Ryoka
[09] Warrior
Elysium lacks any sort of guide on her use. In particular, resources surrounding her good CE combos and setups are scattered and unorganized, so I'm trying to address that. Expect this thread to be updated often and formatted to be cleaner over time as I don't have a console to play SCV regularly, merely the drive to want to do this.
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Elysium's unique critical edge is arguably her biggest draw in addition to a manageable 8 character movepool. The CE has infinite range and will connect regardless of the opponent's location. Unlike the vast majority of tech trap setups, this move does not care what direction an opponent techs or how far they are, because it will hit if the frames are appropriate. It can be used to punish moves or finish combos that otherwise leave too much distance between you and your opponent to connect with the current moveset's normal moves. However, at i19, it's a bit on the slow side, limiting its overall use.
The CE hits 19 times in quick succession and will deal 88 damage raw, and grants the victim with roughly 15% meter if all hits connect. 88 damage is quite good, however in practice it won't be dealing its full 88 damage very often outside of successful tech traps, as the i19 speed isn't very good for fishing CHs or punishing much but highly unsafe moves. The damage of each hit is very granular and the first hit only deals 2 damage, so you also get no attractive CH damage boost to speak of like you would with Hilde's or Pyrrha Omega's CEs on CH. This also means the entirety of the CE is subject to the "guts" system when the opponent is near death. When using the CE to KO the opponent, expect the CE to lose about 22-24 damage to guts.
The CE has minor invulnerability frames starting at frame 17 lasting to when it hits at 19, but the startup has substantial TC, easily avoiding highs (if it avoids certain mids, I wouldn't know and wouldn't risk it). It also TJs when the move is attacking, but this almost never comes into play except in very specific situations against Viola's, Siegfried's, and possibly Ezio's and Algol's ranged attacks.
On block, the CE is -22 but has block pushback, making it difficult to punish for some characters even if blocked at point blank range. On JG it's -35, but the pushback from 19 consecutive JGs is so great that only very few characters can punish it on JG despite the large disadvantage. On block, the CE does substantial guard damage but will never itself Guard Burst (GB damage equivalent is about equal to 7 uses). Using it for the guard damage is of course not advisable, just gravy if your CE happens to be blocked.
Simply because a move or combo leads into the CE doesn't mean you should use the CE due to damage scaling. Some attacks and launchers scale damage on followups, so the damage gained by finishing with CE may be insignificant compared to other options you can do and thus may not be worth spending the meter. Connecting the CE against a target in the air and juggling them with it is inefficient due to damage scaling against an airborne target. If the combo in question has any stun involved, you can practically forget about using it. The many small hits of the CE after a stun will diminish the damage to pitiful levels in no time flat. Regardless of the setup or damage scaling, when used to KO the opponent the CE will always lose a flat 24~ damage to guts. That said, if it will seal a KO and you have no other finishing option, it may very well be worth the meter to cast in spite of how little damage it might do in these situations. For tech trap setups against someone who likes to Ukemi often, the CE will do full damage even when as a straight combo it might have been subject to heavy damage scaling. Gauge and use accordingly.
CE combos - in general I will try to list only the more rewarding CE setups, or when a guaranteed followup is *only* possible with CE, as listing anything that will lead into CE will result in an inflated list filled with combos that heavily scale its damage or otherwise aren't actually better than the normal/Brave Edge combos of the base character's. The most efficient combos typically involve hitting the CE as an unscaled OTG that allows the opponent to tech, so the CE will deal 75% (66) damage OTG, and 100% (88) when teched. If you launch a target and connect the CE right as they hit the ground on a soft landing, the CE will do 75% damage and be unblockable. Even though they can AC these setups the CE is omnidirectional so it doesn't matter. While most character styles can hit the CE this way this it is extremely difficult to time manually so those setups aren't listed unless the moves hit the timing for you, as is the case with Omega's 66B setup.
