Author/Twitter handle: @Nyanosaur and @ novriltataki

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Day 1 Combo
5PPP
Day 1 Blockstring
5PPP

General style

Ramlethal has two huge swords and each can be used as either a better set of normals, or as as a large projectile that can attack in tandem with her, but not at the same time, which forces her to constantly choose between the two applications. While having a rough time fighting midscreen, she thrives on converting hits into effective corner carry combos, followed by terrifying corner traps.

1. Neutral: Pokes, Space control, far range converting

Each of Ramlethal’s swords is assigned to a button, one for S and one for H, so deploying the S sword will only affect her S normals and not the H ones, and vice versa. She can deploy either one, or both. While deployed, each sword has two types of attacks, done by 2S/H and 6S/H. The deployment itself is done by pressing 6S/H, and goes right into a 6S/H attack. The deployment and the deployed sword attacks can be done in the air as well. You can quickly return the deployed swords by pressing 4S/H.

While the S sword is deployed, Ramlethal loses access to her usual 2S normal, and her f.5S and j.5S are replaced with worse normals that don’t build super meter. Deploying the H swords affects her H normals in a similar fashion.

Also, while the deployed sword attacks are great, her familiars can get hit during startup and recovery and will fall to the ground before recovering.

So which swords to deploy in neutral? While deployed S-sword covers a huge chunk of horizontal space on the ground, it also means losing access to some of her best normals (f.5S/j.5S/2S) so some Ramlethal players completely avoid deploying the S-sword, but are rather liberal with deploying the H-sword.

While swords are fairly easy to deal with in neutral it’s still something the opponents have to respect, which allows Ramlethal to do other things like dashing in and grabbing them out of the air, or throwing out a 214P or 623P to cover space. It’s recommended to deploy the H-sword and utilizing its 2H attack. Deployed 2H, while slow, covers a HUGE area and often leads to a corner carry combo on hit and especially on counter hit, making it a huge threat that either locks down the opponents or forces the to try to counter it.

Deploying and retrieving swords in the air can be used to halt your momentum to confuse your opponents or baiting anti-airs. In conjunction with YRC this can become very hard to deal with for your opponent.

f.S – Long ranged disjointed poke which combos into 623P against crouchers and on counter hit. Even if they block it you gain a lot of meter. Pretty fast but thin hitbox, still one of the better normals to throw out.

j.5S – The aerial version. While not as good as other character’s horizontal normals, if it scores a counter hit while you’re on your way to the ground you can usually land and continue a full corner carry combo. Also pretty fast with a thin hitbox.

2D – Low hurtbox and combos into 623P on hit for huge reward.

3K – Low profiling slide with huge active frames. Be careful with this as it’s super unsafe on block if they block it close, but can be slightly + if it’s blocked further away. Don’t depend on that though. If you have 50 meter this is a very strong option to RRC on hit for a full combo. During danger time this move is insane. Also a pretty good move to throw out after deploying a sword as it will make it safer on block / giving you a combo on hit.

j.P – If you’re taking it to the air this is your normal. Fast, good hitbox, and also ideal for the option select throw (j.6P+H). It’s even better when the opponent is cornered.

2S – Ramlethal crouches low while the sword slashes around her. Very unsafe on block and whiff so you might want to have 25 meter to YRC it on whiff, on block you can cancel into 5D to make it slightly safer. It has a massive hitbox, grants a huge reward on CH and beats pretty much anything in the air. Heavily rewards good reads.

Ramlethal can string together P and K attacks (even on whiff) to create unique combination strings. Some of these combination strings are used in combos while others are used outside of combos, and will be mentioned in this guide. If you want to cancel the P normals into themselves and not into combination strings then do them as 4P and 1P.

5K – A fast normal that covers some of her dead space in the vertical hitbox department. Doing 5KP is safe on block but if you hit them in the air you get a corner carry followup. Probably her best normal if you want to hit them in the air from the ground with something fast.

j.H (With sword) – This normal is kinda bad, but the reward is insane. Good for baiting anti-air attempts. Gets beaten by anything in the air or just by dashing forward or backward, but on CH you get good damage and corner carry. In Rev2 Ramlethal gets a couple of new specials that often are used in the air after j.H to make it more safer on block or confirming hits on CH with RRC without risking too much.

