Caer-caveral

[Regarding deleted post with strategy information] I have to say I disagree with quite a bit of this, and some of it is just outright wrong... =/ The thing I reacted most to is the notion that you can't be thrown if you place a net on okizeme. This is very wrong, you can always be thrown if you stand within range, it's just quite a tight timing for the opponent. However, there's no risk involved for them in trying, so sooner or later you will be screwed if you're not careful with this. It's true about command throws though, since as far as I know, all of them have some statup frames.

Last updated: 13:05 25/04/08 updated with mixup section and additionals on jS I took down the AC discussion thread because I felt it had to much of a pre-release feel to it that it never got over. Here is instead the new thread for any discussion of Testaments gameplay that isn't directly combo-focused. Also, ask any questions you have regarding how to play Testament in this thread. Hopefully we can keep this thread all nice and structured in some way. Overview: Testament used to have a strong focus on zoning and keepaway in his gameplay, but with the additions in AC, he can be played quite freely. In many matchups you will still be best served by a careful zoning strategy though, so keep this in mind if you are considering wether or not Testament is for you. His gameplan revolves alot around his traps and his long range pokes, both designed to keep the opponent at a distance. Offensively, his main weapon lies in HS EXE Beast, as this move allows you to combo from most hits you get in. It also serves a purpose, both offensively and defensively, to simply beat out another characters pokes, as it does not disappear even if you're hit. Damage is perhaps a bit above average, but considering the damage output in AC I can't be sure. You could say that depending on the setup, damage will be quite small or huge. One of the more interesting points of this character lies in the move "Phantom Soul". If this move hits the opponent he will be marked (or "cursed") for a certain period of time, during which Testaments crow will continually attack him with one of four different patterns. Using this fully is often very hard as you need to constantly synch with something largely out of your control. You can do well without the crow, landing the curse only when opportunity happens to arise and using it only as a source of annoyance. For me though, the crow is really what makes Testament special and genuinely fun to play, as the possibilities with the crow are close to endless. I'll try to make a rundown of Testament's basic gameplay options in the most common situations. If I don't mention a move in a certain situation it means it either suck there or it's too situational to list. Neutral/poking situations: Generally what you want to do is get your traps in place in order to make the battle happen at your terms. The trick lies in finding the time to get them out as you want them without being punished for it, i.e. you need to keep the opponent away until you decide it's time for him to get close. I'll list the main moves for this below. f.S. Far slash is the longest reaching move, and has decent values for both startup, active and recovery frames. This is generally the move you want to use when the opponent is far away in order to keep him there. Connect with it in some way and chain it into a web or tree. Also, note that on counterhit it chains into 2HS, Badlands and Gravedigger for some damaging options. 2S: f.S has a weakness in it's hitbox not going very low. Many moves can thus punish it by going under (like grand viper, Big bang upper, etc.) It's for situations like that that you want to use 2S instead. It has a bit longer recovery which combined with its low profile makes it a bit more vulnerable against people going for jumpins. It does though reach almost as far and as stated stuffs low profile moves. Also, 2S is one frame faster than f.S, meaning it combos from 5P, 2P and 2K, which is important to know for some matchups. 5P and 5K: Two moves for when the opponent is a bit too close for comfort. 5K is most common, but against certain characters 5P is prefered in some cases (e.g. Slayer). It's mainly when 5P is used as a poke that you need to remember to chain it to 2S, since you often won't be in range for close S. If a close range poke is blocked, just combo it further to get the opponent away and end with 2HS or 2D before placing a trap. Since those two are long reaching, high level attacks, they will give you more time for trapping. 6K: For 6K, you have to be pretty sure it's going to hit because the recovery is enormous. Also be vay of the fact that Testa's hitbox is huuge in this move. The main reason to use it is either to punish someone you think will jump or do a slow move, or because of its chaining properties. 6K can be chained further at any pont during it's animation. This means you can try to fool the opponent by doing blocked 6K, wait, and then chain to HS, 6HS or EXE. It gives you a good chance to get a counterhit, so combo potential from those followups is high. 6HS: Long reach but very slow and has a terribly large vulerable box. It also doesn't hit close to you, which sucks. Recovery is on the humongous scale, often demanding an FRC just to keep it safe. Despite all this, it is viable to throw out once in a while because it does reach very far, knocks down on hit and a counterhit is one of the best starters you can get. Just use it sparingly. 2HS: Reaches far and has a good deal of invulnerability, making it very useful against some characters. Should however be used with care because it i very slow and can be punished severely. Slayer is an example of a character that can rape you really badly if you try to use this move outside of blockstrings. EXE: S EXE is your main tool for forcing the opponent to move. It makes turtling useless, but can be baited. Count the opponents jumps/airdashes and catch them with it on landing if you want to be sure. HS EXE, also known as HADORYUKEN! will win over pretty much anything and is +9 on block. It can also be baited with an IAD or the like, but it is an excellent tool nonetheless. It's mere presence can make opponent think twice about attacking on the ground. Also very good defensively since it will come out even if you are hit, and a ch HS EXE will most often lead to combo even if you traded, but at the very least gives you knockdown. Air to Air Testament is rather good at air to air, mainly due to his range. Badlands untechable time makes for good combos or at least knockdown from any landed poke. Always try to get a 1-hit in. jS: Main air to air. Has very good range and a pretty good vulnerable box. I have slowly but surely come to realise that this is indeed Testaments best normal. It is one of your few moves that doesn't have a vulnerable box as big as its hitbox and it can outpoke most characters in the air. One very important thing when poking with this move is to think of your hitconfirm. If you land a random hit and hitconfirm it into Badlands, you just turned a slightly annoying poke to a knockdown and free mixup opportunity, possibly changing the pace of the match right there. jK: Faster than jS and thus a good choice either if the enemy is close or just to stuff characters that can move in on you really fast. Not that good range though. I often use it preemptively, by