Dream Maker

5P, On almost never misses for me. And you don't lose that much damage since On makes the most of it, doesn't really matter which move you use before. Never tried 5S, On but I assume it is chara specific. For 5P, On to connect you already have to do it fast, so I assume that 5S speed difference must also have something to do with it not connecting most of the time. And you also have to take into account the height at which you air throw, if you do it very high from the ground I think there are higher chances that even 5P, On won't connect.

From 214P/K, S, JI, 6S starter, no it doesn't. This combo works well on midweights. You have to do a certain variation for heavys and lights though. Lights : jKPS, jC, jKSHD, Heavyweights : jSPKS, jC, jKSHD except Johnny : jSPS, jC~jPSD, 214P (yes it works midscreen on him). Baiken, Aba and Sol in particular are quite hard to land this combo on but wuth the good timing you can get it even on them. As for TK orb, personally I don't use it often but it's Anji's fastest overhead by far. 214P is very telegraphed (seriously there is no way your opponent will eat this as an overhead, maybe as a crossup but still...) and 3P can be guarded on reaction with some practice. But as you said TK orb has it's own downsides, cannot be done in every situation, needs to be done close and with 50% tension maybe more if you want a better combo after it.

jP doesn't prorate at all so it doesn't really matter if you use it soon or not. The only thing you could worry about is damage lowering due to guard bar lowering but it's not like jP takes away a lot of guard bar, so... In GG you have few moves that force prorate (ie prorate even when used in a middle of a combo) most prorate moves do so if used on the first hit an jP isn't even one of them according to frame data. Anyway, jP is useful as a way to go back to jS so that you can do two jS in you first jump, which beefs damage quite a bit. Actually a more damaging SJI combo would be : jSPS, JC, jKSHD

1. I can't really think of any although if your opponent mashes a lot during blockstrings then they should eat 3P on CH. But there's really nothing you can do to provoke that. Still if you manage to get their guard bar flashing after a long pressure string then 3P will automatically result in a CH if it hits so keep that in mind. 2. Basically jKSHD orb is the way to go for this but you have to delay a bit between jK and jS then you will get the thing to hit on most characters. You have to do some variations depending on the character though. - For lights + Anji except May : *214P > S > HJ > jK (delay) > jS > jHS > jD (delay) > Orb *214K (wait a little) > K > S > HJ > jK (delay) > jS > jHS > jD (delay) > Orb - For mids and heavys except Johnny, Chipp, Aba, Ky, R-ky : *214P > S > 6S > HJ > jK (delay) > jS > jHS > jD (delay) > Orb *214K (wait a little) > K > S > 6S > HJ > jK (delay) > jS > jHS > jD (delay) > Orb - For R-Ky (I think not 100% sure): *214P > K > S > 6S > HJ > jK (delay) > jS > jHS > jD (delay) > Orb *214K (wait a little) > 2P > K > S > 6S > HJ > jK (delay) > jS > jHS > jD (delay) > Orb - Better ones for Slayer, Zappa and Faust : *214P > S (JI) > 6S > HJ > jS > jP > jS > JC~jP > jS > jHS > jD > jHS *214K (wait a little) > K > S > 6S > HJ > jS > jP > jS > JC~jP > jS > jHS > jD > jHS -For Johnny : *214P or 214K > S > 6S > HJ > jK > jS > jD > jHS - For Ky, Chipp, May : do something like HJ jKPPD (delay) orb > orb again as air combo. I don't remember the exact thing for each char, but since they have different weight and shape you don't pick them the same way after 214P or K (try S > 6S or K > S > 6S and see what works in which case) and also you might want to delay after jK or jD depending on the case to get that shit to work. Basically your first orb should hit on the last active frame, thus allowing you to hit a second one straight after that will give you knockdown. The normal orb combo works on Ky sometimes but whiffs very often, so that's the only way to knock him down consistently. Also you can't knockdown ABA at all unless you use some RC or got like straight jD > orb. 3. 3S cancelling is useful to gain some more damage on combos but you can very well win without it. The only case where it is really a must have, is to cancel 2S to 5S. Since the classic 2S, 2D, fuujin S, D followup combo doesn't work on heavyweights you want to master this to get some good damage from Anji's only non prorating low that is not 2D. Also 5HS cancelled into 5HS is fun to jack up guard bar but kinda belongs to the realm of gimmick. ^^

