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« on: September 13, 2009, 02:37:15 PM »
Kohaku lead-
Compared to her solo form, Kohaku gains some Hisui summons for a useful pressure option (214B) and an additional overhead (214C) that can be tricky to block, and much better midscreen offense with air summons.
In exchange, she loses her command throw, molotovs (limited usefulness), and 6C, which is a useful addition to her combos, particularly midscreen.
The tradeoff isn't too bad. Even without her command throw, she has her less damaging normal throw that can setup plant oki for more potential damage. Her strength gained from Hisui summons debatably outweigh the strength gained by molotovs. Without 6C (the main loss), there are still alternative midscreen combos Kohaku can do for less damage, and she has around the same damage output in the corner from very specific hitconfirms.
In general, the play style between the two are notably different. Once your opponent respects your air summons, they'll probably avoid camping on the group, and you have a great advantage in the air. The biggest difference is the moves that are used in pressure. Since you do not have the leniency of 2C 6C 236BC as a hitconfirm, you have to save 5C or 4B in your blockstrings depending on your position or preference for stronger pressure.
Normals-
2A: A fast short poke that's neutral on block and hits LOW. 4 frame startup.
2BB: First attack hits mid, second attack hits low. Moves you a bit forward, which will be useful in pressure and hitconfirm for your corner combo. 8 frame startup.
2C: Long range to tag jumpouts and hits low, but easily punishable on whiff. In my opinion, it's better not to use it for pressure. 10 frame startup.
5A: Whiffs over most crouchers, neutral on block. 5D5A works as antiair. 4 frame startup.
4B: Hits low. +1 on block. Charged version vacuums them towards you with +3 frame advantage. Quick 7 frame startup. This is such a awesome move. ;_;
5B: Anti-air with pretty good range. I'd use it to swipe them out of the air as they jump or from a distance, but not to counterhit them as it will most likely fail. Can be charged for a nontechable knockdown and further range. Not very good for pressure due to knockback, but works well when charged to punish jumpouts. 9 frame startup.
5CC: 5C itself is mainly used for blockstrings and combos. Inputting C another time will cancel pushback and trigger a 4 hit broomspin that also moves her forward, the last of which will launch for a high proration combo. The canceling of pushback and the forward movement is extremely important in her midscreen combos. 5CC is also used in blockstrings, but make sure to master the weird timing of canceling it!
jA: hits mid, good air poke at close range, recoverable after throwing it out, so you won't be forced to land.
jB: hits high, long range attack horizontally upward. You have to land after throwing it out. It's also angled a bit upward near the tip, so keep that in mind.
jC: hits high, long range attack vertically forward. It doesn't hit directly under you, so aim it a bit more in front of you. I like the changes of this hitbox. It was a bit frustrating in MBAC when jC would whiff versus crouchers because you were just a bit too close to the corner.
6E: Kohaku throws them with enough frame advantage to lay down the plant oki. I'd receommend 22A in the corner, and 22C in midscreen if you have meter. (6Q in MBAC, they changed Q to E.)
j6E: One of the better airthrows in the game in that it is untechable and you have enough frame advantage to continue pressure.
Specials-
236A: Sword slash aimed low with a fantabulously pretty arc. You can charge this move so that it becomes and overhead that sets them into untechable knockdown and you can cancel this move into another ex move on hit or whiff.
236AA: Knocks them upward and can be canceled into an ex move on hit or whiff. It can vacuum your opponent towards you if they are hit while standing.
236AB: Cancels 236A with a roll on hit or whiff.
236B: Sword slash aimed high that can catch them whenever they aren't blocking in the air and for combos. It can be charged to become air-unblockable or to wallslam for usage in combos. Cancel into 22C to avoid being punished on whiff or block.
236BA: Knocks them upward, but is not cancelable. If you hit the opponent with the latter frames of this move (requires a combo setup), you can link into 5A if you're close enough or 4B early in the combo for high damage.
236BB: Roll cancel 236B wondraslash.
236B~C: Battou fake. Can be pretty deceptive if you know how to use it. If you're going for a fake overhead, don't cancel the attack immediately into this. The sudden animation change makes it more apparent.
236C: The EX version of her 236X moves. It's used at the end of your combos for untechable knockdown and plant setup. It's possible to use this as a reversal, but it's inconsistent and pretty weak even if it lands.
