[CSE] Rachel vs. Arakune

[gli]

Summary:

Arakune wants to be a billionaire (a full curse gauge) so he can apply all sorts of dirty tricks. You are the hime! You don't want him anywhere near you. Zone out his life meter and make it hard for him to get curse on you.

Fullscreen:

j.236A lobelia can catch his air approaches and dives. Most of the time you'll catch Arakune out of air-tech with this. If you see Arakune try full-screen teleport (the one where he switches sides in the air) you can try to punish this by jumping back and doing j.C. At fullscreen is where Rachel has the most advantage over Arakune especially if you have the life lead. Setup your own army of frog and pumpkin at this range safely so you can approach and do some damage.

Midscreen:

At this range Arakune might try to catch your anti-airs. Arakune can bait your AA attempts with his teleports, dives, or air pokes. If you zone carelessly Arakune can catch you with 2C (the travelling ground shark which Fatal Counters). Very rarely will your 6A beat an Arakune that uses j.B effectively but sometimes you want to go for an anti-air. j.236A is still a good special move to throw out every now and then. j.C can also be used. When Arakune has meter he can try f of g (air super which gives him full curse meter if it connects). Crouch and block or just jump to avoid eating f of g. Mostly he will catch you with f of g when you are landing from trying to zone in the air (j.236A, or frog and pumpkin summon).

Pressure:

Arakune is vulnerable to IOH j.A. Most of the time Arakune will want to poke out of your pressure with his A normals. Pushing Arakune into the corner is always a good idea but try not to over do it. If you have the life lead it might be a better idea to play lame and camp on the life lead. On wake-up Arakune can go for his f-inverse reversal super (SPIDER CANNON LASER! Breaks primer on block) so be careful of that when pressuring in the corner.

Precurse Arakune pressure is actually pretty strong. You rarely want to challenge Arakune if he is right above you. j.B will almost always beat you out.

Needless to say, Arakune in curse has some scary pressure. Even with good reactions you still have to deal with 50-50 guesses (Arakune also has IOH). Using teleport he can also setup some sick cross-ups. No real tricks. Just defend. Getting cursed isn't the end of the match. If you can manage to catch Arakune with any stray hit make sure to convert it into the longest combo you can think of so you can run-out the curse meter. Of course, if you can kill then do a killing combo.

[swordiris]

I usually do fine against Arakune but I have one issue

How do I avoid his instant curse distortion

[Tari]

Jump or block low.

[swordiris]

You can jump over that?

The move looks like it touches the dang ceiling.

[Herbal Grey]

pretty sure you can't jump out of j.214214d on reaction...you will be cursed. block low

[gli]

Arakune A Mash is so good.

[Herbal Grey]

lol gli. lobelia spam beats a-mash, which is the only normal arakune has...so spam lobelia and he will have to jump

[TD]

l never bothered to look in here and figure out the MU but l was prompted to do so today.

...and theres info!!!! le gasp

[TD]

alright so, any pre/post curse strings of interest?

pre-curse l have

5aa (2a) 6a

5aa 8 IAD j.b

5aa 8 IAD j.b dj. IAD j.b

what do vs j.b someone help

post curse l have

2aa a bug 2aa a bug 2a fake crossup thing

2aa a bug j.c unblockable (yes... unblockable :v)

regular precurse stuff (2a, 6a, 6c works)

my database is limited outside these strings sadly...

l think rachel can deal with curse if he has enough wind but im not sure if consistent

[Herbal Grey]

5aa 8 IAD j.b dj. IAD j.b

what do vs j.b someone help

post curse l have

2aa a bug 2aa a bug 2a fake crossup thing

2aa a bug j.c unblockable (yes... unblockable :v)

regular precurse stuff (2a, 6a, 6c works)

my database is limited outside these strings sadly...

l think rachel can deal with curse if he has enough wind but im not sure if consistent

your last pre-curse pressure string is incorrect. arakune doesn't air-dash before a rising j.b (in fact, he only gets one air dash anyway). the correct pressure string should look like:

5a 9 j.b dj iad j.4b

this block string actually doesn't work on rachel unless she stands (rising j.b will whiff rachel crouching), so it's pretty much useless unless you're trying to yomi block arakune's 24 frame overhead :-S . however, if you block the rising j.b, 97% of the time you can just backdash out of there after the j.b, or you can take a risk with 6a or 2c.

barrier blocking arakune's precurse mix-up is very strong.

arakune's mixup options during curse are limitless but yea, his basic plan is 2aa a-bug then either a cross-up, low, overhead, or cross-up overhead and they all do good damage if you don't block.

rachel's 6a is good against j.b... rachel can sorta throw it out for free in this mu unless you're being obvious.

also, lol j.c "unblockable"....i mean yes trololol, but just to be clear, it is just an instant overhead...or a cross-up overhead ;P ... with 100 P1

[TD]

oh ok he does rising j.b then IAD. l thought he has two airdashes but l guess he doesnt? and 6a is actually 24f not 20f? someone told me it was was 20f yesterday x.x l feel deceived

ok i'll keep this stuff in mind (thanks) and try to get familiar with the MU later cause l know rachel has the tools to keep him away but l keep trying to rtsd. and its not working. at all. seriously l keep rushing him down with one wind and he just fucking backdashes and asdfghjkl!@#$!!! so irritating u.u

[Herbal Grey]

just checked, both misinformation lol, it's 23 frames oops. but yeah, it's pretty slow, so you should be blocking it on reaction, but i totally understand not blocking it on reaction online haha. you're better off mashing cat chair honestly though if you think he's gonna use it because arakune's only real frame trap is a 6 frame gap (5a 5d) which isn't a small enough gap to successfully bait cat chair mash if rachel is mashing like a pro.

arakune's airdashes are pretty much like Bang, except there's no reason for arakune to airdash twice because it's too slow....you usually will see double jump + airdash. once arakune does a falling airdash he can't airdash again. so if he does 8/9 iad j.4b, he can't do a jump after it even if he hasn't double jumped.

yeah, unfortunately fighting arakune is like fighting tager for rachel, so you sorta just have to lame it out at extremely full screen and there's really not much arakune can do, but if you get impatient, arakune will kill you with one fell swoop of f of g

[Zoular]

I'd like to know the best way to deal with Arakune's teleports, the ones from air to ground, also back/forward dashes (at least that has long recovery).

Would setting up poles and 5B be the thing to do here? He doesn't get hit when I try, and just teleports again.

[TD]

from the wiki:

214A looks like a forward jump and puts Arakune directly below where he teleported

214B looks like a neutral jump and puts Arakune one character space ahead where you performed the input.

214C looks like a forward dash and puts Arakune right back where you performed the input.

j.214A looks like a forward double jump and puts Arakune one character space ahead of where he teleported.

j.214B looks like a neutral double jump and puts Arakune directly below where he teleported.

j.214C looks like a forward air dash and puts Arakune directly below where you performed the input.

because of the lack of cues to show when it is a feint or just one of his jumps/dashes, you pretty much need to keep in your mind his original location when he is performing a jump or dash. pumpkin is your most consistent punish tool against them, you wont have to overly commit and get punished.

because both the feint and regular movements bar dashes have no invul, you can always hit him before the actual feint if youre quick