Zoidberg747
My blades will find your heart
Vs Raiden(4-6):
Starting the Match
I find either dashing forward and blocking or walking forward and blocking is the best way to go. This way you can try to elicit a reaction and punish accordingly. This is the safest way to start the match in my opinion.
At Fullscreen:
At fullscreen one of Raiden's options is to spam lightning balls at you. All you have to do is walk forward and block when they are about to hit. You will most likely be midscreen by the time they get two lightning balls off. This will build him some meter, and maybe chip you some. The only other thing you need to respect here is the teleport and the superman when he is in range. If you are walking forward you will be able to react to the superman and block it for a full combo punished. The teleport may be used to get in, if it is just spin immediately to punish. I will say that this matchup will not be played at fullscreen most of the time, and technically he does have a slight advantage vs. Baraka(although it is trivial). Also as always you can EX blade charge the lightning on reaction.
At Midscreen:
Once you are midscreen you need to start playing your footsie game. Using your sweep and canceling into blade charge will fake out most people one or two times. After that you can block to try and stop any superman attempt, and punish when blocked. If they try to teleport to punish, you can spin to punish. If you are in D4 range it can check Raiden. One of Raiden's best footsie tools is his B3. If he tries to do this and you block it, he is at -7. You can then d3 and backdash to try and whiff punish, or start pressure. If he uses his F2 he is neutral at block, so you can either guess he is going to poke and block low, poke yourself, or take his next blockstring and punish accordingly. He could also teleport after the F2, which is why poking may not be the best idea for the F2. His D4 is not really effective in the matchup due to ours having a much larger range.
Up Close:
You need to always respect his teleport, it will get him out of a lot of situations. You need to know how to punish his strings if the Raiden decides not to teleport. For instance, if he tries to do his b312 string he is -3 on block. What you can do on this is d3 the first time it is blocked. After you block another b312, he will most likely teleport, which you can spin. Also after he b312s you can F44 to get him away from you. It is 6 frames so Raiden cannot do much but teleport to avoid it, but even then he only has like 2 frames to punish. If he does his 3,3,4 string he is 0 on block, so the best option here is to throw. Throwing will get you out of most of his pressure game. However he can always cancel into the teleport, which means you can either spin if you expect it or just block and try and guess the next string right. He is also 0 on block after he uses f2,4. Again throwing or trying to bait the teleport is your best option for punishing his strings on block. As for your pressure game, you can still cancel things into slices. For instance, say he is dashing in, once he does you can 4 slices which is something around 12 frames. They usually will not expect it so they will either get hit for damage or dash block and get hit by it for meter build. If he is about to dash in you can also use either F2,4 to push him towards the corner or F2 slices for meter build/damage. If he is within dashing range, you can also use b3,2 slices for meter build, or b3,2 2 for the overhead which will hit unless he knows Baraka's string ends in the overhead and blocks the last hit high(it is -14 on block, so you have to evaluate how well your opponent knows the character).
Footsies
Playing Footsies with Raiden is not so easy considering some of the footsie tools he has at his disposal. Your sweep can be used very well here, because if you are within sweep range and it actually hits, you get a knockdown. If it gets blocked, you are +11 frames on block and have enough time to F4 to stuff any punish he tries to do(he may have like a 1 frame window to teleport, but I cant think of him doing that unless you get predictable with it. Even then I dont think he can punish the whiffed F4 in time). If that 1 frame window scares you, just slices after the sweep to be 0 on block. You can also use D4 to check Raiden from sweep range, and you can use it to bait a teleport for a punish. You can also use slices as a footsie tool, as it has good range and put you at neutral on block. Once here you can poke into pressure or bait a teleport.
