Kensou

I'll elaborate a few more points that AtTheGates already mentioned- The frame traps listed above. Be creative and make up a few more of your own. Chipp has PLENTY. Find Me is an INSTANT respect tool but the trick to it is YOU knowing how to utilize it and WHEN to activate it. People get scared the second they hear/see Find Me and they tend to panic twice as hard. This means you've opened them up by proxy and its up to you to punish them according to their mistakes. Keep in mind that Chipp makes people feel uneasy by proxy due to his speed and buttons. Chipp gets counter hits pretty easily once you understand what to do in each match up. Sure he has a general flow chart but you have to adjust as you go. Sneak in some 6k after c.5s and 2hs gatlings and of course raw ones during delay strings. It's minimal damage but it puts people on edge after taking 5 in a row. The P teleport spam is great with Find Me and even without because your teleports are unreadable at that point. Of course it looks like trolling but its a viable tactic for 3 reasons; 1) unreadable, 2) slight meter gain and 3) you avoid negative penalty. That'a win on all fronts so use it, its definitely not a troll tactic. K teleport > YRC demands respect! People can't whiff freely if you have 25 Tension at all and you're paying attention. This is pretty huge in the "Eff you Chipp player! I'm just gonna hit buttons and you're going to run into them and die!!" You'll notice them hit buttons significantly less after getting punished by this when you get it down. All in all Chipp has more than enough respect tools on all fronts, infact one could say his whole tool set is based around that respect. Again its up to the pilot to command respect. 1. Chipp isn't hard in essence to play. It's consistency in using all your tools and options is the hard part. 2. Your tool of choice doesn't effect your character's usage. It's up to you as the player to execute when its time be it online or offline. Training mode and input checks are your best friend. =] 3. Simply put, Chipp is a neutral killer or disruptor if you will. Your goal is to make your enemy feel uncomfortable doing their neutral with all your movement and punishment options, thus makes it Chipp's neutral. That's the cliff notes version, feel free to scour the forums for more info on Chipp neutral. On the notion of awkward stray hits, you can learn to convert them. Yes you could do a make shift setup for it if you miss as there's nothing wrong with that. But, you're more often than not going to want to convert into damage or a knockdown if the conversions after the initial hit allows it. Make it count each time because you don't always get those opportunities in clutch situations where you NEED that conversion. Also I went ahead and added the Zato-1 section to the matchups main thread. I'll add points there hopefully soon enough and I'm sure others will too.

Stuff

What I hope to see in this patch, or maybe even a later version, is another ender to his rekkas. Senshu has been there forever and serves only so many uses. Shinkirou is fantastic but I think its about high time that Chipp gets an ender from rekka pressure when he finally lands a hit that either knocks down or puts the enemy in an aerial ukemi mixup. That would contribute to his ground game and actually make his damage a little more consistent vs ending on 2nd rekka and or gambling with the overhead kick to try and squeeze in more damage if they're asleep at the wheel. Iunno, I just feel Xrd Chipp could use a few more tweaks to increase his ability to be scary OUTSIDE of Find Me and even then that while great has some limitations on its own. Just my 2c.

