kro_

I have some replays I saved on my PS3 against various Hakumen players, but I don't know the first thing about recording match videos and transferring them to a computer. One thing I do to get my zoning started is jump back > IAD back > summon pumpkin > watch what he does. If he IAD's after me, I wind the pumpkin down-forward to create space and start shooting seeds. Shoot seeds in anticipation of where you think he will go and wind pumpkin on reaction if you guess wrong. Use sword iris after a seed to give yourself frame advantage on block or save them to set up a trap later on. Re-summon pumpkin after using it if it ends up in a bad spot. If not, summon frog. Whenever people get past my zoning, I just start rushing them down as a reward. Here's one of the things I do to avoid getting cornered: j.2c with 6d wind is a great overhead from afar and very difficult to dodge. If they block, double jump and do another j.2c for a crossup overhead. Cancel that j.2c into pumpkin or seed and the momentum from the wind will carry over and make you fly across the screen. Chances are you'll get some free damage, switch sides, set a well-placed pumpkin/seed, and end up full-screen distance away from the opponent.

You can do combos that don't use the frog or use 6cdc to push her into the corner. Landing a hit with 6a or lobelia should give you the opportunity to summon a pumpkin and initiate rushdown. Noel can't anti-air a pumpkin with you following behind it. And if you actually are landing 6a's a lot, some of those should be counter hits. You can catch her with 5b and go into an air combo after 6a counterhit.

4b 5b 5cdc etc.

His sweet spot is the distance where he can hit you with the tip of his j.c after IAD or normal jump. Rachel's sweet spot is just out of his j.c range when he jumps forward. From this range, you can score a 6a CH if he tries to IAD and his j.c will whiff if he doesn't. This is useful if he somehow manages to get past your zoning, which shouldn't happen too often.

Block and wait for his curse meter to drain while avoiding getting re-cursed is the usual option. Well-timed pokes can also get you out of curse since Arakune players tend to get more reckless when they have you cursed. Landing a throw, even if they tech it, will break the curse too.

If I understand it correctly, 1f jumping no longer exists and holding 7 to jump out of a block string with barrier is detrimental since the opponent can hit you during your jump startup.

That's not actually a j.2c. It means aim wind downwards (2d) and do a j.c. You should be hitting the opponent from below with the umbrella shortly before landing on the ground, so you don't need a ground bounce. For me, the combo got a lot easier when I started doing 2d shortly before the double jump. Good luck.

How to beat drive spammers: Block low and watch for 2d (the overhead drive attack where she jumps in the air and blasts in an arc). Chair or 5b is a good answer for 2d and any of her single-button followups to a blocked 2d. Learn to combo off chair and 5b counterhit. How to beat Noel: 6a beats out all of her aerials since they have relatively short range. Noel also has a tough time killing frogs and needs to be in your face to do damage, so staying near the frog is a good idea. Once again, use your pumpkin in combination with the frog to force her to block it and go for free mixups. You can literally just sit there and fish for 6a anti-airs if you keep a frog and pumpkin near you. Noel also lacks a good reversal so rushing her down is fairly easy. It shouldn't be hard to regen wind in this matchup. Watch out for Noel's air super and 3c slide. These beat your 6a and 6b respectively. I believe her 5d is also invulnerable to the fork poke. Her slide can also go under a pumpkin winded horizontally. A smart Noel will attempt to throw you to make your pumpkin and frog disappear even if you tech. After a tech, she has the advantage. It's fairly difficult to get out of pressure once you get in it, so do your best to keep her out. And god help you if you burst or don't have barrier. Noel is one of the best characters in the game at guard crushing the opponent.

Things that lead into 22a: -Any seed that hits right before it touches the ground -3c -6a -low to the ground air-to-air j.c After 22a, you can usually catch them with: -3c (low) -5b (mid) -6a, j.b, or j.c (high) You need to be close enough to land one of these things before the hit stun ends. If they tech before you get there, then you were too far. Look at some of the posted mid-air combos and how they use wind. You can apply those principles to nearly any combo. Just experiment a bit.

I miss that a lot when I play online. In that vid though, I think he just didn't dash far enough for multiple hits of 3c to connect. I'm pretty sure he could have comboed it. If you ever have doubts about whether or not you can land the frog, just spend another wind and do 6cdc or skip the frog and go for the 236B > 22A > air combo followup instead. And if you accidentally drop the frog after 5cc and you know the frog won't connect (I do this a lot on Ragna, Jin, Noel, Tager), just dash up and do 2b 5b > air combo. It doesn't work on them midscreen. But if they're in the corner or you use 2 winds to move them closer, frog combos will work.

Prevent her from summoning pumpkin by keeping up the pressure and rush her down with your own pumpkin. Wind-boosted 236 a/b/c's are also useful for forcing a block, getting rid of the opponent's pumpkin, altering the trajectory of the opponent's seeds, and setting traps to quickly counter a summon via lightning. Well-timed 6a for anti-air and 6b for ground-to-ground are pretty important in this matchup too. Keep up the frog oki for as long as possible whenever you score a knockdown. Whoever manages wind best and manages to keep his or her pumpkin in play usually wins.