e.g. dashing and doing jump and jK immediately if I think the opponent will jump/dash in. It's a better choice than jS since it also recovers faster. jD: Very long range, but the vulnerable box really sucks and it's a bit slow. This should be used only at long range, as something like a shield. Its common for this move to be spammed a bit too much, but it's understandable since a counterhit is arguably the best combo starter Testament can get. jP: Fastest move, if only be a small margin, but no range. Use only when you need to hit an opponent who is waaay to close for comfort. Air to Ground An area in which Testa is severely lacking. Try to avoid having to use it at all. jHS: Best air to ground only because it hits in a large area under Testa. It is however very, very slow and easy to antiair. Preferably use it either very close to the ground (e.g. as okizeme) or high enough up that you have time to chain it to jD, or you will get thrown when you land. jP: Hits under Testa making it viable in this case. However, the hitbox of jK and jS makes it so you don't have any really good options for chaining into from it. jD: Hits pretty well under Testament, and once again gives excellent combo opportunities on hit. However, the vulnerable box stil sucks majorly, as it can be anti aired easily by almost anything the opponent decides to throw out. Should preferably only be used at a decent range. Anti air An area of varying profitability. Against some characters, you will own them majorly in this field and against others you have almost nothing to work with. 5P: Main anti air in my opinion. Will beat or clash with a very large number of attacks, and you can usually chain it to close S for a combo. This move is mainly used for people coming down at you from above but can also stuf IAD attacks pretty well if not too ranged, especially IAD pressure such as that of Jam and Slayer. This move makes or breaks Testas AA game. When it works, you can own the opponent. When it doesn't, your only remaining options lie in guessing games. 6K: Good against airdashes if used early enough. This means you will mostly have to predict a dash-in to stuff it with this. It does however work fairly well for that and gives you free combo through 6K > BL on hit. 6HS: Takes heavy predicting since it's so slow. Mainly good if you have the opponent somewhat in the corner, where you can almost guarantee it to be at least blocked. As stated it's very nice on counterhit so you can try for it now and then, but be ready with the FRC. 6P: Very situational. It upper body invulnerability is good, but it's very slow and hits way too low. You just have to figure out what specific situations where this is good. Mixups Testament unfortunately has quite few mixups. The ones he has are very good but the lack of variety may very well pose a problem against seasoned opponents. Main mixups lie in the use of 2K and 6P, and to an extent also 2D. 6P hits high and has quite a subtle animation, making it a very good mixup tool. 2K, of course, is your fast low poke. The proration off of that move is really horrible though. 2Ds biggest merit surprisingly lies in the fact that it's quite slow. This means that using this may throw off people who try to get the right blocking of 2K and 6P purely by means of timing. As an added bonus 2D has not proration and can lead to really big damage. Now, the next step is to not just try for a mixup as your first attack. Especially 6P is quite flexible in when you can gatling into it, so try and mix that up as much as possible. potential gatlings are from 2P, 5P, 5S, 6K and 2K. Doing it from 6K is actually bullshit as you can't do a low after it, removing the mixup potential but it still works sometimes. Going after 2K is a bit iffy as it is probably impossible to hitconfirm from the 2K alone meaning if you do hit with 2K you just wasted your combo for a new mixup. However, this can be viewed as more of it's own mixup by itself. You make a conscious decision to not care about the 2K hitting and going for biger rewards. The upside here is that many players reflexively block low after being hit by something low. This means that it's possible to land a 2K and then get a 6P in, for less proration, as they hurry to block in the wrong direction. If your opponent has instead figured this out and forces himself to always block standing after a 2K, you can nail him with a 2D from it as well. After a while of doing the same shit, people start to learn, making throws more and more important. It's unblockable, baby! Testament has many good tick throw setups. Some of the most common are after an okizeme net, after an EXE FRC, after most crow hits and after a meaty jHS. Testament gets very good damage from a throw, making it' inherent fear-value rise. After a while, the throw becomes a mixup since you can go for a 2K instead of the throw and catch people off guard as they are standing in preparation for a counter throw. Testaments best mixup as in hardest to block is probably the tree crossup (see okizeme section). However, please note that in attempting it you are gambling your pressure on that one move, as a failed crossup will result in at best neutral situation, and at worst you jumping into the corner. Okizeme Basic okizeme revolves around nets. If you have time for it, planting a net over a downed opponent is quite like having an automatic meaty when they rise. This comes in handy as you can use it to ensure that they block. For example, against Sol you can plant a net and then wait for a fraction after he rises, until you see the net being blocked. This way you do not need to fear reversal VV's. An alternative is to use a well spaced S EXE instead. If you don't have time to properly place the net, you can run up to the opponent and do a S EXE that hits meaty (or at least close to it). This will let you keep frame advantage without FRC (since S EXE has 19 active frames and is only -2, there's plenty of room for frame advantage to be found) The correct spacing is so that they are pushed just close enough for you to do your mixups after the EXE hits. The distance will keep you safe from quite a lot of reversals. Number three that I have come to like a lot is to jump in with a late jHS. You should ideally hit with it just before you land. jHS > 6P is a good mixup, since many players reflexively block low after the high jHS. You can slo try for a tick throw after it. The nice point about this is that landing after a jHS kills the recovery, meaning it will keep you safe from most reversals. Next up is the Shounen crossup. After a knockdown that lands them sufficiently close to you, run up and plant a meaty tree. Now do an IAD over them as fast as you can. This will result in the tree hitting them while you cross them up. If the tree hits, do a BL and go into a loop. After doing this enough times, you can actually just plant a tree nd then do nothing and make that be a mixup. If your opponent is scared of the crossup, he might block wrong without you having to do anything. Also, a similar variant is that you plant a tree and then backstep at the last minute in order to bait a throw. Badlands and it's usage Badlands is that hip new move Testament got instead of his old Gravedigger. It carries some cons with it but it's mostly all good. Important to note is that it connects from 6K if you hit an airborne opponent with it, making the old 6K > 6HS almost obsolete. Also