[CP] Rachel vs. Azrael

[gli]

GOMI

Against Azrael, just don't use the frog except in combos. On oki (especially in the corner) always back up a bit and do 2a > 6b. At the right distance growler will whiff and you'll get a nice CH fork into combo.

In neutral, really abuse backdash 236a, it beats most of his approaches including Gustaf (his + on block hell's fang). I still have trouble against him when he gets me in the corner but that's just inexperience. Also be wary of his anti air 2c which is quite good.

Discuss. I have nothing on this matchup yet as I haven't fought many Azrael players.

[gamester]

I got mashed up by Azrael online yesterday a lot xD

Using TD on it's own even from a long distance will get you in trouble and even doing other things can get you in trouble as he has some DD that travels full screen and feels like it freezes time or something. It hurts. I can't seem to do well in the air against him but I've been told he uses J.B for whatever reason and hope. I don't know the details of why though.

Looking at Kirbsters post. 236a is useful I agree and I've found all of the lobelias useful so far.

I did notice you can grab him when he is doing a certain charge or if he like Teleports/dashes behind you or something. You can catch him at certain times. I can't remember when exactly I can do this and what Azraels move list is and whatnot.

Still I don't know the match up (day 1 for me lol) but I find getting close to him a pain and I can hardly see where stuff is coming from. The corner hurt me a lot also.

Anyway this might not be useful. My apologies there, but I thought I'd try and put my thoughts down anyway

[RifleAvenger]

Hi, I don't have any matchup specific advice to give, since I'm the Azrael AND the Rachel player in my college scene, but I thought I'd clarify some of the more unclear things in this post. Comments are in bold.

I got mashed up by Azrael online yesterday a lot xD

Using TD on it's own even from a long distance will get you in trouble and even doing other things can get you in trouble as he has some DD that travels full screen and feels like it freezes time or something. It hurts.

The Super is Black Hawk Stinger. It's used to tack damage onto combos and for punishing certain things over long distance. It actually doesn't go quite fullscreen, but it's close to it. It's very fast, but there are actually four startup frames after the superflash before its active frames. Note that if you have upper weakpoint you cannot block it standing, lower you cannot block it low, and both it's unblockable. You can always air barrier it, but note that Azrael can cancel into it from blocked 5C for an unblockable setup if both weakpoints are applied.

I can't seem to do well in the air against him but I've been told he uses J.B for whatever reason and hope. I don't know the details of why though.

J.b is Azzy's best air to air, because it's reasonably fast and its hitbox covers a good amount of space in front of him, as well as some space diagonally up and diagonally down in front of him. It's a great air poke and can actually cross up grounded foes. J.a is shorter, j.C hits diagonally upward, and j.d and j.2d are slow to come out. That's why you see so much j.b.

Looking at Kirbsters post. 236a is useful I agree and I've found all of the lobelias useful so far.

I did notice you can grab him when he is doing a certain charge or if he like Teleports/dashes behind you or something. You can catch him at certain times. I can't remember when exactly I can do this and what Azraels move list is and whatnot.

Azrael dashing through will universally lose to mashing jab or potentially throw. but that's why most Azrael's will condition players to stop mashing with their other options before attempting dash crossups.

Still I don't know the match up (day 1 for me lol) but I find getting close to him a pain and I can hardly see where stuff is coming from. The corner hurt me a lot also.

Azrael in the corner is frightening, largely because it's the one area where Azrael can stuff rolls. Midscreen there's not much he can do, but in the corner he can easily use the manual version of sentinel dump after knockdown, which will catch rolls. Azrael will also cross you up with his dash in the corner even if your back is to the wall. I've crossed up people after wall sticking them with Valiant Crash.

Anyway this might not be useful. My apologies there, but I thought I'd try and put my thoughts down anyway

[gamester]

Thanks for clarifying that. Apologies for the confusion in my post.

[Venussail91]

I finally got the chance to play CP today at my local fight club (don't have a PS3 yet, but plan on getting it and the game very soon) and I was able to handle most of the new matchups well, but this one gave me a LOT of issues. I pretty much got bodied. I have three main questions regarding it:

1. When he's doing Growler (that's the thing that absorbs projectiles, right?), what is the best way to get him out of it? I noticed that both 5B and 2B go right through it (I'm assuming it's because the wind on those moves counts as a projectile). Throwing seems to work, but he could just break that. Do I just go for like 5A or 2A or is there a better answer to this move?

2. That stone wall that he uses as an anti-air, is it at all possible to make pumpkin clash with it when coming down and then smack him with j.A/j.B/j.C? Or does the hitbox remain active for long enough that it's not possible.

3. What are his general mixup habits, if any? I usually have pretty good defense, but (likely due in part to my inexperience fighting him) he got through my defense without much trouble most times.

[Tari]

1. If he does growler, just 5C him. It's completely, totally, infinitely, supremely worth it. :D If he's doing it on wakeup in response to George oki, just run up and do 2C before George activates, or don't do George oki. It's safe against pretty much everything except wakeup throws.

It's worth mentioning that if Growler absorbs a projectile, it basically becomes unpunishable. There's apparently a small window in which you can hit him, but it's pretty much impossible to do it if it exists.

2. The pumpkin can only negate projectiles, not clash with moves. I'm not sure if it can negate any of the hits on the stone wall, but the stone wall is, according to the frame data, two projectiles, so it won't get both of them.

3. He has quite a number of moves that are safe on block. You can see his frame data for which moves are unsafe. Sorry I can't offer precise information at the moment, but I haven't played enough Azrael's to know what they tend to do in their blockstrings.

[Venussail91]

Thanks, Tari. It would be so nice if I actually had the game so I could practice 5C FC combos when I get him with that, but alas. I guess I'll just try to watch some combo videos and see if I can get the notations to stick lol.

[samthegreat]

Actually don't use George at all in this match up. Watch N-O vs Dogura and xcopy everything.

And for growler:

Against Azrael, just don't use the frog except in combos. On oki (especially in the corner) always back up a bit and do 2a > 6b. At the right distance growler will whiff and you'll get a nice CH fork into combo.

[gli]

Some setplay stuff. Mostly consolidated from past posts.

 

Baited Growler / whiffed Growler

Punish with 5C FC combo > knockdown > stuff

 

3C knockdown

set pumpkin > timed 2A to catch rolls

in corner you can try 3C instead to catch the rolls (needs more testing)

 

TODO:

Azrael specifics (combos, setups, etc.).