Well i have been playing Arakune for a couple months now and if any of you are having trouble against Noel, Tager and Nuu i have some tips. Fighting against Noel you want to stay in the air a lot until she is cursed and getting hit by the bugs then you can keep away from her or pressure her to grab into special.
Fighting against Tager you want to immediately run away and keep throwing your down D bug on the ground and the D bug that targets your opponent from a distance, you can control what side you want it on. Keep doing that and keeping away and once he is getting hit then start throwing out clouds. You can go in and try to attack him but it can be risky if he is not cursed.
Nuu is probably a hard match up for Arakune but certain things you have to take advantage of. You must be patient in blocking the swords and when you have an opening use the target D bug to try and knock her down. If you can land a combo and start cursing her then you can gain the offensive on her and she has weak health so take advantage of it. If you are in the air, jump blocking so you block the air sword and if your nearly cornered just teleport. You may be playing a game of run and teleport until you can land a curse on her.
The handiest bit of advice I can give vs. a nu is near the edge of the screen do the back jump > back dash to teleport right behind her. Many players don’t expect this and get over confident if they have you cornered. Easy to punish with a grab or 6c loop.
I run into a lot of people that play like this online too. Usually I find that these people don’t tend to block very well since they’re so busy mashing What often works for me is to start putting on the dash cancel j. 5B pressure into throw or into 5A > 5A > 6B. It’s also good to mix in some 2A > 2A > 1C (with well timed pauses to throw them off) and some teleport shenanigans. The slide seems to have good priority though and is pretty quick plus it gives you a knockdown. If they’re just mashing it will usually hit them and if they happen to have jumped, you’ll go underneath them and will have created a bit of breathing room. Have to be a bit careful with the slide attack though since they will only fall for it a couple of times and it’s easily punished. Oh, and as someone else said, his F of G distortion drive works well in these situations. Just keep things simple but keep the pressure on until they back off (or you win). If you need some breathing room, remember about his teleport to the other side of the screen.
I think the thing that is frustrating with using Arakune when people play this way is that it forces you to get down and dirty rather than controlling the match at a distance like Arakune does so well with his curse and bug tricks. But that’s OK, you just have to change tactics a bit until they realize rushing in + mashing is a bad idea.
I’ve seen a lot of people say that Arakune sucks when he doesn’t have a curse out, but I don’t think that’s really true. Of course, I’m pretty new to BB (never played it in the arcades), so I’m sure high level players know better, but I think Arakune can certainly hold his own even without a curse. He’s got a lot of tricky shenanigans you can use and mindgames you can play. Don’t be afraid to RTSD if people get in your face, just be patient about getting out a curse and leading into your setups and pretty soon the mashers will turn into ragequitters
Double post : ) Ok SO seriously I just lost an online tourney to a V13… and I think I have figured out something against her. Ive never felt like I was so sure to beat a V13 lol.
Question is there any kind of juggle off of J.2a? Cause I kept hitting that off and I wasnt sure if there was a juggle. I know theres on on counter but is there on on normal hit?
What happens is the C bug hits directly after the curse, a second or two after. This means you can go right into other combos, ie: 6C loop, air combos, throw/super/air combo, etc.
I put it as if you already have got the opponent in the air, and its also one of many variations of this combo.
I am pretty sure this was what you were reffering to with “236C loop” right, Koogy?
Whats great is that you can get in 2 or 3 loops and instead of starting a 4th you can recurse and immediately after start the process over again.
Like I said, this is one of many variations. I just have to double check that the opponent cant tech out of the loop mid-air, which would make the loop obsolete.
Sigh, hope it doesnt. If anyone can confirm if it does or not, let me know asap lol
I know about the invisibility setup for Arakune’s astral heat, but is there any other real use for this move? I almost never see it used in any of the matches I watch from other Arakune players and I don’t really use it much myself. Perhaps I just need to think of a proper way to work it into my mixups and shenanigans. It doesn’t seem like it would be that effective though since it’s not hard to still see where he is on the screen.
