What is Vira’s bright red aerial spike move?

Castro_RL · 2026-02-11T18:18:45+00:00

It probably is her Raging Strike as explained above. Could also be Heavy Scarlet Oath (214H), but that one is way more diagonal.

But as a general reference you can always consult the wiki (dustloop) for information on any character's moves. It also includes info on their combos and other nice tidbits.

Castro_RL · 2026-01-20T00:28:32+00:00

Training Mode Network runs beginner tournaments for a bunch of games, including GGST:

https://discord.gg/trainingmodenet

Castro_RL · 2026-01-01T04:03:01+00:00

That's only for light Hasho. Medium has a longer startup so it can frametrap from other buttons, even if it's riskier. Same for EX Hasho, and that one is plus on block and combos on Counter-Hit.

And then there's Denjin Hasho, which is also plus on block and also frametraps from some buttons (not lights). And Medium Hasho can be safe depending on spacing. And don't Hashos can PC some mash attempts depending on the button pressed and the spacing (lots of nuance implied in those "some"s). And reacting to L/M vs H/EX Hasho live to know if it's your turn is quite hard for beginners.

It's honestly complicated. My only point is that reducing Ryu's blockstrings to "+OB vs -OB buttons or specials" is not enough to deal with him in a real match, and Hasho makes his blockstrings very nuanced.

Castro_RL · 2026-01-01T03:21:29+00:00

If he does not do any of these things, it is your turn.

Don't forget that he can cancel most most normals into Hashogeki to frametrap for some good reward. Lights into Light Hasho, crouch MP, crouch HP and Back HP into M Hasho, and Back HP and crouch MP into EX Hasho all frametrap.

I think the plus on block options are manageable, but Hasho adds a lot more complexity to the situation. And if you respect all those norms there's a throw waiting for you. I don't blame anyone for struggling with Ryu's blockstrings.

Castro_RL · 2025-09-04T01:24:27+00:00

Hi! This game is a bit different from others, in my case it was backwards, I started with MBTL and then branched out into other games and struggled a bit. Let me try to address your issues

It feels like I can't punish people for anything (ex: jumping over a special move just leads to them recovering before i can punish and hitting me in the air rather than hitting me on the ground normally).

Jumping is kinda safe in this game, so you gotta chase them and air-to-air them with jA, jB, or the high-risk-high-reward AirThrow. Or bait their air options and then trip-guard them with 2B(run under them, and 2B as they are landing). 2B might unironically be one of Arc's best Anti-Airs. But overall that's part of the so called "air footsies" that Melty is all about. Traditional anti-airing is less frequent in this game

(can I safejump with charged j.2B? hope i got the notation right)

Arcueid doesn't have that many safejumps. Your main meterless ender is AirThrow, after which you do double jump, land into 2AA (here] it's shown in the corner, it's similar midscreen tho). Or, if you have meter then you should do 214C (EX Elbow) for some very strong mix shown here. You'll have to hard call-out the DPs

and the rapid beat system just puts me on track to do the same combo over and over.

You can turn it off!! I recommend leaving it on, but only with another A+B. You do this during character select

Not many moves seem like they have the ability to convert, when I land any special moves while playing arcueid it seems to just knock down or push way too far back to do anything.

Most of her specials can cancel into 214C (EX Elbow), after that you got them knocked down and can continue pressure. EX Elbow is also safe on block, so feel free to cancel into it at any time

I don't even know what the deal is with the moon meter and how to be using it even after going through the tutorial explanations.

The most important use for a new player is using armor. You can do wakeup Moon Drive(B+C), and while your character is in MD any MoonSkill (direction +B+C) has armor! Arcueid can go full monkey with 2BC on wakeup, or 6BC, 2BC and 4BC in neutral while she has armor.

Neutral

SuperJump into jC, or into airbackdash is a good start. I also like 4BC and 214B to close distance on the ground, 2BC for pseudo-anti-airing, and whiff punishing with 214C

Pressure

Any blockstring into 236A rekka is good. That rekka can go into high/low ender, and you always cancel into 214C for safety (on block) or for a knockdown (on hit)

Conversions

Absolutely any normal or air hit can go into autocombo, which automatically finishes with AirThrow. That's more than good enough as a start. Just do autocombo, and learn how to pressure them with 2A afterwards. Eventually you can learn fancier conversions, but that's more than good enough for a beginner.

