[CP] Hakumen VS Kagura: You call THAT a sword?

[mAc Chaos]

Player hating.

[someonewhodied]

Who's godpoke hits further :v

[Raziul]

Who's godpoke hits further :v

If you mean Kagura's 5C, Hakumen's 4C has more reach.

His 5C/2C requires a counter hit for any serious combos. He can follow it up with 2DB that puts him in an oki situation though, which is where he's the most dangerous.

[Raziul]

I guess the things to consider in this match are that Kagura is strongest when has space to use his pokes to get a knockdown. This usually leads to him using his powerful oki to lock you down and crush you. He has very limited defensive options, and while his regulars lack range, they're surprisingly quick. His 5B is a low as well. Meter doesn't help his defensive options much as he has to charge one DD and the other requires him to go into a drive stance.

He can set up his drive moves from the air and makes him float for a bit, it's pretty scripted, but it is possible for him to cross up with it. His 6C anti-air is slow to start and has a very vertical hit box, but the range on it isn't anything special. It's got a long recovery on it too. All of his air attacks are very short range, Hakumen's j.C can keep Kagura from ever trying to knock you down from the air.

[Raziul]

If you're opponent is using drive moves in his block string, it shouldn't be too hard to find gaps to stick a 2D in. They can drive cancel pretty quickly into some good moves, but they're not gapless at all. The majority of Kagura's options depends entirely on his spacing, because his overheads need to be pretty close to land.

If they're conditioned enough to use his orb oki, drive counter it for free stars.

The beginning of this match up is usually gonna be a footsies battle to see who gets the knockdown first, but Hakumen's Drive Counters give him a far more effective defense than what Kagura has. Kagura can't use his 6C anti-air when you're in his face, so jumping/double jumping can really mess him up. He does have a "DP" of sorts that he can use on wake up, but I don't know if it gets any sort of invincibility or advantage.

His 5C/2C pokes are strong on the ground with a lot of hitstun, so be wary.

[Raziul]

Hakumen is one of Kagura's toughest match ups, but after spending some time in training mode with Kagura, don't underestimate him. His meterless damage is big and easy with just a couple of good counter hits.

Seriously, ouch. Flash kick ender on that does 4624. Does not require CH, and it's not even his most optimal corner combo.

He has a 4k meterless grab combo too. So that's always fun to deal with.

If his defense and neutral wasn't so meh, this guy would be terrifying.

[Koopa_Klawz]

He has a 4k meterless grab combo too. So that's always fun to deal with.

I heard from OmniSScythe he can get 5-6k off his cmd grab.

[BladeOfJustice7]

Finally got to play against this character. It feels even to me from what I experienced, if anything you'd say it's in Hakumen's favor, but Kagura has a lot of tools to get in on Hakumen.

2D~C

It seems to be a good mixup tool, I wouldn't recommend punishing it unless it's with Zanshin on the second hit, which is a low. From what I experienced, he can teleport after it, making it safe.

6D~C

I got clipped by this a lot, the Kagura players who faced me made good use of this by firing sonic boom and then CH'ing a few times on 4c when I went to cut sonic boom, effectively creating an easy way to get in on neutral if you're not careful. This move will eat Fumajin up and possibly CH you for approx 3k. It is also surprisingly faster than it looks.

[2]~8C

This DP lol, so good lol you can't contest it in way way and is slightly trick to punish. A massive hitbox that should not be fucked it.

Ryuuou Zangaoushou

Got caught by this is an air to air situation when trying to IAD>B+C>OD, so it's an aerial gimmick you should be weary of when it comes to crucial footsie situations like Noel's Bullet Storm super.

Not much else to say, didn't get to play kagura for very long. But you don't lose from keeping him out and you shouldn't over extend yourself on offense since he can make you regret it with his DP, which leads to combos on CH.

[edollarports]

There's a lot of spaces in Kagura's strings where you can pretty much mash zanshin/6B for free on reaction to stop Kagura.

[BladeOfJustice7]

I feel the same way, but I attribute that more towards Kagura players still being inexperienced against Hakumen is all. You have to pressure/attack/approach him differently compared to the rest of the cast still.

[Raziul]

I feel the same way, but I attribute that more towards Kagura players still being inexperienced against Hakumen is all. You have to pressure/attack/approach him differently compared to the rest of the cast still.

No matter how quickly he cancels into his next stance, Kagura's drive moves will always give him gaps. I think the smarter ones will learn to use that to bait counters and punish them with a slower starting move or even his overhead. In return, we'll need to learn to predict what he'll do next so we'll know how to react properly. 2A and 2B are great tools for interrupting his drive moves. You just gotta be careful to avoid getting hit by his 3C and 6B at those ranges.

[Koopa_Klawz]

I found Hakumen's 4C to be quite useful vs Kagura's ground movement. The only thing I know that can beat it is Wyvern but that's if it's already out other wise 4C will stop it on it's start up. Just have to be careful when he starts ADing towards you.

[Soviet Bear]

Not sure what the move's called, but the one where Kagura slams his sword into the ground and then hits you through it with his shoulder, does it have armor? I grabbed it with Yukikaze and it did like pissall damage. Never seen that before.

[Raziul]

5DA I think. It has has Super Armor against everything but fast lows. Super Armor eats most of the damage and he takes the rest.

[BlackYakuzu94]

I keep forgetting Super Armor eats damage.

[Soviet Bear]

5DA I think. It has has Super Armor against everything but fast lows. Super Armor eats most of the damage and he takes the rest.

 

Funnily enough, 5D grabs that move and does about the same damage as Yuki would.

[Raziul]

It used to be you could actually punish it with 3C at the end of his drive chains, but they tightened up his strings in the last patch and that no longer works. You can do 2D instead now though.

[BlackYakuzu94]

Can't you just IB 3C?

[BlackYakuzu94]

So yea, the B version of his Flash Kick recovers a lot faster than the old version of his C one. You won't be able to 5C it all, and it pushes you back enough where 5B/2B won't connect either. You can still punish it tho, just mainly with 4C and 3C now.

[BlackYakuzu94]

Yea, you don't want to play too offensively on Kagura. It's pretty easy for him to reverse things with his DP, so that's something you constantly need to be aware of.

I fought a fairly decent Kagura last night for a few matches and consistently won by playing outside his range.

Let them come to you. Also, don't approach by air, because fuck his B flash kick, fast ass move.

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[mAc Chaos]

I thought: "He has a bigger sword and longer range, so that means I'm the one supposed to go in."

 

nope WRONG

[BlackYakuzu94]

I used to do that too and get blown up for it.

It took watching Poropiccho to figure out how to win.

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[Raziul]

The thing that always wrecked me in that match up was the damage he got off of his overhead. That thing has near Zantetsu level range. It's a good idea to pay attention to the kagura players drive habits. His drive chains aren't gapless, so you can do things like 2D if he ends his chains with 5DA, or the fact that his overhead has a lot of start up, and if you predict it, you can get 5D out to counter.

[BlackYakuzu94]

The matchup got slightly harder with the Zanshin nerf though, which inadvertently made his orb okizeme stronger. Last night, I used 2D to catch it and he was able to setup his command grab during the recovery. And his 6DC eats through projectiles, so be careful when you toss out 4C to cut orbs when he's approaching.