Anyone finding it particularly useful for something?
a cool throw setup/mixup i havent seen on video or posted anywhere:
IAD~4, j.c (land) throw or low
also can be used like:
air 66~4, j.B (land)\ / (jump) 7 / \ 66~4, j.c (land) \ / throw or low
the j.c above, wiffs***
i really like these cause they allow ara to get closer on the ground for some of his strings that need him to be right in the opponents face.
plus the IAD version has really good range for a throw setup (1/3 screen)
also guys in case some of you dont know, IAD is accomplished by:
(on the ground at first) 956 on 1p side… so 956~4 >j.c will get you a quick little short hop that you can land and mixup from, as much as half a screen away.
on some different stuff, ara can mark and setup a loop off of damn near anything… for instance:
Go on dust loop and check out the arakune video thread-Crimson TV. I think the third or fourth video show how to properly use the invisibility.
General properties of invisibility are:
-you stay invisible until you get hit, thrown or you phisically attack them.
you CAN, however, hit them with bugs, clouds and curses and you’ll stay invisible.
This is a great addition to his already diverse moveset because when the opponent is tagged, you can setup bug combos to D bug finishers/recurse. While you’re attacking, the opponent is worrying About teching out of your attack, rather than trying to find you. EVEN if they aren’t tagged, you can still play around with them from a far, using a bell bug, a cloud and The j.5D curse.
Check the videos out on dust loop, you’ll learn a lot. Hope this helps.
PS: tried the air 236C loop various times online and they kept teching out of the second 236C. Maybe an A bug in the middle will keep them in place.
found something else cool.
against both nu and rachel i’ve found that 3c works well as it goes under nu’s sword spam and against rachel it does well cause its got very good range.
problem was that i had no combos off of it… until now.
(unmarked)
3c (jc7) 5d
marks opponent and i’m almost positive that ara can combo into 6c loop afterwards but havent gotten the spacing or bug distances perfect yet.
-edit… confirmed, this goes into 6c loop xn and is guaranteed.
the nu matchup is going to be a helluva lot easier now that i’ve got a low hitting move that reaches 3/4 screen and marks into loopy cheesy goodness!
You just have to be patient fighting Nuu and rush her at openings. I have been playing a lot of characters online and i would say Rachel, Jin and Nuu can be a bit troublesome but i am learning different mix ups. Anyway feel free to add me on PSN and we can play.
It really seems to me that my whole gameplan revolves around doing that 6C loop. Though it’s real powerful (easily takes off 50% when done perfectly, it seems) so I’m not complaining, heh.
I’m slightly worried about this, since sometimes if I screw up the loop I have a hard time. Though, I guess it wouldn’t be any different if I was doing any other combo.
Is this simply the most efficient way to play Arakune or am I being paranoid?
well i’m no pro (at all) but yes, i would say that trying to hit with your biggest baddest combo is a key in this game for any character.
once you have people scared of your combo setups thats when you can start getting really tricky with the mixups and movement options.
otherwise people are just going to 2a spam you all day.
so basically just find as many different ways to get off ara’s loop of cheese and spam that shit all day.
once you get all these setups down then start going for situational combos/ guardbreaks etc.
What often works for me is to start putting on the dash cancel j. 5B pressure into throw or into 5A > 5A > 6B. It’s also good to mix in some 2A > 2A > 1C (with well timed pauses to throw them off) and some teleport shenanigans. The slide seems to have good priority though and is pretty quick plus it gives you a knockdown. If they’re just mashing it will usually hit them and if they happen to have jumped, you’ll go underneath them and will have created a bit of breathing room. Have to be a bit careful with the slide attack though since they will only fall for it a couple of times and it’s easily punished. Oh, and as someone else said, his F of G distortion drive works well in these situations. Just keep things simple but keep the pressure on until they back off (or you win). If you need some breathing room, remember about his teleport to the other side of the screen.