Xie

Answer: @Airk: Finished it up today. There were a few minor updates as I had gone through and written the entire thing, but most ranks only shifted maybe a + or a - at most. In the coming future, there will likely be a lot of updates and discussion to be had, as GodsGarden and BBR both make for a good case studies, the frame data is mostly out, and the US console release is around the corner. I fully intend to lead a discussion on parameter and overall strength just after Blue Revo prelims end in Japan and the US. For the record, a lot of what I have written was still on my 1/23rd mindset, which is before I watched GodsGarden. For the most part, though I've already seen a great deal of new technology up until that point, I am still waiting to see how they are applied in matches specifically before talking about moving anyone up or down. For example, Rachel just recently got a new combo she can do when she lands any level 2 j2c, but I'd like to see how available that combo is on a practical level before we increase her reward parameter.

First session is this Saturday, if you're interesting in coming, please let me know.

Kara canceling has it's own specific rules, but as on a strict definition, it is limited to normals and some special actions (Carl's 5D/j.D animation, for example). This definition gets kinda complicated and there's some semantics issues as to what exactly fits under the kara cancel umbrella, so I will leave it at that for now lol. Revolver action canceled normals (2a->5b, for example) cannot be kara canceled in any way.

Post reserved for video links and so forth.

All Serious Eleven battles are now a part of my ranbat series, here. If you would like to take place in an exhibition, please post in this thread CALLING OUT YOUR OPPONENT OF CHOICE for the next session. If there's enough interest in your exhibition, we'll have it be in the event! Greetings SoCal, I'm announcing a mini-event: SERIOUS ELEVEN. In it, we will play each other FOR SERIOUS, then the videos will be posted on NicoVideo and Youtube. For the time being, this is an invite only event, and by invite only, I mean you can ask to come in this thread, and I'll pick the best applicants for each session. Applicants will be chosen based on a lot of factors, but mostly on whether or not they'll make for an entertaining show for our viewers and as a case study on a particular matchup. And some people will end up mainstays, like me, because I live at my house. Also, there will likely be an absolute maximum of 5-6 people in my room, so these sessions will be limited. As for everyone else who doesn't meet these stringent requirements, don't worry, the Danisen(type event) will return soon. SERIOUS ELEVEN will take place at that event in the future, so don't worry, we'll have more beginner centric events in the near future. Rules: Eleven matches will be played, regardless of score. The winner is the player with the highest score at the end. Remember, all eleven matches will be played regardless of score, so if someone loses 6-0 at first, they can still come back and end it on a 6-5 note. Score Assessment: Difference of 11-7: Shameful (Anything that is Shameful will not be fully uploaded) Difference of 5: Distinct Advantage Difference of 3: Advantage Difference of 1: Well Matched Mercy Rule: If Player A has won 7 straight, Player B choose to end the set early. Furthermore, if Player A has won 9 straight, Player A may also choose to end the set early. Of course, everyone who loses will earn a well deserved punishment. They will be decided prior to each battle, probably by me. SCHEDULE Currently Planned Appearances: 2/4/12 Theme: Old Ass Niggas Xie TheBiter My-Key BaloneyOS ShinAT Severin Planned Battles Xie vs Severin TheBiter vs ShinAT BaloneyOS vs My-Key TheBiter vs Severin Xie vs ShinAT My-Key vs Severin My-Key vs ShinAT 2/12/12 Sunday 3PM Theme: New Blood and Old Men Xie TheBiter Stay Free BRKRDVD Bond Guymam Planned Battles Everyone, except Xie vs TheBiter 2/18/12 Saturday 3PM Theme: The Future Ends Here Xie TheBiter shtkn Dsmoove12 Donavan Zong_one Planned Battles Everyone, except Xie vs TheBiter 3/31/12 Saturday After Main Tournament Theme: Return to Stardom ???? vs ???? ???? vs ???? ???? vs ????

That's known as a "Kara cancel". We haven't really talked much about Karas just yet, since they're a special cancel property that moves have, but someday I'd like to talk more about them at some point. There's a lot of special things that can be done with them, one of which is canceling a normal attack's initial frames into a barrier.

Yes, I'll try to upload them ASAP. For some reason, my edits on episode 11 just aren't processing, which is the cause for the delay on its upload. Otherwise, we're going to start doing new episodes pretty soon. I'm planning to do different segments for different days of the week. I don't even know what I'm planning lol. I'll think about it.

I'll be there a little earlier to set up. Anyone want to do an SBO style single elim tournament before teams? I'll run it if it'll get extra people to come out.

According to Dora, his block is only taokakas, hakumens, or bangs. So the last player is probably a Taokaka.

DRAGON Purple Dragon.