Historically Chipp has won the Millia matchup. Reasons being are as follows- Millia can't really contest Chipp buttons making footsies out of her favor, save for her j.K which is really amazing but even Chipp can challenge it pretty handily in various ways The speed differences are pretty huge so its makes it difficult for Millia to even catch Chipp to begin with (Triple Jump/Air & Ground Alpha Blade/Fast & Slow Shruiken jump and iad trajectories/Simply RUNNING grounded) The general dmg output is more so in Chipp favor, UNTIL she gets so sort of knockdown Her okizeme MUST BE TIMED DIFFERENTLY due to Chipp's wake up timing being the longest still in the game She CANNOT CONTEST j.D WHATSOEVER. This is pretty huge as her 6P gets rocked pretty hard even more so in this game Chipp's ability to screen hug her Pin is pretty easy. Granted, EVERY CHARACTER IN THE GAME CAN DO THIS. But I feel historically Chipp does it really easily and that makes her approach THAT MUCH MORE linear when she can no longer attempt to throw Pin to close the gaps or bait out a Chipp 6P When you knock her down your okizem stays consistent against her and every hit adds up quickly if they cannot defend well. More so in this game where the corner is simply disaster for her when the ONLY reversal is Winger. Just to further the above, her reversals are Dead Angle and Winger which both can be baited much like anything in the game Now this isn't to say she cannot win by any means of the stretch. However, these factors above are HUGE in the overall picture when you view the match up dynamics. In essence, she can do what she does to everyone, KD > Okizeme till death. She's just forced to read even harder on Chipp's wake up. The simply means Chipp can challenge the okizeme more than most characters in the game due to the late wake up. As Chipp players I encourage you to practice vs her okizeme and you'll see her meaty timings can be challenged. And my favorite topic...Elphelt...Whew buddy this chica right here...where do I begin... 2S..this move is Jam's 2S with the range of Chipp's sweep, causes stagger and leads to either A) GREAT DAMAGE or B) A GREAT DAMAGING MIXUP. Chipp CANNOT challenge this button by ANY MEANS of the stretch when being on the outside. 6P/c.5S/2D/5K will lose consistently if you're not close enough to stuff it. In otherwords when you start up Resshou pressure if Resshou is IB'd you HAVE to retreat. You can contest her f.5S with 6P however that's an EXTREME read knowing that you can practically die for attempting the challenge. Beats Banzai kick and 6K on reaction...So yeah...back up and steer clear of this move. Grenade is a nightmare, but we all know that. But she can take silly risks on purpose and bait you into punishing and you take the bait and you die for it because the grenade explodes. Example would be a disguised bad grenade toss > she jumps for an obvious plz anti air me with DP (because 6P is HORRIBLE in this matchup) and you do > you clean hit her with DP > you fall into grenade explosion and get counter hit into damage...yep. Its pretty not cool... The damage output isn't in your favor and she can crank guard pretty easily by sneaking in a 2HS in her strings. The build up on that move is actually pretty insane if you ask me and I sure hope that gets addressed in the future loke tests. Unblockables on Chipp are pretty easy. I've gone through EXTENSIVE training dealing with the escapes and what not but I feel they're just simply too easy to execute on Chipp. This means the second you're cornered and get hit by either Shotgun Stance command grab or just simply get hit any other way, chances are you've potentially lost the rest of the round. The escapes, no matter how much you learn the timing, player error comes into play which all the timings you learned are through the door. Should you happen to escape, you've simply shown them you know and they just delay the unblockable shot on you and can convert regardless pending the meter. OR YRC and sneak in a command grab just to put you on edge. Yeah, fun times~ The neutral game basically isn't in your favor against this character. Now, sure...on one hand if you corner her you can oki her to death right? The bad part is she can do it with a higher percentage than Chipp consistently. I can post more in detail but I'd end up writing a dissertation on why she needs immediate fixing. Keep in mind I stated FIXING not simply nerfs. Every character should function properly and I just feel she functions too well currently so a a revisit is in order from ASW.

IMO....Feel free to challenge my opinion... Chipp vs Millia = 6-4 Chipp vs Zato = 5-5 Chipp vs Faust = 5.5-4.5 Chipp vs Ramlethal = 6-4 Chipp vs Elphelt = 4-6

Right, I mean I understand the applications for both wall leaf throw's but they aren't AS useful I should've said. By no means do I feel Chipp is bad at all. I just think that a few of those changes would get him where he's even deadlier. Just not so brain dead like.

