Topics

26

Kohaku's Magical Garage / How to win at clash frames

« on: March 05, 2007, 08:01:19 AM »

Keep in mind much of what I am posting may be open to interpretation as well as random differences between ver.B ps2 and ver.B arcade. I do not pretend to 100% understand the conditions for some of this. Also these are 'created' scenarios and may not be completely accurate. They are only based on my testing and match experience.

Clashing and why it happens:

Several moves have 'clash frames' during their startup. This means if the opponent strikes you during these frames, you clash and both of you gain full cancel options. During a clash you can:

1) Press nothing and let your move continue to come out. Note that if you are the aggresor in this situation and you hit the opponent during the startup of one of their clash moves, this is NOT the option you want, as your active frames are gone already, and the opponent will win. On the other hand if you are the 'defender' this is a good scenario depending on what move was used.

Example:
Shiki versus V.Sion. Shiki does a dashing 2A and V.Sion presses 5B. Shiki's 2A hits during one of the clash frames of V.Sion's 5B. In this scenario Shiki wants to immediately cancel to another move or a jump in an attempt to trade or escape since the active frames of his 2A have been used up. V.Sion on the other hand wants to let her very fast 5B continue and hopefully counterhit Shiki. You want to learn how to control yoruself if you are the V.Sion in this situation and not accidentally cancel to another attack.


2) Immediately cancel to another fast attack. If the opponent does the same, these two attacks may 'Clash' again if they make contact with each other, regardless of whether or not either new move has clash frames. This is what you see when you see matches with several clashes in a row. Usually this happens when the defender should have let his move continue, but did not for whatever reason whether it was because of an expected cancel point or something else entirely. The way to WIN in this situation: attack more times than the opponent does by quickly cancelling to different attacks, or cancel to a jump and try to excape.

Example: Ciel versus Akiha. Ciel presses 5C which clashes with the startup of Akiha's 2C. Akiha anticipated a hit or forced block however, and presses 5B. Ciel presses 5A immediately and the new attacks clash. Ciel presses 2C and Akiha finally recovers from the situation and cancels to jump. Ciel's 2C misses Akiha who jumps out and now has an opportunity to punish Ciel's recovery or just escape the corner.

Example 2: Same situation. Ciel 5C clashes with Akiha 2C. Cancel 1: Ciel 5A clashes with Akiha 5B. Cancel 2: Ciel 5B Ends up being faster than Akiha's 5C, so she gets a counter hit and wins the 'Clash war.'

3) Cancel to an invincible EX or heat super. This is the riskiest of the options but has the biggest payoff.


So to recap:

If you hit your opponent's clash frame: You should immediately cancel to another attack, jump, or ex in an attempt to beat them out or escape.

If your clash frame is hit by the opponent: press nothing and allow the attack to continue if it is fast enough. Else you should press an attack and try to win the ensuing clash war.

Clashing is a scenario that is very uprooting, sudden, and unexpected. By training yourself to react quickly to it you can catch the opponent with their pants down and score a counterhit into some very good damage, or use it to escape bad scenarios.

27

Sion TATARI (Vampire) / So you wanna play this bad character and imitate Sp00ky, here is how.

« on: February 26, 2007, 08:01:54 AM »

Normals:

5A: Neutral on block. Best whiff cancel, sets up tick throws. Use as anti air by running behind the opponent so that they cannot jump attack it. Soso off her dash if you're too lazy or moving too fast to use dash 5B or dash 2B. Link multiples of these to help hitconfirm 5C combos.

5B: Neutral on block (this is a recurring theme and one of your best character traits.) Amazing meaty that beats low shield. Fast and also has clash frames, giving it the ability to beat opponent's specials and allow you to punish. Short range, don't try to put one of these in a string with too many A attacks as it can whiff easily.

5C: Special cancellable only. High damage combo filler, has some clash frames on startup allowing it to be used as a very unwieldy antiair, or can be thrown out in a staggered string in an attempt to force counter hits. Don't let this move make your block strings predictable -- you only have 3 options off this move on block:
236A xx 236C (frame advantage but predictable)
236B (frame advanatge but can be countered by backdash with most characters)
and raw 236C (can be dodged by most characters but again has frame advantage)
The move itself is bara bait. Not cancelling to anything is relatively safe but gives away your pressure.

2A: hits low which is all that needs to be said. Can be shielded high or low.

2B: Moves her forward, somewhat slow startup but leaves her neutral on block. Beats high shield making it an a excellent meaty. Use this in combos, also try 2B5B or 2B whiff 5A as block strings. This move leads to the highest damage summon combos.

2C: Generic poor sweep. This has the distinction of being a C attack that is only a level 2 move, making it slightly harder to bara than most 2Cs, but it also means it does not keep your opponent in place as long as you might like at times on block. As a meaty this move has it's uses: it's slower than most of her other meaties which can throw the opponent off, and can be done from further away than her other meaty options. This thing loses for free to the opponent IADing in, dont try to pretend you are shiki/akiha and spam this. It's also combo filler in her main bnbs.

j.A: Generic jumping kick. Nowhere near the range of most good j.As. You can still use airmovement after missing, making it good for fishing for counterhits, as despite the not so good angle it will still beat many jump Cs clean. As a jump in it leads to a mixup: j.A ->j.C
or j.A xx doublejump
or j.A xx land and 2A or throw.

j.B: Usually you get this move by accident trying to perform a divekick. However it has it's own merits as another 'fish for counter hits' type of move. Cancel immediately to j.A to regain air movement if the opponent blocks. This move as a jump in sets up the same mixup as j.A but must be done a bit higher for the mixup to be effective.

j.C: The move your opponent will learn to fear if he is grounded. Stuffs way too many anti airs clean. Wins air to air battles against other jumping Cs. Godlike hitbox. Has a couple of clash frames at the beginning of the move to add insult to injury. Leads to her highest damage bnb. Leads to the opponent doing things like shielding just because you are in their vicinity in the air from sheer fear of the threat of this move. Beats things like dash happy Ciels who like to run under jumpins. Biggest weaknesses: Loss of air movement if you miss. This move also loses cleanly to almost every j.A under the sun.


Command normals:
j.6A: Strange little jumping poke. Has the distinction of being an air command normal with movement after on miss.

6B: Overhead. Has lower body invinciblity during the later frames of the move. You have two options off this.
6B 2C xx BNB
or 6B 5C 236C xx BNB.
as far as setting it up its slow and easy to block on reaction by most experienced players. This makes it best used as a meaty or in unusual places where the immediate instinct is to block low, such as j.C -> land xx 6B.

3B: Generic launcher. Used in her 'easy' bnb. Not air blockable making it a risky but fast antiair. Slight disadvantage on block.

j.2B: Divekick. On CH and/or at certain ranges you can combo off this. Fast enough to be used to beat people who like to throw out pokes when threatened. Can also be used to change her landing positioning or as a fakeout. Some slight recovery on landing.

To be continued.