Rachel Alucard Guide (WIP)

Overview

Rachel Alucard is an incredibly complicated but powerful character. This guide will help provide the basics on her strengths, weaknesses, combos, and more. This guide will focus on playing Rachel, but I will also provide some information pertaining to combatting her as well. Keep in mind this is a character specific guide and will not cover more complicated universal mechanics such as TK or IAD.

Introduction

Rachel is, in simplest terms, a zoner with extremely high mobility limited by a meter. She has an average health at 11,000 and an excellent backdash. Ideally, Rachel will want to stay away from the opponent until she has set up and can safely pursue her foe. How to do this exactly will be covered in later chapters.

A fair warning before we truly begin, Rachel is NOT a beginner friendly character. This guide will not discuss basic mechanics such as Crush Trigger, Counter Assault, etcetera, but will rather cover how to properly utilize these mechanics.

Drive

Rachel’s Drive is not an attack like a majority of the cast, but instead is a powerful tool used by Rachel to do basically everything. The wind does exactly what you would expect it to do: push things around, most notably Rachel herself. Rachel gets her movement, among other things, from her drive, allowing her to escape, approach, and much more. An important thing to note about Rachel’s Drive is that it can be used alongside other attacks of hers, allowing her to move and attack at the same time.

Rachel’s Drive can be used in eight directions, with 5D and 6D being identical to one another. It can be used to blow around herself, lobelias, George, herself, and even manipulate her opponent a bit, although this effect is most noticable mid-combo. Play around with throwing projectiles with it or moving Rachel with it. It takes time to get used to, but once you do you’ll be flying around the stage like you had wings spoilers, Rachel actually DOES have wings, those red things on her sides are not part of her dress.

All this power does not come for free, however, as Rachel can only use her Drive four times before it is fully depleted. There is a short cooldown where wind cannot regenerate immediately after wind is used. The gauge for her Drive is directly above her Heat gauge, denoted by a little rose to the left of it (as seen above). This gauge actively fills, with the first two used filling faster than the last two used and all four filling significantly faster while she is grounded than when she is in the air. Once the gauge is empty, Rachel cannot use her Drive until at least one bar has filled up.

Overdrive

Rachel’s Overdrive, aside from the usual boost to supers, causes her Drive gauge to restore rapidly, allowing for her to have virtually limitless wind. This leads to rather powerful zoning, but a good Rachel will rarely use Overdrive in neutral, instead using is as a guard cancel to escape sticky situations or at the end of a combo to get the raw power provided by Overdrive’s buff. It is important to note that her Overdrive gives Baden Baden Lily bonus proration and increases the minimum damage of the body and poles, making it EXTREMELY powerful late in combos. It also increases the number of projectiles thrown by Tempest Dahlia, but this is rarely used unless Rachel is trying to chip out a barrier-broken opponent.

The only exceptional thing about Rachel’s EA is that if you use it after OD activates (not holding ABCD), she will automatically wind herself fowards if she has wind. Other than that, it’s about as big as 5B and has the same effect as other EAs. Her EA leaves the opponent in front of her at around round start distance, allowing her to keep opponents in the corner and making it free damage at the end of an OD combo. Keep in mind that using EA ends Overdrive and gives Rachel Active Flow if she did not already have it. The distance it places the opponent at isn’t ideal, but if it’ll kill, it’s a really flashy way to close out a game.

Normals

At first glance, Rachel’s buttons might not seem all that impressive due to their slightly slow startup. However, her normals are actually incredibly powerful due to their size and versatility. I will be going down the line, starting with her A attacks, describing these buttons and their uses. If you are already well aquainted with Rachel’s buttons, you can safely skip this section.

Standard jab. Has two hits, though after the first hit the attack can be canceled into another, higher leveled normal. Both of these hits are jump cancelable.

Rachel’s primary jab. Good range and a slight disjoint. Used alongside George oki to bait DPs. Comes out decently quickly, though

Rachel’s anti-air. Anybody in the air should fear Rachel’s 6A as it is easily one of the best anti-airs in the game. As well as being absolutely massive, this attack has guardpoint, allowing Rachel to tank attacks that will beat out normal anti-airs. This attack is very common in her combos as well as a great starter against anybody in the air. It is important to note that in CF Rachel’s 6A now launches upon hitting grounded foes.

Rachel’s fastest air poke and the main component of her IOH. This attack comes out extremely quickly and, while not being the most damaging poke in the game, is good to keep up pressure because of how fast it is, the fact it chains into itself, and how low the hitbox is.

