EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
@EntropicByDesign Your first team seems coo, but Rachel needs time to zone tho. Id say put her in first to setup and Vatista can cover you with her beams.
Es - I still haven't tried her but i know shes one of the most damaging characters in the game. Teamed with Carmine? BEAST MODE! Be careful with Carmine tho, cuz he uses ALOT of his life each dissolve throw attack but you know how to gain a bit of health back, right? Man, tactics mode is fuggin AWESOME in this game!
Still haven't used Jubei yet, but I hear hes glitchy as fuck. Think ill try him next
Yeah, most of the combo stuff Im trying to implement with Carmine is light on his self-harm mechanic, and ends with his AAAA seq to recover some health whenever possible. I'm not worrying about his post KD tech too much right now, just focusing on learning a solid neutral and not literally bleeding myself out. I've got some decent meterless 7-8k solo stuff that's pretty light on self-harm. Some decent throw routes too.. though his 236.a doesn't seem to be universal unless he has blood out already.
I've also got some truly stupid ResBlaz stuff that's literally 11-14k damage solo and no self harm due to the life regen, but I dont have it anything like down in muscle memory yet.
Es is pretty straight forward and broken as hell.
Yeah Rachel and Vatista are def taking some time to get used to. Rachel's zoning is a lot of fun though. I played a little earlier with her and running the gauntlet she lays down is no joke. Even when someone gets in, if you've got some Lobelias out (wtf does Lobelia mean?), and get a bat conversion off, they'll have a hard time doing anything, since they'll likely get interrupted and shocked. I need to look into combo routes on her though, I dislike what I have currently. It's not the damage - her damage is weak - it's just the route itself. I dunno, it's awkward. May have to just man-up and deal with it, but if I can find a better route, I'm down.
Vatista is almost like Es. She's straight forward and does good-but-not-Es damage. Just sit back and chuck her orbs, mixing IA A and B with grounded A and B. If you're fast enough you can get three on screen at the same time - but it's only for a moment. Keep her lasers out as a threat and occasionally don't IA, but actually jump, etc. I will say I hate her main combo ending route, the sj.AB j.BC is feels finnicky as shit. Even when I get all 5 hits of the j.b's it feels like the angle has to favor you or they fall out. Maybe I just don't have it down properly yet and I'm missing some timing nuance(s).
4 characters is a tall order, but luckily Carmine and Es are pretty damn straight forward execution wise. Carmine has some kinda specific timings, and his BB AAAA ending sequence is a little tight, but all in all, he's not hard, and Es is a cakewalk.
Edit, Carmine is thought to be a strong character, but I think with time he's going to evolve into one of the strongest characters in the game. I've been watching tournament footage (do you have any good links to Carmine play? Pls let me know) and random game footage, etc, and I rarely see him used well right now. Watching some of the NLBC stuff and I hate critiquing players that can annihilate me on my best day and their worst, but.. they are playing him like shit. Landing clean AAA confirms and netting sub 5k AND losing health - all with no chance for opponent to burst - so it's a clean combo.. and I KNOW they can hit confirm AAA because I'm terrible and I can, in real sets, almost every time. I see them not using B sequences in combos, but then chucking blood full screen and giving up a ton of health. I've seen several games where the Carmine was winning, clearly dominating the neutral and landing hits and so on, but his health wasnt that far off the "losing" players, through occasional incidental hits, and super bad use of blood. Now, I know that some of what high lvl players are doing with short combos or seemingly odd choices comes down to operating off a read, or trying to bait something, or trying to set up a specific situation, etc etcu but that doesn't explain a lot of what I see. It's like he's being used as a disposable character, designed to power the enemies health down and use himself up in the process, and I REALLY don't think that's anything like what he's capable of... And the non-pro, random online Carmines are just trying to land huge damage combos that hurt them damn near as much as the other player because.. swag? Carmine has some 8-9k stuff that does every bit of 5k to himself, so congrats. You've gained 3-3.5k worth of life lead. Pls Carmines, learn these:
AAA.2c.2b.B x 236.A <microdash> BB, AAAA
That's 6990 or so, call it 7k, A autocombo confirm that's super easy - even the microdash has a large window, and ends with self heal, you lose very very little health. Want Oki/post KD pressure? Assist if you got it, if you don't, you can forgo the self heal and use the AAA sequence to enable an ender of your choice, and even without self-heal, that combo is light on self-harm.
AAAA, asst, AAAA
There ya go. 7k-ish and double self heal with no self harm. Getting it to work depends on your partner and what assists you have available, and can be a pain to get right, but it's there and it's an option. 7k, no self harm, and double self heal. That's pretty damn good, off your A auto confirm.
****I don't like to level criticism at players who are better than I ever will be, and there is absolutely a chance that there is more to the weird Carmine play im seeing thsn I understand.. I'm just calling it like I see it, based on what I've seen, and based on my own understanding of the character. I really feel like, minus his lack of mix options, Carmine might be one of the best characters in the game.
Anyway, question for you all becAuse I'm not at the PC and I'm bad.. is it possible to call an assist on screen and hold them there - P, PD, and have them delay using their assist until you tell them to, WHILE keeping control of your original character?
