Dealing with blue bursts

Labrys often has to get up close and personal to continue combos, which makes her somewhat vulnerable to blue bursts. However, there are a few ways to deal with them as Labrys:

Natural in-combo avoidance

Some of Labrys' routes will automatically make bursts whiff - typically this is when they force the opponent to be higher than her. Therefore if you're worried about bursts, consider using routes that use the following moves:

• 2B (e.g. as a starter, and make sure to hold jump and/or block until you need to follow up)

• 2C

• 5D

• [5B] (knocks them upwards a little)

• 5B at max range into 236A

• 214B (max range if opponent off the ground, e.g. after 236A~A)

Also be aware that the following moves will also cause blue bursts to fail, but may need you to adjust accordingly:

• j.214A/B (air guillotine)

  • Will cause blue bursts to whiff even if done on the first part of the move, but you will still have the super cancel into beast available, which will whiff and give the opponent a free combo if they're not in corner. If they are in corner, still best to wait and confirm with 2B/5A

• [dp]

  • Will auto-bait blue bursts, just make sure to keep holding it until they're in range to be hit, as after 2C they may be too high.

  • Can potentially use this instead of [5B] to combo spike/orb hits to make it unburstable at that point

  • Can be done from 214AB if your opponent likes using it as a burst point, but won't combo into the charged version if they don't burst

• [5B]

  • At maximum range, cannot be bursted, but hard to judge the exact distance, especially if running up after a spike hit for example

  • [2B] works similarly and is slightly easier as it moves you forward once you release it, but confirming into a decent payoff is harder

• 214214A/B

  • A meme, don't do this... unless you feel like really ruining someone's day. That day might be yours if they don't burst though.

  • B version won't work unless they're really high in the air

• j.214AB

  • Will armour through the burst, but is a little bit unpredictable as to what will happen after depending on the opponent burst timing. Will usually end up hitting them anyway, so you'll need to react and time beast accordingly

  • Can sometimes be done on reaction to the burst!

Labrys does have one fatal unburstable route in the corner that goes:

(FC, corner) 2B > 2C > 2C > 2C > 2C > 2C > 214B > 236236D

• Unburstable from a couple frames after 2B lands (once they're high enough) if you keep them high

• Clip them with the lingering hitbox of 214B, if they try and burst they'll take 6500 raw damage from the extra hits of D beast

• Does around 5500 damage if landed, also hilarious

Hard-baiting

The main way Labrys can hard-bait bursts is through jump cancelling into a block (as most of her moves have too much recovery to simply block). Key moves where this should be considered are:

• 5A

• 2B

• j.A

• j.B

• During winch dash brake (at any point - can even brake early to force this early if required)

It is also possible to backdash cancel 5B - a useful way to prevent people bursting the first hit of the 5B punish combo route, but also can be done from any route that uses 5B.

5DD allows Labrys to block during it, but you're usually attacking to pick up near the end, so the window where you can block is quite short if you want to continue the combo after.

The only way to hard bait after 5AA is to either OMC or [DP], both of which carry risks, but are doable.

Confirming off blocked bursts

The main options once you've blocked/baited a burst are either 5A or 2B. A blue burst puts the opponent airborne, but they can block once they land, so you will always get an air hit to punish. Note that 2B is very slow and therefore cannot be done in some situations (e.g. if you were very high when you blocked and the opponent was on the ground), however this will still usually be your best starter if you have no other resources (2B > j.B > j.B > j.C > j.214B > 236236D).

5A can be used if you need to be faster, and autocombo does give slightly more SP than the 2B route, but will in general do a lot less damage unless you're in yellow or higher. If you're in the corner with yellow axe or higher, do a 5A > j.A > j.BB > 7 dl j.2B > 5D > 5B > 2AB > ~D > ... route instead.

Route shortening

The enemy can't burst if they're already dead. Remember - SP isn't carried over between rounds, so using all your resources to kill as quickly as possible (and if on final round, that includes OMB) is in your best interests. Learn roughly how much damage D best does, and figure out quick ways of doing damage/ending combos. Examples include:

• OMB into 214B > 236236D (remember to hold block while bursting)

• In red axe - 2B > 214B to end a combo quickly into D beast, can be done quite late into combos using OMC for a quick extra 800-1000 damage

  • Equally, remember that 2B > 214B > 236236D in red axe as a fatal punish does 5k damage, and is often all you need

• Cutting combos short into D beast (can be done from nearly any move on CH, or most sweeps)

• In any combo during the first [5B] if they're decently high in the air (e.g end of 5D or from OMB), you can backdash cancel into 214B, which will connect if they don't burst (for a large chunk) and bait the burst and connect anyway for a full reset if they do

• Using 236A~B > 236236D instead of 236A~A> 214X > 236236D - works consistently if opponent grounded, and in most punish routes, but not from spike routes

• Using sweep > beast at any point, including after 5B/[5B]

• From AoA - you can D blowback into both C and SB beast from anywhere on the screen, and into D in the corner. To get D to work midscreen, you actually have to not get the fatal blowback, so they're not knocked back as far and it connects.