BBTag/Ragna the Bloodedge/Strategy

Team Synergy

Point

Ragna's point value is fairly straightforward; assists that can either occupy space to cover his approach in neutral or properly protect gambits such as Hell's Fang in neutral or mixing up with Gauntlet Hades will be valuable, especially if they can be used effectively without costing cross gauge. 2C and Gauntlet Hades are fairly solid options to Active Switch out with. Ragna's point pressure play is relatively self-sufficient and won't really need assists to make threatening, allowing you to either use it to rebuild Cross Gauge or save it for your mixup point.

Anchor

Ragna has a decent selection of assists, though while 5P and 6P can cover a lot of distance he doesn't have any projectile type options. Since his assists move so far forward, characters that can attack from afar can make great use of them for either enabling those assists to get through or for creating Active Switch opportunities with, then converting with Ragna since he should now be right next to the opponent. As a Resonance anchor, Ragna still holds the weakness of lacking projectile options, but his neutral and overall toolset is otherwise fairly good all around, and he has very good comeback potential between high front-end damage and enhanced lifesteal capabilities.

Recommended Partners

Generally you want to have partners that can cover Ragna's lack of far range presence. Good examples would be Nu and Jin. He also pairs well with the other protagonists: Narukami, Hyde and Ruby. Also consider what Ragna provides his partner when choosing a team. 6P controls space well and comes in from an awkward angle to counter, 5P is quite a good poke that converts into combos easily thanks to wall bounce, and 4P is a functional anti-air. All 3 assists are pretty good for pressure, but 4P and 5Ps’ pressure uses tend to overlap.

General Tactics

Ragna's drive doesn't really dictate his game plan, it only augments his health to give him a little bit more sustain. Unlike in the mainline Blazblue titles, where Ragna's game plan involved out-spacing his opponents with his superior normals, in this game his best spacing tools are locked behind Smart Combos and the general attack range of the cast of BBTAG are longer than those in his main series. Thus, Ragna wants to stay as close to his opponents as possible, especially because his inability to deal with zoning is even more pronounced here than in previous titles. He has amazing combo potential and corner carry as well as a plethora of lows and overheads, meaning that Ragna's main goal is to use his fantastic pressure and mix-ups to open up opponents, then use said corner carry potential to apply his similarly strong corner oki.

Neutral

Ragna has maintained a strong neutral game. His poking ability has suffered from the loss of BBCF’s 5C as an independent button but 5A is still a terrific move for neutral play, and should be used often. 2A is also very good when close enough to connect it, due to its low hitting property and speed. For air-to-air, Ragna lost his BBCF j.A, making it hard for him to beat opponents out at aerial point-blank. BBTAG j.B is a serviceable air-to-air when necessary, and BBTAG j.A is still an excellent air-to-ground option. When playing footsies on the ground, liberally use 5A and 5AA, for the combination of range and (in 5AA's case) being able to jump cancel on block. Dead Spike also has its uses in neutral with B type’s dash cancel, but overuse will lead to the opponent catching on and punishing. When fighting aerial opponents, 5B, 4A, and DP are your only real options, but they are all very good options (5A can be an anti-air sometimes, of course). Other than those, sometimes a vertical jump quickly into j.B is practical and should lead to decent damage with or without assist. Ragna struggles the most in neutral when fighting someone with longer neutral moves than him or zoner characters. Fortunately, assists are good for getting in on those characters, and do not underestimate how solid Ragna’s normals are even if he is outranged. He has a lot of jump cancelable moves, so use them to counter pushblock and stay at the range Ragna dominates. Furthermore, a patient Ragna can punish those who get too reckless with what moves they throw out.

Offense

Mixup

As previously explained, Ragna’s mix-up is fairly basic. His safe stuff is unlikely to open an opponent up, so creativity with his unsafe stuff is a necessity. Fortunately, assists go a long way towards making pressure safe and opening up new options.

