All you've mentioned in the past 5 pages have been the same exact thing... damage damage damage and mix-up, yet when asked what damage or mix-up do you see once ppl are easily reacting to and punishing what you have stated (bomb's, 66B BE, po hov mix up. anything else you've mentioned that I might have missed.) what is left? what mix up and what damage? This is the only thing you have mentioned, I've played taki in 2, and so I stick with Natsu in 5. I see the short comings but i'm not whinning or crying about it as you have rudely stated, I'm mearly asking a question that I dont have the answer to because I feel there is none.
As others have mentioned, she's never had damage which i'm fine with, I'm just not happy that she's lost most of her tools to create hesitation, anytime Taki animation freezes for a split second you know she is pretty much done (with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions which is easily distinguishable) and at a negative for the most part, why? because there is no more delay on any string. This makes things tough cause you don't have much answer to ppl just reacting and throwing something out there. This in turn kills all transition into PO on block, lack of po sidestep makes a standing quick vertical tough to beat.
So brings us right back to Square 1, what do you feel makes her top tier, once all your slow reactable tools for damage have been taken away?. This is the question at hand, I would feel that being able to do a low that deals 50 damage and is quick, fairly safe, vs natsu's 1k low damage, or 1A slow reactable low, and very punishable to be a much better tool thus making the character with the "50 damage/quick/fairly safe" low to be a superior tool thus moving him above natsu's low for tier sakes no?
There are answers, think outside the box.
If they jump bombs(4A+B) on reaction, you can follow up with A on reaction and punish them.
6B+K , B B B does a crap ton of damage for being so awesome at high crush. and if blocked its safe and does a good amount of guard damage. people will learn to side-step the last hit for the easy punish, and natsu players will learn not to mash B and end the string earlier.
4A+B is amazing leads to big damage, safe on block against a majority of the cast, mix it up with PO BE K, and you've got them hesitating to press buttons afterwards which leave you open to PO B frame trap setups
while 66B BE can be used as a frametrap with 4B on block, the second hit is high(duckable), i only like to use 66B BE in combos after landing something like 22/88_b. An example would be, 22_B, 66B BE, WC A+B, 1A(44KK if close to wall instead for beefy damage). instead, i prefer to use 66B4, which puts a good amount of space between you and the opponent to see how they react. if they go for a 3 hit string, HOV B into death, if they go for a 2 hit string, dash up from PO and B, frame-trap/grab/mid launcher time. mix this up with the use of 66A,B/ 66A,B4 and the opponent has a reason to hesitate.
if they block, guard damage goes up, if they take the hit, oki becomes an option. and natsu's wakeup game is nasty.
Natsu is super effective at conditions her opponents to look out for certain parts of her game.
I am also not sure whose low you are talking about..
what I think people have not really explored with Natsu yet, is her ring out game, her mobility is wicked. her RO moves are also awesome, her grabs can ring out, she can position herself in favorable positions on the stage with the press of 2 buttons.
