Dream Maker

Bought the mook today and compared some the frame data in it to the current one, so the changes list should be more accurate by now. Managed to get a couple new changes, more precisions on some infos. Also debunked quite a bit of info that turned out to be inacurrate, including some of the 2 I reported in the previous post : - Apparently HS fuujin's untechable time hasn't changed. - jD is still cancellable into other normals from the 23th frame and not earlier. I'm still puzzled as I am sure I never saw before a midscreen combo from HS fuujin, K followup into 5S. And never saw the jHS, jD, jHS air combo pattern work on Axl or Ky. I guess the first one might be explained by 5S's hitbox being better. The second one could mean that jHS's hitbox also became bigger. That or I was just ignorant that it was possible to do these things in AC. Or the new mook is incomplete. If someone could try on accent core to see if it's possible to do those two things, that would help a lot. I don't have the game at home.

Yes, but he needs to be close to the corner AND to have 50% tension. Don't get me wrong, he's definitely in there in the top bunch and certainly not going to go down and being an easy character to play as makes things look worse. But if Kliff is branded as gamebreaking what should we say about Eddie in AC? Edit : Also for the post stun combo, this needs to be confirmed but I'm not sure 6HS max charge works as a starter if the opponent can get out of stun fast enough. And this is a big deal because if 6HS isn't max charged, the opponent doesn't float and you don't have a tension-free 236S into 5K followup combo.

People have probably been adapting to Kliff and are starting to find some countermeasures. He's cheap as hell but not foolproof either, kind of like AC Slayer was.

Some awesome buffs I noticed while watching these vids : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjx4qml6Lt4&feature=relmfu and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZMHRQCrIX0&feature=relmfu - jD, jHS works on Ky, Axl. I suppose it works on almost everyone now and they made jD cancellable into normals earlier. - 5S, 5HS worked midscreen after a plain HS fuujin into K followup. HS fuujin's untechable time is definitely higher. - FB butterfly into 6S, 3K is unblockable. 3K became a low move. Also reading the japanese BBS many players reported that jP's hitbox has improved. Great stuff, wish I had noticed all that before. I'm going to add all of these to the change list.

If they jump back and get caught in the falling shitsu you can run up and use on to catch them while they're blocking. If they don't get caught, well there isn't much you can do. The best is to anticipate and avoid them being able to escape in the first place. So if you know your shitsu setup will be easy to escape this way you can prevent them jumpin by doing 6S right after your shitsu or even HS fuujin. HS fuujin can even catch most character's backdash.

Yep forgot about 2H and 214K. You need to be wary when using 214K though, even with an FRC some people react so fast to it that they'll air throw you or hit you out of it with whatever move before you have time to do anything. I love to throw in this move once in a while but got punished several times for it. :'(