Rachel’s go-to starter and arguably her most important button. Due to the reasonable startup and enormus size of this button, this attack is relatively easy to land. Even if it is blocked, Rachel’s blockstrings usually contain 5B, so keeping up pressure becomes a breeze with 5B (pun intended).

• Low

Commonly gatlinged to from 5B, 2B is almost identical to 5B horizontally, while being much smaller vertically and being a very fast low. This is often used as a mixup instead of Rachel’s infamous IOH and can combo back into 5B, making it an easy way to keep up pressure on block.

Another one of Rachel’s excellent starters, this attack has more horizontal but less vertical range than 5B. This attack is used to harass enemies at a distance or to punish people that recklessly charge straight at Rachel. Since this attack has stagger on grounded counterhit and blowback/wallbounce on airborne counterhit, it is an excellent tool to either gain the upper hand in neutral or to reset neutral by throwing your opponent far away from you.

• Fatal
• Overhead

Rachel’s standing overhead. While not commonly used as a starter, it is a fatal counter, meaning it can lead into big damage on counterhit. Commonly used after 6A in combos to pull the opponent to the ground before following up with 5CC or after 214C to set either lobelia or George oki.

Rachel’s best jump-in option, depsite it no longer being an overhead as of 2.0. This attack is quite large, making it not only a good air-to-ground but an excellent air-to-air.

I’m not sure why the sprites doubled Rachel like that. I will work on getting better sprites.

• First hit is Fatal

Rachel’s best Fatal starter. While this should not just be thrown out like crazy, it does lead to insane damage, especially in the corner. It’s more common use, however, is as a combo enter to blow back the opponent to fullscreen, allowing Rachel ample time to setup for the next assault. Additionally, this attack wallsplats when in the corner, making it a staple in Rachel’s optimal corner BnBs.

I could not find any hitbox data, but the hitbox is roughly the size of the chair itself with Rachel herself forming one large hurtbox.

Rachel’s “reversal tool.” In reality, this normal is EXTREMELY unsafe and quite bad, making it a dangerous move to throw out in almost any situation. Since it does not have invuln on frame 1, this attack is extremely risky, especially on whiff. This is more of a tool used to punish those that autopilot. Usually fuzzy jump back barrier is safer. It is recommended that if you are to use this, make sure you have 50 heat to spend on a rapid cancel to keep you from being fataled if this attack is blocked. Alternatively, make sure you have your burst to get out of any sticky situation you may find yourself in.

Rachel leaps forward and twirls at her opponent. This attack is designed to be controlled by wind since it makes Rachel airborne while using it. 5D is the most commonly used wind direction since Rachel leaps towards the opponent. 6C[1] is also used in a number of Rachel’s corner combos.

• Low

Rachel’s sweep. Can be held to increase the number of hits from 3 to 7 (denoted by []). Like 6C, this attack can be pushed forwards by the wind, allowing it to cover more ground and for Rachel herself to pursue foes at a distance. This attack is safe on block, but ends Rachel’s pressure without a rapid, so it is a last-ditch attempt at mixing up her foe.

Another one of Rachel’s anti-airs when used immediately after Rachel jumps. Very useful in catching opponents above Rachel in an air-to-air situation. Rachel can also hold j.C to cause her to float down slowly, commonly seen in mixups or in getaway tactics since wind can still be used while Rachel is in this state.

Normals (continued)

Poor j.2C. Nerfed in CF, j.2C is not as useful in combos as it once was. Now its only use will be seen in the occational overhead from 6C or as a lucky starter. It has three levels depending on how fast Rachel is traveling. At level 1, it does moderate damage and is special cancelable. At level 2, it groundbounces and does slightly more damage. At level 3, it does high amounts of damage and is completely untechable, though you will rarely see this outside of meme combos like BBL 8D sjc 2D j.2C.

For more detailed information, you can visit [link] to find more in-depth descriptions of Rachel’s normals and specials or [link] for hitbox information.

Special Moves

Rachel’s specials are all incredibly useful and extremely deadly when used properly. Being a zoner, all of her specials involve throwing out a projectile or ranged tool of some sort, allowing her to harass her opponents from afar.