214A: Hisui summon. Kohaku calls on Hisui to dash forward and face palm them. Air unblockable, so can be used to end midscreen pressure in hopes of landing a hit.
214B: Hisui runs up and smacks them with a chair for decent frame advantage. Used mostly in corner pressure. Air blockable.
214C: Hisui runs up, jumps and hits them with her overhead table. Strong mixup when not overused. Cannot be comboed off of without a plant.
22A: A drilly plant that flies off diagonally. You can hold A to delay the launch. Very useful for comboing off mixups you normally couldn't before. If you do 22AB(hold), you can hold the B button instead of the A button. They work like Aoko's held orbs in that you can switch which buttons to hold the plant with.
22B: The spinny plant that hits 8 times. Serves a much more general purpose than 22A with longer range and more midscreen usage. There are many mixups off of this.
22C: Kohaku throws out her little punching cactus. It is air unblockable when it is in the air and allows for some of her deadliest mixups once they're in blockstun.
2222C: A plant that isn't used too much. It shoots a number of fireballs for a relatively short time. Encourages the opponent to jump or otherwise be stuck in blockstun.
22222C: A poison plant that drains her opponents health about once per a second for a good amount of time if it hits.
j214A: Same as her 214A, short recovery on land.
j.214B: Same as her 214B, short recovery on land. Has uses for her neutral game too.
j.214C: Not an overhead, short recovery on land.
1632143C: Her drug-on install still has loooooooong startup but the bloodheat lasts a bit longer and the superarmor seems more useful than MBAC.
41236C (Max/Heat): Soya! This move hits OTG and is often used after any move that untechably knocks down the opponent like charged 5B. Good damage, and circuit breaks the opponent.
41236C (Blood Heat): A weaker version of her arc drive in all regards except damage. Too slow to hit OTG.
Combos-
Midscreen:
2A 2BB 4B 2C 5CC (three hits) 236A 236BC 2A 2C 5CC 236A 236BC 2A 2C 5CC IAD jB land jAAAB djAABC
Probably not original, but I found this combo on my own. It does 5k or more damage and takes them all the way to the corner.
2A 2BB 4B 2C 5CC IAD jB land jAAAB jAABC
This is the easier combo. Easy, consistent, and puts them into the corner most of the time.
Corner:
Take a look at the mizuumi page too.
2A 2B 2C 5C 5B(charged) 4B 236BA 5A 5C 5B(charged) 2B 4B 236BA 5A 5CC 236B(charged) xx
Enders-
1) 5A 5CC 236BB(charged) 2C 22A/22B/22C
2) (5A 5CC 236B(charged)) x2 into 2222C Johnny.
I'll try to find out how to chain into her other enders later.
Blockstrings-
I'm not exactly great with Kohaku, but I'll just explain the general pressure metagame and how it works.
Pressure in MB is pretty much trying to keep your opponent in the corner or push them into it while punishing them when they try to get out when they're not supposed to or to able to use mixups to break their guard.
In a single blockstring,
2A will be the backbone of your pressure. 5A to whiff cancel.
2B/2BB 5B 4B and 5C are most of everything else in your pressure. For hitconfirming, damage, etc.
2C is one of your last resorts if you think they'll try to escape after running out of B moves that can prevent them from escaping, because you probably won't be able to reset pressure if it's blocked.
214B can replenish the rest of your moveset and maintain pressure, but there's a small gap in which you can be poked out of.
You can RESET PUSHBACK (so that you don't get pushed back too far) by dashing in (least safe), IADing in, jumping back and dashing in, and jumping in.
You can do this after a 2A, B move whiff canceled into 5A, 4B, or 214B. However, there will be an escapable, pokable GAP between blockstrings. Your opponent knows this too, so he would probably try jumping out or poking during these times.
You can PUNISH his attempt to escape or poke during those gaps by throwing out a suitable attack almost immediately after usually called a FAKE WHIFFCANCEL in the cases of whiffcanceling or a HITCONFIRMING move for everything else. You have probably at least three to seven points per string in which you can either reset
your pushback or throw out a fake whiffcancel/hitconfirming move. You mixup these two options to discourage your opponent from taking action. He will have to read gaps to see whether it is a reset or another hitconfirming move. Beyond this simple concept, you can purposely make gaps bigger than they should be to bait an action only to punish it.
