Evading

Learn how to effectively evade enemy approaches in BlazBlue: Central Fiction. Master instant air dashes, high jumps, and backsteps to control neutral.

The other half of the Neutral game is dealing with the ENEMY'S approaches. To properly deal with those, what you need to do is learning to recognise the enemy’s range (his spacing tool’s maximum reach) so that you can understand when you’re at risk of being approached in a SLIGHT SECOND (fast approaches like IADs can do that), so that you can keep OUT of that range and thus avoid losing in the neutral game.

The options you have to stay away vary from character to character, but generally, the most used/important ones are the following:

1. Instant Air Dash backward (7, 4);
2. High jump backward (2, 7);
3. Backstep (44).

I. The Instant Air Dash backward is the fastest tool to make distance between you and the enemy. It’s an amazing option also due to how safe it generally is. You can also use your air spacing tool when doing so, as that will allow you to potentially COUNTER enemy approaches (the enemy can decide to make an offensive approach when you’re Instant air dashing backward).

II. The High Jump Backward is yet another great tool to make distance between you and the enemy, as it also serves another purpose: to EVADE enemy attacks that cover a huge vertical area (have HIGH hitboxes) and that would reach you in case you had done a normal jump (which obviously has a lower height than the High jump).

III. The backstep can be really useful thanks to its invulnerability property (only occurs right after you input it). It can also be used to evade enemy “vertical approaches” (such as when the enemy is directly above you or is jumping at you), as it travels a horizontal distance. However, it can be quite dangerous, as you’re only invulnerable for a really short period of time, after which you’re totally open (you’ll only be able to guard LATE after backstepping – generally after 22 frames). Comparing the backstep to the jump, you’re vulnerable for a much longer period of time after backstepping than after jumping (you can guard SHORTLY after jumping by using Barrier Guard). On top of that, the distance you make with the backstep is way shorter than with the jump. There’s a high chance it also won’t save you from Instant Air Dash approaches from the enemy due to that. It can be a great option nonetheless for characters that have better backstep properties (frame data: invulnerability frames and backstep duration), like Mu-12, v-13, Izanami, etc.