🛡️Defense
Every persona player's worst nightmare, blocking
In General...
Rise's defensive game is not one of her strong suits. Whether it be her counterpoke options or her reversals, most of her defensive tools carry a lot of risk with their use, and some can single-handedly lose you the game if your opponent calls you out.
Defense on Rise is more passive than aggressive, you will need to find an opportunity to use these options so as to minimize the risk of being punished.
Reversal Options
Your main reversal tools are:
DP (B+D)
236236[A,B] (Hysterical Slap)
Guard Cancel Attack (Universal)
Guard Cancel Roll (Universal)
This is Rise's riskiest but most rewarding reversal option. This move has a whopping 48 frames of recovery and leaves you -37 if the opponent blocks the activation hitbox. This makes it incredibly easy for any character to force a fatal counter and deal half of your health in damage at the least. This is in exchange for a pretty fast triggering counter hitbox which can be pretty hard to safejump for most characters.
If you've managed to get your opponent to block this move, you can immediately super cancel into C orbs (236236C) to shift the advantage over to Rise. This is a very powerful option out of DP, and can offer a way to start your gameplan. Beware however, this super is on a long cooldown, taking about 25 seconds to refresh between uses.
Be sure to cancel immediately into C orbs after a blocked DP. If you wait too long, C orbs can be punished during startup with fatal recovery.
Rise's DP is a forward-facing counter, meaning that it loses when used in situations where the opponent side switches. Avoid using this DP on characters who do this a lot if possible.
A not-so-fun side effect of Rise's DP being a counter is the fact that if the opponent is fast enough, they can spend meter after triggering the counter and block the resulting hitbox (or in some cases, super cancel to invuln through it).
Always bear in mind that Rise's DP can be great in certain situations, but is also a very exploitable and will lose you games if you use it carelessly.
While this is one of Rise's weakest reversal options, it does offer some good reward if it lands. both A and B versions of this super have invulnerability on their startups, meaning that they can catch an unsuspecting opponent by surprise every once in a while and go straight through their pressure.
A version is the faster of the two, with around 10 frames of startup after the input is registered and dealing 1900 Damage on a raw hit. This version, however, may lack the range to punish certain midrange pressure. B version is slower to start its active frames than A version, taking about 19 frames to actually hit anything after the input is registered, but it has a bit more invulnerability and travels farther, dealing 2360 Damage on a raw hit.
If you fail to land a hit with this super, be prepared to eat a punish, as this super can be pretty easy to avoid if the opponent is being safe in their pressure.
This is a universal defensive option in P4AU, and allows Rise to gain advantage in neutral if used successfully. Be sure to only use this move in situations where the opponent cannot jump cancel or otherwise avoid the attack. Otherwise, you'll be out of 50 meter and possibly a quarter of your health. Keep in mind that this option has guard point, and as such it can be delayed by the opponent while it's still in startup, meaning that in the course of a blockstring the opponent can adjust their blockstring on reaction to remain safe and punish the guard cancel.
This is a universal defensive option in p4au, and allows Rise to get out of nasty pressure setups either before they happen or while they happen. This option can be grabbed or baited, and can generally be punished on reaction if the opponent is fast enough. This is handy to use in the corner when you're willing to risk getting punished to get out of the corner.
Counter Pokes
Rise has very lackluster counterpoke options, with both being fairly stubby:
5A
2A
This move has a decent startup of 6 frames, but a recovery of 14 frames, 3 active frames, and is not very disjointed. It's Rise's fastest ground option to punish a move.
In situations where the opponent is using displaced persona normals to continue pressure while preventing you from breaking the persona with their own normals (Elizabeth will do this in the corner), you can 5A to break the persona and quickly cancel into 236C to punish them if they attempt to punish you. This will send them a fair distance out of the corner, so use the opportunity to get yourself out.
This move is a bit more disjoint than 5A, but by a very slim margin. While it adds one frame of startup from 5A, taking 7 frames to come out, it recovers faster at 9 frames of recovery and is active for 5 frames. However, this is Rise's worst starter, meaning any combos started with this will not do much damage.
Using these tools...
As mentioned before, Rise's defense is not the greatest, and as a result you must play your cards patiently and safely. Ideally, you'll want to use the aforementioned tools in the least risky situations possible to avoid wasting resources like health or meter.
Do not develop a habit of using any of these options frequently, as it will prompt your opponent to look out for these options and punish them accordingly. P4AU is a very volatile game, and having a great defense is arguably more important than having a great pressure game. Orbs will get you out of some situations like a blocked DP, but reliance on this tool will come to bite you due to its long cooldown.
Just be patient and observe your opponent for opportunities to use these options before throw them out.
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