kro_

Might go to AI again today.

Um, not as much as the pumpkin nerf, j.2c nerf, and 6a nerf. I don't really notice it to be honest.

So here's a question: You can cancel her DP into 236a on block right? If you cancel her DP into 236d, will the fireball keep her relatively safe (barring things like Litchi's all green or bang's new super)?

Hardcore runaway and turtling?

I did a quick test. Used 3 winds right at the start of the match and watched the recovery. The first bar took 3-4 seconds to recover while the last two took between 1-2 seconds to recover. I think it is a little faster. edit: 1-2 seconds each

No, and I don't think she will have any even matchups either. The closest I could think of are Noel and possibly Arakune if you don't get cursed, but that's just based on theory and videos.

I managed to get some playing time with Rachel yesterday at AI. Only a few people were there at first but pretty soon there were like 15 people putting up quarters in front of the machine to hold their spot. That meant like a 30 min wait in between turns if you didn't win. Between Kennyon's Litchi and Mike Z's Tager, it was hard to do much if any testing. Ken had like 2 20+ game win streaks and Mike Z had a few double digit streaks as well. Both feel like extremely bad matchups for Rachel. Rachel's 6a will more often than not trade or get stuffed by Litchi's j.b. In the 4 or so matches I played against Ken, I only managed to win a round twice - both by lots of blocking correctly in the corner and time out. Tager has new Rachel specific combos that do some pretty heavy damage and leave you magnetized in a bad position. Those combos take so long he'll probably have spark bolt meter by the time you're out. Considering how long it takes to summon anything, he can hit you with it even if he reacts poorly. Oh, and Tager's j.c actually clashed with my 6a The main nerf I noticed in the transition from CT to CS Rachel is that summoning pumpkin is super slow now and Rachel's 6a seems to have less priority, comes out slower, and takes longer to recover. Both of those things really hurt Rachel's defensive game. There were a lot of situations where I was at a distance where pumpkin would come out in CT, but it doesn't come out in time in CS. Besides resorting to chair or counter assault, there was not much I could do to escape or prevent pressure. I personally feel that Rachel is so bad at neutral situations now that no combos or setups are going to save her from being bottom tier. They won't matter when you can't land them. I spent most of the time thinking on ways to approach and defend rather than combos. j.3db 2b mixups with pumpkin are still pretty effective. Windable frog is also very good. Like if the opponent tries to jump over the frog and IAD at you, you can wind your pumpkin backwards and the frog will also get winded backwards below the opponent. Or 6d236b will make the opponent get hit by a pumpkin, a seed, and then the frog even if the frog was close to you initially. Wind feels like it recovers a little faster while blocking too, though that might be because I spent so much time blocking. Pumpkin travels slower, which makes it easier to follow, but it also has much less range. Lobelia seeds take longer to fire now. Even non-Rachel players can easily notice it. Pole placement feels very important now. 5b > IAD backwards + pumpkin or 5b > IAD backwards + sword iris is pretty useful. Lots of 236a during block strings seems to be the way to go to get poles out on the field and push them back a bit. With pumpkin and frog out, she is still decent. But frog meter makes it very difficult to keep it up. Good luck getting them out without getting counterhit during the summon. Everything - even just throwing out a 6a while they're IADing at you or summoning a pumpkin from 3/4 screen away - feels like a high risk/low reward situation. That's the best way to sum it up. I played Tsubaki too. Short range, not enough priority on her normals, and inability to charge meter or followup knockdowns are some problems. But she's fast and charge-cancel rushdown is really fun. Feels a bit like Melty Blood reverse beat jab whiffs. I'll keep playing both for awhile - at least until I feel comfortable with the new moves, find some decent BnBs, and come up with some sort of gameplan. Living in an area with good competition can be a blessing and a curse. Sometimes, you need that endless line of scrubs or alone time with the computer to stay on the machine, figure stuff out, and get used to the game.

AI has it right? I might head over there in the afternoon.

There's a video that shows someone doing it. It added like no damage.

Wow, Noel's new 5c and optic barrel are ridiculously fast. Hazama's seems really good at fishing for counterhits with ouroboros and that backstep flash kick. Tager has so many rocket finger setups. It's a totally legit mixup especially in the corner. Litchi's new shishin that moves upwards looks really good. Oh look, Rachel is doing 2a 5b 5c 236a again :/

Pretty odd, huh. And we play differently too. Maybe it will help us pick up on more things again this time.

I don't blame you. I'll try her for awhile in tournaments and stuff but I'll probably have a backup character for loser's bracket. Too bad that backup will probably be Tsubaki, who isn't that much better off. At least I get to accuse others for top-tier bullshit for a change.