Lobelias are Rachel’s primary form of zoning and are required to set up her most powerful tool in neutral, Lotus. These rods begin their lives as seeds thrown by Rachel. When these seeds touch the ground, they will grow into large rods that Rachel can either detonate with Sword Iris or turn into bats with Lotus Barrel. These seeds have a single active hit and, when colliding with other projectiles or moves, the seed will turn a darker color and lose that hitbox. Note that these seeds can be detonated in midair, even if they lose their hitbox catching unsuspecting enemies off guard. Very few things in the game will completely destroy the seeds. The only thing I have regularly seen is Azrael’s Growler Field, though I did once see a Tager destroy one while charging B Sledge, but this I would need to research some more before commenting on. The most devastating thing Rachel can do with lobelias is use her wind to manipulate their movement, but a later chapter will cover lobelia tips and tricks.

Lotus Barrel is an incredible neutral tool. After Rachel has a rod or seed out, she can use Lotus Barrel to convert the rod or seed into a bat that slowly move around the screen for just under a second. This affects all rods that have been placed, making it possible to have up to three bats on the screen at once. Rachel can use her wind to move the bats to their destination much faster, and even if they are blocked they will attach themselves to the opponent for around 417 frames, or close to 7 seconds. During this time, two things occur.
1) The bat attached can be detonated like a rod and, because it tracks the opponent, allows for punishment regardless of Rachel’s position on the stage.
2) Rachel’s wind is GREATLY enhanced. This is the lesser known effect of Lotus. While Lotus is attached, Rachel’s wind strength is approximately tripled, allowing her to travel at insane speeds, rivaling that of even Valkenhayn. Additionally, 5D now homes in on the opponent rather than acting identically to 6D, allowing for very fast and accurate approaches. Keep in mind if the opponent is crouching, Rachel will fly over them.

Sword Iris is Rachel’s special that allows her to detonate rods, bats, and seeds alike. It does good damage and has infinite vertical reach, allowing for it to effectively catch jump-ins and IADs. Like Lotus Barrel, Sword Iris affects all rods, seeds, and bats in play, requiring new ones to be set up before being used again. Rachel is able to harass enemies quite effectively with this tool, but most of the tips about this will be in either Lobelia or Lotus notes. Keep in mind that the air version has ridiculous frame advantage but slower startup, allowing it to function as both a pressure reset tool and a frame trap.

Aw! He’s so cute! Don’t let his little face and those ribbits fool you, George is an incredibly useful and dangerous tool in Rachel’s arsenal. George effectively acts as a landmine, slowly walking towards the opponent, turning around to continue his slow pursuit even if they jump over him. George is affected by wind and does not go away on block, allowing Rachel to wind him in while being pressured in small gaps in the opponent’s pressure. George is invulnerable to projectiles, though they will knock him back a bit, and has approximately 900 health, meaning he can be killed by a good sweep or a couple jabs. However, Rachel can take advantage of an opponent dedicating themselves to killing George and get a combo or keep pressure on their block. Additionally, CF removed the George cooldown meter, allowing Rachel to immediately place another George so long as George is not in recovery after being set off. Should the opponent block George, Rachel is given a free in, as George provides Rachel ample time to approach and begin her ridiculous mixup.

Ivy Blossom replaced Impish Gypsophila (RIP pumpkin) in CF, which lead plenty of people to believing Rachel would be terrible in CF. How wrong they were. While not incredibly useful in neutral, Ivy Blossom allows Rachel to deal insane amounts of damage in the corner, as the damage Ivy does does not scale in accordance to the current combo, meaning it will always do 500 damage if all of the bats hit. This allows Rachel to tack on an additional 2500 or so damage in longer combos. The attack itself has no hitstun and simply creates a red cloud of bats, slowly draining the opponent’s health. The DOT is greatly increased in the wind, allowing Rachel to quickly deal a lot of damage in a very short peroid of time. This effect is very noticable when used in conjunction with distortions like Baden Baden Lily.

Distortions/Supers

Distortion is just a fancy term for super in the Blazblue universe. Rachel has two supers outside of her Astral, which will also be covered.

Rachel’s damage-dealing super. Think of it as a super charged Sword Iris that keeps your opponent in place for a little longer than George does. That being said, it’s a waste of meter to use it to keep your opponent in blockstun. This super is usually used towards the end of combos in the corner since it has surprisingly high minimum damage on both the body and the rods, meaning you should try to get down as many rods as possible before using this super in order to get the maximum effect.

