Shinobi

This is one of those match ups that feels really bad at all times so it seems it's much worse than it actually is. IMO it's 6-4 in her favor so it's not that bad, just really annoying once she gets going. Patience is the answer. Basically I look at the match up like this- Akihiko isn't winning the fight, he's stealing it.

Amazing.

IMO, remember now, this is my opinion so I can only comment on my experiences with the match-ups and everyone is bound to have their own opinions. Jin- 5.0 Noel- 4.5 Litchi- 5.0 Bang- 5.0 Haku- 5.0 Tao- 3.0 (I really don't have much experience with this match-up but she is tough) Carl- 4.0 Nu- 4.0 Arakune- 3.0 Rachel- 4.5 Tager- 5.0 (I hate this match-up) Now, according to Kaqn: Jin: 5.0 Noel: 5.5 Tager: 6.5 Tao: 4.5 Rachel: 4.0 Arakune: 3.5 Litchi: 6.0 Bang: 5.0 Carl: 5.0 Haku: 5.5 Nu: 4.5

Lol, yea that's the obvious answer and if I had people to play with offline I'd do that but I don't. I don't take this game seriously enough to where I'm going to travel just to play a game either. So online is really the only alternative for me. Guess I just have to accept that there's going to be bullshit during online play that I can do nothing about. Or I can be an asshole and just quit the match when I notice the other player is relying on dirty tactics.

That's what I figured but unfortunately I can't get the DP out because I'm still in guard stun. She dashes back in while I'm still in guard stun and proceeds to just repeat the process all over again. I couldn't do anything, it was absolutely annoying. It got even worse once I used my burst to save myself from a death killing combo, now I no longer had any barrier to put up to push her out so I had to resort to trying to IB (which is hard as hell to do online, well for me anyways). A counter assault would work but unfortunately you need meter for that. This is just the definition of lag tactic... so incredibly cheesy.

Problem: Noel doing a dash in 5A repeatedly. This shit is crazy annoying online thanks to input delay. I can't get out of it.

This match-up was pretty tough but I found some holes in Bang's pressure strings that made this fight a lot more manageable. -They'll pretty much always jump cancel a blocked Drive attack and may even attempt a cross over. -For the cross-over block strings, most Bangs I've played will attempt the cross-over after Bang's 2B. If they go for the cross over, ID. -For the Bang's that love to throw TK D Nails in their pressure strings to keep the pressure going, there's a small hole where you can ID them if you know they're going to throw D nails. The popular moment I've noticed for Bang to throw D Nails is after a blocked 2B. Starting to wonder if this is his only normal that can be jump canceled. -If the Bang likes to go with a 6D after a 2C you can interrupt this move entirely with a 5B>combo or ID. Any decent Bang player really won't use 6D in a block string though. -A blocked 3C means big punishment for Bang. 5B>5C>6C>whatever will teach them real quick to be extra careful when using this move.

Are there any combos I can do off a CH ID (C version)? Could've sworn you could do 5B>6A off of it but that wasn't working for me last night.

^j.C is pretty terrible in this match-up, 6A will beat it clean everytime. CH 6A combo will teach you real quick not to throw out j.C. Seriously, I've beaten plenty of fellow Ragna players by doing nothing but punishing jump-ins. Ragna's air game is below average IMO so you really want to try to stay on the ground as much as possible, if you are going to the air then it better be for baiting purposes.

Counter Hit.

Ora.

Well, different strokes for different folks. I find the 6D-j.D etc. combo annoying to do because I only have about a 50% efficiency of doing it. The one I do I can seriously nail 95% of the time. That combo is not hard to time at all in my experience, I even find it easier than 5D dash cancel combos. Speaking of which, I can do 5D dash cancel combos in C rated connections. The timing is not strict at all. Again, this is just my experience with the game. I'm still relatively in control after a ID+236C+214C. You pretty much land right on top of the guy, you can still keep the pressure going, maybe not as easily as a 22C but it's still possible. Even then though, Ragna's pressure is so grossly overrated something as simple as barrier blocking or just holding 7 can avoid it so I'm pretty much use to starting back at square one anyways. However, I do use 22C combos, I know they're useful but I honestly ignore the 6D-j.D part and just dash in 5B-3C-22C after I RC a HF. Again, it's much more consistent for me to do and much easier to do (you'd have to be born without fingers/thumbs to fuck this up), not to mention it only deals a couple hundred less damage than the one everyone else seems to prefer and gives you the same exact benefits. Consistency is so important to me. As for the 6B version of the combo I use, meh, 6B-5C-6C-GH-5B-6A-air combo is a pain in the ass to connect online thanks to having to delay the GH follow-up combined with input lag in general. If I try to go for the BK combo off of it my opponent usually bursts and then flat out avoids me. So, in the end I did nothing but hurt myself. BK is such a gamble, I rarely use it now. If I don't have the heat then I'll just do 6B>5C>6C>dash cancel>6A-air combo. Besides, the combo I prefer is my favorite combo to do, waste of heat? Perhaps, but I don't consider it to be.

