- Moderator
- #1
Heaton
A Soul in the Purgatory
Discuss the Ezio Auditore match-up here. A guide can be found here, and the string defense guide can be found here.
[MATCH-UP] Ezio Auditore
- Thread starter Heaton
- Start date
Jimbonator
[14] Master
Gonna put in my two cents here. It is pretty difficult for Ezio to control the space with his tools and crossbow given the strength of Raphael's own spacing and range. A great thing Raphael has is a long range that is able to punish the crossbow on block pretty reliably. 66B and 236B are excellent answers to blocked and whiffed bolts that will give a meaty punish that many characters just plain cannot do, hell I'm sure everyone in here has B+K'd a bolt at least once and felt like a badass. In the close range game you need to be very quick and decisive as exchanging in poke wars with Ezio is hazardous given his great and diverse poke arsenal, but its manageable given your speed. His anti-prep game consists of his TC'ing 66BB which hurts but can be Prep 4'd for the parry. His TC'ing A+B is slower and difficult to manage if you do not know how to handle it. 66A is an option also but if you space well it will be difficult for him to connect with it. Watch out if he is anticipating a SE. I myself always like to 3B for the CH when he goes into SE.
It comes down to knowing your opponent well but is a very fun and manageable match up. You have to keep him at an awkward range where many of his quick moves whiff while you can still hit him, which is very possible for Raphael.
It comes down to knowing your opponent well but is a very fun and manageable match up. You have to keep him at an awkward range where many of his quick moves whiff while you can still hit him, which is very possible for Raphael.
Jimbonator
[14] Master
Adding this for laughs. After some matches with Reptile there is some new tech to discuss.
Trying to B+K a bolt actually poses a risk. Say you know he is gonna fire and you anticipate the bolt with your B+K, turns out Ezio uses his own B+K (gun) as a response. There is nothing you can do and you will eat 60 damage with a clean hit chance. The Ezio has to also anticipate your own B+K, so fun mindgames here.
Ezio can also abuse 6K2 on you to an extent, especially if he has the life lead and wouldn't mind the damage trade. On hit it is -18, you can get in a punish but in the end, Ezio's stomp damage is more than your punish (save your CE). Know if your end awaits.
Trying to B+K a bolt actually poses a risk. Say you know he is gonna fire and you anticipate the bolt with your B+K, turns out Ezio uses his own B+K (gun) as a response. There is nothing you can do and you will eat 60 damage with a clean hit chance. The Ezio has to also anticipate your own B+K, so fun mindgames here.
Ezio can also abuse 6K2 on you to an extent, especially if he has the life lead and wouldn't mind the damage trade. On hit it is -18, you can get in a punish but in the end, Ezio's stomp damage is more than your punish (save your CE). Know if your end awaits.
Slade
[14] Master
Does 6K2 push out of 8A+B's range? If not that's a 35 damage punish (Clean hit for 40), which is almost even. 8A+B should also work against a blocked CE.
Keep in mind that 6K2 is (theoretically--if my memory serves it has considerable pushback) 33K BE punishable both on whiff (easy, huge recovery) and block. If that doesn't work, 22B should (i20 + 10 step), with 22B → CE being the strongest punish. As with all -23 or worse moves, 66(B) → Prep A+B punish applies.
An important thing to keep in mind in this matchup is that crossbows are almost never safe against Raph. Between 66(B) and 236B, Raph has some of the most effective punishment options against blocked crossbows at mid range.
In this matchup I would stress that Preparation is best used very conservatively. Ezio's A+B is an extremely threatening TC option (which Raph also has difficulty punishing on block; 2A/3A are probably the best options for block + roll punishment) and he has 66A/WR A and 66BB to complement it, and 6B BE is a heavy punish on blocked Prep K.
Keep in mind that 6K2 is (theoretically--if my memory serves it has considerable pushback) 33K BE punishable both on whiff (easy, huge recovery) and block. If that doesn't work, 22B should (i20 + 10 step), with 22B → CE being the strongest punish. As with all -23 or worse moves, 66(B) → Prep A+B punish applies.
An important thing to keep in mind in this matchup is that crossbows are almost never safe against Raph. Between 66(B) and 236B, Raph has some of the most effective punishment options against blocked crossbows at mid range.
In this matchup I would stress that Preparation is best used very conservatively. Ezio's A+B is an extremely threatening TC option (which Raph also has difficulty punishing on block; 2A/3A are probably the best options for block + roll punishment) and he has 66A/WR A and 66BB to complement it, and 6B BE is a heavy punish on blocked Prep K.
Jimbonator
[14] Master
Just tested it Slade, 8A+B whiffs and leaves him open to an A punish from Ezio at close range. CE can whiff punish Raphael also.
- Moderator
- #6
Reptile
Soul Calibur V
What?
Slade
[14] Master
If Ezio's 6K2 is whiffed or blocked, you can punish with 33K BE (tested it and it works). For a meterless punish the best option is 66(B).
I just tested and it appears that 6K2 on hit does push too far back for 8A+B to punish. As a result the best punish options on hit are FC 3B or 6AB. Definitely worth it to take the CE punish here in my opinion.
TheMikenyan
[09] Warrior
It is really easy to mock Ezio players with Raph. His auto-GIs are probably more effective against Ezio than any other character in the game.
It's already been mentioned that you can B+K bolts, and that guarantees you a free CE; on top of that, you can also Prep GI the bolts, and laugh your head off as Ezio stumbles forward because you parried a projectile. It works against high and low bolts too, and if the Ezio is stupid enough fire the crossbow at close-to-mid range, you can punish accordingly with Prep A+B, Prep Bb(BE), or Prep k(BE).
But wait - there's more! If you're in Prep, and Ezio goes for a high bolt, you can just let Raph auto-SE instead; since SE B has greater range than any of the Prep GI follow-ups, you can punish for 86-115 damage, depending on range and meter. It's easy enough to bait by using 44A+B.G from out of range.
Naturally, you can manually SE as well, so you can just dodge like a boss if Ezio decides to use B+K gun instead.
And less gimmicky than all of the above, Raph can also B+K punish Ezio's 66BB and 66Bb(BE) after blocking the first hit. Pretty sure there are other perfectly viable applications as well.
It's almost as if Ezio exists solely to make Raphael look like a complete badass.
It's already been mentioned that you can B+K bolts, and that guarantees you a free CE; on top of that, you can also Prep GI the bolts, and laugh your head off as Ezio stumbles forward because you parried a projectile. It works against high and low bolts too, and if the Ezio is stupid enough fire the crossbow at close-to-mid range, you can punish accordingly with Prep A+B, Prep Bb(BE), or Prep k(BE).
But wait - there's more! If you're in Prep, and Ezio goes for a high bolt, you can just let Raph auto-SE instead; since SE B has greater range than any of the Prep GI follow-ups, you can punish for 86-115 damage, depending on range and meter. It's easy enough to bait by using 44A+B.G from out of range.
Naturally, you can manually SE as well, so you can just dodge like a boss if Ezio decides to use B+K gun instead.
And less gimmicky than all of the above, Raph can also B+K punish Ezio's 66BB and 66Bb(BE) after blocking the first hit. Pretty sure there are other perfectly viable applications as well.
It's almost as if Ezio exists solely to make Raphael look like a complete badass.
Gotta love this statement. I mean Ezio is considered a true badass assassin and I respect him in the AC games but I still love Raph more lol.
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- #10
WuHT
Premium Moderator
The best part is that B+K against 66BB's 2nd hit is that you get the backgrab set up (not that crummy side grab off-axis) and 8B+K score you the full A+BA 66A+B combo, so the mixup is very strong post B+K.