Can I commentate via Skype? :<

In the current assessment, the main difference between the two character on defense is subtle, but add up to a lost rank overal for Mu. Remember, defensive viability is not only the options you have, but also how they contribute to your ability to escape or create opportunities to go back in. 1) Ragna's normals are a lot better for changing the momentum of a particular situation, allowing him to better defend himself against slightly minus attacks to completely neutral attacks. For example, vs Litchi's 6D[m] on IB, Ragna actually has 2a for a viability choice, but Mu does not. I would say Ragna is above average in this category, whereas Mu is below average. 2) Though about equal in strength, Ragna's system defenses are much better at creating escape or momentum reversal options than Mu. This is kind of a combination of a lot of factors at work, but in general, Ragna upon a successful system defense escape returns to either neutral or slight advantage, whereas Mu is more likely to return to neutral or slight disadvantage. This is a product of how Mu's backstep works (covers long distance, but relatively long recovery) versus Ragna's (covers medium distance, has medium recovery). For example, if you backstep out of a normal throw, most of the time, Ragna will recover around the same speed as the opponent, whereas Mu will recover slightly later than the opponent. There are other factors at work here (Mu's successful jump out of a throw versus Ragnas, how they fair in certain instant block situations, certain blockstring spacings), but overall Ragna one ups Mu here as well. I would say Ragna is around average in this category, whereas Mu is slghtly below average. 3) The strength of both Ragna and Mu's reversals (ID/Blood Kain vs Tsunugui) are very strong, with Tsunugui being stronger in some situations and Inferno Divider being stronger in others, but the real charm of Inferno Divider is that it provides a complete momentum reversal on hit, regardless of hit, whereas Tsunugui is much more situational as to what it gives Mu on a successful hit. This lowers the passive strength of Mu's DP, as an opponent is not as afraid of taking a Tsunugui versus an Inferno Divider. I would say they are both extremely above average in this category, but the opponent's passive respect of Ragna's DP is far greater than Mu's. All in all, I personally feel that these combined factors put Mu's defense lower than Ragna's. I could see the case for raising this parameter. Either way, both sides have made good arguments, so greater scrutiny may be necessary. Keep it up folks! Answer: @Everyone who asked I added a Versaility and Complexity values for Jin. As to why they were not there before, I just forgot. Amusingly, he is the only character to receive a + in either category. Tsubame Gaeshi has the longest horizontal range in the game given enough time, but is relatively slow speed for its distance. I would guess it reaches Hirensou length it around frame 15-16. But yeah, it's more of an issue of not being able to RC it and not being able to do it again if it fails. Didn't really have time to discuss some things brought up in the thread. Oh well, I really need to finish the brief write-ups first.

We call them Low invulnerable/low invincible moves. That's about it. Foot-property invincibility is different from low invulnerable. Low invulnerable is a hitbox property of the attack (where the green box is) and foot-property invincibility is property invincibility (what kind of attacks can hit a particular green box). Litchi 4D vs Tao 6B is a pretty good example showcasing the difference between the two. Also FYI, anti-air is a generic term for any attack that can beat an airborne approach, lots of characters have j.A anti-air, so it would probably not make total sense to call an attack an anti-low. Anyways, question answered, so I'd like to close this thread now.

Test stream tonight at 8PM PST. I'm gonna attempt to watch some videos and talk to the camera about stuff to try and make sure I have the right habits. If it crashes or otherwise does not work, oh well.

I'll bring EVO monitors and splitters to make it Head to Head like in a JP tournament. Just give me some space to put it!

As of right now, my assessment of Bang's neutral viability is unchanged. As of right now, I feel as though Bang is rarely truly disadvantaged in a neutral battle because of his overall tool set, performing extremely well in the neutral game in most matchups. His lack of a few standard go-to tools and limited resources for some tools prevents him from being pushed to top class in neutral combat. If you have not yet, please read my short write-up on Bang's neutral viability on the front page of this topic. I like the discussion from both sides, but I think both of parties need to step it up with their research if they want to convince one another, including myself. I agree with the sentinment that characters that can OS a DP have an edge in offensive viability versus certain opponents. Regarding DPs attacks that are OSable via whiff normals, it is true that there is a countermeasure in the form of whiff normal OS attacks (which is similar to how it is possible to OS backsteps and combo from roll punishes), it is more of a question of what is the opposing character's offensive viability during a knockdown and whether or not they will be in a position to perform an option select against the DP. Furthermore, options such as safe jumps and forced okizeme do exist in BlazBlue, so do not fear, I have taken these options largely into account when rating defense. Furthermore, to clarify, my assessment of Hirsenou as a fast move does not refer directly to the speed at which the startup is over and the first active frames appear, but is fast in terms of how big the hitbox is and where it is by the frame that it comes out. Hirensou reaches very far for a reversal, and is easily among the fastest of its range class. Compare it to C Inferno Divider, which has a very close range hitbox on the first hit, but one that is similar to Hirensou by the second hit, making it about the same speed for that given range. Of course, this makes Hirensou not as strong as other DP type attacks for opponents that stick their vulnerable boxes into you, but stronger for far spaced blockstrings. Normally, these types of comparisons are quite common, but I do admit it was confusing in that context and greater care probably should have been taken on the wording on my part, so for that I apologize. Answer: @Crazy-Inomitsu Sure, why not? Goro seems to do pretty damn well. Also, watch your formatting, I am lenient now but I will begin to drop the hammer very soon. Let's talk more about Makoto and Bang tomorrow. Also, the mook scans are coming out, so I would expect to see some shifts in assessment based on them. I for one, re-developed some new technology just by seeing the proration data again. :P

I watch every video in the universe. EYES ON YOU.

