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Oiboi

Zappa Vs. Testament

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Testament may seem overwhelming, but a good defense and proper poking can turn the tables pretty easily. Naked/Unsummon: -Pretty simple while naked, Just wait for the Testament to pressure and go for a poke or counter summon. -If you can get pressure at the start of the match before they can lay a trap (For instance, if Testament attempts to attack) 6P, 5K or the summon will beat most of his moves. Learn what works best and take your chance, but don't try this if they set a trap. -Watch out for EXE Beast. It's not as scary as it looks, but don't ignore it either. If Testament goes for the EXE Beast FRC into Normal pressure, summon into the normal. They never expect someone to counter here. -Badlands is a dangerous move. Gaurd the first hit, countersummon the second or hit the recovery. Ghosts: -Use these babies to put Testament on the defensive, and keep him away. -Using the ghosts to stay in the air is a good option from across the screen if he's going for EXE Beast to try to interrupt your pressure. Use a S or K toss to stop a badlands. -Using them to disarm his traps works well too. Make sure you watch is moves and remember where the traps are. Sword: -This one is hard to use properly in this match, but the pokes are a great tool. DP will interrupt EXE Beast FRC pressure, as well as beat out Badlands. -This may be the worst summon for this matchup, but it's certainly not bad. Damage output is good, pokes are nice; Not as many options as the others, but it will work. Dog: -This is just silly. 8D to get rid of zeinests, 6D goes through hitomi's. Set the dog up behind testament and theres nothing they can do. -They'll probably try to smack the dog if you use it to kill the Zeinests. This is when you run in for resummon. -Don't let EXE Beast kill the dog. Theres nothing you can do if this happens. If you need it out of the way, do 4D so that you can keep blocking. -Watch out for badlands. If they throw it out when your attacking and the dog is attacking, it'll just hit you both. Raou: -If they're smart, they'll try to set traps and use badlands to avoid you. If your smart, you'll pressure them until they try badlands and Edguy. -If they block, theres not a lot you can do. Tick throw is an option on Testament, though, but watch out for his quick pokes. -Keep the pressure on. Nothing out of the ordinary with Raou. Overall: Mind Testaments Mixups and pressure and you shouldn't have too much trouble. Zappa's one of the only characters who can counter Testament, so use it to your advantage. Always watch Testament to watch the traps, and don't fall into them if you can help it. Zappa can run under most Zeinests, but Hitomi will mess you up, so be careful. As stated, Testament can seem overwhelming, but once you learn the holes in the pressure, this matchup is fairly easy. As usual, feel free to post tips/comments/questions.

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This is a matchup i'm pretty familiar with, because my best friend is a testament user. Unfortunately he almost always wins, so i don't know if you want a loser's experience, but here goes:

First, know this: You do not have a single move which can beat any of testament's in range. Except in some occasions, maybe the bloody sword swing. Also, 70% of the time he will win in air to air because of the same range. Therefore, poking is a lost cause. The only way to get in? Run up to his face and pressure. Easier said than done, since the battlefield is laid with traps. Remember to run a few steps, FD, run a few steps, FD. It is very tedious but probably the only way. Oh, and be careful about empty summoning at the other end of the screen, he might have an EXE beast waiting for you.

Okay, so you made it all the way to his face! Congratulations! However, testament is a sneaky one, he might have a warrant waiting for you. (I have some problem here: Do i block warrant normally, or reversed?) Usually i bait the warrant before doing a combo.

With Sword: This weapon is much better in AC than Slash, simply cos you can tack a 61234HS at the end of your combo for a knockdown. Testament has no SRK or good wakeup supers; Feel free to oki as you please. Don't 236HS into forward EXE beast!

With Ghost: I usually get distance and shoot ghosts all over to clear zeinests. of course remember to always do this jumping, so you dont eat exe beasts! Once you do that, you can IAD over (but watch the hitomis!) and start pressuring him with the usual. Ghosts do really bad damage here by the way, but its not as much about dmg here as it is about being plain irritating and ruining his tempo.

With Dog: This can be either the best summon or the worst, depending on your spacing. Forward EXE beast beats your 6D, so use it discreetly. Also don't be thinking "HA HA, dog is out, pressure is on you now chump!" Because he might just think screw the dog, and go straight for the owner with a EXE beast on your ass.

With Raou: Raou is my weakest summon. I usually can do an oki where i either 2HS or Dust him, before doing a Edguy RC'd into Edguy. Of course its a 50/50 whether he eats this incredibly painful combo or not. My friend also goes into mega turtle mode against Raou. You can see him backdash, his skirt fly up alittle, he puts something red into the air, rinse, repeat. He does EXE beast the moment he sees the purple ball in my hands, and EXE BEAST ONCE AGAIN RUINS Bellow's Malice. If he does the forward version, the bloody beast can block majority of the hits for him. If he does the back version, 90% of the time the beast will bite you before a single hit can touch him.

