Astaroth Q&A/Discussion Thread

I was going to ask the same. 4B or another 66k BE are the only followups I can get. Maybe he's talking about the mixup we get on their wakeup.

EDIT

Ohhhhh, he's talking about the fully charged version that you get when the super armor occurs. 66[K] comes out and launches the opponent. Interesting.
 
Ok done my research... 66K~BE will only absorb certain moves... It will NOT absorb strong moves... The moves this works against is very weird... A lot of Astaroth's moves beats this... Patroklos' 66A or BB or 66B beats this... I haven't checked out most of the cast yet...

Some moves that 66K~BE beats are Pat's 3B... Pyrrha's 66B, 3B, BB, 44B...

So, 66K~BE will be able to absorb and punish ANY move that is -12 on block (granted he can absorb the move with 66K~BE)... So generally moves that are rather safe against Astaroth can be beaten by this... Upon launching, you can follow-up with 22B or 2~8B+G or a wall combo near the wall...

66K~BE, 2~8B+G = (JF = 103, JF+Clean hit = 120)
 
Is it based on damage? I know Nightmare's counter won't work against moves that do more than 20-something damage (can't recall the exact amount, sorry).
 
it's not based on damage because it counters 44a which is 32 damage and doesn't counter 3b which is also 32 damage, but doesn't counter the 2nd hit of 3K[A] which is only 30, also, it only counters 44a when it's a close hit that gives you the spin stun, but not the far hit that gives you the knock down.

at first i thought it was only moves that dont knock down but that doesn't seem to be the case.
more testing is needed.
 
Also also, I've lived out here for 6 years and still can't really say I know Srayer. Hope to see you at some gatherings and tournaments to change that.

Yeah, we only met once at SVGL when SC3 AE came out. I think what happened is that you were coming up right as I was stopping. But I do remember that you had a fierce Astaroth. I too hope we meet up this time around.

Does asta's CE have ANY legitimate use?
In addition to post-GI, it works post guard break. It seems like CE, 88_22B[BE] 66B does more damage than other post guard break combos, but I'm not sure. Also, it only just does a little more damage than, say, 6B, 22_88B[BE], 66K[BE], which costs 1/2 a meter level less.

Asta is weak against pressure in SC5 due to GI costing meter... So now we should read the opponent's habits of using their moves to pressure us... Any predicted AA/BBs can be countered by 66K~BE and punished for a 50% combo...

Absolutely agreed that GI costing meter weakens Astaroth in pressure situations. 66K[BE] is an awesome option as you said, but 6AA is also great interrupt when you can predict incoming highs or mids, and it leads to a followup throw / ground game. 6K is a great mid interrupt and leads to combos on CH. 4B seems weaker than before but it still a decent situational interrupt. So Astaroth still has some non-BE options up close.

A little off topic, but is there an "official" BE notation? I've seen all sorts of different ones. There was that thread polling people about the preferred notation, but I don't know if one or another got adopted. I've been using [BE] but I actually kinda like ~BE since the execution is similar to a button roll.
 
as far as i know the notation would be ~BE, because ~ means right after, [BE] would mean hold all the buttons down, which you dont actually need to do. also ~BE is faster to type.

also i've been told that certain moves do half damage, as in 31.5, and the game will round it up to 32, what this does is stop certain moves from being counterable but still lets them do 32 damage.
namco hitting that crack pipe hard this time around i see.

also does anyone know if your meant to not be able to BE the low throws after 4k?, it seems a little odd and prehaps a bug?.
 
also does anyone know if your meant to not be able to BE the low throws after 4k?, it seems a little odd and prehaps a bug?.

You're definitely not able to. I think it's because 4K2A+G_B+G are actually strings, not a throw followup to a force crouch attack... but it does seem a little strange.
 
also does anyone know if your meant to not be able to BE the low throws after 4k?, it seems a little odd and prehaps a bug?.

Probably not a bug, as the same rule applies to BT throws (i.e. Cervy can't do BE A+G from BT).
 
hardest matchups imo are Pyrrha and PyrrahQ. its just not even fair how locked down her AA keeps asta. 6AA can interrupt it but a smart player will just crouch and punish. anyone got any ideas?
 
hardest matchups imo are Pyrrha and PyrrahQ. its just not even fair how locked down her AA keeps asta. 6AA can interrupt it but a smart player will just crouch and punish. anyone got any ideas?
I had problems with this match up for a bit. I'm getting better at it, by strictly playing mid-long range. whenever she gets in close, grab her, get her away from you. Then work on gauge damage. Also, keep GI meter ready. for when she does get in your face. Using GI effectively should make the Pyrrha, and Oprah players think twice about pushing their offense.
 