A note about stun and tech trap combos: Elysium's CE on standing targets uses a pushback+stun effect after the last hit connects. If you successfully tech trap into the CE for its full damage but along the way a stun equivalent to the one the CE has was used, the opponent will not be stunned after the CE, but instead only take the pushback and be left standing with at least a +19 advantage (but less than 25, as Viola cannot punish with VS 2A+B which is i25). This is seen because Elysium herself can guaranteed counter with CE after taking damage by a non-stunning Elysium CE. Other obvious possibilities with the range and speed to punish in this situation include Hilde's and Cervantes' CEs.
Hilde
C3A - combos and tech traps guaranteed.
CH 6BBB - combos, and also tech traps with a slight delay on the CE. 122 damage nontech, 149(!) with tech. This is particularly useful since followups off this move are generally impossible with Hilde herself.
Ivy
6B8 BE - combos and tech traps (tech trap requires slight CE delay)
66K - 86 damage nontech, 110 damage techtrap.
7_8_9K - 79-83 damage nontech, 106-110 damage techtrap.
11_77B - combos only nontechs for 86 damage.
Leixia
44K - 96 damage nontech, 118 on techtrap.
3B 6A - character specific
FC 3B 4A - character specific
66AA - catches techs only. Condition your opponent to tech before using.
Natsu
A6 - combos and techtraps guaranteed. 98 damage normal, 122 vs. tech
A:6 - combos and techtraps guaranteed. 106 damage normal, 130 vs. tech
PO A+B - combos. Also techtraps with slight CE delay. 121 damage normal, 148 vs. tech
6AK - only if they don't tech
CH 66AB - only techtraps. Beware since this move and the CE use the same stun.
Pyrrha
22_88A → CE (87 damage)
4B+K 4K → CE (137 damage)
3B A/2A → CE (102 damage). 2A is easier to use for not messing up the CE input, but has less range than A.
CH 44A A/2A → CE (119-121 damage). A won't connect at tipper range. 2A is easier to not mess up the CE input after, but has less range than A.
66K / 33_99K A/2A → CE (94 / 96 damage)
44B / WR B+K A/2A → CE (98 / 102 damage)
66B A/2A → CE (108 damage). Really inconsistent, requires tip range on 66B
Pyrrha Omega
66B 9A - (119-125 damage depending on angle CE hits). 9A won't connect if 66B hits at tip range. +50-56 damage over Elysium's DNS B followup, and +24-30 damage over Pyrrha Omega's CE DNS B followup.
44B / WR B+K 2A → CE (102 / 104 damage). Pyrrha Omega's A is slower than Pyrrha's, requiring 2A for this and similar setups to combo properly. Won't work at tipper range because of 2A's shorter reach.
66K / 33_99K 2A → CE (94 / 96 damage)
3B 2A → CE (104 damage)
Tira
4B+KB - combos and tech traps (techtrap requires CE delay). 102 damage normal, 128 vs. tech
JS 3B K - 96 damage. The 3B needs to be connected fairly close for K to hit.
JS 66B K - 96 damage.
Viola - heavy damage scaling on the majority of Viola's combos and her very powerful BE game leaves relatively little room to use the CE effectively in combos, but there is at least one worth doing.
VS A+G - 116 damage and a brief camera angle glitch. +58 damage over 8A+B followup.
Punishing with CE
Under construction, as finding the worthwhile punishes via CE is an involved testing process. Anything that is -19 on block (or JG if you manage it) can be punished with Elysium's CE at any range. Whether you'd want or need to do this depends on the character moveset you have at the time being, distance, meter stock, health levels, etc. Be your own judge.
Most blockable CEs, when blocked, are guaranteed punishable with Elysium's CE. These characters are the exception:
Algol (guaranteed on JG only)
Natsu, because of duration
Nightmare because of BA property, but you should never need to do this anyway
Viola
Voldo (?), because of stance switch on block
Character differences by moveset - In nearly all ways but the CE, Elysium plays identically to the characters she borrows movesets from. There is a difference in physical size between her and some characters, but more often than not Elysium is very close to or identical in size to the characters she borrows movesets from. There are a few noteworthy combos that are altered from the base character's because of Elysium's different stature. As an example of what I mean, try Edgemaster-Tira's GS 3AA BE on Xiba and watch as the last hit whiffs each time due to Edgemaster being much taller than Tira, and Xiba apparently having no head.
