Azrael is a member of Sector Seven who spends most of his time moving from one battle to the next in search of a strong opponent. He is entirely obsessed with using his own raw power to fight, and has never used a weapon. However, due to his super-human strength, he can't go all out in battle; thus, he has imposed a limiter of some sort on himself.
Azrael is a big, heavy-hitting offensive character. He has to effectively use his teleport dashes to get around the screen, and try to get in on the opponent. Once in he has to use his pokes and various specials to get a combo that usually ends with a "weakpoint" attack. Azrael's unique Drive is the ability to apply weakpoints, which can lead to big damage.
Drive: The Terror
Azrael's Drive attacks reveal "weakpoints" when they hit the opponent. Weakpoints are active for 1000F (roughly 17 seconds) before disappearing if not used.
Revealed weakpoints in their own don't do anything by themselves, however using an attack that reveals a weakpoint of the same type that has already been revealed consumes the weakpoint and boosts the effectiveness of the move. There there is no limit on how many times a weakpoint can be revealed and consumed in a single combo, however each drive's "weakpoint version" has repeat proration, preventing loops from doing much damage.
When striking a matching weakpoint, additional properties are added to the following moves:
5D – Staggers, can go into 5B>~ for a combo.
2D - Knockdown, which can be followed up with 2A>5A>5B to aerial.
6D - Bounces, goes into 5B>TCL,etc.
3D - Bounces, Goes into 5B>~.
j.D / j.2D - Ground bounces the opponent into the air to follow-up with a combo, staggers on ground hit. j.D is used rarely out of the corner, as the ground bounce knocks them away. While possible, it is hard to follow up in most cases.
236D (Valiant Crash) - Knocks the opponent away, enabling Valiant Charger. Can repeat (6>5C) multiple times for insane corner carry, or various other attacks in the corner.
214D (Hornet Bunker) – Sort of like Guilty Gear's Dust. Enables Hornet Chaser to be used, followed up with aerial combos.
236236D (Black Hawk Stinger) - Can't be blocked high with upper weakpoint, or low with lower weakpoint. Unblockable with both but can be Barrier blocked if in the air.
214214D (Scud Punishment) - is unique in that it does not benefit from existing weakpoints, but instead reveals both.
Overdrive: Mind Colosseo
Azrael's Drive attacks now reveal weakpoints even on block.
Azrael can now special-cancel his Drive normals.
Weakpoints are not used up when you hit the opponent with weakpoint moves, allowing Azrael to use each of his Drive attacks in the same combo for big damage.
Weakpoints do not disappear over time like they normally would as long as OD is active.
Does solid damage on average (Weakpoint damage considered).
Does great meterless damage with Weakpoints.
A large selection of mixup options, Azrael has a number of of standing overheads and lows, a grounded crossup dash, guardpoints on some moves, a meterless reversal and a situational unblockable.
Has a great backdash for getting out of pressure midscreen.
Has a decent anti-projectile move (214B - Growler Field), that can also absorb projectiles and gains one of his own in return (up to 3). You can also choose to shoot it back right after absorption.
Because of his health, backdash, reversal super, DP and Growler Field, opponents need to know how to deal with his wakeup options.
Valiant Charger combos give great corner carry and good damage, and can be burst-safe.
Large body, relatively slow character (slow walking speed).
5A/2A have short reach, doesn't have a good balance of move ranges and startup speed.
While his forward dash is great for offense, it can be awkward to move around with. Neutral can be difficult against chars and players that can zone effectively.
Pressure can be short, and is often full of holes and thus falls to proper use of Barrier and IB. Players can take advantage of gaps with reversals/quick moves.
Big damage combos require you to have weakpoints already applied in most cases.
A yakuza kick, has long reach and a fantastic combo starter if you get a counterhit. One of the few long range moves Azrael has. 5C > Black Hawk Stinger is an unblockable setup if both weakpoints are applied.
Can be dash canceled from F30 regardless of whiff, hit, or block.
An big uppercut, launches the enemy, can’t be jump-canceled. Can be dash canceled during the part where he spins around after the uppercut. Possibly useful against expected cross-ups or as a delayed anti-air. It is very unsafe though, which means you have to forward-dash-cancel it, no matter what or else you'll get punished.
A swinging kick after a short jump, similar to Terry Bogard's Crack Shoot. On FC against opponents in the air the move will ground bounce. Can be followed up on FC with various moves.
An upward kick. Typical follow-up to Hornet Bunker/Chaser. Used in the middle of almost all of Azrael's more advanced combos after air dashing then landing from it.
Azrael stops for a moment, then falls down with a divekick, knocks down on raw air hit. Landing j.2C after Hornet cause them to spin and you are able to continue the combo. Not nearly as strong of a divekick compared to the ones in the Street Fighter games.
