Ryd'

It needed to go.

Yukiko can cancel 5C and 2C into Dia during the IK superflash to negate it. Depending on spacing, she might also get a free punish off it as well.

I'd be up for games at UAT on Sat.

That's not directed at me, right? 'Cause I don't remember ever mentioning anything like that.

Fire Break shenanigans in awakening: This is a silly little trick I do every now and then that tends to catch people off guard; not sure if I've seen it posted elsewhere. If you activate Fire Break while sitting on a good amount of meter (100+), but don't immediately put it to use (anticipated a reversal following the activation and held onto it, activated in neutral just to make your opponent wary, etc.) and you land a hit with your opponent not in the corner, you can do your basic bnb into A Agi xx C Agidyne and store the Agi. If necessary, back up while they're being blown away so that you can catch their tech with the beginning of D Maragidyne. Most opponents will be forced to block this, or at least be heavily inclined to do so due to being at full screen and seemingly safe since Fire Break has gone on cooldown (it's hard to determine whether or not Agi pops in Agi xx Agidyne if you're not looking for it). Right as Maragidyne pulls them into the Agi, release it and enjoy the extra free damage + whatever you tack on at the end. Not the most damage you can get for the meter, but situationally useful for closing out a round. Edit: Alternatively, you could do combo into B Agi, hold, D Maragidyne on wakeup, release Agi when Maragidyne hits, but this will be a lot more obvious. On the other hand, it'll likely return more damage if it lands and you toss in D Agidyne at the end. Variety in tricks never hurts though. The first one is still useful, as if you're on the verge of going into awakening, you can use the HP cost of super canceling to push you into it, and the Maragidyne may come as more of a surprise, making blocking on impulse a lot more likely.

My god, I can't remember the last time I ran a gauntlet like that. I need someone to remind me to take a break sometime. GGs to everyone I played. Also, for Ray: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAVIfvAatvA Mostly basic shit and hype impractical shit. The stuff during the credit roll is awesome though.

So what happens if you delay your tech?

I'll try to put in an appearance today.

Didn't see this in the thread, so I figure I'll toss this out there. Any time Liz goes for her IK off your normals, you can cancel into Dia (just tap, no need to hold) before the IK activates and negate it.

Getting a bit more damage out of corner Maragi combos (à la challenge 30) and for being needlessly flashy; not that there's anything wrong with showing off. My main gripe with it combo-wise is that it actually seems to return a bit less damage than less extravagant variations (at least whenever it isn't used as a corner Maragi loop starter). You might be able to use it in blockstrings to provide enough time to setup high/low unblockables. Not with the maragis themselves, but use them to keep them pinned long enough to score 2A/2D or something. Nope, testing said otherwise.

Just throwing this out there, but the double AoA combo at 3:09 isn't legit. Doing AoA xx OMC xx AoA causes a reset in the second AoA that will make everything drop if the opponent's holding back.

The sweet spot is somewhere between 1-2 character spaces in front of Naoto. Somewhere around sweep's tip range iirc.

Dia through her IK, enjoy getting around half your health back and probably making the Naoto player go blue in the face for paying 100sp to let you recover (twice as sweet if you were in awakening when it happened). Alternatively, you could just try to position yourself to avoid the crosshairs and go for a punish when it ends.

Yukiko is a lot easier to learn than other characters who have operated on similar hold/release mechanics; Eddie in GG, characters like Aoko (and more recently, F-Akiha) in MB, just to name a few. I was actually a bit disappointed that she didn't have more complicated maneuvers. In P4A, I'd say Shadow Labrys is noticeably harder to learn in general because you're doing button holding a lot more often just to keep your persona alive, as well as doing inputs for two characters and having to time their inputs to cover and catch off of each others' attacks. Characters like Yu and Chie are probably easiest because their playstyles are very direct, and they get free oki off every knockdown with multiple chances to open you up each time. Where overall ease/difficulty among characters are concerned though, I don't really see there being a need to really compare this kind of thing. Yukiko should be harder to play on principle because of her ability to control space and force opponents to gamble or eat damage; BBCT showed how lame it is when you have zoning/setup characters who are effective with minimal effort. I think Yukiko's in a good place on the whole. She takes a little more work than the other characters, but she can turn a match around with the best them. And in terms of difficulty/complexity/effort, it could be a lot worse; she could be Venom (though I'd love it if she could even approach that level of complexity).

