One thing I realised reading through the posts is that there is not a whole lot of discussion talking about how Ruby Heart fights against the top characters in the game, so now would be as good a time as any to start.
Since the last question asked in the last thread was "what can Ruby Heart do against runaway Storm?, I guess we should start with that.
I haven’t had many opportunities to play the matchup, but here’s my take:
Storm in general is the most difficult matchup for her amongst the top tier. Ruby Heart has to exploit Storm’s attack frames in order to be effective against her runaway tactic. Doing so comes with a degree of risk, though; that said, you can surprise a lot of players that do things with Storm under the pretense that they’re safe. If Storm is literally not doing anything, that can be a problem, but if she is trying to build meter, or if she is trying to attack while on the run, things become somewhat easier.
First and foremost, Ruby Heart is going to need a lot of meter if she wants to stand a chance in this matchup. If Storm is building meter with sj.fierce, and you have little or no meter, build meter with Ruby Heart with sj.roundhouse; she can do it as fast as Storm, if not faster. On the ground, s.fierce XX Sublimation is one of the quickest methods of meter building for her.
Once you’ve obtained sufficient meter, there’s two of Storm’s attacks that you should be looking to exploit: vertical Typhoon and sj.fierce.
Vertical Typhoon:
Vertical Typhoon is not necessarily a safe attack to do against Ruby Heart. When Storm does superjump, airdash up/Lightning Attack up, Vertical typhoon, sj.Hyper Schwarzaile can reach her regardless of how high up Storm is on the screen, and when redirected properly, it can beat the startup on the counter Lightning Storm. She should be on the same side of the screen as Storm to reduce HS’s travel distance.
sj.fierce:
A Storm player that tries to build meter with sj.fierce against Ruby Heart is pretty safe while at the top third of the screen; her attack frames can be exploited below this height, however.
You want to be inconspicuous, so take the opportunity to build meter on the ground as soon as she does an airdash or Lightning Attack upward, so long as she is not throwing vertical Typhoons against you.
As she approaches the top of the middle third of the screen (approximately super jump height), carefully watch Storm’s descent. Make sure that you stay very close to her horizontal position, and continue to build meter with s.roundhouse; if your opponent continues to leave Storm exposed by attacking, counter with Tour De Magie.
At that height, it makes contact with its target on a single frame after execution, so if she was attacking or obliviously moving forward, she’s going to take the hit. From there, learn the proper timing for the aircombo from a launcher after a successful connected hit, and inflict as much damage against her as possible with the opportunity. If you’re not within range to land the launcher, Hyper Schwarzaile will catch Storm during her freefall downward, and in some cases, so will Partnaire.
Against a Storm player making a more careful descent, you can use s.roundhouse to gauge whether or not she is blocking. If she is, she’ll go into her guard animation; in that case, you obviously do nothing. Otherwise, proceed executing Tour De Magie. The only way to gauge the proper height a Storm player must be at to be hit by the move takes practice, because if done improperly, it does leave Ruby Heart exposed to counterattack.
Other things:
An Anchor Capture generally is not going to connect very often against Storm, but throwing one might coerce a Storm player to use her airdash, so they aren’t totally without purpose.
Fantome can assist with applying pressure on Storm as she makes her final descent toward the ground, so there should always be one ready for every time her feet touch the ground while in runaway mode.
Common sense, take advantage of whatever opportunities you have to attack her while she is grounded, and do your best to keep her there.
In general, she definitely does not have it easy against runaway Storm, but that said, she isn’t totally helpless, either, as some people believe.