Hilde - Specific punish and combo differences are unknown.
Ivy - Elysium is roughly 2 character sizes smaller than Ivy, so attacks have slightly shorter reach and/or connect at a lower height than Ivy. Sensitive punishes and links that work as Ivy because of range issues may or may not work as Elysium due to this. This also means that Elysium is a smaller target, so sensitive combos that work on Ivy due to her size may not work on Elysium. Specific punishes and combo differences are unknown.
Leixia - Elysium is very slightly larger than Leixia (difference being less than 1 full character size), and there appears to be an important functional difference when trying to attempt this and similar wall combos:
44[A] AA BE 3B W! 4A+B W! 6BA (AT) 6BA
As Leixia herself, this combo seems to have no issues landing no matter who the target is and what angle they seem to hit the wall. As Elysium-Leixia, the first 6BA after 4A+B W! can miss most characters entirely, going over their head and dropping the combo. The odd part is, against these characters it misses on, this will happen each time if you're facing the wall and it's angled deeper to your left when facing it. If you're facing it dead on, or it's angled deeper to the right, 4A+B W! will combo into the 6BA AT properly, even on the short statured Viola.
If the above angle condition isn't met (you have quite a bit of time to judge whether or not the angle will be right during the BE), you can substitute iFC3B for 4A+B making the input this instead:
44[A] AA BE 3B W! iFC 3B W! 6BA (AT) 6BA. Damage for the full combo will be reduced by 10, but more importantly it will work to the end.
If you happen to be fond of Edge Master, bear in mind this particular whiff issue is actually much worse.
Natsu - Elysium is very slightly smaller than Natsu (less than 1 character size difference), so attacks have very slightly shorter reach and/or connect at a lower height than Natsu. Sensitive punishes and combos that work as Natsu because of range issues may or not work as Elysium due to this. This also means that Elysium is a very slightly smaller target, so sensitive combos that work on Natsu due to her size may not work on Elysium. Natsu isn't a ranged fighter anyway and the size difference is very small so this barely makes a difference if at all.
Pyrrha - I've heard that Pyrrha-E's AA range is shorter than Pyrrha's herself, but I haven't been able to actually replicate this difference. I only tested against Leixia's 22_88B and got the same results when both were at the same ranges on block. There are otherwise no differences of note.
Pyrrha Omega - has quite a few interesting differences, enough to fill a data table, in fact. Here's the condensed version:
NS B and DNS B (and all similarly appearing attacks) deal 8 more damage.
The NS B AT (all versions) is Sophitia's Painful Fate move from earlier games, and cannot W! at all like Omega's can. Additionally, only the Just AT can RO. All versions of the NS B AT deal 5 more damage and have a higher Clean Hit chance than Omega's. This means that in any non wall combo scenario, Elysium-Omega's NS B ATs have higher damage potential.
DNS B:4 and its equivalent BE version can RO while Omega's cannot. Has a noticeably higher Clean Hit chance on both stab and AT for all versions.
NS B and all similarly appearing attacks use Sophitia's animation from previous SC games. This is presumably why her NS B and NS:B are still -16 on block instead of Omega's -18.
The taunt pose is Sophitia's from previous SC games.
Tira - Elysium's CE doesn't guarantee a GS switch when fully connected in JS like Tira's. When Elysium randoms Tira, she can randomly start in GS.
Viola - Elysium is roughly 1 character size larger than Viola, so attacks have very slightly greater reach and/or connect at a higher height than Viola. Sensitive punishes and combos that don't work as Viola because of range issues may or may not be possible as Elysium due to this. This also means that Elysium is a slightly larger target, so sensitive combos that don't work on Viola due to her size might work on Elysium. Like Edge Master, Viola's right handed claw weapon has no model when her style is borrowed by Elysium, but still has its range and weapon trail.
