Melty Blood/MBAACC/Arcueid Brunestud/Crescent Moon

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Additional Resources

C-Arcueid Match Video Database

C-arc combo compilation

Overview

Strengths / Weaknesses
Strengths	High damage. Large health pool and Guts rating. Combos have extremely high meter gain. Extremely strong all-purpose normals. Good movement in all aspects. Has an invincible reversal on a 22 input, which can be special canceled into a knockdown. Extremely potent corner pressure. Has access to frightening mixups off of most confirms.
Weaknesses	Relatively high execution. Lack of a meterless projectile can make matchups against some zoners a bit difficult. Relatively subpar midscreen pressure, lacking in safe ways to reset pressure. Is only as good as your execution.

General Gameplan

C-Arcueid's general gameplan revolves around using her above average movement to maneuver around the opponents offense, and overwhelm them in the close range with her high performance tools.

Her quick to accelerate dash allows her to control the ground, allowing her to slip into her effective range at a moment's notice.

Her air mobility may seem rather generic, but she has a slew of dominating air tools which make engaging with her in air-to-air exchanges rather risky for the opponent, allowing her to effectively control her airspace with threat alone.

Lastly, her ability to convert almost any hit into corner carry with above average damage is one of her more defining traits. The sheer damage output combined with the positional advantage makes taking risks with her much more rewarding should they work out in your favor.

Overall, C-Arcueid is a character with exceptional strengths, possessing essentially every option a rushdown character would want. She only lacks in ranged options, and as a result she needs to use her movement and tools with care against opponents who can keep her at bay.

Neutral

As C-arc your goal is to get in. With her dash speed and buttons, this shouldn't be too much of a problem. Some common grounded options include 5A, 5B, and 2B.

5A is a top class A normal, having both a tall hitbox while still hitting crouching opponents, and also retracts her lower body hitbox, allowing it to beat other low grounded pokes rather cleanly at times.

5B is slower, but has a significantly disjointed hitbox, allowing it to cleanly counterpoke some normals, and the forward movement helps in whiff punishing.

2B is an absolutely godlike normal with a myriad of uses. Has a disjoint at the tip of her foot, and brings her hurtbox extremely low to the ground, allowing her to low profile with ease. Very versatile, can be used to anti air, poke, abare, etc. Extremely good normal.

In the air, she has jA, jB j2B and jC.

jA is a pretty typical jumping A normal, nothing especially noteworthy.

jB on the other hand, is blisteringly fast for how large it's hitbox is, making it especially good in quick air battles. Whiffing it is not advised though.

jC is godlike. Period. Absolutely dominating, the only thing keeping it from being any more broken is it's relatively average speed. with 10f of activity, and a disjoint all along her leg, this will be your primary method of controlling the skies and bullying those on the ground. Mixing up your timings is key to making the most of this move, pressing it preemptively against those trying to air to air you on reaction is a common tactic, but experiment with this button, it will rarely steer you wrong.

j2B isnt an ordinary divekick as you stay in place(on startup) before diving in a set angle.(insert comment about j2B here)

Making use of varying your approach from dash 5A/2B/Etc and sj, dash jump and double jump airdash options is key to making the most out of C-arcueid's kit and will reward you so.

Pressure

C-arc is a very robust character that takes comfort in not only her ability to use rebeats in her pressure, but also a great bit of specials to add on to it. Going over some of the specials you will regularly use:

214A/B

Known as elbow. Generally you can use 214A to catch mashes and on the later ends of the active frames you can be +, in some cases if people are trying to shield you can use 214A after 2C for the elbow to whiff and the opponent is now in recovery from failed shield, letting you combo with usually 2B into a combo. 214B is generally used to catch jump outs, can lead to an air combo.

236A/B

Rekka, usually seen as a combo ender, however in pressure you can use 236A > 236[A] which is an air unblockable and is a solid frametrap to catches jumps or mashes. If it connects it will launch the opponent, granting a combo opportunity. If you just do 236[A] by itself, it will vacuum the opponent towards you and grant you ample plus frames. On hit/trade it will lead into a combo as well. A very powerful special when used properly.