“Wow, that’s a lot of numbers” is what you’re probably thinking. And yes, there’s a lot to Tempest Dahlia, but it’s really easy to understand. The more wind you have, the more powerful Tempest Dahlia becomes. Level 4 is with 4 stocks of wind, 3 is with 3 stocks of wind, and so on. However, the main use of Tempest isn’t the damage it does, but that it gives you 2 full stocks of wind back granted it isn’t interupted. It’s also pretty good to throw out to let you approach because most enemies will simply (and understandably) block it. If you’re low on wind, superjump back Tempest isn’t a bad idea, unless the opponent has a fullscreen super that’s invulnerable and for some reason has a hitbox that’s way bigger than it looks like Azrael’s Black Hawk Stinger or Ragna’s Carnage Scissor.

Rachel’s DP haaa, bad jokes. Rachel’s Astrals is one of the better Astrals in the game for one of a few reasons. For one, it’s MASSIVE. Like lobelias and Baden Baden Lily, this attack has infinite vertical range, meaning it can catch opponents while Rachel is offscreen or those that foolishly try to divekick or do an air attack above Rachel while she has the ability to Astral. This Astral can be used as a reversal, although it’s risky because attacks that hit the guardpoint can be rapided to avoid the fatal punish. This Astral is also insanely easy to combo into, even after a 5A, making it a very practical way to wrap up a match.

That and it just looks damn cool.

General Gameplan

As mentioned in the introduction, Rachel is a setplay/zoner type character. She prefers to remain far away from her opponents at all times, making characters with high mobility or teleports difficult to deal with at times.

Round start, Rachel has a lot of options, just like everybody else in Blazblue. She can go agressive with j.3DB. Throw out a defensive 5B. IAD backwards and throw a lobelia. The world is your oyster. However, most of these options come at a cost. IAD backwards and throwing a lobelia puts you closer to the corner, which puts you at risk because Rachel’s reversal tools are severely limited. If your opponent waits round start and you throw out 5B they can counterhit you. The list goes on and on. Honestly, one of the best, safest options Rachel can go for is wait for just a split second. See what your opponent does and react to what they do. If they IAD backwards, throw a lobelia at them or set up George. If they throw something at you, block it. Of course, there are exceptions to this, such as fighting a Susano’o, who will more that likely throw out their 5B which beats everything round start, according to them. In this case, throw out 5B. Your 5B will win and you can follow up with j.3DB j.C 5B 5CC and get Susan into the corner on round start, which is VERY strong in that matchup. There are other characters where things such as this are true, but we’ll cover that in a later chapter. General rule of thumb is just wait and react to what your opponent does.

Rachel’s neutral is a little awkward, even if you’re familiar with the general zoner playstyle. Even now I’m having trouble describing exactly what Rachel’s neutral is. Rachel wants to remain outside of her opponent’s attacking range since she can cover literally the entire screen with her various forms of lobelia. Once those lobelias are up and surrounding her opponent, moving forward for the opponent is a risk since Rachel can detonate the rods at a moment’s notice.

If your opponent is hesitant in moving past your “forest” of rods, turning them into Lotuses is a great idea. Having a Lotus attached to your opponent does several things, the first basically attaching a ticking timebomb to them that can be detonated anywhere between then and 7 seconds later. It also VASTLY increases the power of wind, making it so Rachel can basically teleport to them at a moment’s notice. Lastly, the Lotuses themselves have a hitbox, meaning it temporarily traps your opponent where they are, whether that’s on the ground or in the air. Lotus is a large part of Rachel’s neutral and, in my opinion, is the most important tool to set up.

Another of Rachel’s tools is George XIII. George is the most infamous of Rachel’s tools, as many people forget that he’s there after a short time, after which he will walk up and zap them, allowing for a combo or a free approach if he’s blocked. While George can be killed with jabs, he is immune to projectiles, which will just slide him back a little. This makes George either act as a distraction or work as a free in. The opponent has to dedicate themselves to killing George, which gives time for Rachel to move in. This is the least ideal time to move in when George is up because the opponent can gatling into other normals or specials off of George, making approaching someone slapping George risky. This is why I personally do not like trying to capitalize off of the opponent killing George, but it’s still doable. Many opponents like to ignore George and jump over him. Use this to your advantage by using the all-powerful 6A to get them out of the air and into your playing field. If someone runs through George, they can be snuffed with 6B or 5B.

Ivy Blossom is not normally used in neutral since it does not have any hitstun. Some Rachel players like to place it to pose as an intimidating red cloud the opponent has to get through in order to get to Rachel, but this is really just a mindgame and has little effect against someone that knows what Rachel’s tools are.

