Hazama is a captain of the Novus Orbis Librarium's Intelligence Department and the main antagonist of the series. In reality, he is Yuuki Terumi, a former member of the Six Heroes and the creator of the Azure Grimoire and by extension the Black Beast.
Hazama maintains a calm and quiet demeanor around most people, pretending to be harmless as a member of the Intelligence Department. He claims to hate fighting and prefers to avoid conflict. This, however, is simply a guise to his true nature. When people see through it, he shows his true colors as selfish and manipulative; destroying other people's lives and twisting their beliefs for his own gain. He has no qualms with killing those who get in his way, and does not seem to show any kind of remorse for his actions.
Drive: Ouroboros
Named after a snake that eats its own tail, Hazama's Drive is manifested as a stretching chain in the shape of a snake. He can cover many different angles and distances by shooting a drive move. What's more is that, at any point during the chain's travel, Hazama can follow up by either retracting the chain (~A) or using the snake head as an anchor point to perform unique maneuvers (~B, ~C, or ~D). Most of the time, if the snake head hits the opponent, you can follow up by zipping in with ~D and linking an air normal to convert into a combo. However, there are certain distances, and it differs for each drive move, where the chain will cause minimal hit or block stun, so you must be careful not to try and hit your opponent with chains up close or in the particular chain's "dead zone."
Overdrive: Jörmungandr
When Hazama enters overdrive, the limiter on his chains is released, eliminating the aforementioned "dead zone" and also gives his chains double damage. He also gains a life-stealing ring that encompasses a large radius around him, meaning that anybody close to you will have their health slowly leeched away. The life-steal ring does not persist while you are in hitstun (i.e., being combo'd).
Pros/Strengths:
- Fast projectile that covers many angles
- Multiple movement options allowing for varied approaches
- Solid mix-up tools: command grabs, standing overheads and lows, safe-on-block normals
- Good, stable damage conversion that can be attained from most any hit
Cons/Weaknesses:
- Not much in the way of mid-range pokes outside of 2B or 3C
- No meterless reversal
External References:
Keeping your opponent at bay and then coming in to close combat when they are reeling is the the basis of Hazama's entire playstyle. Because of his multiple long-range drives, his anti-airs, and his high-pressure combos, he has a nice set of tools for both fullscreen play and close range combat.
Offense
When playing Hazama, you'll want to consistently go on the offensive. Because he has to mostly rely on system mechanics to escape, and lacks reversals compared to other characters, your best bet is to keep applying pressure on your opponent. This is where Hazama really shines, as his movement options allow him to really punish the opponent when they slip up. Playing as Hazama involves two strategies - the long-range and the close-combat game. You only want to be at long range when setting up to move in, escaping, or getting ready to punish an approach; for the rest of the time you'll want to get in their face and start applying pressure as soon as possible. If you want to play it safe, the best way is to dart in with Ouroboros, initiate a combo, and fly back out in order to avoid reversal.
Defense
Without a meterless reversal, Hazama must rely on mostly system mechanics to escape pressure/oki situations. These include, rolls, quick getup, barrier, instant blocks, and barrier bursts. Hazama's normals are very good for challenging an opponent on the defense. Utilizing instant blocks correctly will greatly impact windows made for you to counter-attack on defense. On the other hand, using barrier/IBarrier to push your opponent out enough can give you a window to jump away, or back-dash. His back-dash in 1.1 is very strong and creates a lot of space. The more space you make the easier you can jump away from your opponent and fly away on your chains, or punish their approach with something. Returning to neutral with a character who has an advantage in neutral is generally a good idea. Finally, if all else fails he does have Houtenjin (236236B) as a metered reversal. It comes at high risk, but sometimes you might need to resort to it; additionally making your opponent respect the option may give you more windows to escape. The lack of defensive options outside of system mechanics, generally make it a good idea to hold onto your burst unless you can kill with the overdrive combo.
Neutral
At neutral, it is best to use normals or Ouroboros to keep enemies from advancing or to close in. It all depends on how far or close you are from the opponent in a match as well as the specific playstyle of the opponent. Maintaining the balance during the match with his Ouroboros cancels or chain-ins, or closing the gap with his quick-short dash to deliver some short damaging combos and getting knockdown, is key.