Answer: @CrazyI-nomitsu I think it's pretty balanced. At top level play, player skill seems to matter far more than character choice. It's not to say uneven matchups don't exist, but power level of the weakest character compared to the strongest one seems much closer than before. Answer: @Spud I'll answer both questions at once, cause I'm cool like that. As I stated before, Litchi controls space most effectively by using staffed normals/specials or by setting the staff and using one of many return functions However, players who are experienced in Litchi's staff spacing and staff flight patterns will be able to stifle both by being at the right place at the right time and attack with the right normal at the right time. For example, versus 2D type set + Return, many characters can use a rising air to air normal the moment the staff is about to pass under them to prevent Litchi from IADing at them with a normal. The Litchi player will need to take this particular countermeasure into account, but also avoid being forced to block in the moment that the opponent is airborne despite not having a safe anti-air. The main thing this serves to illustrate is that there is some particular risk involved with certain Litchi spacing patterns in some matchups, and Litchi may be put into a situation where she is forced to block depending on when and where she let the staff start flying. Of course, some characters don't even play this game with Litchi, and have a much easier time forcing Litchi to block and stopping the staff movement. As I mentioned, there are new staff movement patterns (such as the numerous Four Winds return patterns that Shounen was using in recent a-cho exhibition tournament) and players still have many options as to what they can do, so I could potentially see this parameter rising in the near future. Answer: @DLM Undead Sorry, I make typos. I have edited that section to have it make more sense. However, bear in mind this descriptor is intentionally vague at it is meant to be a flavor descriptor. The term "Ability" is not really a term, it was just meant to be a blanket way to describe the options that go underneath it. That's actually it for today. I'll probably talk about Bang's neutral game sometime tomorrow evening. In the meantime, please try to have intelligent discussions in my absence.

Answer: @pktazn My assessment is mostly based on the dual tandem of both A DP and D DP (+followups). They are both flawed as reversals, but an opponent who is aware of your current meter situation will be forced to play slightly more safe in a given offensive situation. It is similar to Jin, who has an fast, amazing reversal (623D), which gives his really weird, slow reversal (623C) effectiveness in defensive situations. Answer: @tataki Sorry, but a full version does not exist. This is a big conversation we had at a family restaurant the Thursday before I came back, and a couple follow-up twitter messages I sent him to clear certain things up, but alas, a full version does not exist whatsoever. Answer: @DustThanatos This is an assessment I made based on total effectiveness versus the entire cast. Rachel's neutral game is very strong, but has slight flaws based on resources available and has very apparent flaws in specific matchups (Lambda, Hazama, Relius), compared to a character like Ragna who may not be able to control space as efficiently at certain distances of the screen, but always has the correct tools to conquer any particular neutral matchup with enough patience and is not limited by any particular resource. Answer: @DustThanatos This is probably more of an issue of nomenclature, rather than actual classfication. I don't feel like the separation of the zoning, spacing, and rush-down archetypes are as far apart in a game like BlazBlue versus a game like Street Fighter, so my choice of the word "Spacing Character" is just what I feel he is best classified at in a top level situation. It may be a bit of a culture gap, because what I consider a "Spacing Character" is just someone who fights mostly via "Tachimawari" which I loosely translate to "Neutral Game". Anyhow, because his normals are so strong (don't forget j.C and j.A!) in this version, I believe it's more his strong spacing game that let's him get in and play a more rushdown oriented style when he finally does get in. Frankly, whatever I may sum up a character in 10-15 words will never do it complete justice, so there isn't much I can do here except pick the best words I can think of. A point that is very worthy of discussion. I agree for the most part with Zeth07's assessment on Litchi's neutral game, but despite being able to control how the opponent moves with the staff return, the opponent also gains information on how Litchi can move most effectively as well. I used to think the matchup was impossible for some characters, but in reality because you can pick angles and attacks where Litchi will be forced to either block or get hit, you can actually combat Litchi very effectively. This is the main reason I have rated her Neutral game at A-, but I could see it rising higher depending on a player's ability to fight against the flow they've created for themselves. Shounen is very good at this, but as of right now, I can't tell if it's Litchi's inherant ability or Shounen getting away with things that only Shounen can. Also, to everyone reading this thread, don't be discouraged from disagreeing with me or anyone if you feel like you have the right stuff to back it up. I sometimes multitask while writing thoughtful things, so I make mistakes or incorrect assessments. Sometimes you might be able to point out something I personally just missed, so we can discuss it and have the thread be a good thread.