Rachel’s difficulty doesn’t come from her combos per say, which can be somewhat difficult to perform at times, but rather from how she wants to position herself in response to her opponent and her opponent’s playstyle. For example, against a character with poor ranged options or movement but high damage, such as Bullet or Tager, Rachel will want to stay outside of their range, but can move a little bit closer if she believes it will benefit her. However, if the character is extremely powerful at great range like Nu and Lambda, Rachel has the tools to fight up close. It’s ultimately a judgement call based on who you’re fighting and what character they’re playing. This topic will be covered in more detail in a later section. Rachel has a lot of tools, so naturally certain tools are more useful in some matchups than in others.

Mixup

Rachel’s mixup is arguably the most important aspect of her gameplan. Once Rachel is in and establishes pressure, she becomes one of the scariest mixup characters in the game, the only character being potentially scarier than her being Valkenhayn. Rachel’s mixup is relatively simple in concept, but can be difficult in execution. It goes as follows:

Land a Jump Cancelable Normal On Block

This includes 5A(1), 5A(2), 5B, and 6B, 5B being the most common normal to start with.

Either Cancel Into Instant Overhead or 2B

All of Rachel’s jump cancelable normals can be canceled into either a jump or 2B. If she jumps, inputting j.2DAx (x being any jumping normal, j.A is a second overhead if you want that, j.C has a LOT of blockstun but whiffs on crouching if not delayed, and j.B is a middleground; the safest bet is to go for j.B if you don’t know what else to use in certain situations) is an unreactable overhead that leads to roughly 1.6k and halfscreen carry, the later being much more important than the former. If she gatlings into 2B, Rachel can get pretty good damage and corner carry, roughly 2.6k and 3/4 of the screen respectively, making this the better option. However, if 2B is barrier blocked, Rachel is pushed too far out to continue her mixup, making continuing her pressure much more difficult.

The Infamous Fuzzy Overhead

Should you go for Rachel’s instant overhead, You can double jump cancel the second hit of it into another j.A. The timing for this isn’t too terrible, but it will take a few tries to get down. It’s also difficult to practice since fuzzy overheads don’t work on blocking bots. The reward for doing this fuzzy is decent enough for how difficult it is to see coming, roughly 1k and halfscreen carry. This is also the easiest way to extend Rachel’s pressure, allowing her to stay in even on instant barrier should it be blocked.

Believe It or Not, That’s the Bulk of It

Rachel’s mixup is pretty straightforward. There’s a few other things you can do, such as landing a jump cancelable move, 9 j.2D, then going for a throw, but most of Rachel’s other stuff is gimmicky or unsafe. It is worth noting that 3C is only -2 on block, meaning she loses her turn, but she cannot be punished for it. This is on block, mind you. Should it whiff, she can be punished pretty hard for it. But past that, that’s Rachel’s mixup. Pretty straightforward, though executing it properly will take time and plenty of practice.

Pressure

Rachel’s pressure is mostly fake. Yeah. A lot of people claim she has some of the best pressure in the game, and while Rachel’s pressure will certainly fool a lot of people, there’s quite a few holes that your opponent can take advantage of should they know the Rachel matchup well enough. Rachel’s pressure could theoretically last forever if she had bottomless wind, but because she does not, you must know how to manage your resources in order to get the best balance of damage, corner carry, and mixup attempts. For example, if you burn all of your wind trying to open up your opponent, you won’t have any wind left to deal damage with the combo you get. If they block all of your mixup attempts and run out of wind, Rachel is left a sitting duck, relying on system mechanics to keep her alive. Managing your resources is extremely important when approaching your opponent, but this will be covered in more detail in a later section.

General Pressure

Once Rachel has won neutral (this means that Rachel has set up, forced her opponent to block, and is currently standing in front of them, ready to hit them or their block with a normal), she will usually initiate her pressure with 5B. From here, she can begin her mixup, which is the bulk of her pressure. I won’t go over this in detail since it was covered in the previous section, but basically going for the low option often causes Rachel to be pushed too far out to continue her pressure, forcing her to rely on frame traps, microdashes, and resets to get back in. Thankfully, a lot of Rachel’s hitboxes lack hurtboxes, so a catious defender will not try to challenge Rachel, even outside of her comfort range. Going for Rachel’s ioh/fuzzy will allow her to stay in and continue her mixup, but soon your opponents will stop blocking your 5B low, which means you will get fewer confirms but be able to keep your pressure up. That’s getting a bit too deep into mindgames for a pressure section, though.

They Pushed Me Out! What Now?

