Ronove

Ugh, ok now I am starting to worry a lil bit.

Too early to say that, although it is true that I can't think of any good "buff" she has received to compensate for all these nerfs. As Stomoman said having CH 5C > 6C back it's cool (footsies! or atleast a shy attempt) but it's hardly going to make a difference unless performed at the corner.

According to the latest loketest info they restored the CH 5C > 6C link that Tao had in CT. This is good new since it means we can finally get back to play some sort of footsies at max range. On the other hand though it seems 3C combos are definetely gone since the move can only be canceled with a distortion drive.

*sighs*

Please elaborate, I'm curious.

Uh. :\ Besides his 6A what options does he have? The only true reversal is his Astral, lol. As for the nerfs, I think we all saw them coming. Some of his stuff is way too god, but I just hope these nerfs don't make him too plain to use.

I haven't checked the JP boards in a while, given the recent loketest I'll go see if there's any news and report it/translate it here unless someone else does it before I do in the loketest thread

Well even if they're going to take them away I'm pretty sure they'll give her other ways to get in and combo, given the kind of character that she is. I don't mind "re-learning" new combos as long as her general playing style doesn't drastically change. As for the person asking if it's worth to learn the TL, I'd say it doesn't hurt to know how to perform it. It will force you to work on improving your execution and manuality so it's not like you're wasting your time anyway. And as Cake said, it might still take a while for CS2 to be available outside of Japan.

This I can confirm. The problem I had with his 5A was that it has a really good hitbox, it makes it hard to rush him down since everytime I'm resetting pressure at the end of a blockstring a good chunk of options get denied by that move. He has a good comfort zone within that range so I guess I'll probably have to bait more rather than trying to forcefully going in. One thing I realized too late during the ranbat was that using at max range CH 5C > 2C > drive to get in wasn't that bad of an idea, because it would create the opportunity to ~B cancel past him and make him guess after that (either go for low, grab or crossup j.B). But yeah, the more I think about what I did then and what are Hazama's best tools the more I realize that it's a matchup that Tao can't play by going all-out but rather by forcing mistakes with mobility.

Been playing a solid Hazama at the local ranbat, and I had trouble keeping the pressure up. His 5A is truly a damn good antiair/antipressure tool it makes it hard for Tao to reset and get in comfortably. Any tips? Besides crawling under 5A.

When you get a CH j.C and land doing 6C > TL it's good because if you're close to the corner you can also end it with her oki ender. Or you can j.C > j.5D > etc, that string is blood easy to confirm if the j.C hits you can ~6 cancel else you're free to either ~C cancel in case it gets blocked or just bounce back and jump away. basicly it should be like this: - "random" antiair j.C > 5D~6 > j.C > aerial combo of choice (see thread's first page for the possible enders) or - "random" antiair j.C > land > 2D > aerial combo of choice (same as above) or - "random" antiair j.C > land > 6C > taunt loop > corner oki OR best damage ender OR almost becoming two ender easiest one is the first since you can do it at whatever height you want. The other two depend on at what height both of you are and screen positioning. the land > 6C one works well when the "random" CH j.C occurs halfway between midscreen/corner Most basic aerial ender can be something like j.C > [wait] > j.9D~9 > j.C > j.9D~9 > j.2D~3 > CAT2x5 from there you can expand it by either adding a short horizontal drive (j.C > 5D~6 > j.C > [wait] > etc) BEFORE, or by adding j.2D~C between j.9D~9 > j.C Keep in mind that some characters have stupid aerial hitboxes (Bang, Makoto) and they might make you whiff j.2D~Cs. Which is why you usually see players like Tsujikawa keeping their aerial string fairly short and instead go for more cat2loop repetitions since that's definetely a better universal tool.

on ground if you hitconfirm off 5B always go for 6A > TL/taunt combo if the opponent is standing if you 5C at max distance follow with 2C > drive , if you caught the opponent in CH you can even ~B cancel the drive into TL, or RC and go 3C > combo. Else just ~A/~C cancel to keep up the pressure. if you hitconfirm a 3C near the corner you can go for TL > okizeme ender/AB2 ender if you have meter off air to air j.C close to the ground you can follow up with a 6C, else just follow with 5D~6 > j.C > [wait] > your string of choice (also depending on character) off antiair 2D again it depends on your positioning. If the enemy is right above you and close to the ground you can ~A cancel and follow with 6C, else follow with 5D~6 combo. Or you can do what Tsujikawa does and just and go for 3D~3 > cat2 loop asap by keeping the air string as short as possible while staying as closer to the ground as possible. Though it doesn't grant real okizeme/pressure you'll be on the opponent's face and as their teching near the ground. Same thing for hitconfirmed antiair 6A: the damage is not really that great so it's better to setup your offense after that than trying to maximize poor damage (unless going for the killing blow) and go for cat2 loop as soon as you're in the air. You can also mess up with the opponent with j.aa > grab / j.a grab whatever (this is an other thing that Tsujikawa often does to fetch for throw counters). If you land a j.A with both you and opponent close to the ground (with Tao being slightly above) you can 6A right after or even 5AA > 6A as you land, after that you can j.A again/airthrow/combo depending on what the opponent is doing. You basically take advantage of the little stun that j.A gives to make the opponent guess on what to do as he's landing (barrier? try to tech a possible airthrow or making them scared to do that in case of throw reject setups). Generally speaking if you hitconfirm off not-so-great normals it's always good to try to setup better ones right after. 2B > throw, 6B > (link) 5B, etc. But again, it's really variable depending also on what the matchups is.

