Angrynord

Yep, indeed you can. Oh, and by the way, the timing on the 5C after a dash cancel 214C is a bit tricky. You have to do the 214C towards the end of the dash in order for Hakumen to land fast enough, otherwise they have the opportunity to tech and you'll get a black beat. However, on counter hit the untechable time seems to be a bit longer, and the timing is much easier. Oh, and I never realized how much of a bitch negative penalty was in this game until today. It doesn't come up very often, but pretty much any of Hakumen's combos will kill just about any character. I've never had it come up in a real match, but I'll be damned if seeing 10k+ damage on a simple combo doesn't give one an incentive to be offensive. Hakumen can milk more damage out of such a quirky occurrence than any other character, but I must comment that Tager is downright scary: His B Tager Buster does something like 9k to a character in negative penalty.

After experimenting somewhat with dash cancel and TK 214C, I've found the dash cancel to be rather useful. Hakumen lands quickly enough that you can hit a 5C if it connects, and can combo from there. He has several half life combos outside of the corner using it. In the corner you can simply do 214C > 5C > 623AA and then go into the normal j.2C loop for 5k+.

There is actually a pretty sizable start up time on bursts in this game compared to GG. If one hits the buttons to burst, one can see the life bar display "WARNING" almost immediately, while the burst actually comes out much later. If one is doing a combo that can be done on autopilot (i.e. a combo that doesn't require specific timing based on opponent height, etc.), then one can simply keep an eye on the opponent's life bar, and simply stop attacking as soon as it displays "WARNING". I find that there is enough lag between initiation and actual performance of a burst to react to this if I am paying attention. Of course, one can also simply learn to read one's opponent, which isn't all that hard to do if they burst only when a combo could kill. Most players, due to the loss of barrier and the increase in damage taken after a burst, will only burst in that instance. So, if your combo can kill, start paying attention. I've also noticed that Nu players, from watching player behavior in videos, seem to be more wiling to burst earlier in a match, especially against Hakumen. It probably has something to do with getting raped on life from just about anything, and getting position back being more valuable to them. What part of the combo is failing? Is the move not coming out or is it not comboing? Mugen probably has some restrictions placed on it beyond what is advertised. Another thing: I've noticed that Hakumen doesn't seem to be able to perform the same special twice during a special cancel series. They seem to have to be spaced by a normal, or he must return to neutral. For instance, I've tried 236A, 41236C, 214B, 236A, 6C, and the second 236A will not come out. As for throws...beats me. All I know is that the opponent has a longer throw break window should a throw be attempted during their hit or block stun. Off of anything? I thought he couldn't cancel his specials off of 6C...hm. Or do you mean canceling specials off of each other? Also, yeah, I'm aware more damage can be netted, I was just throwing that out there as a gimmick thing, and to get some feedback on RCs in general. It's not really a combo I aim to land, but should I hit a random 6C, and 6C, RC, 6C, 632146C will kill them, I'll do it.

Has anyone messed around with RCs yet? I killed a friend's Ragna today by doing charge 6C, RC, charge 6C, 632146C when he was at 90% health. Amazing how a simple thing like that will learn people real quick that bursting doesn't work like Guilty Gear.

<3 6A and 6B. I've been using Hakumen's A and B attacks more and more frequently as pokes to get out of pressure. They actually stuff a surprising amount of attacks, and have found them to be rather effective against Bang, especially if you predict a low attack and use 6B. You get a nice floor bounce on counter hit. As for strategy...I play this one way more defensively than normal. I don't particularly fear Bang's damage or mixup...but FRKZ is a major problem. If he uses it and has life lead, he pretty much has the match if he's not an idiot. Since Bang can pick up all four symbols in one combo, I don't like to take much risk with him. Then again, I'm not too confident in my pressure yet, so that does play a part in my feelings on the matter.

Indeed...and because of that property Litchi can avoid that super more than other characters, as a surprising portion of her normals while holding her staff count as projectiles. The astral counter doesn't seem to work at all against projectiles either, so Litchi can just smack you out of it half the time.

Heh, that's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping that it could be used for. Rachel is a pretty mobile character, so I suppose that one can only hold her down for so long. That string though would likely cause all sorts of hell for characters like Tager (without shot) and Hakumen.