Yup, damn useful low combos for all heavyweights : those you said + Robo-ky and Aba since you can't combo 2S, 2D, S fuujin on them. ^^ But I mean although mastering 3S cancelling and double butterfly add a lot to your game it is still very possible to win without that. 3S cancel is great but it is a 2 frame cancel, even if you are good at doing it you're not really immune to failure so sometimes going for simpler combo may be safer. And double butterfly is without any doubt a great mixup but just as every mixup it can become predictable if done too often and I'm not sure it's not escapable. But I must say that if I had enough skill to do that 100% of the time when I want to... Yeah that would be great. ^^

You're serious ? Man, I can already quit, and in fact there won't be any Anji players left with such and advice. ^^ It's not like they're a lot already...

First one is definitely possible. For double red shitsu I'm not sure, I think that red shitsu has a little more recovery than normal one so It might make the thing harder/not possible.

Just what he said. In fact all of Anji's Fuujin options are unsafe when it's blocked and if you don't have 25% tension to FRC S followup and block or maybe FRC P followup and flee, all the followups are punishable on reaction, and the K one is particularly easy. Like Shining said, delaying followups can help confuse them. Doing nothing if they expect something to come next can also work, but you have to keep in mind that guarded fuujin even without followup is basically very unsafe. So if your opponent has decent reaction skills you should avoid having fuujin blocked as much as possible and if it ever happens you should try to save your ass with FRC, or if you don't have tension or are in risky mood by at least trying to confuse him with delaying and stuff. Payoff can be huge sometimes particularly with D followup, so it's up to you to see if it's worth the risk to try confusing your opponent after fuujin or not. Talking about K followup the only way you can trick your opponent with it is if you do fuujin close enough to them and then go to K followup, you should land out of throw range, so you can punish their whiffed HS/6HS with a fast attack after landing. Smart opponents will however understand where you are landing and respond accordingly by walking a bit before throwing or going directly with a fast attack to beat yours instead of throwing.

Yes. Yeah but it's kind of a waste of meter to do that most of the time you can use only one D followup by doing 5K, 5S, 5HS, 236HS, D followup, 2366HS, K followup, 5K, 5S, On. Performing your second HS fuujin with 2366HS results in a short dash before fuujin which allows it to cover more distance and make the combo work in most cases even if you are really far from the corner. Doing 5P instead of 5K, 5S before On also helps in some cases where you still do not end like stuck to the corner for finishing. Yep if you do it quickly enough. It may be difficult for example to catch an opponent after a straight HS fuujin, K followup if for whatever reason you don't happen to CH with your fuujin because you have to react quickly. So in that case D followup is a safer option for hit confirming HS fuujin. If you're talking about having first hit of shitsu guarded, it's quite dependent on the character you are facing and the distance you are doing it at. If you're doing it like point blank on an already standing opponent you can be sure you will be punished before being able to block even by opponents with sucky reaction time. So it's up to you to experiment and see where you can use shitsu and then wait & see in pressure strings to relaunch pressure without risking punishement. Some moves like 2HS also have quite a lot of blockstun so are safer to use to relaunch pressure. But in the case of 2HS, this advantage is unfortunatly compensated by a strong pushback so you have to use the move kinda close. Personally I prefer the second one as I have the feeling that it gives a slightly better okizeme if you throw you shitsu properly after 2D (better advantage after first hit of shitsu) but the first one might do a little more damage. IAD jP, jP, jK, jS, land, 5S into 2D or 5HS, HS fuujin, etc... is good but really easily beaten by most anti airs in the game. Remember that Anji's air to ground game is weak anyway so don't abuse it. If for whatever reason you want to approach from the air with this closely watch your opponent movements, if for example he just whiffed a poke that as quite long recovery it might be your chance to get in safely. Also for using autoguard and reading, it mainly depends on how well you know your opponent's play, but you still have some situations in which most players will react in the same way. For example if you attempt an unblockable with a red shitsu, you can be 80% sure that if your opponent knows his shit he will burst before being hit by the unblockable. Also if your opponent is low on health and is facing a normal shitsu okizeme you can be pretty sure that they will burst or DAA out of it if they have enough tension. More generally when they have 50% tension or more to RC, or are simply low on life and feel that they have nothing to lose, people are more likely to use risky reversal attempts like DP and stuff. With these examples you can already read some basic escaping attempts from your opponents and punish with autoguards or even other stuff (like just block, punish or well timed 6Ps to make DPs whiff and punish at the same time).

