Does anyone have any specific strategies for zoning early in the match (for instance when your opponent does everything to keep himself from in between Carl and Nirvana)? As of yet, I’ve just been waiting for their mistake to loop them, but I want to zone more and strengthen Carl’s non-loop game. Any suggestions? These are the only things I can think of right now:
Nirvana > Carl > Opp: 2B or 5C and 623D or 8D
Carl > Nirvana > Opp: 6D or 4D and j. 214C
carl only has a few decent pokes alone. 5c 5b 6a(antiair) j.b. since youre options are so limited you should try to get nirvana to cover the area of the screen you arent. for nirvana use 6d 41236d advancing pokes and 623d and 8d for anti airs.
you can only zone so much with carl so the solution to that is trying to keep pressure on your opponent.
if your positioning is niravana carl opp or carl nirvana opp you can use:
41236db (fuoco and vivace b)
its decent cover at the start of the match if youre looking for something different. with 41236d you can iad over your opponent and allecancel to crossup and get them in between. also you while 41236d is active you can go for the iad air throw kara cancel (iad j.2c~b) to cover quick space and go for a mixup when you land. if nirvana is nearby (behind or under me) when i finish an air combo with 214c i usually 41236d to continue pressure.
if the opponent is in between carl and nirvana with nirvana full screen away you can go for 5b 6b 623c 5b j.a j.b j.b j.214c 8d.sometimes the opponent will tech back and eat the 8d since its unblockable.
sometimes the opponent is intent on escaping getting stuck in between nirvana and carl (which they should be doing) so they just back up and run away. you can use this to your advantage because the corner is another hot spot for carl lockdown/mixup. if im doing an air combo in the corner i usually summon nee~san in between (22d) then end with [j.214c 623d land j. 214c] x N. you can also substitute the 623d for an 8d for that possibility they tech into a free claptrap in the corner.
all the pressure strings that you use when the opponent is between carl will also work when your opponent is in the corner. just remember not to be to predictable and mixup your overheads with lows. the key is usually being able to multitask and commanding nirvana mid combo and not just at the end or the beginning. ive seen some carls that neglect nee~san and just leave her in the corner and those carls = fail.
hope that helped.
I’m at a loss at present with how to deal with spam. Not just Noel drive spam, I mean everything spam. My last 10 opponents have taken high priority, high range attacks and did nothing but fly in and mash them as if the button were tapped to their controller.
Jins just mash drive, Noels mash drive, Rachel mashes sylpheed and random attacks, Hakus mash air dash C, etc, etc. Attacks I could normally stuff with other characters, but with Carl’s LOOOOW priority on attacks and the fact that as good as Nee-sans anti-airs are they are not reaction moves since they have such a long start up so I can only do the move and hope they jump in.
How do you deal with it? Run away? Hope Nee-san’s preemptive anti-airs connect? I’ve tried using Nee-san when the opponent flies in front of her and Carl, but they just spam air dash and get past the frame start up of her attacks and I’m just using barrier to hold off block strings I can’t counter poke against.
Sorry if this is a ramble. This actually got me upset and forced me to put the controller down to cool off a bit.
Mindless spam…pokes won’t work, the speed of the characters get past Nee-san easy…how do you handle it?
I’ll often back dash so that when my opponent airdash at me they’ll whiff their move. As soon as they land I stab’em with a 5C hopefully netting a counterhit. But counter hit, normal hit, or block I always have a 6D ready for them after the 5C connects. Then I go in for the pressure.
Other methods include:
preemptive 8D or 623D
6A
gear super
or blocking.
Learn holes. Carl can beat a few things with stand C if he spots it (Knocking Jin off his Ice Car with the jousting puppet is comedy gold), but mostly you’re just going to have to figure out what you can punish people for throwing out. Noel was a pain of a matchup until I learned what I could chase with a 3C afterwords to pretty much start a Clap Loop for free. Find out what can be followed with a setup, and what can be followed with a 236A or B to escape and set up cross-up mixups. The openings are there, but understand Carl is a character who’s going to take knowledge not just of himself, but the entire cast to make work.
You’re also probably going to have to learn how to do Carl’s combos that involve summoning Nirvana at the start of them, since spammers won’t always leave their hole right where you can unleash ROBOT HELL on them.
That said, spammy dumb-ass Noels tend to spam attacks that Nirvana just plows through. Against the worst of the spammers I’d back up behind Nirvana while Noel’s frothing at the mouth then start a 6(D) and chase after it, and usually they’d do something dumb that Nirvana’d just NOM through and punch Noel in the face. D-happy Jins can be dealt with in similar ways. Hakumen’s a pain, since IAD j.C is something Carl doesn’t really have answers for, especially without meter. Just figure out what he wants to do after it and intercept him then.
