Overview
Carl is BlazBlue's resident puppet character, behaving similarly yet arguably more defensively or neutral-oriented to his Gear counterpart Zato-1/Eddie.
Upon BBCT's initial release, Carl was considered to be by far the worst character in the game. Many pointed to his awkward mechanics, dash and normals as being too crippling for him to even hope to compete against the likes of Hakumen or
Tager, let alone the rest of the cast. A few setups appeared later which did little to change people's minds, but then came the legendary Clap Loop, and Carl instantly shot from the bottom to the top. The Clap Loop is a simple concept: combo the enemy into the air, airthrow them, and then have Ada use 8D beneath them. Sounds easily techable, but for whatever insane reason 8D in this game is fully air unblockable even against Barrier, and always comes out after startup even if Carl is in the Throw Reject animation, so the second they tech they instantly get hit and thrown back into the situation they were in before.
This is what Carl does in this game. His mix-ups, set-ups and all that other stuff are mostly just for show or to land his hit into the big one. It's the Clap Loop that put Carl on the map. The only universal way out is to spend your Burst, otherwise Carl instantly kills you by turning a single hit into a long, nearly (or even fully) inescapable uncombo Refers to the act of resetting an opponent mid-combo with particularly difficult or even impossible-to-avoid resets to where it might as well be considered an extended combo string. An example is Carl's corner unblockable resets. loop. Despite the initial hype however, Carl still does suffer a bit in neutral on his own, and yearns for death when pitted against the other top tiers above him. But for what it's worth, he'll destroy everyone else.
Carl Clover is a puppet character that claps you out of the game harder than War Machine's Jumping Fierce.
- Clap Loop: The only thing about Carl that really matters. One or two hits and the round can be Carl's, it's that simple. Getting a Clap Loop started is surprisingly practical, and the applause never ends.
- Questionably Effective Range: Carl can command Nirvana to attack from wherever she is on screen, even from behind the opponent while he remains safe. Fishing with her attacks at range might let Carl convert into the loop.
- Mixups & Funblockables: Thanks to his side-switching special, comboable instant overhead j.2C, and Nirvana also having high/low/throw mix-up, Carl is able to run strong mix-ups and even unblockable resets in his pressure and combos. This allows him to land a hit to convert into the loop.
- Awful Everywhere Else: Carl was considered the worst character in CT before Clap Loop for good reason. You could fill this entire cons section with nearly everything in Carl's kit.
Rachel and
Arakune are also in the game: If you wanted setplay and explosions, these two still did it better than Carl. He also can't get to loop either of them worth a damn, so his character entirely returns to nothing versus them.
Unique Mechanics
Carl's Drive revolves around controlling Nirvana, who moves and acts independently of Carl but is controlled at the same time. The main details are:
- Hold the D button to activate Nirvana, release D while not holding any direction to deactivate.
- While active, she can move forward by holding any forward/backward direction (including diagonals). Nirvana is solid to both Carl and his opponent while active
- Nirvana will attack when releasing the D button while either holding a direction or after completing the inputs for one of her special moves. Nirvana will remain active afterwards if you are holding D as the move ends.
- Note that the directional inputs required for moves is based on Carl's current facing, not necessarily Nirvana's. For example: If Carl is facing right and Nirvana is facing left, pressing D, inputting 623 and releasing D will give you Con Brio.
- Similarly, opponents always face towards Carl and thus input moves and block attacks based on his location, not Nirvana's, even if Nirvana is attacking from behind them.
- Nirvana has a health bar that gets consumed when she attacks or gets hit while active. While this health regenerates rapidly if she is left inactive for a short period; If Nirvana runs out of health, she will be disabled and regenerate more slowly, only becoming usable once she has fully recovered.
- If Carl gets hit or blocks something, Nirvana is interrupted in most cases and reverts to her inactive state.
- Nirvana cannot Rapid Cancel.
Normal Moves
5A
Sub-par standing jab but it hits crouchers & is 1 frame faster than other mash-out options so there's that. Leads to very marginally better damage than 2A but still pretty pathetic.
5B
- Pressing 5B again will automatically string into 6B
5C
2A
Terrible 2A. It's one frame faster than most characters' mash-outs, but it has horrid frame advantage, can't self cancel, and leads to unbelievably puny damage as a starter. In exchange, it hits low. Does gatling to 5A if you need a bit more confirm time or to mix up timing before a low/overhead and you also want the subsequent combo to do no damage.
2B
2C
- launches on hit
6A
- Launches on hit
6B
Standing low with no gatlings.
- Launches on counter hit, vacuum effect, untechable
6C
Chargeable command overhead, becomes an unblockable (even in air and to barrier guard!) when fully charged. However, the charge time is hilariously long and dubiously practical in a real match, like charging Hakumen's 632146C. Also similarly to that move, the charge function itself is useful for timing simultaneous high/low unblockables with Nirvana. Otherwise the charged variant leads to the same stuff but has a big bump in base damage.