Yes i mentioned EXE beast alot of times in this post, because i find it is Zappa's worst nightmare. The backdash we all adore is crippled by it, and you cannot immediately start running on wakeup, because he might have an okizeme EXE beast waiting for you. And you can't outrun that! You need to be at least 1-2 seconds into running before Zappa picks up enough speed to outrun it.

Stuff i find that stuffs testament's... stuff:

6p beats testament's 2HS.. i think? The one with invincible startup. Thats a big plus, because most Testaments spam that like crazy. I think the slippery spit halts this one too. Not sure though.

6p also beats: Master of Puppets, gravedigger.

Stuff you can run under: Master of Puppets, gravedigger, Zeinest(wouldn't recomment it, because unlike hitomi it doesnt disappear once you knock down test. You might IAD backwards into a net later.)

Conclusion: This is a really horrendous matchup for me, Because of how plain tedious it is, and how ridiculous it is that not only can he outreach, outdamage, and outspeed you, But in the worst case scenario, you are poisoned and phantom soul'd, which is pretty much a game over.

Don't give up though! Because it looks awesome when you do win. :)

Ref Vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH-cpZSiTWk

Abe does pretty well against testament. Of course once shonen kicks badlands loop into overdrive thats pretty much the game.

Sorry if this wasn't helpful, or if it was too long.

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This is a matchup i'm pretty familiar with, because my best friend is a testament user. Unfortunately he almost always wins, so i don't know if you want a loser's experience, but here goes:

First, know this: You do not have a single move which can beat any of testament's in range. Except in some occasions, maybe the bloody sword swing. Also, 70% of the time he will win in air to air because of the same range. Therefore, poking is a lost cause. The only way to get in? Run up to his face and pressure. Easier said than done, since the battlefield is laid with traps. Remember to run a few steps, FD, run a few steps, FD. It is very tedious but probably the only way. Oh, and be careful about empty summoning at the other end of the screen, he might have an EXE beast waiting for you.

Okay, so you made it all the way to his face! Congratulations! However, testament is a sneaky one, he might have a warrant waiting for you. (I have some problem here: Do i block warrant normally, or reversed?) Usually i bait the warrant before doing a combo.

With Sword: This weapon is much better in AC than Slash, simply cos you can tack a 61234HS at the end of your combo for a knockdown. Testament has no SRK or good wakeup supers; Feel free to oki as you please. Don't 236HS into forward EXE beast!

With Ghost: I usually get distance and shoot ghosts all over to clear zeinests. of course remember to always do this jumping, so you dont eat exe beasts! Once you do that, you can IAD over (but watch the hitomis!) and start pressuring him with the usual. Ghosts do really bad damage here by the way, but its not as much about dmg here as it is about being plain irritating and ruining his tempo.

With Dog: This can be either the best summon or the worst, depending on your spacing. Forward EXE beast beats your 6D, so use it discreetly. Also don't be thinking "HA HA, dog is out, pressure is on you now chump!" Because he might just think screw the dog, and go straight for the owner with a EXE beast on your ass.

With Raou: Raou is my weakest summon. I usually can do an oki where i either 2HS or Dust him, before doing a Edguy RC'd into Edguy. Of course its a 50/50 whether he eats this incredibly painful combo or not. My friend also goes into mega turtle mode against Raou. You can see him backdash, his skirt fly up alittle, he puts something red into the air, rinse, repeat. He does EXE beast the moment he sees the purple ball in my hands, and EXE BEAST ONCE AGAIN RUINS Bellow's Malice. If he does the forward version, the bloody beast can block majority of the hits for him. If he does the back version, 90% of the time the beast will bite you before a single hit can touch him.

Yes i mentioned EXE beast alot of times in this post, because i find it is Zappa's worst nightmare. The backdash we all adore is crippled by it, and you cannot immediately start running on wakeup, because he might have an okizeme EXE beast waiting for you. And you can't outrun that! You need to be at least 1-2 seconds into running before Zappa picks up enough speed to outrun it.

Stuff i find that stuffs testament's... stuff:

6p beats testament's 2HS.. i think? The one with invincible startup. Thats a big plus, because most Testaments spam that like crazy. I think the slippery spit halts this one too. Not sure though.

6p also beats: Master of Puppets, gravedigger.

Stuff you can run under: Master of Puppets, gravedigger, Zeinest(wouldn't recomment it, because unlike hitomi it doesnt disappear once you knock down test. You might IAD backwards into a net later.)

Conclusion: This is a really horrendous matchup for me, Because of how plain tedious it is, and how ridiculous it is that not only can he outreach, outdamage, and outspeed you, But in the worst case scenario, you are poisoned and phantom soul'd, which is pretty much a game over.

Don't give up though! Because it looks awesome when you do win. :)

Ref Vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH-cpZSiTWk

Abe does pretty well against testament. Of course once shonen kicks badlands loop into overdrive thats pretty much the game.