Regarding staple combo for AC Anji, you don't have to bother RCing 2D now since you have better options. Basic combo if you have 25% tension is 5K, 5S, 5HS, HS fuujin, D followup, HS fuujin, K followup, 5K, 5S, On (with some adjustments depending on how far you are from the corner but this is basically the universal recipe, I suggest you check the threads for more infos). If you don't have tension just do something like 5K, 5S, 2S, 2D into shitsu okizeme, and if you are not too far from the corner you can do something like 5K, 5S, 5HS, HS fuujin, K followup, 5P, On. Your air combo is good, I use the same with a few variations depending on the character and it's definitely one of the best ways to do huge damage from launchers if you don't mind losing knockdown. Particularly from K stomp. About autoguard you have to be careful because a lot of them have been nerfed, on the other hand they allow anji to cover more situations thanks to new followups. But you need very good reading of your opponent's game anyway. Big changes include 6HS and 2HS being late autoguards and 5HS losing its autoguard frames. You get a new K followup that is useful to use after you autoguarded against a grounded opponent and a D followup which costs 25% tension. It's similar to P followup except it covers a larger zone and is very unsafe if whiffed. Not really useful in my opinion because of tension cost and risk, but it can serve to escape things that are inescapable otherwise. I only use it against Kys who abuse CSE oki until they understand that it doesn't make them invincible if they don't FRC or anticipate. Basically on how to use autoguard in AC I have a simple flowchart that works pretty well I think : - 6K is probably your most useful autoguard, use it on reaction to obvious overheads or jump ins and followup with K followup if you opponent is grounded, P followup if he is airbone. You can't really rely on its CH anymore as it now staggers on counter hit and your opponent will often be able to escape before you can do anything. On air CH though you might be able to combo into 5P, On if you are at the good distance. Don't throw 6K too randomly though, it has autoguard since frame 1 but does last only until frame 5 so you really have to be sure that it will hit. - 6S has late autoguard frames, this fact makes it an even greater move as a poke so don't hesitate to throw it at good distance, in CH you can confirm into 5HS, then HS fuujin if close enough, if not straight S fuujin can do the job. Don't throw 6S if your opponent is close to you though because its hitbox has now be shrinked and it won't hit opponents close to Anji. - 5D has autoguard frame starting early (but not instant), autoguard air attack and then cancel it by P followup and it can be used as an anti air. Particularly useful against moves that you can't tell if they will crossup or not (like May's J2HS) but it carries a high risk. No problem if you can use it on reaction though. - Also 6HS is useful straight after throwing a butterfly on okizeme, if you sense that your opponent will attempt an invincible move like DP or dead angle do get out of your pressure you can catch this thanks to the autoguard frames of the move (which are really late but last long). - 3K is the new frame one low autoguard move. I wouldn't recommend to use it at all unless your opponent is so predictable that you know he is going to do a low as his next okizeme but it's really unsafe and I can't really think of any low move in this game that is easily reactable. Other than that it is useful for its throw invincible frames but the move is so long that even if you bait a throw you might eat the opponent's 5HS anyway. For other autoguard moves don't really bother, except HS followup of fuujin that is really godlike if your opponent happens to be right above you after you whiff a fuujin but it's not likely to happen often. But essentially 6K and 6S are the ones you will use the most often because they carry the least risk and cover a lot of common situations. For general advice on AC Anji, I'd say try to always get the best damage from combos and if possible knockdown into butterfly mixups. Don't use autoguard unless you really know what you're doing with them because they carry a lot more risk thant before. Mastering them is with few doubts a great plus to your game but it's far from being essential to have a good AC Anji. Oh and also I almost forgot, but HS fuujin is a GREAT move in AC. It gained more invincible frames and is easier to combo than before, however it is still a risky option as it can you can be hit out of the move during the late startup frames and also because if its guarded there isn't really any perfectly safe followup to throw out. But learning to use the move properly on reaction or anticipation to other moves is a crucial skill to master if you want your Anji to be scary. Having your opponent understand that he has to respect the move will weaken his offense and make life easier for you.