A basic block string would look like 5A>2A>5A>5AA>2C. That string is fairly safe (there are holes, like 5AA>2C, but they aren’t big), but the opponent need only block low to weather it, so something more is required.
Consider using specials like Gauntlet Hades and B Dead Spike in block strings when you feel the opponent won’t punish them. Add an assist for added security and pressure value.
Assist can also be used to keep opponents in block stun, giving you a little time to move into more favorable positions for better pressure. Also consider using assists to set up things like Gauntlet Hades or a jump directly into j.A.
Ragna’s various jump cancelable normals and the B Dead Spike dash allow for lots of pressure resets and high-low mix ups with j.A and 2A. In particular 5AA is good to jump cancel from. They aren’t very hard to punish with a DP or a fast normal, however.
He only has one standing overhead, his 5C, but fortunately two of his crouching moves are lows, and so is the first hit of 5AAA. Gauntlet Hades will also hit people more often than it probably should, and j.A is a good overhead normal. Don’t forget about throws.

Pressure

Though Ragna lost valuable pressure tools like BBCF BS, He's still capable of instilling fear.

His auto combos all have places where they can be jump canceled, resetting pressure to his favor. These moves are 4A, 5AA, 5AAA (second hit only), 5B, and 2B. Once again, do keep in mind about getting anti aired.
His auto combos also have the ability to stagger pressure by varying the inputs of each button press. For instance you can do 5A, pause for a moment, then follow up with 2A or another 5A (this is not safe, but it works sometimes).
2B is a really useful pressure tool because you can cancel into j.A or j.B to negate the recovery, which makes you plus on block. You can use those plus frames to reset your string fairly safely. 2B is also more safe against pushblock than you would expect, but still, do not get carried away with it.
2A has 7 frames of start up and is +/- 0 on block, so it makes for very real and potentially scary stagger pressure. You can mix it up with 5A, 4A, 2B, and Gauntlet Hades to really put some threat behind your stagger strings. 2A stagger is a great way to bait and punish DPs.

Meter Usage

Ragna is not really a meter reliant character in BBTAG, so meter usage is largely up to personal preference.

Reject Guard is a solid use of meter for any character
EX Dead Spike does an absolute ton of damage. If you're comboing into EX Dead Spike and not easily dealing five digits of damage, you're doing something wrong.
EX Blood Scythe is capable of cross-ups on the ground if close enough (but is still minus on block), and does really good things for any combo it is added to. Ragna can easily clear 8000 damage solo while only spending a single meter for EX Blood Scythe.
Distortions can be used to gain extra damage and life at the end of combos

Defense

Ragna doesn’t have defensive options besides the universal ones, but in his case, that’s not really a bad thing.

Inferno Divider is a very good DP. It’s fast, covers a lot of space, and has a reliable hit box behind him. However, it is just as high risk as all DPs. If it whiffs or is blocked, the combo will be unburstable and Ragna will probably die. You can DP out of a lot of situations with Ragna, but don’t forget the risk that comes with it.
Reject Guard is ridiculously good, but Ragna likes close range best. Try to time it so that the opponent is stuck in a long recovery state and/or use an assist to tie the opponent down right after Reject Guard.

Okizeme

Ragna is a very easy character to pick up and play and his oki is very much reflective of that. He can easily convert any combo into effective oki without much effort thanks to the wide variety of special moves used to end his combos. In fact, the only specials that he has that don't lead directly into good oki are his Gauntlet Hades and Dead Spike moves, both of which can combo into a different special move that does have good oki. Generally, Ragna wants to end combos with Gauntlet Hades into Spinning Kick into either Inferno Divider into Axe Kick mid-screen or Nightmare Edge into its follow-up in the corner.

Combo Enders

Inferno Divider (A+D~A/B/C~A/B/C): Works anywhere on the screen, both on the ground and in the air. Has minimum damage scaling and start-up invincibility. Cannot burst or call assists until endlag has finished. Generally poor for okizeme.
Hell's Fang (214A~A/B/C): Only works when Ragna is on the ground. When midscreen, it's best to omit the followup for better positioning.
Nightmare Edge (j.214A~A/B/C): Only works when airborne and works best when used in or near the corner.
Carnage Scissors (236B+C): Only works when Ragna is on the ground. Has minimum damage scaling, start-up invincibility, and potentially safe-jump oki but requires 2 bars of meter.
Devoured by Darkness (214B+C): Only works when Ragna is on the ground. Has minimum damage scaling and start-up invincibility but requires 2 bars of meter. Generally poor for okizeme.

