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zeth07

[CPEX] Azrael - Critique Thread

By zeth07, in Azrael

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mAceOfHearts   

mAceOfHearts
Posted

One thing I noticed very quickly was that a lot of your choices in terms of movements and attacks were very... Nonsensical, I guess.

EG: You blocked the Heart Car and punished using 5A. You started using Sentinel at full screen.

I'd advise you to pay more attention to what's going on at the screen, not just what's going on near your character. You Gustaf'd directly into a bubble at one point. (Or did you think Gustaf would break it?)

Your neutral in general seemed somewhat awkward too. Half the time you would stand completely still, the other half you'd dash in with reckless abandon. Neither of these are good ideas. A lot of your normals have long range, so use them! Also, don't use Growler as ´´run-up DP``. It has a horrible hitbox and only deals 500 damage. It's not worth the risk.

You should also work on your mixup. You have a lot of overheads at your disposal. Frametraps into 3C are nice and all, but you need to throw in a 5D or 6D every now and then. You did start using them later on, but it was still pretty rare. You also ought to use his links more, don't just go straight into 5BB from a 5B. You can get a weakpoint from a 5B by going 5B-2C-6/3D. 

5B in general is an amazing move in terms of potential mixup. EG: You can 5B-5D for an overhead or 5B-2D for a low, both of which are pretty tough to react to.

You did make good use of your backdash a lot of the time, which I'll commend you for.

 

TL/DR: Focus on your neutral and your mixup.

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Capconian   

Capconian
Posted

@LordSpectreX: turned off the stabilizer, sorry first time uploading YT vids.

 

@mAceOfHearts: got it!

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Kinkuli   

Kinkuli
Posted

mAce said most of the stuff what i had in mind but yeah.

 

You, like many other aspiring Azrael's, start out using 5B to 5BB most of the time. What you really wanna do is push 5A and 2A a lot instead when you are on the offence. Good basic strings are 5A to 2A, 5A 5A, 2A 5A for example. From there you can go to 5D whenever (you can push it really often until your opponent starts to block it. 5D is the god). You can also use gustaf to bait out mash etc. Also remember that 5A and 2A are both plus so you can also take a step or 2 forward sometimes and push 5A/2A again. I should also try to get in habit of doing that more :(.

 

Try to work on your combos and specifically hitconfirming. You had many changes at combos but you dropped them or didn't confirm in time. You should have plenty of time to hitconfirm due how azrael's normals works. Also if you happen to score and aerial hit then you probably should get into the habit of using super jump instead of normal jump. 

 

I'm sure you are already doing this but grab few vids of dogura and try to look what he does in neutral and also when he is pressuring. Just don't take everything he does at facevalue but rather try to see why etc. Good luck!

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LordSpectreX   

LordSpectreX
Posted

Vs Exonestar (Litchi)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAGJcW8YCOc&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XGAGpYAvK4&

 

Vs Kiba (Valkenhayn)

 

There's a lot more videos in this playlist if you want to see; https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbFghbqH87Epa-ZxxqcchtQXO-leE--5

 

Overall, i know the basic stuff i need to do. Better confirms, execution and combo improv. Obviously it's worth doing more dynamic mixup, and ofc, block better. If you have any opinions on how I could be playing neutral better, then that would be welcome. 

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Warhound   

Warhound
Posted

Gah, wish I could help. Honestly, all I get to do is play netplay, so my matches look like slow motion compared to yours.

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Leopold   

Leopold
Posted

Ok i'm having serious problems with my neutral game and pressure. I have gotten to the point I cant keep my pressure up.

 

You see, every time I end up knocking someone down I'll try do a nice meaty at them and then WAMMM i get blown up with some sort of dp. So i calm down, and i say to myself lets bait these. Then next thing you know they start rolling away and going back to neutral where I dont want them to be at ex: Rags, Jin, Mu, Terumi etc...

 

I try to stuff sometimes with 6A but man, they just block and no dp comes out. I want to stop these rollers getting out of my clutches.