I think it would work, and it would have low proration too. The reason throws are more useful is that they shortened the window for OS throw defense by like 5 frames. So people actually have to react to throws now or OS defend in such a way that you were probably expecting a throw anyway. Also, I found out that Rachel can't crouch under Noel's 5b anymore but she can still get 6c looped by Litchi. Bastards.

You're forgetting about the frog meter. Can't summon another one for awhile after the first one disappears. But yeah, 5cc wallbounce seems pretty important for extending combo damage in the corner, lengthening grounded combos, and setting up oki/create distance midscreen.

This combo sounds like it takes forever. Just what Rachel needs to regen wind.

I like how all of her projectiles clash against each other now. It makes Rachel mirrors much more entertaining. He actually comboed 5c wallbounce into another 5c wallbounce. 5cc corner wallbounce loops huh?

Couldn't you land and cancel into pumpkin summon? Or is that also so slow that she'll get punished by wake up DP?

0:32 - 6b CH still puts the opponent in a stagger state. He also canceled it into 236a on hit. Most likely, it's not possible to combo anything else after that unless you RC. 1:12 - Pumpkin disappears on its own ~4-5 sec after last use. I'm not sure if disappearance is based on last use or initial summon. At around 3:20 in that vid, the Rachel used 5cc to knock Tsubaki on the other side of the screen. I guess 5cc on airborne opponents has knockback now? 4b and the second hit of 5cc definitely take off GP; the red flash indicates it. He seemed to purposefully go for that string many times in order to guard crush the opponent, though you could say he was trying to mix up too (if that slow overhead can be called a mixup). 5cdc > 236b > dash 6a BBL (or 63214d6c) - I think this could become her standard combo into super now. It should work on everyone, hits early in the combo to avoid proration, and allows frog oki because she didn't use the frog during the combo itself. I still have yet to see anyone try 5cdc > frog > 2b 5b > air combo ending with j.2c. In previous loketest vids, some Rachel player manage to combo j.2c at the end of an air combo. If this works, she should still have some ability to setup oki. 236a's speed and ability to stuff ground approaches was like the only thing they didn't nerf, and the Rachel players in all the videos so far are abusing that for all it's worth. 6a CH doesn't seem to combo unless the opponent is in the corner or got hit really high and deep. Most likely, Rachel will have to use 4d or maybe 7d to combo off 6a CH reliably. As for a general impression, she's not looking too hot. The slower pumpkin summon and movement speed really hurts her ability to stay out of pressure. It seems very difficult to wind a pumpkin forward and combo into it now to punish things. Because of this, pumpkin becomes more of an annoyance that does no damage rather than a legitimate threat. It's like she has to use wind just to handle the basic keepaway and pressure that everyone else can do with their decent normals. Then, she has to use wind to deal average combo damage at the lower end of the spectrum. Combine that with the delay in wind regen, loss of wind regen while OTG'd, and forcing her to do air combos instead of ground combos and you get someone who's struggling to do basic things everyone else can using very limited resources. It's just too easy to run her out of wind. Anyone with good pokes, fast run speed, projectile invulnerability, or their own projectile can get in on her now without much difficulty, which pretty much includes everyone in the cast. Even Jin's ice swords and Noel's optic barrel are effective. That's just sad.

Updated. The guide is complete more or less. And just in time for the release of CS. Enjoy.

Just j.2c and frog oki setups. I think everything else will remain intact. And zoning will have new stuff with movable frogs and aerial iris.

Updated. Finished part III. I will probably go over that latest video by H.H. next time. Also, I just found out there was a 30000 character limit for one post. Also, no list of punishable stuff. I don't know enough about other characters to do that. Nor do I want to test it. Just rely on your eyeessss.

duuude...

You're not that bad. I would say that you have a pretty good grasp on how to use your pumpkin on its own, but not how to work with it. Whenever you use the pumpkin to interrupt him, try firing b or c lobelia slightly afterwards so that you don't get moved around by wind and keep him in block stun longer. Or you can try to learn how to fire the cannon in such a way as to do the job of the pumpkin (anticipate his movement and fire early). It will build a little more distance and time to regen wind. Also blocking. It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to counter after blocking an attack, but the fact is that Rachel's normals don't work well against someone with the range and frame-trapping ability of someone like Jin. Also, backdashing or IADing backwards can be unsafe against Jin thanks to his 2d. I generally just block and wait for an opportunity to 6a him out of the air or simply jump back while blocking, then airdash. I should probably start working on that guide again. Seeing these questions reminds me of what I should be adding.

Just reading that got me pissed off. I hope the winners at least get those checks. What a joke.

It was $10 entry fee when the pot was $600. They probably changed it to $16 when the pot became $2200, which matches the fee and prize for sf4/tekken. I guess they let the early entrants stay in with the cheaper entry fee.