I think that most of this is relatively warranted as I definitely see what you're saying. I'll list my concerns about Chipp- My biggest gripe is that I feel Chipp's 6p as AA is FARRRRRR too spotty as a reliable tool and instead they made it more of a grounded counter poke instead. The loss of its old hit box hurt me the first few weeks playing him. They put more stock into 2HS over 6P this game (for whatever reason) when he originally had both with 2HS being more situational (which was ok). One thing I noticed out the gate was that Beta Blade is pretty bad this game...like damn near XX or Reload status. The hit box on that imo is atrocious and anyone who's smart will just front tech on recovery as Chipp's recovery after it is pretty butt as far as I'm concerned. Air teleport > YRC...why does he HAVE TO BOUNCE UP ON REAPPEARING??! I never saw Samitto or Endou use this and when I got the game I messed with it and figured out really quickly that it's absolutely pointless. Why can't it be like Slash/AC where he fast falls instead is beyond me. Pointless YRC... j.D counter hit untechable time could be a few frames longer. I feel in most instances it was extremely consistent to net a combo from this in AC but this game its like 6P...spotty... 6K counter hit no ground slide much less no wall bounce in corner...Why do we have to spend meter on like EVERYTHING? Elphelt has an overhead that staggers for crying out loud...If it knocked down mid screen on counter (like XX) and wall bounced in corner (like XX) then at least we could take advantage of the move. As it stands right now you HAVE NO CHOICE but to spend meter if you want to make this move great. On the flip side...its decent during danger time. 5HS..dude what happened to you? They like killed this move imo. No phantom hit box at the end and is now 10f from AC+R 7f. Outside of staggering from 6P into this I feel its a weak opener and AA like it used to be. Now for the positives- Ground Alpha seems really good this time around. The 1f reduction on start up from 18f to 17f actually does make a difference in using it for long range punishment. In places where it would take too long to run up you could use that (I know I do a lot) 6P stagger is pretty great. I guess the stagger could be in place for what used to be a 2 piece move you control it more so now. Pretty damn good. P teleport is a blessing and a curse. If it had the slight forward placement it used to have his ground oki wouldn't rely so heavily on FDC. Because FDC is like the main "go to" oki if you're in the mid screen, so having the old 2D > 66 > 22P > cross over meaty 2K setups would be great to mix it up. He DOES have a few tricks that side swap with P teleport but its a pain to setup consistently. HOWEVER, the fact that he stays in place with amazing recovery helps with resetting pressure safely and can open up counter poking situations Leaf Throw + Corner - TREMENDOUS BUFF! The wall climb after ups his dmg potential and makes this move even more scary in that position. The ability to YRC it is pretty huge for those that like to jump away you can snatch them up if you can read them correctly. Leaf Throw is absolutely great for what it offers in this game. I just don't grasp the point of the wall climb versions other than anti blitz shield. Gamma poration isn't as bad as it used to be so you can net some good dmg this game. So where does this leave our ninja? I feel he's kinda in the place where Bridget was in AC having to choose damage over oki and vice versa. His corner carry isn't bad with iAD > P > D combos. I try to mix between the both but I tend to focus more on the corner carry to tack on the corner pressure + potential dmg ouput. I think that if he still could combo air Alpha mid screen that would help his dmg output and make FDC game better. But maybe I'm asking for too much there. Either way I think that when they update the game I'm going to cross my fingers for Chipp to regain his old FRC air teleports back. Also, up his overall damage potential outside of the corner and I think we'd be golden. Just my 2c. Feel free~

Don't normally post here these days but...why not. Some stuff I put together. Use it as you see fit. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QweEJnqY64

Chipp is honestly fairly easy to pick up but really really hard to master. With that being said, his technical side is honestly knowing what to do and how to convert in most situations. Execution-wise Chipp is probably a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 - 10. I'll say now that what LOOKS flashy is just what Chipp HAS to do on the regular. Just a heads up. Great that you have interest in Chipp!

Food for thought. Wall Genrouzan = anti Blitz Shielding on meaty corner knockdowns Normal Genrouzan = anti Blitz Shielding by default Air Teleports YRC seems to not be as useful like Slash/AC/AC+R, pretty obvious the left/right mixups with the YRC K-Teleport are looking more dominant. Plain as day, Camo aka Find Me! is priority. FDC seems not as important judging by Samitto's play. Before it made a big difference Xrd it seems like its only a so-so tool to use. Dash > Neutral Jump looks better due to FDC during Find Me gives your positioning away. Hence why I believe 2D knockdown is longer than the current old 2D. I could be wrong but I noticed this day one and I pray my eyes aren't playing tricks on me. Things I would like to see or hope works: j.D CH > dash > 5Sx2 > HS > iAD > stuff More air super uses for oki Air Teleport YRC, just want to see the effectiveness of this old amazing option Otherwise I stand firm in saying Chipp's future in Xrd is looking extremely bright.

