Raphael Season 2 Review

[Gojira]

Well, let's get this over with. I'm going to rank the new moves by usefulness from best to worst and give my thoughts on each one.

1) PR B+K - Being able to QP from PR is the option that PR needed to potentially beat everything, and that alone gives it value. Now almost nothing is 100% guaranteed to beat PR... sounds fantastic, right? Well, yes and no. On one hand now those pesky mid options are beatable. On the other hand, this is just yet another option. Guessing right on PR defense can net you 70-80 damage, and that's good, but at the same time it's easier to guess wrong.

2) SC SE KB - Extra damage from SE mixups is always welcome. This one allows the low option to be more of a threat, and once they're used to the followup it makes SE K safer to throw out. However it doesn't even give him good oki afterward, so landing it is not so good for keeping up the pressure which we want from SC.

3) QP K - Technically we got two low moves in QP that hit step (QP A now tracks in exchange for the KND on normal hit), but this one is faster and does a little more. Near the edge it can set up a ring out situation, and near the wall it can set up a W! on CH. Having a low with that effect at the ring edge and wall is pretty good. If they try to duck react to QP we get fat QP BB 2K damage instead. Unfortunately since it's a stance move they can just box step QP to guard all options, leaving us with QP A as the only safe exit.

4) 236 A+B+K - Well, let's start with the positives. First, it's plus enough that when it hits they can't escape the built-in SE mixup, or they can't escape 6B if you choose not to SE. It's i16 and it has really good range, allowing it to hit consistently after B4. Unfortunately, when hitting at far range there is no SE mixup and at tip range even SE B won't reach. So it's hard to recommend using this move as a long range attack, or even as a juggle ender because after a few hits it'll just push them too far away to maintain pressure. Which is sad, because the move supposedly exists to maintain pressure in SC but we can already do combos into the old SC with better pressure rewards and options. (UPDATE - As of Patch 2.02 his SA now leaves him closer in most situations, allowing the SE mixup to work at more ranges. This is enough to bump it up a couple of places, so I have moved it to #4.)

5) PR B+G - So he can no longer do his regular RE from PR and instead got this. It's slightly different from your average RE in that even if you don't hold it or it doesn't absorb a move, it will still be a BA. Unfortunately for all intents and purposes it has all the weaknesses of a normal RE but without the extra followups and not nearly as plus on guard. When it hits you can combo into 4A+BA for about 50 damage and that's pretty much it.

6) 3A+B - Here's a low with range that actually goes further than 236B, so you might hope that you can do a mixup with it, but then you realize it's very slow and linear and the startup has hardly any evasive properties, so you have to use it from a distance and catch them not stepping (and why wouldn't they be stepping, since our horizontals don't reach that far). Also the damage is a bit meh and it only knocks down on CH. For oki it does hit back roll though, and it combos after RE A/B/K on normal hit, so we don't have to ukemi trap anymore.

7) PR A+B - Well, it's the normal A+B. So it does the lethal hit on GI and you get that combo. It also rings out or wallsplats on normal hit. But really, do we need it? We already had SE B, which has about the same amount of startup, less scaling on guard break, the crouching startup, and the built-in SE mixup to make them want to duck or not step. And if it hits near the wall or ring edge you can easily get a wall combo or ring out off it. Having A+B in PR just feels super redundant and less rewarding in the exact same situations, on top of being easier to react to.

8) PR AK - Speaking of redundancy, here's another case of it. The move hits step but it's -12 on guard and we already had PR AA doing the same thing much more safely. It has decent oki and ukemi traps but we already had PR AB PR BBB for better ones with better damage. It can ring out to the right but we already had PR AB PR BK for the right ring out potential. The move is literally the most redundant move they could have given us, and all that on top of not being safe. About the best thing I can say about it is that it's more likely to hit people at a range where PR A whiffs than PR AA or PR AB, but given how much forward momentum PR entries have, that's not likely to happen much.

Overall Raph is still strong. His new moves range from "okay" to "unnecessary." PR QP seem strong on paper, but when you realize that there are already other characters in the game that literally get to spend meter to beat 95% of attacks (HELLO MAXI), having one more new thing to add to 7 other things - each of which beats 1 or 2 out of 8 different options - is just more potential to be wrong. Raph remains as hard to use as ever in S2, and the vast majority of the new stuff just doesn't help him out much or change his approach to a matchup.

 

[Apoc Revolution]

I agree with most of what you said, but to me, his new moves range from 'good' to 'gimmicky'. Raphael has been strong from the beginning, now he's even more threatening. Right now, he's stronger than most of his season 1 versions, the only exceptions possibly being the ones where he had an i10 WR BB that lead to 70+ damage with meter. Having extra options is never a bad thing, it's all about how you use them. I find almost all of his moves useful, including the new ones and never feel like I struggle because of his moveset. He is indeed one of the most advanced characters though. This is how I will rank the new moves:

1. QP K
2. Prep B+K
3. SC SE KB

4. Prep B+G
5. 236A+B+K
6. Prep AK
7. 3A+B

8. Prep A+B

QP K tracks to both sides and makes the low-mid QP mixup borderline unreactable, more dangerous and is always useful in neutral. It can even lethal hit after form dodging three times, which makes it turn into one of the strongest lows in the game. Prep B+K gives you more defensive and mixup options which is nice, but it requires you to already be in stance. SC SE KB makes the low more threatening, but it requires meter and the second hit is much more unsafe on block. Still, these are good moves because of the QP and SE mixups being difficult to react to and Prep B+K giving you more options and discouraging opponents from 2A'ing you.