important is that since badlands knocks the opponent behind you, it suddenly becomes a bad idea to do the old standard combo gatling > BL (standard with GD that is...) if you currently have the opponent in the corner. You do not wish to knock them out of it for a meager 30 extra damage. Keep them there for future high damage combos. Get them cursed instead if you can or set up a loop (see below) that can knock them back into the corner again. Right with that out of the way, I'd like to adress the basics of combos with BL. BL-loop This is that thing that everyone is yelling "broke" at when they see it. It's strength lies in it's ability to get damage from many situations where it was previously impossible, often without any tension involved. The "trick" to the loop is that all but the first BL's should be tigerkneed, i.e. you do the aireal version, as low as you can. This version starts up faster, reaches farther and recovers faster. A tk BL can be done witht the input 2147P. The easiest way to practice this is to do throw > 6K > BL > tk BL > ... You can do 3-4 loops on mediums and 6-7 on lights. Important usage for the loop is from throw, warrant, Nightmare Circular, Dust and any random 6K hit on airborne opponents. These are situations where your other options are very limited or require an unnecessary amount of tension. two important notes: 1: When you use tension to set up a loop, you gain close to no tension from it due to tension penalties. Do not deceive yourself by thinking you're making up for the loss. BL doesn't even have that good a tension gain to begin with. 2: regarding the "curse loop", as I just dubbed it ( go here for more info), all I can say is "learn it". It's really not easy, but it is definitely the best thing you can do with a BL-loop. It can be done from many starters, notable ones being throw and warrant. Learn to see when it's possible and when it's not. And don't feel bad if you can't get the curse at the end. It will come with practice, and until then the combo is still close to the best variant in that situation. I do not really recommend using tension for setting up the loop, e.g. doing combo > HS EXE FRC > 6K > BL or the like, unless you're confident you can get a curse loop from it, as the loop generally gives you a fairly poor knockdown (far away and/or midscreen). Tension is better saved for 1-hit combos, as they generally have a higher strategic value. Exceptions are when you either need just a bit more damage or can't continue the combo through normal means. It is however often possible to go from a normal gatling combo to the loop without tension. More on that can be found in the combo-section. 1-hit combos If you hit an opponent that is high enough or deep enough with a BL, only the first hit will connect. This causes very long untechable time and they fall down pretty much right in front of you for easy continuation of the combo. This is a central part to Testaments combos in AC, as they give excellent setups, carry you into the corner and grants you knockdown from almost all combos. They particularly make random aerial hits much more threatening, as you can now get both a decent combo and knockdown from them, something that was impossible in earlier games. Note that a 1-hit from a ground BL has shorter untechable time than both aerial 1-hit and the 2-hit of both versions. The most basic and useful setup is to lift the opponent in any way you please and do jK > jS > jHS > BL. The only problem with this setup is that the jHS will only connect early in a combo. This means it will not work if you try to get a second 1-hit in or if the setup was unusually long. A good alternative is to do jK > jP > jK > jD > BL. However, getting 1-hits is not an exact science. It varies a bit from character to character. It's really a matter of practicing and getting to now the correct height. Experiment for great success When doing an air combo, there is most often no reason for doing a 2-hit BL at the end. You can almost always get a 1-hit with some planning (adding punches or whatever), the difference in damage is negligable, and even if you can't follow up on it you either get a knockdown close to you or a chance for a tech-trap. It's not always easy to get the 1-hit after a random setup, but try your best. Net-lands I'm not going to say much about this, as I find it to be kinda crap, but what the hell. The basic idea is that you knock someone into a net with BL. From this, you simply lay another net and do tk/jump BL. You can see it in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA0HUjLO2UM The damage is crappy, but you can gain quite a lot of tension from it. Easy to be bursted out of though. The main use I can see is if you can get them poisoned before it, as it pretty much guarantees full poison damage, which is nice. Of course, if you happen to get the chance, by all means go for it. I'd not really recommand trying specifically for it though. Sidewitching I decided to go ahead and make this into it's own topic, as I think it's very important for Testas combos. The idea here is that you do a 1-hit combo that makes you switch sides with your opponent. This can be made to work even deep in the corner, and gives the advantage that you can end the combo with a P skull. Example combos for this are: corner 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > jHS > jD > BL 1-hit > HS > Net > dash > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > sideswitch > HS > Net > tk BL > 236P and 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > dash S > delay > jK (or jP) > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > sideswitch HS > net > tk BL > 236P There are several things needed for making the switch work. They are primarily momentum, timing and getting the opponent high enough. First off, you need some momentum in you air combo in order for Testament to fly further than the opponent. There are two ways I have found to attain this. First off is the easy way of trapping the opponent in a net and then dash and do for example jS > jHS > BL. The net gives you time to do a dashing jump and thus gain momentum for the combo. The second way generally starts from a HS EXE FRC. You then dash in and do 5K or 5S. Now, if you jumpcancel immediately, Testament will make a normal jump with no speed retained from the dash he did before the previous attack. However, if you wait for just a moment before canceling to a jump, much of the momentum will be left, enough for you to get the sideswitch without nets. Step two is that you need to get the opponent pretty high up with your combo, as you need enough time to land and adjust yourself after the 1-hit. I'm not sure of how this works exactly, but simply try to keep the opponent high up. It often helps to delay jS or jD if you're using them. Last off, on most characters it is imperrative that you time it right when you do the last HS. You often need to do it as late as possible for the sideswitch to happen, but do it too late and you will get an OTG hit instead. This is very hard from some setups, but you'll get it with enough practice. A final note for the curious: The last Net > tk BL is needed to get a knockdown in many cases. Even though the frame data says otherwise, air badlands second hit seems to have longer untechable time than the ground version. Also, the net is advantageous as it saves you from screwups when you mis-time the HS.

