:: orochinagi

Recently, having gotten bored of KOF, and with nary an NGBC machine in sight, I've taken to playing Last Blade 2. The, uh, educational version.

A very fun and excellent game, but I can tell I require a significant paradigm adjustment if I'm to play this game halfway decently. Not too many safe moves, and since the pace of the game is somewhat slower, poking and parrying appear to be quite a bit more important. The fact that the CPU appears to be psychic when I try to pressure doesn't really help either

I more or less know the basic systems of the game, but I'd like some help with how to play certain characters, and how to adjust my playing style to fit the game.

Characters I use: Power Kaede, Power Moriya, Power Setsuna

these aint no pro strats but just how I play these 2 characters for the past few years

power moriya:

+A x 2 is pretty good for poking arround against characters that doesnt have really fast moves, u can also cancel is into a +C.C for quick recovery and/or possible hit.

Jump B is pretty good, always use it when jumping.

+A->appleslicer and +B x (1-3) -> appleslicer are the only 2 specials that can be canceld into appleslicer for decent dmg.

+B.B for poking in range, cancels projectile.

Not sure how well teleport B works on human players but it sux donkey balls against psychic CPU players, C is quite useful for getting out of a bad situation.

+B is quite useless other than for ending combos, +A is fast Mori's best AA.

cant remember much about his normal moves and their pokability.

basic combos (just random things i use): Jump B, B, +A x 2, +B/fwd+B (fwd+B does more dmg but takes lots of practice to connect, +B need to be timed (slight pause after 2nd +A) for full 2 hits. im sure u can cancel first +A into his appleslicer super), if blocked, do a +C.C after 2nd +A, or just a +A straight away for a possible counter.

power Setsuna:

+B is useless, no potential as AA and +B does more dmg as a combo ender.

+C whenever u have to opportunity, it's setsuna's most important move.

+B, good dmg, comes out very fast, good punisher and combo ender, but just make sure u dont get blocked =P

jump+B 2 hits, to get both hits in u have to execute it early when jumped, which makes him quite safe in air.

+A has good recovery, u can poke arround with it when u in the right range, both +A and B got a bit of air covery

qcfx2 + AB = good combo ender, decent air covery and good dmg, decent range.

jump B (2 hits), B (2 hits), +B/qcfx2+B/(if blocked)qcf+A

Kaede: basic combo: Jump B, B, A (2 hits), super cancel, power geyser


not sure if they helps, maybe sumone else (ie. PS) can give more useful tips.

Thanks for the input.

Some observations I've made - please tell me if I'm on the right track.

KAEDE:
jump A seems to be very nice air to air. A and stand A are good pokes if done at the right distance.

MORIYA:
jump B is quite meaty but it's a bit slow. I tried using jump C but it...stuns funny, for lack of a better word - need to do it quite deep if you're doing it as air-to-ground combo starter.

I find b+B to be decent anti-air at times. Does it have any form of upperbody invincibility?

SETSUNA:
+C makes great anticipated anti-air. A is fast and has somewhat better range than Kaede's A.

I'm not too fond of using jump B as air-to-ground since it has a funny hitbox. I prefer jump C in this regard since it has decent stun and comes out fairly quickly. stand A and jump A seem to be good spacing pokes - sometimes I just mash on stand A for last-minute anti-air.

This game is not slow at high level play man, .
There are some huuuge combos you can do with certain characters, and you'll almost always be running or low jumping. Watch 2 top level players go at it, it's just a giant crack low jump-fest.
It goes at about the speed of a V-ISM alpha 3 match.

If you play on kaillera, I'd be happy to show you some basics, but mostly you'll just have to learn from getting your ass kicked.

Remember that speed combos work like dial-a-combos, and the most basic one you can do is A, A, B + ending. You can end them with either a sweep, an overhead a special or a super. Supers do not combo off F. C, or specials in speed mode, that's reserved for power mode, and not all supers are chainable off standing/crouching B. Specials will however chain after a sweep on both power and speed.
Also remember that an overhead will stun your opponent if it hits them while they're blocking low, and you can run in and follow up with a combo.

Contrary to popular belief, power mode does have lots of combos, but they take the form of very very very difficult links with extremely strict timing.
For example, back+A, back+A, back+A, neutral+A, F B with Kaede on power (The F B has to be chained off the last A hit). Try doing that and tell me if you don't get frustrated. There are plenty of top level players who can do them in their sleep though.

EX mode is very feasible with many characters, but remember that your defense is cut in half. 3 of those rushing thrusts with power Amano will pretty much kill you. That doesn't stop EX Lee from being horribly broken though (But hell, Lee is broken on any mode).