 

Ok, now another problem, I managed to land a gustav on hit(sometimes on block) and then my 5A is whiffing. Also another minor problem is that even tho i know i'm on plus with gustav and my 5A should beat stuff (given no IB) sometimes I get countered with a jab or even traded. I try not to mash since it will screw up my links but do I have to resort to mashing jab after the gustav? I feel like it could be a problem of not doing jab right away when recoveries of gustav are done; and it even happens on offline games.

 

 If i do a 5B well be ready to get smashed by a jab from a high tier like Litchi or Hazama. Seriously how do i get in? and stay in? Whiffing normals and these spacing problems are killing my game. Btw do you guys delay the forward dashes crossups after a knockdown? 

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RentalBlackout   

RentalBlackout
Posted

Ok i'm having serious problems with my neutral game and pressure. I have gotten to the point I cant keep my pressure up.

 

You see, every time I end up knocking someone down I'll try do a nice meaty at them and then WAMMM i get blown up with some sort of dp. So i calm down, and i say to myself lets bait these. Then next thing you know they start rolling away and going back to neutral where I dont want them to be at ex: Rags, Jin, Mu, Terumi etc...

 

I try to stuff sometimes with 6A but man, they just block and no dp comes out. I want to stop these rollers getting out of my clutches.

 

Ok, now another problem, I managed to land a gustav on hit(sometimes on block) and then my 5A is whiffing. Also another minor problem is that even tho i know i'm on plus with gustav and my 5A should beat stuff (given no IB) sometimes I get countered with a jab or even traded. I try not to mash since it will screw up my links but do I have to resort to mashing jab after the gustav? I feel like it could be a problem of not doing jab right away when recoveries of gustav are done; and it even happens on offline games.

 

 If i do a 5B well be ready to get smashed by a jab from a high tier like Litchi or Hazama. Seriously how do i get in? and stay in? Whiffing normals and these spacing problems are killing my game. Btw do you guys delay the forward dashes crossups after a knockdown? 

This is pretty much the toughest part about playing Azrael. He's a top tier char, great offense, great defense, and pretty good neutral, but if you had to say which part of his game is the weakest, it's got to be his neutral. Anyone that can footsie well can take Azrael on, hence why Azrael doesn't roll over Ragna and has troubles against someone like Mu. A somewhat accurate description of Azrael's neutral is that he has a neutral game of a grappler, just that he doesn't grapple.

About Gustaf on block, you don't necessarily have to 5A afterwards against 5 frame jabs. Pretty sure most, if not all 5 frame jabs whiff on crouchers, so you can low profile with 2A, maybe with 2B(have to test that out too) If your 5A clashes with Litchi's it probably means she IB'd it, in that case you should probably backdash out, or if at the right range jump backwards and see what happens. Pretty important to note how someone blocks your Gustaf, it can change it from being +2 on barrier block to -2 on instant block. Gustaf is good yes, but it's also fair.

 

Proper blocking can make or break a defense against Azrael in general. Granted, it's not always possible since it can be difficult(and that's why you got to be unpredictable to keep them guessing, make it difficult for them), but instant blocking, barrier blocking and even instant barrier blocking can really make a lot of your strings whiff/unsafe. We also have a lot of gaps in our strings, so you got to respect your opponent's ability to jab/dp through.

 

As for oki, Azrael has it pretty ok, not wonderful but it's there, we don't really have a guaranteed advantage after Drive knockdowns(perhaps one of the weaker points of Azrael). You're doing the right thing by trying to bait DP's, but that's just tough luck I guess. You can't react to what they do, it's pretty much rock paper scissors. I don't really delay the forward dash crossup after knockdown, it doesn't really have that much invulnerability if that's what you're getting at. I'm not sure which knockdowns you are referring to either(Drive knockdowns or TCL), but in general as long as you can get them to emergency tech you're forcing them to face a mixup, which is what you want. In the Strategy Thread, Ice Cube put up a pretty comprehensive guide on what we have on oki. Although now after TCL, we can Dash TK Sentinel to cover a lot of options.

Now it might look as though we are forced to play  a lot more defensively, but take a look at it from another point of view. We are making them commit to something. If they decide to 2A after Gustaf since we've been 2B'ing them to low profile their 5A, then that's another risk they have to take, and more things to worry about. In the end it's just one big game of mix ups and rock paper scissors, and with Azrael, when we do hit gold, we really do hit gold, since we get such high rewards.

