Naoto Kurogane is the main protagonist of the BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience novel series. He is gifted with the Hunter's Eye, an ability that allows him to see the life-force of living beings as a numerical value; his own life-force value hovered around 9,810 until he became Raquel Alucard's servant. He first appears as a playable character in BlazBlue: Central Fiction.
Drive: Bloodedge
Naoto's Drive allows him to attack with his own blood. His Drive attacks already possess long range, but Naoto can charge them to further increase said range and imbue them with Guard Break properties. At any point during the charge, Naoto can perform a dash to cancel it.
Unique Ability: Enhancer
Naoto also possesses a unique ability: if he performs his special moves or Distortion Drives while he is dashing, these will be given new properties (e.g. more hits).
Naoto's microdashing ground normals can store enhanced specials after the first normal hit but not if you use 2 or more normals.
Overdrive: Blood Repulsor
Naoto's Drive attacks take less time to charge, and his Enhancer ability will be powered up. Additionally, his hair and eyes will turn white and red, respectively.
Naoto's microdashing ground normals can store up enhanced specials for 2 normals instead of 1.
A quick jab to the midsection. Can be jump-canceled on hit and on block. Great for pressure thanks to it being able to gatling into itself from 2A. Difficult to get good damage off of hit confirm mid screen thanks to that combo route requiring the 2C whiff. Dash 5A enhanced Slash Kaid can easily lead to 3k midscreen.
Naoto performs a quick body-blow on the opponent. Good for pressure and combos off 5A. Does more damage than going straight into 5B off 5A. Counter hit has a very large hit stun and better proration than any other 5A enabling it to combo into 6D for well over 4k with no heat. Can not be jump-canceled.
A kick aimed high. Short horizontal range but good vertical. Can be jump-canceled on hit and on block. Staple for combos and pressure. Good air poke thanks to decent vertical range. Hitbox was buffed in 2.0 so its use of being an AA is far better.
Roundhouse kick with some horizontal range. Another staple for combos and pressure. Can be jump-canceled on hit and on block. Delaying 5C works great against fuzzy guard and will turn a mash into 4k+ on counter.
Fast but short ranged kick. Hits low. Good for stagger pressure. Gatlings into itself from 5A. Not as useful as 5A since it has less frame advantage and can't be jump canceled. Not very useful for starting pressure since 5A does everything this does much better.
A low kick with better range than 2A and comes out just as fast. Useful for dashing into specials. Dashing 2B Leads into a fair bit of damage
It goes into 6B now for another Pressure Reset.
A crouching uppercut with good head invulnerability. A great, solid crouching anti-air with a large hitbox, though it tends to turn Naoto the wrong direction when dealing with IADs and cross ups. Shouldn't be used often in blockstrings, especially against barrier, because of its short horizontal range. Anti air confirm should be followed up with phantom pain on hit, and 6D on counter hit.
A flying kick with good advantage.
Can be rapid-canceled for IAD mixups.
This will counter anyone trying to quick recover 2A.
Can only be followed up with Inferno Crusader, counter hit, and Rapid Cancel. Can occasionally be used to reset pressure thanks to being -1 on block/0 on Barrier. Has slightly more range and less start up than 5D.
Naoto does a giant leap before kicking at the opponent. Can easily cross-up, is safe on block and should be followed up with dash B for a good combo. Does not cross up in corner. If Naoto does the kick directly above the opponent, they will have cross-up protection. Has a hitbox in front of Naoto. Gatlings after any D normal to catch opponent's trying to jump out of D pressure. Benefits to this move is the ability to normal or special cancel the landing recovery on whiff
Basic air jab. Can cancel into itself or j.B/j.C for easy air confirms. Mainly used in block strings after jump in j5B to get an extra hit in before landing.
Hits the opponent with a blade of blood. Mainly used for corner combos. The long start up makes it ideal against players abusing fuzzy guard. Use cautiously, skilled opponents will use reversals or OD after 5C if it's not used spareingly. The dash cancel should be used on any non A hit confirm to go into 6623C 5A 2C rekka.
