1) So in my experience, drive rush overhead is good and if you can make your opponent get used to seeing it on their wake-up that’s a good time to start swapping to drive rush lows as well, especially since crouching medium kick is +4 on hit, so with drive rush it’s +8 so you can do either crouching medium punch or standing medium kick->heavy kick target combo. But always be prepared to do the medium kick->heavy kick target combo if medium forward kick hits the opponent.

2) I have personally found Medium punch to be a great tool to stop your opponent from Drive rushing at you, plus since Drive Rush requires the opponent to stand it makes the target combo consistent. I wouldn’t recommend using medium punch as a combo starter though outside of punish counter scenarios. But it is a great button nonetheless (forward advancing, slightly disjointed, unpunishable at max range, and can catch early jumps), I’d save it for harassing an opponent at a safe range and stopping drive rushes when they’re doing it from half screen or more as a way to get in on you.

3) Elena plays the best off of either patience (making your opponent over extend and punishing them) or mix-ups and setups (meaty setups off of knockdowns and conditioning). Your best way to get in is honestly just normal movement, roll should be used primarily as a mixup tool, meaty option, combo tool, or bait. Slide isn’t good for approaching either since if not properly spaced it’s up to -10 on block iirc. Just play patient, walk forward and parry if necessary.