Azrael's Taunt can deal damage for some reason. It's unsafe even on hit so your opponent will also tech from it while you're still recovering and do whatever they want to you.
Drive Moves
5D
All of Azrael's Drive moves have Same Move proration if used more than once in a given combo. Weakpoint and non-weakpoint versions are counted separately.
A double-handed strike after a short jump. Overhead, applies upper weakness. Can be followed-up on CH without weakpoint. Staggers with weakpoint. Lands before it goes active, making it somewhat questionable against your opponent throwing you.
Stomps at the enemy’s feet. Somewhat deceptive animation. Hits low, applies lower weakness. Can be followed-up on CH without weakpoint. Ground bounces with weakpoint.
A heel kick. This is your typical ender/extender for BnB combos to get a weakpoint/with weakpoint. An overhead, applies upper weakness. Can be followed-up on CH without weakpoint. Ground bounces with weakpoint.
In neutral it forms a 50/50 Mixup with 3D, but can be mashed out of at neutral so is only really viable if you have both weakpoints and a knockdown to work with. But if you do, it's a really nasty mixup to work in due to its deceptive animations.
An aerial smash. This is your typical air combo ender/extender for/with weakpoint. Overhead, applies upper weakness and smashes the opponent away from you. Ground bounces with weakpoint on air hit, staggers with weakpoint on ground hit.
A horizontal roundhouse, causes knockdown, wide crossover range making it good for jump-ins. Overhead, applies lower weakness and smashes the opponent below you. Most of the time in combos you will be using j.D instead, but if you have or want a lower weakpoint this is what you'll use instead. Ground bounces with weakpoint on air hit, staggers with weakpoint on ground hit.
An uppercut, blows the enemy about one step forward. Can be followed up with an aerial combo or special, but it doesn’t wallbounce in the corner. Can guarantee a weakpoint is applied or followed up with Tiger Magnum all the way to Leopard Launcher.
Azrael knocks the enemy down behind himself. Can be special-cancelled. Can guarantee a weakpoint is applied or followed up with Tiger Magnum all the way to Leopard Launcher.
Can be used with 25% to guard crush your opponent. Can be barrier blocked to not cause guard crush. Adds some more combo-ability to combos, as well as increases damage.
Does a punch after a short dash. This is one of the moves to use at neutral or ending pressure. Can be followed up on CH. Can be used during a forward dash to "cancel" the dash. Slight frame advantage on normal block will mean you will win any immediate 5A mashing contests, but beware of other moves that they might have that are quicker or have invulnerability.
A backfist blow with short reach. Relatively fast, especially if you do it after a cross-up teleport dash. Goes into Azrael's "rekka chains": Tiger>Cobra>Leopard, Tiger>Cobra>Valiant and Tiger>Cobra>Hornet. These chains are delayable.
An upward kick. Follow-up to Tiger Magnum. Usually followed by Leopard Launcher, but can also be canceled into Valiant Crash or Hornet Bunker to lead into a high/low mixup or to capitalise on the appropriate weakpoint during some combos.
During GP frames, Phalanx Cannon stock goes up by 1 for each P property attack received (Maximum 3)
Can cancel into phalanx cannon
Azrael's fastest move, but not a reversal except against projectiles.
Azrael's anti-projectile zoning move. He stands there while an aura surrounds himself and projectiles he absorbs can be used for the powerful phalanx cannon attack. It also has a hitbox of its own that goes active very quickly and blows away the opponent if it hits, but it very punishable if blocked.
This move is a key move when dealing with long ranged characters who like to keep away from him, basically making reckless projectile spam a liability. Similarly, It's not a cure-all solution to ranged characters and reckless and predictable use of it will get you destroyed due to how you remain vulnerable to other attacks during this move.
Phalanx Cannon
Phalanx Cannon 236B (After absorbing projectile with Growler Field)
Fires forward a projectile, considerably fast and surprisingly damaging. You can use this after you absorb a projectile with Growler Field. This move has a lot of priority over other projectiles and will blow right through most of them. Can combo into itself or even Black Hawk Stinger. Can be used to extend some combos and deal good damage, but you'll mostly spend these trying to suppress projectile spamming.
22C only possible to perform when opponent is downed
1-10 Guard Point
Azrael jumps and slams to the ground, sitting on top of the opponent. On a not-downed opponent, it launches them in place and hits them as they land. 214C can be used for oki to beat tech rolls, and is + on block if they do block it.
22C version tracks the opponent, up to a max range, when in a downed state
214C makes Azrael jump about 2 character spaces forward
Can cross up if opponent is crouching
Has a hitbox on both sides
Attack attribute counts as a projectile
GP duration is short, making it kind of hard to use under pressure
Loses cleanly to multi-hitting moves or rapid fired jabs
On contact with something, you can RC at any point, including while rising, while falling, and after hitting the ground. RCing while rising will retain the launching momentum.