Any useful information including corrections is welcome.
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Elysium's unique critical edge is arguably her biggest draw in addition to a manageable 8 character movepool. The CE has infinite range and will connect regardless of the opponent's location. Unlike the vast majority of tech trap setups, this move does not care what direction an opponent techs or how far they are, because it will hit if the frames are appropriate. It can be used to punish moves or finish combos that otherwise leave too much distance between you and your opponent to connect with the current moveset's normal moves. However, at i19, it's a bit on the slow side, limiting its overall use.
The CE hits 19 times in quick succession and will deal 88 damage raw, and grants the victim with roughly 15% meter if all hits connect. 88 damage is quite good, however in practice it won't be dealing its full 88 damage very often outside of successful tech traps, as the i19 speed isn't very good for fishing CHs or punishing much but highly unsafe moves. The damage of each hit is very granular and the first hit only deals 2 damage, so you also get no attractive CH damage boost to speak of like you would with Hilde's or Pyrrha Omega's CEs on CH. This also means the entirety of the CE is subject to the "guts" system when the opponent is near death. When using the CE to KO the opponent, expect the CE to lose about 22-24 damage to guts.
The CE has minor invulnerability frames starting at frame 17 lasting to when it hits at 19, but the startup has substantial TC, easily avoiding highs (if it avoids certain mids, I wouldn't know and wouldn't risk it). It also TJs when the move is attacking, but this almost never comes into play except in very specific situations against Viola's, Siegfried's, and possibly Ezio's and Algol's ranged attacks.
On block, the CE is -22 but has block pushback, making it difficult to punish for some characters even if blocked at point blank range. On JG it's -35, but the pushback from 19 consecutive JGs is so great that only very few characters can punish it on JG despite the large disadvantage. On block, the CE does substantial guard damage but will never itself Guard Burst (GB damage equivalent is about equal to 7 uses). Using it for the guard damage is of course not advisable, just gravy if your CE happens to be blocked.
Simply because a move or combo leads into the CE doesn't mean you should use the CE due to damage scaling. Some attacks and launchers scale damage on followups, so the damage gained by finishing with CE may be insignificant compared to other options you can do and thus may not be worth spending the meter. Connecting the CE against a target in the air and juggling them with it is inefficient due to damage scaling against an airborne target. If the combo in question has any stun involved, you can practically forget about using it. The many small hits of the CE after a stun will diminish the damage to pitiful levels in no time flat. Regardless of the setup or damage scaling, when used to KO the opponent the CE will always lose a flat 24~ damage to guts. That said, if it will seal a KO and you have no other finishing option, it may very well be worth the meter to cast in spite of how little damage it might do in these situations. For tech trap setups against someone who likes to Ukemi often, the CE will do full damage even when as a straight combo it might have been subject to heavy damage scaling. Gauge and use accordingly.
CE combos - in general I will try to list only the more rewarding CE setups, or when a guaranteed followup is *only* possible with CE, as listing anything that will lead into CE will result in an inflated list filled with combos that heavily scale its damage or otherwise aren't actually better than the normal/Brave Edge combos of the base character's. The most efficient combos typically involve hitting the CE as an unscaled OTG that allows the opponent to tech, so the CE will deal 75% (66) damage OTG, and 100% (88) when teched. If you launch a target and connect the CE right as they hit the ground on a soft landing, the CE will do 75% damage and be unblockable. Even though they can AC these setups the CE is omnidirectional so it doesn't matter. While most character styles can hit the CE this way this it is extremely difficult to time manually so those setups aren't listed unless the moves hit the timing for you, as is the case with Omega's 66B setup.
