CrimsonDisaster

You better not be back this coming week because I will be out of town. Be back the week after and everything will be okay.

Elmeth, the path B mid-boss? Just shoot a bunch, when the bits come at you just sidestep a few times to get out of the circle, shoot her some more. You can't block the all range attack because you get hit from behind during that move.

Again, stepping cancels ALL tracking at the point where you step. If you boost with Tallgeese while Destiny's assist is about to lock onto you, there's a good chance it'll still chase you and nail you; if you step in that situation, the DRAGOONs just harmlessly fly by. Pretty much for dodging it works like this: If you have plenty of time, ND. If you have less time, step. If you have no time, shield.

Stepping is great, just not as a movement option (unless you're Turn A). Stepping is actually BETTER for dodging most things (including melee) than ND, because it cancels tracking. Assuming you didn't step right into their melee hitbox, you are more likely to step out of a melee at the last second than you are to ND out of it at the last second. Part of why Deathscythe is so good, his melee takes up enough space that you can't just dodge it forever. Ground Type is considered better. Both spend 90% of their time in cannon mode, Ground Type has net bazooka and Ez8 doesn't. Manual reload isn't as important since both of them automatically reload if you push A when out of ammo (so mostly it's just a brake cancel). The other 10% of the time, Ground Type is straight up better. Machine gun > BR for 1000 main guns (for the most part, NT-1 Alex machine guns are pretty sad), manual reload vs. having to wait for BR to recharge, etc. BRs don't really fit running types very well imo.

Or just combo into it when they don't have burst.

That's stepping, not NEXT Dash. NEXT Dash = direction + double tap C (boost button). Stepping is NOT how you want to move around.

The only reason he would boost backwards is if you input a backwards boost...

WZC: 1) punish landings with main gun for instant knockdown 2) get field control via constant quick knockdowns 3) ??? 4) win Nataku: 1) hit people with main gun a lot because they think you are a melee suit 2) watch them cry when they realize how much damage that move does

To get "training mode..." 1) go into Vs. Mode (2nd option in main menu) and pick 1 player mode (first option, second option is ad-hoc mode) 2) use L/R button to tab over to the CPUs, push up to choose their "team" and turn off all but 1 of them. I like to choose God Gundam/Turn A as the dummy as they have the most HP. 3) go down to CPU level and set it to STOP 4) tab back over, pick your suit, press start 5) stage select/music select on this page, push SQUARE to change options 6) 2nd option = time, set it to infinite 7) 4th and 5th options = team A/team B points, set both to infinite 8) press start, game starts The computer will just sit there and let you practice combos till you have it mostly figured out. Just pause and exit when you're done. As for Exia: - use assist to punish landings even from across the map - harass with single shots from your gun or knives (have to ND after the first knife, before the second one comes out) - don't TRANS-AM just for the sake of doing it, make sure you're at least getting an even exchange out of it because you probably WILL die if you use it. Only useful combos: air 4/6B-B(1 hit) ND air 4/6B-B - Exia's air side melee is one of the fastest melees in the game, and this combo is incredibly easy for ~230 damage. Only do this if they have NO down value, ie. haven't been hit at all for a bit before you get to them. Incidentally ending with 5B-B-B instead does the exact same damage and takes longer, worthless. Ax3 - add ND as you wish. Easy knockdown to punish landings or to hit-confirm off random beam hits. It's like 105 damage or something weak but it's easy damage. A ND AB - alternatively, Ax2 ND AB(1) ND. A/AB(1) ND 4/6B-B - pretty much to say, don't waste boost NDing around to look fancy if they already have down value on them. You are wasting boost AND damage. TRANS-AM, BBBBBBBBBB or whatever - once you hit the starter you can just mash the rest. No need to get fancy. Not to say you should be mashing B to get the first hit. Doesn't do that much more than the B&B combo, but it's hard to hit you out of it. Just remember that your assist/gun/knives are your most valuable contributions to the match, melee is a bonus.