Only chains from A normals, predictable in pressure.
6C:
- Staggers on hit (27)
- activate 5F after button release
- holding 92~95 becomes the maximum version
6C (MAX):
- Staggers on hit (29)
- slowest start up 100F
3C
- Knocks down on hit, untechable when hit on the ground
j.A
j.B
j.C
j.2C
- Carl bounces off opponent on hit or guard
- Bounce duration 26, counter hit vulnerable until 11F, and can cancel to jump A, B or C during 9~11F
Drive Moves
5D
2D
- Floor bounce on hit
- uses 380 points, continuously uses 110%
6D
- Staggers on counter hit (79)
- uses 300 points, continuously uses 150%
4D
- 1st hit launches
- 2nd hit wall bounces
- guaranteed start up even Nirvana gets hit
- uses 420 points, continuously uses 110%
3D
- Hitstop 2F
- uses 420 points, continuously uses 150%
8D
THE Clap, the entire reason why carl is good in CT
- 2nd hit has projectile property
- guaranteed start up even Carl gets hit
- uses 240, continuously uses 140%
La Campanella
22D
- Guaranteed successful teleport after 1F
- uses 210 points, continuously uses 100%
Con Brio
623D
- Launches on hit
- Nirvana has armor against head attribute attack
- uses 270 points,continuously uses 120%
Con Anima
63214D
- Attack has 7F start up after getting in range
- 2nd hit floor bounce on hit
- uses 380 points, continuously uses 100%
Con Fuoco
41236D
- Hitstop 4F
- uses 530 points, continuously uses 100%
Universal Mechanics
Forward Throw
5B+C
- Knocks down on hit, untechable when hit on the ground
Back Throw
4B+C
- Floor bounce on hit
Air Throw
j.B+C
- Floor bounce on hit
Counter Assault
6A+B while blocking
Counter assault that manages to be about as small as Arakune's even though his is just his throw. Can be utilized for the classic dangerous defense (read: comboing off CA into Nirvana) and is your only real reversal or defensive option in CT, but keep in mind that you need to be close enough to count the pores on the opponent's face before you press this.
- blasts away on hit
Special Moves
Vivace
236A/B
Command Dash N' Dodge, A version is short and fast, B goes further and lasts longer. Both are capable of crossing up.
236A:
- 1~18 goes through opponent
236B:
- 1~24 goes through opponent
Cantabile
623C
Mid hitgrab, has no close-up hitbox unlike CF so it's very prone to whiffing from close-up yet it's also slow enough to not combo in a number of situations if you try to space it out more. Does 100 damage unscaled, similar to Gadget FingerGuardNoneStartup7Recovery9 (Whiff), 27 (Hit)Advantage-. Barely enough time to link into 5B and get an air combo after without doll.
Little use without Nirvana present but it's also one of the only things Carl can do on his own. Does absolutely no favors for his damage output in typical use but can confirm into clap loops.
- Launches on hit
- recovery 13F quicker on hit
- first hitstop 0F
- only hit opponent on the ground
- 2nd hit has throw property
Allegretto
j.214C
- Launches on hit
Distortion Drives
Laetabilis Cantata
632146C
- Blast away on hit
- projectile property
- hitstop 1F
- onBlock based on blocking back to the wall
Rhapsody of Memories
236236D
- 11th hit wall bounce
- Carl's duration 69F
- Nirvana attacks even Carl and her gets hit
- uses 0 point, continuously uses 100%
Fermata
214214D
- Launches on hit
- Carl's duration 52F
- air version start up 2+38, duration 53
- guaranteed startup even Carl receives attack
- uses 0 points, continuously uses 100%

Click [★] for character's full frame data
Essentials
• Controls •
HUD •
FAQ •
The Basics
• Movement/Canceling •
Offense •
Defense •
Gauges •
Universal Strategy •
Detailed & Advanced Information
• Damage/Combo •
Attack Attributes •
Frame Data & System Data •
Misc •
Archived Information
• Archived Fan Wiki • Tier Lists •
- Advanced Input
- Attack Attributes
- Attack Level
- Astral Heat
- Auto Heat Gain
- Burst
- Barrier Block
- Barrier Gauge
- Bonus Proration
- Clash
- Combo Rate
- Counter Assault
- Counter Hit
- Counter Hit Carry
- Danger State
- Distortion Drive
- Guard Crush
- Guard Bonus
- Hard Knockdown
- Heat Gauge Cooldown
- Instant Barrier
- Instant Block
- Negative Penalty
- Purple Throw
- P1, P2
- Rapid Cancel
- Same Move Proration (SMP)
- Starter Rating
- Super Flash Buffer
- Throw Reject Miss (TRM)
- Ukemi/Tech (Air)
- Ukemi/Roll/Emergency Tech
- Untechable State