A note about stun and tech trap combos: Elysium's CE on standing targets uses a pushback+stun effect after the last hit connects. If you successfully tech trap into the CE for its full damage but along the way a stun equivalent to the one the CE has was used, the opponent will not be stunned after the CE, but instead only take the pushback and be left standing with at least a +19 advantage (but less than 25, as Viola cannot punish with VS 2A+B which is i25). This is seen because Elysium herself can guaranteed counter with CE after taking damage by a non-stunning Elysium CE. Other obvious possibilities with the range and speed to punish in this situation include Hilde's and Cervantes' CEs.
Hilde
C3A - combos and tech traps guaranteed.
CH 6BBB - combos, and also tech traps with a slight delay on the CE. 122 damage nontech, 149(!) with tech. This is particularly useful since followups off this move are generally impossible with Hilde herself.
Ivy
6B8 BE - combos and tech traps (tech trap requires slight CE delay)
66K - 86 damage nontech, 110 damage techtrap.
7_8_9K - 79-83 damage nontech, 106-110 damage techtrap.
11_77B - combos only nontechs for 86 damage.
Leixia
44K - 96 damage nontech, 118 on techtrap.
3B 6A - character specific
FC 3B 4A - character specific
66AA - catches techs only. Condition your opponent to tech before using.
Natsu
A6 - combos and techtraps guaranteed. 98 damage normal, 122 vs. tech
A:6 - combos and techtraps guaranteed. 106 damage normal, 130 vs. tech
PO A+B - combos. Also techtraps with slight CE delay. 121 damage normal, 148 vs. tech
6AK - only if they don't tech
CH 66AB - only techtraps. Beware since this move and the CE use the same stun.
Pyrrha
22_88A → CE (87 damage)
4B+K 4K → CE (137 damage)
3B A/2A → CE (102 damage). 2A is easier to use for not messing up the CE input, but has less range than A.
CH 44A A/2A → CE (119-121 damage). A won't connect at tipper range. 2A is easier to not mess up the CE input after, but has less range than A.
66K / 33_99K A/2A → CE (94 / 96 damage)
44B / WR B+K A/2A → CE (98 / 102 damage)
66B A/2A → CE (108 damage). Really inconsistent, requires tip range on 66B
Pyrrha Omega
66B 9A - (119-125 damage depending on angle CE hits). 9A won't connect if 66B hits at tip range. +50-56 damage over Elysium's DNS B followup, and +24-30 damage over Pyrrha Omega's CE DNS B followup.
44B / WR B+K 2A → CE (102 / 104 damage). Pyrrha Omega's A is slower than Pyrrha's, requiring 2A for this and similar setups to combo properly. Won't work at tipper range because of 2A's shorter reach.
66K / 33_99K 2A → CE (94 / 96 damage)
3B 2A → CE (104 damage)
Tira
4B+KB - combos and tech traps (techtrap requires CE delay). 102 damage normal, 128 vs. tech
JS 3B K - 96 damage. The 3B needs to be connected fairly close for K to hit.
JS 66B K - 96 damage.
Viola - heavy damage scaling on the majority of Viola's combos and her very powerful BE game leaves relatively little room to use the CE effectively in combos, but there is at least one worth doing.
VS A+G - 116 damage and a brief camera angle glitch. +58 damage over 8A+B followup.
Punishing with CE
Under construction, as finding the worthwhile punishes via CE is an involved testing process. Anything that is -19 on block (or JG if you manage it) can be punished with Elysium's CE at any range. Whether you'd want or need to do this depends on the character moveset you have at the time being, distance, meter stock, health levels, etc. Be your own judge.
Most blockable CEs, when blocked, are guaranteed punishable with Elysium's CE. These characters are the exception:
Algol (guaranteed on JG only)
Natsu, because of duration
Nightmare because of BA property, but you should never need to do this anyway
Viola
Voldo (?), because of stance switch on block
Character differences by moveset - In nearly all ways but the CE, Elysium plays identically to the characters she borrows movesets from. There is a difference in physical size between her and some characters, but more often than not Elysium is very close to or identical in size to the characters she borrows movesets from. There are a few noteworthy combos that are altered from the base character's because of Elysium's different stature. As an example of what I mean, try Edgemaster-Tira's GS 3AA BE on Xiba and watch as the last hit whiffs each time due to Edgemaster being much taller than Tira, and Xiba apparently having no head.
