[CP] Kokonoe Vs Azrael

[Kurushii]

Match Start

Neutral

Full Screen
Long-Mid Range
Point Blank

Offense and Defense

Your Offense vs His Defense
His Offense vs Your Defense

Gimmicks and Miscellaneous Info

Gimmicks
Misc. Info

Frame Advantage, Disadvantage, and Punishes

Frame Advantage
Frame Disadvantage
Punishes

Summary

[Rorshock520]

Mmk so I just lost like 20 times (won 1 time!!!) to a good Azrael (shoutouts to MC_Respect). Granted, I'm not very good at the game right now so that could be the main reason this matchup seemed nearly impossible. A few things I noticed:

- He does a buttload if damage and almost all of his combos will carry you to the corner, which is really saddening.

- You cannot teleport reversal out of Azrael's meaty oki. His followup to it will always counterhit you and you will eat a combo for free.

- Almost all of Azrael's blockstrings seem really really safe. Mashing 2A/5A in his blockstrings will give him a free 5k on you.

- Obviously, he can growler your projectiles.

It felt like a 1-player game to me once I got cornered. Because his blockstrings are so safe it was extremely hard to escape him; most of his moves seemed to have a large enough hitbox to either force me to block when I tried to jump away, or hit me (almost confusingly so, because I could swear I was blobking half of the time I got hit [no I'm not referring to blue "!" moves]). Teleport reversal is not an option against him. Basically the only time I was able to get good hits in or oki going was if I predicted his approach (either using 6A as an anti-air, or 3C to stuff his approach moves). But if I predicted incorrectly I would end up in a corner and die.

Any tips for a noob in this matchup?

[gli]

You can keep Azrael away with Graviton. A safe way to do this is to superjump and plant a Graviton somewhere then do j.236D and watch the result (this will either blow Azrael back to fullscreen, make him block, or eat the Graviton detonation.

Growler counters your projectiles but he has to commit to it so play with that.

[GaoGaoGao]

I think this has potential to be one of Kokonoe's worst matchups. He is one of the only characters than can get out of the blackhole setup for free, growler beats a graviton fireball approach too. His grounded buttons are really good, while Kokonoe's arent the best.

A little gimmick you can do when you know Azrael will growler your fireball oki, is to do 4D, 236B just before the fireball hits. He will try to growler the fireball, but the 4D will pull it away while you get to land a 236B on him (236B actually covers a ton a ground plus the 4D is pulling him towards you). 236B is really unsafe so this is a bit gimmicky, but it might make him start blocking your fireball oki if you hit him with this.

Your 6A beats his air approaches, it even beats his 6C clean. 22B will force him to approach cautiously. He cant do 236A (which is +1) because a whiffed or blocked one will get him hit by 22B. You really dont want to be blocking him. His 5BB is +5, 6C is +2, 236A is +1....his normals are good, fast and positive while yours are short ranged and on the slower side. There is a gap between 5B and 5BB, so you can teleport there but its still a bit risky.

So pretty much, force him to jump with traps and stuff to get that 6A on him while trying your best to not let him get in your face.

[RifleAvenger]

There is a gap between 5B and 5BB, so you can teleport there but its still a bit risky.

Just so you know, 5BB has a tendency to autocorrect direction if it's delayed even a little bit.

Teleporting the 5B is even worse, since 5BB absolutely will autocorrect and score a counterhit. Azrael 5B meaty is totally secure for Azrael since if you wake-up teleport the 5BB will hit you.

[Loli Bacon]

Just so you know, 5BB has a tendency to autocorrect direction if it's delayed even a little bit.

Teleporting the 5B is even worse, since 5BB absolutely will autocorrect and score a counterhit. Azrael 5B meaty is totally secure for Azrael since if you wake-up teleport the 5BB will hit you.

I have no idea what to do in this matchup. Teleports seem like ass. Seems the best way to beat him is to spam 5C at max range.

[TAI-X]

God damn, Growler eating a full ice gun spray goes on FOREVER. Could maybe be useful if you want to force a time out.

[Verard]

Best bet for this would be to keep away until you score a hit. Always throw out a 22B if he's not close enough to Gustav and try to control neutral with Gravitons, j2C the god is your friend. If on the defense spending meter for Guard cancels is nice since your reversal super can be blown up by him and teleport is risky against him(Well it's always risky).

[GaoGaoGao]

Just so you know, 5BB has a tendency to autocorrect direction if it's delayed even a little bit.

Teleporting the 5B is even worse, since 5BB absolutely will autocorrect and score a counterhit. Azrael 5B meaty is totally secure for Azrael since if you wake-up teleport the 5BB will hit you.