Choosing a Knockdown Ender

Inferno Divider is Ragna's most basic and universal ender option. It can be used at the end of essentially any combo, at any point in a combo, regardless of screen position, available resources, or remaining hitstun. It also comes out extremely fast, as little as 7 frames when done in mid-air, allowing Ragna to squeeze out as much damage and meter out of a combo as possible. The generous amount of minimum damage is just icing on the cake. However, it has the smallest frame advantage out of all his knockdown tools, meaning that the follow-up pressure will also be basic and somewhat unsafe, so use the others if they are available.
Hell's Fang is Ragna's grounded ender option, one that gets stronger the closer Ragna is to the corner. Thanks to Belial Edge canceling into specials when done at the correct height, it can convert any air combo into Hell's Fang. When combining the corner carry of both Belial Edge and Hell's Fang, they can very easily set up corner oki. Note that this is Ragna's lowest-damage option, and the followup has massive pushback, limiting oki if done midscreen.
Nightmare Edge is an air only combo ender tool, one whose follow-up attack works similarly to that of Hell's Fang. It is powerful in the corner but the knockback of the followup often demands you sacrifice damage and omit it midscreen if you still want meaningful oki. Belial Edge is also helpful here as even at the end of long combos it can combo into Gauntlet Hades which can then combo into Nightmare Edge via a forward double jump cancel, though only in the corner. This ender is Ragna's most damaging option in short combos, but in longer ones the minimum damage from Inferno Divider is higher. The frame advantage is high enough that Ragna can safe-jump non-counter reversals, making it his go-to combo ender in the corner.
Carnage Scissors is Ragna's easiest to use Super and it has similar oki to the follow-up attacks of both Hell's Fang and Nightmare Edge. Mediocre-to-nonexistent oki outside the corner, great oki in the corner. The height at which the opponent gets hit by this move changes the frame advantage on hit. If the opponent was high enough in the air, Ragna can actually get a safe-jump off of this, making it very strong. Remember, it costs 2 bars to use and has a 180 frame meter build cooldown.
Devoured by Darkness should typically only be done to close out a kill as it costs resources and, like Inferno Divider ender, offers little to no oki.

Oki Options

2A is a go-to for oki, but be warned that you can eat a wake-up DP unless 2A is thrown out very early. He lost his safer oki option of BBCF’s 2A in the transition to BBTAG, but there was never much of a reward for that.
5A is a good meaty option, because it is very active
j.A can be used to safe jump by instant air dashing after certain enders, most commonly a single off-the-ground hit of Hell’s Fang.
Don’t forget about your assist, they are very important in this game. Simply calling an assist after a Nightmare Edge or Inferno Divider ender will put a lot more pressure on the opponent’s wake up.

Blockstrings

When fighting opponents who don't use Reject Guard that much or those who lack the meter to do so, Ragna has some simple strings that can maintain pressure while leaving room for mix-ups.

1) 5AA > 2A > 5AA : Basic string that starts with Ragna's go-to poke 5A, has a low, and ends with a jump-cancelable normal. Can still cancel into either 2B or 2C for another low or into either 5C or Gauntlet Hades for an overhead. Jump-cancel allows for pressure resets and for a jump-in overhead / empty jump-in low mixup. Stopping at 5A also allows Ragna to use throws, which most opponents won't expect mid-blockstring.

2) 236B : Ragna's 236B can be dash-canceled on use (before it even would connect), and has varying frame advantage depending on the distance at which it is used. At maximum distance, frame advantage can be up to +2. Dash canceling will reduce frame advantage by one frame but will greatly close distance. Note that there is no solo gapless way to string into 236B, so the opponent will always have an opportunity to respond to the startup.

Note: Keep track of which moves are jump-cancelable as it is your best tool for baiting reversals, resetting pressure, and keeping Ragna close to his opponents. This includes his best grounded overhead Gauntlet Hades, though only its follow-up attack (Spin Kick) and only if the opponent is standing as it whiffs on crouching foes.

Tips and Tricks

Ragna's Soul Eater health steal is generally weaker than the passive red health recover that the backline character enjoys. However, Soul Eater recovers true health while switching him out or using Resonance Blaze only recovers potential health. Knowing how to manage his position in the team is important for maximizing his health gain and keeping Ragna alive.

Fighting Ragna

Ragna's greatest weakest is his lack of projectiles and poor long range options. His only tool for contesting zoning is his Carnage Scissors super that requires two bars and is very committal. Forcing him to burn meter on Reject Guards on then keeping him at a distance with projectiles is a good idea. Ragna's poor air-to-air game also makes him fairly linear in contesting characters more comfortable about aerial neutral/offensive play.