I don't know if it'd be possible. I was aiming for something that would guarantee 2D to drop the persona behind the opponent so you'd get the reverse B Agi and combo into bigger damage (3k with a Maragi combo, more (collectively) with Fire Break setup) as well as keeping Yukiko out of harm's way for as long as possible, so the positioning is a bit sensitive. You could skip the fan and aim go straight into 2D, but that might screw up the spacing on allowing the Agi release to cover 2D, or allowing the 2D to hit at all since the fan gives a bit of pushback to help position them for it (my memory's a bit hazy on the specifics here since I was playing around with a lot of different setups); then again, they'll know something's up the moment they see 2D, and that comes right after the fan, so the difference is heavily telegraphed either way. I could be wrong on the issue of spacing though; I don't have time to hit up the lab atm, so feel free to test things out; otherwise, I'll play around with it some more when I get the chance. Given the spacing though, a lot of opponents should be hesitant to get too reckless even if they recognize the setup since Yukiko doesn't have to commit to anything until she goes in for the unblockable, which is covered by Agi.

Been playing around with trying to setup high/low unblockables midscreen. I don't think I've seen this specific setup, but it's a variation of using 236A+B to setup a midscreen crossup. Following the standard 3D 5B followup to drop the persona behind your opponent, you can do: 5C 2C 236[A+B] ]B[ 5B 2D ]A[ 2A+B You want to time the sweep with the end of 2D so that you can pick up off of it, and you want to sweep with the tip of the sweep's range for the best spacing for a followup. If you have everything spaced/timed properly (persona just behind the opponent), you can do something like: 236~]B[ 5BB 236[A+B] And from here either go into a Maragi combo, or setup a Fire Break+Maragi unblockable. You may need to dash toward the opponent a bit after the 236 depending on spacing and whatnot. Setting up the initial unblockable isn't airtight; there are two notable gaps, mainly at 2C 236[A+B] and when you go to cover the unblockable itself with the ]A[. I've only been able to try it against a few opponents, but most haven't been able to escape at the first one; they tend to get hit (I've had a Chie reversal, but at this distance, Yukiko should be safe and you get a free punish; Teddie should be able to escape it with BD, Naoto's BD may be troublesome), so if you're good at quick confirms, you can pick up off that for damage. The latter point is a bit trickier, but you'll control where the gap is with the ]A[. Ideally, you'd want it to cover the 2D to prevent reversals when you go in for the unblockable, but if you read an early escape, you could release it earlier and aim to pick up off that if at all possible. You're at a pretty good space here to avoid most reversal attempts, so primary methods of escape will likely be jumps, slides, a few B+Ds, and long range supers; all of which should be avoidable and punishable with a good read. A twitchy opponent will likely need to be trained to respect it, a more cautious opponent will probably eat the setup once before trying to escape. Counting the initial combo (something like 2A 5AA 5B 5C 2C 236), you can get upwards of 7k damage at lv 0 fire with back to back unblockables (2D+sweep, Fire Break+Maragi) for 75SP. If they start not teching at the Maragi combo, you can always switch it up to Fire Break+SB Agi; less damage, but nobody can escape that setup without eating a free combo of some sort if you're on point.

Fun stuff today. Awesome playing GG again (I lied Mehraj, it's only been...probably a little over a year since I last played...we're still cool, right?), and lots of fun with P4A. All...3? 4? people I played...but long sets are awesome, so it's all good.

What's the general consensus on 214C+D usage? I've been playing with using it for oki in crossup 5C combos (5C 2B jB dj jA j214B 214C+D as you start falling). Jump over the opponent with jB as soon as you recover (delay the jB a bit to tag crouchers). Depending on how you time things, you get three results here if the opponent takes the setup: jB hits first: gives you a nice float and allows you to pickup after landing from jB with rejump, jB dj jA j214A; 1.8~1.9k, or 2.5k with 236236C finisher. If you're positioned so that the opponent's close to the corner after the bounce (with you outside of the corner), you can do rejump jBB jump forward j214B~5C (5C hits) 214214A for 3.3k. jB hits simultaneously with Hammer: you get 3 hits (Hammer, jB, earthquake from Hammer) + knockdown for 2.1k Hammer hits first: you get jack, really; jB ruins the bounce so that all you can follow up with is like...5AA; gets about 2k with just Hammer+jB. jB hitting first is obviously the most ideal of those. If you just go for a cross up/they block jB and eat the Hammer, the damage goes up by a fair chunk; just as an example, the corner combo ends up doing just under 4k. The greatest flaw here is that there's a small gap since you want the Hammer to be delayed to coincide with a jB. But if your opponent starts trying to escape early, you can input Hammer early enough to make it meaty. You should also be able to block anything that can be jump blocked if your opponent starts pushing buttons, and Hammer won't get stuffed by anything short of a super. Sorry if I'm reinventing the wheel here; just picked up SLabrys a week ago and have been experimenting with her many options. I don't think I remember seeing this in any of the videos I've seen though.

