[CF] CPEX -> CF Rachel Transition Guide

[RurouniLoneWolf]

Again, Evernote link because for easy access and ease of passing around.
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s624/sh/3b480a7e-5d41-4d79-8fe4-7eeebd581fc6/3065a148a58af52cc5ce42cb69aa88df

- Introduction

Hey Rurouni here,

Welcome to the CPEX -> CF Rachel Transition Guide. I got this idea while talking with SoWL in the Bullet forum about whether or not we should include changes to system mechanics to the final changelist I was compiling and decided I would make one for Bullet and Rachel.

What's this "transition" guide for? I'm glad you asked! A lot of the other guides I've written (and have yet to finish writing) concerning CF are both designed to be as informative as possible for potential newcomers and to cover only one specific topic. If you've been a long time player of Rachel, I didn't really want you to have to go through these giant walls of text and try to figure out what's new so instead I've written a guide aimed at highlighting the most important changes that you need to be aware of coming from the previous version. At the same time, I wanted to inform people of possible changes to things that didn't really fall into the topics that the guides cover or normally get talked about. Things like changes to the overall gameplan and thought process of the character.

This is my first attempt at this sort of thing so I'm sure it'll be a bit rough around the edges. So, uh, please bear with me!!!

 

 

- Overall

Better wind economy

In general, the wind situation is much better for Rachel in CF. For the most part, you should always have a good amount of wind at your disposal at all times. 

A few of the changes that have led to this are:

• It's unclear whether it's due to a change in gravity or the float properties on some normals but in general in CF, Rachel has to spend less wind to juggle the opponent. As a result, a lot of routes that required 2 wind stocks to stabilize an air to air juggle now only require 1 and a lot of routes that required 1 wind can now be done windless.  
• Lotus oki requires no wind, allowing to you to save a stock of wind you would normally use to wind the pumpkin for a meaty on an opponent's wakeup
• Tempest Dahlia recovers 2 stocks of wind during the distortion now and is a great way to restock on wind in the late game
• ASW has given Rachel the ability to recover wind in the air but at a significantly reduced rate. It isn't much but it does help a lot with recovering more wind when you're juggling opponents.

 

Much more deadly corner game

Rachel's corner game has changed a bit. In addition to her usual very oppressive corner oki + high/low mixup and pressure, the new corner Ivy Blossom combos can deal a large amount of damage to the opponent if you have the resources to spend. Not only does it speed up how quickly you can die in Rachel's corner game but it also makes it so that even just getting opened up near the corner can be fatal to the opponent. As a result, you'll find that CF Rachel's ability to make comebacks in the late game is quite good.

 

 

- Neutral

No more Pumpkin

As you all probably know by now, Rachel's pumpkin has been removed in CF. As what was once Rachel's most powerful tool, you're definitely going to feel the weight of it's absence in CF. However, it's loss is mostly felt more on the how you should approach individual matchups level rather than a universal improvement or decline in Rachel's performance. If you used to play Rachel with a more Pumpkin centric gameplan, then you'll probably feel the difference a lot more than most.

 

Improved Lotus

On the bright side of things, the buffs to lotus' start up and recovery have made it much more usable in neutral. 
Windless lotus in the right formation can control space very well and can be troublesome obstacles to halt an opponent's advance at fullscreen distance.
Lotus controlling space to cover a frog summon Example 1 - https://youtu.be/Z0Lyn72-Tlc?t=99 
Lotus controlling space to cover a frog summon Example 2 - https://youtu.be/Z0Lyn72-Tlc?t=218 

Depending on where the lotus spawn, you can sometimes use them much like you used to use pumpkin by winding them towards the opponent to cover an advance. On hit, you can convert it into a full combo and on block you can start pressure like you used to with pumpkin.
Winded Lotus covering an approach -> https://youtu.be/K-s19aXysD4?t=8530 

