Kuuhaku

I've seen a few people miss it. Either the timing has changed or it's just overall harder. I think Kro made an observation about it somewhere, but I'm a little lazy to dig it up. As for that combo, yeah, you can do that. When I first started out, I didn't know any combos so I would try to do that but it only works on Jin and Hakumen and the timing is a lot harder on Hakumen.

At least j2C seems to combo on CH. That's... uh... something. But yeah she used it way too much. Probably forgot how unsafe it is on block now. There were a few times where she threw out BBL when TD would have been a better option. Other than that and she kept running into random DPs. It seemed like that Jin player had a harder time keeping up pressure, but I can't tell if that's because Jin's pressure game got nerfed or if that Jin player is bad. I think it's weird as hell that 6A can combo on regular hit, but is tough to combo on counter hit outside of the corner. 3C9D looks like it blackbeat. Is the timing more strict or can we really not do that anymore? She did another 3C combo, but the non-wind version. As far as I know that combo only works on Jin and maybe Hakumen. 3C (three hits) 5A 5B air combo.

It'll hurt more too since Litchi got a damage buff. >_<;; Uh... unless I'm mistaken, 2C can be comboed off of without CH now, so could a use for j2C be to link it to 2C and then do 2D 5CC wallbounce? (lol Rachel's going to be the Blazblue ping pong flipper). http://d.hatena.ne.jp/video/niconico/sm8891289 Second match- Rachel vs. Litchi. She still lost, but this is the first match where she didn't get completely run over. There were some interesting trap set ups. And... no, she still can't break 3k.

I noted that earlier. Hopefully Rachel doesn't end up with some whacky infinite where she's bouncing people off the wall all day. But that being said 5CC wallbounce 5CC wallbounce seems like it actually does decent damage and it opens up I think at least enough time to get out George. Hey, do you think ground throw 9D 5CC wallbounce 5CC wallbounce would potentially work? I heards somewhere that throws were more useful in this game. So it might not be a bad idea to put a little more thought into throw combos.

No. It just stops when she's knocked down.

It's Arcsys and they make changes to characters how they want. Don't worry though, if she's really totally out of whack this game, they'll probably give her the Potemkin treatment next game and we'll be good to go for loli corner rape. In the mean time we cope with what we're given. Considering how random a lot of the changes were from the loketests though (not just Rachel, but in general) I'm still pitting my theory into the final changes were decided by drunken darts and the person who had to throw the darts for Rachel was spiked.

Yeah. Pretty much. Rachel's strategies so far have been hit, run, and stall for time. This could change if higher damage combos are found, but considering how bad Rachel prorates, it's not likely. Another bad thing as kro pointed out is most of her reliable combos now require her to spend all or part of that time in the air where she doesn't regen wind. Right now there is a 4.5k combo (I dunno if it's been confirmed yet), but it takes three winds to do... which... I don't really suggest unless you're sure it's going to kill them. The guard primer breaking moves are nice, but not really as effective as they could be because she has a hard time keeping up pressure. The primers actually recover decently fast once a character is no longer pressured, so you're only assured a guard break if you stay in their faces. At the same time I heard that guard break combos also prorate to hell, so it might not really be something worth investing your time into. But... for Rachel damage is damage and she needs all the damage she can get.

Taokaka can still do 4k easily, so can Ragna, Litchi, Hakumen, and Tager. Nu's output seems a little below 4k in most cases. Noel can break 4k on Rachel (this is all with no meter). Carl? I dunno, I haven't really looked at his damage output. Tsubaki seems a bit on the low side, but so far she's been fast enough to cope. Hazama is also on the low side, but he doesn't have Tsubaki's speed. The problem is Rachel does about 3k average with heat. :X I'm pretty sure so far she has the lowest damage output of any character in the game... except maaaaybe Hazama does lower? But Hazama's a new character so he has a lot more potential to grow.

I really wonder though overall how she's going to keep up. Most of the cast can still do 4-5k damage easy. Rachel, on the other hand, has trouble breaking 3k (though I did see some combos that were like 3.1k, but I'm sure you get my point). Seems like overall she's going to be really heavily reliant on traps and set ups, but that's a little tough considering she can't zone well anymore. Skye- Actually, she's much worse than I expected. I honestly didn't expect them to break 6A CH and 6B period on top of nerfing the level 2 and 3 j2C as well. The 5C C wall bounce and cat chair link without CH were kinda ??? changes, but we'll see what she can do with them.

Lol. Well, if they lowered the damage of projectiles in the game, that does make George overall more durable even if there is no HP buff. XD;; Gotta look on the bright side of things, no?

Ah, didn't know about that. But, I saw in another video that George took an ice sword and lived too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-WRye2hzR4 This video. George got hit while being summoned but still lived through the ice sword. But seriously? Lobelia doesn't cancel out projectiles anymore? *wonders when she's going to find good news without finding a load more bad news* Uh... does it depend on the projectile? Because at 4:47, A lobelia took out an ice sword. 4:51- George takes the ice sword and lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5yZ4879ABw Lobelia bounces when it absorbs a hit. George has a health buff as he can survive being hit by a lobelia (meaning he has more health than CT George). 6A looks harder to combo off of in general. 6A link to 5B on normal hit misses a few times in this video. 1:53 has an interesting combo 5B CDC 236B IAD jB jC air iris land jC. Last time I checked jC can be comboed into BBL, but I'm not really sure if it'd do any noteworthy damage. Kinda interesting to see the variations in gameplay though. Blue Rachel is better at using the traps and Pink Rachel is better at combos. At least Rachel still has some versatility. 2:45- example of 5C C wall bounce into 5C C. Doesn't look like it can be repped more than once outside of the corner because you have to dash forward to make it continue. 5C C wall bounce also looks like it could have a lot of potential for Rachel. Shortly after you also see 5C C wall bounce sword iris air combo.

