Defeating Deadly Drive Chains
Hello everybody, and welcome to Fighting Against Noel, part 2. Today we'll be looking at Noel's Drive Chains, and talking about how to beat people that rely on them a bit too heavily. Noel has a special requirement for some of her D moves that she must be in Drive Chain before she can use it. I will be referring to these moves by prefixing them with "D.". For example, I will refer to her 6C Drive Chain move as D.6C.
Noel's Drive Chains are extremely useful. Many of the moves have some type of invincibility, a lot of them have very long ranges, and all of them, save one, have 16 or more startup frames. What does this mean? That you can not only punish most of Noel's D moves, but you can punish them before they come out.
Why, then, do Noel players that Drive spam have such great success against people that haven't played against it a lot? It's because, although our brain likes to lump all the D moves together because they're all green, some of Noel's drive moves have very different properties. Most of her drive moves can actually be beaten in the same way, but there are a few very important exceptions. I'm going to go through each of Noel's important drive moves (important for knowing how to fight her, all are important for knowing how to play her), and how to beat that move specifically.
As we go through, it's important that you play along at home. I'm going to give a short description of each of the drive moves, but if you have any doubt as to what any of them looks like, I would suggest booting up BlazBlue, going into Training mode, and doing them yourself. In order to beat drive spam, it's very important that you know what each of the moves (at least the important ones) look like, so that when you're playing you can instantly match it with its counter.
One thing you should know about is that if they don't use a Drive Chain Finisher, Noel will have a moment where she has to unload her guns. Even if she does use a finisher, they usually are very punishable on block/whiff. This means that if you can just escape from Noel at the start of the drive chain, you can just sit back and watch (don't be too close, of course), and then punish her when she finishes. Same if you start blocking.
If a move has a * next to it, it means that it's one of the moves that you really have to memorize. The rest can pretty much all be beaten by spamming 5A. You should, however, do a short standing block until you recognize the move. This is important because there is one move that has invincibility, and cannot be recognized until after the invincibility starts.
One final note before we get started. There are a couple of drive chain combos. If you get hit with one of those, there's nothing for it but to take it or burst. If you are fighting a drive spammer, though, they're not going to know the combos, so it's very important that you're recovering if you get hit with one of the moves, and that you recover into a faultless defense. Otherwise, you will be recovering just in time to eat another D move.
Onto the main event: The first set of moves that I'm going to cover are the opening moves; the moves that do not require you to already be in drive to use them. It's important that you know each of these, since if someone is going to drive spam, they're going to be using them a lot.
5D - Noel slides across the ground, and hits you with a horizontally extended gun. Startup: 24 frames. This move has head invincibility between frames 6 and 19. This move is very effective as a counter to moves with slow cool-downs. D spammers, however, will just throw it out any old time. Beat by spamming 5A or 2A, or throwing. Block this move high or low.
*4D - Noel takes a step backwards, and a pillar of flame rises up where she was. Startup: 31 frames. Frame 1-21 invincible above knee. This move is typically used as an anti-air, or against close attacks. It's fairly easy to spot when not being used as an anti air, and you have plenty of time to do something about it, as long as you aren't currently in the middle of a long move. Best strategies are to IAD away and let her get the whole chain out of her system, or to IAD in and j.A spam. The latter can be a bit dangerous. Block this move high or low.
6D - Noel slides forward, and then suddenly crouches and does a sweep. Startup: 31 frames. Frame 6-8 head invincible. This move is bad. You'll usually only see it from beginners, or advanced people that mess up their input. Beat by spamming 5A or 2A, or throwing. Block this move low.
*2D - Noel does a flip kick in the air. Startup: 19 frames. Frames 1-18 lower body invincible, 5-30 airborne. Beat this move by spamming 5A, spamming j.5A, or (with certain characters) jump throw. Block this move high.
*j.D - Noel shoots downward with her guns, launching herself upward. Startup: 17 frames. If you're hit by it while on the ground, recover into faultless. Beat it by being higher than Noel and using a horizontal or downward attack. Match it by being lower than Noel and using an upward attack. Punish it by waiting until she's done, and hitting her before she hits the ground. Block this move high.
Another set of moves that you need to watch out for are the finishers. These moves are especially powerful, and will always end a combo.
*D.236D - Noel does a double horizontal strike with her guns and says "Bloom Raider". Don't bother trying to beat it, just faultless and wait to see what Noel does next. If you really want to beat it, you aren't in block-stun, and you have a long range downward horizontal jumping attack, you can beat it by super jumping over it and attacking.
*D.214 - Noel slides past you, and then elbows you from behind. This move is a crossup. Beat it with a move that has auto-turn (like Nu's 5C) or hits both directions (like Noel's 5C). If you can't, block and punish. She has a -9 frame advantage on block, so do something fast (like 5A).
*D.28 - Noel does a vertical kick, with an orange arc. Invincible from frames 1-11. Do not try to beat this attack! Block, and then do whatever you want. She has a -34 frame advantage on block.
All the rest can be beaten with 5A spam, 2A spam, or (sometimes) a throw. They are all block high or low.
Final note. There is a way to do any drive move off of the landing to a jump. This takes precise timing, and a drive spammer will not know how to do it. But because of this, you do have to watch out a bit when Noel is landing when you're playing against advanced players.
