Chaos Code/NSC/Lupinus

Strategy

Neutral

On the Ground

When playing the ground game, your primary poking normal for the midrange is 5C--it can't be thrown out all the time but it has good reach and cancels well into 236A. 5A and 5B are also useful, but have to be used a little more carefully, as 5A tends to whiff on crouchers and 5B has good range but is a little slow. If you are able to land a 5A or a 5B, you can usually go straight into 5C and cancel into specials from there, though if you're close enough you can confirm back into 5A > 5B > 5C.

2A and 2B are decent close-range alternatives to 5A and 5B if you want to use them, though 2A is a bit slower in exchange for not being as finicky on crouchers; 2B in particular can link back to 5A and/or 5B.

236A is also an option as long as it doesn't whiff, but your main goal is to hit with the tip if you're going to be using it as an irritant so that it's harder to get punished.

For anti-air options, you have 3C and 214P to snatch people that are trying to approach you carelessly from the air, whether through jumping or airdashes. These moves tend to hit relatively far out from Lupinus (though 3C has a very good hitbox), and they're not super-fast moves (3C has 12 frames of startup, while 214A and EX 214P have 11 and 214C has 23), so using them on close jump-ins isn't a guaranteed punish unless you hit someone very early in their arc. If people are beginning to air block in anticipation of 3C or 214A, you can risk the higher startup of 214C to get a guaranteed unblockable option and still get the benefit of bringing them down. In the close-range anti-air scenarios that 3C and 214P don't cover, a good rising j.A or j.C will cover you well enough, and if j.C counterhits (especially in or near the corner), your opponent is going to have a very bad time since j.C's already-absurd hitstun becomes even better with a counterhit.

In the Air

When in the air yourself, you have j.A and j.B as your primary air-to-air options, mostly for opponents at about your height and if you want to be able to continue a combo with a jump cancel. j.D is a fairly good air-to-ground option, as it has decent hitstun and lets you continue a combo if it hits deep enough on a jump-in. j.C is, as always, another viable option, though you'll have to time your press carefully due to j.C's wind-up time.

However, if you want to play from mid-range in the air and not approach at all, j.214P is your best bet. j.214A/EX are the air-to-air options--j.214A will give you and the opponent some space but EX will put you close to them and let you stay in, possibly even convert to a combo if you're close enough to the corner. j.214C is the air-to-ground option, and if it hits will also put you in a cozy position.

Okizeme

Once Lupinus has a knockdown, there are a couple of different approaches you can take depending on your positioning from the opponent and your meter situation.

Midscreen

If you're far away from the opponent and need to cover ground to get up close, 63214D is Lupinus' best bet. Though it's not a direct attacking move, it's fast, travels far, and you can use specials or supers during it, so there are a variety of options to work for okizeme. If you want to stop short to keep yourself from getting hit, you can use 236C to cut it short. If you just need a bit of a range boost so that you can try command throwing or using a 236A just outside of a downed opponent's striking range, you'll more than likely be close enough by using 63214D to try it if you need to.

Assuming you're already up close, meaty 5A and 2A are both good quick buttons to put out if you're trying to go meterless, while meaty 5B works from a little farther out. You can pretty easily convert into strings such as (5A/2A > 5B > 5C > 236A) or (5A > 5B > 41236K). Metered oki, though, pretty much has one tool: the super move 214214K (Claymore). While Claymore is active, it sends out three surges along the ground at staggered intervals, allowing Lupinus to act independently of it and forcing enemies to avoid or block the shockwaves; if a shockwave hits them, they get opened up for a nasty combo due to its long hitstun. You can naturally combine Claymore with 63214D to get the waves immediately in the opponent's face, or to immediately move in while waves give you coverage.

Corner

Corner okizeme follows a lot of similar rules to close midscreen okizeme, but there's one major tool that should be mentioned here: Hayabusa (4/6BD Extra Special). As mentioned in the Extra Move selection, this is one of the primary picks for most Lupinus players because of the absurd amount of corner pressure it piles on thanks to its five separate followups; once you get a good knockdown that puts the opponent in or near the corner, you can easily Hayabusa to the wall behind the opponent and run your options from there. The 2BD followup brings Lupinus back to the ground quickly, sets up for a confirm with 5A, and is good for ambushing people who stay close to the corner, while the 6BD and 4BD options push you off the wall at different angles, allowing escape for the 6BD and a counterattack against aerial opponents for 4BD. 8BD is a bit harder to use but if opponents are warier of approaching because of 4BD, you can use 8BD to get an aerial counterattack that is slightly harder to predict. Even canceling Hayabusa with 5BD is a viable option since it lets you descend with air normals intact or just do it to drop down and block wakeup options.