2. Offense: Pressure, close range converting, mixups and okizeme

Ramlethal does not excel during the neutral phase and her midscreen offensive pressure is pretty ineffective. This is why it’s so important for her to carry to the wall off of any hit. In the corner with swords deployed she becomes a monster. The deployed swords act fast and give a lot of advantage on block, allowing Ramlethal to dash in and continue pressure. Pretty much anything cancels into sword moves too. As far as her unique P and K combination attacks go, any of these combinations that are either 1 hit or 2 hit can be cancelled to swords (but not specials).

Example: You can frametrap with 4P doing 4P~P~P when up close, when getting pushed away too much you can do 2K6H. If they get hit or block the 6H you can dash in and continue pressure. If 6H counter-hits you get a full combo.

For conversions, canceling normals into 623P is key. This is her main launcher, be it midscreen or corner. 6P, cS, 5H(no sword) and 2D all can combo into 623P. Most of these normals cancel into each other anyway, so you can do combos like:
6P->c.S->5H(no sword)->623P
6P->c.S->2D->623P

For mixups and oki, the basic principle for Ramlethal is that she uses knockdowns to set up swords which force the opponents to wake up and block strong mixups. The basic principle is that one sword attacks, then Ramlethal attacks, then the second sword attacks. Usually the first sword deployed will be the one forcing the opponent to block on wake up, and then Ramlethal does a mixup, and then the second sword that’s deployed attacks and either converts the hitting mixup into a big combo, or covers for the recovery of the mixup in case it was blocked.

A basic example in the corner when both swords are already deployed:
Combo->2D->deployed 2H->jump back->j.2S deploys the second sword->Opponent wakes up, blocks the 2H sword attack and is stuck in lengthy blockstun->Ramlethal (who is still in the air) mixes between low airdash into air normals (overhead) or land 3K (low)->2S sword connects->On hit grants a big combo ending with the same okizeme again, and on block grants a big frame advantage to continue scary corner pressure with both swords deployed.

You can learn about many more setups like this from high level match videos.

Her command grab has slowish 11 frame startup but offers great reward, making it a strong threat during pressure and for resets.

3. Defense: Anti-airs, fending off pressure, and reversals

Ramlethal put all her cards in the offensive department and is left lackluster defensively, falling back to an excellent abare jab (Abare=Shoving a quick move in between the opponent’s attacks) or a metered super reversal apart from the standard tools everyone have. Her backdash is average but does the job. This also makes it more important to be on point with air throws and blitz.

6P – This is your main anti-air even if it’s not very good. Its hitbox is small but like most 6P attacks it has upper body invincibility.

4P – This is your main abare tool. Only 4 frame startup, +1 on block, cancels into itself, has a pretty big hitbox and leads to corner carry on an air hit or a knockdown on a ground hit. Be aware that Faust, Millia and Jack-O’ can crouch under it.

236236K – Exploder. This is Ramlethal’s only real reversal. It’s fully invulnerable against everything with a HUGE forward moving hitbox. Very unsafe on block but hard to whiff punish. If they jump above this you go far under them and usually end up safe. Despite its look, it’s not a grab, and can be blocked.

4. Meter Usage Priorities

Gaining super meter with Ramlethal is unique because most of her normals do not gain meter at all. Only normals with swords, deployed sword attacks, and some specials gain meter. On the flipside, they gain A LOT of meter. For example, a simple 3 move blockstring of j.5S->f.5S->214P gains roughly 30% meter. The deployed sword attacks gain much less meter than her sword normals, so that’s another reason to not deploy the S-sword outside of corner setups.

Because of Ramlethal’s limited meter building capabilities, the universal meter gain from instant block and forward movement is more important than usual.

For meter usage, spending 50 meter on a RRC to be able to convert a hit into a corner carry combo is usually worth it, as Ramlethal’s main goal is to corner the opponent and win the round there.

Sword-deploy YRC, retrieve YRC, 2S YRC, 214P (214P) YRC are all good options too.

Having 50 meter ready for a 236236K in bad situations can also be useful.

Comboing into supers in corner can add a nice chunk of damage. Her 632146H in particular does a large amount of hits, which means it does great damage regardless of proration and guts but also gives the opponent a lot of burst meter and super meter. This makes it an ideal combo ender when the opponent is low on life and it will win the round. After the right setup, this super can also be used to force the opponent to block while you go for a free mixup.