I've been thinking a lot about Rachel recently. I spent few hours training my lovely girl and came to the conclusion that she needs changes. Not now, as I don't expect too many new patches for DOA5U. But she will definitely need them in DOA6. Rachel is good character, great for beginners, really strong at average level of play. But when it comes to high level she's hella hard to master! Your opponent is fast - you've got a lot of trouble. Your opponent has good spacing - you've got a lot of trouble. Your opponent has safety and plays
aggressively - you've got a lot of trouble. She has plenty of strenghts, but against a good player who knows the match-up her weaknesses can really easily lead you to defeat.
While I was training I came up with some ideas. I don't want all of them in game, just some. So:
I.General changes:
- can get a low kick follow-up, something like Rollthrough ,
- should wallsplat AFTER Rachel grabs her opponent, not before. It also means that if there's no wall she would throw them further then she does now,
- is really slow (i25) and easy to notice. I think guaranteed isn't a sufficient reward and should also be guaranteed,
- I guess people use only when opponent is in stun, but it still shouldn't be -11 on hit,
- Rachel generally needs new string and throws. Look at her official bio: 'Despite being a heavy-weight powerhouse, she has a wide variety of move chains at her disposal. She is particularly skilled at throwing, and is partial to air throws'. For me she has very few string, and characters like Leifang or Marie that aren't specialised in throws have more of them than she has. A combo throw is something she must get.
II. Starting the stun:
Rachel has big problem with starting her offensive. DOA isn't a game where you strike punish that much, and she doesn't have many moves on NH that stun enough to start a combo. That's why I think the advantage of some moves should be increased on NH (for example or ). Also her guard breaks are bad. She's slow, fast for a heavy but still slow. Right now she only have 1 positive guard break (), which is +1. The rest of them leave her at -1,-2 or -3. She needs bigger advantage from them. Also I think and could become guard breaks.
III. BT game:
At the moment the only move that leaves Rachel in BT is . The problem is that it's -12 and launches on CH. It would be nice if she got more BT transitions, as her BT moves aren't bad. TN could not only add new transitions but also some new BT moves. But let's take a look at some of her actual ones:
- (i12) is her FASTEST MID and 2nd fastest move after the jab. When you do it while your opponent is in stun, it cause the same type of stun as 3rd punch of (not sure if you can SE from this one),
- is the same move as , but it's 3 frames faster (i15) and stun for 2 frames longer as CH, of course it still crushes and tracks . Good move when front turned, even better when back turned,
- for me this move is really good. Maybe it's slow (i22) but hard to notice. It crashes, tracks, has excellent range and is +15 on NH, so if you're close enough you can follow up with , .
On CH it's +21.
For me her BT isn't bad, it would be pretty decent after adding few transitions and moves, and great after adding CB or throw.
So these are some of my suggestions. Feel free to add your own and comment mine. I hope everybody understood my English, if not then ask me XD
aggressively - you've got a lot of trouble. She has plenty of strenghts, but against a good player who knows the match-up her weaknesses can really easily lead you to defeat.
While I was training I came up with some ideas. I don't want all of them in game, just some. So:
I.General changes:
- can get a low kick follow-up, something like Rollthrough ,
- should wallsplat AFTER Rachel grabs her opponent, not before. It also means that if there's no wall she would throw them further then she does now,
- is really slow (i25) and easy to notice. I think guaranteed isn't a sufficient reward and should also be guaranteed,
- I guess people use only when opponent is in stun, but it still shouldn't be -11 on hit,
- Rachel generally needs new string and throws. Look at her official bio: 'Despite being a heavy-weight powerhouse, she has a wide variety of move chains at her disposal. She is particularly skilled at throwing, and is partial to air throws'. For me she has very few string, and characters like Leifang or Marie that aren't specialised in throws have more of them than she has. A combo throw is something she must get.
II. Starting the stun:
Rachel has big problem with starting her offensive. DOA isn't a game where you strike punish that much, and she doesn't have many moves on NH that stun enough to start a combo. That's why I think the advantage of some moves should be increased on NH (for example or ). Also her guard breaks are bad. She's slow, fast for a heavy but still slow. Right now she only have 1 positive guard break (), which is +1. The rest of them leave her at -1,-2 or -3. She needs bigger advantage from them. Also I think and could become guard breaks.
III. BT game:
At the moment the only move that leaves Rachel in BT is . The problem is that it's -12 and launches on CH. It would be nice if she got more BT transitions, as her BT moves aren't bad. TN could not only add new transitions but also some new BT moves. But let's take a look at some of her actual ones:
- (i12) is her FASTEST MID and 2nd fastest move after the jab. When you do it while your opponent is in stun, it cause the same type of stun as 3rd punch of (not sure if you can SE from this one),
- is the same move as , but it's 3 frames faster (i15) and stun for 2 frames longer as CH, of course it still crushes and tracks . Good move when front turned, even better when back turned,
- for me this move is really good. Maybe it's slow (i22) but hard to notice. It crashes, tracks, has excellent range and is +15 on NH, so if you're close enough you can follow up with , .
On CH it's +21.
For me her BT isn't bad, it would be pretty decent after adding few transitions and moves, and great after adding CB or throw.
So these are some of my suggestions. Feel free to add your own and comment mine. I hope everybody understood my English, if not then ask me XD
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