Originally Posted by
ElvenShadow
Alright... so I played Rachel all weekend. Heres everything I know off the top of my head at this point. Hopefully some other people can post some useful info too...
I dont know anything about frame data but heres what I know about her normals
NORMALS
5A - just a jab, links into 5B
2A - fastest low attack, can do over and over. Links into 5B and 2B
6A - her good anti air move. cancels into 5B, and 6C. Also cancels into 6B but theres no reason to do it that I can tell
5B - jump cancelable, links into most C attacks as well as 2B (i think) and 4B and 6B
2B - another low, not jump cancelable, links into 2C and 5B
4B - overhead, comes out slow, can be canceled into any B ground attack (I think)
6B - the fork poke. One of her longest range ground moves, which is still short. If it hits, it has a stun effect (on counter only I think, and only on the ground), I think it can be mashed out of though. seems best to just comnbo it into a 236A cuz I dont think you have time to run in and follow up with anything else
5C - sword move, has very short range, has 2nd followup hit by pressing C again which is also short range. If the followup hits, it stuns and knocks down for a long time which allows you to pretty much combo anything, espessially a rod or rod super if they are near it. since it has such short range, you have to use wind in order to combo into it by pushing yourself closer to them. this only also has the stun effect if the opponent on the ground. if they are in the air at all, the 2nd hit doesnt do anything except a little damage
3C - her sweep. if you just tap it it does one hit. If you hold it it does 3. good to use with wind to move forward while doing it or else you wont get all hits in
2C - electric chair, works kinda like a DP (in the sense that it has invincability but lots of recovery) or blanka electricity. it will beat most things if timed right but ive seen stuff outright beat it, like some of ragnas moves. has tons of recovery and not safe at all if it whiffs, and even if it hits, you cant really combo after it from what ive seen. also, where as most moves you can cancel recovery into a special move, you cant cancel this move into anything at all. good for getting people off you if you are getting rushed down hardcore if you time it right
6C - rachel hops off the ground and spins around doing lots of hits. can be moved in any direction with wind and will hit many many times. she can still jump cancel after this move if you use wind since you never jumped but you are still in the air. cancels into air C
air normals
A - just an air jab, combos into B
B - a longer air poke but still not all that long, can combo back into A allowing ABABAB pressure on block, or can combo into C
C - hits above rachel and also sorta to the side. hit box seems big. if you hold the button she flaots in the air for a bit but I havnt found much use for this yet. shes vulnerable while floating and can cancel the float into an air special but it seems too slow to use as a way of extending combos, more for just staying in the air longer. she can also cancel into an air dash. I dont think it resets your airdash if you happened to use one before, I didnt test it. after it is canceled its effect ends
2C - rachel falls straight downward fast. can be used with wind to make it go diagonally. if it hits or connects on block you can cancel recovery into a normal or special on the ground, but I dont remember exactly which normals it goes into, I know it works with 2A and probably 2B and 5B at least. If it whiffs you are getting punished probably unless the opponent is slow on reaction or extremely far from you. if it counter hits it bounces opponent. even when used with wind, the arch in which it goes down is more downward than forward. I found it gets whiffed a lot, espessially if the opponent is expecting it and back dashes. it also can get beat out by a lot of stuff and doesnt have exceptional priority
SPECIALS
her 236 A B and C moves are her projectiles. Each one goes a different distance and arch.