About 5D this is the counter I use the more often now. Seems like it is a lot faster to come out than before (not instant like 6D, 2D but close) and lasts a little shorter but it is still very convenient to use in a lot of situations. Also to add about the catches, combos after them can't be extended for long, the opponent can tech early as if you started you combo with 2Ax2 for example so it's pretty limited. But you can always get a good combo from it.

Saw that list on the BBS too, for matchups I played I have quite the same feeling although I'd gladly put Makoto and Noel a little up, those 2 are so much bullshit. Guess I'm not used to fight them enough maybe. Also what do you exactly mean by delayed J2A into knockdown ? You follow up straight after that with 5C ? I can't really figure out what it would look like.

You're welcome. Haven't tried personally and I wasn't aware of it before reading it to be honest, but that's what was written on the BBS. Maybe it doesn't change much and it's only useful in cases like that, so few people noticed before. Don't know about CS1 neither but that could be an interesting thing to test. Yes.

Sorry to post twice in a row but I wanted to share my impressions about Hakumen after recent matches and reading new info on the BBS. It appears to me and quite a lot of posters on the japanese BBS that Hakumen will probably not be a high ranked character although not being weak neither (there aren't really weak characters in CS2 anyway). There are a few reasons to that, the first being that you need to be in the corner to do good damage, although from some straters you can get decent 3000 ish damage by spending a few magatamas. The second is that although Hakumen has a lot of options to move the opponent towards the corner, the hard part is to get that damn 5C corner knockdown which is really hard when you start too far. His throw is the perfect example of move that seems good cause it sends opponent to the corner but which allows him to escape anyway cause you don't have time to catch up. Note though that if you get a wallbounce but are too far to pick up with straight 2C you can still catch your opponent with guren and go 2C from there. For these reasons people started to come up with ways to extend classic enma combos and also found midscreen Tsubaki combos. These are from the BBS, haven't tried personally yet. *Extended Enma Combo (4 magatama, about 4400 damage) 5C, Kisshu, Enma, J2C, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2C, Hotaru (wall bounces), land, step forward, 2C, JB, Jump cancel, J2A, JC, land, straight J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, 5C, 3C If you are further than normal from the corner for this combo to hit when you do Hotaru, it may wallbounce very high so in that case just step forward, 2C after landing, remove the following JB and continue normally. On the contrary if you are closer than expected juste ignore the forward step and do 2C, JB, etc normally. *Midscreen Tsubaki combo *First way, doesn't need more magatama than those needed for Tsubaki but is character specific (so far confirmed to work on Tsubaki, Rachel, Makoto, Ragna, Jin, Taokoaka, Tager, Hazama, on CH works on everyone but Carl) : - Tsubaki, air dash J2C, land 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC - or Tsubaki, air dash J2C, land, guren, step forward, 5A, 6A, 5A, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC if you are ready to spend one more magatama Both seem to do about 3600 but the guren option seems better to get close to corner you can also followup after guren, 2C and classic corner combo if you end up close enough. Someone suggested that doing air dash from a jump cancelled step forward could help gaining some more frames and thus connect on more characters. Anyone knows if it is really faster this way ? Still that must require some good input skills to do 6696 fast enough. *Second way, higher damage and apparently not character specific but needs 5 magatama in total and apparently only works if the opponent is really in the middle of the screen (not further) : - stepped Tsubaki, step forward x2, cancel step landing by kisshu, enma, J2C, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, land, 5C, 3C does about 4182. And gives about 1.5 magatama back. There are probably higher damage version of this one if you manage to extend. To talk about my personnal impressions I started to feel the above mentioned shortcomings of Hakumen recently on hard matchups like Hazama, Rachel or Tao where it's such a pain to get a hit and then confirm into a combo that will knock them down in corner, finally allowing you to apply your game. Particularly against Tao, I recently fought a player that kinda sucked with the character, not being able to go over 3000 in his combos and averaging like 1500 the rest of the time dropping a lot of combos. Despite of that I had a really hard time just because it's such a pain to deal with her unpredictable approach with Hakumen. Was able to win my first 3 matches against him relatively easily despite this but in the fourth one I had so much bad luck that I didn't manage to get enough hits and got slowly sweeped down 3 rounds to 0. Really annoying. Anyway in general gameplay, maybe these new combos can help to solve Hakumen's problems a bit, although after spending so much magatama even if you can go in corner you are often not left with many and thus I think it's tough to get your higher damage options. But the character is fun to play, the vesatility he gained in this version really makes is gameplay more interesting in my opinion. We just have to work hard for our damage now, which is quite a shock compared to CS1 easy damage.