Duly noted. Like I said, my bad. I'm going to test this out tomorrow and report back with findings, unless someone beats me to it. It might count as a projectile though, like Litchi's staff. I had noticed that Hakumen's astral finish will not counter projectiles, and found that several of Litchi's staff normals will not get countered by the astral, so they probably act as projectiles somewhat. It wouldn't surprise me if some of Arakune's attacks are treated in a similar manner by the game.

*shrug* I dunno. Overheads are nice to have, but to me it never seemed like a character was missing something if they lacked one. Then again, my main game has been ST for years, so I'm just used to characters not having overheads. It's somewhat odd coming to BB and seeing that everyone in the whole cast has at least one overhead. I'm unsure if that was the case in GG as well, as I have not played it extensively enough to know the entire cast. That said, I don't think Hakumen needs a normal overhead. Sure, it would be nice, but Haku already has a severely damaging overhead on the ground that leads into big damage, and another one that can be tigerkneed and comes out wicked fast. Yes, they cost stars, but that's a small price to pay when you can take half a life bar from a combo off of them. Really though, we should have this discussion in the general thread, not here. Sorry guys for starting it >.<. Still hate Arakune.

Indeed. When I first got my hands on the game, my feelings on Haku's mobility were not exactly elated...that is, until I started doing IADs. Yeah, Haku's design is just concise and elegant. He has nothing that he does not need, nor does he really lack anything. He might seem wanting on the surface, but he has certain traits that cover his flaws. Can he get rushed down easily? Yes, but he can make an ass out of anyone who doesn't respect his Drive. Can he be zoned easily? Yes, but he can destroy projectiles at will (gaining meter!), and when he catches zoners, he tears through them like wet tissues. He lacks mixup, but he doesn't really need it. I really think folks are sleeping on ol' Hakumen. Hopefully one day we'll all chuckle at thinking that Arakune was a hard matchup.

Ach, just...no. Seriously, Nu isn't that bad. I would rather fight Nu than Old Sagat (ST) or Sagat in SFIV any day. That is the nice thing about Hakumen: One can afford to be patient. I normally don't sit too idle during matches, but if I choose to sit on a lead, that aspect of Hakumen is extremely helpful. Hakumen just strikes me as a character who rewards strong basics, and who should be played patiently (that's not to say passively). The fact that he has counters as his drive I think speaks loudly of what the designers intended for him. As to the matchup...yeah, I must say that I hate this one. I don't feel too threatened when Arakune doesn't have me cursed, but the difficulty just really amps up when he finally lands it. This is one matchup where I'm completely content to idle and grant the opponent a wide berth. Buh, I hate the little bastard.

I know Nu has some heavy delay on some of her projectiles...I wonder if 236236D might be effective for closing the gap. It's sad that if it shows efficacy that it burns half a meter, though at this point I'm perfectly willing to blow meter to get a hand on Nu. Thoughts? Note: I am aware that the counter super doesn't work the same way when it counters projectiles, that's why I'm wondering.

Thanks for posting this information. Good stuff.

Just an observation, and a quick question. So, today I was messing around with Nu in training mode, as I will likely end up using her as a secondary character. I was trying various things with her "variant" specials, where one presses C to have the special take on different properties. I noticed that her variant j.214D cancels the attack, and was trying to see what I could do with it, as it reminded me of Johnny's mist cancels. Namely, I was doing her Throw > 5DD > 6DD > 2DD > j.DD > dj.DD > 214D combo, and instead of hitting with the attack, I hit C to cancel and manage to connect with another j.D. I did not carry on due to my surprise at having connected with it. I had to leave shortly thereafter, so I haven't had the chance to play with it some more. Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, I just wished to post before I forgot about it. So, the question: Is the j.214D cancel useful for anything, be it for combos or for Mist Cancel-esque shennanigans? The combo aspect is why I chose to ask this here.

I've been having a similar issue, but for me it is that I get a black beat when I go to do the land 2C. Any advice? I think I might be hitting the j.C too early. It's supposed to hit when Hakumen is closer to the ground, right?