GGXRD-R2/Raven/Okizeme

Raven

Overview

Starter Guide

Combos

Introduction

Raven's main knockdown okizeme relies on Glide Cancel to perform high/low mixups - hitting with glide for a high and comboing into a glide string, or going low after landing for the cancel into a 2D or ScratchGuardMidStartup17Recovery31Advantage-3 (236S) knockdown to set up more looping okizeme. This is most potent when backed up by a Meaty Hitting an opponent to cover the moment as they lose invincibility. The most common one is performing an attack early on okizeme to gain frame advantage and bait reversals. orbGuardAllStartup71RecoveryTotal:46Advantage+47 (236H).

Securing a Meaty orb is a large goal of Raven's combo routing, but it generally also requires a fair amount of excitement to employ his strongest mixups. A meaty orb is typically secured j.D or a Scratch knockdown in the corner via TK An input method to perform a special move in the air as fast as possible after you leave the ground. Short for "Tiger Knee". For Example: 2369 for a j.236 input. orb.

Note that 2D > 236H does not set up a meaty orb as it will float above the ground, allowing opponents to crouch under it safely. This can still be used to force them to sit in place and employ some slightly more advanced okizeme options once they are conditioned.

Safe Jumps

Raven can easily safe jump to bait reversals from 2D, level 1 command grabGuardGround ThrowStartup27Recovery37Advantage+52 and air throw.

Simply glide cancel via airdashing forward at the top of a jump and cancel it into j.K as Raven is descending, before going parallel to the ground. It will hit against blocking opponents and whiff against invulnerable opponents while allowing Raven enough time to recover and block the reversal.

Raven can also catch backdash attempts by inputting c.S right after the j.K in case it whiffs. This is more effective against characters with faster reversals, since slower reversals can hit you after c.S comes out instead of Raven recovering first. To deal with Roman Cancelled reversals, try using the same trick as against backdashes, except use Blitz Shield or your own backdash instead of c.S.

Another simpler way to safejump from close range knockdowns like 2D and level 1 command grab is to jump forward and j.H on the way down, which can also serve as a high/low mixup with empty jump 2K, though it can be fuzzy guard A defensive technique where the defender changes their guard direction rapidly and precisely to cover multiple ways they can be hit such as high/low or left/right.ed.

Safe Glides

Similarly to safe jumps, Raven can safe glide to bait reversals after a scratch knockdown (this even works in the corner).

Simply IAD An air dash performed from a standing position as quickly and as low to the ground as possible from a jump. Done by inputting 956 754, and depending on the game, using a dash macro right after a jump. after a scratch and after a short delay (this delay is character-specific and spacing dependant, due to varying wakeup times) press j.H. Done correctly, only one hit of j.H will connect. During the hitstop of the j.H, input 4 and then, after a short delay, S. This will cause Raven to block reversals and still combo/ gaplessly blockstring into c.S if the j.H connects.

Sometimes though, it is more preferable to avoid blocking a reversal completely, such as when dealing with reversal RRCs and Sin's Hawk Baker. For many of those reversals, Raven can layer a backdash option select A technique where one command (or series of commands) will perform a different action depending on the circumstances, thereby allowing one action to be able to handle two distinct situations. onto his safe glide by pressing 4, delay, then 4+S when c.S would connect. A detailed guide to performing both the safe glide and the safe glide backdash OS is shown below:

Backdash OS

There are additional option selects that Raven can add to his safe glide to account for trickier reversal options, such as Ky's Ride the Lightning, which catches the safe glide backdash OS, and Baiken's Azami, which catches most of the safe glide OSs in general. The notable option selects to deal with these reversal options are the stance and throw OSs, explained in the videos below:

Stance OS

Input 214K+S at the timing when c.S would connect.

Grab OS

Input 6S+H at the timing when c.S would connect.

Choosing an Oki Route

Raven's choice of Okizeme depends on what he secures a knockdown from and what his Excitement is. The higher excitement, the better his options are.

His goal will be generally to set up a Meaty Orb. There are several meaty air orb set-ups from j.D and scratch knockdowns - The gapless mix-ups one can go for off of these orb sets depends on the number of hits the ball has, which is completely dependent on excitement level:

0-2 ticks (Level 1)

At low excitement, Raven has very little time to continue ‘true pressure’ off of the ball. Generally, your only option will be to glide before landing if you preserved your double jump. Thus, there won’t be a mix-up initially, but you will still get traditional glide pressure mix-ups.

3-5 ticks (Level 2)

At medium excitement, you have enough time to IAD An air dash performed from a standing position as quickly and as low to the ground as possible from a jump. Done by inputting 956 754, and depending on the game, using a dash macro right after a jump. or dash in with a grounded move. This allows you to start with a mix-up, albeit a weak one, into more varied pressure.

6+ ticks (Level 3)

At high excitement, you have more than enough time for your strongest mix-ups, namely the ‘Big Four’ oki mix-ups. They are: delayed glide overhead, empty jump low, single-hit glide land low, and steeply angled full glide.

Midscreen

Raven does not get too much strong Okizeme from midscreen unless connecting from a command grab. It's often better to go for Scratch routes to push the opponent into the corner, following with a safeglide or safejump.

