Neutral
Normal Mode Neutral
Gain Art Neutral
- Izayoi's grounded forward dash puts her in the air.
- Cancels into normals on frame 10 but must wait longer to cancel into Barrier.
- Steerable up or down with [9] or [3] inputs, respectively.
- Jumping out of her hoverdash consumes her double jump.
- Izayoi's aerial dash propels her slightly downwards.
- Izayoi's grounded and aerial backdash put her in the air.
- Izayoi gains a second airdash.
- Izayoi gains a new teleport: 214DGuardStartupRecovery31Advantage-.
- Izayoi gains a new fireball: 236DGuardAllStartup20RecoveryTotal: 42Advantage-.
- Izayoi gains a new follow-up: Valkyrie AstreaGuardStartup9Recovery21Advantage-5.
As stated before, Astrea covers a lot of space very quickly and can be used as a pseudo-dash. However, it's generally better to save the stocks for using Astrea in corner combos or keeping a stray 236B or 236C safe.
214D is incredibly annoying when paired with 236A and 236D. Both versions of Sonic Sabre will whiff cancel This keyword does not have an entry in the Glossary into the teleport, putting a fireball on screen that persists if Izayoi is hit and teleporting her behind the opponent. Sabre and 214D are also usable in the air, making her air approach even harder to deal with. This is a strong option, particularly with 236D, but it does come with some drawbacks. For one, both 236D and 214D cost 1 stock, meaning using both takes 1/4th of Izayoi's total resources. Opponents who are ready for 236D > 214D will simply throw Izayoi when she appears behind them to avoid the projectiles entirely, putting Izayoi at a massive disadvantage.
Offense
Block Pressure
Normal Mode Pressure
- Goals in Pressure
2A > 2C is a 1-frame gap on normal block and generally incontestable on Instant Block. 2C is a Fatal Counter starter and generally gives her a bunch of resources to work with in the following combo (even if the damage is lacking). 6A can be used instead, as it is a worse starter but retains a lot of gatling options while still having the same utility as a frame trap.
5C/2C > 6C is a 3-frame gap on normal block and will trade with 6f normals (heavily in Izayoi's favor) on Instant Block. 6C is also a Fatal Counter starter and has similar reward to 2C, albeit with worse damage.
5B and 2B have generous cancel windows which allows delay cancels into each other or her C normals to act as frame traps as well.2A is naturally plus and a 6f gap into itself if allowed to recover instead of gatling-ing. Against characters with 7f or slower 2As, it's very difficult to contest. The only real roadblock are 6f 5As that hit crouching opponents as it'll force a trade. It's possible that opponents may Instant Block 2A, but not very likely. If they do this then gatling into something else and begin praying.
6C > 236[B]~A, or stance cancelled 6C is +1 on normal block. This is somewhat predictable towards the end of her strings, but 6C is already useful as a frame trap. Not something to reset pressure off of every time but excellent to keep in the back pocket. If 6C is Instant Blocked, Izayoi is forced into some minor RPS. Releasing 236B after a slight delay will catch mashing but be significantly negative on block. If she cancels the stance like normal she'll be -2. Not the end of the world, but her turn is over and she's quite close to her opponent.- Mixup Tools
Gain Art Pressure
5CGuardMidStartup9Recovery15Advantage-1 > 2CGuardMidStartup18Recovery11Advantage5 is an incredible conditioning tool. There's only a 2-frame gap on normal block and a 5-frame gap on Instant Block, and surprise surprise, GA 2C is a Fatal Counter starter. If the opponent gets hit by Fatal 2C they pretty much die.
2CGuardMidStartup18Recovery11Advantage5 > 6CGuardMidStartup20Recovery17Advantage+1 is only really necissary if the second hit of 2C is Instant Blocked, but again, 6C is a Fatal Counter starter. They will respect 2C or they will die.2C is +5 on block and +2 on Instant Block, all while vacuuming opponents back into her pressure. Keen opponents will always IB the second hit as it's telegraphed by the first, but this can be worked around by gatling-ing either hit into 6C to vary the timing or punish a jump/mash attempt. She can also take the +2 and reset into 2A, although this loses to mashing. If you're feeling particularly brave and/or stupid, 66 AT will grab people jumping out while also faking out 66j.A. If the opponent doesn't Instant Block, 5C > 2C will loop into each other almost indefinitely.
