"Depending on someone to watch your back...doesn't feel bad at all"
Lore:
Sometimes also referred to as the "Red Devil", Tager is a cyborg and a member of Sector Seven that works directly under Kokonoe. He used to be a mercenary but ended up being gravely wounded during a battle in the Ikaruga War. Upon noticing Tager's compatibility with Kokonoe's experimental "Demon Cells," she retrieves his body from the battlefield and rebuilds him as a cyborg, with his original flesh becoming heavily mutated by the demon cells. Although his life was saved, Tager lost all memories of his past life as a side effect of the process, and now has decided to repay his debt to Kokonoe as her personal agent within Sector Seven.
Drive: Voltic Battler
How Tager's drive functions has changed going in to BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. In the BlazBlue series, Tager could magnetize his opponents on hit or block with a drive move and certain special moves. He would then be able to pull his opponent towards using specific normals, specials and supers. In BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, the need to magnetize an opponent has been removed. Instead, specific Tager normals, specials and supers will now automatically pull the opponent towards him.
The following moves will pull the opponent towards Tager:
j.B
2B
2nd and 3rd hit of 5A Smart Combo
3rd hit of 4A Smart Combo
B Atomic Collider
Wedge Catapult
B and C Air Driver
C Tager Driver
Gadget Finger
Magna Tech Wheel
Genesic Emerald Tager Buster
Playstyle
Iron Tager Tager is a grappler character. He has slow and limited movement but by using a combination of his 5B (his old Sledge special) to cover ground, his Voltic Battler drive to pull his opponent towards him and solid fundamenetal movement, Tager can close the gap between him and his opponent. Once close, Tager has a number of command grabs that can either be very damaging on their own or which can lead to an even more damaging combo.
Pros
Cons
20k health; highest tier of health in the game
A variety of threatening command grabs to control the ground and air, including his invincible 720 command grab which can be used both in the air and on the ground
Sledge is a very strong zone breaking tool with high and mid guard points
Can easily nullify most projectile wars at the cost of 1 skill gauge with Spark Bolt
High BnB damage
Strong reset potential on opponent's wakeup thanks to magnetized command grabs.
Low mobility. Tager cannot air dash or double jump
Sledge is weak against lows and sometimes inconsistent against strong multihit pokes while speeding towards the opponent
Very tall and vulnerable to instant overhead mixups
Assists are fairly situational and teammate dependent
Meter dependent, especially considering the threat potential of tools like Spark Bolt and Genesic Emerald Tager Buster
Chargeable for magnetism and high/mid guard point.
Can be held for 31f
Special cancelable into Tager's command grabs
Fully charged does additional damage and is chainable into 2B
Frankly ridiculous amounts of armour. You can tank the first half of Nine's Flame Punisher and still do your attack undisturbed
Canceling into 214B or 214C after this move is a situationally useful mixup against blocking opponents. In the event they get counterhit on the ground, you can actually combo directly into 214B.
5AAA
5AAAA
Is an overhead.
As it's special cancelable, you can combo into 236C or 236AB afterwards. Another alternative is calling an Assist during this move and special canceling into 236B as the Assist lifts the opponent from the ground.
Chargeable. Sledge will cover more distance and deal more damage when fully charged.
Has high and mid guard points while charging.
Launches airborne opponents, allowing further combo.
Can be held for 29f
Difficult to punish on block, use this move to cover screen distance and approach zoners. Chainable into 2A, 2B, 2C, and 5C on hit but not block. Thanks to high and mid guard points, Tager can also bait Bursts with this move for a counterhit combo.
5BB
Deceptively large, long-lasting overhead hitbox
Sends airborne opponents downwards
Only combos in Gadget Finger
Don't use this if Sledgehammer gets blocked as it's easy to punish. Will autocorrect if an opponent crosses over Tager after he uses Sledge.
Can be used as an anti-air, but more important is the fact that as of patch 1.5 Tager was given the ability to combo into 5A after this move assuming he hasn't used 5A earlier in a gatling. Use this to your advantage especially considering that you can combo into 2A from moves like 4A and even Sledge. Due to head invulnerability, you can try to get a counterhit with this move when an opponent tries to burst one of your combos on the ground, letting you afterwards juggle them with Sledge.
2B
2B
Who thought letting this be cancellable into 5C overhead was a good idea.
Rather slow to start and easily stuffed in neutral, but can be a decent pressure tool against blocking opponents. Useful in some juggle combos as it is chainable into Sledge, 2A, and 2C.
Can be low profiled by some moves and some crouching opponents [ie. Linne, other Under Night Characters]
Poor vertical hitbox close to Tager will cause the move to whiff unexpectedly when the opponent gets close.
Used in aerial combos, and can be used as an air to air. Has high frame advantage on hit and block against grounded opponents. j.B has two distinct hitboxes: a vertically large one where the magnetism effect is, and a vertically small one on his arms. Will generally whiff against crouchers up close, but not necessarily at max range.