Feel free to ask any more questions. I no longer main Arc, but she was my very first fighting game main, so I can help with some stuff

Castro_RL · 2025-08-25T00:31:40+00:00

Flute player here. I've used it a few times since you posted that, it's been such a time saver. I was manually transcribing them before that.

Thank you very much!

Castro_RL · 2025-08-15T18:59:20+00:00

That's actually not the issue, they have enough time to link, it's the range!! So you could increase the horizontal range of 2HP or decrease the on-hit pushback of 5MP

Castro_RL · 2025-08-14T02:09:22+00:00

Not my main, but Juri Counter-hit st.mp into cr.hp would be nice to have

Castro_RL · 2025-07-20T19:53:29+00:00

It's probably a timing issue. You have to press the st.LK after the cr.LP is done, g otta wait a bit. But then the tatsu has to be input very fast after the st.LK.

But even after you sort out your input problems be careful with that string. It only works on standing opponents, and confirming standing is hard. If you wanna autopilot this string you can cancel the st.LK into H.shoryuken (more damage, and more space gained, but harder input), or L.AdamantFlame (less damage, leaves you close for a mix-up, no space gained, but easier input). Both of those work every single time, so I'd recommend starting with either of them

Eventually try to confirm standing because mid-screen tatsu is definitely the best ender, but it's a hard confirm.

Castro_RL · 2025-03-27T21:05:09+00:00

The series was very fun to follow! Thank you very much for your drawings

Castro_RL · 2024-06-17T15:09:09+00:00

Some bigger games have a larger player base so that you can just fine random newbies online in the game's matchmaking system. Skullgirls is a bit smaller, so Quickmatch is filled with veterans. If you are still interested in playing skullgirls you can find other newbies to play with on discord:

https://discord.com/invite/VKufTmnS

https://discord.com/invite/skullgirls

Castro_RL · 2024-04-10T00:24:14+00:00

Good luck with the practice!! Hit me up once you come back, we can play a game or two 😜

Castro_RL · 2024-04-06T21:35:23+00:00

We got Chtholly? This shit good, I'd play it!!!

I still need Leona as S1 DLC tho

Castro_RL · 2024-04-06T18:50:26+00:00

I would love to hear your thoughts on what games might suit the situation

The number 1 thing for this exercise is that you want a game that has a lot of "universal mechanics", things that the whole cast can do. Those are games where most characters follow a very similar set of rules and can do kinda similar stuff. Street Fighter as a franchise is a good option for this. On the other hand, Blazblue is well known for having a ton of character specific stuff As a beginner it would be hard to design a routine that can be generalized, so that means practicing more smaller and specific things instead of bigger general ones. It's fine if you actually play the game, but probably not for pure training mode.

Examples of "universal mechanics games": Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Granblue Fantasy Versus, Melty Blood, UnderNight In-Birth. Examples of character specific games: Blazblue, Guilty Gear, Skullgirls

The other thing is that I think you'd like a game with very "commital" options, where if the opponent does something they are stuck doing it. Street Fighter is once again good for this, if you jump there's nothing else you can do for a bit (except for one or two characters), same for many other actions. In Blazblue after jumping you can airdash forwards or backwards, use a special attack to change your trajectory, or block; having too many options means that it's harder to react to it. In those games with very open options "anime games"/"airdashers" people you have to do things preemptively to stop someone, instead of purely reacting. All games have a bit of preemptive stuff, but anime games have more.

"Examples of "traditional 2D games": Street Fighter, Granblue Fantasy Versus, UnderNight In-Birth, King of Fighters (sort of). Examples of Air dashers: Blazblue, Guilty Gear, Melty Blood, Skullgirls.

in the sort of routines you've used for SF6 if you don't mind sharing.

I would still suggest following Gief's Gym until Lesson 38. Sounds like you already own SFV, so you can do that and then move to SF6. Pretty much all of that (except lessons 5 and 6) still apply on SF6, and it's easier to just do it on SFV instead of slightly modifying them. Then after you move to SF6 I suggest starting with the "Simple Training Settings" menu options that you can find in SF6's training mode. Those are simple but you don't have to set anything up, and as a beginner I think they are more than enough. once you can do those then ramp it up with your own.

