Asuka Is The Hardest Character I've Ever Played In Any Fighting Game 

you don't have to do the motions for the cancels, you can just do direction + button (so back for redraw, down for charge/change deck, forward for chant)

His difficulty is directly proportional to his drip, I love this character so much.

Proper TL of Gobou's tweet because it made me laugh: "Managing Asuka is just so crazy difficult... I swear, if I hadn't done those brain-training games, my head would've just exploded mid-stream. I reckon by the time you figure out how to play Asuka no prob, you'll be such a galaxy brain that you'll just spawn a second head."

The fact that we have to look at flash cards like it’s school is so hilarious but it fits the character so well.

The hardest thing about this character is not running out of mana in defence, the one place you don't want to run out

I love the way they designed him, his spells are generally very simple, the mechanics of managing your spells aren't that complex or hard to understand, he just demands a ridiculous anount of situational awareness to even function, which is a different way to make a big brain character that i really enjoyed

The fact that someone made a Quizlet just for Asuka's cards is so funny to me

Asuka is hard to use: Yes But the amount of versality and set ups, mixes and combos you can do with his different cards make him a very instristing character to Lab, i cant imagine who gonna make Asuka a force to recognize in future tournaments after Combo Breaker

bro has 0.1 stars of ease of use 💀💀💀

Asuka was definitely the character I was most interested to see in the game out of all the DLC characters, for obvious reasons considering how important he is in the story. But I wasn't expecting to have this much of a blast with him, his buttons feel really great, his spells are surprisingly intuitive with obvious room for growth. Somehow his combos with different spells seem kind of natural, overall super impressed they managed to pull this off.

Weirdly Asuka clicks more for me than Chaos did. When Chaos came out, his gun stuff just never really worked for me, but I'm having so much fun with Asuka day one. Yeah, he's hard, but I'm taking him slow and working on not being overwhelmed. High level Asuka is going to be so insane

Refilling cards and mana was easier than I thought it would be, so credit to the designers on that. Keeping track of what spells you have and coming up with a use on the fly (that isn't just throw cube, hope for the best) seems incredibly difficult.

I haven't seen too many people talking about this, but the accelerate staff (the one in Test Case 1) is actually pretty insane as not only it makes your projectiles faster (better in neutral) but also gives all of them guardcrush AND wallbounce. I haven't had much success playing Asuka as a zoner, but once that staff drops it's zoning time.

Here to provide some exact stats: With his mana shield, he takes 30% less damage. Without his mana shield, he takes 45% more damage.

Been getting washed all day but having a blast, dude is so cool. Normally I'm not a fan of having to play around rng with a character, but I feel like they really nailed a sweet spot with the test case categorization and number of spells/similar spells. Idk how to explain it but it pretty much never feels like I'm in a bad spot because of bad luck on spell pulls, most hands feel like you can make them work and it's so fun to try and figure out how

I know this character is responsible for a lot of Yugioh memes lately, but its the truth, you have to literally put your faith in the heart of the cards LMAO.

I think it’s cool he has combos without spells and that you can choose between if you value meter or health more with getting mana. I’m hoping to see different playstyles or decision making.

I love to study characters in the lab endlessly, so i love Asuka. but i think for me i will be breaking down his spells into blockstring combos for specifics. just figuring out what spells give me enough advantage to bookmark more cards, gain mana, present an overhead or a low, and then on hard knockdown go for more meter. i think thats going to be the key to learning Asuka, is figuring out how to keep your spells casting into a pressure loop so you can build risk while presenting an overhead and a low with his 6K and 6HS, and mix them up further with the overhead orb and the low ground spell. I cant wait to learn him fully.

one of the most complicated characters arcsys has ever made, but he actually looks strong even without achieving his fullest potential, and his gameplay feels intuitive. I think that balance is so hard to hit and it's a testament to how incredible of a job the devs did designing this character. it feels like they put so much love and care into asuka but kind of half assed some of the other dlc characters like sin and bedman which is a shame. I also wish arcsys gave some of the characters more tools like asuka so that their gameplan doesnt feel so one dimensional and thoughtless (like goldlewis for example).

diaphone's thumbnails never miss. Props

I can't believe my years of high level competitive tcg is actually going to be helpful in a fighting game for once. I have been waiting for That Man to be playable since I got into this series and having him be a tcg nerd likee is just icing on the cake xD

Feelsgoodman. Cant wait to see what’s to come with Asuka.

Diaphone I swear I have been studying the cards and I did pretty well👍🏽

Just wanna mention how insane some of the spells are btw: his gravity down staff spell, the one that decreases his jump height, allows him to get *overhead fuzzies on every character.* He’s gonna be absolutely insane when he gets optimized by high level.

Using chain chants is the only way to access the full utility of the staffs, otherwise you'll just be barely too slow. Once you get the cast into draws down and cast into mana charge (which apparently can cancel back into cast and thus probably draw but only through the directional cancel, so you have to be hella fast) then I'd suggest learning when to hold onto cards while switching decks.

lets hope this stays the main guilty gear game for a few more years because that's how long it'll take before we see someone win a tournament with him.