Good Hakumen players seem to just play to the character's strength to an extreme level. They kind of just hang out until they decide to press a button. Some players like pressing lots of buttons and go in with good spacing, and others like pressing very few and will wait for you to come to them. Regardless of which style they prefer, they are constantly managing their options with reference to their meter and never do they come up short on meter for any given situation. I guess never, ever dropping a combo is something they also seem to never do. The miss rate was extremely low compared to even easy characters like Ragna. As for Ragna, all the good Ragna players are just really good at spacing and being safe or good at spacing and being unsafe. Satoshi and Lucky are both very safe players, but very on point with everything they do. They've more or less mastered the type of buttons they should push, and only push them with necessary. Komomo is kind of the opposite, he plays somewhat unsafe and sloppy, but he's so good at taking advantage of the confusion it causes when he makes mistakes or does somewhat crazy things on defense (like dash barrier in the middle of a slow blockstring). Sakamoto Ryoma is kind of just the all around type, he's not particularly safe or unsafe, but his spacing and overall character knowledge are exceptional. For Valkenhayn, I only played Hina (not Hima), whom I probably consider the strongest of the lot I played. There were a big host of 700+ Valkenhayn player spread across Japan, but what largely put them apart from the weaker ones was basically spacing and situation reading. They were often able to stay just out of range of my normals or too close for me to press the button safely. Once one offense, they were all largely flawless, Valkenhayn mixups are hard to block anyways so if they did anything slightly different it was like a 100% hit rate on me, lol.

Answer: @Polka @Eshi My assessment of Rachel is that her average damage is relatively low in terms of real gameplay versus X damage from Y starter. In my assessment, she mostly deals damage to opponents who are impatient in respecting projectiles, the pumpkin, or the anti-air, rather than going toe to toe with an opponent for big(ger) payoff spacing battles. Some of her common situational spacing confirms require CH or resources, whereas for many characters they do not require either. I guess the main thing to take away from this is, her strongest options are among the weakest in terms of damage. Answer: @Eshi It's an assessment made based also upon blockstrings and variability. Valkenhayn has very strong mixups, but the best ones cost heat to capitalize (rising j.C) or are fundamentally unsafe (can't block as a wolf). He is generally lacking in blockstrings as a human, as his normals and lack of a dash as a human force him to become a one shot (albeit powerful when it succeeds) character. Platinum's overall offense is very powerful, as the character has numerous varied blockstrings, okizeme setups, resets, overheads, a command throw, and weird random bullshit no one knows about. The main weakness is the relatively low reward from many of these options, despite them all existing.

Answer: @zeth07 The process was kind of an ongoing thing over the last week or so. I'd actually been thinking about making a Tier Thread since before the Matchup thread even existed, so I'd been compiling my thoughts on each character for a fairly extended period of time. I first assigned characters a preliminary rank based on what I knew, then went back and compared all characters relatively, making adjustments based on what I believe was relative strength. I believed this was the best way to compile and represent the data, which is why I did it this way. I actually would like to have a full relative chart at one point, but I'd like to actually fill out all the character parameters first. The main reason the this began to exist was I would often read the JP BBS while on the train, including all of the trolling that goes on in the JP BBS Tier Thread. I just thought to myself, man, these threads are even shit in Japan, but no one closes them because they HAVE to have them.

Double post. Answering questions and making assertions. Answer: @toanenadiz That is more or less the case. The full assessment is from a combination of talking to Japanese players, playing in different regions, watching an obsessive number of matches, and thinking really hard about stuff. By no means is it absolute, which is why this thread exists! Answer: @kotokot I have updated the parameters section to answer your question. As a whole, "difficulty to learn" is an extremely subjective topic that can't really be assessed. Everyone learns different and is good at different stuff. Furthermore, everyone can herp derp with a character with varying success, but mastering a character is something we've more or less failed to do in America. For these reasons, a "Learning" parameter does not exist. Answer: @WolfCrimson It does take into account FRKZ, but I failed to make an asterisk that says it does. FRKZ can be used with varying success depending on a matchup, but regardless of whether it is good or bad, it does not increase his offensive or neutral parameters in a way that really takes it above A, in my opinion. In terms of Offense, he gains the ability to perform long blockstrings with multiple mixups, but he loses the ability to bait various defensive options without guessing, of which a wrong guess returns him to neutral or worse. In Neutral, he gains a lot of speed and mobility, but loses the ability to perform a lot of extremely useful neutral maneuvers (most of the ones that make moving around safe), such as jump barrier guard, dashing then attacking on the first frame, or dashing then barrier guarding on the first frame. Because of this, I feel that FRKZ gives you a lot but also takes away a lot. It's worth mentioning that FRKZ is what I consider an S Rank reversal option. It is extremely safe the moment it is activated, and can give you a monumental amount of reward if the opponent is not extremely careful with his blockstrings or attacks. I disagree with the notion brought up by StarGazer regarding Makoto's neutral game based on my own assessment of how strong Makoto's general normals are versus other midrange characters. I understand that her dash acceleration hurts her ability to punish mid-long characters such as Mu or approach strictly long range characters like Lambda, but I feel Makoto does very well versus other mid-range characters, as she can still whiff punish fairly well and 5b is still a fairly good normal that does not extend her vulnerable hitbox much before the active frames. She also has a one chance parry option, which can confound neutral for mid range characters who are close or on the brink of losing. Because of this, she can then force opponents to jump, which is still good for her gameplay as her anti-air and air-to-air game are both fairly effective. Because of this, I would suggest A rank neutral game, on peer or just below with other midrange powerhouses, but weaker than characters who are excellent in neutral.