Rachel has been successfully “pushed out” when she is at max 6B range. Once Rachel is at this range, she is forced to perform a pressure reset in order to get back in. She has a few options at this point:

TK Sword Iris
This is by far the safest and best way for Rachel to reestablish her pressure. When a rod is out or Lotus is attached to your opponent, you can input 2147C to cause Rachel to do a short hop and detonate the rod or Lotus. This action is roughly +24 to +26, meaning it’s EXTREMELY safe, allowing Rachel to dash in to reestablish pressure.

Max Range 6B 236A
This is a risky move and can easily get Rachel killed, especially if your opponent has a powerful projectile invuln move (Ex: Terumi, Kagura) or someone that has good normals or unique properties to deal with it (Nine’s normals, Tager’s 360/720 when Rachel is magnetized). Should your opponent respect this, you’ll get a rod on your opponent and remain plus, but this option should be used sparingly.

Ending Your Pressure

Knowing when and where to end Rachel’s pressure is extremely important. Since Rachel has poor defensive options, she needs to be either zoning, setting up, or pressuring her opponent. Transitioning from pressuring your opponent to zoning can be a difficult one if you don’t know where to do it. Ending your pressure with Rachel is done primarily in two ways:

Jump Cancelable Move on Block > IAD Backwards
This is the most common way for Rachel to get out of pressure. Alternatively, Rachel can just jump backwards and barrier. The latter option is usually used when you believe your opponent is going to try to retaliate as you jump, such as Azrael using Black Hawk Stinger or Ragna using Carnage Scissor.

3C
As I said earlier, 3C can be used as a last-ditch mixup attempt. Since it is only -2 on block, it can safely be used to end Rachel’s pressure, as well as acting as a terribly unsafe frametrack with 2C afterwards. This option isn’t as common as jump canceling, but it can be used if you accidentally gatling into 5C or simply want one last attempt at opening up your opponent.

Soooo, When Should I Get Out?

Knowing when to get out with Rachel is key to playing her properly. Most Rachel players want to end their pressure when they have one or two stocks of wind remaining. If Rachel runs out of wind, she should most certainly get out, though she’ll likely have to block an attack unless she has 50 meter to spend on Tempest. The simple answer is if you have one or two stocks of wind, ideally somewhere inbetween. Once Rachel is out, you can use Tempest to get wind back and get back in or return to zoning, both options being viable.

Resource Management (Coming Soon!)

Combo Theory

Rachel, like many of the characters in Blazblue, doesn’t exactly have set combos. You can almost always mix and match parts in order to make your opponent end up where you want them to or to end with an oki tool of your choice. This section will have example combos, but it will mostly be full of combo parts you can piece together in order to form longer combos. Remember, not all of this is set in stone, so feel free to experiment with how different attacks chain into one another! Experimentation and familiarization is key to learning Rachel. Keep in mind that anything that is put together without a space (such as j.3DB) is done simutaneously or as quickly as possible (such as 3C9D). Unless stated otherwise, 5B can be replaced with any normal starter, such as 6B. Having “l” before a section (such as lj.ABC) indicates that there is a delay.

These are what you’ll open with more often than not. Most of these will work in the corner as well, but are much more common midscreen.

Only works on standing opponents. This section has good corner carry potential while only using a small amount of wind. Keep in mind that j.3D and j.B are pressed at the same time, which is why they are combined in one input.

This is Rachel’s simple 3C followup. Mainly used in midscreen on characters you might not feel confident using other combo sections on like Terumi or Platinum. Most commonly leads into IAD loops that will be mentioned later.

Similar to the above chunk, except it crosses up. Useful for getting out of the corner. 6A whiffs on Makoto, so instead use the following section.

Use this chunk when you deem opponent is too far away from you for the above chunk to work. This crosses up as well and works on Makoto.

Anti-air. Depending on the timing of the djc, Rachel can cross up the opponent in order to get out of the corner or simply sideswap.

Uses a similar chunk as above. This combo requires a counterhit starter, but leads into big damage when successfully pulled off. Crosses up if Rachel’s djc is forward (9).

Rachel’s infamous instant overhead. Commonly chained from a blocked 5B, this little thing might not seem like much at first, but will quickly become the most common way for you to open up your opponent. You can also extend this overhead by doing j.2DAA djc j.AAA, which acts as a mixup if your opponent expects a low following your j.AA.

Midscreen Meat

These sections are in the middle of combos. Usually most of your damage will come from these. Keep in mind that, depending on the starter, you might be able to put multiple of the examples I provide in the same combo.