More 23 on 23, now Dizzy-edition http://www.gamechariot.com/g3_07_23.html Niiyama (AX) vs HH (DI) Yossan (IN) vs HH (DI)

Okay, I just went ahead and took my last combo off the record (and off this thread) because this is just plain better. Finally playing stick has paid off in some way. I'm going to assume this needs to be said because since no one has mentioned it, people either didn't know it or you're all spiteful bastards for not telling me about it I was practicing my superjump combo on stick today (god I hate superjumps to the right), and since I can't do things on automatic like I could on a pad I actually had to think about how I was doing it. It turns out that what made the combo work was that if you delay the jumpcancel after the close 5S, you will retain much more momentum from your dash than if done immediately. I have no idea why it's like this. Anyway, this means that if you do the following: 6P or 2K > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > dash S > delay > jK > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > sideswitch > ... you can get a sideswitch without the superjump. It works better the longer you delay the jump cancel, so you might want to do jP instead of jK, since it's faster and thus easier to connect with. Now, the beauty of this is that first of all it's way easier, secondly it works even if you're deep in the corner (so did the other one actually, but once again, way easier) and best of all, it works on absolutely everyone. You just need to remove the jHS on light characters and add another jP for Potemkin. Also important for making it work is to do the HS after the sideswitch as late as possible. Don't know why it's like that either. Superjump combos are not obsolete, since they work from a farther distance than this one. Also for the characters it works on, I suggest still doing this as a corner combo: 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > jHS > jD > BL 1-hit > HS > Net > dash > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > sideswitch > ... since it does a noticeable amount more damage. Characters I've found this to work well on so far is Dizzy, Ky, Slayer and Faust. ------- Regarding curse loop, yes you need to do the input like Badguy said, and yes it is by no means easy. It's all about perfect spacing on both the dash before 5K > HS and the dash before the skull. If you dash too short the first time, you won't be able to reach with the skull, and if you dash too deep you won't hit with the next tk BL. For the last dash, you just need to know you opponents hitbox well and dash the absolute minimum. I recommend Sol as a training dummy, since he is moderately easy compared to most, but still a challenge (unlike Anji on whom it's quite easy). Also, I often find it a bit easier if you switch 5K to 6K.

