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Elphelt Valentine
Introduction
From: Hardly's Elphelt Okizeme for Dummies guide
- Elphelt is a character that is able to confirm into some kind of okizeme from nearly any combo.
She also has very simple but effective tools for enforcing mixups on the opponent to continue pressure and quickly opening them back up as soon as they get off the ground. The first draft of this guide will cover basic okizeme situations from common enders and a few advanced setups.
Basic Safejumps
- Safejumps are setups that cover a variety of your opponent’s options.
If they choose to block your attack you can begin pressuring them, but if they try to reversal through your attack, they risk getting hit by full punish combos into more safejumps or advanced mixup. You can also choose to instant airdash and hit them with multiple highs or don’t attack during the jump at all to go straight into a low. Because Elphelt is generally able to move before her opponent hits the ground it’s very easy to set up safejumps from various points on the screen from basic ground and air combos, including combos ending in 5Hx5 if done in the corner.
IAD Grenade Safejumps
- This alternative safejump setup is especially strong because of how much damage you can threaten using grenade, and the mixup is different since your airdash option is already used.
You can do a high with j.s, or toss the grenade to accelerate your fall and do a low. However, it only works from certain parts of the screen. Doing it midscreen from a Bridal Express knockdown will cause you to just cross over your opponent and 5Hx5 knockdown will not allow you to safely extend pressure if performed midscreen. It’s generally advisable that you do this knockdown when your opponent has been cornered by the attack. If you are too far away to continue pressure it is possible to correct it with meter though.
Basic Grenade Oki
- The cornerstone of Elphelt’s okizeme pressure is the grenade.
If used properly it forces your opponent to block a projectile that will always hit frame 1 on their wakeup while leaving Elphelt fairly safe to their attempts to retaliate. If the opponent blocks it when there is less than one second left on the timer, the amount of blockstun is greatly increased. Elphelt can remain reversal safe with 2k and 6p from this kind of oki, giving her powerful and safe high/low options. You can also attempt a tick throw in the corner or use YRC to enforce the mixup, which can be useful midscreen.
Unstructured Grenade oki in Shotgun Stance
- Shotgun poses a different threat from the usual Elphelt okizeme.
The high/low game disappears entirely due to shotgun stance having only mids and okizeme becomes a frametrap/throw game. Juggling the opponent to the floor with sg-h, creating space, pulling grenade, then throwing it on the opponent automatically baits reversal and forces them to block to stop frametraps, or push buttons to stop the command grab. They may also attempt to escape the shotgun pressure scenario entirely by jumping. You can frametrap the opponent, confirm a hit, or keep them blocking using sg-p, bait out a response and detonate the grenade from range with sg-h, use sg-s to stop jumpouts and either continue pressure or start a combo, or command grab them if you think they’ll respect you. Careful not to do command grab too fast or else you might whiff it in their face, which gives them a long time to retaliate.
Shotgun Ender Setup
This setup can be done from the corner in any situation that would allow you to juggle into sg-s, grenade pull, sg-p,h, then dash up sg-h. Backing up, then throwing the grenade will put the opponent in a large amount of blockstun due to the timer being below one second, and enforces a powerful, high damage mixup on them. You can go straight into the overhead with 6p, go straight into the low with 2d, or fake the overhead with 5p and then dash up and do 2d. In addition, all of these maneuvers are reversal and burst safe when done properly.
jD YRC
- The J.D YRC okizeme setup is arguably Elphelt’s strongest mixup tool.
Elphelt’s options are to either instant air dash and hit the opponent with multiple fuzzy overheads, instant air dash into a high and/or grenade toss to fake the overheads, or go straight into the low. This situation loops indefinitely as long as you have the meter for it, as it is accessed the same way you would an IAD grenade pull safejump. However, if your opponent just blocks the J.D crouching they will not be able to get hit by the overheads, so be conscious of how your opponent is (or isn’t) blocking your attacks. In addition, this setup is both blitz and reversal safe when performed properly.
Midscreen Air Combo Oki
- Elphelt has a powerful midscreen okizeme setup from her air combos that end in J.D.
The first layer is a high/fake high/low mixup that the grenade will automatically confirm as it comes down, and if they block the first sequence, they are subject to shotgun pressure and mixup. Shotgun can also be used to confirm the hit. Note that this setup doesn’t work in the corner because the grenade will just bounce off the wall and not interact with the opponent.
Unblockable setups
Elphelt is one of a few characters with functional unblockables. Setting a grenade up with proper timing/spacing and then extending the blockstun of the attack with YRC while readying the rifle will enable her to combo the unblockable shot into powerful combos that loop into more unblockables. In situations where the opponent could react with a blitz in order to escape, Elphelt can use a low to hit the opponent on the same frame as grenade to crush the blitz and get the combo, as blitz cannot be used to counter a mid and a low at the same time. Naturally, this is an extremely brutal setup.
How to set up unblockables by Hardly, still generally relevant as of Rev2.1.
--Useful Playlist by AutoDidact featuring still mostly relevant unblockable setups-- Full Playlist
| Standard Preferred Loop | |
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| Default Version | |
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id=https://youtu.be/KtpX-x80ehs
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| Faust | |
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id=https://youtu.be/iNlMbS6_5Qc
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| Raven | |
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id=https://youtu.be/Wf6ULAt7Zn0
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| Heavies | |
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id=https://youtu.be/YQYbxv3gewc
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Escapes
Tighter unblockable Setup
Looser unblockable setups. Also demonstrates "sourspot" combos where the opponent is knocked down with a charged SG-H but not wallsplatted. This can be done meterlessly but is tricky.
Weaknesses compared to conventional oki
- Despite the fact that there are loops on the whole cast, there are some character specific routes that depend on precise wallstick heights or positioning to work properly. Some characters have little to no tolerance for error when it comes to their setups, which can lead to dropped combos and lost momentum that can cost you the game.
- Every unblockable has an opportunity cost of 25-100% tension to execute depending on setup and whether you used meter to combo into a setup in the first place, and kills your tension gain for the combo afterwards whether it is done successfully or not.
Setup Groupings
Different hurtboxes/weight affect ease of loop. Also note some characters have different wakeup timing so please learn those.
These characters may be easier with a setup other than the default route.
- Faust (Bizarre hurtbox)
- Raven
- Heavies
Elphelt Valentine
