Under Night In-Birth/UNIST/Chaos/Strategy
Neutral
- General Theory
- Chaos' neutral changes drastically depending on the matchup being played. The main goal is the control Azhi in order to accomplish two things. One is to keep the opponent out with Azhi acting as a wall keeping them full screen, and the other is to use Azhi to force them to block so Chaos' can go in somewhat safely and start pressure.
- Approaching via the Ground
- Chaos lacks effective ways to get in via the ground on his own due to his lack of accessible pokes. Ground approach is mostly going to take place once you've conditioned the opponent enough for you to dash in after 214[A/B] or 22[A/B]
- Approaching via the Air
- This is more doable than the ground approach in most matchups. j.2C is a nice high active jump in and is one of his best starters. He has the ability to bait standing anti airs by summoning Azhi using 214A or 236A to slow his air momentum.
- Stopping Rushdown
- Probably one of the things Chaos is most effective at. 6C is a large projectile reflector that will stop mindless dash in rushdown and rushdown assisted by slow projectiles (e.g Vatista's 46A or Akatsuki's 236A). Azhi also acts as a block to impede their movement while he's active and can be used to punish fireballs, allowing you to slow their approach and swat them away with 623A. Roll also acts as a last resort once they're past your 6C range as you can roll through them and retreat safely back to neutral if they committed to fully going in.
- Anti Airing
- Chaos has the weakest anti air capabilities in the game, not only lacking a reversal, but lacking a one button move that even has an upwards hitting hitbox like Hyde's 3C. At far ranges, 236B/623B can deal with far jump in approaches (e.g. jump assault). If you predict fast enough, you can snipe them out of their jump in with rising j.C for a full confirm. 66B is chaos's main anti-air at closer distances as it has a good hitbox and head invun. On counterhit you get a full combo, but on normal hit the best you can get is 236B which is unreliable as it wont connect if the opponent was too high. 5BB/5CC are also possible anti-airs but very unlikely since they require a whiffed normal before use. That being said, they're jump cancelable so you can get a conversion even on normal hit. If in doubt, Roll (B+C) acts as an okay choice as you'll roll under their jump in, likely placing you in a better position. You can also always stand shield to get some frame advantage and maybe a punish, but it's very risky as all the opponent has to do is empty jump to GRD break you.
Offense
If given the chance, Chaos can mount some very strong pressure using his ability to chain his normals and Azhi attacks in tandem to create long and varied blockstrings. However his actual mixups are rather poor since he lacks a standing overhead and his jump ins are very reactable. Despite this, he can still setup some cross up setups using 22X and go for easy double overheads with j.2C > j.A. His normal throw is also a bit scarier than normal as it can lead to a combo if Azhi is set up with 22x. Even if azhi isn't set chaos can still pick up for a combo if the opponent doesn't tech right away, letting him punish opponents for late teching. When positioning Azhi for a throw confirm placing him offset from the opponent's position and throwing 'into' him is often preferable because it creates a wider range of timings where Azhi can confirm for you. It can also let Azhi meaty opponents who tech out of the throw attempt, giving Chaos frame advantage despite having his throw teched. If you get Azhi behind an opponent (made easy with the use of 236[B]) then Chaos's pressure get's better since Azhi's attacks will now push the opponent in on block. That combined with the frame advantage given off a 623X or in conjunction with passing link pressure lets chaos mount some really long block strings.
Defense
Unfortunately, Chaos' defensive options are rather poor. Lacking invincible moves (aside from IW or IWEXS) he must rely on system mechanics in order to get his opponent's off of him. Use shielding to gain advantage over your opponent and Veil-Off when you spot a gap in your opponent's offense, and if you have vorpal use guard thrust to stop mix-ups before they happen.
Okizeme
Meaty normals obviously work and let chaos mount pressure when blocked, with a meaty 2A or 5A you can buffer a followup and hold back to OS against veil off but outside of that his normals are pretty straight forward for oki. 214[X] and 22B are both special moves that give frame advantage and can be setup to meaty easily. 214 doesn't really lead to a mix-up, but it's a little safer and better vs back tech. 22B can be timed to meaty as Chaos passes through the opponent using force function for a cross-up, or it can be delayed/spaced to go off later and give a combo after a throw. 236A can also be a good meaty, it's plus on block when passing linked into a whiffed A normal and it lets you meaty from a very safe distance.