on the ground, A goes shortest and C goes farthest but in the air its reversed which would often confused me and cause me to throw out the wrong one. its kinda annoying. she has a lot of recovery on these moves. if someone is under rachel after you do an air one you get punished for free. also, Noel can punish you throwing any of these from full screen with her gun super. 236A in the air can be used to end most aircombos due to its higher upward arch. the place where the projectile lands will form a lightning rod. you can have 3 out at a time. throwing a 4th one will cancel the 1st of the 3 already out
214A - the frog. my favorite move she has. if you do it on the ground it goes right in front of rachel. if you do it in the air, depending on how high you are the farther she will throw it. the frog will just keep hopping towards the opponent until it gets within a certain distance from their hitbox. once near them it emmits an electric field. if they block it they will be in block stun for a very long time and you get high/low/throw mixup options if they are on the ground. if it hits them you can pretty much do whatever you like, but the problem is that they are not on the ground as it raises them up slightly, so you cant use the 5CC to stun them and knock down. Does lots of damage. Frog can be killed but im not sure exactly what the properties are on this yet. once rachel is hit, frog goes away and i think it also goes away with time automaticly. you can summon a new frog at anytime but it will cause the other one to go away. i dont know what happens if you try to summon a new one while the old one is shocking someone, not sure if it will even let you. wind has no effect on frog
214B - the pumpkin. once summoned, you can blow it in any direction with a wind stock. you can constantly change the direction of where it goes and actually combo it into itself but you only get 4 wind stocks and this is kinda a waste. its a good way to get in on the opponent and you can use it sorta like a shield to put in front of you as you rush in. also can be used for zoning purposes. usefull but I havnt mastered it yet and wind stocks are kinda vital to rachels effectiveness so you should use it wisely. the pumpkin does not have active hit frames when it is not being blown. goes away if rachel is hit
22A - explodes the lightning rods. you can air combo them after the rod hits them if you are near enough. I had trouble always getting them to explode when I wanted to since maybe sometimes I tried too early or im just not used to doing 22A command often and was trying to do it too fast
her super - this basically explodes all the rods on screen for multiple hits with lots of stun and also causes rachel to have the same effect generate from her body which hits above and below her
MIXUPS
for mixups, she has 2 overhead options. One is 4B which is an overhead. It comes out a bit slow so if the opponent reads it, its easy to block or escape. If you land it, you can cancel into a 5B or 6B, which links into 4C. The 4C has a followup hit that you activate by pressing C again. its very short range and the only way to get it to combo is to push yourself closer with wind during mid combo. If the 2nd hit connects, it has a stun/knockdown effect which is untechable. This allows you to combo into almost anything afterwords, and is espessially nice if you have a rod near them so you can combo into super.
her 2nd overhead option is used sorta like fausts FDC or a triangle jump. You can do like 2A 2B and then cancel 2B into a jump, but then immedietly do 3D (wind) in the air right into 2C which will traingle jump and its an overhead. You can then combo or continue to pressure if its blocked.
COMBOS
This is my most used combo but I never saw anyone else use it. After a 6A you can do 6C and use 9D to blow yourself up after them and it does like 20 something hits. then you can cancel into an air C which you still have a jump cancel, so depending on the hitbox and position, you can do another C (and sometimes combo a 236A), or an air throw attempt. This will work after you hit them with a frog and does almost half life sometimes combined with the frogs damage. on its own it does about 25 percent life on average.
After a 6A you can also cancel to 5B j B C j B C 236A. It does less damage than the other combo but doesnt use a wind stock which may be why I never saw anyone use the other combo except for me.
you can do 2A 2B (wind 3D) 3C like over and over as long as you have wind meter to pressure a blocking opponent and then use her mixup options accordingly whenever. if you knock down with a 3C, it seems you can combo a lightning rod if they are over it but only if you do a 1 hit 3C. Every time I try to combo the rod off a 3C that did more than one hit, the rod hit just whiffs. same deal with the super. One trick I like to do is cancel the 3C into a frog summon. when they get up, the frog is in their face but they can get up fast since this is blazblue and not guilty gear. they can escape, but if you are smart about what you do, you can try to keep them in place to get hit by the frog when it activates or at least be forced to block it. it worked very well vs Tager since he has a big hitbox
best way to combo into super or rod is after a ground chain into the 5CC knockdown move (which you need wind to combo into). I think you can also combo into rods after the stun from a counter hit 6B
THOUGHTS
overall its still very early but I like how she plays. She has good zoning but at the same time her projectiles have so much recovery that if your opponent can predict which projectile you will throw, then can jush dash in accordingly and punish from far away. She has lots of tools but I really wish her normals had more range for zoning... I guess im just too used to Faust.
also, I have no information about her Astral finish shit since I didnt even know that existed until I saw it online after coming home from the weekend
Rachel Alucard General Discussion
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... got zoned hardcore 