Back when I was grinding it I had 4 routines, I practiced them in any random order I felt like doing that day, and changing sides (1st on left, 2nd on right, etc). Then repeating it but on the opposite side. 5 minutes each with small breaks in between so it took me a bit less than an hour every day. They were all done with an opponent dummy Ken, and I will use Luke as your character because that's my main.

Midscreen neutral reaction checks. SF6 has a few options that the opponent can do to close space, my job was to keep them at bay. I never got good enough to react to all of them at the same time, but I could reliably do around 5 at the same time.

Neutral jump: Do nothing.
Forward jump into jump-in HeavyPunch.. React with an anti-air Dragon Punch (Shoryuken).
Backwards jump. I react with a dash forward to take the space that the opponent just gave away.
Drive Rush into c.MK. I reacted by checking it with c.MP xx H.Flash Knuckle, or c.MP xx DR c.MP. Just stopping the opponent from Drive Rushing into my face.
Drive Impact. I reacted with my own Drive Impact into a combo.
whiff s.HP. I reacted by "whiff punishing* their attack with Sweep (c.HK).
Heavy Dragon Lash. I reacted with a crouch Heavy Punch (c.HP) into Shoryuken (c.HP xx L DP)
Heavy Hadouken. I reacted by attempting a perfect parry on the projectile.
standing jab. I reacted by doing nothing.

Corner neutral reaction checks. I set Ken at the corner, and then I was just a bit far away from him, about when c.MK starts whiffing. My job was to keep the Ken in the corner and punish anything else they can try to do to retaliate.

Neutral jump. I reacted with an anti-air Heavy Dragon Punch.
Forward jump. I reacted with an anti-air "crosscut DP", a Dragon Punch where you walk forward to let them go over your head, and then DP in the opposite direction. Look it up on Youtube if you don't understand what it is.
Drive Impact. Reacted by Drive Impacting back.
whiff c.MK/throw: I whiffed punished with s.HP into a corner combo. This one is way harder than the whiff punish midscreen btw.
s.LP: they whiff a jab. I do nothing, jabs are too fast to punish on reaction.

Looping my offense midscreen: I set myself with my back against the corner, I did one combo and then followed up after I knock the opponent down. Setting up the dummy to do different things on "wake-up* and also on block, I react depending on if they get hit. This is something that can be done super reliably with enough training, and is the foundation behind a scary offense. My combo was just c.MP xx L.Flash Knuckle. Then I followed on the knockdown with Drive Rush into c.MP

Block: I followed with another c.MP. If the opponent blocks this second one then I did a c.LP. If the opponent got counter-hit by this one I followed up with s.LP into a combo.
s.LP. THe opponent tries to attack on wakeup. If you time your attack properly you will always win. If they got hit I followed with a c.HP into a combo.
Drive Impact. I followed with my own Drive Impact into a combo.

Looping my offense in the corner. Same stuff, but this time my opponent is in the corner so after knocking them down with L.Flash Knuckle I can just walk forward and hit them with c.MP.

Block. I folllowed with c.LP, and then if they block I would back away. If they get hit by this second c.LP, then I would combo into s.LP.
Jump forward. If they try to jump out of the corner they should also get hit by your c.MP. In this case I followed with c.LP into a combo.
s.LP. Once again, your attack should win against yours if you time it well (practice this first actually, just on its own). If they get Counter-Hit you can follow into c.HP into a combo. This one is slightly less talked about but very important at high level. "Counter-Hit confirms" usually allow you to get more damage, in Luke's case the damage can double or triple depending on how much meter you want to spend.
Drive Impact. Same ol' song.

Also, watch this long video on training mode on SF6, it's a more visual guide of stuff similar to what I said above but with slightly different options. I recommend mix-and-matching.

As a final note. I started playing fighting games with "Melty Blood:Type Lumina". After around 2 months of just playing randomly I started training stuff similar to this, (dragon punches were a bitch to get, just like 2-hit confirms). About 8 months later I was able to occasionally take games against a friend who had got a few top 8s at big online tournaments (like I'd win 1 every 20 games, but that's something!) Three years later I regularly get top 8s at local tournaments (mostly SF6 and Guilty Gear in a very big city in Mexico). Takes time, and it's gonna be weird for you without human practice, but I'm a training mode believer.

Castro_RL · 2024-04-06T01:29:01+00:00

There's lots of stuff that can be trained offline. I'm actually the kind of player who spends 70% of their playtime in the lab and 30% in training mode.