2A+2D with 2A opening you up doesn't break 2k without a super at the end. Sweep+2D (forgot about this) can lead to 3k+ midscreen if the persona drops behind you. You don't have to worry about noteworthy damage off a low in the corner, but be careful everywhere else.

Mikey, you should definitely come.

There is no chicken blocking in P4A due to the whole 8 frames of not being able to block when jumping (3 before leaving the ground, first 5 in the air). How you deal with Yukiko's setups depends on which UB you're dealing with. Fire Break + Maragi: Reversal on wakeup and pray it isn't read, or don't tech at all and take the extra damage. Just delaying your tech doesn't work since Yukiko can and should be popping the wave manually, so you'll still get tagged by the pillar after your tech. There is no jumping out of this one or anything since the Maragi should be meaty when properly executed. If this is done in the corner off Agidyne (with an Agi in place to tag your wakeup), you might be able to reversal on wakeup and tag the end of the Maragi recovery; I haven't tested this though, so take it with a grain of salt. Fire Break + SB Agi: As this one can be held all day and the flames can be released so that Yukiko has enough time to not commit until you've been hit (allowing her to block/avoid and punish reversals), you're probably boned. Bufudyne > OMC can work if Yukiko's in range to be hit right after your tech, but that isn't always the case. 2D+2A: Tricky. Reversal on wakeup can work if she's in range, but Yukiko shouldn't be getting hit here since she's waiting for 2D to come down. Whether or not you can reversal just before the unblockable hits depends on when Yukiko releases the Agi that should've been sitting on your face. Ideally, the pop is timed so that it pins you down so you're forced to eat 2D+2A; in these situations, you have a small window before the Agi will be released where you can try to jump/dodge/whatever to escape. Jumping will likely get tagged by the Agi; best case, you only take a bit of damage and escape; worst case, Yukiko picks up off it and you get sent back into the setup. Dodges can be punished, and Yukiko should be able to block any reversals. If the Agi is popped early to stop wakeup escape attempts, the same escape methods can be tried to get out just before 2D hits, but can all still be punished. This unblockable generally doesn't lead to too much damage (especially if 2A opens you up) compared to the respective 4k+ and 3k+ the aforementioned setups dish out, so it's not outside of the realm of possibility for Yukiko to bait an escape attempt and punish for potentially bigger damage than she would've gotten otherwise. Just something to keep in mind. Fire Break + Maragidyne: If you're close to her anytime a Maragidyne goes off, you can punish with Bufydyne, DP, or throw right after the super flash. If you're not close, then you can usually jump or dodge it, though there are setups where there's an Agi in place to pin you down or it's timed so that the flames catch you on wakeup and you're forced to eat the super or risk getting punished for escaping it via reversal.

Use attacks that are/can be delayed to fill in large gaps in pressure and don't be predictable. Things like 5D, 2D/jD, and Agi (especially SB) are the most significant tools for this. You have to teach your opponent to respect your frame traps and whatnot so they'll let you get away with bigger stuff; just don't get too crazy. jB recovery can be covered by dropping jD first. It's hard to give specific advice without being provided with specific situations, so just watch videos, see what the Yukikos are doing, and think about why the opponent isn't challenging setups and whatnot; if you have questions about specific situations, post links for reference. Yukiko can generally pressure most characters rather effectively, especially if she corners them and you can maintain proper spacing.

Picking up Shadow Labrys just for you, Ray. Full homo.

"Get better at timing the input" is the only realistic advice for that. Practice, practice, practice; it makes all the difference in the world.

Ray, you forfeited "hottest girl" status when you lopped off your hair. Now go back to daydreaming about ponies and stop pretending to know what good games are.