Cannot emergency tech second hit.
Very Short starter, poor proration and needs RC to follow up with anything, leading to pretty short and weak combos such as 2C > 6D.
You can hold 6 during the move to slightly alter the trajectory, used mostly in combos.
Weakpoint applied causes a special type of knockback
Can be followed with Valiant Charger on hit if weakpoint is applied
A kick that blows the enemy away. Overhead, applies upper weakpoint. Weakpoint disappears after hit if it was already applied. Can possibly be followed up on CH with just a regular combo. Provides big damage and huge corner carry with Valiant Charger combos. Guard point property allows it to be used as a trap as well and its long active time makes it difficult to backdash. However if it gets blocked, you will get punished hard since it has awful recovery.
Can be cancelled into from any normal non-drive move while the Valiant Crash knockback is in effect.
Can be cancelled into any normal move.
Special knockback persists if follow-up from Valiant Charger is not a D move or a special (Gustaf Buster and Phalanx Cannon are exceptions)
Normals used during Valiant Charger can be canceled with Valiant Charger
Charges at the enemy and allows you to loop the same move over and over by cancelling back into this move while your opponent remains in valiant charger tumble state. Can also do jump attacks mid-followup. This is the core of Azrael's damaging combos and what you should be trying to go for most of the time.
Weakpoint applied causes a special type of knockback
Can be followed with Hornet Chaser on hit if weakpoint is applied
Azrael makes a table-flipping motion, launching the enemy. Low, applies lower weakpoint. Weakpoint disappears after hit if it was already applied. Can be followed up on CH with a regular combo. Situational anti-air. Awful whiff and block recovery, so is a risky mixup tool
Applied weakpoints make move unblockable for that attribute, but provide no extra damage or hitstun unlike other drive moves
Also unlike other drive moves, Black Hawk Stinger applies no weakpoints on hit.
180F Heat Gauge Cooldown
OD Version has an extended superflash.
Basically a super version of Gustav Buster; it's a long distance rush followed by a punch, covers lots of space, has quick start-up and is mostly used as a combo ender for extra damage since there's usually no way to follow it up, but it has generous minimum damage. Standing unblockable with upper weakpoint and crouching unblockable with lower weakpoint. Unblockable on the ground if both weakpoints are applied; can still be air barrier guarded though. Overdrive BHS CH leads to huge damage if near the corner.
It's not a reversal however, so don't use it as one.
For 1000F, Azrael will appear to have an afterimage. After your opponent recovers from any hitstun during this time (Including the combo from Scud Punishment itself), both weakpoints will be reapplied for 1000F.
Unlike other drive moves, the presence of weakpoints on the opponent before this moves hits does not change any of this move's damage, hitstun or other properties.
An interesting move that trades damage up front for the chance to get much more damage later by ensuring both weakpoints are available for any combo you are able to start. Not recommended to be used as a reversal in most cases due to its poor recovery and that Panzer strike is a much safer option if you already have 50 Heat to make it safe, however it is still possible to get a decently damaging, if short, combo if you score a counterhit. Can be very useful when combined with Black Hawk Stinger due to it being unblockable when both weakpoints are active. It's somewhat unnecessary to stack this with Overdrive due to their similar effects and you gain little extra damage when this is used, so keep that in mind when choosing when to use this.
Does not cost Heat, but immediately ends Overdrive if used
Becomes stronger and flashier with Active Flow
Azrael punches the opponent on startup, then unleashes a series of brutal attacks on the opponent. Puts Azrael in Active Flow if he hasn't already been in it already. Has full invul and is safe on block, but it has a mere 10% minimum damage and cannot be rapid-canceled.
While Azrael's EA is among the most damaging in the game, it puts him in an unfavourable position in most match-ups (takes people out of corners and places opponents across the screen).
Azrael releases the limiters he placed on himself, then smashes the ground causing a huge explosion that catches the opponent. The opponent lands on the ground, as Azrael proceeds to literally lift up a huge slab of the ground tossing it high into the air, the opponent along with it. The camera then shows Azrael’s face from above, as he performs a massively powerful uppercut and sends a gigantic pillar of fire after the enemy. Finally, Azrael poses with his back towards the camera, Raging Demon-style. Can be combo'd into very easily and has a pretty big vertical hitbox.
Functions as a hail mary reversal due to its crazy active frames, invulnerability and huge hitbox, so will beat out pretty much every reversal attempted against it, no matter how late (Unless they have a guard point instead of invulnerability). Has awful recovery on block but Azrael is not in a counterhit state in this time, so the best response to this move is simply to block it if you can.
Can also be comboed into from literally anything, including 5A.
To edit frame data, edit values in BBCF/Azrael/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.