One cool thing to look out for is the staff that makes projectiles fall. It also makes your jump shorter which can maybe open up some interesting offense with jump cancels

Going from Millia to Asuka is a fat ass difficulty curve. This video definitely helped me figure out which buttons to use when I decide to approach the opponent, that being his far slash into heavy slash. And that I could even start a combo from his spells if they happen to hit.

I was just thinking "I'd love to see a TAS play with this character" right as you mentioned it at 1:28. LOL

You can setup the rods that alter the cube's trajectory and speed mid combo on counter hit or if the opponent is high enough. This can lead to some good damaging combo routes since the cubes could draw the opponent in, or allow you to pick them up from the ground. Can't wait to see what insane stuff people will find.

My brain feels like its melting for real so many things to keep track off in so little time

I love this character conceptually because you have to buckle down and study his spells to understand what they do to play him, BUT ALSO so does your opponent. I have a feeling when Asuka has momentum he's gonna match-up check the hell outta people.

The staffs are definitely hard to use but something cool about them i noticed is in stuff like the repulsion staff. If you set it behind them and hit them with any projectiles they all vacuum

You can even do motion chant p, 6s, 6k, 6h, 2(pks) to start charging after dumping spells. I don't know if this also applies to simplified bookmark yet but my working theory is after Chant you can just go until out of mana or cancel into mana charge

I’m just waiting for the Tyler1 edits of “YOU HAVE NO MANA!” Whenever he gets TOD by Pot’s counter hit 2h, 2h, heavenly pot buster

The canceling into redraw is interesting. One thing I noticed is that it cuts off a lot of recovery so when you're throwing one spell or when throwing the last one in a chain and don't want to go immediately into mana regen you probably always redraw. There might be a slight difference in recovery making it not viable to do in certain strings, but so far the things I've found juggle without redraw still juggle when redrawing. Another thing I haven't seen people talk about is messing around with spell combinations. Because you cancel spells into each other so fast there's going to be some very powerful combinations. Some funny ones are with the staff spells where usually it takes a long time to put down a staff, wait for recovery, and then throw a projectile, but if you throw a projectile immediately after(or even a slow-moving projectile before, so it goes projectile>gravity staff), you're cutting off a lot of recovery. Also good for like the redraw spells so you use your last spell and then immediately redraw all of them. Mana regen spells seem to be less cancellable than other spells. This character is *wild*.

I think I might've played against you in tower earlier today? Saw this video in my sub feed and felt instant dread that my poor Bridget play might be seen XD

I haven't seen anyone mention the fact the speed up rod in Test Case 1 makes all his cubes wall bounce and guard crush

You can cancel into another spell so if you want to put down the staff you can place it the press forward+ another spell slot or vise versa

The moment I saw his kit I instantly wanted to buy him cuz I loved the random spell mechanic from the Dragon Quest Characters from Smash Bros Ultimate and I had so much fun, I know this one will be fun too.

I had the worst headache yesterday morning, trying to figure out this character.

imo the best use for the full import card is to switch test cases before you use it so you get all the good spells from the free draw The slower staff makes projectiles cause wallbounce and the faster causes guard crush on block i think? the staffs all have hidden effects that are low key strong

daisuke saw the anklegator box and said "i can build a character around that controller"

Im waiting on the "How i became the number Asuka" video.

Kinda interesting that both him and Black Dahlia in Skullgirls are the most recent characters to be released and both are some situation awareness heavy characters (Asuka more than BD but still). Just an interesting coincidence.

Fuck. That. Elk Hunt follow-up mixup go brrr

The only thing that I see being changed maybe is loosing mana on block/on hit since it can stop the player from doing things after pressure

4:19 Oh my god! He's been reduced to atoms!😱

I like to use the 3° deck more. Start the round spending some of the basics spells and then change the bookcase. His normals are already great so i'm more like to mess up the match with teleports and hundreds of cubes flying

His buttons seem good and the spells seem pretty generally useful. I haven't looked at any raw numbers, but playing him I can see he's got solid buttons if i don't try to play him like a pure zoner.

tbh you don’t really need to hard memorise the effect because the card art is actually well designed enough to guess the function

im trash at this game but im still going to main asuka and get blown up by bot-ass floor 5 sols because hes just too awesome for me to ignore

Speed staff is definitely the best out of all the staffs. It causes all projectiles to guard break which is insane

Its really just the mana control that is difficult

This character is crazy. I love him but I don't think im mechanically good enough to play him lol. The one thing that annoys me with him though is the mana drain when getting hit. I have a hard time keeping up mana in fights because of it. But maybe i'm spamming his spells too much lol.

