Elsa Arcana Discussion Thread
WindWind is one of those arcana that can dramatically increase a character's midscreen zoning and mixup potential. The use of Win'ds Fast fall can turn any blockstring or communion confirm into a deadly series of guesses.
AuraOut of the other in-fighters, Elsa's homing speed is on the slower side. The extra movement options makes it easier to space without having to use homing. You can also increase the damage output of air to air hits.
FortiaAs you may already know, all of Elsa's B moves (2B 5B 6B) are jump cancellable. Combining the fast fall with IAD strings will keep your opponent on their toes at all times. When using Wind, your E's also become jump cancellable. You can use this as well to extend blockstrings, mix up your opponent or achive meterless combos. Elsa has an easy combo route into 2E, so you can use your newly jump cancellable 2E for combos that do decent damage and cost you zero meter. The most important part of this fact is that you'll gain meter much faster then you would otherwise and you have new windows of meter management. Due to wind, you won't have to spend AG or FG like you would with other arcana. So you can spend meter on defensive and or offensive homing cancels and use your force on bursts and mixups instead of EF combos. The only thing about this is that the placement of communio is rather high, making confirms into 214C unoptimal when outside the corner. They will be sent way too far away. You won't the the corner carry, but you can circumvent this fact by confirming into A or B communio when mid screen. Luckily Wind helps to make up for this fact with the fast fall. You can just go for mixups when midscreen.
Verox This fast fall is godly for Elsa's mixups and pressure. There are two different sets of mixups that you can run with wind. For one, after an A or B comminio hit, you can use the fast fall after a dash momentum rising jump A for a fourway, depending on your timing. To be specific, you can cancel the fastfall before you hit the ground with JA to make it seem that you are going for the low and hit them with an overhead. In the corner you can just use an IAD to fast fall for your mixup. You could also use 2C -> Tornado in order to catch any haphazard tech attempts. You can also do Gloria -> 236E and then a cross over for your mix up.
Scutum6GC is also a good tool for getting people off of you regardless of what character you are playing. The only problem is that it will still cost you 1 meter, and Elsa already has a good, debatably better answer with 6GC - 623A->EFC -or- 623B/C -> 623C. Wind 6GC will get your opponent off of you in most situations, but Elsa doesn't really have any moves that will help steal momentum after the push block. Basically, it will just move them away from you. You could try to send out a sonic boom after the push block but this won't work on everyone (Scharl/Nazuna/Kira/Saki/Elsa/Lilica/etc).
AltariaAir dash cancels... I actually have not found a good use for this. Further experimentation needed.
Skris When zoning and the like midscreen, The extra projectiles are great for helping to get in on your opponent. Elsa's inate projecjiles are somewhat lack luster for zoning and the sonic booms help a lot.
Vertex The tornado is a good "haha you can't come here" tool. So tossing it out when you have time is nice. It is also good for catching techs after a sweep after communio. You can also 2D cancel your JE after a combo and use a tornado before you land to punish buttons.
AbolereYou won't use Wind blaze for too much. It does combo from kyre though. Could be used as an unburstable, final confirm.
FalxMuch like Super Love Beam, you won't use this very often.
So...Wind Elsa is a good choice for anyone looking for a solid variation of Elsa. You lose a bit of health, but the things you get in compensation are way better.
FireA current, and extremely popular variation of Elsa right now. A one-chance type of character that creates destructive resets off many confims.
Souka ShouThe main contributer to Fire-Elsa's power. This changes just about any, low height communio or normal combo confirms from a mixup opportunity into a high damage reset. There are two different resets when using fire. For combos combos, you want to use EF off Kyire and a B communio after a few hits (...421X [EFC] [66] 5A JA JB 214B). From there hit them with A fully charged 5E. Make sure not to do the E too early (because it will combo) or too late (they could get out and punish). The timing isn't super hard but does require some practice for the correct timing. The other way is with low height communio confirms. This is for things like Air to air hits or Anti airs. After you've hit them with communio, use a fully charged 2E for the reset. After the reset, you do not need to Homing cancel like you do for Sacred. A jump into Neutral Homing is sufficent. There are Fire arcana specific combos that you can follow up with. All of the resets do a ton a damage and can even go into another reset if the communio was dropped early enough. If you're really good, you can do the resets of 6GC -> 623A -> EFC and the like.