Haku's drive is awesome. Sure, it's hard to use but I've encountered plenty of good Haku players who do know how to use it and get scary damage off of it. A Haku player who is good with his drive will literally make you afraid to even attempt any kind of pressure strings. I'd gladly trade drives with Haku. Ragna with the ability to counter!? That would be godlike. BK is yet another overrated tool of Ragna's IMO. Is it good? Yes. Is it a gamble? MOST definitely. 6D? One of the most useful basic drive attacks in the game!? No, I don't believe that. There's a reason you'll see many good Ragna's throw this move out sparingly. That reason being it's easily punished. Sorry, but I'd take any other characters drive over Ragna's anyday.

Just practice the combos over and over again. When you think you got them down, PRACTICE them more. The trick is to keep doing them over and over again until it's hard to NOT do them. As for the 214A(RC)-6D-j.D-5B-3C-22C combo. I'm the only person that's going to tell you this but this combo is terrible. It's a pain in the ass to hit consistently (even Kaqn will mess this one up every now and then) and the damage really isn't worth it. Instead, I prefer 5B-5C-Carnage Scissors-dash 6A-j.C-j.D-(JC)-j.C-j.D-623C-236C-214C. Does nearly 4000 damage and it's much easier to connect. If you start the combo off with 6B instead of 5B you'll deal close to 4800. I'm sure others have their combos that they prefer but I'm a man who loves consistency. When you have a consistent combo, you have a guaranteed combo.

Carl has the lowest health. I'm pretty sure Ragna is tied with Nu for the second lowest health in the game. As for his drive, Ragna's drive is absolute garbage... worst drive in the game IMO. Drive's are suppose to be the characters ace in the sleeve but Ragna's drive is just his Fancy C button attack, not to mention all of the attacks have some nasty recovery and are easily punished.

Yea, watch Kaqn. Kind of random but I still don't know how you pronounce his name. Anyways, he definitely is the standard for Ragna players. IMO, the hardest thing about using Ragna is learning how to keep the momentum. Without momentum, Ragna is pretty much just a fish out of water.

Pretty sure I've seen Kaqn do a 5B>6A>GH>5B>6A>Air combo off a CH 2D. I don't really use 2D much to be honest, I mostly fish for CH with HF, 2C or 5C.

I wouldn't consider my match-up experience good because the Carl's I fight are just decent and rely on clap loop way too much. I've yet to play against a really good Carl so I'm not sure if this stuff will work but anyways: -Get use to matches taking awhile. Carl will run, Carl will hide, Carl will just straight up try to annoy you so you will make a mistake. Don't do it. -I might be the only one that does this but I actually focus more on attacking Nirvana than Carl. With her out of commission Carl is a piece of cake to take out. Plus, you don't have to worry about clap loops and other crap. -Carl's pressure is very easy to deal with when it's just him to worry about, it honestly seems like crouch blocking is the only thing you need to do against him and quite a few of his moves are punishable with 5B on a standard block. No IB'ing really necessary. -Carl's mostly start their approach from the air so get ready to 6A and ID. -Your basic combos hit him hard because of his low health. No need to get fancy. -Now if you're dealing with a Carl that actually knows how to use Nirvana as well as keep her safe, the golden rule is to just flat out avoid situations where you'll be positioned between the two of them. If you have to turtle up and be evasive then do so, clap loop is a serious threat and it's amazing how easily it can be set up.

Really hoping we get that patch now.

This bitch EATS Ragna's guard meter. She's the only character that will break my guard at least once a match.

Your timing for the 6A must be too late then if you're buffering the dash cancel early. You want to hit the 6A immediately after the dash cancel. It should look like the animation is altogether as one. Instead of a dash animation to a 6A animation, it should look like a dashing 6A attack. The timing is a bit tricky because you can't buffer an attack during the dash cancel so you have to know the exact moment to hit the 6A. Just mess around with it because it really is a timing thing. Also, 5B>5C>5D>dc>6A won't connect consistently on a few characters (for some strange reason I can never get it to connect on Haku, despite his large hitbox). In these cases I find leaving out 5C will make the combo work.

You can buffer the dash early for 5D. I do it as soon as the sword comes down for the second hit.

Having finally played some good Litchi's (it's the weirdest thing, they're everywhere online now) I must say this match-up is tough. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this match-up is in her favor. She's really good at keeping Ragna out (her 6B and 5C... how I hate you) and don't even bother going to the air. You will lose and you will lose badly. Avoiding corners is a good thing but honestly, that's like saying avoid being combo'd period. She has combos that will literally take you to the corner so she can then do her corner combo.

Yea, I've given up on this match-up. You know a match-up is lopsided when before the fight even starts you're already 99% sure you're going to lose. So, my gameplan is to go maniacally ballistic. Spam everything in my arsenal. Something is bound to hit eventually and when it does I'm so far up in that gooey bastard I might as well be fuckin' him. Let loose the Blood-Edge demon and show that broken slimeball that you ain't afraid to lose and that you're going out in a blaze of glory. Honestly, that's what I do now. I lose... a lot, but at least the matches are over with quickly and I can proceed on to the next fight.

This match-up is surprisingly boring. I generally like mirror matches but Ragna versus Ragna is very meh... win or lose, it really never feels like I was the better/worse player. Not sure if that makes sense.