Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram/Cypher/Matchups

Cypher matchup details & strategy

• See Charts / Matchup ranking for matchup ratings
• See System / Character Health Values for matchup specific character health

VS Temjin

General

• Slight disadvantage almost entirely due to given health values in this matchup. Cypher has its lowest health and Temjin has the highest health of any enemy VR.
• In a low risk neutral game Cypher should have the advantage, as the health difference won't come into play. But the Temjin player can take much more risks so its playstyle is more open.
• Low risk play recommended as trading hits is almost always a loss in this matchup.
• Matches against experienced Temjin players generally go for Timeouts, as the total health pool is risky to try to reduce to 0.

Enemy attacks

• Forward Ground Dash RW/cRW

Killer punish and close range control move. Vary your movements and landing timings to avoid getting destroyed by these. And generally avoid their optimal range, as he always has ammo to perform the move.

• Forward Air Dash RW

Similar to the above but has less reliable aim. Still dominates close range and may be used to catch you mid jump if predictable or as a read.

• Diagonal Ground dash cRW

Can cause multiple hits for massive damage. High presence as a dash attack performed in neutral game & mid range.

• Surfing Ram

Very high homing and massive damage special move. Learn to counteract this move by crouching or blocking as you see it coming. Can hit you mid jump or landing. Experienced players will use this at closer ranges to hunt landings or predictable movements, not giving you time to react. Pay attention to the temjins weapon use and you will know when this move is available to them (requires 100% gauge on all weapons, like Cyphers S.L.C.).

• LTLW (close range)

With Cypher being a lightweight these LT grenades put you into hitstun which can be followed by an unblockable melee setup. Be wary against experienced players.

Enemy weaknesses

• cLTLW

Highly cancellable attack that erases all of Temjins RW attacks. Collision forms an 'erase area' for a moment which can erase multiple shots.

• LW variants

General Cypher neutral game superiority move.

• Forward Air Dash CW

General Cypher direct dash attack & runaway.

• cCW & Ground Back Dash cCW

High damage moves even against Temjin if absolutely required.

VS Fei-Yen

General

• Very high mobility ground unit, may play a similar game to cypher but with more direct attacks and more ground based.
• At higher levels most matches will end in Timeouts. When playing with this in consideration, it's highly recommended to avoid dropping Fei-Yen to Hyper mode (below 50% hp) as it becomes a much more powerful unit in this state.
• If you will break the 50% treshold then try to do so with a high damage attack and not OTG hit, etc. to reduce the amount of life it has usable in Hyper mode.

Enemy attacks

• LW/cLW, LTLW,cLTLW

These are faster poke / snipe attacks than anything in your own disposal. Avoid getting clipped in neutral (generally by moving predictably) or you will be forced into a health deficit.

• Forward Dash/AirDash RW

Similar to Temjin RW but much higher hit rate and multiple shots, with less damage. Note that this attack loses power rapidly at range. It will dominate close range so avoid contesting this move in melee range.

• CW (HYPER)

Fei-Yen center weapon gains absurd homing in hyper mode, posing a threat even to cyphers mobility. This also causes massive damage so pay heavy attention to the enemies CW gauge and use of the move.

• All melee

Fei-Yen has extremely good melee performance, beating you out in speed. Avoid contesting in melee duels. CW melee may be used to punish/interrupt your attacks with forced recovery. Some projectiles such as LTLW may combo you into melee due to lightweight status.

Enemy weaknesses

• LW variants

General Cypher neutral game superiority move.

• Forward Air Dash CW

General Cypher direct dash attack & runaway.

VS Raiden

General

• Cyphers weakest (only significantly weak) matchup. Gets especially difficult the higher level the players.
• Raidens laser net highly limits Cyphers mobility and if hits can result in instant death.
• Has other attacks like cRW Bazooka and cLW bombs which limit air and ground space respectively.
• If Raiden gains a health lead it can be extremely difficult to chase him down from defending behind stage walls as his attacks are very good at controlling the game from this position. Cypher has no attacks that fire through walls.
• This is one of the more Stage-specific matchups. Cypher has a much higher shot at winning on Unholy Cathedral and less on stages with high walls like Space Dock or Water Front.
• However, Raiden can be quite open to being hit and often be destroyed unlike Temjin.

• Recommended to gain a health lead at the start of the round, then maintain it by moving very carefully and keeping attack pressure on Raiden as he will not be able to sit behind walls. This will generally lead into timeout but as the Raiden does more risky things he is more likely to be destroyed.
• At lower levels Raiden players aim of attacks and map control will be much weaker, making this matchup less of a problem. Raiden being easy to hit remains a case here

Enemy attacks

• LTCW / cLTCW Laser Net

Covers and controls both air and ground space. At higher levels aimed with high precision, and using the invisible part of the hitbox at close ranges. Can lead into instant death combos on Cypher. Very troublesome for cypher as being in the air and moving at high speed makes it more likely to run into the net. Try to learn your opponents habits using this move.

Moving in minimal amounts will make it harder for the raiden player to aim this (due to how rotation behaves) but higher level players will find more and more guaranteed situations to direct hit with the net.
If the raiden player is using this as their only CW move or not complementing properly with other attacks, try to pressure them by firing constant neutral projectiles and moving little. Abuse the fact they are only placing hitboxes around you rather than firing directly.

• CW Laser

Prediction aimed massive damage laser. Try to learn your opponents habits in using this move. Usually you can somewhat react to the direction it was aimed by keeping an eye on Raiden.

• cRW crouch Bazooka

Basic attack that is very good at hitting midrange and airborne opponents. Thrown out to catch movements or interrupt cyphers attacks. This forces you to make a lot of sideways movements, often while inside a laser net and simultaneously evading LW bombs. Try to evade with the minimal amount of movement to not get trapped by other attacks. Raiden players may use this to poke slightly away from a wall.