You should only attempt this if your opponent respects your pressure, as the gap is big enough for them to counterattack you by mashing an attack immediately after leaving blockstun at their own risk.
In addition to the reset/attack mixup to scare the opponent enough to be able to reset pressure, you also have 4B(charged) and 214B and 236[A]/236BC. The 4B(charged) application is nearly the same as the above. Sometimes you should do a half charged 4B to punish them for trying to react early, other times you can do 4B(charged) to reset pressure at the risk of the additional time gap.
For 214B, the gap is nearly unreadable unless Hisui is far away from your opponent. In contrast to 4B(charged), resetting pressure after 214B hits is less guaranteed and spacing dependent.
Example blockstring and explanations:
After a 2A starter, you have so many options that he'll probably stay blocking unless he reads a gap too big, but the more 2As you throw out, the more likely he'll try to escape.
After something like 2A 2B 5A, your options are limited since you can't whiffcancel again. From here, you can either try to reset pushback via air as stated above, or do a fake whiffcancel by cancelling 5A into:
5B(charged), to smack them out of the air or punish late attacks.
2A (not really a cancel), if you are close enough for it to hit, you can punish pokes or jumpouts before they come out and have more options if it's blocked.
4B, 5B, 5C give the same effects with less range limitations at the cost of a bit more pushback and less options.
If your fake whiffcancel hits, hitconfirm into a combo. If not, then you just continue on with your blockstring.
Your blockstring continues this way until there's a point where you are pushed back too far. This is why you have to mix-in pushback resets to prevent this, and also because it can allow you to do mixups while pressuring them.
Continuing on with the example, let's say you did 2A 2B (5A)whiff 2A.
Already, you have another point in which you can try to reset pressure, or continue with your blockstring. Remember that you have those points after 2A's, a B-move whiffcanceled into 5A, 4B nonwhiffcanceled, or 214B.
Here are some of your options after 2A 2B (5A) 2A.
1) 2A 2B (5A) 2A IAD jC :: Resets pressure, mixup opportunity, and all done in your opponent's fear that you might throw a B move or 5C after that 2A. Even if they were mashing 2A, IAD jC would beat it clean, thus attacking during a blockstring is usually the worse option in comparison to trying to escape.
2) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B :: If you have a hunch that your opponent will try to get out after that 2A (he's got to try to escape sometime), throw out a 4B, and you can hitconfirm into a 4000+ damage combo.
Let's say that that 4B was blocked, still.
You're getting closer and closer to being pushed too far, ending your pressure. 4B is a great move though, you have so many options after it.
You can try to reset using IAD, dashing in (not as safe, normally for tickthrows), 214B to reset using a small gap, or use 5C to continue even further with your blockstring.
1) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B IAD xx :: resetting variation with potential mixup
2) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B dashin grab :: mixup, readable, somewhat risky unless your opponent respects your pressure enough.
3) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B 214B xx :: resetting variation so that your opponent has more options to read and be less prepared to do an anti-IAD strat aka jumping or whatever.
4) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B 5C xx :: hitconfirm
That's for those who prefer reading notation.
If you used 5C and had it blocked, you could use 2C, or 214B, or 5B(charged) at a risk since it will whiff their crouching hitbox.
1) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B 5C 5B(charged) :: hitconfirm that gives you another point to reset or throw out another move at the cost of rebeat.
1a) .. 5B(charged) 2C :: hitconfirm
1b) .. 5B(charged) 214B :: reset
2) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B 5C 214B :: reset
3) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B 5C 2C :: hitconfirm
If 2C is blocked, it's pretty much over. You can probably squeeze in a 214A to knock them out of the air if they react slow, but it's probably better to cancel your 2C into something else like 236BC or 5A only if you chose a blockstring without a fake whiffcancel and try to keep them from leaving the corner. You can also go for the 236[A] mixup and 236BC fakeout to reset.
1) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B 5C 2C 214A :: pretty worthless
2) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B 5C 2C 236[A] :: overhead mixup
3) 2A 2B (5A) 2A 4B 5C 2C 236BC :: fakeout and cancel in order to have a higher chance of retaining pressure via air (pushing them back into corner with your air moves)
Once it comes to this. It's almost a neutral situation again, your opponent has as good chance of hitting you as much as you do. You have a slightly advantage in that they're in the corner, try not to let them get past you, but let them get past you if your spacing fails.