Prep B+G's defensive capability remains as useful as before. It's worse on block now, but more consistent damage-wise on hit since you had to guess in RE clashes. 236A+B+K is a decent soul attack, but the problem is opponents being pushed away, which can make SE K whiff and the fact that it doesn't hit grounded is stupid, even more so when Amy's soul attack has a similar upwards striking motion and does hit grounded. Prep AK is essentially a stronger, but slightly riskier version of Prep AA. It's not redundant because it hits opponents attempting to duck Prep AB and can also be useful for positioning to your right without going back into Prep, but leads to less damage than Prep AB and I would prefer Prep AK being a low. It's not very unsafe, but if it was safe, it would make Prep AA utterly inferior. 3A+B is one of Raphael's stronger lows and can guard crush, but is linear and reactable. Ironically, it's more useful in close range during situations where the opponent can't ukemi and has to guess between a low-mid mixup. It does do slightly more damage than run up 1B after a RE A/B/K hit in round 1, but it's not much. And 3A+B should've been a bit safer. These moves aren't bad, but could've been better.

Prep A+B is the only move that's actually redundant and thus, gimmicky. If an opponent uses RE while you're in Prep, it's safer to interrupt them with Prep BBB or you can sidestep and then whiff punish, which leads to about the same amount of damage as a Prep A+B LH would. For dealing guard damage, you already have Prep BBB which is impossible to avoid unlike Prep A+B after hitting them with Prep BB. If you anticipate a GI/RE, you can enter SE which still gives you mixup opportunities in case they don't GI/RE. There is no reason to use it during wall combos either since the damage won't be optimal. The only situation I can think of where Prep A+B is useful and not outclassed by other options is in the Siegfried match-up when he blocks your Preparation entries and immediately interrupts with DL 6A+B since he can beat most of your stance options that way. Unless you're doing 66(B+K), 44A(B) or B+G(B), your only options to beat it is using Prep A+B or Prep CE, which requires meter. You're still screwed if he blocks your 1(B) when you don't have enough meter to CE though.

 

[WuHT]

2.02 coming out boys

A few things:
1) QP when held leads back to prep, so it makes the opponent's attempt to option select against Raph even harder. Unless they're risking guard break near a wall or you've got 3x evades, I don't see why the opponent would risk crouch guard unless it is a hard read.
2) prep AK might have had more use if it had special CH properties, but as it stands its not even a NC so its basically a higher damage + unsafe prepAA with knockdown.
3) the LH from QP K seems to be only useful on the mixup front (say after a guard crush RE BB and the 2nd hit lands, you shift into QP). Otherwise the optimal combo damage is still inferior compared to QP BB off a successful aGI. I still wouldn't primarily use QP as a mix-up opportunity, but if I mis-read the opponent and they still freeze up, i'll take what I can get.
4) prepB+G into 4A+BA doesn't seem to connect on all characters

prep QP gives raph an option to solve a gaping whole in his game. Most of the other new moves are slight changes to existing moves.

Also: prepB+G looks ugly as hell (he kinda stiffly waddles forward holding the sword up awkwardly straight up) Maybe the animation will grow on me
The weird thing is that SC2's prepIV would have been a perfect stance animation, except he wouldn't move forward (which could be distinct from his neutral RE)
SC2's prepII is his prep animation and SC2's prepIII is his neutral RE animation

 

[Gojira]

Now that the patch is out, I've updated my ranking for the SA. Nothing much else about the specific moves changed though. They fixed a bug with the QP K lethal hit that made it not count form evades done from crouching or BT, but the move itself isn't improved.

@Apoc Revolution PR AK works on people who duck PR AB but that still isn't enough to upgrade it past redundant in my eyes. PR AA might do less damage but it was already a much safer way to do the same thing. If it was -10 instead of -12 I might consider it.

@WuHT Holding QP isn't going to help if they actually throw out a move instead of only guarding, but sure I guess that's an option. And personally I like how PR B+G looks. I think it's very cheeky-looking with one hand behind his back and suits him well.

 

[Apoc Revolution]

Now that the patch is out, I've updated my ranking for the SA. Nothing much else about the specific moves changed though. They fixed a bug with the QP K lethal hit that made it not count form evades done from crouching or BT, but the move itself isn't improved.

@Apoc Revolution PR AK works on people who duck PR AB but that still isn't enough to upgrade it past redundant in my eyes. PR AA might do less damage but it was already a much safer way to do the same thing. If it was -10 instead of -12 I might consider it.

@WuHT Holding QP isn't going to help if they actually throw out a move instead of only guarding, but sure I guess that's an option. And personally I like how PR B+G looks. I think it's very cheeky-looking with one hand behind his back and suits him well.

Of course Prep AK would be better if it was -10, but that would make Prep AA nearly redundant as only certain characters would be able to punish it. The reasons why I ranked it higher than 3A+B is because I find it easier to hit people with and the move will be more useful in high-level play. A more damaging knockdown that allows you to tech trap into 1K or 3A (or 3B if they tech backwards) is more threatening than a jab that only does half the amount of damage. For a long range low, I feel that 33B accomplishes the task better because its animation is less obvious and it's easier to do while you're already sidestepping. In close range, 1K is the better option. If 3A+B was safer, then I might reconsider.

The soul attack buff is nice, but it still doesn't hit grounded which is very stupid and I find Prep B+G too essential to move it down. And I also like how Prep B+G's animation looks.


I forgot about Prep 6(A), which is technically also a new move. Being able to transition back into Prep definitely makes it more useful, especially after a blocked 4(B) at a distance. It's also a good way to stop them from sidestepping without getting punished if they block (since Prep 6K is -16) and allows you to keep pressuring them. I find it more useful than Prep AK, 3A+B and Prep A+B so I actually rank the new moves like this:

1. QP K
2. Prep B+K
3. SC SE KB

4. Prep B+G
5. 236A+B+K
6. Prep 6(A)
7. Prep AK
8. 3A+B

9. Prep A+B