Chipp is really really cheap. ^_^

Going to be talking about GGAC+R and P4U at MLG with Brandino and SilentShinobi! http://www.twitch.tv/donjonnetwork2nd

I recently started a petition for P4U to be featured as a candidate in MLG's upcoming season for next year. After talks with people at Anaheim I really wanted to see this happen. I felt that it's time that an ArcSys game gets its time to shine on the big stage. If you are interested in supporting this then please by all means sign the petition and let's show Atlus and MLG that we care for this title and we are willing to support it at not only community events but their events as well! By working together as a community and supporting each other and the events that we love and enjoy, we can achieve this! Please feel free to share this with friends and whom ever you feel can help us achieve this goal via whatever social media be it email, Twitter, Facebook or whatever you choose. Thank you very very much for taking the time to read this and show your support. -Kensou http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/persona-4-arena-for-mlg-2/ PS: You do not have to donate to the website after signing. Once you've signed you may simply close the window and that's it! ^_^

We are proud to present the 12th installment of the Showdown tournament series. This year we are pleased to be a part of the Road to Evo series. *link:http://shoryuken.com/2012/01/03/introducing-the-evo-2012-game-linup-and-tournament-season/ Date: April 6-8. 2012 Location: Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center 1601 Lake Robbins Drive The Woodlands, TX 77380 1-281-367-9797 The Woodlands is in the North part of Houston, the closest airport would be Bush Intercontinental(IAH) Hotels: http://animematsuri.com/registration/accommodation/am-hotels/ The rate at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott is $139 as long as you mention you're with Anime Matsuri. The overflow hotels are within close proximity to the venue and are also honoring the $139 rate. Residence Inn Houston The Woodlands 1040 Lake Front Circle The Woodlands, Texas 77380 USA 1-281-292-3252 Courtyard Marriot The Woodlands 1020 Lake Front Circle The Woodlands, Texas 77380 USA 1-281-292-3262 Entry: Venue fee is a badge into Anime Matsuri - Currently pre-reg 3day passes are $45. Prices will rise to $55 at the door. You can order your pass either at Planet Zero or online at http://animematsuri.com/registration/attendees/register-now/ Tournament fee is $10 per game Game List: Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - Evo ranked Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition 2012 - Evo ranked Soul Calibur 5 - Evo ranked King of Fighters XIII - Evo ranked Mortal Kombat 9 - Evo ranked Street Fighter X Tekken - Evo ranked BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend Arcana Heart 3(PS3) Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code(PC) Puzzle Fighter Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike *All games are held on Xbox 360 unless otherwise stated Prizes: 1st 70% 2nd 20% 3rd 10% Additional pot bonuses and prizes TBA All Evo ranked games and BlazBlue will be a 3 part event: Pool play 32 player Semi-finals 8 player finals All pools will begin on Friday and run throughout the day. Top 4 will qualify out for the reset 32 player semi-final bracket on Saturday. The semi-final will be run until we reach the top 8, then stop. Depending on the game, the top 8 will either be played Saturday night or Sunday. For the rest of the games, they will be run in their entirety on Saturday. Format will be double elimination, best 2 out of 3 for all games. We will be streaming the event live at http://www.twitch.tv/planetzero and http://www.twitch.tv/shinkensou More information will be added and updated as we get closer to the event. You can contact me for more information and registration questions at Ranma0005@txshowdown.com or Follow me on Twitter for updates and news http://www.twitter.com/ranma0005 Official Texas Showdown Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Texas-Showdown-Championships/163909740322337 Official Anime Matsuri Website - http://www.animematsuri.com

Extend Bang is REALLY strong...REALLY...

