to the Kokonoe player he can't hit buttons ther, he might want to backdash away in that situation, but as good as her backdash is, it's really isn't safe when done that close and a lot of characters can punish it. One thing that also makes 3C not good in blockstrings is the fact that it have minimum range, when done too close if you IB the move before it, the first hit will miss against most of the cast, against some both hits might whiff completely. There's no reason for Koko to use 3C in blockstrings most of the time, when she can do 2C at +3 or just jump cancel away to be safe. Also her best things she does in blockstrings loses to crouch barrier unless she have a graviton set on the opponent or behind her to negate the pushback, 6A is amazing in blockstrings due to giving reverse beat options but it has no horizontal range. For exemple Koko can do 5A > 2B 1 hit > 6A > 2B, at two points during the blockstring she can do jC instead of 2B so that looks very strong (and it indeed is when she have a graviton set) but if you crouch barrier, the 6A will whiff and you'll be able to punish it. Honestly i think the short horizontal range and reverse beat options have been given to 6A with graviton pressure in mind, it's not Arc Sys fault if they don't see it shouldn't work outsite of this situation. Some people will then argue that "she can 6B at anytime", and yes she can, but seriously that's a 25f overhead with an obvious startup animation, it's not if was something like Testament's 6P, it's an easy to block overhead by Arc Sys standards.

Combos don't use that much of the graviton meter indeed, but it can go down very quickly when you do setups and zoning, you can see Tsujikawa being unable to finish a combo because he ran out meter in the third match of the Online Godsgarden. I think it doesn't show that much for now because thanks to the damage she can deal, a lot of players don't use graviton that much outside of combos if not for doing things like 6D > 214A > 22C, as they don't really need it in order to be competitive. So as for nerfing her, i'd like something that would force players to be creative with her drive to get results, instead of changing her into one more character that uses its drive mostly to get more damage in combos. That's very true, for exemple I see a lot a players that clearly have no idea on how to escape the black hole even if their character can, which make some players go for not guaranteed black holes and get away with it when they should get punished hard for it. One of the thing I see a lot and that should not happen is Kokonoe players keeping the pressure after a blocked 3C, which is an uncancelable 2 hit at -1 on block, but like I heard one time "we don't need to work on the Kokonoe matchup, she'll be low tier in the next version", just waiting for Arc Sys to fix your problems isn't the only solution, you never know, maybe she'll end like Valk as an eternal S tier.

Actually giving 6A and 6B SMP wouldn't be that as bad as jC, it would hurt the players that rely only on the easy stuff but optimals combos won't uses multiple 6A and 6B that much. I'm curently in the process of making a vid for a midscreen okizeme, and of all my optimal combos, only the 6B starter one use 6B twice (the second being a charged one, I could replace it for a 6[A] to avoid that SMP and only lose like 2 digits dmg), for exemple my best midscreen AA 6A combo does 4757 and the only move i use twice is 5B.

Max Damage 2C FC combos ? http://youtu.be/dMZL3o62Tzo First combo : 2C FC > 22B > 5C > short delay j2C |> short delay 5C > 6C > jc jC > j5D > jC > j5D > jC > j2C whiff |> 236D > 22B > 5B > 5C > 6[A] > delay 5C > 236B > 5C > 214214A > delay 4D~236D > 214214A delay 4D~236D > 236C : 9405 dmg +47-100 heat. Meterless you get 7072 dmg, starting with at least 3% meter you can do one super for 8212dmg. Second combo : 2C FC > 22B > 5C > short delay j2C |> short delay 5C > 6C > jc jC > j5D > jC > j2C whiff |> 236D > 22B > 5C > jC > ODC > jC > j5D > jC > j236D |> 22B > 5C > 2363214[C] (spin the stick for 7*360) : 10530 dmg, +47-100 heat Didn't put it in the vid but you can do almost as much damage with full life OD by changing the first combo a little, but it's a bit harder than the 80% life one, so after the 6[A] do tkOD > jC > j9D > j236D >| 22B > 5C > 2363214C : 10491 dmg

Having SMP on lightning pillars wouldn't change her damage that much, 22A loop is really far from being an optimal combo (doing 5 6A's with Azrael would kinda be the same btw), having multiple 22B in a combo is situational and getting rid of it wouln't be that bad for her. As for jC having an SMP, yes it would hurt her combos really much, but i doubt this will happen as it would serverly reduce her possible combo routes, they could simply reduce its P2 so multiple uses in a combo would lower the overall damage while leaving the utility of the move, her combo rate could be reduced too.

Not everyone choses their characters with tournaments in mind, especially like in France where you have one or two tournament each year, the one tournament when we have the best chance to draw players has a lot of casuals, maybe half the entrants don't take the game that seriously, so we might lose people anyway. Also it's not an issue with BB anymore as the cast has become large enough, but it might be the case with Xrd at first, when you have a very small roster, people will argue that banning characters isn't such a good idea.

If i look at the people i mostly play with and that would probably go to tournaments in France, there's 3 Terumis, 2 Kokonoes and 1 Kagura, so 6 players that might just not come if their character is banned, when you think that getting like 30 players is hard here, possibly losing 6 isn't really something we want to do. The old way of banning console characters when we did everything like the japanese would do in the arcades has a cost, in France we stopped banning shortcuts around #R time to avoid losing some pad players (GG is pretty much dead here but i doubt the negative edge thing would make people change their opinion), i don't think banning three characters just for the fact of being console exclusive is the way to go in a small community. I remember Damdai played him at the start of HDR to prove that he should be banned like he was in ST, but as for ST i can only remember Inoki playing him at X-Mania 3, but he was mainly a Ryu player afaik, maybe you have some in the US that i don't know, in Europe we for sure don't have anyone playing him.

Well it's not really easy to find a video a of a good petshop because like ST Akuma, no really good player uses him, but the point wasn't the level of the players here, but more what a bannable character is. I think Petshop is pretty much the perfect exemple and as you seem to know the game, I doubt you'll disagree, he's not just too strong with what he can do to you, but also thanks to what you can't do to him, like being unthrowable or having a lot of moves whiff on him because he's flying. Of course he takes some skill to use effectively and bad players won't win for free with him, but if you can do his good stuff, you won't lose that often unless facing really better players (probably using the few characters that can somehow manage him). Also in Japan, outside of Tougeki, there's nothing that's actually really banned, most people just won't use it. When i went there and played HNK, a few things had been banned in the Tougeki rules, but actually in the arcade, no one would stop you from doing those things, maybe some people might look down on you but nothing more. Anyway i don't think Kokonoe is comparable to a character like Petshop, she for sure is a really strong character, she might be a dominant character (but honestly for now i don't see her as dominant as #R Eddie was), i would wait and see what happen before going to ban her just because people online can deal with full screen fireball into TP or block her 6B. As of now, the only thing i think is worth discussing to ban is the black hole. EDIT : Actually i think with the ps3/360 gen games when it started to be possible to patch games, a lot of people started to label thing as broken way too easely just to get a patch instead of working on finding if something can be done to counter.

Things like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRXzUdOuYXE