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RurouniLoneWolf

[CF] Makoto Nanaya Neutral Tips and Tricks

By RurouniLoneWolf, in Makoto Nanaya

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RurouniLoneWolf   

RurouniLoneWolf
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Evernote link for easy passing around:
 
Note: If you have any feedback or suggestions for my guides, I'm always all ears. Hit me up by posting in the Dustloop thread, Private Messaging me on Dustloop or tweeting at me @RurouniLoneWolf
 
Overview
 

Makoto's neutral revolves around playing a very precise footsies game. Really good movement and well spaced pokes are the cornerstone of her path to success but she also has tools like Comet Cannon and Asteroid Vision to help her out as well.


Footsies
 
 
Makoto doesn't have much range on her normals so you're going to have to focus a lot on the way you move with this character. Luckily, Makoto is one of the faster characters in the game and she can cover ground quickly. When combined with the right movement, it's going to be very useful in closing the gap between you and your opponent. 
 
Dash > barrier brake
Dash barrier brake is an all around good movement option to have as Makoto. If you just dash in and try to go for pokes, a lot of the times you're going to get poked out of it on reaction. Instead, you should try and work in dashing towards your opponent and breaking with barrier block so you end up just before an opponent's maximum reach. 
 
Dash > Jump forward Barrier (> Double jump forward Barrier)
This one naturally synergizes with the above movement option. This movement option aims primarily to create whiff punish opportunities against people trying to poke you out of dashing in from the ground. 
 
Additionally, dash > jump forward barrier can also sometimes just put you in situations where you can open up the opponent or get in on them with a falling j.C. It's a nice low risk option that gives you many benefits  
 
Dash > Jump forward Barrier > Air backdash retreat
While jump forward barrier can lead to many good situations, sometimes you'll jump forward barrier and it'll risk putting you in a bad situation. If you can recognize these situations as you are in the air from the jump forward, you can air backdash to keep yourself in a good position
 
Short dash > stop or jump up barrier
This is a movement tactic that's somewhere in the middle of dash > barrier brake and dash > jump forward barrier. Doing a short dash and suddenly stopping is good for making it harder for your opponent to react when you really do dash in for a poke. On the other hand, Short dash and neutral jump barrier aims to whiff punish opponents trying to approach you. In both cases, there's little risk and little ground given up in comparison to dash > barrier brake and dash > jump forward barrier.
Dash 2A
Finally time to attack! 2A is great because it's fast, making it easier to beat an opponent trying to outpoke, and has little recovery.
 
Dash 5B
Has slightly more range than 5A and 2A so it's not too bad to use as a poke sometimes
 
j.2C to beat AAs
In the event that you find yourself directly above an opponent and are in danger of getting anti-aired, you can use j.2C to beat an anti-air. j.2C briefly stalls Makoto's fall and can mess up an opponent's timing, allowing you to not only dodge the anti-air but also punish the whiff recovery of the anti-air. 
 
Comet Cannon and Break Shot
 
 
New in CF, Comet Cannon will now grow considerably in size when you leave it alone for a while. This has 2 great applications
 
Hindering Approaches with Comet Cannon
 
If you leave Comet Cannon to grow and don't fire it, it'll just sit in front of you in its giant state with plenty of active frames. This is really good at creating an impassable wall between you and your opponent from the ground level, which is great against rushdown characters. It's especially great against characters with specials or drives where they can rush forward at you quickly like Azrael's Gustav, Valk's Wolf movement, Taokaka's drive, etc.
 
Controlling Space with Break Shot

As you also might've imagined, the new giant orb is even better at stopping people from freely doing stuff on the ground when Makoto punches it across the screen as a followup. This can give your opponent extra incentive to be more cautious in some cases and give them incentive to approach from the air in others. Depending on what you want to accomplish, you'll probably need to adjust the timing on the followup. The quickest possible 236A~D will fire quickly and be better at catching people trying to do things but it'll also be smaller in size since you didn't let it grow. Choose which one you need based on the character you're facing and the objective you wish to accomplish with it.
 
As an added bonus, you can also use Break Shot to partially cover an approach by dashing in behind it. It's not as great as following behind a slower moving projectile like Kagura's Dragon Spirit or Bullet's Flint Shooter but the blockstun of blocking Break Shot does lock the opponent down for a small amount of time, limiting their options for answering your approach when they finally get out of blockstun.
 
Anti-Zoning
 
If you can get it out, Comet Cannon projectile level is high enough that it can eat some projectiles and keep going
Video Example 1 - https://youtu.be/4M8APfxmy_M?t=6393
Video Example 2 - https://youtu.be/4M8APfxmy_M?t=6446


Asteroid Vision
 
 
As you might've imagined from a special with as much utility as Asteroid Vision, Asteroid Vision gives Makoto 2 good options in neutral that can be very helpful for closing the gap between you and your opponent.
 
Well Spaced 214C > j.C
 
When well spaced, the C variation of Asteroid Vision can be a great way to jump in at the opponent because of the arc she travels.
 
Well Spaced Cosmic Ray
 
At closer ranges and well spaced, Cosmic Ray Level 3 can be a great way to close the gap. This is partially because of the distance it travels and the frame advantage it'll leave you at on block to start pressure. However, it's also because Cosmic Ray has the ability to force Fatal Counter on counter hit and convert into a full combo, making it even more rewarding on hit if you managed to hit an opponent out of doing something.
 
Do note, that there's heavy emphasis on the well spaced part. On whiff, Cosmic Ray is easy prey to whiff punishing so make sure to get the spacing right. Also, you'll want to aim for times when you expect your opponent to stay on the ground since an opponent jumping over Cosmic Ray can be problematic for the same reason as not properly spacing it.  
 
 
Dealing with Air Approaches
 
 
6A 
Makoto's AA. It doesn't have much horizontal range but it does have a good amount of vertical range.
 
Jump Up j.A
In situations where 6A's lack of horizontal range prevents you from dealing with an air approach, you can try jumping up and trying to hit them out of what they're doing with a fast j.A instead. 
 
 
Jump Up j.B 
As one of the few jump normals in the game that hits above the characters, Makoto's j.B can be great for hitting opponents higher up than you and in what would usually be hard to reach places like super jump height. 
 
 
Round Start
 

All right. Time to go over some round start options. I'm only really going to cover a lot of the common general options here. It's up to you to fine tune your round start options for each individual matchup.
 
Dash > Barrier Brake
 
Jump Back > Air Dash j.C
An airdash j.C jump in to go on offensive off the bat. The jump back is to get just the right spacing for the j.C
 
Dash Jump forward Barrier > falling j.C
Fishing for a whiff punish at round start
 
Jump Forward Barrier > Jump Back
Variation of the above that aims to keep you in an advantageous position in the event that you jump forward barrier to whiff punish something and your opponent didn't try to poke at you at round start. 
 
Backdash > 236A
Create some space and put up Comet Cannon to discourage approaches
 
Confirm what the player is doing > 214A~D
A more rare option since if they jump at round start or push a button, it can end in you getting punished
 
IABD
A good option to create space between you and your opponent when you feel like you need the additional spacing to start with to comfortably play footsies. 

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