Shounen vs Tsubasa , Nakamura , Komayuki http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthGT8F1WJE I suppose everyone's seen it by now but I thought it deserved to be commemorated here. Shounen plays really well here, and shows why he's the best. Frankly I've been a bit disappointed by the matches of him after the first ones against Ruu, but these are back to his usual level. Nice stuff with curse loop from random setup on Tsubasa, and he just baited out Nakamura like anything.

@fragile: I don't really get it. She shouldn't really ever be doing high gekirin. If it's the dash-version, it's very hard to punish, so it's best to just block and try to maneuver away. However, it sounds like it's the regular version and that shouldn't be a problem. If he does double jump gekirin, it will either miss you and you can run up and punish with absolutely anything when she lands, or it will hit you high up, giving you time to punish after block easily. Baiken: The first thing to take note of in this matchup is that nets will be your saving grace. Use them as much as possible. Try not to pressure her at all unless you have a net placed somewhere close around you. Just having one net in the right place stops her completely from using Ouren and the K-counter. It also makes Sakura less of a threat since there's a 50% chance that it will miss if she FRCs it. If you can get two nets out in front of her (it's okay for them to be pretty far away), you are safe from all counters except the P-counter, and that one kinda sucks against grounded opponents. So ground nets stop counters pretty well, but high air nets are what I consider best for stopping her movement. If it's well placed she'll get stuck in it if she tries to airdash in on you, making her more keen to disarm it. Counter her when she does. High nets also mess up her combos since most of them are on the variety "launch with tatami, jump after and combo". You can bait sakura with poke > dust, but this is no longer truly a good strategy, because sakura isn't used as much. Still, if you hit with a dust that's close to 250 damage on Baiken, so it might be worth trying from time to time. also, 6P sometimes clashes with Sakura, and 2HS sometimes goes through it. Both are risky but might be worth to try for if you already commited to an attack and can't cancel it. Baiken's 6P is very slow, so you can often bait her with a jumpin and then do net > fall down and throw. It does however win over almost all of Testas ground pokes. If she starts throwing it out too much, punish with HS EXE instead. You can duck under jS if Baiken does IAD jS. This means if you make ducking stance your default, you won't be caught by sudden dash-ins as easily (IAD Tatami is easier to punish), and you get a free punish if she tries and it goes over you. Warrant kabari (the chain). You can do it on reaction, and after a while she'll probably stop using it altogether. Generally, just be much more careful than usual. Break off pressure strings early, keep her guessing when it's agood idea to counter. Make use of the jump cancel property on close S and 5K. If he gets you in the corner, be patient an look for a way out. FD often helps a lot. If he likes to get in on you with jHS you can get out under it with 2HS (keep blocking though, you'll be at a disadvantage), or you can be cocky and try for a warrant. It's harder to time it than it would seem though, and if it you get hit, it's all over. Baiken takes a lot of damage, so just take your time and look for a way in. You won't need to succeed that many times before she's dead if you make sure to lay out as much damage as you can each time.

