Mobri

Being a Jin player who struggles with Ragna, I may be able to help a bit as well. What you need to remember about Jin is that his good players are rather calculating. They have to be because Jin's moves all have long cooldowns, so a hit must be ensured or we become extremely vulnerable. Your best bet is to learn to bait your opponent into committing to a maneuver that he can't recovery from very quickly. An example of this that's used on me constantly is, in fact, my 5D. When I see a Ragna dash at me I 5D. Worst case scenario, he blocks it, right? Except Ragna's specials have extremely long invincibility frame counts, so it's actually possible to blow through my attack and hit me despite it. That's where Ragna excels in this match-up. Our mixup game is pretty weak, so be patient and learn to block our strings. Don't become predictable, but that's common sense anyway.

No mashing?! Why do I even play this game?! Seriously, though, frame trapping Ragna is a good idea if you can approach it safely. Most Ragnas I've encountered have a trigger finger on that DP of theirs and pausing lets them occassionally sneak something in. I forgot to mention using 236C after knockdown. I know it's on the strategy disk but it forces Ragna to either block and let you approach, hits him, or eats his ID so you don't have to. Not 100% on the last one, actually...

Ragna is a big challenge to me as a player because of his insanely long invincibility frames on a very large, fast special move that hits both ground and air effectively. It makes a rushdown very hard to execute (Jin isn't the most natural rushdown choice, which only makes it harder) but allowing Ragna to retreat and approach repeatedly is a sure way to die. I find that DP+C is unreliable as a means to combat approaches and wakeups, though it is essential that you use it. It's best to try it in a number of different instances and find which ways are found to be successful. It's very punishable, and even if it clashes with Ragna's DP you're not guaranteed the next blow. If you find that the Ragna player you're facing is particularly aggressive it becomes a more necessary tool because they're easier to bait. 5D is a fantastic tool because it has a large hit box, it's dash cancellable, and it has a lot of active frames (as someone else has already mentioned). It startup is slow, of course, so if you find yourself in a lot of close range fighting rely more heavily on DP+C. I don't find myself relying much on Jin's Distortion Drives for Ragna and use the drive version of his specials instead to create openings. Any one of his DP moves are amazing as well. Use A when standing drive is too slow, same with the b version (although DP+B is a great way to bait an attack). J+B really is a savior, like everybody has said. Air dashing low to the ground and tapping B adds a lot to Jin's mixup and zoning games. Just don't use it when Ragna is getting up from a knockdown or you'll get a face full of Infernal Divider. And tap 5A/2A lots. LOTS. And don't be afraid to RC out of a special to continue a block string or end it with 5D and cancel into a dash.

Yep, them thar's my number two problem. That's really just a matter of practice, though. Good to know about the ItsuuC's. I'm glad it wasn't just me. I feel stupid, but at least I can move on now. lol

MVC2, GG, and MB are all games I've picked up in the last year or so. For some reason, Melty Blood and MVC2's combo systems were easier for me to pick up and I never really got heavily into GG before starting BB. SFA allows for combos through V-ism, but I always stuck with A-ism for simplicity's sake. BB is the first game I'm trying to take out of super-casual status, hence my struggle. It doesn't help that I don't play regularly, I s'pose. Neither does using the D-pad from what I've heard. I'm in that awkward "Kick a casual player's butt and get stomped by everybody else" phase of play, lol. Anyway, back to the topic at hand: My trouble is that after 5C or 3C I try to do ItsuuC, but instead of the character reacting as though she still has the Matenbou she acts as though she DOESN'T have it. Instead of doing the Straight Through she does Four Winds, and I'm uncertain if this is because I'm going too slow or too fast. I can execute the rest of the combo without much hassle; it's just that one portion. I'll try varying the range at which I try to execute these combos as well. I try to practice these combos from Litchi's zoning sweet spots, but I may be misjudging the distance by some chance.

I'm having a terrible time pulling off Litchi's combos! I tend to whiff a great deal, especially on the ItsuuC combos. I end up doing Four Winds after 3C instead of Itsuu, somehow. I don't come from a combo background. I've played GG a little (I HEART POTEMKIN) and Melty Blood (Tohno) and became familiar with air combos finally (also thanks to MVC2 practice) but her oki game throws me off. The Street Fighter Alpha Series was always my go-to fighter, so footsie is alright. I'm also not accustomed to learning 70 different situational combos, which doubles my learning curve. I'm not ready to deal with CH combos since I don't yet have the presence of mind to execute it in such a short span of time. So, coming from scrub territory here, how am I going to get myself off of this plateau? What are the base combos that, once you get the hang of them, open up the avenue to the rest of her varied combo game?

I'm a casual player, but my main is Litchi and I have found this matchup to be very interesting. The struggle is zoning. Litchi is much faster and has longer range with the staff. Because Hakumen's air dash is his best tool for closing distance it's predictable and easy to punish, which makes it that much harder. Most Litchi players abuse 6C quite a bit, however. (Staff twirls a distance in front of her in midair) This move is easy to punish and, in many cases, easy to bait. 3C is the low attack counterpart and is abused as well since they both lead to most of her BnB's. Her anti-air is weak, however, as long as she has that staff. Bait her into committing to long recovery moves and punish her for it. Baiting DP is essential as well, and since it's our only viable get out of jail free card it may pay off to frame trap at close range. Mix in a delay occassionally and drive counter or punish regularly. These seem to work well against me, anyway, at lower end play. High end becomes much different, I'm sure.

Learn the BnB combos and become comfortable fighting with the staff. When the staff is placed, use it for cover; don't let it just sit there (usually.) I don't play this game on a daily basis, so I'm still pretty n00bish with Litchi, but I've found that the "getting your butt kicked" learning curve is pretty steep with Litchi. Considering the fact that BB already has a steep learning curve (if you do anything more than mash buttons) you're facing a LOT of painful losses until you get the hang of her. Put yourself out there, practice the combos, and keep at it. Everybody has lost to the drive spamming Noels.