[CSE] Arakune Technical & Gameplay Discussion Thread

[Skye]

It certainly does, a few of us have been testing it out for practicality. I myself found it hard to manage with ideas of resets and whatnot. For strict comboing, it's good.

[MK_Hitoshura]

It certainly does, a few of us have been testing it out for practicality. I myself found it hard to manage with ideas of resets and whatnot. For strict comboing, it's good.

I have played this game since CS1. I quit around that time and seeing Bell bug loops puts a HUGE smile on my face

[Abyss]

I think it's better to use other loop for one reason: Heat.

Also, I found it way more easy to do in corner than mid-screen, because in mid-screen the timing is a little strange.

[Knowledge Gap]

Sorry to pop in and completely derail this loop discussion, but I didn't know where else to put this

Anyway, I am just getting into Blazblue, and I have been giving it my all to learning the complete ins and outs of Arakune (God bless training and challenge modes)

I don't even trust myself to go into multiplayer, so I've just been going up against training dummies with the difficulty put up to Very Hard to get the feel for the his passive aggressive style of play.

However, I have really hit a wall with Arakune's corner options. I try my best at spacing the opponent out, but I usually succumb to heavy rush down and end up in blocking in the corner. What would you say are the best options of dealing with such heavy rush down in the corner? I've been either squeezing a 5a in hopes of hit confirming into the 5a, 6b, j. 6d, or trying forward dash out of the corner, but both options usually leave me back into the corner...

Any help would be appreciated (even if its just chewing me out because Ive put this in the wrong thread)

[Skye]

Sorry to pop in and completely derail this loop discussion, but I didn't know where else to put this

Anyway, I am just getting into Blazblue, and I have been giving it my all to learning the complete ins and outs of Arakune (God bless training and challenge modes)

I don't even trust myself to go into multiplayer, so I've just been going up against training dummies with the difficulty put up to Very Hard to get the feel for the his passive aggressive style of play.

However, I have really hit a wall with Arakune's corner options. I try my best at spacing the opponent out, but I usually succumb to heavy rush down and end up in blocking in the corner. What would you say are the best options of dealing with such heavy rush down in the corner? I've been either squeezing a 5a in hopes of hit confirming into the 5a, 6b, j. 6d, or trying forward dash out of the corner, but both options usually leave me back into the corner...

Any help would be appreciated (even if its just chewing me out because Ive put this in the wrong thread)

First off, let me say, Welcome to the hive! We hope you stick around and join us in discussions, the Arakune forums are often dead, so some activity is much appreciated and advocated.

You are having problems with defense when cornered, obviously. Arakune's defensive options take a bit of a buff in the corner. Your opponent has to make their pressure very tight to avoid Arakune getting out. First off, Arakune's primary defense is evasion, avoid the opponent at all costs, and you won't be pressured in the corner. However, being realistic you're going to get in the corner sooner or later, first, learn to block, in BB, there are ways to compensate for having crappy defense, it's one of the things many people hate about BB, but it's in good practice to learn how to block, that includes instant blocking, the best times to barrier block, blocking overheads and breaking throws. This will strengthen you as a player, which will strengthen the character(s) you play. Learning how to block will also increase your knowledge of what you don't have to block (what you can IB jump out of, or 5a out of, etc). After this, find times to jump out. There will inevitably be a gap in the opponent's pressure, jump out, learning to break throws will negate the opponent's plans of air grabbing you, because yomi anti-airs and air throws is a staple in most player's eyes when fighting Arakune, and appropriately so. Some slower moves, like Tager's 5d, Dead Spike, Jin's 6d, Lambda's Spike Chaser, etc etc, can be forward dashed out of, it's very useful and catches most players off guard. Lastly, you have j.44, the wall teleport, a jump out option, which will get you free from pressure.

If you're playing CSE, you have an added option of Barrier Blocking and Instant Barrier.

And don't worry, you posted in the right place (although, the FAQ would have also been acceptable).

Also, play in multiplayer vs humans, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[Knowledge Gap]

First off, let me say, Welcome to the hive! We hope you stick around and join us in discussions, the Arakune forums are often dead, so some activity is much appreciated and advocated.

