CrimsonDisaster

Well they don't make holywaterfirewaves like a true Belmont's but they're close enough D: As for picking your other two subweapons, Zillael (sacred) has that holyjavelin shot and Anutpada (time) has ZA WARUDO so there ya go.

The holy waters? Fast recovering projectile that can stay out a while (depending on which direction you throw them- C version goes way up then comes all the way back down for some hilarious zoning antics), you can whip them to change their direction, after they make contact they break into the sparkly crap. Sparkly crap can be detonated with 22x, IIRC you can have up to three sparkly craps on the screen at a time. It's pretty much a move to throw out when you don't know what else to do ;( It's almost like Johnny's coin in terms of standalone use, actually better due to having more control and having unlimited bottles D:

drzero7: Still in flux but Catherine, Clarice, and Elsa have been mentioned up there pretty consistently; Kira and Zenia show up in the top occasionally, Heart is getting some love lately as well. Dorothy is still at the bottom. Everybody else is good but not quite a standout "omg they should be top tier" just yet. And since no AH tier discussion is complete without mention the arcana themselves There's too much overlap between roles in some arcana for any real "dominant" arcana choices to stand out just yet. New arcana are just waiting to be abused, plus people are still figuring out the nuances of the changes to the old arcana. That's not to say that some arcana aren't flat out better than others- it's just the case where you can pick several arcana to get similar effects.

Hazard: - sacred - charged E attacks seem a bit faster; powerup (421E, also in effect when you Arcana Blast or activate) lets you regain a bit of red life after getting hit, ArcBlast also shoots the equivalent of the 214214E and powers up 214E. Arcana Force = Zillael shows up and shoots a big ball of light, comes out quick and is easy to combo but no invul and not safe on block. - ice - E attacks cause freezing on hit (slows them down, reduces pushback), dash becomes a slide (works like KoF running as opposed to SF dashing), Arcana Blast adds freeze effect to all normals, as does activating; activating also makes all 236E and 214E projectiles into their lvl3 version. AF = Almacia appears and shoots a wave of ice, decent speed, good damage and un-airblockable. - sin - charged E attacks become a fast-recovery projectile, ArcBlast raises attack power based on how little life you have left. Activate makes all your moves do block damage. AF - fast spearchain thing from the ground that leads to more spearchains from nowhere, un-airblockable, damage is so-so but it's easy to combo or catch people out of nowhere. - punishment - charged E attacks some weird slide (no stagger) so you can homing and ground combo, ArcBlast = attack up and defense down. Activate adds more hits to the arcana attacks. AF = Koshmar shows up, takes its sweet time, then does a big unblockable chop for hefty damage. - magnet - charge E attacks pull in during the charge, 4GC pulls your opponent towards you, ArcBlast causes a longer lasting pull-in effect. AF = GIANT TURTLE AHHH then both players get sucked towards the middle of the screen while crap flies all over the place for your opponent to try to dodge. - mirror - charged E attacks create a copy of your opponent's equivalent charged E attack, ArcBlast powers up the mirror image moves, activate = Chipp's FIND ME, AF = butterflies and crap fly all over the place then you activate Seiei Enbu/V-ism/Dark Force aka images follow you and follow your actions just a bit afterwards, adding hits and crap. - halo - who knows you get fancy wings when you superjump and you get a stand when you activate but nobody has said outright what else it does Old arcana notes: - Anutpada - time super countdown is way faster (easier to use, fewer BS loops), ArcBlast speeds up the timer. Backdash seems a bit worse. - Bhanri - old activate effect (clashing on like EVERYTHING) is now ArcBlast, activate now gives clashing on EVERYTHING including blocking. - Dieu Mort - charge E attacks poison on contact (even on block), ArcBlast = all moves drain super meter on hit/block. - Gier - charged E attacks turn them into the blob for a bit. Gier attacks overall worse it seems, though it's Gier so it's still strong. ArcBlast = Gier follows opponent instead of you. - Lang Gong - ArcBlast makes little burning things trail behind you that hit, allowing for crossups and weird combos and stuff. - Moriomoto - charged E attacks drain life, ArcBlast = all hits drain life. Still not too hot. - Niptra - bubbles no longer automatically follow you, so no more mindless rushdown with bubbles though it opens up new tricks! ArcBlast = all moves cause water slow effect even on block. - Ohtsuchi - rockpunch range seems smaller but maybe I'm imagining things. ArcBlast = super armor but IIRC no defense boost, whereas activate = super armor + defense? - Oreihalkos - dunno what the charged E attacks do because nobody uses this arcana. ArcBlast = sword and shield at gold (lvl3) status for the duration of the ArcBlast. - Partinias - charged E attacks reflect projectiles while charging, ArcBlast = you can cancel specials into love specials. - Tempestas - E attacks are jump cancellable, ArcBlast = air moves gain airdash cancel.

