SoulCast #32: The ToucheCast

Fencers unite! It is time to talk a little vampiric swordsman strats, which I know some people have been desperately wanting. Well, I'm gonna give you far more than I think you really wanted.

Heaton, who is quickly running away with the Most SoulCast Appearances award, was kind enough to come on and pretty much give a move-by-move rundown of this character. Also, he provided a Google Docs link to his notes for each move, so you lazy buttholes don't even have to write anything down! In addition to that, Jimbo, who plays a different style of Raph than Heaton, gave us an awesome write-up on his perspective of Raphael. TLDR: I spoil you guys.

YouTube

0 0 1,901

2:05:16

SoulCast Episode #32 - Raphael [EXPLICIT]

Heaton's notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/183-nODZbBU4LEc8QHKKXvUEJYUEiPqdH4YcVEK6VKbY/edit?pli=1

Jimbo's write-up:

My goal with Raphael is run away and force things into a battle of attrition. Raph's staple moves and pokes are very quick but also carry extremely large range. There is a point where an actively zoning Raph can dominate any character in the game given his speed, range, and not to mention, his stellar movement. He is an extremely ideal character to force you to bleed out and make you come to him, making him an effective turtle killer. Keeping the spacing around the area of tip range 6BB, 3B, and 22/88A can prove to be extremely troublesome for many characters in the cast. If I have the opponent respecting my spacing superiority but cannot force themselves to move I can start picking them apart with lows like 33B and see how they proceed from there. If the opponent is conservative with his approach I can then just do crap like run up and throw or run up 2K to rile my opponent a bit.

Staple zoning moves include 3B, 6BB, 22A, WR B, WR A, 22B, and 5A, sometimes even 66B. You have to play Raphael in a much different way than you would characters with strong standards like AA and BB (Greeks, Yoshi, etc.) as his AA and BBB are not intended to be used in the traditional sense as both are i16. This aspect in his game can give some players the issue of "what the heck do I approach with/use quick standard pokes with?" Some players rationalize this issue of "whelp, hes unsafe and risky" which CAN be true, but the truth is Raph is very rarely 100% helpless with moves that carry a risk/reward to them. AKA moves that may or may not transition into Preparation. Look at something like post 6BB on hit. If I do not go into Preparation I am at neutral and I can do something such as move or snuff possible attacks with a 2A. When forced to deal with Preparation many players think "Guess I either have to A)Use a TC, or B) Wait it out." When entering Preparation from a post hit scenario, you cannot be touched as your Prep BB will beat out all immediate attacks or K will clip their tech crouch as it is a mid. If you keep putting them into dealing with Preparation and they keep getting hit out of their attacks they are gonna go into defense mode. From defense mode you can then start running funny stuff like 6BB on hit with no Preparation entry into throw, or even better, a free entry into Shadow Evade, which I do not really have to explain why that stance is so damn good.

I view his close range pokes as a means to smack the opponent and retreat once more. If the opponent is stubborn in his relentlessness Raphael has a great standard 2A to fend individuals off.

I say this because two of his best tools, throws and 3A lead to a situation where Raphael is at a supreme situation to run away. His B throw knocks the opponent away from him where 3A (which is an i14 mid btw) on CH pushes them away from you at +11! Putting your opponent in this situation works in tandem also with 66B, which is a strong pressure tool and has an obscene amount of linear range. Certain attacks of Raphael's like 66A, 3K, and 6K, on hit don't reset spacing so to speak but lead to a possibility where I can do so via throwing or 3A as they all hold enough advantage on hit.

So lets say the opponent gets frustrated from my constant retreating and obnoxious poking, this is when they start throwing more risk into the air and start trying to approach with attacks in hope to catch me. This is where Raphael's strong whiff punishment come into play. 236B and 66B are both mids with absurd levels of range which make them both excellent whiff punishers and backstep killers, these two moves perfectly fit and coincide into the spacing I wish to be at. The flip side is, if you yourself get too antsy and try to just hope to catch them without a proper stimulus, you have just stuck your neck out considerably and will be punished.

But lets say you screwed up, the opponent now has the life lead and you yourself need to rectify that and go back to where Raphael shines. Raphael is still capable to brawl with opponents if necessary given his options to disrespect frames and force responses with certain attacks on hit and block. Raphael can create many pressure filled situations with things like 22B into 2A combos/50/50s, 11K on hit, and 66A+B, WR A, and AA on block. Raphael is a host to very swift tech jumps, excellent tech crouches and again, his lovely movement and range. Places where Raphael players can flounder is if they try way too hard to come in and end up whiffing 66A or 236B trying to catch your opponent, both these moves can in fact catch them but there is a calculated risk to these moves. When you need to approach think of a shark, gradually circling closer and closer to the opponent and pick them apart until you get what you want, then go back to run away mode.

The poetry here is that when Raphael is brawling with you, your guard gauge is getting pulverized, despite his deceptive appearance of his low impact attacks all his staple pokes do excellent guard damage which quickly adds up, so that lovely final round scenario of you having near full meter while your opponent blinks red is extremely manageable and possible for Raphael to achieve. Raphael is not meter dependent so to speak but his meter moves reward good guesses, as his 6B brave edge is i12 and very easy to hit confirm and Prep K(BE) hits on the result of Prep 4 auto GI connecting, or even just a good guess on stepping. Both of these brave edges result in massive pain for you when they fail so keep in mind you shouldn't be blindly throwing that stuff out. Lastly, his 33KB (BE) is almost a "do everything" tool as it is extremely quick from step, provides a nasty mid/throw mix up, and when blocked, leaves you at +8. This +8 is awkward though in the fact that your post block spacing requires you to take a risk if you want to continue your momentum and offense, but it is also great to...you know, run away! His CE is also i12 and a really good punisher and combo ender for max damage. I do not personally understand why Raphael's CE gets slept on a lot, 75 damage from only -12? This trait KILLS people when it limits characters like Algol, Cervantes, and Omega Pyrrha if they are trying to get in with a horizontal or even trying to kill step for that matter.