6C, not to be left out, is also +1 on block. It cannot be cancelled into anything on block though, so if they IB this they're out. However, it's hard to be mad at an advancing, plus on block, Fatal Counter launcher.
5C will usually be respected out of fear of 2C, which means Izayoi can leverage its jump cancel for a quick IAD pressure reset. Only j.A or j.B will connect here, as j.C is too slow and will hit the ground before it comes out.The core of Izayoi's mixups. 66j.AA is a 16 frame overhead that combos into 5C on crouching opponents, and 66j.C is an incredibly plus pressure reset. She can mix these with her already quite good lows (2AGuardLowStartup7Recovery8Advantage1, 2BGuardLowStartup9Recovery18Advantage-6) or slightly delay her lows to make the mixup ambiguous. 3CGuardLowStartup16Recovery21Advantage-10 is designed to be a 50/50 with 66j.A as they're both 16 frames. 3C is the higher reward option of the two, but also cannot be cancelled (aside from RC) on block and is -10 up close. By comparison, j.AA is slightly plus, typically around +7 on normal block.
Izayoi can also fake going high with her hoverdash by using Airthrow instead of a jump normal. This has the bonus effect of catching jump outs and making you look like a god. It's highly useful once the threat of her overheads has been established and the opponent is scared to mash, as its her easiest way to get back into ground throw range or even connect a fast low. Be careful though, as it is much slower than going for an overhead out of hoverdash and will lose hard to mashing.
Forcing respect of her plus on block normals will cover her dash, but she can also try to reset off something minus if the opponent thinks she will continue the string instead. Most importantly, Valkyrie AstreaGuardStartup9Recovery21Advantage-5, Aegis BladeGuardMidStartup15~104Recovery46Advantage-32, or even 3CGuardLowStartup16Recovery21Advantage-10 all have 16 frames of blockstun, turning each one into a potential mixup with 50 meter on hand.Okizeme
Normal Mode Okizeme
Gain Art Okizeme
After basically any sort of knockdown, pop Trans-Am to observe what they're doing during the super flash. If they are trying anything except for a normal tech, she get to confirm a free punish during the super flash. If they wake up normally, there are a couple of tricks that are possible. A common one is to 3C under them and get a free cross under while the bits cover Izayoi's recovery. Feigning her overhead (6[B]) will cause the bits to hit the opponent and let her go for an empty low or some other kind of mixup.
|
Defense
Please block. Please.
Anyway, Izayoi's main abare An attack during the opponent's pressure, intended to interrupt it. tool is her 2AGuardLowStartup7Recovery8Advantage1. Her 5AGuardAllStartup6Recovery9Advantage0 whiffs almost universally on crouching opponents even though it's one frame faster. The 1ABC Throw Tech Barrier Option Select on wakeup is a strong option to present and use until the opponent shows that they can deal with it using TRM.
Izayoi has a meterless reversal To perform an attack as soon as possible after getting knocked down or leaving hitstun/blockstun. with 623CGuardMidStartup15~104Recovery46Advantage-32. It's risky to use in blockstrings or on wakeup due to its short horizontal reach, but a reversal is a reversal and the opponent must respect that she has it.
Izayoi uses the Overdrive Option Select and Overdrive Raid particularly well due to how her Overdrive works. Simply hold 1A and mash the Overdrive macro for a non-cancelled Overdrive. However, keep in mind that this Option Select loses to 1-frame gaps as 2A has to come out and be kara cancel A type of cancel where the beginning of an action is quickly canceled into another before the first action completes its startup.led.
