Arakune/Gameplay

"A strange, crazed creature housing "bugs" within its body. A tricky fighter whose movements aren't human!!"

General Strategy
Arakune's offense and defense is normally weak, but once the opponent is Cursed, you can use insects to perform relentless attacks. Thus a large part of Arakune's strategy has to do with Cursing the opponent.

Arakune also has some peculiarities about his movement. Dash and backstep cause him to sink into the ground and move a set distance. He is invincible while in the ground, allowing him to easily slip around the opponent. His aerial dash and aerial backdash have a floating trajectory. He can use them 2 times with each jump. He also floats when using a jump attack during an aerial dash but using ← with a jump attack or barrier will change his trajectory downwards. Using ← + B during an aerial dash lets you use Jumping B while falling. It's useful not only for closing distance from mid-range, but is also powerful repeated in close combat.

Once in close range, use Standing A or Crouching A over and over while chaining it into a Standing D to build the Curse Gauge. It's also good to use the middle attack → + A to break the opponent's guard. Once the Curse Gauge is filled, input ↓ + A into ↓ + A to link into Crouching A → to use insects. Even if the opponent blocks you, the insects from A can help buy time to close distance. The C insects also have guard crushing properties. If you keep these C insects in mind, it'll be easier to use → + A to break guard or attempt a normal throw.

Should the opponent get the jump on Arakune, it's safest to backstep away if you're in the middle of the screen. If you have Heat Gauge, using f inverse is another good way to counter.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
Arakune, who has many tricky action patterns, isn't lacking in the variety of its skills, and has quite a few regular attacks. The Drive button has a side effect called "curse" ( 烙印Branding Rakuin), which when applied to the opponent will cause bugs to appear from both inside and outside the screen regardless of the skills and specials used, allowing one to set up combos.