Reina counterplay

Common Situations

f,F+2,F on block

Reina's f,F+2 is an extremely oppressive move. Fast, long range and difficult to step, it's tough to get around and Reina can use it to both whiff punish from afar and easily approach and enforce SEN mixups. However, the mixup from f,F+2 on block is not in her favor, and the defender can make it very unrewarding for Reina to keep going for it with the proper defense.

Succinctly, you have to make a read between ducking, SSL and SSR, and launch punish her if your guess was correct.

Options from SEN

Move	Purpose	Defense
SEN.3	to get plus frames, to confirm on hit, to catch steps and jabs	Duck
SEN.1+3	to catch steps, stand blocking and powercrush; to wallsplat in the corner	Duck
SEN.3+4	to catch steps, stand blocking and powercrush	Duck
SEN.2	to catch duckers and SSR	SSL
SEN.4	to get plus frames, to catch duckers and crouch jab	SSR (better)/SSL
SEN.1+2	to catch duckers and SSL	SSR, i10 punish
SEN.1,qcf+2	to catch jabs, duckers, and SSL	SSR

There is no true OS against the mixup, so you have to guess. However, the penalty for guessing wrong is not as bad as the reward for guessing right (which is why it's important to launch punish her on a correct read). Stepping some options like SEN.1 and SEN.4 can get you their back, so have a good off-axis or backturned combo ready.

A single jab works to interrupt all options other than SEN.3 and SEN.3+4, and can net a float combo on SEN.4. It also beats SEN.1 since Reina cannot confirm into the follow-up, which gets blocked. However, it trades unfavorably with SEN.3. A down jab will high crush SEN.3 and interrupt the others but will get hit with SEN.4, a damaging mid with a guaranteed follow-up. These options should be used sparingly.

To minimize risk and avoid guessing, stand blocking is the best choice since the only risk is eating a 22 damage low or a 12 damage throw (with potential oki). However, it is important to make a conscious decision to stand block and not default to it.

Advanced Reina players will forego the SEN mixup and instead use the mental frame advantage to enforce a different mix-up. If you read an empty SEN transition on block, you can punish with an i12 or faster move.

Hellsweep on hit

Hellsweep is Reina's primary power low and you will frequently find yourself eating it when she has a mixup opportunity or when she's looking to make a comeback. Generally, it is best to avoid the mixup entirely by SWL when she's going for one, or pre-emptively interrupting her, since the hellsweep is naturally a bit slower to come out due to the CD input, and it doesn't high crush.

If you do find yourself dealing with the +6 WRA situation after hellsweep on hit, then backdashing is a powerful option to stay safe while blocking the power mids, and making both WRA.1 and the WRA throw whiff (make sure to launch punish!), thus resetting to neutral. Reina only has WRA.d+4 to deal damage, so be aware of it when they're trying to score the last hit to close out the round. If Reina is overusing WRA.2, then practice using SSR as an option to evade and launch punish it. If Reina is over-eager to land a heavier mixup against you backdashing, then they will have to cancel WRA into CD to approach. This opens them up to interruption.

Match-ups

Alisa

• Alisa can backdash to make WRA.2 whiff after the WGS.df+4,2,D transition

Asuka

• Reina's b+4 cannot be parried by Asuka's reversal

Azucena

• Reina can punish Azucena's db+3 > b+1+2 with uf+1, allowing for a WRA.1,4 follow-up.

Bryan

• can backdash f,F+2,F~3 (hits from any angle that isn't dead on and gives +2 on SSL)

Devil Jin

• Reina can punish Devil Jin's b,f+2,1 with a buffered SS into 1+2 (likely due to a bug with the move).

Feng

• Against f,F+2,F~1, Feng's 1,3 will CH Reina out of the power crush after it absorbs the first hit, leading to an unfavorable trade for her

Jack-8

• Reina's SEN.1+2 is a full launcher on Jack-8 with a pickup via WRA.1,F~3

Jin

• can backdash f,F+2,F~3 (but it hits from a micro-SSL)
• can backdash f,F+2,F~<3 (but it hits from micro-SSL/specific angles)
• Reina can OS Jin's f,F+3 string extensions using FC.df+4. After blocking the f,F+3, input df:4. If Jin did just f,F+3, this would result in a df+4. If he did f,F+3,1, this would take advantage of crouch assist to more quickly enter FC to perform FC.df+4, and launch punish him. Since FC.df+4 high crushes, it would avoid getting countered by f,F+3,1,2 as well. The timing is not straightforward, so some practice is recommended. To counter this, Jin can do just f,F+3 into a SS~whiff punish or similar.

King

• can backdash f,F+2,F~3 (hits from any angle that isn't dead on and gives +2 on SSL)

Law

• can backdash f,F+2,F~3 (hits from any angle that isn't dead on and gives +2 on SSL)

Lee

• Reina's b+3 Unsoku transition avoids all HMS moves from the d+3 on hit transition unless the hit is point blank

Leo

• Reina can always punish Leo's b+1,1+2 with her 1+2, irrespective of whether Leo transitions into BOK and uses moves from it

Leroy

• Leroy's b+1+2 can parry Reina's f,F+2,F~3 and f,F+2,F~2 at the same timing
• Leroy's b+1+2 can parry Reina's WRA.1 and WRA.2 from +6 transitions (ws4,4,D and WGS.df+4,2,D) at the same timing

Nina

• Reina can use FC.df+4 and FC.df+3 immediately to punish Nina's gunshot attacks without having to wait for their animation to end

Reina

• can backdash f,F+2,F~3
• cannot backdash f,F+2,F~<3, gives +2 on block

Steve

• Can backdash f,F+2,F~3 out of a SSR only

Xiaoyu

• Reina's anti-AOP tools are EWGK, f,F+3 and b+2 (b+2 doesn't hit AOP~d)

Yoshimitsu

• Flash beats nearly all SEN options after Reina's f,F+2,F on block except for SEN.1, so be careful with f,F+2,F usage and default to f,F+2
• Flash beats nearly all WRA options after any transition except for WRA.1+2 after +6 transitions, and WRA.1 (and WRA.1+2) for +8 transitions. It will not hit if you delay your WRA moves. It's a good idea to avoid transitioning to WRA in this match-up.
• Yoshi's hopkick (uf+4) goes under WRA.1, making it a good tool to use when Reina is delaying her WRA moves to counter Yoshi's Flash. It will only be beaten by WRA.1+2
• Flash beats Reina's df+1,2 and df+1,F. It gets hit by df+1,1
• Reina's b+1+3 parry can OS Yoshi's (non-delayed) b+2,2 and b+2,1 for a full launch with P.b+1+3 WRA.df~2

Zafina

• iws4,4,D~3+4 is a consistent punish for Zafina's 1,4,D TRT transition on block