Hilde - Specific punish and combo differences are unknown.
Ivy - Elysium is roughly 2 character sizes smaller than Ivy, so attacks have slightly shorter reach and/or connect at a lower height than Ivy. Sensitive punishes and links that work as Ivy because of range issues may or may not work as Elysium due to this. This also means that Elysium is a smaller target, so sensitive combos that work on Ivy due to her size may not work on Elysium. Specific punishes and combo differences are unknown.
Leixia - Elysium is very slightly larger than Leixia (difference being less than 1 full character size), and there appears to be an important functional difference when trying to attempt this and similar wall combos:
44[A] AA BE 3B W! 4A+B W! 6BA (AT) 6BA
As Leixia herself, this combo seems to have no issues landing no matter who the target is and what angle they seem to hit the wall. As Elysium-Leixia, the first 6BA after 4A+B W! can miss most characters entirely, going over their head and dropping the combo. The odd part is, against these characters it misses on, this will happen each time if you're facing the wall and it's angled deeper to your left when facing it. If you're facing it dead on, or it's angled deeper to the right, 4A+B W! will combo into the 6BA AT properly, even on the short statured Viola.
If the above angle condition isn't met (you have quite a bit of time to judge whether or not the angle will be right during the BE), you can substitute iFC3B for 4A+B making the input this instead:
44[A] AA BE 3B W! iFC 3B W! 6BA (AT) 6BA. Damage for the full combo will be reduced by 10, but more importantly it will work to the end.
If you happen to be fond of Edge Master, bear in mind this particular whiff issue is actually much worse.
Natsu - Elysium is very slightly smaller than Natsu (less than 1 character size difference), so attacks have very slightly shorter reach and/or connect at a lower height than Natsu. Sensitive punishes and combos that work as Natsu because of range issues may or not work as Elysium due to this. This also means that Elysium is a very slightly smaller target, so sensitive combos that work on Natsu due to her size may not work on Elysium. Natsu isn't a ranged fighter anyway and the size difference is very small so this barely makes a difference if at all.
Pyrrha - I've heard that Pyrrha-E's AA range is shorter than Pyrrha's herself, but I haven't been able to actually replicate this difference. I only tested against Leixia's 22_88B and got the same results when both were at the same ranges on block. There are otherwise no differences of note.
Pyrrha Omega - has quite a few interesting differences, enough to fill a data table, in fact. Here's the condensed version:
NS B and DNS B (and all similarly appearing attacks) deal 8 more damage.
The NS B AT (all versions) is Sophitia's Painful Fate move from earlier games, and cannot W! at all like Omega's can. Additionally, only the Just AT can RO. All versions of the NS B AT deal 5 more damage and have a higher Clean Hit chance than Omega's. This means that in any non wall combo scenario, Elysium-Omega's NS B ATs have higher damage potential.
DNS B:4 and its equivalent BE version can RO while Omega's cannot. Has a noticeably higher Clean Hit chance on both stab and AT for all versions.
NS B and all similarly appearing attacks use Sophitia's animation from previous SC games. This is presumably why her NS B and NS:B are still -16 on block instead of Omega's -18.
The taunt pose is Sophitia's from previous SC games.
Tira - Elysium's CE doesn't guarantee a GS switch when fully connected in JS like Tira's. When Elysium randoms Tira, she can randomly start in GS.
Viola - Elysium is roughly 1 character size larger than Viola, so attacks have very slightly greater reach and/or connect at a higher height than Viola. Sensitive punishes and combos that don't work as Viola because of range issues may or may not be possible as Elysium due to this. This also means that Elysium is a slightly larger target, so sensitive combos that don't work on Viola due to her size might work on Elysium. Like Edge Master, Viola's right handed claw weapon has no model when her style is borrowed by Elysium, but still has its range and weapon trail.
Any useful information including corrections is welcome.