With rekka by itself you can either do 236A > 236A > 214B, 236A > 236A > 214[B](High), or 236A > 236A > 236A(low). For the combo ender you want to do 236A > 236A > 214B.

Rekka has a good amount of stagger windows so sometimes people are looking to block the Overhead option(214[b]) you can also mix it up sparingly with 236A which is a low. On block 214[B] has better frames and while 236A is unsafe, if you happen to catch people with it you can either cancel to 624C which is a knowledge check to the opponent on whether they can dodge or use whichever char specific punish it is or ex cancel to 623C for a good reward on the combo.

The mindgame of her rekkas because of 236A 236[A] allows her to stop at the first rekka and reset her pressure once you establish that fear into your opponent.

624A

Sonic. This special sees most of its use in corner pressure, as it recovers earlier than it seems, allowing for double jumps, or continuing pressure by going into an aerial special move, namely its aerial version. Due to Arcueids backwards movement, it is also capable to punishing some defensive options such as Heat and Shield Bunker.

j624A/B

One of her most notorious special moves, Air Sonic.

j.624B is generally used in combos as a TK and during the sequence listed right above in the 624A/B section. j.624A is used generally in an air to air (A2A) situation and because it hits behind. You can use it as you are jumping in on someone or when you do j.C which is powerful because its a very good frame trap and also generates a lot of blockstun to set up guard crush situations.

Now on to her pressure in general. C-arc is one of the most robust characters that can choose to rebeat for fluidity in her pressure sequences and also use her specials such as 236[A], 214A, 214B, tk. 624B at her disposal. One important thing you need to remember about C-arc is that she cannot rebeat from 5C ever. Here are some sample things to her pressure listed below.

2A Stagger 2A, 5{B} 2B, 5A(rebeat)
2A 2A 5B, stagger 2B 5C 236[A]
2A 2A 2B stagger 2C 236A
2A 2A 2B stagger 2C 236A 236[A]
2A 2A 5B stagger 2C, dl.214A/214B *2C, 214A at this point should make the 214A whiff, this is for making people whiff shield attempts on the elbow and you can now punish with 2B)
2A 2B 5B 2B, w5A. Iad j.C/j.624A

These are fairly basic strings that you can use but the main important thing again to remember is that 236[A] is massively plus and while you can jump out of it during its start up you can sneak in 236[A] by using her rebeats to throw off the timing on their defensive responses and reset pressure via rebeat whiffs, letting your A normals fully recover since you have blessed frame data on your normals or by using 236[A].

Okizeme

With C-arc you have three enders that give different options

The first being airthrow ender, which you don't get much except a 2A meaty. the next ones you have are 236[B] and Rekka ender.

The rekka ender is a safe jump and here are the safe jumps listed below

Post rekka ender safe jump:

Jump forward, j.C: Ryougi, Miyako, Sion, Vsion, Roa, Mech, Koha, Neco, Hisui, Vakiha, Seifuku, Arc, Ciel, Akiha, Hime
Delayed Rekka, 9, j.C: Nanaya, Tohno, Wara, Satsuki, Wlen
sjf j.C: Warc, PCL(PCiel)
Delayed Rekka, sjf, j.C: Aoko, Nero, Len
Delayed Rekka, slightly walk forward, 9, j.C: Kouma, Ries

now you can take this even further vs. Cmoon players that really like to use heat as their defensive decision by doing the safe jump j.C and then inputting 44, backdash. if it j.C hits, you do not backdash and you can still combo if they heat you will backdash and avoid heat and can punish it. of course cmoon can ex shield and counter your safe jump but you can blow it up by doing empty jump low, or delay airdash j.C, etc. other anti-heat OSs such as "meaty j.c, land, 4A+B" and "meaty j.c, land, 2E" can be used as well