More important question: So what? hypothetically, isn't a characters with only positive matchups except against the two top characters also a top character? :roll:

Okay, I got it. But your way didn't work for me either. You sure they can't tech that for you? Anyway, I got it by catching them low with the first HS, and do HS > net > dash jS > BL 1-hit > HS > net > tk BL Doable, but the timing is iffy as hell.

Still, gotta ask, do you get knockdown on lights from that? Or am I the only one this isn't working for?

I'll assume you mean gekirin (the overhead). If she doesn't do the IAD version, it shouldn't be a problem. Just block and punish. IAD gekirin is more of a bastard, but as you said you can usually just 5p if you see it coming, or try for an airthrow or something. Anyway, it shouldn't really be that big a problem for your zoning. The the dash-version can't go very far, and you can discourage it with high nets so she will either get stuck in them or need to do them higher = easier for you to punish.

It's been known for quite a while. I think it was Goran who came up with it, only a few weeks after the release. The most common version of it is: Corner throw > HS > net > dash jK > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > (land behind opponent) > HS > net > tk BL > 236P It does the same damage as yours, but I find it a bit easier. It works on all mediums I've tried it on, which is most of them.And it does work on potemkin and robo-ky as well. You just have to either time the first HS early or delay your jS a bit. What I'm wondering is how you managed to get a knockdown on a light with this. I've tried it several times and I can't get it, they always tech about halfway down. In fact, I don't have any corner throw combo on lights that's even decent, so I always just let them lie =/ BTW, updated first post with dust-combos and combos starting with Gravedigger. Not terribly exciting, but good to know.

Here's my effort to make my previous list more succinct. I'll still leave the old one if anyone wants more detailed reasons for any of the things listed here. http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showpost.php?p=156855&postcount=21 Pros: + Has "ultimate space control". Trees, nets, skulls, EXEs, the crow and his very long range pokes makes him able to keep practially anyone at a distance until a chance opens up. + Easy mixups with 6P/2K that both have the same combo-potential + Can get good damage from any situation for 25%, even from OTG. + Combos bring his opponents to the corner and almost always give knockdown. + Gravedigger gives him a moderate-risk way of closing in on zoning characters. + HS EXE, Warrant and Nightmare Circular together give him a good defense and possibility to escape pressure. + Can end most combos with a curse. + Good at building guardgauge, can reset his pressure with EXE FRC + HS EXE gives him a poke that wins over almost everything groundbased. + Very strong offense and defense after a curse. + Possibility of very high damage, particularly from poison Cons: - Big proration on 6P/2K that start almost all his combos. - Very limited mixup options beyond 6P - Lowest guts rating - limited anti-air options - No good air to ground game. Very easy to anti-air.

Testament: pros: + Has "ultimate space control". Trees, nets, skulls, EXEs, the crow and his very long range pokes makes him able to keep practially anyone at a distance until a chance opens up. + Easy mixups with 6P/2K that both have the same combo-potential + He can now get a good combo from any hit with 25% tension, regardless of position, mainly due to HS EXE FRC. + Badlands (214P) has enormous untechable time, giving him knockdown (often in the corner) from almost all combos. + Badlands allows him to combo an airborne opponent without the need for either tension or corner. + Gravedigger (214D) allows you to trade 25% tension for better and easy positioning in a combo, but you can usually get the same result without the tension, though more difficult. + Gravedigger also works well as a decently safe surprise distance attack with high reward options. This makes it much easier to get in on other characters with good zoning. + HS EXE fills an old gap in his defence. It doesn't disappear when he's hit, and knocks down on counter hit. This makes trades when doing a HS EXE while being pressured common and very profitable. HS EXE also beats pretty much any ground poke, making it much riskier to try and outpoke Testament. + HS EXE lifts from OTG state, meaning you can get an extended combo from almost all situations if you have tension, and gives much larger leeway in combo-planning. Gives tension-free combos in the corner. + HS EXE (yes, again ) has big frame advantage (+9), making it easier to synch attacks with the crow, chip away your opponents last health or just annoy him to death. =p + Has a fast reversal move that eats both high and low attacks. A landed warrant(214K) can turn a match around completely for 25% tension, even from midscreen. Risky move, but it's presence makes sloppy pressure dangerous and it renders a few, slower, moves almost useless against Testament. + Nightmare Circular is a very safe OD that covers almost full screen. Works well both as a reversal and as a punish for obvious long range moves. + He can reset his pressure for 25% tension with an EXE FRC, giving him a new chance to break the opponents guard, all the while raising their guard gauge. + Can curse in more situations than previously (usually possible but very difficult from throw). With the right combo and 25% tension, you can get knockdown in the corner and curse from almost any hit. + With a curse he gets incredibly strong both on offense and defense, but any combos done during this time must be very well though out or the crow will ruin it (since badlands knocks them over such a big area.) + High damage possible from an unprorated starter... cons: - But only decent damage from 6P and kinda crap from 2K, regardless of amount of tension spent, not couting guard gauge. (Only a small minus, since his combos are easy to get and gives such good positioning now.) - Very basic mixups. Both 6P and 5D are very slow, so an experienced player can block them on reaction almost every time. - Lowest guts rating - Limited anti air options. Most of them, like 6K or 6HS, must be done in anticipation. 5P wins over many air normals but when it doesn't, he really has no options left. 6P hits too low, starts too slowly and has too long recovery to be useful except in very specific circumstances. - No good air to ground game. Very easy to anti-air. Sorry for probably being way more wordy than you wanted, but I've never learned to be brief. I can probably make an effort to fix it up if it's required. In summary, he's got good offense and defense and exceptional space control. He can combo from anything and more often than not gets corner knockdown from them. A bit tension reliant, but not overly so. HS EXE is a boss move