Low Excitement

Scratch Safeglide
2D glide cancel High/Low
2D glide cancel j.K safejump
2D falling j.H safejump
j.D > OTG Needle

Opting for needle OTG forefeits any "real" oki or mixup but the slowdown makes the opponent's options more limited and reactable.

High Excitement

Lv 2 Command grab 2P > 5K (or 5K > c.S(1) ) jc j.K > j.S > j.D > j.236H

One of the most common setups for a meaty orb. Slightly delaying the j.D will place the orb lower to the ground to cover low profile options. For a level 3 command grab, start with a delayed 5H so that only the first hit connects, and then jump cancel into the same combo.

Corner

Low Excitement

Glide string > Glide scratch > microdash 5K > j.K > j.S > j.D > j.236H

The most stable way to route into a meaty orb at low excitement in the corner. This does not provide any glide cancel mixup options, but you can glide after j.236H for pressure.

High Excitement

Ground string > 2D > Scratch > TK An input method to perform a special move in the air as fast as possible after you leave the ground. Short for "Tiger Knee". For Example: 2369 for a j.236 input. Orb

Scratch normally pushes the opponent too far away to secure a meaty orb. In the corner, the added air time from scratch actually allows Raven enough time to meaty an orb with a TK input, then go for one of the "big four" mixup options.

Throw

Example Routes

Glide Mixup

From a 2D knockdown, Raven can create a high/low mix up off a glide cancel/glide hit. You can do this raw if the opponent is expecting a safe jump and is not willing to use a reversal attack, if the opponent is respecting an Orb, or if the opponent's character does not have an invincible reversal.

To execute, airdash at the top of a jump, then:

High: Allow glide to hit, then cancel into an air normal of choice.
Low: immediately glide cancel with an air normal (usually j.H) to cancel the airdash and fly into the ground, then hit 2K.
Glide Drop (High into low): Allow glide to hit, then press any air normal after a slight delay (too short or too long of a delay will continue into air normals).The air normal will whiff and Raven will land allowing you to 2K instead of doing glide j.K

To make sure your opponent cannot IB the glide and then throw OS you, use a delayed j.K after glide.

Meaty Orb Okizeme

At 0-2 ticks of excitement, Raven's orb starts off with two hits at attack level 2. Like all of his specials, as he gains excitement, his orb improves. At three ticks, it changes to three attack level 2 hits, and at 6 ticks, to four level 4 hits. This means that, as his excitement increases, his okizeme options utilizing a meaty orb improve.

There are four extremely strong okizeme mix-ups that are nigh impossible to fully guard against on reaction when properly rotated between. They are delayed glide overhead, empty jump low, single-hit glide land low, and steeply angled full glide. You will generally never have access to all of these as ‘true’ oki options that the opponent must respect unless you get a high excitement meaty ball set-up that covers crouching. This is why it is important to learn combo routes that give these orb set-ups in as many situations as possible.

Some example okizeme options are shown in the video below:

High Mixups

Four overheads: Glide Hit > j.S > j.P > j.S
High into Low: High glide cancel immediate j.H (1) > Land 2K
Glide Drop High low: High glide > glide hit > delay air normal whiff > land 2K
Five Overheads: Rising j.P (for timing)/Superjump > Glide > Glide Hit > j.S > j.P > j.S > j.P
F-Shiki Sometimes known as "Fuzzy Overhead". When you are in blockstun, you can switch high/low blocking, but your blocking animation and hurtbox does not change until you leave blockstun or block another attack. F-Shikis take advantage of this and use overheads that would miss on crouching characters, but not on standing characters.: Glide cancel j.H(1) > land > j.K or j.S (Character specific) RRC

Low

Glide Cancel Low: Glide cancel slight delay j.H (empty glide) > 2K

Level 3 Specific

Empty jump low: Lv3 Meaty orb > Dashing forward jump > land 2K
Delayed glide overhead: Lv3 Meaty orb > Dashing forward jump > Glide before landing

2D > Orb

Despite this oki being the easiest to set up, it is very risky to use unless understood properly. After 2D, a ground orb is practically never meaty. Going for generic glide cancels and other oki that depends on the orb to lock down the opponent can result in Raven being punished severely.

For 2D > Orb to work, you must use specific options to force the opponent to respect you. You have enough time after setting the orb to place any grounded meaty (typically 2S or 2H). If the opponent crouches under the orb, they are susceptible to being command grabbed or dash-up thrown. If they stand up to avoid that, they are susceptible to 2H or dash-up 2K. In addition, you can jump or dash FD brake to bait out a reversal 6P or DP and then perform a delayed glide or 2H to capitalize on the borb hits. If you're facing an opponent with strong low-profiling options to escape the ball, such as Sol (Grand ViperGuardLowx2~6,
Midx3Startup17Recovery37+10 after landingAdvantage-56) or Elphelt (2HGuardMidStartup18Recovery18Advantage-4), you can throw the ball to bait out those options and then stanceGuard-Startup-RecoveryTotal 29Advantage- or meaty them. Once you have conditioned the opponent to block or crouch under the ball, you can go for more ‘disrespectful’ oki options.