Souka TousuiBlowing stuff up during EF. You mostly only use this as a way to get into your reset with EFCs.
Kasen YokuThis is a good fireball for Elsa. Moves at a decent speed and is unreflectable. This is pretty good on characters like Nazuna due to it's nature. With a Homing cancel, it is also easy to combo off of.
Kakou EnAt neutral, you don't have much to do with blaze. However, this is a very important part of Elsa's meterless confirms off 5[E] resets. You can also incorperate this into the follow ups from 2[E] resets for damage.
Gouten ShouYou already have a good DP.
Kakou HaElsa does not have much use for this. You could theoretically use this a blockstring tool if you wanted too though.
Soushi TaiseiElsa does not have any good confirms or uses for Fire Arcana Blaze
So...Fire + Elsa is a very strong combination. It comes with similar perks to Luck but without the guessing games before the extra damage. Fire Health is decent and and FG recovery is average.
TimeTime Elsa is a rare pick that does have merit. Out of all of the different combinations of Elsa, Time has the most expensive, but best okizeme out of any other combination of Elsa. Perhaps the best okizeme out of any other character.
Causality Clones. As always, clones are good for okizeme, you won't use them off all normal communio confirms. After a normal, low height confirm into 214A, you could place a clone very quickly then go for a very careful mixup. You'll finish making the clone right before they come out of communio hit stun, so you'll need to be aware of any mashing out or reversals. They they are going to behave, go ahead and go for your left/right with an IAD or Emptiness. 2[E] Clone is important for Elsa's huge knockdown, I'll explain it in a bit.
Impurity It's nice to have but you may not use this that much as you already have a good DP. It does take some risk out of raw DPs though ([44] > 623A). But you alreayd have 4C as an anti air so you will not be using it in that department. You could always use this against people with deep jump ins though (Scharl, Nazuna).
Emptiness Akuma teleport. Elsa does not have much use for this in combos, this poses a problem as one good combo for time Elsa is with 421X > [6HC]. You'll be using this as a mix up tool or a "lol now I'm behind you" tool for the most part. You could do ~6B > 5E > [6HC] 5A -> for random 6B hit midscreen but you might want to use that meter you'd be burning for Time Elsa Oki.
Freedom from WordsDouble speed. Almost too fast with Elsa, X factor level 3 fast. Kind of changes her EF combo so make sure you look it up. You mostly just need to and a JC after two JE JA loops though. This is still good for mixups since you move ridiculously fast.
Freedom from BondageTimeball. This is great for okizeme and you can place it midscreen to help discourage aggressive homing towards you. You can place this out after a sweep after a 214C [66] 2C set up. This will practically force them to behave in the corner as Time ball is very hard to challenge when it is out and active. After they are blocking it and or tech into it, you can have your way with them.
Infinite Light Stop, Ham(ry. Elsa has a really cool set up using IL. Basically, after a confirm on the ground into IL. You hit them with a knock down move (214AB) and a Float move (A time clone's 2[E]) at the same time. This will force them about as high as a high float move... but they can't do anything about it. They won't be able to tech at all untill the lay flat on the ground, at time the will get up as if they choose to not tech. This give you have huge amount of time to do whatever you want. This is actually the perfect time to use Time blaze and kill them off. If you don't have EF, you can use the time to set up a grand oki scheme. IL is still good for General oki if you lack the 2 meters it would take to use the time specific set up.
Original UnproducednessTakes a long time, but you have the perfect set up for this. You can even use the big oki set up again during IL if you have another 2 meters before it ends. Think of this as a flashy reset.
So...Time is extremely okizeme oriented. You can run this on characters with good reversal or that are just big. Also against characters that don't have a way to get out of Time Blaze
WaterWater Elsa is another rare pick. It works well on super abare characters and players. The main game plan is to force your opponent into the corner, then have your way with them with the water balls to help take hits for you.
Cadus Your E moves will have added block and hit stun. This comes in handy for pressure. 5E or {E} is good after 6B since both normals move Elsa forward a good bit. Allowing you to stay in a run mixups, this is similar to how Wind works with nE pressure. I'm not sure of what your frame advantage comes out to with Water Es but its good enough to keep your safe. Do watch out for guard cancels though, so don't be too predictable.
PugnacrumNo Chip. It's not like you'll be sitting around forever but having no chip damage is nice...
