Melty Blood/MBTL/Powered Ciel/Strategy

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#MBTL_PC

Gameplay Overview

Powered Ciel is most at home on the ground overall, so that's where you'll want to be most of the time unless you have a solid fix on your opponent's air tactics. You'll need to be playing somewhat aggressively as her to force knockdowns and otherwise get in on people for okizeme or other threats, but not so much so that you're pressing many buttons willy-nilly. For AACC veterans, she's a little similar to her H-Moon incarnation insofar as having the use of lightning pillars for controlling vertical space, but her moveset in this game is otherwise made for bum-rushing opponents and causing them grief in close and mid range.

Neutral

For pokes, 2A and 2B both work well and act as solid starters for combos, though 2B also doubles as a sweep due to 2C's longer startup and reach compared to most other characters' 2Cs. 5C and 2C are great buttons for half-screen-range neutral; 5C is made for stuffing out air approaches with the right timing, while 2C and 2[C] are more for trying to pick at people on the ground & farther away from you, but should be used cautiously because of their large recovery times--2[C] in particular. If you're trying to fight in the air, j.A is a good button for stuffing enemies a bit above you, while j.B is more for enemies on your level and j.C is for people way farther out--but be careful in this situation.

For rebeats, 5A and 2A are good options, especially from a 2C--if you can do 2C > 5Aw or 2C > 2Aw as mentioned on the main overview page, people who may have been expecting a 2C > 2C and shielded in anticipation have more or less given you the ability to run in and punish them tremendously for it.

As far as special moves go for neutral, PCiel has a few options. 236[A] and 6B+C both travel forward quite a distance, though 6B+C is a bit faster and gains clash frames for days in Moon Drive. Blade-related rekkas (whether that's 236B, 236A/B~B, or 236[B]) aren't bad picks either, though they're also risky to whiff for the same reasons as 5C and 2C and don't set up combo opportunities like 236A or 6B+C do; 236[B] in particular is a cheeky shield crush option for people shielding low at close or mid range. 214X is also a fairly decent pick for specials in neutral, mostly because despite their vertical focus they do cover a fair bit of horizontal space or distance depending on what you use--214A and 214[A] will manage the space immediately in front of PCiel, while 214B & 214C (if you have the meter for it) will go a bit farther out than that, and act as pre-emptive strikes if timed well--for speedier coverage of the 214A/[A] space, you can use 4B+C if you're willing to burn a litle Moon Gauge, as it covers a little less distance but starts up faster.

236C (or its rekka equivalents, 236A/B~C) is also an option, if a bit of a Hail Mary--the armor will let you blow through attacks, but if it gets called out, you'll be in trouble, so you may have to get used to doing the charged variant on occasion to fake people out and avoid getting smacked for your troubles.

Offense

Pressure

PCiel doesn't have *bad* pressure per se, but it's not super extensive either. 2A, 2B, and 5B are all decent pressure options as far as normals go--5[B] in particular is a super useful tool to catch people doing low shields to get out of your pressure. For specials, 214A and 236A are both good lockdown options as your pressure's going, though they'll end it to some degree unless you have meter to burn on, say, 214C, and if you feel the need to bait out specific options by regaining distance, you can use 236C/236A/B~C to juke your opponent trying to press buttons on you and rush back into their faces, with the occasional charged version to fake & bait certain responses from your opponents, much like you'd use it in neutral.

--pressure rebeats will go here eventually.--

Okizeme

Once your opponent is knocked down (usually from an air throw, given the way PCiel's air combos work & how easily she can go for them with the right setups), the basic oki option usually revolves around 214X or 4B+C, depending on spacing. Throwing the lightning as a meaty will either catch people that are mashing during wakeup, lock them down if they choose to block instead of going for a reversal or shield, or give you enough time to react to being shielded; you should be able to shieldback in turn if the latter happens. PCiel moving back a little during the lightning proper is also quite helpful for subtly repositioning yourself and avoiding certain reversal options.

Defense

PCiel has a few defensive options to pick from depending on how hard of a callout you're going for. From an anti-air perspective, 5C can cover the airdash space relatively well, but you may have a harder time using it for this in close quarters due to its slower startup; 5A is faster but has a tendency to clash, so you may be able to stuff some options but have to react quickly to others. Similar to their use in neutral, j.A and j.B are also decent enough options for air-to-air combat. You can also choose to go for 623B (or 623C for more damage), but while its horizontal range isn't terrible, the opponent can make you whiff it relatively easily--luckily, it does have a jump cancel point on whiff, so if this does happen it's not the end of the world.

As always, 236+C is also an option, but it's the heaviest-handed of your options and it shouldn't be used frivolously.