Some more infos on corner combos I mentioned earlier, these are translated from the japanese BBS and have been posted about 2-3 weeks ago : *1) 5C, Renka (1), Kishu, 6C, 2C, J2A, J2C, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, 5C, 3C does 5840, gives about 2 magatama back *2) 5C, Renka (1), Kishu, Tsubaki, 6C, 2C, J2A, J2C, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, land, straight J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, 5C, 3C does 6759 and gives about 2 magatama back *For 2) if you miss the timing of the J2A, JC, land, straight J2A part the last JC may whiff, so if you know you missed the timing you can sorta fix things up by continuing after straight J2A with another J2A and then air dash, J2A, J2A, JC at the cost of knockdown though. 1) is not really hard but 2) takes some practice. *3) FC Hotaru, 6C max charged, 5C, Renka (1), Kishu, Tsubaki, 2C, J2A, J2C, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, 5C, 3C does 6996, consumes 8 magatama but gives back 2 during the combo. It's also possible to do 3) after Max charged 6C FC, I believe by stepping and then starting 3) from the 5C part. According to the poster it does really huge damage, doesn't say how much though. *The [2C, J2A, J2C, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, land, 2C, J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, 5C, 3C] part of combos 1) and 3) can also connect from the following starters : - Renka (1), Kisshu, 6C, 2C, J2A, J2C, land - FC Hotaru, 6C (no matter charged or not), 2C, J2A, J2C, land - 5C, Kisshu, Enma, J2C, land It doesn't work from other starters as far as the poster knows. *The [J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, land, straight J2A, air dash, J2A, JC, 5C, 3C] part of combo 2) can connect from the following starters : - 5B, Kisshu, Enma, J2C, land, 2C - J2C, 5C, Kisshu, Enma, J2C, land, 2C - Hotaru, 6C, 2C, J2A, J2C, land, 2C - Tsubaki, 6C, (step), 2C, J2A, J2C, land, 2C - And basically any starter that is not 5C, Renka, FC hotaru where the above mentioned 1) and 3) combo ending is preffered, although I suspect you can't extend the combo this long from 2A, 5A etc... starters but this is only my personal opinion haven't managed to test properly yet. The poster says using these combos can help getting more damage and extend the duration of combos to regain as much magatama as possible. That's basically it for the translation. I personnaly think all those combos are hard, at least for me it often drops at the second J2A, air dash J2A loop part, so in real match situation I generally stop after the first one. But anyway this gives you a good idea of what Hakumen can do in corner when it comes to high combo damage.

Reading the whole thread on the BBS it seems like everyone is going with their own tier list and there's no clear consensus out from it. So i think these lists can't really be taken seriously as for now. From what I read, I have the feeling that the reason why some people are placing Carl high is because they don't really understand how to play against him and/or because quite a lot of Carl players are actually raping pretty hard if you look only at PSR rankings. I still don't believe Carl is low though... Even if he obviously can't be called a strong character by now due to sucky damage and neesan dying fast, he has some solid stuff to rely on and good growth potential.

Back from playing. I haven't really had the occasion to test the thing properly due to huge affluence at the arcade and me fighting for not losing rather than trying things. However I was able to figure out that 6C really has far less sliding time when done at the end of a long combo, but it was done too far from the corner for me to be in situation of good okizeme anyway. So I still don't know if you can have a real wake up game or not if done close enough. Sorry for that. :/ You're right about 5C, 3C not giving a good wake up game. But plain 5C still seems a superior option to me, faster so easier to land than 6C. If we can confirm that 6C's sliding time is enough to get okizeme at the end of a long combo, then it would certainly be the best option in combos where you have enough time to land it. Back on hotaru FC combos midscreen, I tried following up with 2C or 5C after j2C with no success. I think it's not possible because you have in fact little time to air dash and land your j2C so if you want to hit with it, you can't really do it on the last moment like you would in enma combos for example. I've only been successful with 5A or 5B to pick up so far, and straigth j2A to air dash j2A after this is indeed great to get close to the corner.