Sorry if this wasn't helpful, or if it was too long.

Well, theres a few things iffy with what you said, which may explain why this matchup is an issue for you. Let's see if I can't help:keke:

In fact, the summon will beat nearly every normal Testament has. The key is timing, you need to have the invul frames eat the move. You also sound like you have a huge issue with EXE Beast (How could I tell?!?!), but if you block it, there isn't a lot that Testament can do besides attempt to pressure with another move, which you can summon through. So simply put: Block EXE Beast. It's not so fast that you can't see it coming.

With the sword, you shouldn't be spamming the 623HS as much as you seem to be, and certainly not without tension. It's a good move in this matchup, but only when Testament goes for a badlands. Use the sword swipe more often because it will go over EXE Beast and get rid of any Zeinests that may be in your direct path.

I'll assume you're using the ghosts properly since you said pretty much what I did.

With the dog, You shouldn't be having him attack randomly. You ALWAYS either attack with the dog or set the dog up to get you out of pressure. The dog is quite indispensable in this match if you use him right.

It also sounds like your using Darkness Anthem from far away. That's a bad idea on Testament. Darkness anthem should hit Testament, whether on guard or not it has to connect. Otherwise, your setting yourself up for punishment. Really, it's better to bait Testament by pressure a little and doing a whiff charged DA (silly frames) and Edguy the ensuing attack, which well most likely be a Badlands.

Don't worry about running under zeinests. You shouldn't be in the air much anyways. Run under them and start beating up Testament, because it'll wear out eventually anyways. If Testament hits you back into an already set Zeinest, then you made a mistake and got hit, so it's really your fault in that situation:vbang: Zappa has more options than you may believe, but it's situational. Don't expect for this fight to be an obvious win or loss no matter where in the match it is; I've come back from 10% hp for a full health win.

Hope this helped :eng101:

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Hi, thanks for the help! Yes EXE beast is a huge issue with me. I block it fairly often, sometimes i even try baiting it for an opening, but its still a pretty ridiculous move. Also i've fought my friend so many times, he knows all of my moves and mixups and he can warrant them pretty easily. Yes i find ghosts are my best summon here, using the p version of the toss is great most of the time because its hard to warrant, with the inconsistency of the bouncing patterns. :D Unfortunately after pressuring and extreme poking from the ghosts, usually my friend can beat me back from having 10% to a full health win ON HIS SIDE :( I honestly thought of taking a break from Zappa to try my luck with Robo Ky (I seem to do better with him, iono) but i think i'll give Zappa another shot. I've got a horrible win rate with him, but hes just so much fun. Thanks for the advice!

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Hi, thanks for the help!

Yes EXE beast is a huge issue with me. I block it fairly often, sometimes i even try baiting it for an opening, but its still a pretty ridiculous move. Also i've fought my friend so many times, he knows all of my moves and mixups and he can warrant them pretty easily.

Yes i find ghosts are my best summon here, using the p version of the toss is great most of the time because its hard to warrant, with the inconsistency of the bouncing patterns. :D Unfortunately after pressuring and extreme poking from the ghosts, usually my friend can beat me back from having 10% to a full health win ON HIS SIDE :(

I honestly thought of taking a break from Zappa to try my luck with Robo Ky (I seem to do better with him, iono) but i think i'll give Zappa another shot. I've got a horrible win rate with him, but hes just so much fun.

Thanks for the advice!

Zappa's got a high learning curve, but he's just as good as any other character if you learn how to use him.

By the way, if he spams Warrant, theres a really hilarious way to punish him. With the dog, you can do 6D (I've seen so many testaments warrant the dog, so theres a good chance he'll do it, or you can catch him on reaction) Then press 6H. You have to delay it just right, but you'll grab him out of Warrant.

This may be possible with ghost toss FRC's, though I've never tried it. Perhaps even DA.

Just keep practicing and you'll get better. If your friend is learning your pattern, lose the pattern and try things he wouldn't expect (2HS naked/dog is actually a pretty good poke).

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I got some more matches, and I learned something I know some of you guys will love. If the testament likes to spam EXE Beast, Running jump crossup works like a charm. Naked: j.HS will net a free counterhit into c.S combo. Ghosts: j.HS, free knockdown into reset (Also the best option for destroying traps in the way of your jump with a toss before you go for it) Sword: j.HS or swordspin. Won't work if he FRC's so block if he does, swordspin helps deal with traps. Dog: Same deal as naked, just be prepared to continue the combo with the dog. Raou: No crossup, just IAD j.S. If he FRC's, he's either going to block or attack. In most cases, your crossup attack should still land (especially naked j.HS, as well as the ghosts) even if he attacks or blocks. If they time it right and try to bait the jump in, FD and just let him poke you until you get to the ground. This is actually a pretty reliable trick at mid to max range, so learn the distancing and you'll have tons of fun with this trick.

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