The rules we use at UFO for tournaments are: - 300 second timer (I see infinite time in a lot of Japanese vids but we haven't had a time out at 300 seconds yet); infinite time is better just so you never have to deal with time out rulings - random stage - no same-MS teams - 2/3 games, winning team must keep same suits - double elim

lol if I can make it to Evo I would totally join a NEXT tournament

If it gets to a 1v1 situation where Heavyarms needs to survive against an aggressive player for a bit, Heavyarms has plenty of tools to get out of trouble. Its assist deals with a lot of cover fire that most suits use to get in, for one. Obviously, using the map helps a lot, too. It has decent boost time as long as you aren't constantly flying backwards, and it has the BC flip to change up its movement as well. Also you can abuse the fact that pretty much all melee attacks move in a straight line to the target, if they move at all- they are lining themselves up to get shot, provided you pull the trigger at the right time. Plus, a simple sidestep/backdash will throw off all tracking so if you aren't still in a place where their move will hit, you can avoid stuff that way as well. That said, obviously Heavyarms can't dance away from a persistent attacker forever. Mostly you just hope your teammate can come and help and try to hold out till then, at the very least. Still, if Heavyarms is consistently getting caught in 1v1 situations, that team needs to improve their positioning/teamwork/communication/multitasking/etc. Especially if it's Epyon beating up on Heavyarms, there's very little reason for a team to lose to Epyon (and I say this as someone who plays and wins with Epyon).

Melee is powerful, it just shouldn't be the centerpiece to your overall strategy. There's a reason why suits like Turn A, Deathscythe, Destiny, etc. put on a lot of pressure when they are coming at you. Deathscythe is still ridiculous in the PSP version. The shield is still good, just not as good. There are very few things in NEXT that are scarier than a smart Deathscythe hounding you. Or that's what I've been told, since I'm the only good DS player at our arcade and have no fear of the random scrubs playing DS :V I would say even with the nerf, DS is still one of the top class 2000s. Heavyarms is in the longest red-lock range class, pressures very well from range, and has braindead landing punish ability. It fits in very well with a lot of 3000s, is great 2v1 or as the odd man out. Hyaku Shiki is good, but the 100HP revive thing doesn't save many matches when the other team knows how to account for it. BR is good but the bazooka isn't anything great; mega particle cannon is good sometimes, but it's not as accessible as Gundam/Akatsuki CSa. Melee is nothing special either. When you look at what a suit adds to a team, Hyaku Shiki honestly doesn't offer anything to make it worth picking over Gundam/DS/Heavyarms/Akatsuki, other than the safety net of a revival that you shouldn't even need; therefore, it doesn't belong in the same class as those suits, imo. It's like a B+ suit, along with Exia, Master, etc (other suits with strong individual attributes but relatively weaker contributions to a team). Too much nitpicking for my taste, it's essentially another 2000 that isn't as good as the top but can still win. Here's the way I look at it: I was the Gundam in a tournament winning team (Gundam/Turn A) and died like a grand total of twice over the entire tournament; is our team improved or at least as good with Hyaku Shiki instead of Gundam? No, it's significantly weaker if anything.

FC 623B, dash 5B > 5C > 6A JC TK j623B, land, dash 5B > 2B air combo maxes out at around 4.5k

no, it's like a simpler, 2v2 Virtua On. A word on ND combos: If you are consistently trying to put yourself into a position to use melee, or if you consistently find yourself in situations where you feel inclined to use melee as your first option, you are bad at this game. Yes, even if you are playing a "melee" suit. That said, there are very few ND combos that are worthwhile. A large chunk of the cast just does something like 5B-B ND 5B-B-B or 4/6B-B ND 4/6B-B-B as their melee combo. More than 1 ND per combo will generally make your combo WEAKER rather than stronger, as well.