If you memorize the moves I've mentioned, and play enough D spammers that your responses to them are ingrained into muscle memory, you'll be fine. Other than that, just remember: spam A, and have fun.
Noel's Drive Chains are extremely useful. Many of the moves have some type of invincibility, a lot of them have very long ranges, and all of them, save one, have 16 or more startup frames. What does this mean? That you can not only punish most of Noel's D moves, but you can punish them before they come out.
Why, then, do Noel players that Drive spam have such great success against people that haven't played against it a lot? It's because, although our brain likes to lump all the D moves together because they're all green, some of Noel's drive moves have very different properties. Most of her drive moves can actually be beaten in the same way, but there are a few very important exceptions. I'm going to go through each of Noel's important drive moves (important for knowing how to fight her, all are important for knowing how to play her), and how to beat that move specifically.
As we go through, it's important that you play along at home. I'm going to give a short description of each of the drive moves, but if you have any doubt as to what any of them looks like, I would suggest booting up BlazBlue, going into Training mode, and doing them yourself. In order to beat drive spam, it's very important that you know what each of the moves (at least the important ones) look like, so that when you're playing you can instantly match it with its counter.
One thing you should know about is that if they don't use a Drive Chain Finisher, Noel will have a moment where she has to unload her guns. Even if she does use a finisher, they usually are very punishable on block/whiff. This means that if you can just escape from Noel at the start of the drive chain, you can just sit back and watch (don't be too close, of course), and then punish her when she finishes. Same if you start blocking.
If a move has a * next to it, it means that it's one of the moves that you really have to memorize. The rest can pretty much all be beaten by spamming 5A. You should, however, do a short standing block until you recognize the move. This is important because there is one move that has invincibility, and cannot be recognized until after the invincibility starts.
One final note before we get started. There are a couple of drive chain combos. If you get hit with one of those, there's nothing for it but to take it or burst. If you are fighting a drive spammer, though, they're not going to know the combos, so it's very important that you're recovering if you get hit with one of the moves, and that you recover into a faultless defense. Otherwise, you will be recovering just in time to eat another D move.
Onto the main event: The first set of moves that I'm going to cover are the opening moves; the moves that do not require you to already be in drive to use them. It's important that you know each of these, since if someone is going to drive spam, they're going to be using them a lot.
5D - Noel slides across the ground, and hits you with a horizontally extended gun. Startup: 24 frames. This move has head invincibility between frames 6 and 19. This move is very effective as a counter to moves with slow cool-downs. D spammers, however, will just throw it out any old time. Beat by spamming 5A or 2A, or throwing. Block this move high or low.
*4D - Noel takes a step backwards, and a pillar of flame rises up where she was. Startup: 31 frames. Frame 1-21 invincible above knee. This move is typically used as an anti-air, or against close attacks. It's fairly easy to spot when not being used as an anti air, and you have plenty of time to do something about it, as long as you aren't currently in the middle of a long move. Best strategies are to IAD away and let her get the whole chain out of her system, or to IAD in and j.A spam. The latter can be a bit dangerous. Block this move high or low.
6D - Noel slides forward, and then suddenly crouches and does a sweep. Startup: 31 frames. Frame 6-8 head invincible. This move is bad. You'll usually only see it from beginners, or advanced people that mess up their input. Beat by spamming 5A or 2A, or throwing. Block this move low.
*2D - Noel does a flip kick in the air. Startup: 19 frames. Frames 1-18 lower body invincible, 5-30 airborne. Beat this move by spamming 5A, spamming j.5A, or (with certain characters) jump throw. Block this move high.
*j.D - Noel shoots downward with her guns, launching herself upward. Startup: 17 frames. If you're hit by it while on the ground, recover into faultless. Beat it by being higher than Noel and using a horizontal or downward attack. Match it by being lower than Noel and using an upward attack. Punish it by waiting until she's done, and hitting her before she hits the ground. Block this move high.
Another set of moves that you need to watch out for are the finishers. These moves are especially powerful, and will always end a combo.
*D.236D - Noel does a double horizontal strike with her guns and says "Bloom Raider". Don't bother trying to beat it, just faultless and wait to see what Noel does next. If you really want to beat it, you aren't in block-stun, and you have a long range downward horizontal jumping attack, you can beat it by super jumping over it and attacking.
*D.214 - Noel slides past you, and then elbows you from behind. This move is a crossup. Beat it with a move that has auto-turn (like Nu's 5C) or hits both directions (like Noel's 5C). If you can't, block and punish. She has a -9 frame advantage on block, so do something fast (like 5A).
*D.28 - Noel does a vertical kick, with an orange arc. Invincible from frames 1-11. Do not try to beat this attack! Block, and then do whatever you want. She has a -34 frame advantage on block.
All the rest can be beaten with 5A spam, 2A spam, or (sometimes) a throw. They are all block high or low.
Final note. There is a way to do any drive move off of the landing to a jump. This takes precise timing, and a drive spammer will not know how to do it. But because of this, you do have to watch out a bit when Noel is landing when you're playing against advanced players.
If you memorize the moves I've mentioned, and play enough D spammers that your responses to them are ingrained into muscle memory, you'll be fine. Other than that, just remember: spam A, and have fun.