Matt

I've been watching some Fumo and Souji vids lately and I noticed an amazing frame trap that they have been consistently using in their matches. The frame trap starts from a 3rd of a screen away and what they did was release a C bug, j2A, then released B bug (an A bug at the end is optional). If the j2A, C bug or B bug connects, the move can combo into a j5A and then whatever you want to do from there. The frame trap can be seen at 3:41 on this video: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251674. One more note is that it can also be started off of an A bug, which is seen in the example I gave.

1. 2D works at stopping dash up, but if the opponent is looking out for it they can just jump over it and punish. 2B is the best normal to use to prevent dash up because it's fast and it combos pretty well. If you have the homing cloud out or the shield cloud out, it should prevent dash up completely. 2. 2B is the absolute best option to use as an anti air because it beats out most aerial moves or the moves whiff, it is extremely safe and it goes into a 5.5k+ combo on counter hit. 5C works, it has a lot of reach and upper head invulnerability, but it isn't the safest move to use. j5A is pretty good because it can catch the opponent off guard. The bell bug is also pretty good, but only if you're 100% sure your opponent isn't going to punish you for pulling it out. Ceiling cloud is pretty good because it prevents double jumping and in conjunction with the bell bug, it prevents aerial approaches altogether. 3. IB then 5A>6B will knock the opponent away from you then give you enough time to pull out a cloud. Barrier blocking also works. If you have 50% meter, you can pull off a counter assault and if you have 100% meter, you can pull off a counter assault, distortion drive then 5D for a complete reversal and curse. 4. j5B is a fairly safe way to move in, especially if there are mind games around its usage. If the opponent doesn't look like he's paying complete attention, you can use j2A from a third of a screen away and catch him off guard. Definitely use clouds because they give you tons of control over what the opponent does. I wouldn't suggest using the bell bug at all if you are not on the health lead because it is a waste of time. 2C from (at most) a half a screen away is also pretty good to use, but only if you have 50% meter to make it safe. 5. From 3rd a screen away is the best area to be from your opponent during curse because you're close enough for all of frame traps off of bugs to work (i.e.: C bug to j2A), but not too close to be hit or grabbed out of the curse by the opponent. When you're not in curse it really depends on what cloud you have out if at all. No cloud, use air dash canceling with j5B and barrier blocking to try and get close to your opponent safely or just stay on the defense. Homing cloud, stay behind the homing cloud and punish anyone that tries to air dash over it. Shield cloud, with this one, stay on the defense and you're guaranteed to get your opponent cursed. Overhead cloud, I dunno. 6. I say, watch videos of the best Arakune players to understand the match ups. I got most of this from watching Fumo vids, so I'll just post them here if you want a video reference. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251674 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251428 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251395 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251348 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251278 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251239 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251199 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251084 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8372626 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8343093 Fumo's Arakune is gdlk. If you're looking for the what to do right, watch any and all of his videos.

It's shouldn't usually be safe because if the Arakune player is looking out for exactly what you're about to do, he can j6A/B/C (depending on distance) from half a screen away when you're going in to destroy the bell bug then hit confirm into a 5k+ combo.

Kousaka said it earlier, but I thought that I should reiterate it. I think the biggest thing you need to work on is hit confirming. You're really good at hit confirming 2A, but if you could hit confirm a wider variety of things, I think that you would definitely improve greatly. Dehumanizer pointed out some things that you could have hit confirmed, but overall you need more variety in what combos you can do. Being able to do large combos off of almost any single hit instead of just 2A would definitely help. Also, you don't have to take what I said earlier into consideration. Use the bugs however you want to. You can use them for rushdown or for zoning purposes. I was just going off of whatever Fumo did because I thought that how he played Arakune was amazing and I still do (he's my hero).

Alright, I guess the argument I was trying to make was that it wasn't impossible for the Hakumen player. I know that the match I showed, it was extreme luck that 0 won. I know that for the Hakumen to even have a chance of winning, the Arakune player has to be even somewhat aggressive. I know that if the Arakune player has decided to sit back, play it safe and just zone the Hakumen player to death (set up bell bug, pull out cloud, wait to punish, use jD, etc, etc) it is essentially unwinnable for the Hakumen player. So yeah, Arakune has a lot of moves that Hakumen player has no good answer to (ie: bell bug). I guess what I was trying to say is that it isn't impossible, but when the Arakune player isn't taking any chances and is forcing the Hakumen player to come to him only to be immediately punished for even air dashing or hopping, yeah it is "essentially unwinnable".

Yeah I'll have to agree it's waaaaayy in Arakune's favor and yeah it is "essentially unwinnable". I'll think next time before I post.

Unwinnable you say? Here's a video of 0 beating Fumo: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251428 (last third of the video). Here's another video of Fumo vs another Hakumen player: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251278 (last third of the video). And here's the last one: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251199 (second match in the video). I can't say much about this matchup because I'm not that good, but all I know is that a properly timed 6A/5D beats out Arakune's dive (j2A).

Hey Skye, I never said I was good. I even said in my post that I sucked. I'm a scrub, it is just that I have taken the time to try and have a deeper understanding of how Arakune is played. I've spent hours watching the pros and trying to understand what they do and try to emulate their playstyle. I know I'm not very good, but at least I know where I need to improve and I'm trying to get better (unlike some players). Also, I'll post a video of myself... eventually... when I suck less...

