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The Controls are BORKED

You need to wait for a button to come out before you can cancel it. It's rubbish but you can overcome it.
It's wild because the rest of the game doesn't function this way.

If NRS would let us special cancel on reaction it wouldn't be an issue. But you have to input specials with the same timing as a button press on a chain
 
It's wild because the rest of the game doesn't function this way.

If NRS would let us special cancel on reaction it wouldn't be an issue. But you have to input specials with the same timing as a button press on a chain
No you don't, you can mash out and buffer strings well in advance. Cancelling into a special needs to be done (as far as I can tell) when the move is actually coming out.

You need to be precise with your button inputs though, as you may lock yourself out of special cancels thanks to a different bug / feature.

In short, input the string precisely and accurately All in one go, then wait to special cancel when the animation comes out
 
Another problem with the inputs is canceling from a string with a move that requires a direction after the special (like captain cold ice drop or firestorms low lava). A lot of time with captain cold I'll end a corner combo with b232xxdf2b but instead of giving me close ice drop (df2b)
I'll get ice shield (db2).