NimbusEvery move will give you water slow. You won't really go out of your way to use this for mix ups unless you were trying to keep yourslef safe from something unsafe. Due to the water slow on very move, your EF combos will change a good bit.
PluviaThese are great in the corner. Water balls will take hits for you as you go for whatever you want to open your opponent up. When you have the in the corner, X3ball is better. But if you are mid screen and you want something to super power your anti airs or use trace balls with, then a single ball is fine. Safe the meter for when you have them cornered. Careful, with elsa the balls come out a bit high, which is why X3balls as it sets one water orb a bit lower. If you lay out a regular orb. Be careful of low hitting moves and chibis.
StillaThis will make one water ball at a time follow you around the screen. This can help you play more aggressive with less risk. It's not super useful as it takes time to get a ball out, THEN use trace ball. But it is nice if you can find the time to use this and have one or even two balls follow you.
CataractaThis is good when your water orbs are about to fade away. Water fall does a fair amount of chip damage and still causes water slow, so you can go for another mix up attempt after forcing them to block this.
NitrumThis command grab does pretty good damage for the meter it uses. Throw it in with Water Es and mix it up with jump cancels to throw your opponent up. This makes Elsa being next to you even scarier. A blocked jump move into to this move after a step is good. Good as th finishing blow or against Petra due to her command dodge.
PerpluviumThis is what you want to set up in the corner. With these, Elsa can pretty much do whatever she wants to do with out having to worry about opponents cutting in. This will eat up DPs, super reversal, pokes and the like. Combined with the water cmdthrow and 5E, this situation is very threatening for your opponents. This is good against petra as her dodge really messes with Elsa's okizeme game. If you can't land a hit after 5-6 seconds, convert the orbs to water falls and have one more attempt to land a hit.
RegnumYou won't use this very much at all. Still needs experimentation. However, since Water's FG timings are on the poor side, I doubt you'd want to use this that much
So...Water Elsa is pretty interesting against abare play styles and characters since you can force situations where your opponent has to respect the water balls and not have to sacrifice damage. Do note that Water has pretty bad FG timings. You won't get the most out of this if you have to burst.
TyrTyr is similar to Love in terms of force gauge, meter gain and health. But its special moves don't compliment Elsa as well as Love's projectiles at neutral. However, Tyr has something that makes it very good against characters like huge characters like Cathy, Nazuna, and Kira.
Speed RutschenYour E's get faster as you sync with Tyr. You need to raw EF A LOT for it to make a real difference.
Strength FederThe more you use EF. The stronger you ge during EF. This can substatially increase the amount of damage that you do during EF if you always confirm into EF combo early game. You'll also decrease burst and EF recovery. You won't use this midscreen too much like Petra in order to quickly increase your syncronization with Tyr, but it never hurts to raw EF when you have the chance or EFC to keep your self safe instead of using HCs.
Shock LehmTyr Buster. Since you don't see it too much, it often comes as a surprise. A tad bit slow but packs a good bit of hit and block stun and goes a across the whole screen. If your opponent is messing around on the ground on the other side of the screen, then go a head and let this rip.
Splinter Salomo The start up is a bit slow on Tyr run, but you get a good amount of advantage after making them block this. You could use this to space midscreen as the hitbox is huge and you move a good bit across the screen. This could help you deal with Kira in the air so that you don't have to directly challenge JC or JE. Again, due to its advangage it also makes for a good block string tool. Just make sure that you're not too predictable with when you use it. Remember that you can also use this in air.
Slash KrugerThis does not have too many uses, but you can use it as a reset from 421X. It doesn't actually combo but it is air unblockable. If they tech they will eat the hit and get launched into the air.
Limit DaluegeThe main point of using this arcana. As you may already know this move owns large characters up really bad. And Elsa has the perfect too for making someone stay put and use the cage. After a communio confirm, sweep them and super cancel into cage. After that you can have your way against large characters since they will wake up into the cage. You could go for high/lows or Guard crush them with a charge E move. After that hit them with 5A/5B until the cage disappears and then pick the hit up into a combo, then into communio. Then do the same thing again. You may want to use different arcana against Nazuna or Kira, but this move is definitely worth has worth against Cathy as there is little that she can do about it due to her size.
Strength GottfriedUnlike Slash, you can combo into this from 421X. You can use it to finish your opponent off.
So...This arcana makes Cathy cry. And its better since you can force this on to her without abandoning damage. You could use this on characters that have good jump in moves due to the Tyr dash.