Quick notes about his punishment game
-i12 6BB does 16 damage but has absurd range so pushback is very rarely an issue for Raphael and his block punishment.
-The -16 range is where his meterless punishment takes a spike up with 3B punishes, which again, rarely have range as an issue.
-The -22 range is the sweet spot for Raphael guard punishment, JG punishment, and even string evasion given that the meterless rewards on hit are around 70 damage.
-Think of his punishment as a death by paper cuts type deal.

Quick notes about his exploitable flaws
-Advancing tech crouches. The issue here is that Raphael is either linear or using a high for zoning and these moves mess with that, brownie points go to moves like Ezio 66B, Aeon 4B+K, and Alpha Pat 33B.
-Similar to Leixia, comebacks can be hard given his overall low damage, this is circumvented with his strong throws and 33BK BE.
-His ring out ability is not great, so there may be instances where controlling space harbors problems on certain small stages against ring out heavyweights.

Let me expand on this alleged "linearity" issue Raphael has. While is it very possible that little girls can be frequently finding themselves stepping things like 66A with ease many players fail to recognize basic things like throws and 11K killing step reliably. It does not end there though, people also forget to mention that a handful of Raphael's verticals and even one of his kicks track a particular side very harshly. Moves like 44K, 1B, FC 3B, 4B, 66A+B, and 33B all fit into this mould and exhibit a strong side and a weak side. Now obviously, pure horizontals like 2A, AA, 3A, and 22A cover a larger radius with step killing.

Sidestep killing is another topic people harp on Raphael for because when he reads movement with a horizontal he is not exactly highly rewarded for his read, his go to step killers merely set up opportunities to get out, do a move that will lead to getting out like 3A, or a general poke. With the exception of CE, 66B, and throws I am not a personal fan of knocking you down. I would much rather pick you apart with my pokes and let you bleed out then fall down...at the end of the round. :)

YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/kitaenjacks?feature=watch
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VGFed
facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Video-Gaming-Federation-VGF/167768476578566
Buzzsprout page (for audio file stream/download): http://www.buzzsprout.com/3308/114109-soulcast-32-raphael
8wayrun thread: http://8wayrun.com/threads/a-soul-calibur-podcast-soulcast.12186/
VGF site: http://www.videogamingfederation.org/

 

Ive been trying to learn Raphael, and this is a great start.

 

66A+G to my <3

As usual, if something wasn't clear because of audio or me just stumbling through words, feel free to ask wherever.

 

NO DABROS? :'(

 

I have 2 questions, why did they remove raph's teleport from sc4 and why is Necro Form so awful.

 

This is one of the best Soulcasts to date, the detail of going through every move and giving them a specific niche is really usefull. Good job guys, definitely raising standards.

 

I have 2 questions, why did they remove raph's teleport from sc4 and why is Necro Form so awful.

Teleport was an A+K command, and those ended up getting moved to a different command or removed altogether for most people. Raphael was special in that his was consolidated somewhat into Necro Form - you'll notice B+K on whiff has the same animation that his teleport had. My best guess to why it was removed probably has to do with the balance team not wanting Raphael to be able to switch sides at will, since movement is so inherently risky. Then again, all forms of A+K were extremely risky to just throw out. It's hard to say exactly why they removed it.

Necro Form itself isn't necessarily bad, but as I said, it's extremely limited in its application because of its late window which prevents use against strings, and limits it mostly to slow, telegraphed verticals. Because of that, you either have to use it only in those situations, or have godlike yomi that would make Daigo blush.

Something I DID forget to mention about B+K is that if you successfully use it against a move even at distance, Raphael will teleport right up to them and do his attack. You can use this to fairly good effect against Ezio and his crossbows if he persists in pestering you with them at a distance.

 

Thanks guys for telling me I used "right" instead of "write." Good job having my back. Dicks.

 

Ah thanks for clearing that up heaton, it's still lame that agol get to keep his little chair teleports at will, while raph gets the short end of the stick.

It's also such a shame that Necro Form is so unreliable though, I love using move that catch your opponent off guard because they are so rarely used (such as Yoshimitsu's iron fist possessions, or tiras gloomy Gi).

 

Finally I've waiting for this for a good while now. Also 66A+G is the juice and B+K makes you cry if you miss with it :( .

 

tfw so low tear that even FIME's soulcast has more than double the responses

 

Sweet. These seem to keep getting better, it's a shame we're almost out of characters D:

 

One thing the SoulCast forget to mention is that Raph's 4A+B aGI can wallsplat as well so I leave that here. Also for these SoulCast once the SCV characters are done I would say work on some SC2 stuff cause yes people know most of the info but alot of it is from the older forums and such and that is gone now and also with Spawn and Heihachi being in the same game and tourney legal with Nercid possibly the meta can change a little or not much at all just a thought.

 

I'll think of something. Or I won't. Whatever.

 

I bet some raph mainers are thinking that witholding information might make their matchups easier lol.

Overall a very enjoyable listen for me. Unfortunately i've been bogged down in the patch thread lol

 

@Zanaken wasn't in the podcast?! Screw listening to that then...

 

I personally find that tricking the opponent is the most effective way to use Raphael because of the many different attacks that follow his Prep and lean. It really keeps the enemy on their toes and open to surprise. Just-Guarding will also leave the enemy open for attack.