This combo can only be used at point blank, so it is most commonly seen after 5B j.3DB j.C 5B or anything else that leaves Rachel directly in front of her opponent.

6A must hit an airborne opponent. Decent corner carry. If it’s not followed up with 236C 3D 214C or any variation thereof, George is often placed afterwards.

Extension following 5CC. Puts Rachel directly on top of the opponent if timed correctly. Can be difficult to time at first, but becomes pretty easy pretty quickly.

Midscreen Enders

These chunks end the combo. Oftentimes oki is placed after combos end, such as using George after 5CC or Lotus after 3C with a rod. Keep that in mind when using these combo enders.

A more complicated version of 6A 4B 5CC. Keeps Rachel grounded significantly longer, allowing for more wind regeneration in exchange for a much higher chance of the combo dropping. Height specific. Not recommended for use online.

This is a common way to finish off any combo that has 214C towards the end, such as after the 236C 3D j.9D j.214C extension. Keep in mind that this isn’t the most optimal way to capitalize off of 214C at the beginning of the combo, but can be a nice way to tack on some extra damage and corner carry at the end of a combo.

Corner Starters

These are the more common starters in the corner. These will not work midscreen. Not too much else to say on the matter.

Commonly used at the beginning of meterless corner combos. Useful because it puts a rod up directly in the corner, allowing for Rachel to deal extra damage if it’s detonated or continue pressure if it is not.

The beginner of Rachel’s higher damage, higher resource combos, including her optimal full resource combo from 5B.

A video containing examples of combos you can build with these chunks can be seen with notation here: [link]

Matchup Information (Amane to Celica)

Rachel’s neutral changes DRASTICALLY depending on the character she’s fighting. For example, she wants to be both passive and hyper aggressive against Carl but she wants to stay out against Tager. Obviously some matchups are more troublesome than others, but this section will hold as much information on fighting characters as Rachel. This guide will also include matchup ratings (“8:2 Rachel” being VERY good for Rachel and “2:8 [Other Character]” being VERY bad for Rachel), but these are likely to fluctuate based on gathered knowledge and review.

Amane/Rachel is an interesting matchup. Both characters want to be in similar places at all time, but Rachel has the ability to be closer and further away, giving her an advantage. Rachel wants to stay either outside or inside of the range of Amane’s C normals and keep Lotus attached as much as possible to punish anything he might try to throw out to catch Rachel. Be careful of jumping at range, as Amane’s Gekiren is unblockable and can lead to big damage if he RCs it. It’s recommended that you simply throw out grounded lobelias instead of doing TK A lobelia.

The only thing keeping this matchup from being 7:3 Rachel is that Arakune has one touch curse in CF. Arakune is an absolute monster if you let him get going, but because cloud now goes away on block, Rachel absolutely demolishes Arakune in neutral. Jumping A lobelia shuts down almost everything Arakune can do. Additionally, Arakune likes being directly above his opponent, so a swift 6A or j.C2D will shut him down pretty easily if he decides to come anywhere near Rachel. Similar to Amane, you have to look out for his most powerful long ranged option, Permutation (the giant spider that he drops at range). Being hit by this spider gives him a good chunk of curse and does decent damage. Keep in mind the spider retains its hitbox after it drops and even when it begins ascending, so don’t get hit by that.

This is more 4.5:5.5, but I’d rather not deal in parts of numbers. Azrael is an annoying matchup for Rachel for a couple of reasons. For one, his pressure can be somewhat difficult to deal with. Most Azraels will mindlessly extend it with Gustaf, which is +1. On IB you can punish this, but it can be difficult to do so online. Azraels like to throw Gustaf out in neutral as well. The move isn’t projectile invuln, so if you keep a healthy amount of projectiles on the field he’ll have a difficult time approaching you. However, that brings us to the second thing that annoys Rachel: Growler Field. Growler is a move that’s not only projectile invuln, but removes lobelias. They don’t bounce off of him like Hakumen’s seals, they actually disappear from the screen if the seed hits him. This is really inconsistant as Lotus still sticks to him if he Growlers it. Once he’s successfully Growlered a projectile, Azrael has access to one of the fastest fireballs in the game that gives him a pretty decent combo. He can only use as many fireballs as projectile he’s eaten, however, so keep that in mind. Be careful when zoning and try to keep at a range where you can punish Growler if it’s thrown out randomly. It can be canceled at any time, but most Azraels like to hold it unless they notice you approaching.

Also, if he ever decides to DP, fatal him. He deserves it.