Ahh blockstrings... Blockstrings really aren't an easy aspect in Anji's gameplay in Accent Core. It gets better in ACR but in AC you're stuck with a character that cannot really keep pressure for long without taking risks. Being aware of those risks, managing them properly and also knowing when it's better to avoid risk and just cut your pressure short will make you a better Anji player as you won't give your opponent easy opportunities to punish you while pressuring. One important thing to keep in mind though : with Anji, you don't really want to be in a situation when you have to keep your opponent in guard for a long time, because he's not good at that and because if it happens, it means you have failed your initial mix-up attempt. Anji is a real boss at okizeme, but he's also by far one of the worst characters in the game at keeping pressure IMO. With that said, there will be times when you'll have to try to keep pressure to keep your momentum, so let's cover it. First, there is a move that looks good for blockstrings but in reality isn't quite safe : Fuujin (236S/HS). It is interesting because this move has 5 different followups and as such it can submit your opponent to an interesting mix-up game, however every single followup carries some risk : - P followup : you go in the air and throw fans, it's slow to come out but can catch the opponent by surprise. However it doesn't really give good reward and if your opponent sees it coming he can jump and punish you. I wouldn't recommend using it too much in AC (it's a bit better in ACR though). - K followup : hop behind the opponent. You can do it to surprise-throw your opponent, however if they're used to it they'll always be able to grab you first, unless they tried to mash something. If you do fuujin close enough you can land outside of throw range and punish their missed throw with a quick move, however if they see through your trick they can counter this by also mashing a quick move and beat you out. - S followup : low fan sweep. If they try to mash something after blocking fuujin they'll likely eat the move. However the move in itself is very unsafe. If you FRC it becomes safe but you'll have to stop pressure. The only way to continue pressure after it is to plain RC it, this can be useful at times but it's very tension consuming so don't abuse it. - HS followup : non-FB rin. The move is very slow to come out but as early mid autoguard frames and throw invincibility frames. It's easy to punish with a low if your opponent sees it however it is good as an anti-jump, so if they tend to jump after blocking fuujin you can use it pretty much safely. On block it gives a very small advantage, so you can continue pressure with a fast move but be careful of interrupts. - D followup : FB rin. Just like normal Rin it's easily punishable by a low but your opponent will need to react more quickly. So you can sometimes catch them off guard with this move. It's faster than rin, hits mid and has better frame advantage and combo capabilities but on the other hand has very small autoguard frames. Also if your opponent likes to wait and see when you use fuujin on block, you can just do nothing and then hit 5HS after recovering to jack their guard bar. However if they see through this trick they can punish you easily as fuujin on block without any followup puts you at huge disadvantage. So to sum up, fuujin in general is very risky to use. Fuujin mixups are good to use once in a while but are very risky. If you're opponent is very good at fighting Anji and has good reaction capabilities, you'll get punished a lot for using them. It's better to test the water first with the safer options to see if trying fuujin mixups will be worth doing on an opponent or not. And at higher level it's most often not to be perfectly clear. So be very careful with fuujin used in blockstrings. Apart from that your options in blockstrings are pretty limited. As fenrir mentioned, the butterfly can give you some opportunities to continue pressure. However you need to do it at the good distance. Too close from your opponent and you'll be at huge disadvantage. Too far and he'll escape too easily. To do it well, you need your opponent to block it when he just recovered from the blockstun of your previous move. If done so he'll have trouble to escape, and you'll be able to continue pressure further. For other noteworthy pressure moves, 2K is the only normal move that nets you a good frame advantage on block (+6) so it's very interesting to use. A bunch of moves also put you at small advantage or small disadvantage so are basically safe to finish strings with : 5K, 214P, 3P, 5S, 5HS. 5K and 214P can be followup up by fast moves but aren't safe from DP mashing, they're also decent to set up tick throws. 5HS has quite a big frame disadvantage but pushes your opponent so far that you're basically safe from pretty much everything if you just end with this move. Some pressure strings examples that take advantage of what I said : -> K > S > HS > 236HS > fuujin mixup As I said before, fuujin mixups carry a lot of risk, to use sparingly. -> K > 214P > K > S > HS -> 2P > 2K > dash > K > 214P > walk forward a bit > throw -> 2P > 2K > small dash > 2K > HS -> K > S > 236P > (pretty much anything) Decent butterfly blockstring setup if you started close to the enemy. After that you can mixup anything if your opponent blocks the butterfly. Most people won't just sit and wait though, so it's to wait and see what escape they are attempting to get out of the butterfly and punish that escape accordingly. -> K > S > HS > 6K FRC (whiff) > dash > 2S/S/K Kind of gimmicky pressure string that can surprise your opponent. You're basically using 6K FRC as a way to cancel 5HS and continue pressure from there. The opponent can beat you out of it if they react fast though but most of the time they'll be surprised and eat a counter if they try to mash out. Sorry for the big post. But IMO blockstrings are one of Anji's greatest weak points in AC so this part desserves some thorough explanations.

For basic combos and setups look at japanese match videos like this one : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtaXLEYr57Q Most combo videos you can find online are unfortunately mostly show-off vids that don't show many practical combos. I can't remember of any video that shows Anji's BnBs. For this combo : 5k5s5h2d 236s-s/d > 236h > 5k5s on 2D, 236S won't work on Johnny, ABA, Potemkin, Robo-Ky and Order-Sol. It works on everyone else however so most of the cast in fact. And you can followup with 236H only if you use the force break D followup (Rin). The S followup option is here to finish the combo in case you don't have enough tension, you can't followup after it with another fuujin. Also FB Rin doesn't wallstick, so there is no point in doing an IAD followup. But if you really want to do that and jS, jHS doesn't work, it's possible you have to add a jP before jS, jHS for it to connect though. Also, maybe you're mixing up with the autoguard move Aoi (K during an autoguard). This move blows the opponent back and wallsticks if done close enough to the corner also wallsticks. Then you just have to followup with a very fast IAD into jS, jHS for knockdown.