• cLW / LW bomb

Explosion covers a large area on ground level. Does a lot of damage on Cypher (~9%). Crouch variant goes over walls. Usually comboed into cancel routes. Raiden uses this to cover ground space. Carefully airdash cancel around the explosion or misdirect the bomb somehow.

• RTRW

High damage bazooka thrown from row risk cancels and for combos. Has pretty high homing so will hit poorly placed airdash cancels.

• Forward Air Dash CW

Very difficult to evade but easy to punish move. Used to deal the last bit of damage and close out matches. Generally you need to dodge this by moving up & down as it covers a large horizontal area. If the Raiden player is carelessly using this throughout matches be sure to punish the recovery as its a high risk / low reward move at that point.

Enemy weaknesses

• LW variants

General Cypher neutral game superiority move.

• Forward Air Dash CW

General Cypher direct dash attack & runaway.

• LTCW

Often used as the neutral CW attack choice in this matchup as it goes through raiden CW lasers & cCW can be too risky while being pressured.

VS Specineff

Notable enemy attacks

• Diagonal Ground Dash cCW

One of the strongest ground dash moves in the game, this basically cannot be dodged and denies a range around specineff. Pay attention to his CW gauge and avoid being baited into its range. They are also likely to attempt to landing punish you with this move.

• Forward Ground/Air Dash RW

Generic dash RW but high damage and better snipe performance than Temjin. Specineff will use this to punish your recoveries and landings.

• Walking & Sliding RW

Strong poke move that maintains mobility. This move has full piercing property so will not be erased by any of Cyphers attacks. Because of this move it is recommended not to use RT or RTRW lasers against specineff, as you will get beaten out from random RWs being thrown out.

VS Bal-Bados

General

• Some disadvantage against advanced level Bal-Bados players. The barrage of Bal-Bados can be extreme enough that cypher will unavoidably be hit in many situations. Cypher lacks the health to bully Bal by trading hits.
• However, it's still quite even as it is possible to attack and simultaneously evade. This matchup can be thought of as kind of a Versus shoot'em'up. Cypher is a high mobility unit with decent attack power, you can generally avoid almost everything while constantly firing at Bal to slow down his offense.
• If bal is attacking at range most of his options/setups are quite slow and can be reacted to. Bal is playing a more strategic / long term game.
• Matches at high level often end in one player being destroyed rather than timeouts.
• Due to the nature of Bals attack animations he leaves himself open to attacks quite often. This opens opportunities to use Cyphers high barrage ability: rapidly throw out neutral attacks to prevent and shut down bal trying to set things up.
• As Bal has actual long term setups and set-play which is rare in VOOT (including the Pyramid/Delta End) it's recommended not to leave him alone. Keep attacking him so he cant set up his own offense. If the Bal player is lower level this may be unnecessary.
• Evasion of Bals attack barrage requires some of the most advanced movement and awareness. Pay attention to set Launcher positions and when he uses CW attacks.
• Cannot be harassed on wakeup with close range movement due to wakeup ERL into airdash RW, and similar.
• Using walls for cover from mines can be useful despite Bals all range attacks. But keep track of what Bal is doing or they may take advantage.

Enemy attacks

• Demon Rings - (Beam)RTRW technique

Shoots a left-to-right spread of ring lasers from launcher. VGenerally performed after a normal CW vulcan attack (Launchers moving above you and shooting). Very difficult to evade from the CW attack combination but can be done. It's recommended to move vertically to avoid the spread entirely. For example perform an airdash to bait the attack to fire above you, then cancel the airdash and fall to avoid.

• Demon Mines - Side Air Dash [Mine]LW technique

Highly homing mines which will fire out from the Right Hand launcher. Performed in combination with other moves like the Demon Rings technique. These look like normal mines but the homing performance is higher. The homing performance will cause a lot of pressure on Cypher and despite the low damage, stacked hits can add up quickly. Pay attention to where the Launcher is firing these from to not move on the same vector.

• Forward Air Dash [Mine]RW from set launcher - often after Bal gets up from knockdown

The mines from this move move instantly a certain distance from the launcher, completely denying you being close to the launcher. Do not get in this range, think of it as a sphere around the Right Arm launcher. If Bal is performing this move on wakeup you have to respect it and give him some distance. On the plus side he has to spend his wakeup invincibility on just this defensive action.

• Basic Mine spam - [Mine]LW, RW etc,

The basic mines will circle you around the map. Try to keep track of their trajectories. Their vertical tracking is much lower than horizontal, so try jumping over lines of mines to their other side and their aim will be thrown off. Keep track of where the launchers firing these are or you may be surprised by hits from unknown vectors.

• Side airdash (Beam)LW/RW Shotgun - generally from set Launcher on the map

Denies airspace around Bal or set Launcher position. Keep track of launchers placed on the map

• cLW 'Urchin'

Another thing to keep track of, these mines jump over walls and move in circles around the ground.

• Rapid Reflect Laser

High damage special move that requires Bal to set up multiple launchers. Note that the end firing point of the laser is always a Hand ERL set from a Jumping Turbo attack. Pay attention to when the Bal sets an ERL while jumping, that will be where this laser fires at you. The act of setting one is also quite risky for Bal, so try to capitalize on that and either deal damage or discourage them from setting Jump ERLs.

VS Ajim

General

• Very bad matchup for Ajim as Cypher has little trouble dodging his attacks and will defeat Ajim without even needing to hit him.
• Use repeated landing freeze cancellations (eg. Vulcan Jump) to stay mobile.
• Avoid getting in close range to Ajim and avoid homing LW orbs
• Generally the only way to lose here is to be knocked down close range or high into the air into an Instant Kill setup.