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I've always avoided puppet characters because of their difficulty, but Chaos from UNIEL caught my eye and I want to learn how to play with him. Doing trials with Carl and Shadow Labrys doesn't really help much, and I can't find any guides online so I decided to see if I can get feedback here. Is there a simple way to learning puppet characters and how did you first approach it?

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Chaos isn't really a puppet character. He's more like a persona character.

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The best thing you can do if you want to play a character like this is to just pick them up and go ham. See what works and what doesn't, get used to controlling the other half of you. Experience is the only teacher here since you need to somewhat relearn the game. You will eventually get to the point where you start viewing the puppet as an extension of your own character, rather than a distraction that needs to be micromanaged, and you'll be able to use your options freely without even thinking about it. Don't get overwhelmed: try some games where you focus mostly on the puppet, and some other games where you try not to use it that much, and eventually you will strike a balance on how to divide your attention.

 

I can't really speak too much on Chaos since I'm not big into UNIB, but he's probably on the easier side, with the main difficulty of learning him being his weaknesses vs the rest of the cast. There are lots of other characters, too, who can get you accustomed to the feel of using stuff on-screen without requiring you to obsess over it. Bridget, Relius, Yukiko, etc. You could try one of them.

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Chaos isn't really a puppet character. He's more like a persona character.

I guess that's good news....sort of :l

 

The best thing you can do if you want to play a character like this is to just pick them up and go ham. See what works and what doesn't, get used to controlling the other half of you. Experience is the only teacher here since you need to somewhat relearn the game. You will eventually get to the point where you start viewing the puppet as an extension of your own character, rather than a distraction that needs to be micromanaged, and you'll be able to use your options freely without even thinking about it. Don't get overwhelmed: try some games where you focus mostly on the puppet, and some other games where you try not to use it that much, and eventually you will strike a balance on how to divide your attention.

 

I can't really speak too much on Chaos since I'm not big into UNIB, but he's probably on the easier side, with the main difficulty of learning him being his weaknesses vs the rest of the cast. There are lots of other characters, too, who can get you accustomed to the feel of using stuff on-screen without requiring you to obsess over it. Bridget, Relius, Yukiko, etc. You could try one of them.

 

I have no problem using Relius or Yukiko. My biggest struggle is inputing a move for my shadow that has a huge start up while doing a combo with the real person.

14 and 15 for example. I have no idea when I'm supposed to input the 6D. Do I have to press 2 things at once?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3kbi-H8S5M4#t=190

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Yes, puppet characters often require you to be able to do puppet attacks at the same time as regular attacks, or sometimes well in advance of the attack that will combo before it. If you use pad, it's easier if you can map the puppet to a shoulder button for easier simultaneous presses.

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I had a mental block on puppet characters until I started going ham with Shabrys in P4A. I'm not even remotely competent (I'm just semi-okay at frauding people with frickin' laser beams), but a few things worth noting: (1) Learn to play your character without the puppet. You'll inevitably be in a situation where the gauge is depleted or cards are broken (or you'll have a MU that makes using your puppet much harder) but that doesn't mean you have no offence. (2) The more you play, the more you'll feel out the timing. Honestly, Shabrys's challenges didn't really teach me anything but "wow, this is not the character for me," but after playing her a few hundred times in the past week or so, I've internalised some of the rhythm of her normals + persona moves. It's something that came with plenty of matches -- I didn't "feel" the recovery on the puppet's moves, because I was still running around with an axe, but 300-odd matches later, I have a much better sense of where the puppet is in terms of active and recovery frames. On the other hand, I main Aigis, who is essentially two different characters based on which mode she's in, so keeping an eye on a secondary gauge, meter, moves changing properties based on the presence or absence of "x," etc., wasn't totally unfamiliar territory.

Some puppet characters are more technical than others. Carl is known for his high execution barrier but the reward is pressure that never ends. Shabrys has combos and set-ups, no question, but I also feel like she's a bit more ... free-form, I guess you could say, than Carl or Relius. With Shabrys, of course I'm going to try to position myself for that one-hit Guillotine for massive damage, but I also get a lot of things going off of random hits, hard reads, and simply threatening people by reminding them that I have a bull.

I always looked at Shabrys as a "nope, not in a million years could I attempt to play her" character but, as Celerity said, you just gotta charge in and go ham. Just hearing "puppet character" was enough to send me running, but if you spend enough time with any character, you're going to naturally internalise their gatlings and How Stuff Works. After that, it's learning to force situations in which you get to do the optimal Stuff. You'll figure out the tempo of the character (and any simultaneous presses) as you start messing around with them in matches. I feel like matches are better than training in some respects because that way, if you command your puppet to act and the move is blocked or whiffed, you'll immediately sense the recovery time (depending on the game -- P4A doesn't let Shabrys keep canceling bull moves into bull moves; Ultimax, however....). It's valuable experience, because instead of trying to do challenges and mash furiously, you'll be playing and able to feel when your "other half" is available again (and learn to adjust for those moments).

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I've always avoided puppet characters because of their difficulty, but Chaos from UNIEL caught my eye and I want to learn how to play with him. Doing trials with Carl and Shadow Labrys doesn't really help much, and I can't find any guides online so I decided to see if I can get feedback here. Is there a simple way to learning puppet characters and how did you first approach it?

Chaos isn't really a puppet char he's pretty easy to figure out but the catch is to deal with the fact he has no good overhead besides J2C it works put not most of the time no reversal or strong damage not sayin his damage isnt bad just not as good as most of cast hope that helped ya  :)

BBCP: :HZ:

GG: :FAU: subs: :VEN:  :MIL:

P4AU: :ballEL:  :ballSHO: Adachi

UNIB:Carmine

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