The other part of this is respecting Raiden's footsies. His B3 is used a lot as a footsie tool, so when they do this they are -7 on block. This means you can d3 punish, and once again you must either commit to some sort of pressure, wait for him to react with a string, or wait for a teleport. You can also use the d3 to start up your footsies again. Just backdash after the d3 and start your footsies again. Another tool Raiden uses for footsies is his f2. On block his f2 is neutral, so you can either d3 and either hit or get a clash with his 6f d1(p1 advantage, blah blah) or just wait and see what he does after. If they decide to end the f2 into f2,4 it is the same thing, he is neutral. The one good thing about this matchup is you do render his d4 useless with your d4. His d4s range makes it to where he cannot d4 unless he is close to you, and if he does hit it you will at the very least probably be crouching(try and react when he pokes to at least duck, because then he will only be at +8 and at the most he can poke instead of 15 which gives him a plethora of options). If you manage to see it and block it he is still neutral on block. So while it can be useful to him when you are in its range, if you stay out of it's range and check him with d4, you can make him use the move less.
Oki
Honestly any oki is going to be a risk. The best thing imo is to sweep, because it will lower his hitbox to stop most of Raiden's wakeups. Obviously he could just wakeup teleport, but the beauty of sweep is it is special cancelable so you can cancel it into the spin to punish. Otherwise you can try to D4 or something else to lower the hitbox. If they get smart and start just blocking low to try and block and punish, you can f2,4 to get them in the corner or f2 slices to get some damage.
Wakeup
If he keeps trying to pressure you can spin or charge to armor through it. I really cannot think of much to put here, other than blade charge if he tries to throw a projectile and watch what he does. Make sure if you do the blade charge it is punishing something, dont just throw out the blade charge or else you will be punished. Standing up and blocking may be your best option here.
In the Corner(Baraka)
When you finally get him cornered, you wont keep him there for long. Let's face it, his teleport will kill your corner game. There are a few ways around this, like using b31 b31 f4 instead of b31 b31 b31 f4. The first combo will leave you at +16 frame advantage, which allows you to f3,2 slices or f3,2 2. If he blocks the slices you are neutral and can d3 into more pressure. If you get the knockdown, see oki. Anything else like f2, slices he can teleport before they hit, so in the corner it is best to not leave him a huge opportunity to punish if something whiffs because of the teleport.
In the Corner(Raiden)
To start this off I am going to list some common Raiden corner combo starters, and how to punish them if you manage to block them:
F4(0 on block): When he does this you can go for the d3(especially if you have p1 advantage) otherwise you have to wait for his next blockstring.
B312(-3 on block): You can throw here to corner him. If nothing else d3 to make him counterpoke and maybe blade spin to get him off of you.
3,3,4(-1 on block): D3 or throw. See above.
F2,4(0 on block): See above
Once he gets you in the corner you need to punish when you can. You should probably save your breaker here because he can get 40-43% in the corner. Any throw opportunity you can get is crucial, because it reverses the situation. after a b312 is the safest time to throw. Otherwise just know when you can poke into either spin or slices to get out of the situation. Yes Raiden can teleport out of the d3 slices but if he does you are still out of the corner.
Meter Usage
Like I said before I usually save the meter for breaker in this matchup. EX blade charging through lightning is pointless in my opinion, because you can dash in very easily instead of wasting a bar. Plus you still get hit by the lightning, and once you get in he can teleport out very easily. the F2 EX slices in the corner is kind of risky in this matchup, because you technically will ever have an opportunity where he can't just teleport before the F2 hits. So save the meter for breaker, EX blade charge if you really need some damage to end a round or something.
Meter building
This is very hard in this matchup. Off of any string cancel into slices. Whenever you can stop his dashes with F2 end in slices. If you can b3,2 slices it will build a lot of meter as well. If you want to take a risk and Jip into 2,2 1+2 into slices you can build a lot of meter as well. Trying to bait teleports will work well, as even if he blocks the spin builds a lot of meter. you have to be careful to time the punish right though, or he can neutral duck and full combo punish it.
Keys to the matchup
Starting the Match
I find either dashing forward and blocking or walking forward and blocking is the best way to go. This way you can try to elicit a reaction and punish accordingly. This is the safest way to start the match in my opinion.