hardest matchups imo are Pyrrha and PyrrahQ. its just not even fair how locked down her AA keeps asta. 6AA can interrupt it but a smart player will just crouch and punish. anyone got any ideas?
yeah this match up is harder than Sophie Asta (Asta had the advantage in that imo) mainly b/c of the changes made to Astaroth. When she's right inside of mid range (too far for grabs, but too close for 4A, 2A, to not get stuffed. ) is when I had the most difficult time. I feel like Asta has a harder time controlling the space right in front of him than he used too. I'm wondering if backstep/run would be a good option in this situation. What do you guys like to punish with after a backstep? Obviously I'm asking about things w/ quicker recovery like AA, 2A, etc.
 
yeah this match up is harder than Sophie Asta (Asta had the advantage in that imo) mainly b/c of the changes made to Astaroth. When she's right inside of mid range (too far for grabs, but too close for 4A, 2A, to not get stuffed. ) is when I had the most difficult time. I feel like Asta has a harder time controlling the space right in front of him than he used too. I'm wondering if backstep/run would be a good option in this situation. What do you guys like to punish with after a backstep? Obviously I'm asking about things w/ quicker recovery like AA, 2A, etc.
If you're back stepping, 66B is a good whiff punisher. 4A is also good, easier to input, and leaves you at +10 on NH, and put's opponent backturned. And Astaroth's space control game has a lot to do with backstepping/sidestepping in general. He's a lot better at controlling space in this game (in my opinion) because his movement isn't complete ass.
 
If you're back stepping, 66B is a good whiff punisher. 4A is also good, easier to input, and leaves you at +10 on NH, and put's opponent backturned. And Astaroth's space control game has a lot to do with backstepping/sidestepping in general. He's a lot better at controlling space in this game (in my opinion) because his movement isn't complete ass.

gotcha. yeah, I'm coming from SC3 where Asta was ridiculously dominant. So the answer to all my problems was pretty much Bullrush, 4B, or SS or Throw. lol. What about things like 2A where the opponent is left crouching on whiff? My thought was 44A if I'm already stepping back.
 
hardest matchups imo are Pyrrha and PyrrahQ. its just not even fair how locked down her AA keeps asta. 6AA can interrupt it but a smart player will just crouch and punish. anyone got any ideas?


Another option is JGing the second hit of AA. Not the easiest option, but an option nonetheless. In my testing, you don't get anything for free after the JG, but a 4B or 6AA will interrupt another Pyrrha AA. So at very least you can follow up with something that will interrupt on attack and push away on block.

However, I think Xeph gave the best advice, which is basically "don't let her get close." This applies to all Asta matchups. He's weak at close range (as he traditionally has been in SC), so you gotta force your opponent to play the mid-long range game.
 
However, I think Xeph gave the best advice, which is basically "don't let her get close."

Careful, you'll anger the natives by insinuating that Astaroth needs to space out.

I haven't had much trouble playing Astaroth against regular or extra crispy Pyrrha--a lot of the things that used to apply vs. Cass and Sophie remain relevant. The range on your basic attacks, not to mention the ways in which you can delay or abbreviate your strings, work to maintain a zone of threat in front of you. Moreover, AA spam should never lock Astaroth down as long as bullrush exists.
 
Careful, you'll anger the natives by insinuating that Astaroth needs to space out.

I haven't had much trouble playing Astaroth against regular or extra crispy Pyrrha--a lot of the things that used to apply vs. Cass and Sophie remain relevant. The range on your basic attacks, not to mention the ways in which you can delay or abbreviate your strings, work to maintain a zone of threat in front of you. Moreover, AA spam should never lock Astaroth down as long as bullrush exists.

Yeah, AA isn't the problem here. The problem is that once she gets started, it's hard to stop. On top of that, she has tech crouching attacks that also sidestep. 236B is a constant threat from frame traps. She's decent at breaking the guard gauge. Lastly, her critical edge is a free get-out-of-jail card, and even when comboed into, it does great damage.

Don't let her use BE moves on block. You can easily GI (or just guard if you practice it) the followups on two of her BE attacks. 6K can stop certain pressure strings, but it is risky.
 
Is there anything useful to use after a 4B hits? It makes em crouch but a crouch throw won't connect.
I just use the advantage to pressure with throws mixups or guard breaks. Sadly online you pretty much just toss out a 6B and the mash happy candidates will gladly give you have their health but against better players I just pretty much take the advantage to try to open up bigger, better things.

Any body have a hard time consistently getting the JF throws on a dual shock 3? I can get his air grab easily by quickly switching to the analog for the 28 input but my success with his command throws is much lower. Asta has always just been my secondary character but I've been focusing on him mainly in V.
 
Is there anything useful to use after a 4B hits? It makes em crouch but a crouch throw won't connect.
It's a great tool for oki, and on hitm you're at pretty good frames. I like to go for a grab attempt, usually, or continue my pressure with another 4B or bullrush. At first, attacking after 4b hits felt weird. It doesn't "feel" like you're at advantage on hit.
 
4B is +6 on hit and almost nobody has 10 frame moves anymore. Frame traps all day, son!
 
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