Matchups
Vs Hyde - Being able to reflect orbiter makes it hard for hyde to pressure at mid-long range, but it's not practical to reflect his ground-spike fireball, so watch out for that. If hyde ever does TK orbitor oki Chaos can use a wake-up force function to get out and punish. Hyde's rekka > air super cross-up isn't a real mix-up, you can shield after the second rekka to block both directions at once. If Hyde is knocked down a well spaced 2B will low profile his DP, although if Hyde chooses to spend meter his ex DPs and IW will hit.
Vs Linne - Charged kuuga still counts a projectile. Linne's strong mid-screen spacing is strong for Chaos as well,and since 6C and azhi moves have projectile invun and linne's main poke is a projectile (tk kuuga) it works out alright for Chaos. At further spacings Chaos can play patiently. Linne doesn't really have a way to punish azhi summons at a distance so using 623 or 214 to get azhi out works well. If linne tries to get in using 236/623/6C/66B/etc all work well to stop her. The main thing to keep in mind is that Linne has a double jump and a dive kick which can make air approaches harder to shut down. She also has a roll similar to Chaos's, but must be running to do it which makes it a little easier to see coming. It's possible to position Chaos far enough away from Linne and meaty with a 2C such that if she DPs it wont properly combo and Chaos will get a punish after teching out.
Vs Waldstein - Wald's 360 has really massive range, spacings for azhi pressure that are normally safe against reversals wont be. Chaos can instant overhead Wald with a rising assault j.A. Comboing off of the instant overhead works with either chainshift or if azhi is set to bite he can confirm for you. Because his ground movement is so bad, many Waldsteins like to Assault to get in, a habit that can be easily exploited with either 66B or Force Function.
Vs Carmine - His blood pools can be a real nuisance when trying to zone him with Azhi at full screen as much as Azhi is a nuisance to him, so a lot of the match will be the two of you dancing around each other in footsies until one of you gets trapped. Azhi's range and unpredictable nature can help you out a lot here. Pressuring him is pretty straight straightforward since defence is almost as bad as yours, but be wary of his options at 100%. If you find yourself on the receiving end of his pressure game, stay calm, block as well as you can, and look for a good opportunity to escape.
Vs Orie - Good positioning is a must since her and her pointy stick pretty much win against Chaos's solo footsies. Her 22X specials can be Force Functioned on reaction, and can be punished by 236A.
Vs Gordeau - Dash-blocking is especially useful in neutral against Gord's moral slides, it'll let you advance without fear of getting swatted by a grim reaper. Shielding the second hit of mortal slide or grim reaper is be a good way to build GRD while in neutral against Gord, although grim reaper might be a little hard to shield properly and is almost always punishable anyway. Shielding the second hit of EX mortal slide is especially useful as it makes the move only +1, making it easier to contest Gord's buttons afterwards.
Vs Merkava - Best fought at closer ranges to avoid 214X punishes and lock-down attempts at flying. His tall hurtbox makes him susceptible to fuzzies.
Vs Vatista - Shielding projectiles in between dash blocks can be a good way to build GRD against vatista, if you have a life lead you don't ever really need to go in, you can let her come to you since she doesn't have a way to mix-up at range. While you can reflect her projectiles her laser is instant and can punish you for trying, so it's not always a good idea. Try to keep in mind if there's a flash kick charged when pressuring. It's much more practical for Vat to reaction DP than any other character so you may need to rethink which pressure resets or mix-ups are "safe" for this matchup. Vat's flashkick can be safejumped with normal setups, but the timing is very strict, so it may not be worth it if your execution is poor.
Vs Seth
Vs Yuzuriha
Vs Hilda - Despite looking and acting like projectiles, hida's sword normals cannot be reflected. Her beam lets her punish any azhi summon from full screen if she wants.
Vs Eltnum
Vs Chaos
Vs Akatsuki
Vs Nanase
Vs Byakuya
Vs Mika
Vs Enkidu - Enkidu's counter cannot trigger against azhi, unless it's his EX counter in which case it will always trigger and usually whiff, giving Chaos a full punish. Enkidu's mobility is pretty weak, so he's easy to keep out with azhi and 6C.
Vs Wagner
Vs Phonon
