Moblin

I've conditioned my local competitors to wait for the extended duration, so they often miss the easy punish when I do the short 5d. Ha

I've had mixed success kishuu'ing under it, but it's something you can try when you call it out... and it's easy to call out. Terumis do it constantly in neutral.

Honestly is 6b realistically reactable with our 2d? I feel like it should be, but I just haven't been training hard enough. I fall for the empty run ---> 6b alllll the fucking time and it leads to such huge damage.

Nice write-up! Is optic barrel in counter hit frames for its entire recovery?

That's actually pretty awesome and crazy lol. I'll definitely want to test this, it's something I've never thought about. Nice post. edit: So after trying it I like it a lot, but I'm concerned as to your frame advantage after you land next to them with j.B while they emergency tech. It seems like if they 5a'd it would trade or clash with haku's 2a. I need someone to test it with me though.

We've discussed ending combos with 5a > j.B > Agito, but not hop agito. But I'm not sure how one would even end a combo with hop agito, or 66 Agito so I'm pretty sure you're referring to my previous example? I've made a few posts about it, it's very very good especially if your opponent likes to tech as soon as possible. If they delay tech it ruins the airdash mixup you can get out of it, which has gotten me quite a lot of damage in tough situations. You've pretty much got the gist of its advantages, it sounds like. My favorite thing to do is 5a, j.B > Agito, airdash in on their tech with j.B, j.a, (land) 2b > Enma or other confirm for around 2kish. It's a sneaky way to get some damage in if you just need a little bit more. You can also airdash j.B, overdrive cancel, j.B, (land) Renka(1) > Zantetsu > other overdrive stuff

Halp. This was a FT5 I did against our local Amane, and I had a lot of fun but I really don't know how to do better. http://www.twitch.tv/milehighburst/b/533847511?t=4h0m21s What can I do better, what am I doing badly, how should I change my thinking about this matchup or my playstyle? I know a lot of you probably don't have much Amane experience but these matches were interesting to say the least. Any and all critique is appreciated <3

So with the Amane buffs in 1.1 this has actually become a problem matchup for me. Playing against Hellfire last night has made me realize that I have a huge problem getting zoned out, especially with Amane's full screen confirms and the fact that he actually has a risk-free way to get drill meter now. Before the patch when his drill stance wasn't good, Haku could just sit full screen, build stars, and Yukikaze/wait for an opening while avoiding obvious drill setups. Now this is usually how matches go: Not sure what move it is, but Amane's 5c or 6c(?) can hit Hakumen 3/4 of the screen away if he's crouching, standing, or jumping. It's always forcing me to block and it keeps me pretty locked down when I'm trying to get in full screen. If I try countering it/Yukikaze'ing it, he can just stand there and build full drill level in just a couple seconds, and then you're really in trouble. So it's Hakumen's burden to approach. How do I do this? Hellfire insisted that it's a 50-50 MU after the patch and I scoffed, but after playing him I actually started to believe that it might not be in Hakumen's favor.

Some things I've noticed on this matchup: Pressure: Hakumen is one of the easier characters to do her instant overhead mixup pressure on, so don't expect her to mess them up much. Barrier blocking does help, since her pressure is not as endless as pre-1.1 Valk, but it's still just as ambiguous. If you manage to block a few mixups, she has to use wind to close the gap after you barrier block her out and keep the string going. This is the only reliable gap in her pressure. Most Rachels will wind > j.a or whatever just as you push them barely out of range with Barrier. Use this to Yukikaze out. Then they'll be conditioned to think twice before going in with that after you hit her for 3.8k, giving you some breathing room. Counter assault is also really good, since she doesn't have to meaty you at all on wake-up and can continue pressure even if you manage to get a D counter off as soon as Hakumen's invuln ends. Make sure you counter assault at unpredictable times. Neutral/full screen: I feel like Hakumen can actually out-zone Rachel if the Rachel doesn't play the matchup right. Any seeds that are shot out are easily voidable/counterable for free stars. Once he has 4 stars, Rachel needs to be in the air to summon pumpkin/shoot any projectiles. Shippu can punish any summon for free if Rachel is standing on the ground to do it. Pumpkin is Rachel's best tool in neutral and it's really hard to see coming and locks you down very well. In patch 1.1 especially, Hakumen needs to stay on the ground a lot more for better meter gain. Because of this you're also an easier target to lockdown with pumpkin for Rachel's approach. 6a is soooo freakin' big that Agito actually gets stuffed by it at least half the time. If you want to hard bait her 6a, just use j.D. When you have a lot of stars and need to get in, kishuu is ridiculously good. A lot of the time rachel will knock you down, summon George, and shoot a seed at you on wake-up. Kishuu will hard punish things like this. Save your stars for counter assault when you can. Offense When you have a Rachel in the corner, she will, at the very first opportunity, super jump and wind out across the screen to reset the situation. Hakumen can't keep pressure up for long, so start baiting this if i happens a lot. I've had a lot of success with either 2c OR you can super jump up with her and Hotaru as she uses wind. It'll counter hit if timed right and give you a nice combo, no matter how high up she is, since CH hotaru has ridiculous hitstun. I can't count the amount of times I've been cat chair Astraled. edit: And INSTANT BLOCK GEORGE. You might as well get some meter while you wait for the unreactable mixup