Guys, the rules are not a joke. I'm adding an FAQ section, to the fourth post, also up sometime today as well. Frankly, the rules exist to keep the thread to devolving into a shit storm because moderators can't really be expected to moderate this thread 24/7. It's really easy for threads like this to go from informative to ASS in like 30 minutes because two or three people who mean well can get into a shitty circular argument that shits up the thread forevermore. Or, one jackass can just post one incredibly shitty thing and everyone will jump on him for 3 pages, also making the thread completely unreadable ass. And it's not even your fault per se. Some people are new, a lot of people lack matchup experience at delay 0. It can't be helped. The formatting rules exist for two reasons: 1) To make you actually think about your post. If you have to fumble around and think about how the hell you're going to put your thoughts into some pre-existing guideline, I would consider that a basic level of cognitive process has occurred. I'm definitely likely to fail at formatting things myself, but I think it's worth having this rule as an anti-stupid. It is way too easy to see something you do disagree with, quote the post, type in "LOL" below it, presto, you have a post that is shitty and no one is any more enlightened for having read it. I'm absolutely willing to forgive people who write long, thoughtful posts and then cant't think of a way to properly format it; okay, sure fine, it's not that easy if you have a lot to say, and the formatting will be harmful to the legibility of your post. But by and large, this prevents shitty posts from being posted without any thought behind it. 2) Makes every post contribute to the thread in some way. By forcing formatting, every post can only have some kind of meaningful question that will be meaningfully answered or an assertion that is actually worth some credit in some regard. Imagine that, an informative thread. Now people new to Dustloop might actually be able to find out why we think some characters are good or bad. TL;DR - While I understand this is restrictive, in threads like this, less is definitely more. THINK BEFORE YOU POST.

