Raven Strategy Discussion

[Sacrier]

I thought it was weird that there wasn't a discussion thread about Raven here so I thought I'd make one. I'm by no means a good raven but I'm a veteran GG player so I can at least offer some analysis on his tools and what his potential strengths and weaknesses are. If you see anything I have wrong or want to contribute, please feel free to do so!

This post is going to be mostly a 'first impressions' rundown. I'll update it as I improve with Raven, and add in whatever you guys have to say as well, so that we have a masterpost for helping new ravens. With that said, let's get started.

 

General Strategy

Raven's strength lies in solid pokes with amazing pressure potential. He has the benefit of playing the 'footsies' game at mid range, using his punch and slash pokes on the defensive to set them up for a command grab attempt. While the enemy can jump out of this, he sports an air unblockable version, making it a 50/50 mixup. Guess right and get a great punish, guess wrong and they escape. However, Raven has a marked weakness: He has very weak reversal options, and struggles very hard to escape corner pressure. Combined with his excitement stance, this puts a lot of pressure on Raven to have an incredibly good defense, because one wrong block can mean serious punishment.

Excitement Meter: Is it worth it?

It depends. In certain matchups this is just asking to be completely destroyed. It can't be used as a true reversal because it has a vulnerable startup, which means any kind of oki setup with stuff it and punish you hard. Be aware that throws completely beat it, so command grab characters in particular are very dangerous. However, in neutral and with meter, you can use it on reaction to a rushdown, then YRC or Super cancel to punish-- but this can also be baited and punished in it's own right. The main benefit this mechanic offers is much better combos and damage (Something Raven lacks in general) but landing a good punish off this can be very difficult and many high level Raven's don't even bother with this stance. While I agree it's not great, I also think it's not without it's uses, and as long as you're unpredictable and cautious with it, it can be a strong tool. Something to note is that you can YRC the stance after you obtain a stack-- even if you don't absorb a hit, if you wait for the 40 frames and obtain a stack, you can YRC right after that.

Neutral Game

Raven sports a strong neutral game because of his strong pokes and specials. His f.S is pretty fast with good reach, allowing him to stuff a lot of attacks at mid range, and his 5P is also quite potent for the same reasons. While at max f.S range you can't follow up with anything, it allows you to cancel into a needle throw which can be YRC'd to begin air dash rushdown. 236S is a strange special that often catches people pressing buttons more often than not, and on counter hit you can RC for a combo. Certain characters like Dizzy can be combo'd from a 236S even on normal hit with meter, even command grabbed, leading into massive damage if you've got the excitement meter for it. While Raven doesn't have a lot of combo potential from neutral he has a lot of powerful pressure he can set up if he gets a knockdown, and almost all of his attacks can combo into 2D for a knockdown.

6HS is a useful defensive tool, because it pulls Raven back while slashing, which makes it handy for stuffing predictable rushdown. On hit or block you can jump cancel, or you can YRC/RC it for an IAD, or simply special cancel into a needle. Don't throw out the buzzsaw in neutral-- it's extremely easy to punish and disappears as soon as Raven is hit. Buzzsaw is great for oki, though.

Okizeme

Raven's oki is pretty great, and alongside his IAD 50/50 mixups, he also sports a command grab which has a good reach to it. Learning the spacing for when you can throw that out during a blockstring will allow you to catch a lot of enemies sleeping, because it's startup is just long enough that they barely have time to jump out. And if they get wise to the ground grab, you can airgrab them instead. Raven's oki revolves around throwing the buzzsaw on top of them (Which you can do off 2D, your most likely knockdown tool), which does three hits and keeps them in block stun for a long time. This gives you plenty of time to IAD for overhead pressure, and a 2D will instantly drop you, allowing you to do a quick low or double fake them with a 5D. If they block this mixup, depending on your spacing, you can use the command grab, as long as you're careful to time it to connect after the blockstun ends. This can reset into another oki pressure loop, or a combo if you have enough excitement gauge (Smiley face or higher). You can usually get a knockdown off of j.D as well, and if your near the ground a 236S will often knockdown. If you get a normal or command throw, you can do an air combo into j.D needle, which will usually hit, meaning the enemy can't move very far while you land, giving you the spacing to poke them into blockstring again. Throwing a needle when you're deep in the corner won't often hit, though.

Defense game

Here's where Raven's weakness shows. Your only real reversal, aside from blitz attack, is 214214HS/D. It has a very small reach but can usually go through meaties and other attacks. You can also cancel into it from your excitement stance. Add to this that your airdash will not allow you to get out of the corner, it will simply throw you right back into your opponent, often right into an attack. More than anything though you need to rely on good blocking. Just defends allow you to get a quick 4/5P to interrupt your enemies rushdown, but it requires good knowledge of your enemies blockstrings in order to know which attacks you can punish with a just defend. There's no secret to this, really, just experience and studying frame data to learn which attacks are disadvantaged on block. 632146S will kill projectiles, making it a great fullscreen punish for zoners and projectile spammers. However because of the stance after you won't be able to follow up with much, maybe just do a meaty 2HS or something. Still, it puts you back into neutral game, which is better than being stuck in the corner.

 

That's about all I've got for now, do feel free to add your own stuff and discuss.