Two stage attack, if the initial arm sweep hits, his opponent is hit straight down with a hard knockdown and Tager immediately follows up with a bellyflop on the stricken opponent.
During the initial arm sweep, Tager is launched slightly upwards and forwards and loses all previous jumping momentum, enabling it to easily hit enemies slightly above him due to air hits, but also makes hitting it on standing opponents very tricky.
Can be used as a ghetto double jump to perform crossups and bait out anti-air attacks.
Unsafe on block, but the hitbox is deceptively large and strong in air to air exchange.
Thanks to the upper body invulnerability and deceptively large hitbox this move can occasionally be an effective anti-air, though Tager has other anti-air alternatives that do considerably more total damage. Generally speaking this move is best used at the end of a combo. Is +41 upon landing, can safejump 9+f reversals.
B
Extremely attractive to airborne targets, grounded opponents will slide along the floor slowly
Can only grab airborne opponents
Hold button to extend active frames
Moves opponent to the other side of Tager
Ground bounces for further comboing
Has head attribute invulnerability frames 5-34
Can be held for 42f
Be careful as opponents who super jump will typically fly over Tager's head. Be mindful that you can be hit while pulling opponents towards you as well as during the long startup of the move.
Technically Tager's fastest move in terms of startup. Also your main tool to exert pressure after Gadget Finger. Is +35 upon landing, allowing Tager to safejump 15f+ reversals, but only applicable on forward tech/corner.
C
Brief period of magnetism
Only grabs grounded opponents, but can be done mid combo
Only combos into Gadget Finger
Has the same startup as the A version, but as this move can be held briefly for Magnetism, it benefits from greater effective range as well as active frames, making unseeable tick throw setups considerably easier to execute without getting counterhit by mashed normals. Is +35 upon landing, allowing Tager to safejump 15f+ reversals, but only applicable on forward tech/corner.
Wall Bounces, convert into a combo by linking 5A, 2B, j.A
Has full body invulnerability on frames 6-29
Has invulnerability and magnetism early in the move up to the point right before Tager grasps at this opponent. Be wary of very active moves as Tager is vulnerable for 1 frame before the grab hitbox is active. The damage scaling on this move is very good, allowing for some of Tager's most damaging combos upon a successful grab. While uncommon and largely impractical, it is also possible to combo grounded opponents directly into this grab via assists or counterhit 5AA and j.B.
Grounded opponents will slide along the floor slowly
Can only grab airborne opponents
Stops all momentum when in use
Button can be held to extend active frames
Only combos into Gadget Finger
Can be held for 59f
Be careful when using this. Grounded opponents will have plenty of time to get under you. While opponents who super jump will usually fly overhead and can hit you as they fly by.
As of 1.30 update, drops the opponent just inside 214A range with Tager at a small frame advantage. This is a very strong position for Tager where in order to avoid a properly timed command grab, the opponent must buffer a jump, reversal, or backdash. Keep in mind that you can actually catch jumpsquat frames with 4A timed as early as possible, but delayed slightly 4A can also catch most backdashes while still counterhitting mashed normals.
You can also consider also using Active Switch to extend combos or for better positioning in your resets when using this to end Tager's combos.
Tager no longer needs to charge a separate resource and instead only consumes one Skill Gauge to use this move. Just like in other BlazBlue games, this will beat other normal projectiles easily. Also an important combo extender for Tager.
Grounded opponents will slide along the floor slowly
Can only grab airborne opponents, but can be done mid combo
Button can be held to extend active frames for about 1 second
Only combos into Gadget Finger
Can be held for 33f
The magnetism on this move is stronger than that of j.214B, making the move moderately more consistent at raw grabbing aerial opponents. Also of note is that this grab can be comboed into, which could be considered an option as an unburstable combo ender.
A highly situational assist. The extremely long startup makes it very easy to react to in neutral, but it can sometimes be uniquely advantageous in combos that have long forced animations. Unlike in other BlazBlue games, Tager's charging stance does not have protection of any kind, making him entirely vulnerable before the move activates.
Button can be held to extend active frames, though you are not invincible while doing this
If you input 720B+C instead of 214B+C, the damage of GETB will be increased by 500 (6620/7620). The range on this move is deceptively huge especially thanks to the generous magnetism during the startup, making it a powerful tool in footsies as well as a threatening reversal. Is +21 upon landing, but the opponent is placed far from Tager.
Air
Extremely attractive to airborne opponents
Grounded opponents will slide along the floor slowly
Can only grab airborne opponents
Stops all momentum when in use
Invincible startup
Button can be held to extend active frames
Be careful when using this. Grounded opponents will have plenty of time to get under you. While opponents who super jump will usually fly overhead and can hit you as they fly by. Is +21 upon landing, but the opponent is placed far from Tager.
Input 720B+C will also give you an extra 500 damage (7350/8350).
To edit frame data, edit values in BBTag/Iron Tager/Data. Be sure to update both the move and the move Full sections. One is shown on the character page, while the other is shown on the frame data page.