Funny fact: one of the staff spells gives you an instant overhead Yozansen style

he is rng incarnate and I love him for it

6:06 Justice is served.

even just looking at how asuka operates it seems like he struggles at close and long ranges and excels at mid-screen where he can disengage to recover MP, and looks like he can fold easily to some characters, which could probably be something to look out for

My execution is trash but I play this guy bc I like magic the gathering and he is basically mage the gatherer

I’ve been really liking Asuka despite how hard he is haha I think he’s going to be really strong once people get the feel for his spell system and get used to the special cancelling He’s got good buttons, his zoning can be good, and he just has some WILD interactions between spells. Just don’t run out of mana

this character is going to be the sickest in tournament

The repulsion staff pushes the opponent too if you hit them with a spell. Seems like it'll end up working like a pusedo wall.

situation after you get hit is so brutal. mana regen is extremely slow locking you off of your special entirely. Hc didn't even lose concentration when getting combo

he makes happy chaos look ezpz wut da

After playing Asuka for several hours, won few ranked here and there, I’m convinced that keeping his mana full is way more rewarding than utilizing his spells. You can always combo from mid range with his normals and embellish it with spells if possible. Thus, using mana only when it matters. Of course you can be stingy and play cat and mouse while mana refills over time (slowly). From my experience, he’s a better zoner than Testament and I get better win rate. Though yes, post match headache is real. Way too many options 😂

i remember someone commenting “to play asuka you have to actually be asuka”

On the long run, I think the staff summoning spells shouldnt really cost mana... Speeding up stuff may screw up combos while slowing down makes it easier to punch the cubes away

He’s difficult. There’s a lot to think about with the decks. But I don’t think hardest is fair, I feel like there’s a few blazblue characters that could be considered more difficult, but he’s definitely complicated and very fun and strong 👍

I think once people start aggressively destroying his projectiles he'll play more like Zato or Jack-o, where he can counter by punishing the attack that destroys the projectile.

I've wanted to see how he played and guesstimated that, since he's a spellcaster, that he'd play kind of like Amakusa from SamSho. Zoning heavy caster. Boy was I wrong lmao. Still probably gonna be my main until Johnny or Slayer get added to this game, if they do.

Asuka seems like a more "only in concept" character for me, i cant imagine a newcomer or a casual player having fun playing him. There is demand for this kind of character, but his difficult is so higher than the others. I here was I trying to memorize the Behemoth Typhoons...

Still insane they make you playa game of magic the gathering in the middle of a match

I feel like something that's definitely going to matter at a high level is the rng spells you're sloted with at round start. It takes a while to swap them, and changing cases doesn't actually change the slotted spells. In other words, if chip for example rushes you down at round start (obviously he will) and you're stuck with a bunch of mana regen or staff cards right off the bat, you're basically fucked

I kinda wish landing normals gave you a little mana back.

Honestly, I think once people get over the initial learning curve, he won't seem that as bad as people are making him out to be. It seems that all of his spells lead into each other naturally, and his amazing normals allow him to still do well even when he's not spamming spells. His backdash is pretty good and it seems that he even has decent strike throw potential. He's hard for sure, just not to the degree everyone is making him out to be.

Asuka defintely works out at the library.

mini faust can block asuka projectiles

Playing this character is how i learned Soul Fist loops.

Do you only have a certain number of cards per round. If you use all of you cards in the decks do they come back when you swap back to it.

ive finally found a main

It's funny how for Strive, they simplified many characters, yet they add Asuka who would be tricky by older games' standards. Good luck!

so far asuka feels very feast or famine, you either just get to be plus forever or you get hit once, go OOM and fuckin die. He's still fun though, I have motivation to actually play strive again after so long

me looking at his move list be like: WHAT. FUNC-TION WILLL THAT SERVE! AAAAAHHHH

the special canceling is so fire + don't gotta do actual input

"Lets add Yugioh in a fighting game" "Sounds like a good idea" *Thus, Asuka.*

He's literally Invoker

I am terrible at this character but it's some of the most fun I've had in a fighting game.

Things I learned while playing auska Don't zone. It's a waste of resources unless you have a select few spells out that make the determent null (the mana recharge spell and auto bookmark) Do not combo spells into each other, especially at close range, I know it might be tempting to use every spell at once, but you get more bang for your buck if you use your standard moves imbetween Teleport is one of the BEST spells. It's a crazy mixup, and if you do it right, you can combo off your ult. No one sees it coming. NOBODY

Asuka seems a bit frustrating so far, I'm not big brain enough to properly play him. So much to do, so much to see so what's wrong with taking the back streets?

Asuka is difficult to use, but once someone fully learns him, he’ll be a major threat

Challenge accepted.

can we have the link to the quizlet

Hey anybody know what the difference is between asuka R# and asuka R.krueks???

Oh neat a character that I need a degree to learn. *Enrolls into school*

im good on asuka my brain will explode trying to mange his resources

Asuka or Enchantress in terms of difficulty?

He kind of reminds me of Nine

Asuka to me seems like Hero from SSBU, except with a playstyle way more centred around mana and resource management, and way more unforgiving if you fuck up.

Well GOD DAAAAMN lol