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LordSpectreX   

LordSpectreX
Posted

There are certain ranges after gustaf where even on regular block there are no reliable options for you to take. 5A has pretty bad horizontal range compared to most 5As in the game. If you're at a range where your 5A doesn't connect then you have to take a more riskier option. In this situation, you mostly going to want to be a bit creative as you can't just throw out normals to continue your pressure. Some things you can do is Dash through them, jump or IAD, backdash and gustaf back in again, and even growler. You can't be predictable. There's a lot of other options you can do as well that will have varying degrees of success. 

 

Azrael pressure wise is actually very limited. You will get hit by people doing DP inbetween 5A>5A. What you need to do is be creative, not just after gustaf, but in all aspects of his pressure. While it is full of holes, it is also very very high reward if you land his fantastic mixup. Stuff like 5A>6D, 2C>wait>5D. Random normals into backdashes. I enjoy Azrael because his pressure is almost completely player specific. If you're creative, you make the player scared and confused over stuff, that, when looked at objectively, isn't that scary. You have to make them scared to do DP because "oh god, what if he does 5A>backdash THIS time as well?". "I IB'd Gustaf, but what if he does Grolwer again? I better block". Suddenly, you're able to pressure them after IB Gustaf. 

 

Remember, there's a fine line between creativity and yolo. Play safe early on and try to figure out how your opponent likes to play. Every time I do a blockstring on someone, I take a mental note on when they tried to "do" something. If they start Dping/backdashing/mashing out after 2-3 blocked hits, then that's a good point to try and make a read with something like frametrap 3C or what have you. Doing a Minus on block move and frametrapping them with Growler only works if you think they're going to play aggressively when they have chances to do something. If they use holes in pressure to just escape, then you're just going to get punished and look like an idiot.

 

It goes without saying that in order to make Azrael's pressure work, you NEED to work on your confirms and combos. You need to be getting close to optimal damage off every confirm you do. They're only going to be scared of DPing if you actually know the 5.6k meterless weakpointless 3D punish.

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Leopold   

Leopold
Posted

They're only going to be scared of DPing if you actually know the 5.6k meterless weakpointless 3D punish.

 

Good advice guys, I'll hit the lab and train these stuff out in battle as well. Thanks

 

Btw sorry to put it so bluntly but which would be that 3D punish you mean?

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RentalBlackout   

RentalBlackout
Posted

  • (CH) 3D > 6A > 3D > 2B > TCL > 5B > 2C > 5B > Aerial = 5472 (Doesn't work on TG, maybe others?)
  • (CH) 3D > 6A > 3D > walk forward 5C > TCL > 5B > 2C > 5B > Aerial = 5618 (Doesn't work on TG, maybe others?

One of those, these assume you reach the corner. There are also double weakpoint ones, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKms8y7kGw8&t=49s, looks fancy too, for less damage however, but that's generally what you sacrifice for two weakpoints.(Except very specific ones)

If you're fighting Arakune(I think) or Tager, CH 3D>6A doesn't work, so you have to do CH 3D>2C>3D instead, which will result in less damage as well but it's still in the 5k range.

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Warhound   

Warhound
Posted

Thanks for compiling dem combos bruh. Should be helpful to add to the ol' repertoire. You even added in some oki stuff, nice!

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ThaKabuttops   

ThaKabuttops
Posted

Hey everyone. Been lurking for a while and finally have decided to come out and start posting. I recently went to a local tournament and won, but after reviewing the footage, I am a little disappointed with my game play. I dropped a lot of combos that I normally hit and made some careless mistakes. Most importantly I learned that I need to start investing some time into learning what tools other characters have and how I can fight against them. This was my first Blazblue tournament so I know there is plenty of room for improvement. I am all ears for advice and practice ideas from you all. Thanks!