Relius Reward Assessment: A- Rank - Relius deals fairly high damage in the corner and at the expense of doll meter, but otherwise is fairly middling. His doll and heat meter expenditure is not very efficient in terms of damage, but can give him extra damage if he needs it. His attacks are difficult to confirm from far away, but very easy if the doll is active. Relius deals very bad damage without the doll present, but often gets good okizeme in exchange. Neutral Viability: B+ Rank - Relius has fair movement with very average mid ranged normals with somewhat slow anti-air options, but also lacks a safe air-to-air attack. He possesses Val Lanto and rising j.6D/j2.D tricks give him a lot of screen presence and can force an opponent to block or move. He also has a vast number of situational tools that can give him the edge in many situations against many characters, but because Ignis or Relius can be hit out of many of these situations, Relius will lose resources and can be vulnerable without Ignis. Overall, this makes him very weak against the strong midrange characters and a Offensive Viability: A Rank - Long, repeatable blockstrings, but not nearly as robust as Carl as his meter is much more limited and his actual mixup options are much slower and more limited. Still, the amount of variance and tricks he possess makes it challenging to deal with his pressure. Relius also possesses a fair amount of okizeme options, but most of the stronger ones cost Ignis meter. Defensive Viability: B- Rank - Led Ley is fairly weak as a reversal versus a seasoned player, but still acts as a minor deterrent to using high active frame attacks to punish backsteps, so used in conjunction with his backstep he does have some options. Overall, not too powerful on defense as his 2a and 5a are both weak. Versatility: Specialized One Chance: B Rank Current Assessment: A- Rank - Relius is a technical character with unique spacing tools, but largely reliant on syngergy with his doll Ignis Noel Reward Assessment: S- Rank - Noel deals very minimal damage from a few of her confirms, but her overall damage output and heat gain is far above the average character for a similar confirm. In practical high-level gameplay, her close, crouching, and corner confirms put her on par with big damage characters like Ragna, and also possess similar ability in increasing damage output by spending meter. She can rake in absurd damage from punishing or using buppa drive attacks to play a heavily favored risk/reward battle with the opponent as well, often capable of stealing rounds that would be difficult for other characters to turn around. Neutral Viability: B+ Rank - Noel possess very good movement speed, but is relatively underwhelming in spacing battles. In both ground to ground and air to air fights, she can definitely outclass opponents, but she definitely needs to be active in closing in or forcing an opponent to whiff an attack. Optical Barrel serves as a minor annoyance for most characters as a projectile, but is somewhat unrewarding for the risk in many cases. Noel play high risk spacing battles with her ability to avoid certain types of attacks while attacking, but is certainly unsafe if the opponent is playing patiently. Offensive Viability: B Rank - Noel possess all of the basic blockstring and mixup tools as well as a few more outlandish ones, but for the most part does not possess strong okizeme due to the nature of her combos. She relies mostly on forcing the opponent back into blockstun, where she will use her relatively plain mixup ability to open up opponents. Defensive Viability: A- Rank - Noel posses no meterless invulnerable reversal options of any kind, but can play a hefty risk/reward game with her Drive attacks that can avoid certain attacks. Opponents often must play more passively on offense or risk taking absurd damage from her reversal Drive attacks, which reduces an opponent's offensive viability passively. Her Backstep and Counter Assault are both average, and Fenrir is a worthy reversal as it is the fastest super autoguard move in the game. Versatility: Well Rounded One Chance: A Rank Current Assessment: A- Rank - Noel is a high damage speed based character with some unconventional tools. Platinum* Reward Assessment: B+ Rank - Platinum's damage is largely situational, but tends to deal relatively low damage from any confirm that does not have a good item or strong starter in the corner. Platinum's midscreen damage is by far the lowest without any tools, but using meter and items, it is possible to increase the damage to above average levels. Neutral Viability: B+ Rank - Platinum has a fairly competent midrange game, possessing very good mid-long range normals and useful anti-air attacks. Platinum is fairly weak at mid range due lack of a mid range speed normal, but can compensate by spacing properly or changing air momentum. With items, Platinum can control different types of space, but summoning items and changing items is somewhat risky depending on the matchup. Offensive Viability: S- Rank - Platinum possess extremely variable blockstrings, okizeme, resets, and mixups. It is extremely difficult to successfully escape from Platinum once you have been knocked down once, and once caught Platinum's mixup game can easily lead to game over for characters without a good reversal option. Item availability creates huge variation in the types of mixups and blockstrings Platinum can perform, often greatly confounding the defender. Defensive Viability: B- Rank - Platinum posses no meterless invincible reversal without the bat item, but the lack of availability often causes it to succeed when they do have it, and over compensation for it often causes opponents to take excessive care, both of which are mindsets that favor Platinum. Platinum's other defensive elements are about average, but the lack of any real ability to consistently stop an opponent causes for some difficulty. Overall, a very earned B- rank. Versatility: Well Rounded One Chance: A Rank Current Assessment: A- Rank - Platinum possesses many extremely odd tools accompanied by useful spacing and movement tools. *Takes into account item preparation and availability Lambda Reward Assessment: A- Rank - Lambda deals exceptional damage and builds good heat with the right resources or starter, but tends to deal small damage without certain conditions accompanying the hit. Her combos are difficult to burst, which is another bonus. Often times she cannot deal good damage twice in a row without spending heat, even with the buff to Gravity Seed's regeneration rate. Even so, in practical battles, Lambda will be able to deal good damage if her resources are managed properly. Neutral Viability: S- Rank - Lambda is one of the most powerful characters at dictating the pace of a match. She can control much of the entire screen with her projectiles, and often can make an approach if the opponent hesitates. She lacks good