You are having problems with defense when cornered, obviously. Arakune's defensive options take a bit of a buff in the corner. Your opponent has to make their pressure very tight to avoid Arakune getting out. First off, Arakune's primary defense is evasion, avoid the opponent at all costs, and you won't be pressured in the corner. However, being realistic you're going to get in the corner sooner or later, first, learn to block, in BB, there are ways to compensate for having crappy defense, it's one of the things many people hate about BB, but it's in good practice to learn how to block, that includes instant blocking, the best times to barrier block, blocking overheads and breaking throws. This will strengthen you as a player, which will strengthen the character(s) you play. Learning how to block will also increase your knowledge of what you don't have to block (what you can IB jump out of, or 5a out of, etc). After this, find times to jump out. There will inevitably be a gap in the opponent's pressure, jump out, learning to break throws will negate the opponent's plans of air grabbing you, because yomi anti-airs and air throws is a staple in most player's eyes when fighting Arakune, and appropriately so. Some slower moves, like Tager's 5d, Dead Spike, Jin's 6d, Lambda's Spike Chaser, etc etc, can be forward dashed out of, it's very useful and catches most players off guard. Lastly, you have j.44, the wall teleport, a jump out option, which will get you free from pressure.

If you're playing CSE, you have an added option of Barrier Blocking and Instant Barrier.

And don't worry, you posted in the right place (although, the FAQ would have also been acceptable).

Also, play in multiplayer vs humans, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Thanks for the feedback! (And so quickly too! )

Anyway, I do have a much to learn about blocking, since it is becoming increasingly clear that standard blocking is not enough to hold back constant pressure, so I'm going to try and get the hang of IBs and barrier blocks. In terms of the wall teleport, I actually tried that a lot as I began learning him, however, it seemed that I would always get hit out of it during startup (probably cause the computer knows that I'm going to tele out before I do).

I have been trying to get a good feel for Arakune's movement since he has such good evasion tools, but its still a little hard juggling evasion with aggressions (much easier to build curse with his loops rather then spamming cloud or spacing with the bell bug)

[Skye]

I have been trying to get a good feel for Arakune's movement since he has such good evasion tools, but its still a little hard juggling evasion with aggressions (much easier to build curse with his loops rather then spamming cloud or spacing with the bell bug)

You should learn the j.4x technique if you haven't already.

Moderating evasion and offense if easy, just takes time, but Arakune is part zoning character, use the cloud and bell bug, they are very useful, just learn the right time to use them, getting a feel for it is easier when fighting humans.

[Knowledge Gap]

Guess I've got no choice but to get myself bodied online

Oh well, like you said, nothing ventured nothing gained. I would rather learn from failures against a human opponent then computers.

I have the hang of the j.4x, though I have only been using j.4b like everyone else. It seems to be the safest way to get in and pressure, though Ive seen people use j.4a effectively.

[Skye]

j.4a and j.4b are very effective. However, when you're just moving around for the sake of moving around, it's good to utilize the j.4ab, which is the same as the others, but you're just barrier blocking.

[kotokot]

i really like 860+(or 660, quality can play a bad jokes with psr) psr arakune on a-cho, he is mad with j.B>iad j.4B stuff. His pressure is awesome, i must learn this thing.

[Skye]

Rising j.b > IAD j.4b is nothing new, and it certainly is very good in terms of catching the opponent off guard.

[K-MAC]

Hey guys, this is basically my first post ever so I'll try to be brief. Just a mediocre skill-leveled Ara player that had a couple of questions.

Firstly, what exactly changed with Arakune that dramatically to shift him from being low-mid to S tier in Extend? I know tier lists are hugely speculative but having ample time with Extend has left him feeling rather same-y to his CS2 counterpart, at least for me.

Secondly, I'm having some trouble actually getting curse on my opponents, they're quite high level skill-wise and can both block j.4x nonsense and play characters that can typically punish spacing with bell-bugs (Haku player cuts them, Valk just wolf-dashes through and punishes, Carl just gets Nirvana to take the hit, etc.) I'm wondering if I should try using 5d and 2d a little more in block strings to get a little bit of curse, but otherwise I'm a little lost at what to do with his neutral game. Evasive strategies are also a problem, I always seem to be getting air-grabbed/attacked but that's probably my fault for being generally oblivious. I have a recording setup if that would help evaluate my shortcomings, thanks for your time.

[kotokot]

new 6D and weaker opponents)

[Skye]

new 6D and weaker opponents)

New 6d, weaker opponents, jump is faster again.

And yes, please show footage.

[Knowledge Gap]

Hey guys, this is basically my first post ever so I'll try to be brief. Just a mediocre skill-leveled Ara player that had a couple of questions.

Firstly, what exactly changed with Arakune that dramatically to shift him from being low-mid to S tier in Extend? I know tier lists are hugely speculative but having ample time with Extend has left him feeling rather same-y to his CS2 counterpart, at least for me.