At Fullscreen:
At fullscreen one of Raiden's options is to spam lightning balls at you. All you have to do is walk forward and block when they are about to hit. You will most likely be midscreen by the time they get two lightning balls off. This will build him some meter, and maybe chip you some. The only other thing you need to respect here is the teleport and the superman when he is in range. If you are walking forward you will be able to react to the superman and block it for a full combo punished. The teleport may be used to get in, if it is just spin immediately to punish. I will say that this matchup will not be played at fullscreen most of the time, and technically he does have a slight advantage vs. Baraka(although it is trivial). Also as always you can EX blade charge the lightning on reaction.
At Midscreen:
Once you are midscreen you need to start playing your footsie game. Using your sweep and canceling into blade charge will fake out most people one or two times. After that you can block to try and stop any superman attempt, and punish when blocked. If they try to teleport to punish, you can spin to punish. If you are in D4 range it can check Raiden. One of Raiden's best footsie tools is his B3. If he tries to do this and you block it, he is at -7. You can then d3 and backdash to try and whiff punish, or start pressure. If he uses his F2 he is neutral at block, so you can either guess he is going to poke and block low, poke yourself, or take his next blockstring and punish accordingly. He could also teleport after the F2, which is why poking may not be the best idea for the F2. His D4 is not really effective in the matchup due to ours having a much larger range.
Up Close:
You need to always respect his teleport, it will get him out of a lot of situations. You need to know how to punish his strings if the Raiden decides not to teleport. For instance, if he tries to do his b312 string he is -3 on block. What you can do on this is d3 the first time it is blocked. After you block another b312, he will most likely teleport, which you can spin. Also after he b312s you can F44 to get him away from you. It is 6 frames so Raiden cannot do much but teleport to avoid it, but even then he only has like 2 frames to punish. If he does his 3,3,4 string he is 0 on block, so the best option here is to throw. Throwing will get you out of most of his pressure game. However he can always cancel into the teleport, which means you can either spin if you expect it or just block and try and guess the next string right. He is also 0 on block after he uses f2,4. Again throwing or trying to bait the teleport is your best option for punishing his strings on block. As for your pressure game, you can still cancel things into slices. For instance, say he is dashing in, once he does you can 4 slices which is something around 12 frames. They usually will not expect it so they will either get hit for damage or dash block and get hit by it for meter build. If he is about to dash in you can also use either F2,4 to push him towards the corner or F2 slices for meter build/damage. If he is within dashing range, you can also use b3,2 slices for meter build, or b3,2 2 for the overhead which will hit unless he knows Baraka's string ends in the overhead and blocks the last hit high(it is -14 on block, so you have to evaluate how well your opponent knows the character).
Footsies
Playing Footsies with Raiden is not so easy considering some of the footsie tools he has at his disposal. Your sweep can be used very well here, because if you are within sweep range and it actually hits, you get a knockdown. If it gets blocked, you are +11 frames on block and have enough time to F4 to stuff any punish he tries to do(he may have like a 1 frame window to teleport, but I cant think of him doing that unless you get predictable with it. Even then I dont think he can punish the whiffed F4 in time). If that 1 frame window scares you, just slices after the sweep to be 0 on block. You can also use D4 to check Raiden from sweep range, and you can use it to bait a teleport for a punish. You can also use slices as a footsie tool, as it has good range and put you at neutral on block. Once here you can poke into pressure or bait a teleport.