Update to some earlier testing: By going for the bounce, the above combo will look like this: 3 winds, 50% meter, tested on Ragna - 6a (counterhit) dash 6a 63214d6c (walk forward) 214a dash 2b 5b (frog hits) sj 8d2d2c 214a 3c (1-2 hits) (frog hits) (214b) 3c (214a oki) - ~5800-5900 dmg (depends on how many times 3c hits) - On characters that cannot be 3c'd easily, perform the following combo: 3 winds, 50% meter, tested on Noel - 6a (counterhit) dash 6a 63214d6c (walk forward) 214a dash 2b 5b (frog hits) sj 8d2d2c 214a 3c (1-hit) 236a (frog hits) (214b) j.2c (214a oki) - 6035 dmg There is no max damage option if you include the bounce. After being juggled by two frogs, the computer will tech after anything I do, so I was literally forced to end with 3c or j.2c at that point. Also, Ragna was too high to end the combo with 3c after the 2nd frog juggle a few times. I think that depends on whether you hit him 2-3 times and how high he is when you catch him from the bounce. In conclusion, after 6a CH you can: 1) Spend 1 wind and 50% meter to get ~5700 dmg by going for max damage. 2) Spend 1 wind and 50% meter to get ~4700 dmg with oki. 3) Spend 3 winds and 50% meter to get ~6000 dmg with oki. All of these combos are pretty hard, especially if you include the bounce. I only get that one down correctly at most 25% of the time right now.

Yes, basically. Ending things with 3c or j.2c knocks them down, which makes it much easier to tech chase. Wind the pumpkin in the direction they tech and follow with a mixup, or use it to safely place a frog in their face. Because you followup a projectile, you will usually be safe from dp attacks. @soniti - I'll try out that combo tomorrow.

Not sure what you meant by bound for damage. Do you mean just 6a CH dash 6a3214d6c with no followup?

I experimented with some 6a combos and 63214d6c a bit. Tested on Noel so I'm sure these work on everyone. windless, 50% meter, point-blank range (or corner): - 6a 632146c 214a 3c (1-hit) 236a 6a 22a j.c dj j.c 236a - 5866 dmg Those conditions aren't really feasible so I modified it and tried it from 6a counterhit: 1 wind, 50% meter, works midscreen: - 6a (counterhit) dash 6a 63214d6c (walk forward) 214a 3c (1-hit) 236a (frog hits) (214b) 6a 22a j.c dj j.c 236a - 5764 dmg Hard parts are the 63214d6c and juggling the frog into the 1 hit 3c into 236a. The damage is great, though. I tried to juggle with j.b j.c dj j.b j.c after the 22a but the dummy would always tech out by that point. You can also remove the post-frog juggle and go for j.2c + oki, but the damage scaling at that point isn't too bad so I always go for the max damage option: - 6a (counterhit) dash 6a 63214d6c (walk forward) 214a 3c (1-hit) 236a (frog hits) (214b) j.2c (214a oki) - 4944 dmg On characters that are easily juggled with 3c, you can juggle the frog with (3-hit) 3c which is much easier to do but does less damage: - 6a (counterhit) dash 6a 63214d6c (walk forward) 214a 3c (3-hit) (frog hits) (214b) 3c (214a oki) - ~4600-4700 dmg (depends on whether 3c hits 2 or 3 times)

George only absorbs it during its release in mid-air. It sails over his head once he lands on the ground. I also learned that the hard way.

I would suggest using 6a over chair if you're trying to predict one of her diving attacks from long range. Less recovery, less punishable. Things I have trouble dealing with are her fast and long range C attacks > drive > mixup/pressure (2a's, 5b's, flip overhead into cat spirit, and throws. I feel like you're literally required to IB certain attacks and punish into combos, since you can rarely create enough distance to summon things safely or zone her if you do.

I don't find 6b very useful against Ragna because his normals are much faster and outrange it. It works for catching a dead (dread?) spike, though. I would emphasize using frog defensively in this matchup since he is forced to attack you from close range and he cannot use hell's fang to close distance while it's out. The pumpkin is usually necessary to do that. Just stay near the frog so it can bail you out if he forces you to block and protect it with pumpkin + seeds/combo followup if he tries to kill it. As always, if he blocks it then you get a free mixup.

Jump backwards + j.c when you predict a teleport. He'll usually go for that teleport whenever he has the cloud that tracks himself.

I am the one responsible for giving him lots of Rachel practice Some long range tactics: Summon a pumpkin, backdash his sledge, then wind pumpkin forward during his recovery + followup with a combo. Summon pumpkin, summon frog. If he tries to kill the frog, use wind + pumpkin to punish him for doing so. If he tries to jump over it, shoot a seed at him and he'll be forced to block the frog since he can't kill it from behind. Or if you're close, 6a or chair him. If he blocks the frog, free mixup. Your wind regenerates faster than his spark bolt, but you still have to pay attention to both meters. You can avoid spark bolt at peak super jump height or by releasing an aerial frog to absorb the blow preemptively. I don't really suggest the latter though. Respect the backdash and learn to tech throws. Once magnetized, do not jump carelessly or you'll get air-thrown. Do not try to run away if he has you in melee range while magnetized either. May be worthwhile to save meter for counter assault in this matchup especially when you're cornered+magnetized.

Watch for his command throw and be wary of trying to summon pumpkin or frog when he does the triple shuriken. He can also guardpoint your projectiles and use them to teleport and get in on you.

5d through his projectiles.

Well, either you have to bait the super or start rushing him down. Just zoning might get you some wins against Hakumen, but if you can't rushdown well and mix things up a bit you will have difficulty against most of the cast and no chance against Nu.

If they do it from far away you probably have enough time to activate chair. You can also wind a pumpkin to stop it. If you manage to set a frog safely, they will get hit by it if you just block. But if you're fighting a Jin that's actually smart, he will use super anytime you summon anything so watch out for that.

Couple of old videos, but they were the ones that got me interested in playing Noel: R-1 (Noel) vs Kaqn (Ragna) Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkWmEpzFp30 Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMgeOdf1vdY&feature=related