Also similar to pumpkin, you can use winded lotus to save yourself in a jam if you're stuck in the air and need a safe way to get back down. It requires you to know where your poles are beforehand though so that you can wind the lotus in the right direction.
Winded Air Lotus help Example -> https://youtu.be/4PQ-h2ercxQ?t=4927 
Winded Ground Lotus help Example - > https://youtu.be/Z0Lyn72-Tlc?t=1222 

Another more subtle benefit of the improved lotus and its more frequent use in neutral is that your opponent will have a lotus attached to them more often. This will help your neutral game a bit because of 5D gaining homing properties and the extra push wind will give while a lotus is attached. This extra push is especially useful for getting George across the screen with a winded 236A accompanying it.
5D extra push to get George across the screen example - https://youtu.be/Z0Lyn72-Tlc?t=769 

When you start playing CF, I recommend experimenting with the new lotus a lot in neutral, both wind and windless to get a good feel for what works and what doesn't. 

 

 

- Mix Up, Pressure and Oki

Mixup is pretty much the same. It's oki that's undergone change due to Pumpkin loss, Improved lotus, New Ivy Blossom and no cooldown on George. 

Most notably are: 
- You can go for lotus oki midscreen from doing stuff like 6A > 236B > Lotus oki
- Pumpkin oki has been pretty much replaced with lotus oki in the corner
- Much more rare to see but there are some combos that allow you to end in an Ivy Blossom + Frog oki setup

For more information on the specifics of the new Lotus and Ivy Blossom oki, please check out the related sections in CF Rachel Mixup, Pressure and Oki Thread:
http://www.dustloop.com/forums/index.php?/forums/topic/12745-cf-rachel-mixup-pressure-and-oki-thread/ 

 

 

- Combos

6A always floats now. Mostly used for midscreen routes

In CF, j.C float under the effects of 5D wind has been removed and replaced with 6A giving a low float, even without the use of wind. This has resulted in midscreen combo routes on grounded opponents involving 5CD > 6C > j.C being replaced with 5B > 6A > jc delay j.A > j.B > delay j.C instead. 

SMP removal = less use of microdash 3C > 214C as a combo part

The changes to how SMP works has also made the old CP combo piece of doing 6A > 236A > micro dash 3C > 214C more optional and less used in most situations. A lot of the times you can replace it with another 5B > 6A > 4B instead. 

6B's new crumple. More stable confirms into full combos

Perhaps one of the most noteworthy changes for long time players of Rachel is that her 6B no longer blowsback full screen on ground CH. Instead, it'll just cause a crumple state. This is a pretty good change because it's more stable to confirm into a full combo anywhere compared to the old IAD route. Typically you'll see CH 6B > microdash 6B > jc j.3DB > j.C > 5B > 6A > jc j.A > j.B > j.C > 6A > 4B > 5CC

New ender for corner combos

In CF, the corner combo route has changed but it still uses a lot of parts and pieces you've probably gotten familiar with in CP. The most noticeable new parts are

* 5CC > 6C > j.C > delay j.236C at the beginning. The j.C > delay j.236C  was done in CPEX but the chaining into the route directly from 5CC with 6C is new
and
* 5CC > 214C > 6A > 236A/B > 3C |> 22A at the end. The removal of SMP opened up an interesting new ender here that allows us to churn out a bit more damage and set up lotus oki

Corner Ivy Blossom combos spikes damage output

Of all the new combos in CF, these combos are probably the ones that caught your eye the most. A single Ivy Blossom can add up to 600 unscaled damage to a combo so the basic theory of these combos is to get out an Ivy Blossom, keep comboing them while the bats drain life and then throw out another Ivy Blossom before using BBL, which will keep the opponent in hitstun long enough to get the most out of the second Ivy Blossom's damage over time. 

