GGXRD-R2/Axl Low/Okizeme

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Axl Low

Overview

Introduction

Axl's okizeme can be divided roughly into two categories: slow moves which are easy to react against (Raiei, Rashousen, 5D, 6H) and fast moves which must be anticipated in order to counter (throw/frametrap, universal jump-in mixups, j.2S). Using the former too much means the opponent can simply block, react, and wait until your pressure is over while using the latter too much can be risky because it doesn't suit Axl's basic properties that well; his slow movement, barely average tier pressure, and low health means effective fast mixups can be reliably done only on opponent's wake-up or with the use of meter (25% for YRC, 50% for Rensen-8 RRC).
However, when used with a good balance, the opponent can't deal with both type of options with the same methods and has to make defensive reads; if they simply sit and wait, Axl's ground throw combos do over 100 damage meterless so they eventually have to try to interrupt it and leave themselves vulnerable for other options. That being said, maximizing Axl's okizeme potential means doing lot of work even before the knockdown itself since the majority of his ground combos end with a long range knockdown while his regular air combos let the opponent tech away, so learning combo routes with TK Bomber is essential and paying attention to Rensen follow-ups could pay out better than one might think at first.
While Axl's okizeme isn't particularly oppressive, being able to put the pressure on matters a lot in the long run, especially in matchups where you are at a disadvantage in neutral (eg. Venom, Chipp, Millia, Raven, Johnny, Elph), but also in average or favorable matchups since even blocked mixup attempts can push the opponent towards the corner, build your own tension, increase the opponent's RISC, and most importantly force the opponent to keep making decisions at disadvantageous situations instead of letting them wake-up freely and proceed to do whatever they want in neutral.

Basics

Knockdowns

Axl's three most common knockdowns are:

Rensen without follow-ups: Basically all meterless midscreen ground combos end with this move because it sets up a long range face-up knockdown that can be followed with an instant air dash approach (usually an IAD j.S safejump). The timing must be adjusted depending on the character because of different wake-up timings (and occasionally initial height), but against characters without invulnverable reversals it doesn't usually need to be that strict (eg. Venom's quick wake-up into reversal 6P can interrupt into a CH combo if you are too late). Works in corner too for a close range knockdown, but should be done only when connecting into Rensen-2 is questionable.
Rensen-2: A more damaging face-up knockdown option that works on all characters in the corner (both ground and air combos) and against some even in midscreen. The knockdown timing itself varies a lot depending on the opponent's hurtbox type and their initial height (whether you delayed the follow-up or not; whether they were completely grounded, popped up from 2D, or were actually high in air) so the combined timing for the okizeme can be hard to grasp; against some characters a safejump timing works simply by holding jump, but against some it needs to be delayed manually and against some it simply doesn't work (not enough time). Another quirk of this move is that it vacuums, so in the corner the opponent is pulled away from the corner which means cross-ups become possible whether you want it or not (a safejump done diagonally forward can whiff completely).
TK Bomber: The most important execution-related technique for Axl allows turning regular air combos into ones that loop for more damage and/or end with a face-down knockdown. Depending on the type of combo, you may be left either near (eg. corner combos) or far (eg. throw/parry combos) which means choosing either a universal jump-in mixup or an IAD approach.
Simple list of other practical knockdowns:
- Face-up: Raiei 623K, Rashousen 41236H, Counterhit Benten 623H
- Face-down: 2D, Byakue 2141236H, Air throw (cross-up in corner), Rensen-8 [4]6S~8 (ultra-heavy weights only)

Detailed Okizeme

Universal Jump-in Mixups

Safejump - Timing the jump so that the opponent wakes up few frames before you land, making your meaty jump normal either hit a blocking opponent, or whiff on an invulnerable reversal's startup, respectively allowing you to either continue pressure with a ground blockstring, or land and recover instantly before the reversal becomes active and block it by holding back while inputting your ground string (the hitstop from jump normal or the lack of it on whiff makes the timing different). Safejump loses directly only to reversal high Blitz, but is blocked by the common fuzzy high/low guard (which most people do by instinct) and is vulnerable to reversal backdash (especially in corner), so it should be complemented with other options (notably late airdash and empty jump mixups) to open up the opponent's guard.
Video example
- j.P - Very little hitstun and blockstun, usable for tick throws (with run FD break) and frame traps. Hard to combo on hit unless timed well.
- j.K - Basic jump-in normal with lots of active frames. Does not do as much damage and doesn't hit as deep as j.2S or j.H.
- j.S - Long range which makes it very usable from further away, but doesn't hit very deep. Second hit leads into Raiei cross-ups in corner and point blank pressure because of vacuum, but isn't an actual overhead and can be Blitzed on reaction.
- j.2S - Diagonal deep hitbox makes hitting even the shortest crouching characters easy, but less damage than j.H. Works for a slower "tick" throw.
- j.H - Bigger damage and reaches lower than j.K, but the animation/hitbox varies from hitting high up to deep down which makes timing it as a safe jump difficult when compared to j.2S. Works for a slower "tick" throw.
- j.D - The riskiest jump-in option due to j.D's landing recovery but leads to big damage even on regular hit by launching the opponent in air and wallsticking in corner.

Late airdash - A universal overhead mixup that beats the fuzzy high/low guard and reversal backdash, but loses to invuln reversals, fuzzy 6P/throw option select, and reversal abare.
- j.H - The most damaging option (cancels into j.D for big combos) and has the best active frames to catch even Pot's backdash, but the slow startup can leave it vulnerable.
- j.P - Hard to connect on some crouching hurtboxes (notably May, Baiken) and whiffs on most backdashes, but it's the fastest option and can be canceled into either j.P/j.K (smaller reward but safer on block) or j.D (big damage but has additional landing recovery).
- j.S - Works well in long range, but poorly in close range. Depending on the height, a cancel into j.6P or j.P makes linking into ground combo easier.
- Late airbackdash j.S - When timed correctly the first hit becomes a late overhead while the second hit vacuums the opponent closer for a combo. Barely less risky than late forward airdashes, but the reward is smaller (short ground combo unless extended with RRC or Kairagi) and some throw OS normals hit it really hard (eg. Raven and Elph 5H).