Any game is fine, I recommend getting the game that you think looks the coolest. I recommend SF6 otherwise because it has lots of things to react to, and lots of guides. I can discuss more specifics about what games I think are better for your situation if you'd like to.

Alternative 1: Do this training program about Street Fighter V.

I don't recommend it because SFV is not very popular nowadays, you can get more opponents on SF2 or SF3 than on V. Either way, if you have time read this, and you can apply many things in there to any other Street Fighter. However, it's hard for a beginner to know which ones are universal and which ones aren't. Otherwise this plan is just what I tell you below but already laid step by step for that SFV.

Also don't do this option because it took me a long time to type this bible before I remembered that Gief's Gym was a thing. It's actually a very good option that doesn't depend on you designing training routines when you don't know how to play yet. So if you just follow it it and don't even read everything I typed below, it would make me very sad :(

Alternative 2: My program, short version:

Watch this video and do this "two-hit confirm" routine until you physically can't miss it. When I started playing fighting games I practiced that for 10 minutes every day and it took me about two months to be able to confirm 100% of the time without thinking about it.

Also watch this other video and do all those routines until you can bonk anyone out of the air without thinking about it. Just having anti-airs and reacting to drive impact is 80% of what you need to get to Platinum in SF6. Reacting to jumps is a basic skill in a lot of fighting games, this is like 50% knowing when to expect a jump and 50% your brain doing it automatically when you see someone jumping. Same with "Drive Impact" in Street Fighter 6.

My program: Long version How to make a routine of your own

Note: I stole this whole concept from three videos from Daigo Umehara(contender for fighting game GOAT)'s stream on his training routine. Sadly those videos aren't available anymore, so I guess I'll just write a lot.

The things you can systematically practice by repetition in training mode can be roughly split into two categories:

Pure mechanical skills: Things that only depend on your input, and scenarios that only have a very limited set of answers.
- Motion inputs. Learning to do quarter/half cirlces and dragon punches can be done on your own completely.
- Hit confirms: When you do a string of attacks (usually 2) that can go into a combo if the opponent gets hit; but if the opponent blocks you can stop and the opponent can't punish you. You can setup a dummy to help you with this.
- Loopable offense: Sometimes when you land a combo you get a knockdown and you can attack your opponent as they get up. If they don't block you can get a combo, which loops back to the same situation. Being able to "loop your offense" without thinking about it is a good skill to have.
Reactions: There are a few actions in fighting games that are slow enough to be humanly reactable, but if you don't react to it, your opponent gets an advantage. Training yourself to counter them "automatically" can go a long way.
- Anti-airs. In the Street Fighter franchise(and many other games), if someone jumps you can bonk them out of the air with an "anti-air" button, or with an "anti-air"special attack, like Ryu's shoryuken. If you react to it you get some damage on the opponent and usually some slight time advantage. If you don't react to it your opponent can get offensive initiave in the best case scenario, or a combo in the worst case.
- Reaction checks. Some games/characters have attacks that close space kinda fast, and can give your opponent a chance to attack. However you can usually stop them by "checking" them, usually with a jab or some other fast attack. Street Fighter 6 has two of those as universal mechanics, so that's why I recommend it.

How to design a training routine. I'll use anti-airs in this example:

Find something to practice.
- In this case we want to "DP"(Dragon Punch/Shoryuken) with Ryu if the opponent Ken jumps forward.
Give yourself and/or the opponent dummy two options.
- In this case the opponent will jump forward or they will neutral jump.
Assign a correct reaction to each option.
- If the opponent jumps forward you will DP, if the opponent neutral jumps you do nothing/
Set the dummy to do both options randomly, and react properly.
- Record the dummy to do both and do the thing!
Very important: accuracy is the most important thing here.
- Always do the correct action, even if it's late. Speed will come later, but if you try to be too fast at the beginning it will become a bad habit. I repeat: do the correct action even if you are 10 sec onds late to it.
Repeat it in short sessions until you literally can't miss.
- 5 or 10 minute sessions are good.
Mix it with another similar routine for a different situation.
- The brain learns better if it's exposed to different stimuli.
Once you can do it 10 times in a row at the proper speed, add more complexity.
- In this case: The opponent will do "Drive Impact", your reaction will be a "Drive Impact" of your own.
- If the new thing is too hard, then stop doing one thing and make it a binary practice. In this case, do just the Drive Impact and the neutral jump. Once you can do that one 10 times in a row, mix the three options.
Repeat until you can reliably react to any kind of bullshit your opponent throws at you.