Secondly, I'm having some trouble actually getting curse on my opponents, they're quite high level skill-wise and can both block j.4x nonsense and play characters that can typically punish spacing with bell-bugs (Haku player cuts them, Valk just wolf-dashes through and punishes, Carl just gets Nirvana to take the hit, etc.) I'm wondering if I should try using 5d and 2d a little more in block strings to get a little bit of curse, but otherwise I'm a little lost at what to do with his neutral game. Evasive strategies are also a problem, I always seem to be getting air-grabbed/attacked but that's probably my fault for being generally oblivious. I have a recording setup if that would help evaluate my shortcomings, thanks for your time.

Wouldn't incorporating 5d in your block strings leave you more open for a counter? I say try using your clouds to get curse if your opponent is leaving you very little room to play a spacing game.

(Though what do I know )

[Skye]

5d in blockstrings is a decent idea to get some curse meter without having to commit, it's hard to mash out of, due to 5a's attack level increase, jump outs will make 5d hit since it's air unblockable.

Definitely a way to go for patient players, you get curse meter no matter what you do.

[Abyss]

In my opinion, the best use for 5D is to do it only one time in a "row" (curse build).

Since in one combo you can get 70% at least (or let's say that you earn 30% then 40%), the second time (if you've already do one) you do 5D in his guard, you will curse him.

After that, you see what you want to do. When this situation come up, I still use 236B (release 6B/6A) to keep him close, then begin the pressing. If he doesn't use barrier, you may go to jC pressing without beginning with 2AA (or else). As you're invisible, it's a great fast guard opening.

If he use barrier (very often), well just use 2AA or whatever and go into mix-up.

[kousaka]

the neutral game is about playing smart and knowing the matchups

zoning tips

haku - don't use 6d, use cloud, j3d, and 2d

carl - 2d, 6d, but less cloud

valk - 6d, cloud but you shouldn't use both as he gets in fast, use your second action to evade what they do usually

blockstring tips in those matchups

haku - use 5d very sparingly as it's 2d countered on reaction, i mostly use 5b>jB>iad>j4b

carl - 5d pressure him all day.. relatively safe

valk - use 6a in blockstring very sparingly.. valk players tend to mash 6a.. if they do learn to bait and punish it

[Skye]

j.b pressure is really good on valk as well, since he's tall.

[Knowledge Gap]

I recently got completely totaled against a Rachael today. Now although his level was insanely higher then my own, it did leave me wondering about Rachael matchups.

How do you evade effectively against a more then decent Rachael and all her spacing options? For that matter, how do you manage to build curse?

What was odd was that 3c was actually pretty decent against Rachael, just throw it out after a toad or when shes throwing out her rods. However, I don't know anyway to follow it up, leaving me there in front of her face to get countered

[Skye]

I recently got completely totaled against a Rachael today. Now although his level was insanely higher then my own, it did leave me wondering about Rachael matchups.

How do you evade effectively against a more then decent Rachael and all her spacing options? For that matter, how do you manage to build curse?

What was odd was that 3c was actually pretty decent against Rachael, just throw it out after a toad or when shes throwing out her rods. However, I don't know anyway to follow it up, leaving me there in front of her face to get countered

• Rachel is a bad match up by design, avoiding her is actually pretty hard to do if they're locking you down right. Since CT I found that forward dashing helps in this match up better than most, but in good moderation, it's unaffected by wind and gets by Lobelias easily, making you harder to touch, command dashes do the trick too, but again in moderation.
  
• Getting curse on her is the same as getting curse on any zoner, you need to get in or get lucky with f.g. When you get in, imagine you're the Saints at the Superbowl, 3 words. FUCK THEM UP. Of course that's easier said than done, just try your hardest, use your best mix ups when you get in. Watch out for chair and you're set.
  
• 3c is a bad move, don't rely on it too much, you don't want that move blocked or on whiff, it is good for catching overconfident douchebags on the ground derping, so use it only when you know it will hit. Followups from 3c include:
  
  
  1. 
     
  2. j.d > 6b > j.6d For short notice confirms, like "oh shit, that hit!?"
     
     
  3. j.2a > DC 5d > sj.a > j.c > j.d For good confirming.
     
     
  4. F.g if you have heat for it.
     
     

[Erik]

Hey can someone post arakune's reliable frame traps for me? (if he has any)

[kotokot]

something>5D

j.B/j.6A/B/C>iad j.4A/B

5B/6A>4B(without IB)

normals>bees

bees>normals

bees>other bees%)

[Erik]

cool thanks.

[NaRD]

Sucks. On both counts. Xbox and never playing netplay I mean.

Anyway, QUESTION. I need to know more about my bugs. I can do the loop pretty well now, but what I need to know is how to lock down my opponent. They always get away before I can confirm into big damage so I have to settle with bad hits so I don't completely waste my meter.