sweet
Can you give me some tips on how to get started with her in terms of neutral strategy as well as important combos to learn when just starting out? the dust forums seem like they only have a quarter of her stuff done
I'm still pretty new to BB, but I'll see what I can do.
Neutral seems really match-up dependent to me. Some characters have trouble dealing with her staffed options leaving you to speed-up and slow-down the pace at will, for some you have to plant and send out the staff deliberately (for example, for cutting through nu's projectiles, which it eats up quite nicely) and follow it in, and other times I find myself constantly maneuvering and harassing with the staff in constant motion until I get my opportunity to rush-down. Learning how to frustrate and set up pressure by avoiding anti-airs with her staffed and staffless j.D might be a good thing to get used to early.
As for combos, she doesn't have much in terms of basic stuff beyond short-confirms into DP or sweep > staff set, and this still won't get you far unless you have the pressure and oki to back it up after. Instead, let me just mention a few combo pieces and ideas that were important for me in getting her midscreen damage up to respectable levels.
Legend: (e) = staffless, (m) = staffed, hopefully the rest of the notation looks familiar.
1a) Itsuu A juggle link: ...juggle into staff's return hit (aka "staff2") 66 5B-
4B(m), 41236D~A xx 421D, 3C-2D...
The staffed 4B > 41236D~A link is a pretty important one, and more challenging than most links in this game as you have to get the stance to come out on the first possible frame, and still get the A follow-up to come out right away as well. You're going to want to use the button-hold trick (hold button down to repeat the input for 5 frames) to make sure that happens, but you still have to get the rhythm between the two button presses correct within a few frames.
Until you get confident with this middle combo piece, you're probably better off ending your combos with 6D(1) xx 623D after the 4B (which you also have to do in some lower juggles anyway).
1b) Itsuu A xx 421D, microdash 3C-2D...
Make this second-nature too. The microdash isn't always necessary, but you have to get 421D to come out on the first cancellable frame, so use the button-hold trick. Depending where you are on screen you end up going into...
...microdash 6C(2) or 5B-6C(2) > [staff2, 6A] or 3C(m) > super (works everywhere, but requires you to choose correctly based on about 7 possible screen-positioning quadrants)
...staff1 421C > corner combo (from a little out from corner)
...staff1, 3C xx 421C > corner combo (corner)
3) Itsuu-B confirms
My highest damage midscreen, non-OD combos tend to include Itsuu-B. If you can land this move in neutral, you want to convert it into damage, either like this from range:
41236D~B, 41236D, 421[C], 66 5B-4B, 41236D~A...
or like this from close:
41236D~B, 5[D], ][236A xx 236B xx 236C staff2, 66 5B-4B...
You can RC into the close variation from staffed 6D confirms vs standing/crouching (first or second hit, but first preferred for long combos) or staffed 6A if you're confident they won't block.
4) ...3C(m) RC
6B jc IAD j.B-j.A, 5B-4B...
Another better use of 50% meter than just comboing into staffed super. Even if you're not confident in linking Itsuu A after for the damage, the 6D(1) xx 623D ender will give better oki than the super does. The trick to this is doing the instant-airdash j.B a little late, and gattling into j.A even later than you'd expect. I think it's possible on everyone, but some characters definitely make it easier than others.
5) Dash-momentum Itsuu's
These can be useful in neutral if someone's hanging out just outside of the tip of Itsuu's range, but they're also good for adjusting spacing in some combos. Try this to get the motion down:
staffed backthrow > 412366D~A xx 623D, 236A xx 236B xx 63214A...
If you do it right, Litchi will slide forward when she goes into stance. Other combos will require dash-momentum rekkas as well.
Otherwise, I'll just say that her corner combos are much easier sources of damage when you're just starting, but I'll leave you to figure those out for yourself.