Yeah, thats why I said it was a bit risky. However, there have been times when it did not autocorrect, so its still out there as an option.

[Killey]

2B low profiles his 5C if timed properly and this is spacing dependent. Usually around his max range is where you can cause it to whiff but most Azrael's will want to space it out at that range during neutral or footsies.

6A is obviously a really good anti-air and will beat his jump in's and 6C (as mentioned previously) it can also beat/clash with his IAD cross ups.

Azrael can escape a couple of Kokonoe's unblockable set ups with Growler cause it'll absorb both 22B and the super itself. The timing can be tight for Azrael depending on which set up you use. I like to use the following unblockable setup because it gives you time to decide whether to do the Black Hole super or not.

236B, 5C xx 22B, 214A, 2A, 5B, 5C xx Black Hole

1) If Azrael quick rises and blocks 22B, then he has to block 214A and the rest of the block string will guarantee the unblockable.

2) If Azrael mistimes Growler and eats 22B you get a full combo into a 2nd unblockable attempt

3) If Azrael immediately rolls forward 22B will catch him and you can continue the combo into a 2nd unblockable attempt

4) If Azrael Growlers 22B he'll hold it down to absorb 214A. Azrael is fully invincible while absorbing projectiles and this lasts throughout the projectile duration. You can back out of the unblockable setup at this point.

The one thing I want to test in scenario 4 is delaying Black Hole super just as he finishes absorbing 214A. Apparently, Azrael's growler invulnerable state ends as soon as he finishes absorbing a projectile so I'm thinking it should catch him on his recovery. However, I think he recovers instantly off of a successfully Growler absorb so he might be able to buffer in another growler during the super flash and absorb Black Hole. I'll need to do some testing on this.

[Pen_Ninja]

Just as general advice against Azrael, his pressure really falls to correct blocking. Not just in the fact that you're blocking mixups but doing things like instant barrier blocking (or just barrier blocking) his normals to push him away helps because his normals are fairly stubby in general. Then if he tries to get in with 236A you can instant block it to make it -2 on block and he'll be forced to either block, back off, or get CH with 2A/5A. If he tries to use 6C to get back in then you can do the same to make it -1 but that means you'll need to use 5A because 2A will trade with his 5A if both done on frame 1. Your better option to beat 6C is to beat it out with 6A as it has head attribute.

2C (the stone wall) into either 6D or 3D is a fairly common mixup as 6D and 3D look pretty similar up until the later frames, much like Noel's d.6B and d.6D but these are much easier to deal with. You can always jab him out of either 6D or 3D, regardless of which option he went for. His other option after 2C is to do another 2C but there's a 16 or so frame gap here so you should be safe to whiff a jab in there pretty easily. If he keeps doing 2C over and over, which I've seen some Azraels do to try and bait something out at the right range, you should be able to hit him with 3C but it'll be tight. In any case, if he does any of this after 2C (3D, 6D or another 2C) you should be able to SUPER jump (normal jump tends to get caught by 6D) 6D, land, then 22C. I recommend super jumping and barrier blocking until you're above his 6D height before using your own 6D.

On the subject of growler, it has a normal hit where he's invincible to everything except throws which works as his DP followed by a period where he'll absorb projectiles which he can extend for a certain length of time by holding the button. If you block the first hit or it whiffs you get a free physical hit punish because the invincibility wear of quite quickly. If he absorbs a projectile though, he's invincible until growler ends. Further projectiles absorbed will increase the length of growler and keep him invincible through it. Long story short: if he growlers and gets to absorb a projectile, you can't punish him for the growler. He will however, lose his invincibility as soon as he recovers meaning he won't get pressure on you at least. I recommend not letting him Growler things but if it can't be helped and somehow he gets a growler in, let him growler, set a graviton on him and give him the old 50/50 high/low mixup meaty when he comes out of growler. I believe he can just growler again though so just be careful of that.

[Verimeloni]

Don't forget that for every projectile (or even worse, a multi-hitting one) Az absorbs with Growler,

1) he's invincible until the animation ends and can do another one (almost, I think there's like 2F gap) instantly.

2) he gains Phalanx Cannon stocks (up to 3, multi-hitting counts as many stocks), which have priority over Koko's projectiles.

[Loli Bacon]

How do you oki this dude? How do you blockstring him? How do we get him to stop backdashing, growlering, or mashing 5A?

I can't land any hit confirms because this dude gets hit by the most RANDOM buttons, causing me to improvise with the lowest damage shit ever. AND HE GETS 4K OFF 5A WTFFFF

What are our defensive options?

