MBAC: Help my Kouma =(

[Toroxor]

  Alright I just started playing MBAC a few days ago and decided to try to become decent with Kouma, which isn't working very well.  I get beat by spammers most of the time.  I try to block properly although I doubt I'm doing it right.  Spammers will usually beat me with not much trouble, as I have problems getting out of high pressure situations.  I can execute most of the combos however I find it harder to do so when actually playing.  Overhead attacks usually hit me (I just got pummeled by Kohaku's broom).  I have a few questions.

How are overhead attacks blocked?

What to do against spammers?

This is just out of curiosity, but how do you perform Kouma's arc drive?

What are some good poking maneuvers in a spamming situation (when your getting spammed)?

[monkey2k]

Huh. I'll just repeat stuff I've already read here (I don't think this thread would necessary if you just read the other sections). *hey, I'm bored ^^*

Overhead attacks are blocked by...blocking while standing. ._.
Never get into the habit of just holding back and down waiting for the enemy to finish pummeling you.
Most characters switch between moves that need to be blocked high or low, don't expect your opponent to choose just one.

His arcdrive is the same as everyone else's, 41236C (plz tell me I didn't mess this one up). Plenty of other uses for his meter though.

You won't win against spammers by spamming back, your priority just ain't special.
Instead, you block (accordingly), watch for an opening, and make your move.
If anyone's good at reversing situations, it's Kouma.
Blockstrings (fancy name for all the pummeling he unleashes on your blocking butt) are rarely 100% safe(for the attacker) and unescapable.
If it is, it means your opponent is just too damn good and you need to learn to bara-cancel. lololol.

214C can counter practically any move, provided your opponent is on the ground. It's incredibly dependable, provided you don't use it predictably.
22C is great on (your) wakeup, abuse the super armor it gives.
Shielding then using 214a works, a well-timed heat works, 22a/b works.

He has lots of options to get out of pressure. I think you just need more game experience so you can read enemy combos better.
Give it time. :/

[Ultima66]

If you start MBAC on Kouma without really knowing what you're doing it's gonna be really hard. Kouma is really different from other characters. You can't jump too much with him nor can you just keep hitting them while they block and hope they stop blocking at a bad time. His aerials don't have much range or priority and he's like the only character in the whole game that can't jump and keep hitting A cause he's only allowed to use 1 aerial normal per jump.

Also unlike most characters his 236A/B aren't particularly good and his 236C is only good when you can combo them off of it. In terms of his 236 and 623 attacks he's only a little better off than Vsion and Warachia in where you should almost never throw them out randomly cause they're just not good outside of combos.

Even with normals on the ground he doesn't too that great. His B and C moves are really slow and his A is really low priority. His combos do hit hard though, and they're pretty easy to do, so learn them. The thing with Kouma, though, is you have to play to his strengths, and those are strengths the "main characters" in fighting games usually never have - he's got a lot of clash frames which cancel out enemy attacks, including clash frames in his dash, and he has really good throws. With Kouma you just have to learn how close you have to be in a dash to actually grab with his 214A, or the timing of it when the opponent it getting up from the ground. If you don't use it poorly, you can catch people mid attack with his 214C and take off a ton of health.

[Xie]

I'll probably be reitterating what everyone else has said, but an Nth opinon on the same view probably couldn't hurt.

How are overhead attacks blocked?

Block while standing. If you're confident in your timing and spacing, you can use 2b to attack back (beating many different types of overheads and jump ins) or use 5d to shield (taking care of anything else 2b can't), but the safest option by far is to block while standing.

Example: Sion j. C
You can block this while standing.
You can beat this out with 2b, sometimes getting a counterhit and can do a relaunch combo.
You can beat this out with 5d~2a counterhit combo.

What to do against spammers?

Ah yes, being able to defeat people who mash aaaaaaa or EXs is a sign of maturity for a Kouma player. There are lots of ways to do this and signficantly different answers to many different situations, but they all have the same goal. On offense, the greatest weakness to reversal attacking is that it's (often) less safe than blocking. You will need to be able to punish this difference in safety by either closing the gap in your blockstring or by baiting and punishing the reversal attempt. On defense, this is more difficult, but you need to block and wait for an opening to stick an attack through.

Example[Offensive]: Nanaya 2a
Say you're performing your block string 2b 5b 5c 2c, one way to bait and beat the reversal 2a is to create an intentional gap between 5c and 2c, then attack with 2c BEFORE Nanaya's 2a can completely come out.

Example[Defensive]: Nanaya blockstring
Nanaya does his block string 2b 2c 5c 5a(whiff). It's possible that when Nanaya whiffs his 5a to try and perform a reversal 214c. If Nanaya dashes at you after doing a whiff 5a, the 214c will it cleanly

Though, I'm not a fan of 214c, because it only works in those kinds of situations, but you get the idea right?

This is just out of curiosity, but how do you perform Kouma's arc drive?

As said before, 41236c. It's not that good though, but it has some pretty big AWESOME factor.

What are some good poking maneuvers in a spamming situation (when your getting spammed)?

As stated before, if you're getting attacked by an opponent, Kouma's best option is to block and wait for an opening. There is no such thing as an unlimited blockstring in Melty Blood; all blockstrings have framegaps than an opponent can punish if he is looking for it. Kouma has a nearly unlimited number of options he can perform to escape various situational pressure, but it's essential to Kouma's game plan to block and find an opening instead of recklessly trying to reversal his opponents because his reversals are not as omnipotent as other characters.

Against ground:
22c
214c
5/2d
2a
2/5b

Against air:
2b
5d
623a/b/c

Another (safe) option outside of waiting for framegaps is to use the bunker cancel to reversal your opponent. This takes a lot of practice, so check out the thread itself if you're interested. http://www.meltybread.com/forums/index.php?topic=6.0

[Toroxor]

  I find that playing Nanaya players is when I encounter the most trouble.  They put alot of pressure and when I try to counterpoke they just dash away and come in with another poke or that teleport grab. 

[S-Blade]

you're not supposed to try to counterpoke versus pressure games, that's what they want you to do

just try to maneuver out of the corner, which is where they dominate. from midscreen their pressure is less advantageous to them which helps you a lot. the only character with a pressure game that is particularly great midscreen is aoko.