That is pretty good, it seems like Hakumen has no meterless option to punish backrolls which is unfortunate. But if you call it out you can always late meaty Gurren/Zantetsu to catch rolls. @BlackYakuzu94 It's not just you. I have like 300 more damage before this loop ends, why do you want to burst it? Because you're bored and that loop is lame? oh ok. Although I think Hakumen's loop is one of the most burst-baitable BnBs in the game.

I think that's what he meant, yes. It's decent if the character they are playing as subpar air normals that you can bait/beat out. It's not really reliable though but it's better than spending a hard-earned star on Agito sometimes Going back to CT style combo enders

It depends on which air-tech they use. They can neutral, back, or forward tech in the air after the J.2C. You pretty much need to predict which tech they will use to apply pressure to them after they tech in the air. Neutral tech will let you set up 5a oki most of the time. If they forward or back tech, that pops them up a little bit in the air, making them too high and too far away for any 5a resets/oki/pressure.

I wish they had one with just hakumen, Jin is kind of a little bitch.

Yeah, I used to have 8 stars after eating 1 combo. I guess it's a good thing that we have to be more conservative with stars again. I was getting spoiled. Also, I thought I saw in a recent video that you could special-cancel Hotaru the airthrow into OD? I guess that got taken out too?

Wat. What is the frame advantage data on 2b cancelled into kishuu?

That instant overhead is a very good setup and it's been something I've been working on a lot lately. If you want more meter for your effort, you can always confirm that into a loop with the j.b, and if they do block it, it becomes a pressure string instead of them blocking the Tsubaki and ending your pressure. The universal bnb confirm from AD j.b after the Agito is: (as far as I can tell is optimal) Agito ender ---> j.B, j.a, (land) 2b > Enma > loop x2 Another option with OD: Agito ender ---> AD j.B, ODC, j.B, land, renka > Zantetsu (1) > kishuu > 2c Hotaru ---> enders and stuff This combo depends on how many stars you have to start with, of course My opponents have just started waiting to tech slightly after I end with Agito to avoid this setup, since it's very good mixup and if timed right, the j.B is a true meaty. Unfortunately delay teching completely fucks this setup over.

Hotaru is the ultimate "fuck you I know exactly what you're doing" now.

I think a combination is definitely helpful. The difference between knowing what move to use in practice mode, and what move to use against a scary opponent who isn't letting you think or breathe is night/day. Learn basics like 2a x whatever into 3c, learn what the majority of your moves do and what they're used for, and then unbind your D button and hop into some matches.

You're really good at sticking 2d in between Nirvana's attacks to disrupt Carl's pressure. I am definitely stealing that. You might want to work on confirming into loop better after a j.B confirm. There were many times you could have confirmed your j.B --> 2b > Loop for like 2.5k, corner carry, and knockdown Oki. At 7:45ish, when you get the backthrow in the corner, the round should have been over immediately. RC ---> 5c OD THAT SHIT You're a really good Hakumen, those are just the things I noticed from about 10 minutes of watching.

The two reasons I've had to RC is the one that Mac stated, where they block a 3c point blank, or to confirm off 6b for more damage. I can't really think of any other uses for RC Oh, and if you have a lot of stars and get CH j.c in the corner, I've seen crazy combos that RC > OD the j.C instead of OD cancelling it so you get the full OD time.