Also, you'd be surprised at how effective certan characters are in certain modes. Shigen for example is actually much scarier in speed mode, because of his extremely damaging combos that are somewhat difficult to defend against.

If you're wondering about tiers, generally, it's something like:

Top Tier:
Speed/Power Zantetsu
Lee (Any mode)
Power Mukuro

Upper Mid Tier:
Speed/EX Akari
Speed Moriya
Power Kaede
Power Amano
Power/Speed Kagami
Speed Shigen

Mid Tier:
Power Setsuna
Speed Washizuka
Speed Hibiki
Power Juzoh
Speed Kojiroh

Low Tier:
Power Okina
Speed Yuki

Bottom Tier:
Speed Unawakened Kaede

For Kaede, use the Air Lightning slash ( + A/B) all the time. Use the
uppercut (DP + A/B) for defense, and use the Instant combo (close + C) instead of throwing. Follow that up with an uppercut for a lot of damage.
Don't use the Lightning Dragon Sword (QCF + AB/B) unless in a combo or you have a good shot. The Dragon Crash (QCB DnBk F + AB/B) supers aren't very powerful but hit all over the place.

For Moriya, use the Quick Slasher (QCB + A/B/C) a lot. This is good to keep the enemy away. Don't forget the C version, which hits low. Use
the Moon Slasher (DP + A/B) for air defense. Try to stay away from using the teleport (Bk DnBk Dn + A/B/C) too much, it leaves you open. Use the Multi Slasher (Fw + AB) when in critical life to do block damage.

For Setsuna, realize his Jump In and Standing Fierce both hit Twice. This means to get the max number of hits you'll have to hit with both hits jumping in and standing. This takes practice, and don't get frustrated if you can't, just deal with a few less hits. Use his Lightning Defense (HCB + C) a lot. It's useful. Also use his air grabber (DP + C), which is a great defensive move. His sword slashers (QCF + A/B ) are decent but don't over use them. His Huge slash (QCF + AB/B) is also a good move, so use it. But most of all, focus on combos.

You don't always want it to hit twice. Good players will just parry the second hit (unless you low jump it, but even then it's risky).
Don't always use B to jump in, as it's very easy to parry for many characters.

Kaede's C also links into an air throw, a speed combo, or either of his supers. However, you can't link it into +AB on speed.

There's also a nasty corner trick you can do where you do +C, then low jumping foward B, then jump straight up and throw before they land. The timing is strict, but the damage is worth it. Good players will just air recover before you can grab them though, so watch for that.

You could also substitute that trick with +C, run, neutral B, then if they quick recover, jump forward and throw.

Moriya's moon slashes are very useful within combos, as they knock the opponent down, giving you the advantage for a bit. Remember that you can link two in speed mode, and remember that you can end the 2nd slash of his quick slasher attack with any other special.

Normally you don't want to use his teleport much, but if you're playing in an environment where they allow Moriya's AC teleport glitch, then you want to be using it all the time.

One very important tip:
Yes, you have infinite supers when your life is low, but don't just spam random supers, you'll get owned fast if the person you're playing is any good. They'll just wait for you to super then own you with a long combo.

Keep your super moves within combos unless you know for sure that they're going to hit.

Kyokuji wrote: Top Tier:
Lee (Any mode)
Speed/EX Zantetsu

Upper Mid Tier:
Power Mukuro
Speed/EX Akari
Speed Moriya
Power Kaede
Power Amano
Speed Shigen
Power Setsuna

Mid Tier:
Speed Washizuka
Power/Speed Kagami
Speed Hibiki
Power Juzoh
Speed Kojiroh

Low Tier:
Power Okina
Speed Yuki

Bottom Tier:
Speed Unawakened Kaede

Hmm, what makes Moriya better in Speed than in Power mode?

Also, thanks for the input. I don't really claim to be a high-level player (far from it) but any form of insight from a skilled player is appreciated

Well, he has some very long and damaging combos that are only available to him in speed.
In power, he can't combo easily into his quick slash variations, and also there is a glitch with his teleport that allows speed Moriya to pull off some very very nasty combos, and almost constantly stay near his opponent.

Most people who are better in power are better because power lets them do certain damaging links/chains, or enhances their attack power by a lot, but for Moriya, it doesn't really do much for him.

It depends whether the tourney or whatever allows the glitch, but most seem to.
You could also move Mukuro up to the top tier if you want. His damage output is just sickening.

Again, if you play on kaillera with Mame32k, I'll be happy to give you some pointers.

That Moriya glitch you're referring to - is it the one where you can cancel his teleport with zero recovery by pressing A+C almost immediately after inputting the command?

If that's the case, then I kind of see your point.