To add to the bumper dealy... From personal experience I've used TK'd bumpers purely because it felt easier to iAD to them due to it having the perfect height. There was a video that was up not to long ago showing alot of the bumper mixups I used back in CT and CS1 that are still viable now. But of course back in CS1 why bother with those right? *bad jokes are bad* In all honesty there's no real right or wrong way to place them per se however its a matter of when and how you use them. I'll drop some examples... Corner: I would use a D bumper after a Daifunka to make the enemy afraid of rolling backwards which in turn would make them sit still in the corner. The Mind Game? When you go for strings and iAD back the enemy will be looking for a dash back at them via bumper for an attack when instead you dash down via bumper and run at them on the ground for an anti air attempt. In turn when you've conditioned them to react a certain way you can manipulate their next action and get the desired punish. Only when you've got a better read on the situation, THEN you can bumper dash at them for the overhead or desired mixup. What you get from this? -Bumper dash at them, command grab if you feel a jump -Bumber dash at them jC, cancel to triple nails for extended pressure if you feel. NOT REQUIRED JUST AN OPTION! -Bumper dash down, run in command grab -Bumper dash down, 5A, and start ground pressure -Bumper dash up, toss nail of choice -Bumper dash up-back, to avoid certain reversals The possibilities and options are pretty open, its just on a per situation basis and how the Bang player is reading into the match. Bumpers are a tool for conditioning in a nutshell. The only problem I've had with bumpers in CS2 is the reset damage mid screen can be weak due to Bang not really having a strong mid screen combo game outside of fatal counters and other counter hit situations. Because more than half the time you'll be aiming to use 2A to start and that move prorates to no end. Theoretically you could be quick enough to net a command grab during a bumper reset for some good damage but again, requires reading and conditioning your opponent really really well. Some extra notes on TK'd Bumpers -A & C: You can TK them right off the ground and be in perfect iAD height for the mixup at hand or even just general movement. -B & D: The button input after the motion is slightly delayed. So 21479 DELAY BUTTON INPUT, B or D. Takes a short bit of timing practice for B and D however its nothing to hard. My 2cents. Keep in mind my emphasis on READING the situations and opponent!

6D by far does more dmg than 6C in combos, either less proration or upscaling...one or the other. If anyone has the guide *if its out* can confirm or jp bbs it that'd be great. @Dai: We test alot of stuff out mid match, lots of people want to play as well to soo.... Fav combo so far~ Corner *DUH* CH j.D > 5C > 6D > super crush > 5B > 6C > j.4C> super crush > dash under 5A > 5B > j.A > j.B > j.4C > dj.4C > dj.C yielding 5k j.4C hitbox is pretty large now so alot of characters that this would miss on or be height specific is extremely consistant. See Hazama and Litchi in CS1~ @Zeth: The wall bounce to 5C > 6D > Daifunka might most likely hit but may be a tad wonky due to spacing in that combo. I watched that Anji Bang player in finals of Nagoya Street Battle miss that 5C > 6D > Daifunka combo off a gold burst?? O_o?? Ashura for sure will hit garunteed for probably 3k-ish. I'm sure Daifunka yields about 4k+ depending on the starter but its probably not necessary for these unless going for a kill. I think Daifunka's full screen carry is too precious mid screen to use this combo. Doing more research and the air dash j.4C is actually perfect for the corner carry so I feel its definitely staple. KV was hitting it yesterday and I'm definitely going to be getting that one down. Also the CH combo you wanted to check dmg on is probably in the 3-4k range, which is why I mentioned ending with Distortions might not be worth it if you're netting the same dmg from a bnb ya know? I will say though, if you do hit the combos with the Daifunka ender, on the enemy's recovery you can option select 2C into Ashura if they do anything but quick tech. Pretty sweet~

Yep. Mid Screen - Command Grab > RC > 5C > 6D > Daifunka - Command Grab > RC > 5C > 6D > Super Crush - Command Grab > RC > 2B > 6C > j.4C > j.C Corner - Command Grab > RC > 5C > 6D > Super Crush > 5B >6C, j.4C > Super Crush > land and dash underneath > 5A > 5B > j.A > j.B > j.4C > j.C or end with another Super Crush for aerial tech mixup The corner combo listed is probably the best thing you can do as I've seen it done many of times in videos. Yields about 5.6k roughly