236[B] can used as long in any point of your combo in the corner as long as you didn't use 3 wall slams. since 236[B] pulls them out of the corner you can now perform left/right mixups. the side is determined by an array of things. the most common sequence you see to set this up is:

5B 2A 2C 5C 236[B]

the side is determined by knowing if the the body is touching the corner or not and carc and mess with various things such as delaying the normal sequence above, Microwalk the body before doing the following ways to throw off your sense of recognizing if carc will land in the corner or not.

microwalk iad j2C/j.C(whiff) into l/r mixup
microwalk jump, double jump j.C

The good part other than it being a left/right is that you have the option to blow up high/low shield rps with either 5B or 2B. Some cmoon players will choose to heat in that situation since they don't know which side to defend but you can os that with 2AA 5B+D or 2AA 5[D]~B.

With this in hand it can be really potent to her offense depending on which ender you decide to do.

Defense

C-arc, once again being a robust character, also have a quite an array of things that opponent has to keep count of.

22B is a fully invuln DP that can't be crossed up at all. The follow up, 66B, is cancellable into j.624C for good damage with AT ender for oki. There is also 22C, which is a bit faster and harder to safe jump but isn't really used much compared to 22B.

She also has heat. When C-arc heats at around 25% health she gets the best damage modifier, making her a fast mobile tank with even more health to get back into the fight. Other than that she has Ex shield, Bunker, dodge and in some cases you can backdash but make sure to use these options appropriately. In some other situations you also have 236C but that's for very niche situations e.g typically oki situations from some characters so be sure to use it sparingly. It's usually recommended to block, ex guard and jump out when it's appropriate.

Homing

Arcueid has access to the 'Homing' movement on some of her moves, most notably her 5CC, and it is integral to many of her midscreen combos. Due to it's nuances, it will have its own section.

Arcueid's homing is accessible from her 5C and her 214B~C followup. In most cases you'll be using 5C. Do take mind that homing takes trajectory based on when the button is pressed meaning after 5CC if you press j.C or j.A as soon as possible, your airheight is lower while delay j.B you will be higher in the air. Shown is an example combos displayed below.

2C 5CC (delay) jB 5A 5B 2B 2C...
2C 5CC (j.A delay j.C or j.C delay j.B) 5B 2B 2C....

While those combos appear similar, the context you'll use them in will change depending on what area of the screen you are in.

If you are too close to a corner, the j.B will drop, or will not grant you enough time to land and complete the combo, causing it to drop.

Conversely, if you are too far from a corner, the j.A j.C routing won't carry you far enough, and will cost you in damage, meter, and knockdown.

The easiest way to plan your routing is to check what area of the screen you are on. Of you were to split the entire stage in half, alter your routing based on what half you are on relative to the corner you're facing.

If you are on the FAR side of the screen, it's best to use j.B. If you're on the NEAR side of the screen, it's best to use the j.A delay j.C and sometimes j.C delay j.B since max range 2B 2C starter makes j.A j.C whiff at points.

A third scenario which can arise is the fullscreen variant, in which j.B will not be able to carry you completely fullscreen. In this case, there are a myriad of available combos, and they will be addressed in the combos section.

Lastly, homing combos may seem like the best choice of action in almost any scenario, but keep in mind that homing has its own damage scaling applied to it, so in cases where you need more damage to kill the opponent, it would be better to perform others, such as Knee (4C) combos, instead.

Combos

For optimal routes, watch Kouki's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXJZ9bz8PPA

Please, watch this video. It contains all the information you need to become half decent with this character.