Some rough tiers (arcade version, though PSP doesn't change much): 3000s: S+ - Turn A, Wing Zero, Qubeley S- Destiny A - everybody else B/C - Epyon, God, Strike Freedom, DX 2000s: S - Gundam, Deathscythe A - Heavyarms, Hyaku Shiki, Akatsuki B - everybody else C - Spiegal, Nobel, Shining, probably GP01Fb, Qubeley Mk. II 1000s: A - Ground Type, Zaku II, Zaku Kai B - everybody else C - NT-1 Alex, Qubeley Mk. II Arcadia posted some pros/cons for the suits that made top 8 for Premium Dogfights '09, which are more or less common sense if you know the game at all. Don't remember everything they said or didn't say, but the general idea was: Turn A: Pros- best movement in the game; fast, difficult to interrupt melee; Moonlight Butterfly damage output is ridiculous; tied for most HP Cons- none, really, but if you want to be nitpicky you can say its long range game isn't the absolute best Wing Zero: Pros- excellent firepower (damage + ammo/recharge); good boost performance; excels in 2v1 situations Cons- poor 1v1/1v2 ability (slow melee, main gun is harder to manage in defensive situations than a BR, etc.) Qubeley: Pros- high boost performance; good melee + funnel glitch; BR + funnel combination at range; Pressure (2B) Cons- relatively low HP Destiny: Pros- CSa is good; big melee; Wings of Light; top ranked assist Cons- No major complaints? Melee combos can take a while, BR ammo/reload is sub-par Gundam: Pros- CSa is ridiculous/broke; excellent firepower; excellent all-around performance (boost, HP, etc.) Cons- none Deathscythe: Pros- shield shot has ridiculous tracking; armor mode/stealth + good boost performance = good survivability, good at getting in; huge melee, very hard to get out of the way Cons- melee combos are slow Akatsuki: Pros- good BR ammo/reload; O.Aka CSa is good; S.Aka shield, DRAGOON, CSa are good Cons- none? Ground Type: Pros- huge red lock range in cannon mode + strong tracking on cannon shots = very good support MS Cons- 1000; low HP means death in 1-2 combos; running movement; very poor 1v1/1v2 against higher cost suits

nah I knew since the first day we had it (was kinda obvious lol), it's still kinda silly. I was wrong about the damage on the combo I posted, it's like 4393 damage or something actually. Not that 6C is a starter you'll hit very often!

Yes, though Bang's air normals don't seem suited for it. I couldn't get jB JC djC to fuzzy on Tager, for instance. Dunno, maybe he can fuzzy into it, I haven't managed to pull it off yet outside of the airdash mixup I already posted.

Random combo I'm trying to hammer out and make more consistent: 6C DC 2C > 5D(1) xx 214B > 214D, land, (dash) 5B > 6A HJC [hjC JC djC xx 214C], land, 6D > [jD JC djC xx 214C], land, (dash) 5D xx 623D > 236C > 214D ~4.2k, it's like 4203 or something. It's kinda similar to some FC combos I've seen floating around, and is a lot more consistent as an FC combo (also almost 5k off FC 2C). It's just really finicky, but that's more due to me cramming in a bunch of Ragna combo concepts into a combo off an impractical starter more than those individual parts being impractical. It does work, but it's not something I would think of as a BnB anytime soon. Other random notes: Apparently whatever Aerial to Berial (A/Berial), 6C HJC hjC is max damage ender for no meter. You can test for yourself. It's kinda difficult for no apparent reason and doesn't really add that much damage in any situation I've tested it in, so pretty much pointless unless you absolutely need to make sure they die and can't do 22C RC into more 3C xx 22C as an ender. A/Berial, 3C - oki ender, again for when you don't have the option to 22C them. Also for when you decide you don't particularly need a visible bit of life to inexplicably re-appear in your life bar despite DID doing like no damage after a long combo. 6DD djC xx BE etc. enders are too hot. Apparently, if your Berial blue-beats when you slam them into the ground but it still pops them up for a followup, you can 5D xx 22C for the ender even if you didn't knock them down before hand. Obviously you'd rather not have your BE blue-beat at all, but it's something to keep in mind I guess.