Good luck =) And yes, by the way. 2K can almost always be substituted for 6P. Just the damage that gets worse, but it's still worth it if you get a good knockdown from it. Just don't use more than 25% on it. Also, gotta say that I was really impressed by ABEGEN. Two beautiful slashbacks to Pochi Buster. Goran is still playing very well though. And once again mad props to Rise, again and again proving himself as someone on a higher level than most. Notice he did the exact combovid-combo that he did on ky in the CMV?

For the characters it works on, I recommend the following combos for when you start the combo at the opponents starting position or closer. The two variants works on different characters, so pick whichever one that works. The trick for these is just to retain as much momentum for the super jump as possible. Close to the corner 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > dash S > sj > jP > jK > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > (land in the corner) > HS > Net > tk BL > 236P close to the corner 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > dash S > sj > jP > jS > jHS > jD > BL 1-hit > (land in the corner) > HS > Net > tk BL > 236P When you are further away, this one is generally easier to do. Just be sure that you run in as deep as you can after the FRC: Midscreen 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > dash in deep K > S > sj > jP > jK > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > (land in the corner) > HS > Net > tk BL > 236P If you are even farther from the corner, it's a bit iffy. I'd say just knock them into the corner behind you and go from there. These combos work on most characters, but there are some exceptions, like Venom, where it's hard as hell to land it. I generally find this to be the best option since it gives you that precious corner knockdown for only 25% tension, as well as giving the tension penalty time to wear off for when you go for the next one. Damage isn't remarkable, but decent enough.

Hey, looking good My main gripe would be that you don't capitalise quite enough on the damage potential you have. More EXE FRC combos would be good. Specifically against Anji you went for 4 hits to BL 4 or 5 times instead of just finishing him off with the 75% tension you had. I have a bit of trouble commenting on the first one, because it was so choppy I couldn't really follow it very well, but yeah, a bit more careful on those warrants. You use it even more than me, and that's saying some. And I don't actually find a missed warrant to be THAT dangerous. Sure, if it's in the middle of their pressure it's generally easy for them to just keep doing what they were doing and punish you big time, but if it's for baiting a poke or the like, it's usually quite hard to punish it since a poke isn't designed for bringing you big damage (for most characters), and the animation is only 40 frames anyway, only a bit worse than laying a tree which people do all the time anyway, and without the counterhit state that goes with it..