High/Lows don't generally work, as j.C whiffs to his backdash, which gets us punished if we try it. Oki consists of an RPS in which Kokonoe seems to be on the short end of the stick.

Backdash: We have to catch it with a normal, which loses to Growler

Growler: we have to block it, and can't use 22B for his next option:

5A: We guessed growler and guessed wrong? I guess he'll just pressure us :V.

Can we 22B and use 3C to punish growler before 22B goes off? I feel like the spacing required for that would also make 22B whiff, allowing him to backdash. And now we're the perfect spacing away for him to use his dashing move (which is +1 and allows him to start pressure. :V)

[Maho]

Ok so I posted info for Azrael side of the matchup on the Azrael forums, you might want to read this as IMO it's things you really want to know when going against him : http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?17701-CP-Azrael-vs-Kokonoe-Match-up-Discussion/page3&p=1595662&viewfull=1#post1595662

I said there Kokonoe must change her gameplan to fight Azrael efficiently, first thing is that you must forget about 22B and fireball okis, that's just free phallanx stocks for him and you don't want him to get those ever as it will really limit your zoning options.

In the corner either do a meaty 5A (if he growlers, you get hit but no counter, that leaves you full screen at advantage for a free 22B set) or a safejump setup like the one i talk about in the Azrael forums, don't try to overextend your pressure and take too much risks, if you're not sure on what to do at one point finish by 5B/C and iad backwards with a late jB that will stop him if he tries to chase you with a 236A or 6C.

Midscreen, just forget about oki unless he's ahead in life and you need the damage fast because of the time, otherwise just do your max damage combo, set a 22B and start to zone the hell out of him.

Because Kokonoe's zoning is what Azrael can handle, without phallanx stocks, he has no options to get in safely when you have a 22B set a bit in front of you, one thing he can try is 66217B in the pillar but 3C stops anything he can try on the ground.

Then you must know the timing when 22B will auto activate and try to cover the time you need to get one back, so you can but a graviton either in his back to reduce his horizontal movement or hj back j5D > j236D to push him back, I like more the 6D in his back as if he manages to get in, I can use it to TP safely on the other side of the screen and start my zoning again.

Now fireball may be useless for oki, but it's not for neutral, a fireball and a 5D in front also a quite effective wall, there's also no delay in activation so you can pretty much do anything behind it and be safe from 236A and BHS, the downside is that is doesn't last that long. You just need to look out for him trying to growler him as he gets sucked in but it's easy to 3C him there.

Between this and 22B, I'd go with 22 combined with a 6D a bit before pillar activation as it gives me a chance to get away if I mess up, the fireball setup I use mostly for Azrael that are too hungry to try growler it.

Now on defense, well if that happens too bad you fucked up somewhere and now you gotta pay the bill, yu have to respect is pressure, you defense options are bad in this matchup. TP only when you have a graviton set afar and are able to evade full screen, raw TP will get you killed pretty much all the time, never, I repeat NEVER TP ON WAKEUP, all his meaties guarantees him a free CH 5B/3C if you try it if the player have somewhat work on that matchup.

With TP out, fireball super is your only reversal option, beware of safe jumps setups and also know that he's not one of the character which have problems to punish it, if he blocks it you'll die, well at least when players have learn those punishes.

So you have to repect his pressure, go in training mode and look at the Azrael forums to find the most used ones, if you have good reactions blocking his high/low mixups on reaction is realistic, try to work on IBing 5D as it's a 5A punish, 2D is easy to IB but the pushback makes it very hard to punish. You can't punish his 3/6D even on IB (well you can astral but let's talk about shit that happens), but remember that whatever the drive you blocked, he's negative on block and you should go back in the offense, I see so much Azraels pushing buttons after a blocked drive.

Also don't fall for autopilot blockstrings like the 2C into 3/6D I see a lot online, this can be 2A'd on reaction, he can actually frame trap with 2C > 3C but the animation of drives is really different so you should be able to see it, also 3C is -9 on block, on IB that's a crouch 5B punish for a lot of damage, on normal block the pushback makes it hard to punish though.

One thing that isn't really blockable on reaction is crossup TCL setups, but he needs 50% to get good damage and be safe if you happen to block, on the other hand you should be able to block stupid things like dash trough 5A/B during pressure, actually you might want to 2A him out of this.

But his pressure has a real problem with barrier, and even more with IB barrier, you should try to use this as much as you can so he's forced to go for short blockstrings.

So for me this matchup is really in favor of Kokonoe, but you have to adapt and learn how to use his weaknesses against him in neutral, just be sure to never give him Phallanx stocks and work on your defense for the times he'll get in.