Alternatively, for 100 meter, Izayoi can definitively say it's her turn with Phorizor RC or definitively say something stupid with AstralGuardAllStartup4+(131 Flash)+11Recovery35Advantage-30 (provided the conditions are correct). Stick to DP RC and save the meter.Izayoi has only one dedicated Head invulnerable anti-air which also happens to be difficult to use on reaction. Instead of having one catch-all solution, she relies on multiple spacing-dependent options. Unfortunately, while strong, cross under A specific form of a crossup where an attacker moves under the defending opponent to switch sides. anti-airs are almost entirely exclusive to Normal Mode, as she's forced to walk under instead of dashing in Gain Art.
Very last-minute anti-air, tends to get crushed by most heavier jump-ins. Combo options from CH AA 5A are also quite limited, but can lead to a knockdown if confirmed into 623C.
2B's somewhat low-profile comes in clutch once again. Pretend you're playing Street Fighter and clip people's landing with this.
Very positioning-dependent but especially rewarding after a crossunder.
Behold: the only move that actually has Head invulnerability. Sadly it's tied to a DP motion which makes squeaking this out under pressure quite difficult. Its range is very strong but also very specific. It will fail you even if you can get it out sometimes.
High risk (should it whiff), low reward anti-air. Also tied to a DP motion and quite slow. On the bright side, it swats people above Izayoi like nobody's business.
Tips and Tricks
Note that all the following tricks are specific to Gain Art mode.
- 236A > 214D from fullscreen can often catch people who are passively responding to fireball zoning. It converts into a full combo on hit and leads to pressure on block.
- 66 j.C > jump cancel > airdash > j.C will cross up to the nature of her airdash. This works as a fast crossup to crack open a particularly stubborn defense.
- Whiffing air grab after a hoverdash lets Izayoi fall faster than normal and opens up empty low/throw as mixup options.
- 44 j.236B > j.214D is a stock intensive but strong wakeup option. The backdash tends to have enough invuln to escape meaties (obviously not viable against Jin's snowflake or other oppressive setups) and j.236B can convert into ~3.5-4k depending on stock usage. This can also be used as a means of baiting and punishing DP's when the opponent has meter to rapid cancel.
- Izayoi's taunt has an active hitbox and starts up in around 16 frames. This can be comboed after with rapid cancel or followed up meterless if Trans Am is active. The best follow up normal after rapid cancel is usually 6A due to it forcing crouch. Obviously this should only be used for stylish punishes due to it being a poor starter and having awful startup.
Fighting Izayoi
Izayoi's gameplan can be simplified into a few main steps:
- Fill her Zero Weave gauge (AKA get stocks)
- Get in on you (which isn't that hard if she's using her fireballs, teleports, and multiple air options)
- Mix you to death with her hoverdash
- Fall back to step 1 if she runs out of stocks (or just pop Overdrive)
Normal Mode
Knowing this, you should absolutely exploit her weaknesses during Step 1 and keep her there. You should be doing everything in your effort to avoid getting touched by her fireball and slashes as they still build 1 stock on block. While she covers big sections of the screen with her specials, they are somewhat slow to recover so you can whiff punish them with careful movement or just blow through with certain specials. Air approaches are somewhat of a good option since her only real grounded anti-air is her 623B which has a tendency to whiff if spaced carefully. None of her teleports are safe so feel free to mash if they're doing sneaky B teleports in the corner.
Gain Art Mode
Now she has stocks and is starting to look a bit scary. You probably messed up somewhere or she decided to burn OD on round start. Regardless, you need to avoid letting her get in on you. Be aware that she has 3 air options in this mode so things like two jumps > airdash or airdash > jump are a possibility. Her ground dashes can be punished since she cannot block until she stops. If she ever teleports in the air, that means that it was a D teleport and she will appear behind you. Remember that it is unsafe if you aren't already blocking a fireball so mash/jump if she does it raw. Avoiding fireballs in general is more important now since blocking one means she gets a free teleport in on you.
If she does get in on you, you will need to start guessing as her high/low game is unreactable up close. Her pressure is stubbier in GA mode due to 5C's reduced range and 6C's lack of cancel options so barrier can throw a wrench in her pressure. Unless your opponent shows that they are willing to end pressure/burn stocks when pushed out far enough, expect them to hover dash to reset pressure once they can't hit you with 2C. Dash ins can be cleanly beaten out by preemptive anti airs, reversals, or even mashing.