@The Muffin Man: I haven't researched it all that much, but what worked best for me is to do throw > 6K > BL > tk BL and then wait a little in order to let them get further dow[finput][/finput]way. After that it's pretty much just as fast as you can. I experienced difficulties with keeping the loop going without that pause, but best thing to do it sprobably to try out different stuff like this and find what you feel is easiest for you. Might differ from character to character as well. @Diveman: Well, the main factor seem to lie in getting the opponent as high up as possible in relation to yourself before the BL. Having momentum may help, but I don't have any hard evidence for that yet. Best source for reference would be The "Electric communication" combovid, but basically you just trap them in a net close to the corner, then run in and do something like jS > jHS > BL or jP > jK > jS > BL. Note that there are about 6 frames after the opponent flies out of the net before they can tech. Try to catch them during these frames, as it helps with getting them up higher. In other news, this way of doing side-switches rocks so much! I've tried it out in matches now and it works amazingly well. It suddenly becomes one of your best options for several occasions, including: * Opponent is hit by a tree relatively close to the corner: S > jK > jS > jHS > BL > HS > Net > ... * random air-hit to BL 1-hit * Warrant in the corner, as previously noted * Any ground combo starting in or very close to the corner In all the cases listed above, you get a perfect knockdown for at most 25% tension, often none. It also fills the gap created by my previous side-switching combos (the superjump ones) as they are much harder when you are actually in the corner. Now, the best usage is something like this: Combo is started between your starting position and the opponents starting position: 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > dash in deep K > S > sj > jP > jK > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > (land in the corner) > HS > Net > tk BL > 236P Combo starts between opponents starting position and about the length of 2D from the corner: 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > dash S > sj > jP > jK > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > (land in the corner) > HS > Net > tk BL > 236P Combo starts closer to the corner: 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > jHS > jD > BL 1-hit > HS > Net > dash > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > (land in the corner) > HS > Net > tk BL > 236P EDIT: This does not work very well on all characters though. I haven't had a chance to test it out, but for example on Venom it's almost impossible to get this shit to work with any consistency. Dizzy and Sol are easy though, if you need a good choice for practice dummy =)

I just got to say that the Azumanga-stick that Mad Tomato has is the most awsome and good looking stick I have ever seen. Mad props!

Okay, here we go again. Thanks to Rise and his excellent combovid, I've spent more time playing with curse-combos. I have during this time found several very interesting things. First off comes the point of doing HS > net > tk BL instead of just HS > BL at the end of the standard side-switching-combo. I've always done the latter in order to avoid damage scaling from the net as well as getting them down lower for easier knockdown. So wrong. According to the frame data, the second hit of BL has the same untechable time for both ground and air versions. However in reality, a tk BL gives knockdown much easier. This makes knocking down Dizzy easy, and even makes it possible to get a knockdown on lights. Secondly, it just makes the combo easier. No more accidental 236P for landing on the wrong side, or OTG HS > BL into punishment for hitting too late. Another thing that is as of yet unconfirmed, but it seems like moving in any direction, even back towards the corner will often ruin the side-switch, putting you back on the wrong side. Don't know why. More than that, the video shows that you can actually get the side switch from more situation than I initially thought. As long as you can still hit with jS > jHS, it's possible so be sure to look for that. It's actually possible without it but much harder. Finally, I now have what I'm pretty sure is the optimal warrant-combo in the corner. Warrant > HS EXE FRC > jHS > jD > BL 1-hit > HS > Net > dash > jS > jHS > BL 1-ht > HS > Net > tk BL > 236 P It does huge damage and gives you an optimal knockdown for only 25% tension. Just make sure you hit the jS as late as possible. For lights, change 236P into tk BL > tk BL. I'll update the first post with this as well.

It was a lot of fun watching Rise play. Nice to see that he actually used the combos he made in the combovid. Big thumbs up for that.

The extended patterns can be found in the first post of this thread. And it's actually not your imagination. Testament is harder to IAD with. If I recall correctly he has a longer amount of time from after a jump intil he can dash than any other character. This means that the problem of pressing too fast is very common with him, and you can't do it very low.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/roz_to_beni/archives/50776920.html Testament combovid - "Electric Communicatio" And it's actually a good one as well. Now that's something you don't see everyday.

Nothing at the moment, since most of us in Lund have gone home for the summer (You pretty much only live in Lund for studying). Only me and Nehle left since we got ourselves jobs here, and we dont have the recording equipment here in any case. Ranbats start up again sometime in September. Only events before then that I'm attending would be Dropkick (Sweden) and B3C (Germany). I'm really looking forward to that though And totally agreed that there's a lack of good Testa-matches. Actually, pretty much the only matches with him that I've enjoyed since the release are the ones with Shounen and Shuumatsu. Most of the horde of other players are just mindnumbingly boring.

Well, I find it to be something you just learn to see. Practice some of the setups for it, and you'll notice Testas trajectory and stuff like that. Just get a feel for it. And actually, landing in the corner is almost always preferable, since you can get a curse for less tension, and if you want damage instead, you can still do S > HS > BL > HS > GD >... And no, you can't hit with a P-soul after a 1-hit close to the corner. The exceptions to this is 1) You do the whole superjump-land-in-the-corner business 2) you start close to the corner and make sure your knockback overrides your momentum forward, e.g. by jumping straight up at the start or something like that. It usually makes it way harder to actually land the 1-hit though.

It's wrong though. Correct version in my post here: http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=598&page=152 Except for possibly the air ch's.