You mean you want to IAD into S, HS after doing Fuujin into FB Rin(236S or HS into D)? Normally IADs aren't different between BB and GG. You press 9, quickly go back to neutral and then quickly press 6. If you still can't do it then it's probably just a timing problem due to you being used to BB timing. Either too late or too fast; note that you can't airdash too close to the ground so if you do it too fast your character just won't air dash. However for your own combos, I don't recommend doing IAD jS, jHS after FB Rin, there are better things to do. Let's say you can launch your opponent with a fuujin into FB Rin, it's better to do another fuujin HS into K followup (the small jump forward) and when landing do 5K, 5S, 623 HS (on). Thus you'll get some pretty nice damage and get a knockdown. This is Anji's number one bread and butter. Practical combo example : 5S, 5HS, 236HS D, 236HS K (anji should land in the corner and switch sides if you started close to the corner), 5K, 5S, 623HS If you're far from the corner when you start the combo, you have to input the second 236HS as 2366HS to close the distance by buffing a ground dash into it. Then pick up with 5P, 623HS instead of 5K, 5S, 623HS. Hope that will help.

Reaver : I'm not saying that resets are totally useless either. Just that in most cases their use is much more limited and riskier than regular okizeme for most characters. Of course some characters have nice reset setups that are pretty solid. I now that myself as an Anji player. For example I regularly hunt for some when I use jH as a finisher because the move doesn't knock down in most cases anyway so I'm sure to get either a knockdown or an air throw depending on what the opponent does. Or on some chars, I can finish combos with an OTG shitsu and have it hit meaty if they don't tech or On grab when they'll get caught on it after teching. HOS sure doesn't mind attempting air throw resets once in a while because most of his combos don't end in a knock down anyway. But the bottom line is, if you can get a knockdown or don't have a foolproof reset setup the risk/reward for attempting resets isn't in your favor. And that's like most of the situations in this game unless you only talking about a few specific characters. That doesn't mean that you can't sometimes try to break the odds and use one to surprise your opponent or try to gain whatever advantage in the fight. But it's a higher risk option in most cases. As you said okizemes aren't 100% foolproof either but the way okizemes are made in this game (generally with a projectile or something to serve as meaty while your character can act in the meantime) makes it so that if the person doing the okizeme knows what he is doing, he is left with many options to counter the interrupt attemps that the opponent might do. This makes interrupts against okizemes in general way more risky in GG than they can be in other games. If GG okis were all about meaty normals then yes I'd share your perception about the risk posed by DPs, backdash and supers, but in the present situation okizemes are almost always heavily in the attackers favor in terms of risk.

By resetting someone you're basically giving them an opportunity to escape further damage or an okizeme setup while potentially gaining more damage IF your opponent reacts to it as you think he will. Basically you're submitting yourself to another mix up game while you could get a guaranteed okizeme setup and/or guaranteed additionnal damage. I wouldn't call resets a superior option. It's more like gambling, and a risky kind of gambling in many cases. They sure are nice tricks to have in your sleeve and use once in a while, but once a good opponent falls for it there is a good chance he won't fall for it a second time.

Thanks Horokei for the vid. For the jump startup, I remember they increased it for most if not all characters sometime in reload or slash, so there may have been characters with 2 frame jumps in the past but not anymore that's for sure.

I heard somewhere that this technique called the "1 frame jump" doesn't in fact cut the jump startup to 1F. It might cut it by 1 frame or a little bit but cutting it to just 1 would be stupidly strong. And thinking about it, if it was really like that we would see this in matches all day. Maybe someone else could confirm this but it seems to me that there is some kind of misunderstanding on that technique and that it doesn't deserve its name. However there is some technique known in Japan as "fuzzy jump" that involves FD and jumping but it's not really about jumping faster. It's mostly used as an option-select defensive technique against command throw mixups by doing low FD, tap up quickly and then go back low FD again. This way if your opponent attempts to command throw you will jump and FD and if he attemps a low, you'll just block the low.

Yes for the HS version but it only became really powerful in AC because they boosted the invincibility frames a lot. It hasn't changed in ACR as far as I can tell.

Unblockables yes probably, SD loop no. As far as I know Shadow Gallery still hasn't got back the knockdown on second hit it lost in AC. Might be somewhat possible at a high cost with FRC though but I'm not an Eddie specialist.

I think the only "loss" in Anji's damage is due to everyone's life bar going up by 10%. So actually he probably didn't lose anything, although we'll have to wait for the frame data to confirm that.