Bang is an interesting character thanks to him having a truly finite number of projectiles. This is important to keep an eye on as earlier on in a match Bangs are more likely to throw out nails than later when they’re running low on nails, making your job of keeping him out significantly easier. However, even without nails Bang is still rather powerful, dealing high damage if he catches you. Bang wants to land each of his four D normals on you. Doing so will turn his OD into a nightmarefest of mixups. Do your best to keep him at bay with lobelias and George, but if he manages to get his powered up OD, try to remain airborne and barrier. This will prevent him from performing any high/low mixup on you. Other than his OD, keep an eye out for his command grabs and his overhead that looks suspiciously like 2D. His 2D also has armor and is a fatal counter, so be wary of that. His 3C is another fatal counter and a slide that makes George less useful since it kills him in one hit. You can bait this, however, and get a fatal of your own since the recovery for Bang 3C is pretty extreme.

Poor Bullet. Almost everything she does Rachel covers. Her command run is projectile invuln but can’t run through George and can be low profiled by crouching. Her only ranged option is shut down by George. She has a step dash so she has difficulty gaining any ground on Rachel. It’s a long road for Bullet, so use her limited mobility to your advantage. Keep George out as much as you can and throw lobelias for when she tries to IAD in. Keeping a bat on her is a good idea as well, but George is arguably more important in the matchup since he shuts down most of her options. If she manages to push you into the corner, be careful winding away. Snap Hands can catch Rachel and throw her back into the corner pretty easily, and, like a lot of Bullet’s stuff, can lead to a lot of damage. Speaking of damage, she only really does damage if she’s heated up. Keep a bat on her for when she tries to do this at range so you can zap her.

Carl is an interesting, very patient matchup. Rachel can walk all over Carl in terms of neutral due to Carl’s lack of movement options and projectile invuln on his slides, but if Carl ever locks Rachel down when she doesn’t have OD or meter to counter assault, it’s basically game. As Rachel, you want to avoid confronting both Carl and his doll at the same time. Remain fullscreen, chucking lobelias and placing George, until Carl inevidibly throws out Con Fuoco in frustration (the fullscreen charge with his doll) or otherwise seperates himself from his doll. Then it’s time to move in on Carl himself to start applying pressure. Keep in mind you can also damage Nirvana and the game treats her like a player, similar to George. Good moves to hit her with are 5B and 6B since they’re jump cancelable and can allow you to “combo” the doll, often catching a clumsy Carl as well. Keep in mind that the doll does have armored moves, however.

Matchup Information (Continued)

Es is… something. Before 2.0, this matchup was something of a joke for Rachel. Since Es’s projectiles travel along the ground, George would just walk through them, causing all Es mains to scream internally (and sometimes externally). However, in 2.0, George is pushed back by all projectile attacks, making him slightly less useful. He’s still a great meat shield, but the pushback is pretty big, so you can’t carelessly throw lobelias out from behind him anymore. Es can still use air fireballs to get you, but those are pretty easy to see coming and react to. Other than her fireballs, however, Es is a threat because of the speed and range at which her normals cover. Most of her sword swings have hurtboxes, however, so you can punish them with 5B, 6B, or 6A in the case of normals like j.C. Es has a surprisingly fast and low dash, so throw B and C lobelias cautiously, as a good Es will use this as an opportunity to dash in. 5B is gonna be your best friend at trumping these approaches.

This matchup is an interesting one. Hakumen has poor movement, medium range, and no projectiles. However, if he hits a projectile with his sword, it creates a void that acts as an active hitbox. The void is also considered a projectile, so George will eat them. If George is cut, he doesn’t turn into a void, so he can be really useful for this matchup. Keeping Hakumen out is key, as if he gets too close (roughly his 5B range) things get difficult. His mixup is mediocre, but if he hits you, it HURTS. Definitely play the keepaway game with this one.

If the Rachel/Hazama matchup could be summed up in one word, it would be movement. In order to properly deal with Hazama, you must have EXCELLENT movement, and the same goes for Hazama. Chains have a lot of blockstun and hitstun, so do your best to avoid them. Hazama struggles on defense due to Houtenjin lacking invuln in this version, getting in on him and not letting up is important since he’s almost as slippery as Rachel. On defense, watch for 6A and 6B (the elbow and the kick respectively). Their animations are subtle, but they can lead to big damage, especially if he has meter. If he ever stepdashes enough to be almost flush with Rachel, jump. He’s likely going to use one of the two the command throws everyone forgets he has.

[Coming Soon!]