FC 2C > 6C DC 2C > 5D(1) xx 214B > 214D, land, (dash) 5B... 1) (near corner) ... > 6A HJC [hjC JC djC xx 214C], land, 6D > [jD JC djC xx 214C], land, (dash) 5D xx 623D > 236C > 214D - 4993 damage Notes: The [hjC JC djC xx 214C] is kinda hard midscreen but doable, much easier in the corner. Not the most stable combo, unfortunately, but it's more D's for more life steal. Ending with CS instead of DID is ~300-400 damage more IIRC but I don't have the exact numbers so don't quote me on that. This is a combo I freestyled while messing with FC stuff so don't feel obligated to post it, though it might be a nice launching point to start figuring out more optimal life steal combos. 2) ...> 6A HJC [hjC > D JC djC xx 214C], land, (dash) 5D xx 623D > 236D > 214D - 4934 damage Notes: @Wiki combo. Much more consistent combo for not much less damage, at the cost of some life steal. Wiki says CS ender is 5438 damage, I haven't personally tested the CS ender though. If the numbers are right, it's the best damage CS ender I've seen, though it's still only 500 damage for 50% meter. 3) ...2C > 5D DC 6A HJC [hjC > D JC djC xx 214C], land, (dash) 5D xx 623D > 236C > 214D - 5131 damage Notes: Another @wiki combo, 5.1k, welcome to the big leagues. Easier than the multi-22C combos which only do like 80 more damage. Probably the easiest meter-less FC if you want to do 5k. You can skip the 2C (so GH > ender, dash 5B > 5D etc.) if it's giving you trouble, obviously you lose some damage (5053 damage IIRC) 2D RC/CH, dash 6C DC 5D DC 6A -> Aerial to Berial, dash 5D xx 22C Notes: Big damage followup for 2D. If you want more damage/life steal, IIRC you can get [hjC JC djC xx 214C], land, 6D > [jD JC djC xx 214C], land, dash 5D xx 22C, but it's awkward to time everything correctly.

It's possible to auto-bait/option select against bursts with j4A/jC in combos, especially in some weird situations, but I can't think of any guaranteed setup for it off Haku's standard combo starters. Happens more often against bad bursts that you probably could have just blocked/avoided and punished anyhow, though I guess it's more demoralizing to have your burst portal'd sometimes. As for people having trouble cutting projectiles with 2C, 2C is like the crappiest move to try to do that with since it turns you into a huge hittable hitbox asking to be counter-hit by the incoming projectile... and then it hits/cuts. If you manage to cut a projectile with it on purpose in a real match without getting killed for trying, you should use that luck on the lottery instead. It's doable and I understand the temptation to try to use 2C against Jin EX ice since it seems like it should work but that's just a good way to eat a ton of damage since, while 2C CAN cut it, it usually doesn't 'cuz Hakumen is too busy getting hit. Also, back throw RC whatever combo is fairly big damage. Too bad it costs so much bar.

5C/6A mixup works well against people who block 5C on reaction to the delay in your string and not to the actual animation, which is quite a few people. 5C animation is fairly telegraphed, though, and there are plenty of players who can block it on reaction to the arm movement rather than just a general gap in your string. Not something I would count on but it's always there if you need to switch gears. Speaking of proration and high/lows, I've been trying to find a better way to land j4C starter reliably than deep ad/jB, j4C/land 2A/grab (/gold burst -> super lololol) mixup. Still the most stable way to land it that I would use in a REAL MATCH I guess.

midscreen 6B, 2A > 5B xx 623B, dash [j4C xx 623B], land, 5B > 2B JC [jB > 4C JC dj4C > C xx 236A] - 2.8k+ and poison. dj4C is a bit inconsistent on some characters (Ragna comes to mind). Unless you find a way to get hit immediately afterwards, the poison will tick at least once or twice so it's really 2.9-3k off a 6B, not too bad.

do you also play Smash COMPETITIVELY If you were around before BB and played GG, you would have a better chance of knowing who I am. But you weren't, so oop aww so sorry I'm not a big name WC player since you probably haven't heard of anybody outside of WC/Japan anyways. You probably haven't even heard of yourself, Weak Coast/JokeCal at its finest. Tager has THREE command grabs, a double overhead, tick command grab, a crossup, AND magnetizes you. Best oki in the game? A COMMAND GRAB IS THAT IMPORTANT? I also like how you didn't actually respond to the fact that Litchi has all of that and more, minus a command grab, but with a billion better options for everything else, but NO BANG HAS A COMMAND GRAB, IT'S THAT IMPORTANT. So why is Bang's oki better than Tager's, and if it is, then why can you use that reasoning to ignore everything Litchi's oki has over Bang's but not everything Tager's oki has over Bang's? If you say "50/50's" then you are wrong.

News flash, nobody takes 2009ers/BB-only posters seriously. You want people to respect you, yet you didn't listen to people who were actually PLAYING THE GAME when you were just watching videos. Now suddenly you and the rest of the 2009 "we watch vids so we know more than people actually playing the game" circle jerk are worth respecting just because you have access to the game now? Just a friendly reminder that until respect is earned, it is not often given.