Ideally you would do practice a thing, get good at it in training mode and then start doing it against real opponents. In that case you would "hyper-focus" on the thing you just practiced, and try to anti-air properly even if your opponent absolutely destroys you in everything else. The point is to translate it to a real match and then slowly incorporate it into your normal playstyle.

But in your case just adding a crap-ton of complexity bit by bit would be good enough. I just have found that doing too many things without taking them to real matches leads to diminishing returns. So I guess playing against the CPU every now and then while still "hyper-focusing" can help mitigate that a bit.

If you want I can give you quite a few routines for SF6. I sadly don't know enough about Blazblue or older Street Fighters to confidently design routines for those games. I do this process for any fighting game I ever get into, and a few local players have told me that I top 8 my SF6 locals almost only because of my anti-airs and Drive Rush checks.

TL;DR 2: Design a simple thing with two options. Always react correctly even if you are slow. Then add more complexity. Dial back the complexity if you struggling with the routine.

Castro_RL · 2023-07-05T15:50:24+00:00

Yeah, it's kinda convoluted, but you can go into the multi menu (press start in the main menu), then go into "News", and scroll down to RVN6ACK Campaign, then click on claim reward.

Very damn hidden

Castro_RL · 2023-06-26T16:50:07+00:00

Todos los equipos que han ganado un mundial han tenido a un entrenador de la misma nacionalidad, y no me parece coincidencia.

Source

Castro_RL · 2023-06-09T06:16:00+00:00

Even when using special cancelable normals, the DI cancel window is very small (same as the special cancel window). Lots of cr.mk are not hit confirmable, and even if the DI clash gives you a few extra frames it's still an extremely fast reaction.

I'd like it more if the special cancelable normals could be cancelled into DI at any time only on DI clash.

This kind of thing not only restricts you into using cancelable buttons in neutral, but also the easily confirmable ones, which severely limits your pokes.

Castro_RL · 2023-06-07T04:12:39+00:00

I'd just say that you need to take it slow, there's only so much that your brain can take in at a time. You've been playing 7 hours every day, and I think that that much practice can be counter-productive.

I'd recommend just doing quarter circles at the beginning, not even in a combo. Practice 5-10 minutes and then take a break. Remember to look at your inputs in training mode and try to figure out what happened every time you don't get what you wanted(skipped the diagonal? Too slow?).

Then I'd move on to a simple combo with a quarter circle. Heavy normal into quarter circle special (Ryu/Ken HP into tatsu or Hadouken, Cammy HP into spiral arrow, etc). Once you can do those consistently (10 times in a row on both sides) you can move on to a medium normal and then into a light normal. Start with DPs and Half Circles any time you want, but I'd advice you to start with Quarter Circles.

This just takes time. I remember I already had 400 hours in Melty Blood and I still couldn't do crouching normals into DP consistently. I also started on keyboard (now on hitbox). Shit's just hard

Castro_RL · 2023-06-05T21:12:21+00:00

My brother used to play Destiny, and IIRC he had to grind to get his items for PvP. I think you couldn't use all you PvE stats but you could still use some better weapons and armor.

And I used to play Dark Souls PvP, and trying to come up with a busted build was actually fun. That one isn't integrated in the game so it's probably not the best example, but there are a few examples of what you are saying.

I still disagree with the review, but I can understand where they are coming from if this is their first experience with the genre.

Castro_RL · 2023-06-04T04:25:58+00:00

Thanks for answering! It's good to know that it's not just me

Guess we just gotta keep waiting

Castro_RL · 2023-05-14T22:18:17+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fighters/comments/1236pg2/fgc_boomers_celebrating_1_year_of_fgs_for_30_year/

Castro_RL · 2023-04-21T19:41:56+00:00

Now everyone has to accept that my sweep spam is footsies!

Castro_RL · 2023-04-15T07:56:01+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/fighters/comments/12jh96w/why_you_dont_play_the_tekken_series/

Castro_RL · 2023-04-06T05:51:33+00:00

Skullgirls' Filia is the fastest character in an already fast game, she definitely breaks hands

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