Word it in whatever way you want, Seimitsu buttons don't respond at the slightest touch as Sanwa (which is why I prefer them, I dislike Sanwa buttons for that reason). If we want to be nitpicky about it, I'd say that Seimitsu buttons simply feel like they have a harder spring.

Depends on your personal preference. Seimitsu buttons are less sensitive than Sanwa ones, and usually come with more color combinations and variations (like those with transparent plunger). Sanwa buttons are usually the standard type used on fighting game coin-op machines.

It's [2]8 charge move.

It's mindblowing how Tsujikawa managed to scare the shit out of Hima, Hima was so afraid of eating a CH j.D he just couldn't really lay his stuff or even attempt to control the air as Kune players normally do. Also it's true that in this specific matchup it's far better for Tao to keep the fight in air vs air. That match is like the bible of the Tao vs Arakune matchup, it contains everything you have to do and the way you have to approach the damn blob.

It was obvious they were going to nerf 2C, any CH 2C leads to ridiculously damaging combos and gain meter. It's like, with a couple of pokes and two CH 2C combos you can litterally win a round against almost anyone of the BB cast. That and the fact that it has a really good hitbox. Although making it slower might hurt Valk more than it should. They should or could have change the move's proration rather than making it slower. Also 3C pushing the opponent further away is going to hurt as well.

Ah, aight. Well as long as it's not craptastic as her current CS1 throw range I'm fine. What the... You best be joking son. Even without head invuln we're talking about a goddamn poke that's fast enough, with proper spacing having 5C unblockable is a freaking good buff especially in Jin's case when pressuring and trying to trap the opponent at the corner. They're going to make him stupid again if they give him this kind of tools. That's what my comment regarding that buff being totally unnecessary was referred to.

well this is good news. I think they really overdid it in CS1 with the nerf, even when kara-throwing her range was still awful. Given that she really can't taunt loop anymore the payoff from throwing opponent should be back to normal, so it's cool to have the throw range increased (wonder if it's back to CT range though). Also lol@Valk's nerfs, they're definetely expected. 2C right now is just too fucking good. It's fast enough to punish people approaching from distance has good hitbox that hits all around him (even stuffing crossups), and when it trades it's in Valk's favor and nets ridiculous damage+meter gain. It's litterally possible to end a round with two CH 2C combos. Good to see they're somehow trying to fix that. I'm curious to watch some loketest vids as soon as they're available because I have no idea how they can have the 6C work without the wallbounce (but then again, this kind of nerf is just like 2C's, payoff from his 6C was also pretty damn good). 5C unblockable for Jin sounds completely unnecessary.

Back to CT-like enders?

Hmmm. So like, at the point when you execute 236B you pay attention to both the opponent's height and yours and if the opponent's about aligned/below then you go for 7C and if it's way above it's 5C? If that's the case then I think I realize why I had trouble getting it consistently, which wasn't due my timing with [w]j.B (which as I said was exactly the same both when I managed to actually hit with landing 5B and when the move wouldn't hit) but likely due to the difference in height everytime I performed the bit of combo that preceeded that string, meaning I have to get a consistent timing when executing the 9D/5D > 236xx > 236xx > etc so that I can get the opponent everytime at that specific height and be able to comfortably do 7C > [w]j.B > [w]j.B > land D 5B Thanks a lot for the tip, time to grind dat training mode again

I'm still having a little trouble in getting consistent with 7C > [w]j.B > [w]j.B > land D > 5B , like I can't still exactly figure out what I'm doing right when the 5B manages to hit or what I'm doing wrong when I land and the opponent recovers during 5B's animation. It feels like I am doing it with the same speed in both cases but it's like sometimes I can't prevent the opponent from recovering just as he's touching the ground. Are there any specific visual clues I should look for so that I can gradually work on them (and improve my consistency, right now I get that string one time out of five, pretty bad)?

@drzero Kara = empty His kara cancels are done when you wolf cancel a move before it actually connects (usually done in the startup frames). In Valk's case so far it should be 6C and 236B, since both have long startup which allows for these moves to be wolf-canceled before hitting the opponent.