The other part of this is respecting Raiden's footsies. His B3 is used a lot as a footsie tool, so when they do this they are -7 on block. This means you can d3 punish, and once again you must either commit to some sort of pressure, wait for him to react with a string, or wait for a teleport. You can also use the d3 to start up your footsies again. Just backdash after the d3 and start your footsies again. Another tool Raiden uses for footsies is his f2. On block his f2 is neutral, so you can either d3 and either hit or get a clash with his 6f d1(p1 advantage, blah blah) or just wait and see what he does after. If they decide to end the f2 into f2,4 it is the same thing, he is neutral. The one good thing about this matchup is you do render his d4 useless with your d4. His d4s range makes it to where he cannot d4 unless he is close to you, and if he does hit it you will at the very least probably be crouching(try and react when he pokes to at least duck, because then he will only be at +8 and at the most he can poke instead of 15 which gives him a plethora of options). If you manage to see it and block it he is still neutral on block. So while it can be useful to him when you are in its range, if you stay out of it's range and check him with d4, you can make him use the move less.
Oki
Honestly any oki is going to be a risk. The best thing imo is to sweep, because it will lower his hitbox to stop most of Raiden's wakeups. Obviously he could just wakeup teleport, but the beauty of sweep is it is special cancelable so you can cancel it into the spin to punish. Otherwise you can try to D4 or something else to lower the hitbox. If they get smart and start just blocking low to try and block and punish, you can f2,4 to get them in the corner or f2 slices to get some damage.
Wakeup
If he keeps trying to pressure you can spin or charge to armor through it. I really cannot think of much to put here, other than blade charge if he tries to throw a projectile and watch what he does. Make sure if you do the blade charge it is punishing something, dont just throw out the blade charge or else you will be punished. Standing up and blocking may be your best option here.
In the Corner(Baraka)
When you finally get him cornered, you wont keep him there for long. Let's face it, his teleport will kill your corner game. There are a few ways around this, like using b31 b31 f4 instead of b31 b31 b31 f4. The first combo will leave you at +16 frame advantage, which allows you to f3,2 slices or f3,2 2. If he blocks the slices you are neutral and can d3 into more pressure. If you get the knockdown, see oki. Anything else like f2, slices he can teleport before they hit, so in the corner it is best to not leave him a huge opportunity to punish if something whiffs because of the teleport.
In the Corner(Raiden)
To start this off I am going to list some common Raiden corner combo starters, and how to punish them if you manage to block them:
F4(0 on block): When he does this you can go for the d3(especially if you have p1 advantage) otherwise you have to wait for his next blockstring.
B312(-3 on block): You can throw here to corner him. If nothing else d3 to make him counterpoke and maybe blade spin to get him off of you.
3,3,4(-1 on block): D3 or throw. See above.
F2,4(0 on block): See above
Once he gets you in the corner you need to punish when you can. You should probably save your breaker here because he can get 40-43% in the corner. Any throw opportunity you can get is crucial, because it reverses the situation. after a b312 is the safest time to throw. Otherwise just know when you can poke into either spin or slices to get out of the situation. Yes Raiden can teleport out of the d3 slices but if he does you are still out of the corner.
Meter Usage
Like I said before I usually save the meter for breaker in this matchup. EX blade charging through lightning is pointless in my opinion, because you can dash in very easily instead of wasting a bar. Plus you still get hit by the lightning, and once you get in he can teleport out very easily. the F2 EX slices in the corner is kind of risky in this matchup, because you technically will ever have an opportunity where he can't just teleport before the F2 hits. So save the meter for breaker, EX blade charge if you really need some damage to end a round or something.
Meter building
This is very hard in this matchup. Off of any string cancel into slices. Whenever you can stop his dashes with F2 end in slices. If you can b3,2 slices it will build a lot of meter as well. If you want to take a risk and Jip into 2,2 1+2 into slices you can build a lot of meter as well. Trying to bait teleports will work well, as even if he blocks the spin builds a lot of meter. you have to be careful to time the punish right though, or he can neutral duck and full combo punish it.
Keys to the matchup
- Punishing Teleport with throw or spin
- Saving meter for breakers
- Playing proper footsies and reacting to his
- Using sweep as an oki tool
- Ending combos with F4(Like b31 b31 F4 which leaves you at +16)
or worse, 3-7 
