Then here’s the explanation:
Things that own Noel’s Drive:
Jin - DP, 5D
Ragna - DP, dash punch
Litchi - DP, 6B
Rachel’s chair
Tager’s 360
Noel’s own 2D or 5D
Bang’s super armor
Hakumen’s counters
even standard low pokes beat it out, and so do throws, so unless you do the DP (which is unsafe), you can get hit out of anything if the opponent mashes 2A.
And read again, I didn’t say that the drives shouldn’t be USED, I said it shouldn’t be the FOCUS. 2D is there to get you out of tough situations and for a mixup if your opponent can’t react to it. 4D is for getting you out of tough situations going backwards. 5D goes through specific things. 6D is…slow and might confuse your opponent once or twice, but not much after that. Anything beyond that is asking to be killed.
Those uses are very specific, it’s not like you spend the entire round focusing on using situational specific moves. Yeah, you can use them, but don’t ABUSE THEM, and her game surely isn’t BASED AROUND the D strings, they’re there to help make her normal offensive game a bit better.
And the easiest pick up character doesn’t even matter. She gets a lot less easy to use once your opponents figure out how easy it is to stop spammy D button Noel.
I been having a hard time beating D mashing Noels myself. The only answer was to also mash D. Then it comes down to who mashes D the most, i hate those fights. I just tend to wait for them to miss then dash and punish. I do not believe her Drive should not be her main focus at all. I only use it if I know that the first hit connects, or I use D 28D in the corner to start her BC 22c combo.
I’ve played good players that know how to punish her Drives. As Heart list showed those are a few moves that can, and any good player will know what to do. I played a Tager today and I got 360 countless times even in the middle of her Drive moves.
As for online, ranked matches don’t mean shit. I’m at level 21 and I am not that good. I think all the good players just create a room in player match to keep the competition on an equal level. So, you still may not find some one with a brain even after a few hours. She may be easy to use for some because she does cool stuff by mashing D, but her BnBs are not easier, and becoming a really good Noel is nothing something that will be easy either.
I think HeartNana is absolutely right that you shouldn’t D-spam. It’s a good tool but not one to rely on. With that said, I just found a video that sheds light onto Noel’s potential for her drive. (I don’t know if you guys have seen this yet–I searched the forum–so here you go:)
[media=youtube]PZN9bRvw7uE[/media]
This is Noel’s landing D recovery, which creates lots of great openings. One of my faves, and one I still struggle with a lot, is her 214D upon landing, which is an excellent mix-up to a countering opponent.
After landing and once you perform any other attacks (6A, 6B, 6C, whatever) you can cancel the first drive attack and then proceed into whatever combo you have up your sleeve.
Oh snap thanks for that video! I’ve been trying to that with empty jumpin ( deep J.D > 28D ) , but haven’t had much luck. Nerver occurred to me and try it after J.B > J.C airstring.
@ Brandino - I should be home by 6:30/7pm, you up for some casuals by chance ?
@ Hearthana - hope to meet you @ Evo and get some casual games. Not to mention get some feedback from you about my Noel gameplay.
As for Noel being an easy character = :nono:. People can assume a character is easy due to the fact that certain moves or things do alot of damage which can take you so far till you have reached the limit of it. Once you get into the depth of a character, the more you learn about the character’s true potential and limits.
Evil, I agree with you there. Also, top tier players will pick apart a D-spammer and suddenly Noel won’t be an “easy” character anymore. She’s only “easy” b/c of the level of competition they’re facing.
IMO Noel’s easy to pick up in the same sense that MOST entry level characters are. They’re easy to pick up and learn at lower levels of play, but once you enter that intermediate/high level play you start to see the depth of that character.
Hey pick me pick me, I wanna play too. I don’t wanna face random people that simply mash their way through matches, I wanna play people that actually wanna learn the game and get better. I play Rachel and Noel for now, Rachel just seems like a very interesting character and Noel is just fast and exciting, plus I have a thing for women with guns especially when they use them in battle.