Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram/Bal-Bados

SBV-819-tr4 Bal-Bados
[バル・バドス]

Introduction

Special virtuaroid that attacks by detaching Bits/Launchers. Overwhelms opponents with highly inductive mines and canceling ring beams. Skill is required to operate this unit due to the complexity of attack methods. If you can place launchers in the blind spot of the opponent you will gain an advantage in battle.

Character Traits

See Notation / Character Descriptions

Strengths

Weaknesses

Highest level barrage ability, can be thought to surpass or equal Grys-Vok. Can turn the game into a 3D shoot’em’up for his opponent, testing their mobility. Varied, freeform offense having the biggest moveset in the game by a large margin. Able to deploy up to 4 puppets (ERLs) for the ability to attack from unconventional angles. Gets the highest value for scoring knockdowns on enemy. Setups when enemy knocked down. Punishes passive play even through walls. Forces many matchups into a deathmatch. Undodgeable attacks when opponent is close to ERL, allowing for strong area defense. High defensive ability in close range with good melee & threat of point blank ERL attacks. Has special momentum based attack chains which can be thought of as ranged combos. Many tricky setups & attack chains to test opponents knowledge of the game.

Mediocre mobility. Weak fundamental tools. Stronger tools are indirect or slow. Low single hit damage, restricting heavy punishes. Vulnerable mobility during most attacks and setups. Few low commitment tools. Have to maintain constant pressure for defense and control of the match. Maintaining fast attack cancels requires some of the highest execution in the game. Has a couple almost unwinnable matchups. ? Difficult to understand which attacks to use in each situation with lack of basic tools. ? Heaviest game knowledge requirement in the game. Expert VR that requires a lot of practice.

General

• Lots of combo routes running on puppet timers for those who enjoy practice modes / labbing

Commonly Used Attacks

See Notation / Common Attack Descriptions

Bal-Bados notation

• (Beam): While matching ERL (eg. Right Hand) is set to Beam mode.
• [Mine]: While matching ERL is set to Mine mode.
• {ERL}: Attack that deploys ERLs to perform their own attacks or manipulates them.

Neutral projectile attacks

[Mine] LW / RW [Mine] cLW ‘Sea urchin’ (Beam) RW (Beam) cRW {ERL} CW ‘Vulcan Bit’ {ERL} cCW ‘House’ (Beam) RTRW / RTLW ‘Screw laser’ LTCW / cLTCW

Movement check + Chip (major) Movement check Chip, (Erase) Chip, Erase Movement check, Chip, Half cancel Movement check, Knockdown, Area denial Chase (ranged) Anti-melee when lacking ERL, Prediction

Utility actions

{ERL} LTLW / LTRW {ERL} cLTLW / cLTRW {ERL} jLTLW / jLTRW {ERL} Special button

Detach / recall Hand ERL Detach / recall Thigh ERL Detach Hand ERL in Jump state Switch all ERL between [Mine]&(Beam) modes

Ground dash attacks

(Beam) GD9/8/7:cRW / LW / cLW ‘Spring laser’ {ERL} GD6/3/1/4: cCW (Beam) GD4/6: cLW / cRW ‘Shotgun’ {ERL} GD2: cCW ‘Tripwire’

Punish, Chase, Anti-melee, Knockdown Movement check + Chip (major), Anti-melee Area denial, Chip (if long range) Movement check, Knockdown

Air dash attacks

[Mine] AD8: RW {ERL} AD4/6: CW ‘Vulcan Bit’** (Beam) AD8: RW [Mine] AD4/6: LW / RW (Beam) AD4/6: LW / RW ‘Shotgun’ (Beam) AD2: RW

Area denial, Anti-melee, Chip Movement check, Chip, Half cancel Chase Movement check + Chip Area denial, Chip (if long range) --**: very fast recovery animation--

Special attacks (described below)

Rapid Reflect Laser Full/Half Reflect Laser Delta End ‘Pyramid’ Black Hole

High damage, Punish, Chain attack High damage, Chain attack Okizeme wall-in trap, Chain attack Absorb all enemy projectiles

Other attacks

Demon Rings Demon Mines

Mov. check (heavy), Punish, Chase (ranged) Movement check, Chip

Melee attacks

RW melee Guard reversal RW melee Quickstep melee Dash RW melee RTRW melee ‘Rocket punch’

Heavy damage, Combo tool Instant recall of right Hand ERL + acts as shield

Center Weapon & Special attack requirements + ERL states [Character specific section]

All Center Weapon attacks ‘Deploy’ ERLs to perform an attack. Most normal attacks become unavailable while ERL are deployed.

ERLs start returning to bal after perfoming a CW or running out of ammo. Some attacks can still be performed if they have no ammo or are returning.

Normal CW attacks can be performed when target ERLs are either attached to Bal or stationed on the field with LT inputs.

Special attacks can be performed based on the states of ERLs that are not attached to Bal.

ERL states - possible ERL states when detached

• Stationed: ERL have been detached into a position with LT inputs.
• Deployed: ERL are performing an attack (backdash CW are not allowed).
• Returning: ERL are returning to Bal.
• Returned: Brief state as ERLs are about to attach back to Bal. Overrides Returning.
• Special Return: Flag signifying that ERL are returning from a special attack. Disables Delta End.

ERL performing Backdash CW attacks do not follow normal rules, presumably since those attacks have very low gauge consumption.

Rapid Reflect Laser

Special Requirements:

• 1-2 Hand ERL in Jump state (detached with jLTW)
• 1-2 Hand ERL in Beam state (can be the same as above)
• 1-2 Thigh ERLs in Beam state
• ERL state requirements: None

Input: Jump RT + Weapon, where weapon matches Hand Beam ERL. 80% gauge required.