Yes, but even without it, he's still better in speed.

Partly because of a few things.

A, A, B, +A, +A, FQCF+A, FQCF+B
A, A, B, +A, C+C
A, A, B, FHCF+AB

I haven't played very much versus human opponents, but I think Moriya is equally good in Power or Speed. Speed you can do those combos and the glitch with the teleport, but I like the greater strength behind his hits in Power because I tend to play a very defensive/poking/keep-away Moriya.
Where is Power Kojiroh on that list? I use Power mode Moriya, Kojiro, and Amano.

Also, I don't see how Lee could be broken in Power mode. I find him to be virtually useless in that mode, because he can't combo very well compared to Speed or EX. Actually, I don't really see why he's broken at all. Could someone explain? I don't play him.
Isn't EX sort of like cheating though? Sure your defense is lowered, but shouldn't they just ban it from any sort of tournament. I think it eliminates the strategy in picking Power or Speed, because then you are making a very small sacrifice if you are good at deflecting or blocking moves.

Sure your defense is lowered

I don't think you realize just how much it's lowered. At high levels of play, you're being hit by huge strings, not just something here and there, and when you're taking almost 2x damage, that's not good.

Many characters also gain little to no advantage by using EX.
If anything, I consider EX a handicap for most characters. You're giving up half your defense for what? Slightly higher damage?
Do back+A > crouching A > FBF+B > HCBHCB+AB on someone on speed with power Amano, then do it with the same character on EX. Look at the difference in damage.

Lee is dangerous on power because his AB+B/C comes out very quickly, and it's almost impossible to predict which one he's going to do. If you block low, you get hit by the overhead B which does good damage on power, if you block high, you get nailed by down+C, C, +A into super which does god knows how much damage.

In general, he's nasty because he has a very good high low game with is Down+B, Down+C, Down+C, or Forward+C crap, and his attacks come out very quickly so they're hard to parry. His jumping C has retarded priority as well and you can combo +C x 2 off it. Don't play offensive air games with Lee, you'll lose.

Also, Lee has plenty of combos in power mode. They're just all power links which are very difficult to time.
For instance:

Down+C x 2 or 3, Standing B, +A, +AB.
All of that should combo, and you can't just mash the buttons, you have to time them perfectly at the end of their recovery animations. Lee's power combos are a little easier than most people's since you can kind of mash the down+C's out as there's very little recovery time.

Since you use Power Kojiroh, a good one with her is Back+A, Back+A, +B, +AB.
Back+A, Back+A, Down+C is used for something as well but I forget what.

What makes speed Moriya dangerous is constant pressure, you get hit by one combo string, then he ports and immediately he's doing another one on you. It's almost impossible to get the hell away from him.
He's good on power as well though. He has a bunch of back+A strings which I can't time properly, and his has very nice damage on his pokes, and glitch 'port throw, but he lacks that rush down ability he has on speed.

Back+A, A, Down+A, B, DF+C, if they block, glitch 'port, repeat again, port, throw, mix-up, if you score a hit on another speed combo end with +A,QCF+A, +A, +B instead of DF+C.

Zantetsu is actually much more broken than Lee, but I'm not gonna get into that.

Zantetsu is broken... bah screw it, its the only one I learned to use "properly"...

Anyway... is the AC bug only present in Zantetsu? IS that the only thing that puts him in the abusable department?

God no. The AC thing doesn't matter because it's banned from every LB tourney I've seen. Any idiot can mash AC 5000 times in the air and win. If that and Akari's corner infinite were allowed, there'd be no point having tournies at all. Even doing it once, suddenly makes your jump mix-up game a thousand times more annoying, and it allows for combos that wouldn't work otherwise.

And he's the only one with the JAC glitch. O. Kaede has something similar, but it doesn't matter because O. Kaede sucks anyway, and it's not nearly as abusable.

Zantetsu is broken for a thousand other reasons.
An insanely quick dash 'port attack that crosses up ambiguosly.
Damaging, easy to do combos.
The ability to link his DM into his speed combo allowing him to come back easily when he has flashing life (Does the max 180 damage).
Air juggles off jump-cancels.
A banned corner infinite.
Annoying crouching C poke that he can chain into standing C and then specials/super.
Can link his dash 'port slash off forward C even on speed.
Quick pokes.
Jumping +A/B x 2 on grounded opponents.
High priority jumping A that can be comboed into his command throw.

There's a lot of misinformed players who think that power mode is all about poking because they don't know about power links. Poking is more effective in power, but it's just as combo focused as speed is, and speed can also be good for poking as you have more mix up options than you do on power.

You all seem to have forgotten to mention the Persona-esque "Stun Combos"