Question, how many people, in your hakumen experience, delay tech and how many hold to tech out immediately at the end of Hakumen's combos? The 5a, j.b > Agito ending option is godlike on people who just hold to tech immediately. It's almost a true 50/50 between airdashing in with j.b, (which is confirmable into loop for 2.3kish, or unreactable OD combo starter) or land > 2b some other low into more mixup if they block. But if they just delay tech you airdash right over them and just put yourself in the corner and they get a pressure-free tech. Is Haku really going to go down to mid tier in 1.1? Also the level of cheese strat discussion is way too high lol

Was this played on netplay or offline? It makes a lot of difference because online, low/overhead mixups are true 50/50s sometimes even if they have startup because of input lag. This Ragna is really very good! That said, you won, or got close to winning, when you stole his momentum. Here are some things you can try to disrupt this player's (and Ragna's) momentum: You mash out of pressure a lot. Trust yourself to block his mixup. I know I bashed wake-up TK hotaru in another thread, but in this personal matchup I think it could get you a lot of mileage. He likes to grab you or double jump in the air above you a lot on wake-up, and Hotaru beats both these things. Use more barrier to push him out. It forces him to use a gap-closing move like Gauntlet Hades, which makes his pressure strings more predictable. When he's pushed out, he tends to either Gauntlet Hades or that stabby move in the ground that's Dash cancellable (I forget what its input is lol). Option-select Yukikaze here until he learns to mix it up more. His pressure also has a lot of the same rhythm to it in the first few hits. Work on IB'ing those and you could definitely 2d catch. Edit: Also this is something I also need to work on: More 6b and throws during your pressure. Two most important things imo: You had some good 5d catches there. I suggest you learn to confirm it into lv2 shippu --> that alone could have won you a lot of matches. 4k for 4 stars off a counter is ridiculously good, esp against a low-hp character like Ragna. In this case, confirm 5d or 2d into shippu every time. Don't worry about spending meter. Stay grounded and react. He likes to jump in and airdash at you a ton, or Death scythe in neutral to get in. All of it is 6a'able on reaction.

@CrismonStarDust Only hop during pressure when your opponent respects you enough to not hit you out of it. I don't recommend using Hotaru in pressure at all, because on most characters hop > hotaru will whiff if they simply stay crouching, giving them a free punish. Hotaru is punishable on whiff. Hotaru only when you hard-read a jump out or DP. (Hotaru'ing through Litchi's DP gives me a large amount of satisfaction). Onto your questions: When you have them in the corner, 90% of players will barrier block until you seem far enough away, and then attempt to jump out or use a move in an attempt to free themselves from the corner. Do some 2a and 2b, and watch to see when they like to jump out. For me, the opponent usually tries to throw out a move or jump out when they block just the tip of Hakumen's 2b. If they're barrier blocking it pushes him quite a distance away, and gives them enough time to jump out. This is when you cancel 2b into Gurren or Renka. Gurren, if timed correctly, will counter hit any move that they attempt to use and also catch their jumping frames. Renka hits low, and will hit them as they hold up on the control stick to buffer a jump after they block the 2b. Try these and see if they work out for you. After you hit them a couples times with these frame traps, your opponent will stop jumping or mashing when you're at this distance. This is when you can safely hop back in for free, because they're expecting Gurren/Renka. As far as mixup goes, Tsubaki is worth using by itself. It does 2800 damage for 3 stars and it incredibly fast for an overhead. A pseudo high-low 50-50 you can try is forcing them to block 5b, and then TK tsubaki for 2800, or Renka for the low. Tsubaki > Hotaru combos exist and do a ton of damage. Visit the combo thread if you want to try and learn them.

2a > 2a > 2a >2b > enma > J.2c > 5b >j.B > j.2a > j>2c > Agito still gets you like 1700 damage. Most of the time you want to end with 3c though, unless you have a ton of stars.

This is a bit of a history question, but from the loketest info for CP is seems like Hakumen was originally only supposed to be able to Zanshin > Enma followup in OD? When did they change this to a normal feature? SYSTEM Overdrive increases magatama gain and makes Zanshin special cancelable.