EVERYONE'S FAVORITE NINJA: BANG SHISHIGAMI! In this write up I'm going to go in depth with what I've currently experienced with Bang and my opinion on him in Continuum Shift 2. As a disclaimer, please take this information and do what you will with it but remember this is an opinion and as time goes by, may subject to change. Why? Well, games tend to evolve and opinions begin to change as new discoveries are found so again remember this isn't concrete! Now with all the formalities and disclaimers out of the way, let's get to the meat and potatoes shall we? FIRST IMPRESSIONS? My first impressions of Bang weren't really all that great to be completely honest. It felt like alot of work with him in the previous game went to waste. I felt he lost alot of what made him great and it really made me wonder about the balance decisions that were made for him. The more I play him the more I realize that you really just have to be on point with everything now. The margin for error is still there and luckily Bang has the hit points to deal with it. This version of Bang will teach players to learn more than the surface level stuff in Continuum Shift to fully exploit the more technical aspects of Bang's tool set. To be fair, Bang on mid to low level can scrounge by with the simple strategies but as you went up the ladder it's alot harder when your opponnent understands your options. Now it's not to say you can't win at a high level with the simpler strategies at all, Satoshi proved that countless times. However it's players like Dora and Nezu for example that raised the bar on Bang's potential dating back to Calamity Trigger till even now in Continuum Shift 2. The best way I can put it is, think of CS1 as a primer for CS2 Bang. Getting an understanding of him in CS1 will make the learning curve less by a far margin. NORMALS As you may already know Bang's important normals are alot slower and hitboxes have been re-worked, namely 5A and 5B. 5A is DEFINITELY 1f slower making it a 6f move. Not really all that bad but a bit harder to open with now not to mention anti air with. 5B I believe is now 10f start up now so already you can tell its a bit harder to use these as starters to open ground offense. I will say that 5B and 2B being air unblockables are pretty useful. The new 6B is still the same start up it just doesn't give you the knockdown to an OTG combo any more. However I believe on counter hit standing, it forces crouch and you can link 5A into a combo. The new gatling listed 2B > 5B I feel is pretty good due to the new start up of 6A being 17f and it seems to be the same +1 adv on block. His strings now are more varied due to this making for some pretty cool frame trapping since instant blocking has been reduced from ground -5 and aerial -10 to -3 and -6. Mixing the 6A and every other normal is pretty neat now because the 6A locks them in place if no barrier was used yielding some interesting results. So definitely a plus in this department. *NOTES ON GUARD POINTS* -6D is your new best friend with the best amount of G.P.s. It stops highs and lows but is vunerable to overheads -2D is good but slow to start with jump cancel attached to it. Pretty dangerous if used right -5D really fast start up -J.D feels about the same as CS1 SUPER CRUSH! aka PULVERIZING FIST~! The loss of this move's old properties on hit is what really hinders Bang the most to me. The loss you ask? The loss of the wall bounce hurts his mid screen game and overall combo abilities specifically mid screen. Don't get me wrong, it still breaks one primer like CS1 so its application for that is still good. Unlike CS2, Bang could always rely on this move for all his standard combos mid screen, be it an ender or mid combo tool it was always there for his all purpose combo tool. Since the new focus of CS2 is corner positioning, this move no longer serves this purpose. Instead if you haven't seen in videos, it throws the enemy across the screen. Now, on Fatal Counter you get the wall bounce mid screen and in corner non Fatal Counter you get the wall bounce like you normally would. But the shift in corner positioning for everyone to dish out the damage doesn't hurt Bang all that much but the strategy is the problem. I feel his strongest position overall is the mid screen because his ability to mix up is alot stronger. THE NEW STRATEGY? With the new system of Instant Blocking, frame trapping seems to be pretty effective. Frame trapping with 5B >6A, 5A > 6A, 2B, 5B, 6A, all of these are viable and keep the strings fresh and lead to counter hits. Again, the varied strings allow for interesting guard strings and pressure. I also think setting a bumper or two is pretty important. It doesn't garuntee you a win but getting to the end result is alot easier. Bumpers allow for baiting, mixups, the ability to close distance from the enemy or create distance from the enemy. Many of you know this as it stands but not many Bang players use them to their advantage. My suggestion? Learn how to use them! In CS1 bumpers aren't a necessity but more of a compliment to your game, it's sort of the same again but a player can