Empty jump low - Landing and doing a low normal (notably 2K) is a universal mixup that beats the 6P/throw option select, but loses to invuln reversals, fuzzy high/low guard, and reversal abare. Requires being outside throw range on landing, but otherwise works well because Axl's 2K low-profiles most throw OS normals. Blocked easily by regular fuzzy high/low guard and loses to invuln reversals.
2D can also be used for better damage (ie. no 70% damage proration unlike 2K), but its low-profile property is much weaker, the startup is slightly slower, and the pressure potential on block is weak (only cancellable into special moves). Even 2H can be used, but its startup is so slow that besides complementing a long range late IAD j.S mixup, making it actually hit is extremely hard and even then Rensen is a much safer option (beats long range 6P/throw OS while recovering much quicker).
- Empty jump throw - Risky because of the time it takes to wait until opponent's wake-up throw invuln runs out and how common 6P/throw OS is, but beats reversal Blitz and simple fuzzy high/low guard.
- Empty jump Rensen YRC - The actual startup of the whole maneuver is longer than most options which makes it vulnerable against quick reversal attacks (meaning it works better from long range), but otherwise it has the regular strengths of a meaty Rensen YRC; the slowdown let's you react against all sorts of options (block, invuln reversals, Blitz, fuzzy jump, etc.) while hitconfirming the opponent who got caught by the projectile (fuzzy abare, throw OS, jumping without FD, backdash, etc) is easy.
- Empty jump Benten or 2141236H
- Whiffed normal - Whiffed j.S, j.K, or j.H can be used for making the opponent expect a regular safejump in order to bait a reversal Blitz. This works best with j.S (but also works with j.6P to some extent) because of the long startup (easy to react against for the bait) while the active and recovery frames look ambiguous. When done from an IAD, j.6P is easier to make completely whiff while timing j.S is harder depending on the type of knockdown, especially on characters with fast wake-up timing.

Ground Moves

2K - Quick low normal that leads to tick throws, frametraps and low-profiles some reversal moves like Ky's Vapor Thrust and Jam's Kenroukaku. Can be done extra meaty for a better frame advantage (up to +3), but is surprisingly vulnerable to reversal throws because of the quirky fat hurtbox/pushbox.
c.S - If you can get close enough without getting thrown, c.S has loads of different gatling options to continue pressure.
3P - A great low hitting normal with good gatling options, +2 on block (eg. 5K after it turns into a 4F normal). Makes most DPs whiff when spaced and timed correctly. Beware of clashing (ie. doing the meaty too late), low Blitz, and first frame airborne moves like Sol's Riot Stamp.
6H - Aside from being an overhead with huge counterhit launch and +1 on normal block, timing it as a late meaty link to 5K on hit for a combo and on block gives you a big frame advantage (up to +9F). Opponent can easily IB (-4F reduction), Blitz, or backdash on reaction; the meatier it is, the easier it is to react against.
Rensen - [4]6S has close to zero risks (excluding long-range invuln supers) but excluding the pushback and small chip damage, the returns on block are quite weak as well (especially with the big frame disadvantage afterwards).
Rensen YRC - Good option if you want to pay 25% meter (+ a tension gain slowdown penalty) for a 100% safe pressure starter (or a combo starter if the opponent tried to move).
Rensen-8 RRC - Creates enough blockstun to force a jump-in mixup on the opponent, but the 50% meter cost is a hefty price to pay for it.
Raiei - Works in its basic form as a sudden cross-up overhead (can be spaced to not cross-up as well), but on air hit or extra meaty ground hit (late active frames) it links into 5K for an air combo, the former being somewhat hard to recognize (depending on the character) and latter being quite hard to actually execute (timing a 28F move within a 3F window on wake-up). Opponent can Blitz Raiei on reaction, but it can be timed to whiff before opponent's wakeup or YRC'd if you want to make an anti-Blitz read.
Rashousen - Technically isn't a meaty because of wake-up throw invuln frames, but it's active enough to catch people who react extremely slowly.
Rashousen RRC - Spending 50% tension makes Rashousen way safer by eliminating the recovery and gives a big non-scaled combo on hit (the so called zero-hit version), but rarely worth the meter usage.
Rashousen YRC - You can pick up opponents who jumped with 6K, but if they know to hold FD during it (where you can go for an airthrow as the hardest read), you're much better off using the 25% meter for Rensen YRC.

Instant Overheads

j.2S - The only true instant overhead when it comes to having an actually short startup. Very useful for barely dead opponents and Danger Time, but does very little damage by itself and is hard to combo with RRC unless you're prepared with efficient setups.
Backdash YRC - YRC'ing a backdash gives you enough airtime for a j.K overhead, but the backdash momentum puts you at a range where the combo on hit does unimpressive damage and on block your pressure will be weak.
TK Bomber YRC - When Axl Bomber is YRC'd with earliest possible timing (ie. plinking with 623H~S~K etc) it completely halts your air momentum, so when done at low altitude any jump normal can be used as an overhead.
- j.D is the most obvious choice since it gives you big damage in both midscreen and corner, but is the riskiest option on block because of landing recovery.
- The height after the YRC depends on your raw TK Bomber execution speed; doing it too slow puts you at height where j.D doesn't hit crouchers.
- The overheads are also possible from TK Bomber RRC (eg. during blockstrings), but the execution timing is very different and obviously costs double the tension.