Sophisticat

You can cancel 4c as well, actually. This should make it much more viable.

Seems like you're not the only one. D:

Try to bait 2c, it's got huge recovery and the invincibility frames come out late (11f, I believe). 6b can be mashed out of. 2a -> corner carry that bitch. It's not an easy matchup, mind you. Mu can hit harder than Haku with the right starter. :X

Pedro, actually. It sorta' is once you get used to it, or if the Haku's too obvious. In these cases, the setup is visible and reactable. The rewards aren't that good either outside of Tsubaki. 6b has like no reward at all in EX other than to destabilize your opponent, and it can be thrown and mashed out of, so that leaves instant j.B and Tsubaki. Instant j.B is only to confirm to Tsubaki, really, but it can lead to good dmg in the corner. Which leaves Tsubaki. It's worth at least 4.5k in the corner, and maybe 4k+ midscreen if you're able to do those combos. But you can mash out of it so you need to space it, and if blocked you lost 3s. So the thing here is that you really want to land lows like 2b and 3c CH or mids/pokes like 2a and 5b which are gdlk for setting up corner carry and do good dmg. These are the pokes you want (and are more likely) to land as Haku. Low j.C CH or 4c are good as well, but these can be matchup specific and 4c needs to be used sparingly. J.B crossup works if the opponent is scared to mash as well and leads to more dmg. His mixup shines more in the corner with instant j.B -> Tsubaki setups that can lead to 5k or [stuff] -> Hotaru -> 5c -> 2c -> etc. that can break 5k. It still sucks compared to many other characters, though. No, you really get the most out of Haku's dmg when you're countering the other guy's stuff. The above demonstrates his normal's use as attempts to mount an offence. As defensive pokes, they would be used whenever you see a gap in the other's offence, assuming it's not a frame trap.

Hakumen doesn't particularly need strong offence in EX, but I am reminded of my matches last week with one of our top local players. At some point he decided to just stop attacking and let me RTSD. Try as I might, Haku's got no mixup so I couldn't even get a hit in except for the occasional throw he didn't react to quickly enough. Tsubaki and 6b are relatively easy to block as overheads if you see them coming. The former also costs 3 stars. Granted, there's always instant j.B, but that whiffs on some crouching hitboxes. Afterwards he said "do more mixups". I'm like "what mixup?". :8/: Hakumen only really shines when the other guy's being reckless, too predictable, or leaves a small gap in his offence. It's otherwise hard to get them to crack open their shell. In this, I think Psycho is correct that Haku could do with a command grab. But then people would whine. But anyway, I don't think that's a weakness per se. Haku is still gdlk without having great offensive tools. If we're talking real weaknesses, then I mentioned the recovery on his C and D moves on whiff to be the real killers. If you don't space e'm properly or make a bad read, you're done for.

We need to get some matches in, Sir Toan. Sadly not this weekend, so it'll have to go to next week.

Montreal's UMAD training arc, actually. Pedro said it first, but I repeated because it sounds so cool. :D All I want for Gore is good enough weather so I can ride my bike there, which may or may not happen within the next couple weeks.

We've had it at -40c this winter. I normally don't even care about -20c, but -40c makes me want to flip tables.

^^ Toan speaks truth. But C0R said Haku doesn't give any. This guy still plays? Good shit. Was a good Nu back in the day. /Old man Sophist

But Psycho, Jin is free to Hakumen. Why have you forsaken the Void?

*Checks Florida temps* Fucking 25c over there, fuck you Sans. We've had two snowstorms this week for an extra foot+ of snow and -10c temps. I want to ride my motorcycle already. ;_;

Sounds like it's going to be party night at Foonzo today.

You must be pure of heart, then St-Toan. It's rare to see an individual not be weighted down by negatives.