short or mid-ranged attacks, but possesses a good number of very good anti-air attacks. Certain characters can give Lambda trouble in spacing battles, but overall she can win by avoiding unsafe choices and taking advantage of her good movement. Offensive Viability: A Rank - Lambda has good mixups, blockstrings, and okizeme options, but lacks often lacks the ability to choose both damage and okizeme in a combo when midscreen. The existence of 4b however, makes it difficult for the opponent to block safely during any okizeme or blockstring situation, which is extremely scary and often game changing for most players. However, though variable, her blockstrings are somewhat weak versus opponents who jump/backstep and are mostly slightly disadvantageous on block, both of which often cause the opponent to return to neutral. Though her options are good in neutral, this is a definite weak point of Lambda's offensive game. Defensive Viability: C+ Rank - Lambda lacks a meterless reversal option and largely relies on system defense mechanics to escape from pressure. Unfortunately, her normals are also weak at dealing with pressure, so she often is forced to rely on her backstep or jump to escape. Because her options are funneled in this manner, well informed opponents are often able to catch her and punish her. Her Counter Assault and Calamity Sword are both useful with 50 Heat, but losing that 50 Heat is a painful loss if she lands a big opportunity with the heat to capitalize. Versatility: Specialized One Chance: A Rank Current Assessment: A Rank - Lambda is a powerful zoning character with good movement and projectiles, but has somewhat apparent weaknesses. Rachel Reward Assessment: B Rank - Rachel is able to deal moderate damage and perform good corner carry, but both require resources and/or good starting hits. Often times combos need to be cut short because of resource management, and resources also need to be spent to recover resources and maintain a knockdown. Her best spacing and strongest mixup options also deal relatively low damage, which overall lead to very weak average damage for Rachel as a whole. Neutral Viability: A Rank - With enough time and resources, Rachel has incredibly good tools for controlling space, including lobelias, pumpkin, 6A, and 6B. When played correctly, she can easily outclass a character without similar tools. However, because it does take resources and time to set up her tools, some matchups and situations are very difficult for Rachel to deal with. Offensive Viability: A+ Rank - Rachel's blockstrings and mixup are both very powerful, complete with forced okizeme if the proper resources are spent or the combo is appropriately cut short. However, because resources spent on her blockstrings and mixups are also required to optimize her combos, there is a limited number of times either mixup and blockstring options can be used without overusing her resources and rendering her unable to combo. Because of this, while she possess S+ class blockstrings and mixups, their limited usage prevents her from really taking advantage of it. Defensive Viability: B- Rank - Rachel has a guard point, which is fairly unsafe, but it is possible to beat certain blockstrings and does serve as a reversal in many cases. She can enhance her backstep with wind, allowing her to cover a lot of space and escape from pressure better than other characters with a normal backstep. She can also enhance her neutral tech with wind, which also allows her to render certain okizeme unusable on Rachel. However, she has absolutely no invincible reversal, so most characters focus on rendering these maneuvers useless. Versatility: Very Specialized One Chance: B Rank Current Assessment: A- Rank - Rachel is a tool based zoning character who can outclass other characters by spending wind and other resources. Litchi Reward Assessment: B+ Rank - Litchi's damage and heat gain are fairly unstable, as the majority of her good damage and corner carry coming from situational hits. However, her ability to do a corner combo from further distances is above average. Her corner damage is slightly below average without specific starters, but the okizeme that results from it can deal big damage. Her ability increase her damage output with heat is somewhat limited, but is definitely doable in many situations. Neutral Viability: A- Rank - Litchi has an extremely wide variety of spacing and projectile tools, but they each have unique weaknesses that allow certain opponents to take advantage of them. The overall effectiveness of a her tools is extremely variable due to their nature, but overall, in neutral situations she is very strong against characters who rely on close to mid range combat, somewhat limited against fast projectile characters, weak against characters with strong defensive spacing tools, very strong against setup or limited mobility characters, and approximately even with movement based characters. Offensive Viability: A Rank - Litchi's blockstrings and mixups are fairly varied, but rely largely on the player to mix up staff setting and releasing in a way to obscure redashes and mixup attempts. When cornering her opponent, her okizeme options are among the best in the entire game with numerous viable choices, but largely lacks the same ability when midscreen. Still, the overwhelming power of her corner mixup with meter can easily cause a huge momentum shift and allow her to make big comebacks or create huge leads. Defensive Viability: B- Rank - Litchi's backstep is special in that it can be done twice, giving it additional invincibility at a point where most backsteps would be still in their vulnerable state, making it a fairly useful defensive tool. Tsubame Gaeshi is one of the best DP type moves in the game in terms of size and speed, but cannot be Rapid Canceled, is not always available, and cannot be done twice in a row. Versatility: Very Well Rounded One Chance: A Rank Current Assessment: A- Rank - Litchi is a character huge of unique spacing number tools with and without her staff. Jin Reward Assessment: B Rank - Overall, Jin's damage tends to be on the lower side of the entire cast, but as a sum of its overall parts, relies far less on situational hits and deals solid damage from non-situational ones. Unfortunately, because he is also very average at increasing his damage output with meter as well, so he cannot create big comeback situations with his damage, outside of hitting an opponent with Hirensou while they are cornered. Neutral Viability: B+ Rank - Jin has many fair mid range normal attacks, accompanied by many good air-to-air attacks. He possess numerous situational anti-airs that make it difficult for most characters to approach. Overall, while well rounded in the neutral game, he lacks tools that are overwhelmingly strong in any situation. His projectiles are situationally useful, but overall his game plan will revolve around approaching and spacing