Master Raven crouch dash

Introduction

Tekken's movement system is one of it's key distinguishing factors. Movement is everything in Tekken. Movement can also be a lot of fun. Some characters really take advantage of being in a 3D game and just navigating about a 3D space in itself becomes a very engaging, almost addictive activity. Raven is one of these characters.

Raven has several unique movement options to play around with, and how well one can create, as well as close, space is a big part of realizing Raven's potential. Chief among these movement options is Raven's crouch dash (CD), which is in many ways unique to the generic snakedash most other characters have. This guide aims to help illuminate not only how to execute Raven's more advanced movement techniques but most importantly how they can best be applied in neutral.

But before we can dive into all that, some definitions must be cleared:

What's a Command Dash?

Similar to how the term "Command Throw" refers to a non-generic throw with its own unique command, a "Command Dash" is a non-generic dash/movement option with its own unique command.

In Tekken various command dashes exist. The most infamous being the Mishima Wavedash (and even that has further sub-categories such as the lightdash). Throughout the roster you'll see several characters with a crouchdash or their own character-specific command dash.

Crouchdash / Snakedash / Rolldash what's the difference?

A lot of FGC terminology (especially older terminology) is quite flimsy, with many terms having overlap in their definitions. Oftentimes different regions would have had different terminology that refer to the same concept or mechanic. Some terms may have started referring to something specific but have since become more nebulous and are used interchangeably with other terms.

For instance, rolldash originally referred to the rolling motion players on arcade sticks would make in order to chain command dashes together by inputting d/df/f/u -> d/df/f/u over and over. Whereas snakedash refers to the same idea but came about from how the character would snake across the screen from repeated d/df/f/u inputs. Crouchdash (CD) merely refers to the common d/df/f (or qcf) command dash that several characters have. Wavedash in Tekken is shorthand for what was termed "Mishima-style crouch dash".

So what's the big idea behind Raven's CD?

Raven's CD sits in its own category, where it is markedly above most generic CD's. It shares enough parallels with the Mishima wavedash to make Raven's CD functionally similar to the wavedash in terms of application.

• Firstly, unlike characters that can snakedash, Raven can instantly block anytime during her CD without needing to sidestep-cancel. On top of which, Raven does not need to sidestep-cancel to chain her dashes together.
• Raven's CD also has the largest high-crush window of all command dashes in the game.

These two properties are of the most important, as being able to instant-block from a command dash is a privilege shared only by Mishimas and Raven. It is essentially having a faster dash-block that covers more ground.

Lastly Raven's CD is noticeably more fluid than generic CD's and covers more ground, but still slower than Mishima Wavedash.

Wavu On The Outside

What a lot of people get wrong at first with using wavus is, they try bolt right in from the other side of the screen. This is a sure-fire way to run face first into a hopkick or df2.

Using a wavu from The Outside is a very telegraphed way of making an approach. Your opponent is alert and has ample time to react. If you haven’t given your opponent a reason to respect your wavu then chances are, they simply won’t. You need to get it into their heads that pressing buttons to challenge your wavu is a bad idea. How does one do this?

You should ask yourself the question: When you want to make an approach, do you just dive straight in or do you do a bit of back-n-forth jockeying? This is an important way of gauging your opponent. Do they have a twitchy trigger finger? Have they become passive?

If they’re twitchy then they can be baited into whiffing, which is viable for Raven since she can instant-block from her wavu. Should moments of hesitation or mentally freezing up present themselves, they should be capitalized on. This is the most basic form of conditioning your opponent.

Wavu On The Inside

So where using wavu on The Outside was about baiting the opponent, using wavu on The Inside is more about pressure and catching your opponent off-guard.

Using wavu on The Inside isn't something that naturally comes to mind as it seems like a pretty ballsy thing to do. But that's precisely what makes it effective, as its not something most opponent's will expect and is near impossible to anticipate. Because Raven does not have much plus-on-block options, using aggressive dashes to gain mental frame-advantage is how Raven can get a leg-up in any match.

What are opportunities to use wavu on The Inside? Anytime when you'd normally consider pressing buttons is an opportunity to use movement, either offensively (CD) or defensively (KBD). Anytime when you have reason to believe the opponent won't press buttons in that moment.

• Anytime you land a hit (that's preferably plus). If you land an attack that is minus on hit or zero and the opponent knows this, then you may need to condition with frame-traps first.

• After a throw is broken, or any other situation that returns to neutral.

• If you know you're opponent won't press buttons after a blocked jab or df1 then that's a free ticket to CD city.

• After you block something safe from your opponent. Instead of using buttons to take your turn back, you can use movement.

• You scored a knockdown or the opponent is floored for whatever reason.

Wavu on The Inside is mostly about positioning yourself where you know that you're only one CD away from closing the gap. What's important is being able to execute Raven's FC df3+4 after one CD in the shortest time possible. It shouldn't be the only way to apply Raven's hellsweep (it can be equally effective to just crouch right in front of your opponent before committing to the FC mix in order to throw off your opponent's timing) but it certainly helps to give your opponent as little time as possible to react.

Execution

Breaking down Raven's dashes

To start, Raven has 2 distinct command dashes. Both are listed in her movelist. 1st there is the Shadow Step for which the input is d/df/f (commonly qcf) and 2nd there is Crouch Step for which the input is FC df/d/df.

Raven's Shadow Step is no different from other generic qcf snakedashes. Raven's Crouch Step is interesting in that it is a proper command dash available from FC state. It looks indistinguishable from her Shadow Step. No other character in the game has this property.

	Full Crouch state
	While Standing state
	Standing

Shadow Step

Frame

Input

State

1

d

2

d/f

3

f

4

n

	Full Crouch state
	While Standing state
	Standing

Crouch Step

Frame

Input

State

1

d/f

2

d

3

d/f

As you can see, Shadow Step leaves you standing, while Crouch Step leaves you in FC. Interestingly, you can choose to end in FC or standing regardless of how you started (standing state or FC) or which input you started with. What's important is what input you end with.

• End with F and you are left standing.
• End with D (or DF) and you are left in FC state.
• If you replace your last D (or DF) with a neutral input and you will go into WS state.

So How Does the Ravu~Wavu™ work?

In short, you are essentially chaining multiple Crouch Steps together. To chain Crouch Steps, you basically cancel a Crouch Step with a neutral input. The neutral input puts Raven in WS state for a brief moment. During this moment you can input Crouch Step again. Only need one frame of neutral is needed to chain Crouch Steps. You can have more than one frame of neutral, so long as Raven does not fully exit WS state.

Standard Input Method for Extended Crouch Dash (All peripherals)

	Full Crouch state
	While Standing state
	Standing

Raven extended Crouch Dash

Frame

Input

State

1

d

2

d/f

3

d

4

n

5

n

6

n

7

n

⋯

n

20

n

21

n

22

d

23

d/f

24

d

25

n

⋯

n

44

n

43

d

44

d/f

45

d

46

n

⋯

n

63

n

64

n

As soon as you input the first "d", you have 21 frames to start buffering the next CD motion. After 21 frames have passed and you have not inputted the next d/df then Raven will exit WS state and will be fully standing. You can buffer the next d/df motion sooner within the 21 frame window, but you must have at least 1 frame of a neutral input between CD motions.