I usually don’t post on the forums because everyone here has the knowledge game covered but I feel compelled to post my thoughts on Elena.
Using Elena has been such a hate/ love experience to me. First I’ll go over the stuff I hate.
The hitbox of lynx tail is inconsistent. Needs to stretch a bit downward to be able to hit close and even far crouched opponents. I think of this move as like rekka except with rekka’s I know I’ll get my rewarded with my risks.
The wheel move is so inconsistent. Especially the HK version. I could never get the reps to connect even off a dizzied opponent. I feel like it a weird bug. Also this move is supposed to help keep the pressure but I can’t even rely on it as a decent bread and butter. I feel if they made the range similar to 3s, she would have a far stronger mixup game as you would have to guess between wheel/mallet smash.
Standing mp feels very up in the air. Sometimes it’s good as an anti air, sometimes as a poke, but the results are all over the place.
Her pokes could use improvement all around.
Rhino horn doesn’t hit forward at all. If anything the hitbox is above her foot. Who dropped the ball on this?
Jumping HK- I have no idea what to think of this. You have to do it early. It does have great priority but the range sucks. It just seems unfinished. You can juggle.
The stun- oh my god. Since when is Elena a glass jaw?
THE HORRIBLE MATCHUPS SO FAR:
Bison- My god. This matchup is the worst for Elena. From the few bisons that I fought. I didn’t have an answer for his standing mk range. Scissor kick pressure was tough to deal with and any counterattack had more risk then reward. Not the mention your mixup game is completely gone since he can just psycho crusher out anytime he wants. The only thing I didn’t try was red focusing the scissor pressure but all of his move beat U1 clean or trades. The main problem is Bison’s damage trades far exceeds yours. Combine this with the low stun and you’ll see why I hate this match.
Honda: Headbutt beats everything. This is one of my first Matchups with her so it could have been better, but her air normals have a weird range with Honda. If anyone has any tactics let me know but as far as I know I don’t have a solid counter attack and mixup game is gone due to Headbutt. Her only option is the cross up but that gets predictable.
Rose- I don’t have an answer for drill pressure. If they try it on wake up you can throw but other than that. Its tough since dp is not a good get off me.
Other match up notes
Decapre- This match surprisingly isn’t too bad for Elena. Thea good tool against her is rhino horn. I know! But a lot of air teleport moves/jump ins are the prime range for rhino horn. You can get the max damage which is decent (because the move is crap 99% of the time aside from ex for shotos). Also the best range I found is right outside her dp range. You can do overheads mix up with crouch HK or mallet smash combos. Not too bad so far.
Rolento- again. Not too bad. One thing you need is good defense but you either have the tools the evade his trickery or to keep him from doing whatever he wants. This is one of these fights where I would randomly poke with lk just to let him know he can’t move towards me whenever he wants to. Doing dp has gave me some results if you feel he’s going to do duck tales shenanigans. You wanna play the far close up game. If you are too close he has the better pressure.
Hugo- HK is your friend all day. It beats out most of that bear clap crap. Mix it up with slides from a distance. One note I do need to make. You can beat out his air attacks with crouch hp:/ mp/lp. DO NOT START KNOCK DOWN MIXUP WITH MALLET SMASH. It counts as an airborn move and back breaker will beat it out cleanly. HK or trip seems to work better. If you want to do malet smash, get the opponent thinking you’re going low or combo from HK. Also because Hugo is such a tall character, crouching hp becomes a great poke on the ground.
Poison- Match seems even to me. Keep close but not right up close. Slide under fireballs. Punish focus with horn or mp. They tend to focus often but Elena focus is decent but weird.
What I like
I like the potential I see. There are definite things that I see wrong that capcom can easily fix and should fix. I wish we had the chance to play her arcade version because I feel if she had some of the tools she had before she might of had an answer where as of right now it seems like she doesn’t. when I am on fire with her I really feel like the opponent doesn’t know what to do and it’s very satisfying. Most cases though I do feel like I’m doing a lot of work and risk for very little reward.
Random tips
If you want to make sure lp mallet smash doesn’t go over to the other side, you can use lk in a combo. It creates some space which should be enough to land the move. I haven’t played around in the lab with this yet but I definitely noticed the space it created whenever I used it.
Dash up and throw been working for me. Also mixing up mallet smash and throw. Throws all around.
Those are my thoughts so far. Anyone have match up advice for her?