always use another movement option. The corner is the focus as stated before, so naturally you have to decide damage over the okizeme. Mid screen is Bang's best friend due to all the okizeme options he can perform with and without bumpers not to forget Fuu-Rin-Kazan which I will touch base on further on. However, the mid screen damage is limited to a standing enemy to net good damage. *A quick break down of damage non corner stocked if you haven't been watching videos* -Standing Enemy = 2-3k depending on counter hit j.4B or j.C with 1-2 Seals depending on if you want to use a Web Nail -Crouching Enemy = 1.5-3k roughly depending on counter hit jumping attacks from the above and either 1 Seal, knockdown and okizeme, Super Crush ender leaving you at neutral positioning or end with Daifunka yielding in 3k So on one hand, you can stick to the mid screen okizeme but not be able to really dish out the major damage due to not being in the corner. Not to mention, if you are crossing up, which you will be doing, you will take longer to get to the corner positioning to dish out the high damage. On the other hand, you can end with Super Crush which gives you corner carry but at the same token leaves you back at neutral position or use 50% Heat on Daifunka for the full screen carry. However, there are some instances you may have your back to the wall and while you can turn the tide and change positioning with an opening, it might be best to take the fight back to the mid screen to regain momentum after landing a combo or after successfully escaping pressure. This is of course not to say a player couldn't just done the exact opposite, so it's up to the player to make the decision they feel is best in this regard. Damage versus positioning is the question a player will always be thinking about at all times when playing Bang. FUU-RIN-KAZAN! FRKZ! One of Bang's greatest tools is one of his most risky tools this time around. But before I get into it, a quick break down of what I feel FRKZ was per game and what I feel it is now. *Calamity Trigger* -Defensive mechanic with great movement options to evade and advance -Allowed for Bang to always dish out great damage -Best baiting tool in the game versus a burst or counter assault -Run away Poison Nail -Slightly stiff on execution on some points *Continuum Shift* -Offensive and Defensive mechanic with the same options above with higher damage output -Easier to execute commands all the way around *Continuum Shift 2* -Offensive mechanic more so than the previous games -Harder to bait things due to the shorten back dash distances -Defensively you will have a hard time avoiding things especially bursts This is my stance on FRKZ in my opinion. Now after watching alot of videos and messing around with my own research it seems that FRKZ just doesn't really yield the rewards of either of the old games. The shortened back dashes going up-back and back just truly makes his abilities to bait harder when this tool is used for that purpose and then some. His mid screen damage from it is great, I personally haven't done the combos but the stuff Nezu and Dora are doing looks solid and staple for FRKZ. Seals seem harder to obtatin depending on the match up I think. Of course, having them stocked is always good most definitely though. Matches like Arakune and Carl I think more so than ever its important. Much like in CT versus Carl especially, FRKZ is a must to not have to deal with the clap infinite, and like in CS1 for Arakune you need it to get rid of the Curse Gauge. This time around you really have to know what you're doing with FRKZ because the margin for error seems a bit higher than before. In some of the recent Game A-Cho videos I've seen Nezu use FRKZ and still lose pretty hard. It's slightly discouraging but I believe there's still hope for this tool. I honestly think bumpers are just that much better than FRKZ in most instances due to the movement options not being limited. So to sum it up once again, FRKZ for the matches like Arakune, Carl, Tager etc and bumpers for everything else universally. THE SUMMARY? Playing Bang now means you really can't afford to make too many mistakes and you need to be precise more often than not. A very high degree of technical skill and extensive knowlege of Bang's tool set is required this time around. Huge emphasis on corner carrying versus mid screen okizeme determines how a you go about dealing damage. Alot of Bang's old bad matches from CT are here again so you have to take a page from CT and re-use those strategies with the newer tactics. Getting Seals is a bit of a task so getting to FRKZ can be difficult. Also FRKZ isn't all that strong defensively with the limited backwards movement but, more so offensively with a high risk/high reward stigma attatched to it. All in all he's still a good character its just a matter of getting adjusted to his new changes. Hope this helps you guys out as a primer of sorts so..discuss~ -If at all possible would be great if we could get this on front page or something? Figure it'd be good for everyone to read not only just in the Bang threads. Just a thought?