He is better that's for sure but for his actual tier placement relative to other characters, it's still hard to say. The reason being that the vast majority of the Anji players (including me TBH) still rely mainly on his AC playstyle. Anji got almost only buffs and a lot of them, but they are very often discrete changes and very few of them really force you to find new ways to play him. So it looks like he's basically stronger overall, but with a playstyle that is almost identical to accent core. There are a few changes that should open new possibilies for his playstyle but the prospects seem limited so far and few players seem to actually use that in their game : - 5P's level increase : allows to combo into S fuujin and 5HS, this can be used to facilitate fuujin loops and give easier combos after nagiha in the corner. On the ground 5P 3S cancelled into 5S is also a legit starter although only on standing opponents. - Delayed gatlings should allow for nasty frametraps and autoguard baits on pressure. - The new 6HS and the possibility to cancel it as well as 5D gives him new pressure as well as combo options but many people still don't take advantage of that. - And of course the new FB On should in theory completely change some matchups but as you can see on the vids so far it's almost not used. I'm myself forgetting its existence every time I play. If I have to make a guess though I think Anji looks strong in this game, his buffs makes his original AC gameplay more viable and powerful and already makes him look like a solid mid-tier. When more players will start to figure out and actually implement good tactics from his new stuff in their gameplay I see him maybe having the potential for upper mid tier, depending on how the other characters evolve. I don't really see him going above that, nor going back to lower than mids like his AC status.

Kliff may be a bit overestimated now due to the lack of experience against him, but considering he's already wrecking stuff so early after release and new things can still be discovered I hardly see him not staying in the top bunch of the tiers. He has great pokes, damage, okizeme, and doesn't even have a bad defense modifier anymore (I think it's 1.06 now although he still has a bad guts modifier). Many of his normal moves have float, knockdown effects that give him easy combos and the icing on the cake is that 2S that lifts enemies from the ground. I don't think any other character in the game has such a move that relaunches from OTG for no tension. Well Testament had one in AC and we all now how strong he was, and yet he had to FRC to combo after it.

Yeah, I'm not sure this move was supposed to be comboed into like that. Well at least it costs 50% and due to the old man breaking his back sometimes it has a chance of failing but this whole thing looks pretty broken for now.

I'm creating this list to clear things up because quite a lot of the reports from the loketests may still be considered as genuine changes while they actually have been rolled back or debunked with the release of the final version. In particular, many reports of nerfs during the last loketest like jD's increased landing recovery, 6K FRC removal or HS fuujin's hitbox weakening are actually not there in the final version. At the very least HS fuujin hitbox's decrease and jD's recovery increase are unnoticeable if they actually turn out to be true. This is a list of changes from vanilla AC. It may still be incomplete and some elements may still be unsure but at least we'll have a comprehensive list to work with and to complete if necessary. Don't hesitate to tell me if you think something is wrong or missing. Sources for the info : personal experience, Anji Mito strategy info site, JBBS Anji thread, GGXXAC+R guide - All normal moves are now cancellable into other moves up to until the end of their recovery. Moves that originally aren't cancellable into anything like 3P DO NOT become cancellable with this change. - 5P : Attack level up from 2 to 3, as a result air untechable time is also up from 14 to 16. Recovery increased from 6 to 8. - 5S : Guard balance increased from 0 to 14. Hitbox reportedly better somehow (can now beat a lot of moves when used as a poke). - 6S : The hitbox may have been increased a bit as some non Anji players described the move as more threatening than before somehow. Damage up from 30 to 34. Now gatling cancellable into 3K. - 5HS : Now gatling cancellable into 6P and 6HS. - 5D : GP frames changed from 4~12 to 4~18. Is now special cancellable although the window to cancel is pretty short (no late cancel possible). Startup went from 25 to 27F. - 2P : Now gatling cancellable into 6HS. - 2K : Now gatling cancellable into 6HS. - 2S : Now gatling cancellable into 6HS. - 2HS : Attack level up from 4 to 5. Frame advantage went up from +3 to +5 as a result. Now gatling cancellable into 5HS. 2HS, 5HS combos even on standing opponents. - 2D : Range is extended forward by a noticeable amount. - 6P : hitstun is increased by 2 frames on ground hit. - 3K : attack level up from 3 to 4. As a result, frame disadvantage went from -4 to -1. Damage up from 20 to 38. Startup went down from 20 to 19. Is now a low attack. 80% prorate added. Doesn't float on normal hit anymore but wall bounces on counter hit. Hitbox extended to hit enemies close to Anji easier. - 3S : 3S cancel frames changed from 8~9 to 6~8. Frame advantage went to +1 from -3. Doesn't cancel into itself anymore. Guard point frames changed from 5~10 to 1~27. Hitbox behind Anji removed. Now moves forward a bit but only after the 3S cancel frames. - 6HS : now has a base proration of 80%. Recovery changed from 18F to 25F. Invincible to throws on frames 14~20. Startup increased by 1F, went from 20F to 21F. Untechable time reduced from 28F to 19F. FRC timing is moved to right before the move hits, frames 17~20. Now cancellable into special moves. - jP : hitbox is reportedly stronger. Very good anti air. - FB shitsu : can now fly further to about half a stage distance, travel speed also increased. - HS Fuujin : now has 80% of initial prorate. - K Kai : bounce seems to be a bit lower than before. After the FRC Anji is now automatically facing the opponent. Auto jump install added. - Shin ichishiki (fuujin P followup) : projectiles aren't overhead anymore and can now be blocked low. Their travel speed is however slower, which makes them easier to followup with a air dash assuming the opponent blocks them. Landing recovery is decreased. - FB rin : guard point frames are increased from 2~10 to 2~20. - Rin : is now an overhead. Is now +0 on block up from -3. - Aoi : the last hit wallsticks but only on CH. Startup went up from 4 to 11F but as a result invincibility is 1~11F up from 1~4F. Lower body invincibility is also changed from 5~13 to 12~23. Doesn't float the opponent anymore. +4F advantage on block, up from -12. Possible to followup with 5K but the timing is very strict, especially on standing opponents. FRC added right when the last hit hits. - FB Kou : now possible to move in the air after the move is finished. Vacuum effect on hit is stronger. - Kou : Vacuum effect on hit is stronger. Untechable time increased from 38 F to 60 F, knowdown is now guaranteed in most if not all cases. Only the last hit knocks down now, the opponent can now tech right away if the move is RCed on the first hit for example. - FB On : New move. Anji pauses a bit then jumps very high and fast at a 45° angle. Startup is a bit slow (21F) so its use in combos is limited (possible from 5D though). Has low profile stance for frames 10~18, then invincibility to strikes for frames 19~28. FRC window 19~20F. On hit the opponent flies very high. It's possible to air dash after it hits, allowing for midscreen combos. Much easier to combo from if the opponent is sent towards the corner. Improved horizontal range in 1.10 +R. - Issei Ougi "Sai" : FRC window went from 66~68 to 66~70. Startup is faster went from 10, 3 to 7, 3. - Tenjinashi : damage down from 30, 15x13 to 30, 14x13.

