Rachel Intermediate guide

Yurlungur

Well-Known Member
For those who are just stumbling upon the thread i've done a beginner's guide for our vigorian bulldozer. This currently is a w.i.p

Timat's rebuke Tick throw set ups:
Say that fives times fast. These are some very effective sets up in order to scare your opponent into holding. Well you can use any throw but we all know this is the one you really want to do.
  • 1p, hcf+T
  • 4pp2p, hcf+T
  • 3t, hcf+t
  • Immediately after rolling
  • 6k, hcf+T
  • 66t or ppt into hcf+T
Spacing:
One of the most important things you have to learn about rachel is spacing, she is not a character you can just go in and mash. You have to have very good spacing and fundamentals in order to play her correctly.
Fundamentals for spacing and Korean Backdash
Distances on rachel's attacks

Stage Benefits:
Certain characters have unfair advantages in some stages. Rachel is one of them.

Stages that benefit rachel
  • The lab, upon picking this stage you can do an extra 15 points worth of damage on a bnb
  • Home, While rachel is no leon she can do massive damage in this stage.
  • Ends of the earth, 1pp automatically counts as a counter hit and 2h+k is really godly in this scenario
Example of home advantage:
  1. hcf+t, 9p,t,ppp(wall/furniture break),66p,8k,9k,9p,t, 6pkp or ppp into another wall/furniture and rinse and repeat
  2. Sometimes rachel will break the floor and will reset in her neutral position
Stages that do not benefit rachel
  • Dead or alive, due to rachel's lack of defense if she's cornered in this stage it can get very scary for you.
  • Fighting entertainment, same reason as above.
  • Forest, Due to rachel's difficulty getting in, the trees cause be rather irritating to deal with especially against zoners.
Matchups:


This is a video against sarah, one of rachel's worst matchups. The main problem against sarah is her speed is very overwhelming as shown in the beginning of this video. This is why spacing is extremely important. If noticed you noticed at a certain distance this rachel is always testing the waters with 4k. If sarah gets in your face and starts an offense it literally will aggravating. The christie matchup plays very similar to this and so do the other virtua fighter characters.
This video belongs to @kIts3


This is a video against kasumi. This is actually showing how overwhelming someone mashing at you can be.
This is also my day 1 rachel, plz don't judge. This is another example why spacing is important for you.


This is a video against the spawn of satan, i mean ayane. I'm not salty, i swear. I honestly believe this rachel's worst matchup. Due to ayane's crushes and speed rachel has an extremely hard time doing things against her. Due to the fact ayane can vortex and zone it makes rachel's life a living hell. During this video ayane twirled away from qcf+p and was able to punish her for it. The biggest thing i can tell you is to have the up most patience in this match up in particular.

Kasumi and ayane video's belong to @Force_of_Nature
 
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Klts3

Well-Known Member
If we're talking about MUs here, then... don't you guys feel like Rachel is the easiest character to punish Ryu after his teleport moves? You know, you just need to do Rollthrough and grab him.
 

DrDam

Member
While I understand that Tiamat's Rebuke is a good throw, I wouls say that Breaking Wheel (4H+P) is a better throw for scaring opponents from holding. It is 102 damage on HCH, 2 frames faster than Tiamat's Rebuke and works on all weight classes. There are some situarions in which Tiamat's would be a better option, like on Lab, next to wall or next to a danger zone, but Breaking Wheel will generally be your best tool to punish those Hold-Happy players.
 

Yurlungur

Well-Known Member
While I understand that Tiamat's Rebuke is a good throw, I wouls say that Breaking Wheel (4H+P) is a better throw for scaring opponents from holding. It is 102 damage on HCH, 2 frames faster than Tiamat's Rebuke and works on all weight classes. There are some situarions in which Tiamat's would be a better option, like on Lab, next to wall or next to a danger zone, but Breaking Wheel will generally be your best tool to punish those Hold-Happy players.

That's true but it all depends on the players, i like getting a guaranteed yurlungur off of it
I personally don't like that it's a "soft knockdown" and leaves you at a weird positioning
 

Klts3

Well-Known Member
For me Tiamat's Rebuke is better because you can start incredible combos in Home from it and it's one of best throws for tag mode. Both throws are good, but guys, Wrath of Vigoor is also amazing. It has great damage on every stage, but it works like crazy in Lab, DOA Arena, Fighting Entertainment, Aircraft Carrier, Depth and lower level of Scramble (those explosions are just...)
 

Lulu

Well-Known Member
So Rachel doesn't do too well when she gets cornered, what types of attacks does her Catch Grab 66T stop ? if they don't crouch then maybe you can turn the tables on them, another plan would be to Roll Through.... which I guess seems alil desperate, if an opponent knows they are faster than You then they might even predict what you might do in a panic.
Say I wana fight my way out instead of Holding or Side Stepping. what moves will help me get my space back ?
 