Fires a powerful projectile that is first reflected between ERLs, then aimed at the opponent. Rapid Reflect Laser damage and shot configuration change depending on ERL counts. Jump ERLs act as the final point of reflects and target the enemy. If two beam jump ERL are available there will be two firing points.

Reflect Laser

• Special Requirements: All 4 ERL detached from Bal
• ERL state requirements: None to initiate attack, but does not use ERL that are Returning
• Input: Jump RTCW. 100% gauge required.

Forms two ‘turrets’ that fire a one-step reflect laser at the opponent. These match Left Hand+Left Thigh and Right Hand+Right Thigh. Deals more damage than rapid reflect. A ‘Half’ version can be performed if only one side is available. As a unique trait Bal performs a midair double jump on finishing this attack. You can do air actions from this state like normal. If ERLs are available you can even follow into a jump attack.

Delta End - ‘Pyramid’

• Special Requirements: All 4 ERL detached from Bal
• ERL state requirements: ERL must not be Returning*, ERLs must not be Special Returned**
• Input: cRTCW. 100% gauge required.

Forms a Tetrahedron with walls around the opponent where the four ERLs act as vertexes***. Lasts for a long duration. If done fast enough after knockdown opponent they will be guaranteed walled in. If opponent moves inside they will also be trapped. During the Delta End you can perform any attacks using the ERL, but CW attacks will break it.

*: If 1 ERL was Returning, the vetrex will be displaced at Bal and a Delta End is formed but the visual image is wrong. This allows for a (very dirty) advanced technique at high level.
**: Walls of delta end are not formed. This can be bypassed (see advanced techniques)
***: The ERL remain remain forming walls even while returning.

Black Hole

Usable once per game.

• Special Requirements: All 4 ERL detached from Bal
• ERL state requirements: None
• Input: RTCW. 100% gauge required.

Vacuums and absorbs all enemy projectiles for a few seconds.

Strategy

Matchup strategy

Bal-Bados / Matchups

Advanced Techniques

This section is kept minimal due to the amount of techniques. Additional details behind further links.

Demon Rings

during CW/‘Vulcan Bit’: (Beam) jRTRW Fires a horizontal arc of ring-beams from the Right hand ERL.The Hand ERL can be in any state to perform this, but firing during ‘Vulcan Bit’ is very effective and an infamous technique.

One of the most difficult attacks to dodge in the game. Evasion generally involves doing a jump cancel or airdash cancel to bait the spread to fire in the wrong vertical angle. By using this attack you can force the opponent to make a large evasive movement. Since it’s easy to connect hits with, you can also punish a variety of things.

However it is a jumping turbo attack, if used in neutral is punishable and prevents you from continuing a flow of other attacks. Damage is also fairly low.

Close range denial

when right arm ERL is attached to or near Bal LTRW into immediate [Mine] AD8:RW. Enemy will be hit if close to the ERL. Fast enough to be performed on wakeup.

Urchin quick cancel

cLW can be immediately cancelled into walk or dash, but only if the attack was fired with less than 100% Left Weapon gauge. If at 100% gauge, first fire a single standing LW and then walk cancel it into cLW.

One-Two punch

Input: Alternate between LW and RW as quickly as possible while avoiding CW input LW and RW can be fired very quickly in succession. If both weapons are set to [Mine] type this allows for the heaviest possible barrage of mines. Tricky input to do perfectly.

Half-house

cCW cannot be half cancelled normally but a halved version can be done if only one thigh ERL is available or you recall the other ERL after starting cCW (cCW -> cLT LW/RW). The latter is rarely used. Generally you perform some attack chains that lead into half house.

This is useful as you get an attack with roughly the same purpose, only a smaller hitbox and keep the other thigh ERL available for attacks. For example to keep access to cLW which is a central move.

Demon Mines

Input: AD6/4: LW Input: GD6/4: cLW

While Left Hand ERL is in (Beam)-mode and Right Hand ERL is in [Mine]-mode While Left Thigh ERL is in (Beam)-mode and Right Thigh ERL is in [Mine]-mode

Small mines with high homing properties will appear from Right hand ERL. Right hand ERL ammo will be consumed to 0. The Right hand ERL can be in any state for example performing a CW attack or already out of ammo. These mines did more damage in a previous version but this is still a useful technique.

Delta End into guaranteed Rapid Reflect

Trap an opponent inside Delta End while a Hand ERL is in Jump state. When Delta End is dissipating perform Rapid Reflect. The dissipation of the floor of the ‘Pyramid’ causes a heavy landing freeze on the opponent. Against most VR you get a guaranteed hit of Rapid Reflect for heavy damage.

Overriding Special Return ERL state

As ERL are returning with Special Return status, Detach an ERL with LT (very tight window). Special Return state will be removed and chaining into Delta End is possible.

Bal-Bados advanced techniques (continued)

More general techniques, advanced Reflection & Delta End, Example attack chains, etc. on another page.

Additional Resources

External Guides

Japanese

• http://tk.dai-mine3.net/ & http://11th.dai-mine3.net/ - Extensive Bal-Series guide
• https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7891712 Reflect Laser properties / routes video guide (2009)

Frame Data

Rough data collection by Porcupine. Startup frames, duration and forced recovery times. No data on melee attacks.

• Bal-Bados framedata
• Bal-Baros framedata

Notable Players

Bal-Bados / バルシリーズ

• Thousand / お1000 / Osen / おせんp
• Anitaspawn / Anita / アニタ
• TypeNora / 野良
• Nao Mihara / ミハラナオ / Naoelldorado
• Katenasasosu / Kirin / きりん
• satomo666
• Tincruder / ﾃｨﾝ
• kakubal / 各バル
• Y shaku jpn / ヤカタ