Fully charged, it can be used to break the opponent's guard and quickly go into Divine Smasher for damage. Causes a long stagger on hit and a slide on air hit.
Hits the opponent with a blade of blood. Similiar to 5D, but hits low instead. This move gives Naoto the most options on corner hit. Off 2D in the corner, you can do 214A>dc>en214A for a solid crossup, and even do a crossunder 2B or another en214A crossup into Phantom Pain. Charged version causes wallstick on air hit.
Naoto makes a blade of blood and aims upward, slashing with high diagonal range. 6D is a staple for combos, usually leading to high damage when used. CH 5C/2C>6D will lead to strong damage anywhere on screen.
Charged version is Naoto's best starter for high damage: it has huge range, is a Fatal Counter, and causes a wallbounce on hit.
Naoto aims downward with a blade of blood. Has decent horizontal and downward range. Good for combos. Charging slows down Naoto's descent so it can be used to bait anti-airs, and when fully charged, the horizontal range is huge. Leads to a good combo if spaced right and is an overall good tool with many purposes. Charged version causes groundbounce on hit.
Grabs the opponent and knees them upward, causing a float midscreen and a wallstick in corner. Can be followed up with dash 2C>Phantom Pain (optimal), 5B/3C midscreen, or 2C>D stabs in corner for good damage. Can also OD into j.[D] in corner.
Back Throw
100% minimum damage
Causes side swap
Causes stagger
Grabs the opponent and switches positions with them before hitting them with a shoulder, causing a stagger down. Can be followed up with 5B or dash 2B>Enhanced Slash Kaid if you want to switch sides again.
Air Throw
100% minimum damage
Causes hard knock down
Grabs the opponent and brings them down to the ground. Can follow up with dash 2B/2C pickup.
Smashes the opponent with an elbow to the body.
Dashes forward when attacking.
Causes Guard Break on hit and can only be blocked with Barrier.
Takes a lot of the Barrier Gauge and can be charged to take more Barrier or increase damage in combos.
Good corner carry potential on air hit.
When used from a Dash Cancel, Naoto Slides forwards quite a bit.
Naoto hits the opponent with a powered knee. First part of a 3-hit rekka. Has a deceptively large vertical hit box but forward movement makes it impractical as an anti air.
Unenhanced
Not many uses without corner. Mainly used as combo filler and to safely end pressure.
Naoto follows up Banishing Fang with a swipe of his hand. Main use is to go into the third hit of the Banishing Fang rekka. Can be delayed slightly to punish mashing. Combos into Raid on crouching or air hit. Fatal counter can be followed up with phantom pain if you input 8 214A after hit. Using 5D/2D,236B whiff,236B can also be used to fish for fatal counters.
Banishing Fang: Bash
Banishing Fang: Bash 236B after Banishing Fang: Roar
Almost never used in combos without enhanced, unless trying to punish mashing. Fatal Bash Starter gets an extreme amount of Damage almost anywhere on screen.
Great corner carry especially with dash cancel follow up. Can be followed up with another rekka mid screen if opponent is high enough during air juggle.
Banishing Fang: Raid
Banishing Fang: Raid 236C after Banishing Fang: Roar
Follows up Roar with an uppercut. Jump-cancelable on hit. Mainly used to go into an air combo ender with D Inferno Crusader. Enhanced version dashes a bit further making it a bit easier to combo midscreen. As of 2.0, it works on standing opponents
Naoto does a rising uppercut with his fist. C version has 1 hit and doesn't do much damage. Strictly an anti-air.
Enhanced C version has 2 hits and more hitstun, allowing Naoto to follow it up anywhere with 5A for a combo.
Ground D
Air D
Enhanced version beats almost every attack in the game.
Naoto's DP. D version has 2 hits, tons of invul and is used to end combos. D version has a claw effect on it while C version does not.