out opponents. Offensive Viability: B Rank - Jin's mixup relies strongly on throws and resets moreso than other characters. He has many good options for creating throw attempts, fake throw attempts, and TRM mixups, which tend to be fairly safe overall as it is not possible to punish Jin for good damage in the majority of these situations. He has one of the fastest overheads in the game, but it cannot be used except when he has meter. His resets are very basic, but force an opponent into difficult to react to 50/50 situations, which makes them fairly powerful when they can be set up. Defensive Viability: A- Rank - Jin has a fair number of defensive options that are extremely enhanced with meter. He has an extremely slow, but extremely invincible DP type attack in Rehhyou that is not too useful on its own, but when paired with his fast, long range, 25% meter DP Hirensou, can become a strong deterrent to certain blockstrings and okizeme options. Yukikaze and Hiyoku Getsumei are both situational tools he has access to with 50% heat, but certainly have their uses in defensive situations. Versatility: Very Well Rounded One Chance: B Rank Current Assessment: B Rank - Jin is a well rounded spacing character with no glaring weaknesses, but no overwhelming strengths. Tsubaki Reward Assessment: B Rank - Tsubaki's damage situation is very different from most characters, as her midscreen damage is fairly good from non-situational confirms, but her situational confirms and corner combos tend to lead to relatively low damage compared to other characters without any resources like Install or Heat. However, with ample resources, her damage and heat gain has the potential to surpass most characters in a similar situation, making her sort of strange in terms of game flow. Neutral Viability: B Rank - Without Install meter, Tsubaki is mostly a close-mid range character who relies primarily on her normals and movement to close the gap and win spacing battles on the ground. Her anti-air and air-to-air are both somewhat competent, but as a whole, she cannot force most midrange style opponents to approach from the air instead of staying on the ground, so it is not as useful versus many. Her 5B is very average as a mid range poke, but does benefit from the lack of an extended hitbox in the pre animation frames. Her abilities greatly increase by expending Install Meter, as 236D, j236D, and 214D are all very powerful tools in neutral, but because they cost Install Meter, which cannot be easily obtained in neutral, it is difficult to say that her neutral game is strong if they are reliant on these. She can use her aerial special attacks to also move and cover vectors that are not reachable by most characters, but these maneuvers are unsafe without meter and should be done with extreme confidence and/or caution. Offensive Viability: B Rank - Tsubaki relies mostly on variance for her blockstring and mixup options, many of which are not very fast on their own, but are relatively safe if needed to be. She has access to an unblockable attack and a relatively safe overhead, but largely relies on charge canceling and normal blockstrings to stop opponents from moving and keeping her blockstrings variable. She has numerable resets, so with enough variability, it is more than enough to create an oppressive offense. Defensive Viability: B+ Rank - Tsubaki's possess a DP that is not invincible on the first active frame, cause it to trade versus many attacks. It can also be pushed and counts as a projectile, which add to its potential countermeasures, but is very fast and has fair reach for a DP, so it is still usable on wakeup or versus certain blockstrings. With install meter, Tsubaki gains a real DP and access to follow ups that can potentially make the DP more safe. Even though it is not always available, the existence of a potential D dp makes the A dp passively more useful, giving Tsubaki potential options on defense. Versatility: Well Rounded One Chance: B Rank Current Assessment: B Rank - Tsubaki has many solid tools, but is largely dependent on her resource availability and management. Makoto Reward Assessment: B+ Rank - Makoto generally deals fairly average damage in most situations, with far above average from A attack starters and relatively good midscreen damage. She is fairly good at spending meter to improve her combos and positioning as well, though she cannot use 100 meter to end a combo with maximum damage. While her corner carry is also quite fair, she cannot start a corner combo from a very far distance, which hinders her ability to maximize her damage. Neutral Viability: A Rank - Makoto has a full host of good normals and ground movement, allowing her to dominate the ground game against many characters. Her 5B does not move her vulnerable hitbox forward as much as moves of a similar nature and speed, which gives her an edge in high level spacing battles. Her ability to punish whiffed normals with a dashing attack is also among the best, further adding to her ground dominance. In the event her opponent has given up on the ground game, her air-to-air and anti-air game are also among the strongest, which make it further difficult for many characters to fight her. She also possess good one chance tools, 3C and Space Counter, which while dangerous to employ on a regular basis, can create match changing situations if they are successful. Comet Cannon and Break Shot are good for starting the initial flow of a spacing battle, but should be used as such and not as an actual spacing tool. Makoto's main limitation is her relatively below average ability to deal with mid-long and long range tools. Offensive Viability: B Rank - Though relatively fast and useful, Makoto has relatively limited normal chains, which is further limited by the limit on A attacks and is requires good guard confirmation to get around instant barrier. Furthermore, in spacing battles, often times an opponent will resign to blocking instead of attacking, which, if one of her many good spacing normals was used, causes further limitation due to their recovery. 6B is one of the fastest overheads with a meterless reward in the game, and the two Lunatic Upper Follow-ups cannot be punished easily, but both options cause her offense to end when guarded correctly. Astroid Vision gives Makoto many difficult to see options, but outside of okizeme, are relatively unsafe. Defensive Viability: B Rank - Makoto's DP, Lunatic Upper is very weak against low profile attacks, but has decent invincibility and can be used in close quarters against most characters. Space Counter acts as a deterrent to certain blockstrings and okizeme, but is more for reaction punishing moreso than attempting to guess against an opponent. Her normals at close quarters are very useful, and her backstep is average. Versatility: Well Rounded One Chance: B rank Current Assessment: B Rank - Makoto is a dominant close-mid fighter with good normals.