Whoa, I totally missed your post, Mac! It's the good stuff, thanks for posting. Sadly, I don't think I'll learn all the chara-specific stuff because +R is coming out soon. On the other hand, I get to learn Slayer along with you guys, so it should be cool nonetheless. :D

That would be common to everyone, lol. It's a normal human trait to focus more on pain, loss, and negative emotions than what brings joy. Those are emotions that stay with you longer, so you'll see them emphasized whenever someone speaks about their experiences. So whenever you get hit, you're going to be focusing more on that. And whenever you hit someone with j.C, you're giving him a traumatic experience, which I think is a really rad way of looking at Hakumen. :D

Hmm... not really. I'd say it's because we get to witness our character's weak and strong aspects more personally than the other guy who's at the receiving end of everything. It makes you more aware of deficiencies (though these could very well be attributed to the player). It is good to experiment with other characters to get an idea of weak/strong points, though. I also play Valkenhayn and admit his mixup is just broken, but he can be weak to pressure, too, and not everyone realizes this. There is no doubt Hakumen is strong in EX. As mentioned earlier, the only matchup I hate is Tager. No one else makes me nervous. He's just really solid with few real weaknesses, which would, imo, be the recovery on his Cs and Ds. If you whiff either, you're getting CH'd. He's otherwise got options for every situation.

I'm willing to pitch in, too.

Vitriolic reply from JF in 3... 2... 1... I kid. :P JF, I need to play your Rachel. I need matchup exp. for UMAD. ;_;

Random Q: how do you guys feel about EX Haku now that CP's coming? Honestly, with this guy, the only character I hate going against is Tager. Anyone else is fine because we have the tools to deal with stuff. I'm not sure he even has one bad matchup except maybe Arakune, but fuck that guy. Combo-wise, not enough choice between corner carry and dmg, imo. Midscreen you'll get 3k on average, 4k+ if you land 5c. Corner is fine, but I would honestly have preferred more burst damage the more stars used. As it is, 3 stars gives you everything. I'm mixed about IAD j.B -> j.A becoming a staple combo. What was cool about CS2 Haks was that this was a much more difficult combo to land, so it was more exotic. Now the novelty has more or less worn off. Despite this, EX Hak is probably the version I'm most comfortable using because of his sheer versatility and top-tierness. Overall his best incarnation without any doubt. At least until CP where he's even more over the top.

I'm up for more matches tonight. Need to get in dat exp. for UMAD. (For those who don't know what UMAD is, check out the thread. It's basically Montreal's equivalent to EVO, but for anime fight games)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EB! :D Have a good one and party hard.

Yes. Play lvl5. He will teach you how to AA.

JF!! Tu pense quoi de Tao v. Haku? Personally, the impression I got was that if Haku can control the space and keep his cool, he's got the advantage. Use j.A/B in the air, and 5a/b on the ground. You outdmg Tao on average if the corner is taken into account. She's hard to deal with, but sticking to quick pokes until you can press an advantage seemed to work best. Then you get her to the corner and crank out TK Tsubaki/instant j.B. The trick is not getting pressured or mixed up while keeping up a wall of pokes that will trade or CH. I think I'd rather fight Tao any day than Tager, whatever the case...

Been playing with XDest/Neo this afternoon. I still hold the opinion that keeping to the air and not staying put is the best idea. You need to disrupt Tao's offence in any way, and j.A/B, 5a/b are good for this. I used to think j.C was good here, but it's really not because Tao's too mobile and its hitbox too thin. The recovery alone will get you CH'd. Positioning/spacing is really tricky, but also really important I find. I didn't win any matches, but I was getting rounds whenever my positioning was good. This means j.B just out of AA range, a good j.B crossup, or successfully hitting with j.A, then getting on top. The key is really to push Tao into the corner somehow. Then crank that Tsubaki/instant j.B/strike-throw stuff to the max. On defence, barrier everything then jump out when you can. D if you anticipate the next move. XDest tends to use a lot of lows after strings, for example. Whatever the case, don't get caught. Even matchup to maybe Haku favour, imo. Very good use of spacing and managing not to get caught in her mixup will likely win you the match. It can still easily go either way because either character has good comeback potential, though.

GGs Neo, XDest, Akira_Shiro. I got creamed as I'd thought. Tao/Valk combo was too strong. All I know to do against Tao is maybe mash 5a, j.A, and get in a lucky counter. I was messing up some good combos just trying to keep up with you guys. Would be glad to go for more some other time. Need to rack up that matchup exp.