The exact route can vary based on whether you started in the corner or you started the combo close to the corner and ended up there but in general, the corner route goes
5CC > 214B8D > 6A > 236B9D > 3C > 214B > 3C > 632146C > 8D 

Change in FC 5C route due to George having less shock. Requires at least 25 meter now for best damage

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of george's shock doing less hits in CF is that the old big punish combo from FC 5C doesn't seem to be possible anymore meterless. You'll instead have to spend at least 25 meter on a Crush Trigger where you would've done 2C > (frog activates)
FC 5C max damage Example -> https://youtu.be/K-s19aXysD4?t=8601 

New midscreen ender from 5CC that uses 2 wind 

After knocking an opponent away fullscreen, you have the option to stay close at the end of the combo by doing 5CC > 236C > 3D > j.214C > j.5D > land 6A into either 236B > 22A oki or 4B > frog summon. It'll cost you an extra 2 wind to do but in CF's wind economy where many routes require 0-1 wind to do, it's not as steep a price as it might sound at first. The price is also definitely worth it considering the corner carry 5CC will give you just on it's own without factoring in the combo itself.

Please see the combo section of the wiki for more details:
http://www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php?title=BBCF/Rachel_Alucard/Combos  

 

 

- Early Match Up Notes for New Characters?

To be honest, when I first started writing this guide, I was going to put some tidbits for the matchups vs Naoto, Hibiki, Nine and Izanami here. Long story short, my idea evolved into a full blown CF Rachel Matchup Guide (Still in the works!!!). But I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to just write a brief paragraph about each MU here later? Not really sure. Feel free to reply and give me your thoughts about it.  If I do update this guide with it, I'll be sure to post here that I did and tweet about it.

 

 

[Axiomatic]

Very nice reference material; archived for future reference. 

In regards to your inquiry, I know the staff were encouraging the use of a matchup  directory (match up orgy format where all match ups in a single thread) to encourage us to share tech, but I do not know if they'll stick with that for CF since they could also go back to using the subforum approach (written in that character's perspective eg. Ragna match up subforum etc) like we did in the AC+R and vanilla CP days.

Personally, I find both approaches have their merits and flaws in terms of info access. Personally, I like all my match up info together myself in one huge depository so in my own paper tech, I have my own system of organizing opponents into match up categories (eg Gorillas: Tager, Hakumen, Azrael, Zoners, etc) where I list general ideas and approaches for that type of opponent, then character specific match up info is given later:

 

eg.) (Loose outline)

Gorillas (Tager, Haku, Azrael)

• They hit like trucks. Play conservative in neutral and don't get greedy after a combo. Consider using wind to get out of their pressure since they have less than shoto mobility. George da god since opponent and him move bout same on ground, so bait air movement with pressure from the homies. 

Azrael 

• Watch out for Growler since he can nom nom projectiles. Back dash 2 good. 

 

 

I agree with your sentiment to leave out the MU info for now though, regardless what you decide to do since focusing on just transition info flows nicely from what I've seen so far.

Nevertheless If you're going to the trouble of writing up MU info for everyone though, I would say organize it in the way that is most useful for your own comprehension and reference. Issues can be sorted out later after use. Probably in the minority here, but people learning tech from others have a responsibility to adapt to their thinking/organization (learning 2 way street yada yada) otherwise they're inconveniencing tech/guide writers.

So my thoughts or anyone else's shouldn't take precedence over your own self-expression/organization preferences. Worst case, people can cut and paste your info into their desired format using their document writer of choice or disseminate your post into separate match up threads at a later time.

Appreciate all the work you've done so far regardless from where it goes from here.  

[RurouniLoneWolf]

Well, I feel the DL Matchup threads are more for discussion than compiling data. My matchup guide will aim more towards compiling information about the matchups and just from Rachel's perspective.

I have a loose idea about how I want to format the guide but its the first time I'm doing a guide of this kind so I'm sure I'm going to restructure it a lot based on a variety of factors. I do like how you format your personal MU notes though. It's given me some interesting ideas in terms of structuring the guide that I want to play around with ^,^ Thank you for the other suggestions as well!

[GoBL1N]

TY Rurouni great transition notes

[kirbster]

Excellent work buddy, looking forward to fighting you with your newfound power

[RurouniLoneWolf]

1 hour ago, kirbster said:

 

Excellent work buddy, looking forward to fighting you with your newfound power

Kirbster-senpai <3

Can't wait to fight you again! (I might play Nine though because I dodge mirrors like the wind, lol)