Hello fellow Bang players, after spending a week with Bang in CS2 all I can say is...Bang might as well be back to CT status...I'm sure you guys have seen vids and can see he's not as strong this time around. But I PERSONALLY feel Bang isnt all that viable. Playing him now means you really love the character, and he takes alot of work and technical skill that the best way to explain him now is...high risk/low reward. I'd like to write a full article about him but I haven't finished my notes I'd like to push right now so I'll be jotting down some more notes before I write this large thing out *or however big it gets when its done*. For the record, FRKZ still doesn't make Bang any better, it just means mid screen dmg.

i wouldnt down and out EC if i were you...those guys are extremely good you just werent there to see it for yourself so yah... and i agree with stickbug on the # of ppl comment.

bottom line about all the bang and litchi bitching...everyone thats complaining about bang is just moaning for absolutely no reason. if i had to pick over bang whooping my ass over CT arakune or nu for that matter, i'd gladly pick bang and litchi. at least i can block my way out of those 2 vs CT tops. FAR FAR FARRRR too much hate on bang when litchi is just as stupid if not potentially worse than bang. for those that have watched matches and cannot tell easily that litchi is just as dumb are being ignorant on purpose. just because bang is "easy" doesnt mean anything. it still requires skill to actually use the char or ANY char to that degree properly. easy combos dont mean easy wins and difficult for sure doesnt mean you cant win either. eddie has been top in GG from jump street and he's difficult to use and yet he retained his top spots over the course of the game's life. (using GG as an example since this is a GG forum) so again i dont see what the problem is. "litchi is difficult/hard to use!" and? so whats you're point? when one learns to play her right then it becomes easy wouldnt it? if you're simply going to sit around and bitch about bang i'd say you have about 3 options. play the game and learn how to fight'em, sit there and bitch, or just say screw it all and quit. option2 wont get you far so you may need to keep a box of kleenex near and learn how to play against him. option3 would be simply sad because you decided to quit because you cant beat bang. granted its your world, and if you the player want to quit then do so. also if you want to bitch i guess go for that if it makes your heart shine. however, know that bang isnt going anywhere and he'll still remain where hes at until a patch or whatever comes along.

spots are paid for not so much about being "invited". also 10stars, why on earth would you want to compete solo?!?

-abuse of j.B is countered by bang jump back B, and can lead to a quick knockdown -yes you can react to 2d if you drop with a jump in, but so can bang so its neutral at this point -if you run out of nails, then that means you're being very careless with your nails. even if you're out of nails, furin will more than compensate for that -i agree 2a beats bang 5a no problem, so use 5b instead -using daifunka as a reversal is only so so... -jumping back vs bang can be countered by 6c (which must be barriered if i recall) and command grab which is untechable, not to mention 5d and 5c in strings of course 1] i think you underestimate furin completely...its a really amazing tool if you know how to move around and punish with it. moving around in furin may take some getting used to but its definitely worth it, just dont rely on it as a rush tool. instead think of it simply as a means of punishment if the opponnent makes silly mistakes...serious dmg too 3-4k easy every time *see 10stars vid on furin combos* 2] the same can be said for any char if you zone them correctly...i dont agree at all. nails make it EASIER for bang to get closer. his speed alone is enough to get him in imo. also i dont see anything wrong with allowing jin to get in and playing the match the other way around in that aspect. maybe not zone out jin entirely but simply force him to make mistakes so you can get a rush game working. 3] again like i stated above about bang j.B. his j.A and B are great air to air like most of the cast. maybe not entirely high priority but if its already out on a pre-emptive strike then bang will win if going up air to air. mainly j.A in particular, j.B is used to counter his jump by jumping back and using it. 4] jin having a dp doesnt amount to anything other than a reversal. it can be baited like any other reversal, now not saying you can bait it EVERY time but its something a player has to feel out during a match. bang's 6d isnt bad as a reversal btw, it has 2 active frames on start, granted that it only guards mid/low its quick start up isnt as bad. dora uses this from time to time in his matches and i've experiemented with it myself and the results arent so bad. mainly used from instant blocks btw. 5] again, i dont agree with anyone playing the match wrong or having difficulties fighting bang as jin. bang is a char that shouldnt be taken lightly not in the slightest. bang doesnt have to be ahead of the game to fight this match at all...if anything he can pace the match with a few pre-emptives here and there and play it patiently till landing a furin. my 2cents

ouch