Forecast Cloudy: A Cyclohm thread

[Cartoons!]

From v03 to v04, Cyclohm has probably undergone the most drastic changes with the inclusion of both Whirlwind and Rain Dance.

These were added because the character had proven extremely finicky to balance. In v03, Ohm was capable of getting ridiculous damage off of juggles and punishes to the point of brokenness. At the same time, he was completely defenseless in melee combat making most matches extremely one-sided one way or the other.

While the character was designed with such extremes in mind, it soon proved unrewarding because most matches were decided early on if either party made a single mistake. Because of this, his damage potential was reined back, and Static was slightly improved as a melee option.

With the crazy extremes out of the picture, Cyclohm was revealed to be a somewhat two-dimensional fighter who was still completely ineffective as long as the opponent didn't jump foolishly.

Static was changed to a regular attack in order to give him more close combat options, as well as a knockdown effect in order for Ohm to get back to his optimum range. Whirlwind was added as another way for Ohm to get some breathing room. While faster and safer than Twister, it doesn't have the sheer damage follow up options. Rain Dance, adds a level of ground level strategy and space control. The wet status can make Cyclohm's already high damage output simply terrifying while at the same time offering a method to interrupt an opponent's offensive crackdown.

What I'd like to know is, what has all of this accomplished? Unfair AI advantages aside, does Cyclohm seem more or less the same? From some of the battles I've had, he still seems somewhat lackluster. Though perhaps early to consider a tier list, I'd say he lingers somewhere near the bottom. Is this acceptable for this sort of all-or-nothing defensive-style character? Am I missing something in my approach as to how Ohm ought to be played?

 

[FimPhym]

I need you guys to play Ohm against me more. I've had a few rounds against TGM but nothing too conclusive.

I will say that stronger grabs are great for Ohm, since he lacks good instant options. I found myself getting ready to jump more just to avoid grabs, which ohm should be able to take advantage of.

 

[Zystral]

I'm one of the best Ohm players, and one of the few Ohm Mainers around, so I can confidently say; his juggling capabilities with Twister -> Tri Attack -> jC were his only reliable methods of offense, and while that proved to be lopsided, weakning those in an attempt to rescue his abysmal ground-capabilities was a bad move, in my honest opinion.

Rain Dance isn't worth the start-up time, and it;s easily avoidable once unless you thwack them into it, and even then, if they hit the floor, your combo options are limited a lot more. I also agree with Fim in that his grab could be a potentially great tool for him if gets a it of a boost, mainly in start-up time and actual damage output. I can see Cyclohm getting a small boost in terms of ground CONTROL as opposed to attack, since then he can play a very Stratagem-esque game of luring the opponent close, and then coming in and following up with that famous Twister juggle.

He has lots of quick, fast combos for getting pressure on, sadly these are all air-activated, and as a result, easily whiffable and easily punishable.

 

[FimPhym]

Rain Dance isn't worth the start-up time, and it;s easily avoidable once unless you thwack them into it, and even then, if they hit the floor, your combo options are limited a lot more. I also agree with Fim in that his grab could be a potentially great tool for him if gets a it of a boost, mainly in start-up time and actual damage output.

Are you playing v04? This sounds more relevant to the last v04-beta.

Rain dance is fast and can easily be set up on a knockdown and even without against non-Argh/Kril characters. The grab is already instant and the damage is fine since you're trying to scare them into jumping into 'nado, if they are not confident about teching.

So anyway, design concept wise, I liked what we were talking about in IRC. Lots of focus on his projectiles being more Gouken-ish somehow. We know already that projectile game with a punish when the other guy jumps is strong and staple. Ohm lacks a reversal, but his air punish is a huge juggle instead of a single DP hit, so getting that game working sounds good.

I'd love toons or xaq to comment on the match up against oak or gem. When Ohm doesn't have the projectile dominance, are things still okay? 'Nado through projectile probably rips apart bad Gem players, but I've not seen smart gem vs smart ohm. Pyroak is even trickier I'd bet, since he's so happy to plant his feet on the ground.

 

[Mai]

Well I'm still Ms. Cyclohm. I'm not sure if this glitch is fixed or not but it's possible to extend your reach of your throw or whirlwind or twister with Cyclohm. Since Rain-Dance does not dissolve until the next round as soon as your opponent walks into a Rain Cloud you can do a throw move and since Rain cloud is a "Attack If" event, it counts as a hit-box and the status change of the Rain effect causes the throw to connect. This can be useful if you are at the edge of the screen and you put a Rain Cloud at the other edge you would be able to throw the opponent even though they are no where near the throw hit-box range.

 

[Cartoons!]

Nice to see you've signed up, Mai; if for no other reason than to share unintentional EXPLOITS.

But really, I'm not sure what I can do about this, so I'm almost content to just leave it in there as the window in which the raindance trick works is pretty small. It'll be Batcap's own little 'wavedash'.

As far as decent and honourable Cyclohm play goes, he's changed quite a bit since we last discussed him. His lightning bolt strong attack now reaches across half of the screen and he has a handy Reversal in Whirlwind, making Ohm the premiere defensive specialist of the cast.

He can cover the ground very well with his long range assault, but this does more to provoke frustration with chip damage and knockback than victory. You can play a slow advancing wall and eventually corner an opponent from a quarter screen away, or you can sit back and zap openings. We know by now how much damage Cyclohm can do to anyone who dares take to the air, so that knowledge in itself can serve, in effect, to 'paralyze' an opponent. If they manage to break your defense and get in close, it isn't too difficult to shoot them back out to a comfortable distance with Whirlwind.

All in all, I think he has become a serious contender with a very precise and interesting style of play who owes a lot to those who pioneered the way of the stormcloud dragon; like Zystral, and, of course, Ms. Cyclohm.

 

[Mai]

I haven't tested this very much, but Rain Dance can also be used as a defense ability.

I saw that when playing as Cyclohm and playing against a Krillowatt, you can use Rain Dance to make his Zap Cannon super completely dissapear.
I'm not sure if this will work with other supers/specials.