RenderingStar

Well-Known Member
Hey guys I thought I might share this since Rachel is my secondary. Hopefully i can tell you guys some things you didn't already know. Rachel struggles against fast characters but she especially struggles when the opponent has a 9frame such as Kasumi, Christie, Pai etc. A way to compensate for this disadvantage is you can start the match with 1P, which crushes highs and puts the opponent in a stun which gives her +19/+22(SE Fastest or Fast) which allows for mix up i personally go for 8K which guarantees you a 3P(which is her best option out of 8K) this stun puts them in a must hold situation and this allows you to tick throw(explained above).This is where Rachel shines 6T gives her +3 if you opponent techs up, and if they do not this allows for a 2K or 8K attempt. Also 6T next to a wall guarantees you a 66K if your opponent techs up immediately(unholdable) and if they block this gives her +1. A major flaw with Rachel is that her defensive options are veryyyyyy weak her spacing revolves 4K which is a 15Frame mid K which is -3 on block. 236P which is 20frames and leaves her -1 on block(and some others that i won’t go into unless asked). To get around this Rachel has to utilize her RollThrough(2P+K or 8P+K),2H+K and 2P and her tracking H+K(i13,-7 on block) 4P(i16) and 1P(i18). Also I just found this but when you end a wall combo with 6PKK or 6KK and you 2T, Rachel will be left +6. Please note I read this above Rachel doesn't have a guaranteed 2K after 4T the Ai just doesn't tech up from it. A player can easily side or back tech and throw punish you.:rachel:
 

Lulu

Well-Known Member
Hey guys I thought I might share this since Rachel is my secondary. Hopefully i can tell you guys some things you didn't already know. Rachel struggles against fast characters but she especially struggles when the opponent has a 9frame such as Kasumi, Christie, Pai etc. A way to compensate for this disadvantage is you can start the match with 1P, which crushes highs and puts the opponent in a stun which gives her +19/+22(SE Fastest or Fast) which allows for mix up i personally go for 8K which guarantees you a 3P(which is her best option out of 8K) this stun puts them in a must hold situation and this allows you to tick throw(explained above).This is where Rachel shines 6T gives her +3 if you opponent techs up, and if they do not this allows for a 2K or 8K attempt. Also 6T next to a wall guarantees you a 66K if your opponent techs up immediately(unholdable) and if they block this gives her +1. A major flaw with Rachel is that her defensive options are veryyyyyy weak her spacing revolves 4K which is a 15Frame mid K which is -3 on block. 236P which is 20frames and leaves her -1 on block(and some others that i won’t go into unless asked). To get around this Rachel has to utilize her RollThrough(2P+K or 8P+K),2H+K and 2P and her tracking H+K(i13,-7 on block) 4P(i16) and 1P(i18). Also I just found this but when you end a wall combo with 6PKK or 6KK and you 2T, Rachel will be left +6. Please note I read this above Rachel doesn't have a guaranteed 2K after 4T the Ai just doesn't tech up from it. A player can easily side or back tech and throw punish you.:rachel:

Well thats certainly helpful.... but what about Characters with Fast Mids..... mids are bane to every character in the game..... except Helena.
I think Rachel would struggle with those..... However she also does have one of the fastest Catch Grabs in the game.... in Theory.... this is awesome.... in practice however I doubt I can input 66T faster than my opponent can simply input 6P.
Theres this technique I've been working on against opponents with fast and safe strikes..... I absorb the first 1 or 2 hits with her Guard..... but while I'm doing that I'l also being buffering the 66 while guarding.... then just release the guard and throw and hope My opponent is not mixing me up with a low or a Throw.
Its not ideal but its better than my previous strategy of side stepping mid string.... the mids always get me when I do this..... actually the reason why this doesn't work is because I sidestep with 22.... if I could 88 then I wouldn't get caught crouching.

That reminds me.... what are the properties of Rachel's Roll Through anyway ? is it any different from the regular side step ?
 

RenderingStar

Well-Known Member
In neutral or the start of a match 6P will always beat out your 66T your best option with a mid P in my experiece with Rachel is to hold it or try to punish it. The key with Rachel is you have to punish punish punish take advantage of that grab damage. If I remember RollThrough acts like a normal SS
 

Lulu

Well-Known Member
Damn..... I figured as much....
Because I abused the hell out of 1P and even the AI caught on to my trick.... it also did nothing to help me against Gen Fu and Pai Chan because one is fast and the other goes low alot. a Raw 66T is abit of a gamble..... hence why I'm learning to buffer it under certain conditions.... if I get the hang of doing it on block then maybe I can buffer it into my Side Steps too........ shouldn't be too complicated..... but whether its actually usefull remains to be seen.
I save Holds as a last Resort because Catch Grabs cover more options..... I like the ones that give you advanatege like Rachels 66T or Marie "totally 18" Rose's BT T.
I wish Tina had one.
 

RenderingStar

Well-Known Member
Never throw 66T raw its not good at all!! Try throwing out a 2P into 66T 2P will give her that extra umph that she needs
 

Lulu

Well-Known Member
LoL.... I use raw Catch Grabs all the time.... specifically I use them counter offensively.
The thing is against tough fights like The VF characters I don't even get a chance to 2P. Literally every single offensive move in Rachel's arsenal is too slow to beat out a character like Jacky.... but her Defensive moves are faster than their offensive ones.... so things like Side Stepping and Blocking are surprisingly good (counter) offensive tools too. its funny because you need to beat Jacky's Speed with something faster.....it took me a while to figure out that it didn't need to be a faster attack..... it can be anything.
 

RenderingStar

Well-Known Member
Yea they really do her 4K is a great tool. Regarding Rachel's catch grab I ment I wouldnt suggest just randomly throwing it out unless you have a reason for it. It may be a one of the faster catch grabs but its still a OH which means any grab standing jab or 2P will beat it out. Also if your struggling against VF's like Jacky wait for him to be unsafe and Rachel will beat him down with punishing and patience.
 
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