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251674 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251428 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251395 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251348 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251278 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251239 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251199 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8251084 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8372626 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8343093 So here are all of the latest Fumo vids I could find. I haven't watched all of them yet, but I must say that from what I've seen so far is that Fumo has quite the in your face, risk taker style (except for when he zones the shit out of Hakumen and Tager players). Sometimes it works out extremely well, other times it fails miserably, but most of the time it ends up absolutely destroying the other opponent . I have to say they are really good examples of how to play Arakune's matchups correctly (these videos will definitely help me suck less). Also, I think I'm going to start adding more Arakune vids to my youtube account. Once I have enough vids that it'll be worth heading over to my account, I'll just post a link to it. Also, sorry if one or two of these vids have already been posted in this thread. Edit: Fumo does an amazing job in all of these videos. I believe that quite a few of these videos are of casual play because he gives the other player a win sometimes instead of just taking it for himself.

3C was always jump cancelable on hit even in CT.

@Skye: Also upon what kousaka said you should stop smashing your way through curse. The curse has the amazing ability to completely lock down both an aerial and grounded opponent. Wasting your curse by bringing bugs out randomly won't help you hit confirm massive combos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0pCTaakSns This vid shows Hima/Souji/Fumo using the A-bug spam to completely lock down aerial advances made by the opponent. For ground use the C/B bug together and if they hit you can go into either a j6A>triple dive loop>C loop>recurse if you're close enough or j6B>j6B>j236C>release C>B bug>C loops>recurse. If the C/B bugs are blocked you can use the hit stun to move in. This strategy takes A LOT of skill to do well, I myself am not even close to mastering this supreme lock down, but I suggest if you want to do better try using this strategy instead of mashing out bugs and moving around erraticly. @PhantomX: j2A>5B is awesome. Don't give up on it. It is the safest and most spammable move I have seen in the entire game.

You can't tiger knee a cloud. It is impossible because there is a distance requirement of how far you have to be off the ground to pull out a cloud.

Can you post a link of this video?

Skye I must say your combo is very creative and sounds like a good combo to do. I'll post it, but I suggest that if you wish to play more competitively you should try this combo out because it does more damage and does not need 50% heat to be done: j2A>release 3A>5B bugs> C loops x1-4> recurse

I suggest going here if you want a much more thorough, cleaner list of changes: http://s1.zetaboards.com/blazblue/topic/2339886/1/#new I have to say it's a good read and it even includes some impressions from the pros. Also, it has quite a bit of info in it that isn't stated on the dustloop loketest list like Lamba 11 not really getting a damage nerf. Big thanks goes out to tianyuan2k4 for translating the Japanese players notes and writing the list.

Alright I guess I couldn't see how this related to combo discussion, but now you have shown me the error of my ways. To add to what you said Kousaka... you can also join Bang in the air and do a j2A. When it connects you can cancel it into 5D (it's like j2A>5B but you press B and D at the same time to cancel it to 5D) to a triple dive loop and more for massive damage! Also, you can do an airthrow> land> 5D> triple dive loop> C loop> recurse> massive damage part two.

Dude, a comment like this belongs in the general discussion thread. O_o

Except when the opponent's cursed you can do an instant j5C>j2B>something something>C loops. I have only seen it in gameplay, but I haven't taken the time to do it yet, so I don't know the exact inputs after j5C>j2B. Thanks Copper.

Wow... you bragged about how good you are and then never gave any helpful info.

Watch the Souji vs Dora videos (all four parts) for how you should set up the 6A combo starting with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRBdnU8G8Ow. He sets up the combo a few times. What has to happen is you need to train the opponent to block low then hit them with the overhead. It's not really gonna come up very often, so don't rely on the 6A combo to get a win. For j2A>6B: 1. I don't know how you can call it a BnB if it contains a 3(?) frame link in it. 2. Go to this thread first: http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6199 3. Practice canceling j2A into 5B. If you can't figure out how to cancel j2A into 5B from that thread I'll preemptively tell you how I do it. Immediately after Arakune's j2A hits the opponent tap 2 then B in succession as quickly as possible. Seriously, practice this in training mode though, it took me hours before I was able to do it consistently in training mode.

I've been using 5C more often against Tao after seeing this video and found out that 5C absolutely destroys Tao's drive.

Then what WERE ALL OF THESE POSTS FOR?! Someone clean this up or something.

Shazam! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcHBwkxyfPk&feature=PlayList&p=AC711FF53326E7C5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=20. Also, 6:4. Miso: I said I would PM the links to the videos so that you can see for yourself....eventually.

Because there's so much Arakune hate I thought it would be cleaner to just send it here. Also, for the whole Hakumen vs Arakune match up there's nothing more that I can say beyond: don't destroy the clouds it's hopeless and you need unbelievably good timing to gain control. Once you have control and about 4 magatama it's a lot easier from there. Keeping control is extremely hard though. I'll just PM you some links of some interesting Hakumen strategies. One involves mugen and the spamming of shippuu (surprisingly it actually won one of the matches).