Also, during maybe of your IAD reset attempts. Your opponent may have reacted or guessed correctly too and jumped, so now it's air versus air. You have the upperhand though, although your opponent might be able to win out.
Mixups without plants-
They're a pretty big part of Kohaku's game since her mixups are so good. Blockstrings can only punish the opponent for trying to get out when they weren't supposed to. It'd be very helpful if you were able to punish your opponent for blocking the wrong direction (low and high or left and right), or blocking when they shouldn't (tickthrows).
Basic:
jC ad (airdash) jC
jC(whiff) 2A
People fall for this basic mixup all the time, even at the higher levels.
jCB
It doesn't really have another fake with it, but it's sorta like a readable fuzzy guard. It's possible to block jC ad jC by first blocking high, then blocking low and realizing that your opponent airdashed to block high again. It's not possible to block jCB this way, so that explains why it sometimes works.
IAD jB/C
IAD jC (slight charge to delay it so that it whiffs) 2A
Most people only use the jC whiff variation, but there are a good number of players who like to mock them and block low the whole time.
IAD (delay) jC(hit)
IAD (delay jC(whiff) 2A
Sometimes extending the airdash may make them block low out of habit. Use sparingly, and show them the above mixup first at least.
IAD jC(whiff) grab
Sometimes even blocking is the wrong choice.
IAD jC 236[A]
IAD jC(whiff) 236[A]
Double overhead, because people don't expect double overheads, unless they do. Your opponent needs to not expect this at all for this to work, since it's easily readable in my opinion.
IAD jC j214B 236BC 2A
Frame advantage protected tricks.
IAD jC j214C 2A
This is for people who don't know that 214C hits mid.
IAD jC j214C 236BC 2A
This is for people who do know that 214C hits mid.
Mixups with plants-
22B/
dash 2A
dash 214C
This worked so well for me in MBAC.
dashin 2A 2C
Beats jumpouts, and backdashes.
IAD xx
Can potentially beat some backdashes, and allow for some strong mixups (some crossups!) if they sit still.
dashin grab
Normally used to kill off their remaining health. If used otherwise, throw out 22C afterward.
5C 2[C] xx
Some super high damage combo that'll strong discourage them from jumping. I don't know the string for MBAA. For MBAC it was 5C 2[C] 2B 5B jBCAA djBC at (airthrow) or something.
22[A]/
IAD jC dj jC [A] (let go of A) xx
I'll fill it in later
22AB(hold) 2A staggers (or none) into tickthrow, release B for added damage.
22AB(hold) 2A staggers into mixups
22A[C] 6A6E2B xx option select
22C/
All previous mixups.
IAD jC djC fuzzyguard.
Hisui Lead-
Compared to her solo form, she loses stuff-fu and j6B and gains kohaku summons.
I've always felt that stuff-fu was overrated. You can camp and zone with it, and fish for counterhits, but Hisui doesn't need to camp and she already has 623B and obentous to use in the stead of stuff-fu.
I do agree that stuff-fu is essential in some matchups, but those matchups are still playable and one has the option of switching to Kohaku for bad matchups.
She gains much better oki over the standard obento setups, especially in the corner.
Obentos tend to fly offscreen if you get a throw in the corner as well, and Hisui-solo loses incentive to tickthrow for the risk of being mashed out.
Comparing damage (Versus VSion)..
Tickthrows)
Obento: 1084 damage (if it didn't fly out of the screen).
214A: 2017 damage.
214B: 2467 damage!
214C: 1827 damage.
All of this, plus reset.
Combos)
Obento: 22A 2B 5C(onehit) j[C]AB land jACB djCBB 3309 damage.
Obento: 22A 2B 5C(onehit) 6C jC ad jBB 236A jAAC djCBB 3450 damage.
214A: 214A 2B 5C 2C 6C jC ad jBB j236A jAAC djCBB 3725 damage.
214B: 214B 2B 5C(threehits) jC ad jBB j236A jAAC djCBB 5168 damage.
214B: 214B 2B 5C(threehits) jC ad jBB j236B 6B 2A djBC djCBB 5276 damage!
214C: 214C 2B 5C 2C 6C jC ad jBB j236A jAACB jCBB 4880 damage.
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