Not terribly difficult to IB/SB her 6H on reaction so yeah that's something to look for since it's such a strong pressure tool otherwise.

It's even better if you do DoT (clash) > Footloose.

Well I finally got around to modding my HRAP2 (indirectly kinda fixing the malfunctioning triangle button) and I feel more comfortable on it than I typically do with a Japanese stick but it's still a Japanese stick at the end of the day!

Indeed! taraction, PozerWolf and I recorded some VERY casual matches last night, I'll link a few when they go up but don't expect much since I'm still getting the hang of my new stick and I'm out of practice.

SB -> DoT lol I need to play this matchup more before I say anything too in-depth.

Forward Dash Cancel

You can also do like, bite -> DoT FRC -> combo if you REALLY need to score some damage and can't break their defense any other way D:

If you are too close when you start, you'll have to do some 5B XX flashstep reps to adjust the distance/height. Lilica is too crazy.

Liese's best arcana is pretty much Dieu Mort, gives her ways to set up the doll, protect the doll, turn her combos from great into retarded, etc... As for avoiding Kira teleport grab, 4D away.

What Catherine does that Kira doesn't? Catherine spams fast high-priority jump attacks way better than Kira, has a better normal throw and better airthrow, has way better ground tech trap sets, makes better use of the new mechanics (arcana blast especially), way safer GCs and GC baits. Fiona isn't a "big heavy damage type" because, well... she doesn't do "big heavy damage." She swings a big heavy sword for about as much damage as other people manage to do, at best. Catherine is generally going to do more damage than Fiona, in any case (Fiona clean-hits are crazy though).

lovelazer super does a big chunk of damage, it's actually a really damaging super and helps tack on damage for some characters (Yoriko comes to mind).

You summon bubble or bubble super after every combo then continue to mindlessly rush in, trusting that the bubbles will eat uppercuts or stop combos

lulz combo: Testament, corner- 2D RC H IAD [iadH XX 214214S (2 hits)], land, H XX PB, 2P > 5P JC jD

Egg form loses to Bhanri 236D for free.

You can bite all of her non-FB ground guard cancels. Up-close, flyingbacon counter whiffs over bite so you can DoT her or something I guess. Depends on how predictable they get with GCs. As to comboing Baiken, [jK, D] link is important, though you should also get used to looking for when you should/have to do [jK JC dj2K] to stay high enough relative to Baiken.

Advantage doesn't mean "omg I win now kekeke gg," it just means what it says- an advantage. That said... Ky's pokes typically beat Slayer's. Slayer has to fish a lot while Ky doesn't. Ky has fireballs that he can toss around till Slayer gets meter (then he can bait BBU and such pretty well anyhow). Ky can anti-air Slayer pretty freely as well. 6P clashes with jH at worst unless he times it really poorly or you jH immaculately well. 2H trades or beats all your jump-ins cleanly if he does it early. Jump forward jK stuffs pretty much anything you try if you jump around the same time. In a neutral situation, Ky has the edge. If Slayer wants to attack, he has to take risks where Ky doesn't. The difference is, Ky just keeps his momentum going as he wins poking fights and scores knockdowns and such- Ky is better at winning a lot of small victories (fireballing a poke, 2Ding various approach options, etc.) and running with it. Slayer's no slouch at knocking down and getting momentum, but he's much better at making the most of a few big victories (CH 2H, CH DoT, CH jH, 5K with tension, corner knockdown, etc.) Seriously though, Ky controls space really well. Fighting Ky is mostly footsies in my experience- oh got him to whiff jK, 2S time. I think he wants to 2D a dash/Mappa/Dandy attempt, 2H. He's going to 2H as I come down, double jump to make it whiff, force him to block on the way down. Even stuff like Ky 6P clashes with jH here so SB his c.S after the clash then combo him.

I always think of Jake as an extreme freestyle Sol who has good execution and VVs all the time. Not saying that's a bad thing, he makes it work out for him. But when I think "solid more orthodox Sol" I think P.C. style super-safe Sol.

Pretty sure he said "air dash x3 combo" ie. after FB, you do a triple airdash combo then end with Imperial Ray.

man I hope I don't see the new AC+ EX Slayer combos I was working on in that vid ;(

well it kinda makes it harder for Zappa to hit-confirm 2K to summon maybe, though I guess it might not be a huge deal to some people. Robo 5K > 5P always struck me as pretty good though, but I can't comment on whether or not full-time RK players agree! But whatever, we have our mostly arcade perfect port in the States, YEAH AMERICA.