I may be wrong, but I believe that at the end of long combos 5C, 3C does more damage than 6C so for that reason I figured out it would still be better to end knockdowns the old way. I'm also not sure that 6C gives that much more time for wakeup games than 5C, 3C (or even plain 5C) if the combo is long and I remember feeling some pushback when using it. Anyway I plan to have a few games today so I'll try to check that out and report back.

Not in every case I think, but in some cases it does help. In fact that's the same way we always proceeded to get j2A, j2C, 2C working in corner combos (delaying j2C), so going by this it's pretty logical in the end. ^^ Also regarding TK, stepped hotaru : it is actually possible to followup even midscreen. Non FC I was only able to get instant air dash j2C or jC after landing, but with FC I was able to get Hotaru FC, lanc, IAD j2C as late as possible, land 5A, jump cancel, jA, jB, jump cancel j2A, jC. I believe it might even be possible to replace 5A by 5B and to do stuff like j2A, air dash j2A, jC, land 5C, 3C if you end close enough to the corner. My overall impression on Hakumen is that he looks really good in this version in that he gained more versatility with 4C being special cancellable (for example 4C, guren, 3C is a good combo to gain the momentum from a succesful poke) and new gatlings. The downside is that he lost a lot of damage midscreen due to new proration values and throw not being comboable midscreen (corner combos are still awesome) but you can still do 3000ish with combos based on renka 1 hit, kishuu, enma from midscreen so it's not that bad. The main point now to deal damage is to get the opponent in the corner though. Even if throw almost sends them there right away they have some time to escape before you can reach them. Enma combos are pretty good for this anyway if you can get knockdown. I haven't tried everything, but for the combo I posted, without tsubaki I was able to go around 5000 with 2B starter IIRC and I suppose even starting with 2A you should be able to get not too far from 3500-4000. you might have to change the combo a bit depending on the starter though (like scrapping a j2A, j2A, jC part). I tried this combo based on one posted on the japanese wiki, and IIRC someone posted more variations. I'll see if I can find this back and share it with you guys when I'll have some time to translate it.

Actually the best way to KD remains 5C, 3C stuff after jC. It's just harder to connect than before, but after playing enough games I figured it was in fact still possible if you hit with jC while being close enough to landing. Basically this requires delaying jC enough after j2A, or if you're in corner doing j2Ax2 then air dash j2A rather than simply j2A air dash j2A in order to reduce the heigh a little bit. The only case I see 6C being useful for knockdowns is when you are too far for 5C to work. 6C's main use is about leading to destructive combos in corner. Corner combos like 5C, Renka (1), kishuu, 6C, 2C, High jump cancel, j2A, j2C, land, 2C, jump cancel, j2A, j2A, jC, land, 2C, HJC, j2A, j2A, delayed jC, 5C, 3C do about 6000 and can even top to 6800+ if you have enough meter to add a tsubaki at the beginning between kishuu and 6C.

Just did a few games today with Carl, 8D actually does not remove 2 primers, at least not on standing guard. Now I'm not even sure it removes 2 primers on air guard neither... I wasn't able to check that. And brio wallbounce in corner in fact gives plenty of time to combo, the opponent does a small bounce against the wall and then falls without being able to tech. So you can certainly combo with 5C, then allegretto combo with Nirvana or anything that might be better now. Also to clarify on 6D air counter, my opponent on the last day didn't combo after it but if I remember well the wallbounce looks like 4D's wall bounce so you should be able to do pretty much the same kind of combo afterwards.