Someone on the Japanese BBS posted a video showing off some new combos and setups taking advantage of the changes in ACR : http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm18958941 It's all against CPU but it's very interesting. Most notable info IMO is that 5P's level increase now allows it be to comboed into S fuujin or 5HS on air hit. This opens more possibilities to go into fuujin loops or FB rin combos from various situations. I don't know why, but the video insists a lot on setups based on [HS fuujin, FB Rin]x2 into FB shitsu full screen okizeme. That looks cool, but honestly due to the tension consumption I think it's not practical at all.

Haven't tried the new Testament yet but I like how he looks so far. IMO the stupid damage from anything and the front exe as a mashable move he had in AC should never have happened. It derived a lot from his original concept and ultimately made the character broken tier along with Eddie. Now they basically toned down his damage a lot and also removed EXE based pressure. But they also gave him a lot of new interesting tools : new 3HS, strenghtened 2S as an anti air, FB phantom soul that looks very hard to escape, easier to land P phantom soul, new 6K that extends the combo capabilities from far S in particular and of course the teleports that will probably give awesome mixup games and look fast enough to be actually used as an approach method depending on what the opponent does. I think the loss of EXE FRC pressure that he had since the vanilla GGXX is what will take the most time to adjust with, but you can and should use the crow for that. So whenever you get a combo opportunity finish it with phantom soul or use the FB version at the appropriate time to force your opponent to block it. Learning the 4 different crow patterns will probably become essential to his gameplay now.

I don't think it's possible to do that much reps, never seen anyone do that yet. About Slayer though I personally find him more frustrating than ever to fight against. His new FB dandy is a real pain to deal with as an escape/reversal move, as he didn't have enough of that shit already. Well at least his damage took a hit so he doesn't get stupid rewards for mashing moves as before. But I'm afraid it won't last long if players find new ways to do stupid damage with him.

It's not the pull in itself that I suspect has a stun increase but the combo that follows (knee into big slap in the air). Don't know the previous stun value though so I may be wrong.

Elvenshadow : thanks for the details on Faust's changes. So his items were indeed buffed. Didn't notice what was stronger while fighting him but his zoning game with items definitely felt stronger in general. Also did you notice any increase in stun on Faust's pull combo ? I got caught in it once and my character portrait was flashing red when he finished. I don't remember if I got hit by a few hammers before but it definitely wasn't flashing red when he started to pull me in.