Combo Notation Help
Disclaimer: Combos are written by various writers, so the actual notation used in pages can differ from the standard one. For more information, see Glossary and Controls.
X > Y	X input is cancelled into Y.
X > delay Y	Must wait for a short period before cancelling X input into Y.
X, Y	X input is linked into Y, meaning Y is done after X's recovery period.
X+Y	Buttons X and Y must be input simultaneously.
X/Y	Either the X or Y input can be used.
X~Y	This notation has two meanings. Use attack X with Y follow-up input. Input X then within a few frames, input Y. Usually used for option selects.
X(w)	X input must not hit the opponent (Whiff).
j.X	X input is done in the air, implies a jump/jump cancel if the previous move was done from the ground. Applies to all air chain sections: Assume a forward jump cancel if no direction is given. Air chains such as j.A > j.B > j.C can be shortened to j.ABC.
sj.X	X input is done after a super jump. Notated as sj8.X and sj9.X for neutral and forward super jumps respectively.
dj.X	X input is done after a double jump.
sdj.X	X input is done after a double super jump.
tk.X	Stands for Tiger Knee. X motion must be buffered before jumping, inputting the move as close to the ground as possible. (ex. tk.236A)
(X)	X is optional. Typically the combo will be easier if omitted.
[X]	Input X is held down. Also referred to as Blowback Edge (BE). Depending on the character, this can indicate that this button is held down and not released until indicated by the release notation.
]X[	Input X is released. Will only appear if a button is previously held down. This type of input is referred to as Negative Edge.
{X}	Button X should only be held down briefly to get a partially charged version instead of the fully charged one.
X(N)	Attack "X" should only hit N times.
(XYZ)xN	XYZ string must be performed N times. Combos using this notation are usually referred to as loops.
(XYZ^)	A pre-existing combo labelled XYZ is inserted here for shortening purposes.
CH	The first attack must be a Counter Hit.
Air CH	The first attack must be a Counter Hit on an airborne opponent.
66	Performs a ground forward dash.
j.66	Performs an aerial forward dash, used as a cancel for certain characters' air strings.
IAD/IABD	Performs an Instant AirDash.
AT	Performs an Air Throw. (j.6/4A+D)
IH	Performs an Initiative Heat.
AD	Performs an Arc Drive.
AAD	Performs an Another Arc Drive.

Starters

CArc can combo from most hits. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Condition	Notation	Damage vs V.Sion	Notes

Grounded opponent, midscreen/back to corner	(2A > 5B > 2B >) 2C > 5C~C	???	???

In/near corner	2A > 5B > 2B > 2C	???	???

Anywhere	CH 236x~236[X] > 66	???	???

Anywhere	236X~236X~236X 623C > 66 2A	???	???

Enders

Condition	Notation	Damage vs V.Sion	Notes

Anywhere

236A~236A~214A

???

Meter Gained: ???	Meter Given (vs C-Moon): ???
Standard hard knockdown ender, can safejump after. Your primary ending route.

Anywhere

623A

???

Meter Gained: ???	Meter Given (vs C-Moon): ???
HKD ender for extended combos. Safejump with sj9 jC; requires manual timing on some characters.

Anywhere

5C > dl236[B]

???

Meter Gained: ???	Meter Given (vs C-Moon): ???
HKD into left/right mixup. More risky than the safejump setup; consider using this when in Max mode for insurance.

Anywhere

(4C) > j.(A)BC > dj.ABC > AT

???

Meter Gained: ???	Meter Given (vs C-Moon): ???
Airthrow ender. Worse oki than above enders; mainly used to kill or timerscam. Add 4C if the preceding hit is 2C (may need to delay), add first jA as needed given height/proration.

Corner

(4C) > j.(A)BC > dj.ABC > j.2C

???

Meter Gained: ???	Meter Given (vs C-Moon): ???
Similar to airthrow ender, but ends with a 50/50 tech trap. Can OTG no-tech with j63214C for more damage, or wait and catch their tech. Only use this in the corner.

OTG Pick ups

Condition	Notation	Damage vs V.Sion	Notes

OTG starter, corner

2AAAA(A) > 5CC > j.AAAB > j.63214A > 2AAAA > 5CC > j.AAAB > j.63214A > 2AA > 2B

???

Meter Gained: 125	Meter Given (vs C-Moon): 50
5A catches all techs after 2B, doesnt work on wlen, len, neco arc and neco arc chaos