 

Winner's Finals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnIxfoSUhs4

 

Grand Finals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esYb-cBCPgU

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LegendaryRath   

LegendaryRath
Posted

Hey everyone. Been lurking for a while and finally have decided to come out and start posting. I recently went to a local tournament and won, but after reviewing the footage, I am a little disappointed with my game play. I dropped a lot of combos that I normally hit and made some careless mistakes. Most importantly I learned that I need to start investing some time into learning what tools other characters have and how I can fight against them. This was my first Blazblue tournament so I know there is plenty of room for improvement. I am all ears for advice and practice ideas from you all. Thanks!

 

Winner's Finals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnIxfoSUhs4

 

Grand Finals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esYb-cBCPgU

 

Sorry again for the wait. The first thing I'd suggest is that you try to optimize your confirms a little bit. Try to recognize when you can close out a round and don't be afraid to use some resources to do it. Here you landed a basic confirm in the corner where you could have easily won with a rapid cancel. Just make sure you don't spend meter when it wont kill or give you better positioning. Here you spent the meter for BHS but I feel it wasn't worth it. You could have just gone for dash sentinel oki after TCL, or gone for a Rapid combo for corner carry + a weakpoint. Azrael has a lot of potential for his confirms so it's best to use your meter wisely.

Watching the winner's final video it seemed like your opponent was heavily relying on throws and being pretty obvious with them (running at you from a distance). terumi's high/low mixup isn't very strong, so if you picked up on his throw habits it would become very difficult for him to open you up. You should consider using a throw OS (option select) by pressing back + ABC. If he throws you you will tech it, and if he doesn't then you'll just get barrier. It isn't perfect and can get TRM'd (throw reject miss) but I doubt this particular player would do anything about it.

Watching more of the video, I can't stress enough how important it is for you to practice confirming into combos. Turning stray hits into damage + a knockdown + a weakpoint would be a huge boost to your game. Occasionally you mash 2A , get a hit, but don't capitalize in any way. Common ways to pressure and confirm off 2A are 2A > 5A > stuff and 2A > 2B > stuff. In any situation where you are landing hits but not confirming into combos, look at the situation later and try to find an easy way to make it work. It takes a little practice but it isn't very hard once you get the hang of it.

Counter Hit gustaf, like Here, can easily be confirmed into 5BB > TCL or 2B > TCL at longer range.

 

Hope this helps a little bit. Good luck and keep practicing. Grats on winning your tournament :)

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ThaKabuttops   

ThaKabuttops
Posted

Thanks! I know I dropped a lot of stuff and it really bothered me after getting to watch the matches. I normally can get those confirms a bit better, but I will definitely keep working on it! Tournament nerves were very real and made it hard for me to play smart. I will remember to use my resources a bit better and not just blow meter on bhs. I realized that I do not optimize establishing weakpoints and don't use them effectively and I have been practicing my bnbs recently.

A question I do have, does Azrael have any option selects outside of just the throw one? This is my first 2-D fighter that I'm decent at so I'm new to this option select thing.

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LegendaryRath   

LegendaryRath
Posted

The throw OS is universal for all of the characters and is by far the most prevalent. Pretty much anything else you'll come across are for very specific situations, usually only working against one or two characters. Nothing worth mentioning comes to mind right now.

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Zyed   

Zyed
Posted

 

Hey guys, Here are some matches i had in a recent tournament. Feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Pardon the potato quality of some of the videos

https://www.youtube....yakYo29&index=1

https://www.youtube....1b4Kyx&index=11

 

 

---

 

 

There are a lot of problems with your Azrael friend. 

 

1. When you get combos especially midscreen you're neglecting TCL for a 2C into 6D or 3D. You even let the guy's Ragna live for one more chance just because you didn't TCL.  2C one of Azrael's best buttons cuz of anti air capability but should not be overly used except for when you read opponents that want to air dash on you, OR if you really have to use it for confirmations

 

2. You're playing offline I presume so there should be no reason at all you ever drop a Rapid cancel combo mid screen. Dropping it even once could cost you the game. No hard knockdown, and 50 meter gone

 

3. As every beginner Azrael, once Ragna puts you in the corner you automatically lose. Growler sometimes man, makes the Ragna think twice and block him better in the corner 

 

4. You're not punishing Ragna's ID the right way. 3D every time you hard read it because the CH combo does 4k at LEAST. 6k when both weakpoints are on. 

 

 

 

 

 

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