Just to add on to what lordlocke said about hiding behind Nirvana; when you are hiding behind her, 4D is really good because chances are, the spammer will hit Nirvana and 4D has super armor so she’ll continue even if she gets hit. Even better, Noel’s drive attacks count as projectiles, so Nirvana can perform any action and won’t get knocked out of it.
Thank you for the information folks. Again, I was just a tad frustrated at my options. And Locke you’re right…I got to start learning how to get combos going that involve a 22D at the start since happy spammers won’t let me simply position them between me and Nee-san. Time to bring Nee-san to them.
Carl is an exercise in patience.
I really feel Carl needs better normals in this game, it’s like everyone has these crazy blockstrings that most hits can lead into a huge combo and we have clap loop setups on the fly off any hit it’s just irritating having Most the cast in our face and all we can do is block. and all they really need to do to us is push block and it will stop most our loops cold.
It’s hard to not just pick up Rachel or some shit but I think persistence will pay off in the end. Also I didn’t play for like one day and I was drawing blanks on my IAD alle~can execution. Pretty sure it’s all mental throwing me way off, just not feeling it right now I guess.
question, is it possible to get out of carls block string when he has you in the middle of his doll and him? And when he hits you and does the long combo (your in the middle of him and the doll), it will reset even though your keeping your hand on back with the combo without him doing an over head and i’m blocking at the bottom. Sometimes i don’t even know what to do but burst.
You don’t have to do 2A 2B 3C 22D IAD allecan 3C 8D if you’re having trouble. I use the analog of a 360 controller to play carl, and trying that combo is a pain.
An easier one is
2A 2B 3C 22D 236A 2B 2C 8D, it is very very easy, and I use that all the time.
Yeah as carl, depending on your opponent, you can spend most of your time running away to hide behind nirvana and blocking. Carl alone = death really fast, and many people always like to run away from you when nirvana is by your side. That’s why you have to know his combos into loops and know the matchups so well, and nirvana being slow on startup and having her moves stopped easily can be a pain sometimes.
I’m guessing you mean the one does like 4 attacks, then nirvana punches, then he does 4 attacks, nirvana punches, etc, or something like that where carl hits you a couple of times, then nirvana does something and he repeats.
Carl has multiple block string loops. If done correctly, the person in between cannot escape, unless you burst. All of carls loops, if done correctly, count as a combo, so you cannot escape unless he messes up or you burst.
The damage scales down on the ground loop combos, and continuing it is a waste of nirvana’s meter, so most carls usually do 1 or 2 repetitions and proceed to clap loop.
Nah, if nirvana kept going when Carl blocked, then the other players would have a legitimate complaint about Carl being broken, because, well, he would be broken. Besides, having to dodge attacks so that Nirvana can finish whatever she’s doing makes it more fun, imo.
Honestly, I also think that his normals are fine the way they are, too. The only thing I would ever want to change about Carl is the amount of active frames on his 6A. I’d make it a move with 7-10 active frames instead of a whimpy 4 frame-hope-you-time-it-right-so-you-can-AT-LEAST-trade-with-it-and-not-get-beat-cleanly move.
Y’know?
I have a question for you guys
How many of you agree with me that nirvana’s moves should still come out once you activiate them, even if you get hit or block?
I mean not only is her meter wasted for not doing anything, when you really need her to do a move to save you, she stops simply because you blocked a poke.
(How did you Dasvanu answer the question before someone posted it?)
It’s part of the game to have Nirvana stop when you block. And besides, if this was actually even allowed, then why can’t Rachel just keep a pumpkin on block then? Carl is just fine the way he is. And learning to never get hit in the first place is a good strategy in these games.
I personally don’t think Carl is fine. He needs quite a bit of something if you ask me. Maybe a spammable move besides j.a
Are you saying Rachel easy? Well compared to Carl, she is.
Well no matter how we go about this, it’s just boils down to a personal opinion right? I really don’t think we should spend too much time arguing on whether or not Carl needs this fix.
On topic, I’ve found Carl to be interesting, so he may be my sub. I’ve just got to pour lots into him. Seeing how he’s mentally (and sadly, physically) different from Rachel.
I’m just pretty sure i’d have an easier time winning if I just picked Rachel/anyone else. I’m interested in what they do with Carl on the next installment. Wonder how they’ll handle the clap loop but more insterested in how they handle all the other things.
Yeah you probably would. Carl is probably (In my opinion of course) the toughest character to learn.
That is, if they make a next installment.
I thought they had a blazblue black slated for the end of the year?