Enhanced D version does 5 hits instead of 2, dealing more damage. It is also a situational anti-air in some cases, though should only be used in that sense if you have meter to Rapid Cancel.
Naoto brings the opponent down after Inferno Crusader with a downwards kick. Emergency-techable. His main way of ending combos. Can also be whiffed to in certain combos for additional followup.
Naoto slashes the opponent with a curved blade of blood. A fast attack with good range. Not punishable on block at max range. Strong use in combos.
Enhanced version staggers and sideswaps on close standing hit and has more damage and much more hitstun, allowing for more options to follow up with. Useful for catching opponent back dashing or spamming projectiles. Side Swap Range and Knockdown was buffed in 2.0 allowing for Restand Setups,
Naoto sways back, dodging the opponent's attack. Dodges highs, mids and projectiles, but loses to lows and throws. Can dash-cancel at any time during the animation, which is useful for going into Enhanced specials. You can even do Shift Sway>dash cancel>Enhanced Shift Sway for a solid crossup. 2146A will buffer a forward input allowing easier dash cancel enhanced specials.
Enhanced version makes Naoto move forward. The movement is very fast and, if the opponent is next to him, he will go behind them almost instantly. Very solid crossup tool that can be used to mess with the opponent's head. Will swap sides even if opponent is in the corner. Works well against wake up distortion drives/reversals giving you enough time to counter with 6D or dash 5B/5C enhanced Slash Kaid.
Enhanced version happens from Enhanced Shift Sway (You don't need to input a second microdash)
Unblockable
Unburstable
Hard-coded to whiff on crouching opponents, including opponents performing crouching moves.
Head and Body invulnerable, but strangely loses its projectile invulnerability.
Enhanced Phantom Pain Starts up in 5f compared to Regular's 15
After Shift Sway, Naoto will do a rising kick. If it hits, he will follow it up with a second kick. Can be followed up with dash 5B/5C for a solid combo anywhere. Can be used to Reset albeit unreliably, and functions as a powerful antiair, but kind of a quasi-low attack against grounded opponents.
Phantom Pain and Enhanced Phantom Pain are Considered Two different moves
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Naoto charges at the opponent with a powerful straight punch. Very fast, has about midscreen range. Ground version goes forward. Projectile invul. On Counter Hit, can be followed up with 2A, 2B or 2c in the corner for a very damaging combo.
Enhanced version does 20% more damage and has more range, going almost full screen. Overdrive version does an additional flip kick with blood, adding more damage. Good against zoners as well as a good way to end air combos if you want to kill.
Air
Air OD
720 minimum damage
The air version is similar to the ground version, but it aims diagonally downward. Overdrive version does the same flip kick as when used on the ground.
Good tool used against air resets.
1350 minimum damage during OD (full animation only)
Naoto launches a blood wave that looks like a giant Dead Spike. If he's close enough, he will do the full animation, where he launches the opponent up and smashes them with a deadly elbow strike. Mainly used for big damage at the end of Naoto's combos. Enhanced version does a mini-dash before launching the wave, making it easier to catch the opponent in the full animation.
If he's too far, only the Dead Spike will hit, dealing only 1450 damage but allowing him to follow up.
Overdrive version has Naoto create a giant blood scythe after the wave and powerfully slashes the opponent. Can easily be combo'd into from 5C or 3C. Naoto's highest-damaging combos will rely on Overdrive Reaper.
Does not cost Heat, but immediately ends Overdrive if used.
Becomes stronger and flashier with Active Flow.
It's a fully invulnerable reversal, like 623D. Only it's incredibly telegraphed, has worse range, uses up your overdrive, you don't get oki, and you can't rapid cancel to make it safe on block. Use sparingly, if at all.
Naoto's hair and eyes turn white and red, even if he isn't in Overdrive. He then prepares a giant scythe of blood and begins slashing the opponent repeatedly before ending it with his strongest slash. One of the fastest and easiest astrals in the game. Can be done after 5AA.
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