Wait... j2C doesn't special cancel anymore? I thought it could still special cancel and cancel into 2C.

Unless his D ice car got changed, probably. Rachel's OTG hitbox doesn't seem to have gotten changed (though considering how little damage she does, having it shortened would have been nice so people can't do stupid damage to her). *tries to think of other tools Rachel might still have* I'd personally like to see a top player in Japan try her out, but there are Game Chariot videos up have Shadow... and all of them are Shadow playing Bang. I'm guessing that shows what he thinks of the new Rachel.

Lobelias bounce when taking a hit. George seems to activate faster too since she can now air throw people into him. George's health buff is also nice considering that Rachel needs everything she can get. 5cdc > 236b > dash 6a BBL (or 63214d6c) might not work on everyone. I think on Nu, and... uh... Litchi, 236B whiffs unless you used 5B B before hand (which is no longer possible). Then again they might of changed the hitbox? Or 2B 5B might make it hit. I think from 2/3th screen and less 5C C wall bounce (it only does wall bounce if their air borne) can combo back into 5C C wall bounce. I'm not sure if you can do more than one rep though. 2C 2D 5C C wall bounce is also an actual combo now outside of 2C needing a CH. Also, it's funny you said that kro. I've seen two videos of her getting owned by optic barrel and ice sword/ice car spam. It's really not that hard to get in on her if even a crappy Jin can do it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-WRye2hzR4 ... Did the hit box for Rachel when she summons George change? Because it's really weird that her summoning George made ice car whiff.

Right now Rachel seems to be having the same problem as Noel where she can't do much against someone who blocks low and has enough reaction time to block switch 4B... which really isn't that hard even if it is like 4 frames faster than it was in CT.

Haha. I believe there was a discussion on how 6B got used less and less. I guess we're going to be seeing a lot less (or possibly none of it) in CS. Uh... one more question- is 3C 9D still possible? I remember in the loketests it was, but it was very hard to do. But... considering how the final changes match up to the loketests and I haven't seen it used often. 3C still has a longer recovery right? They might be hesitant to use it then... I really have no idea. Hopefully it still gives advantage on block.

No, I believe the pumpkin does still have a cool down timer. I'm pretty sure if you summon a pumpkin, you can't re-summon it until it disappears. Overall, it's been hard to tell. Pumpkin's also a lot more risky to get out because of how slow it is now. It's nice that you're being optimistic though. XD; That's all I'll say. 6B CH is either impossible to combo off of, or the timing is really really strict. I believe in one of the videos against Tsubaki she tried to dash and do 5B, but Tsubaki was able to block. Does anyone else have more info on that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5yZ4879ABw Either A lobelia does less damage, or George got a health buff. I thought it was weird in another video where George survived an ice sword. Lobelia now bounce off of hits instead of absorbing the hit and continuing on. 2:50- 5C C wall bounce can combo back into 5C C wall bounce, though it might only work for one rep. Did TD always have that giant pumpkin? Also, yeah, TD looks really easy to block. It's a good thing it's safe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XKsBol-Fro Rachel can OTG with the frog! ^_^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkNgzDvyu3s Yeah, apparently she can only win via timeouts now. e_e; Eeeh... well... a win's a win. Lol @ escaping by going off screen at the end. The only reason she got this far (3rd place, must have been a small tourney) is because her first match was a mirror match.

Doesn't that mean that a lot of combos that used to work on all characters because the 6B would push them back farther are now broke? I know with Nu if I wanted to do 5B CDC 236B, I'd pretty much need the second B or the 236B would miss. But Arcsys- seriously why?

... Well, there goes my hope that she'd be better in the release.

But I'm half blind and asian. Fuck. It looks like I'll have to get lasik after all. On a more serious note- thank you for the guide. CT should theoretically still be playable in the US until console version hits. So I guess there's no harm in still practicing... even if like 80% of this stuff didn't make it to CS.

Well... 3 poles setup is depending on how good your mixup game is in the corner. If it's tight enough, it's not all that hard to set up 3 poles, probably guard crush or catch them somewhere and then massive profit. Though I think the best thing I did all night was super twice and then dash under to cat chair for the winning hit (it comboed too) And usual cat chair nonsense with Jin's trap card distortion (I probably should have saved that).

Well... for your own reference, it's pretty much along the lines of "master". I'm guessing they did that because that's what maid cafes do in Japan. Same with the sitting with you/talking with you. It's kinda like Hooters, except the outfits are cute. And if you like that kind of stuff (other than girls being in short frilly skirts), then you're already +10 on the weeaboo scale.

I hate when I fall for Noel, Bang, and Carl's low sliding attacks. They're soooo freakin obvious, but sometimes I don't block switch right or time 5B too early and miss, etc. Yeah, I thought showing the variations depending on how your opponent responds is nifty. I also love that corner tech trap with cat chair and George. I think that's the first time I've seen cat chair being used for something other than lulz. But... yeah, that's actually a safe way to use cat chair as even if they block it, George keeps them in block stun and you can continue to mix up.