Hi. I played a few games again today as Hakumen but I fought a good Carl in my local arcade today so I figured I would share some more info for you guys apparently fearing that Carl will fall in the bottom tier. My local arcade's level is far from being exceptional, still there are a few very decent players here and this guy is one of them. He is doing really good particularly on pressure. I have the feeling that weakened IB's are in fact quite an advantage to Carl as it is even more difficult to break out from pressure as before. Also he was using quite a nasty pressure trick with 8D, now that it breaks 2 primers you really don't want to guard this. So taking advantage of me crounching guard for fearing 8D he was able to relaunch pressure with AD jB, etc... That shit was really really scary and I guess you have to react pretty quickly to avoid eating this, unless you have only 1 primer left in which case standing guard barrier certainly goes without saying. Also jC knocking down is damn good. Gives Carl a decent okizeme even if Nirvana is not well placed and j2C crossups are still here to annoy your opponent and place yourself in a more favorable position. 3D is a good option as oki if Nirvana is close. Also this guy's Nirvana did not die a single time even though I was trying hard to break her. He manages his nirvana gauge really well, reliying on cantabile combos when its low. Cantabile combo do low damage but now a little more extandable than before thanks to jB, j2C gatling = good to let some time to nirvana for charging and gives decent oki thanks to jC whether nirvana is here or not. The big downside seems to be damage really... The guy didn't do many big combos, mostly between 2000-3000,　could only get close to 4000 or a little above from a good starter with old style juggle and super if enough nirvana gauge but his combos were not really optimized yet. PS: Also ate a 6D counter while being in air which resulted in a wallbounce. I don't think this change has been mentioned yet.

You're welcome. About Carl being my main I'd say yes and no, in fact I've always tried to play him since CT but the lack of training mode (I don't have the game) and me sucking at certain commands make the execution barrier to difficult for me. So in CS I ended playing Hakumen way more than Carl. In fact I was hoping that in CS2 he would lose his difficult juggle combos and have some other ways to do max damage instead, but seems for now that his old combos are still here and are still are the best way to deal the most damage, so I'm screwed. Also regarding Carl placement this time I can't really say but my personal feeling is that he should end up being mid or something like that. He has without few doubts been nerfed has a whole and his new plus things are not really likely to make up for the nerfs IMO but the character's concept is such as he has one of the best pressure in the game and has plenty of room to grow so I can hardly see him become low tier. Regarding his loops I haven't tried but I see no reason why they would not be possible anymore, they just do far less damage and the new proration values on the moves may also change his optimal combo patterns.

Just some precisions about my last post in the changes thread : j2C's bounce is really not that bad. I said that ground strings like j2C, jB, jC might not be possible anymore but haven't tried myself neither seen that myself. And some posters in the BBS suggest otherwise as some combos they posted involve j2C, jB, jC ground strings. Saw that only after posting. Might be height dependent if this change is really meaningful. Nirvana indeed seems to die faster than before, but I'd say it depends on your playstyle. During my games I have been very conservative with Nirvana, keeping an eye on her gauge and letting her time to regenerate when needed and she died only a very few times when I wasn't very attentive. I guess players who try to use her as before, ie use her recklessly to approach their opponent and don't mind her dying at the end of long combos will probably be annoyed due to the very slow regen speed when she dies.

Just got a try on the game today playing carl and a little of hakumen. So I'ill try to give some info that have not been mentioned about these characters. Carl Looks like quite a bunch of the good things he had received in the last loke test are actually gone. I couldn't confirm by myself for anima having super armor and 3D forcing standing but comments on the BBS strongly hints that they have been implemented. His damage is indeed sensibly weaker. For now I can't really think of any other way to get close to 4000 dmg except the old juggle combos ended by a super. And j2C doesn't bounces THAT much higher than before I think, although most ground strings involving j2C without allecan might not be possible anymore. All the stuff I translated before is I think valid, although 6A is really good but not almighty like one of my translations suggested. At least I got punished a few times for missing the timing. + 2B to 5B gatlings seems to be in from what I saw from another Carl player (forgot to try by myself) o jC : to clarify things a bit about this move, first it does only knockdown on air hit. Which means you can still use it as before for sandwich loops (well except it lost its gatlings to jB and j2C). Second, the opponent can emergency tech only, meaning that you can't combo the opponent when he is down. And third, the opponent doesn't falls really fast, in fact you can still use jC as before in 2D combos and when you land after finishing an air combo with it you are in the perfect timing for an okizeme if the opponent techs. o Fuoco : same as CS1 ie not guaranteed to come out if interrupted o Volante : same as CS1 ie no projectile armor + Brio : the move changed, blows the opponent far away and grants a small wallbounce if close enough to the wall. It's a pretty high wallbounce though, limiting the combo options to I believe something like high jump jB, jC - A vivace seems to have no invincibility at all Hakumen : -jC : it seems to have less untechable time than before. After a classic combo like enma, jump cancel, fall j2C, land 2C, high jump 2A, air dash 2A, jC close to corner I wasn't able to link neither another jC nor 5C after landing.