Ougon Musou Kyoku/Bernkastel
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Introduction
Bernkastel, the Witch of Miracles is an extremely powerful witch that has lived a thousand years. It is said that she lives in a world where concepts like fate and possibility can be visualized. She can give birth to all kinds of miracles with her immense power but, in compensation for that, her heart ends up breaking a bit each time she uses them.
Pros
+ Powerful zoning tools
+ Very high mobility, she's the only character that has air dash and double jump together
+ Very high meterless damage
+ Strong okizeme with 214x and 236x specials
+ Effective mixup with comboable overheads
+ Can declare Meta World IN THE AIR
+ Builds her partner's SP at a ridiculous rate
Cons
- Very low health
- Low range normals
- Very poor defensive options
- Requires meter for her extended combos due to reliance on sp2
Ability
MetaBoost
Causes the Meta Bar to regenerate. This regeneration acts against the bar's depletion during the meta world, extending its duration, and also makes the Meta Bar refill faster after Metaworld ends.
Health - 1200
Changes
Patch 2.31
+Health has been adjusted from 1000 to 1200.
+Now 214AB has no gaps between first cat hits.
Move List
Normal Moves
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【f.5A】
Bern swings her arm and a black cat hits with a small punch. Hits mid. has decent range.
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【c.5A】
A move similar to f.5A, but has an higher hitbox and whiffs con crouchers. Hits mid.
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【2A】
A move similar to f.5A, but with a low hitbox. Hits low
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【f.5B】
Bern swings her arm and a black cat slashes the opponents with its claws. Hits mid. rather bad range.
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| 【6B】
Using one kakera, Bern summons a crystal block, similar to Jin's (BlazBlue) 2D. Can be used as anti-air. Hits mid. because of the huge hitstun you can combo after this move with 5a/2a or even j9.a. it can block a normal bullet such as beato's 236X. the crystal appears according to the opponents position making this quite a good far range's anti air.
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【c.5B】
Similar to Bern's f.5B, but the cat slashes with a vertical direction from above. Hits mid
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【2B】
Similar to Bern's f.5B, but with a low hitbox. Hits low
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【f.5C】
Bern swings her arm and a black cat bites the opponent. Very good horizontal hitbox. the cat has a lot of active frames. Hits mid
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| 【6C】
Similar to Bern's 6B, but the crystal block appears from above. Hits high. Followups can be linked afterwards. has less hitstun than 6b however.
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【c.5C】
Similar to Bern's f.5C but has a lower and shorter hitbox. Hits mid
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【2C】
Bern swings her arm and a cat bites the opponents with a low and rather short hitbox. Hits low. Knocks down.
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【3B】
Bern swings her arm, throwing some crystal with a low direction. Projectile normal. Hits mid. not very good.
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【3C】
Bern swings her arm, throwing some crystal with a diagonal high direction. Projectile normal. Hits mid. good anti air.
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【j.A】
A cat's leg appears under Bern's dress and hits with a kick. Hits high.
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【j.B】
Bern swings her arm and a black cat hits the opponent with a diagonal slash. Hits high.
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【j.7/9C】
Bern swings her arm and a black cat tackles the opponent with a very high hitbox. Whiffs on crouchers. Hits high.
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【8j.C】
Air normal similar to Bern's f.5C. Hits high.
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【2j.C】
Bern swings her arm, throwing some crystals with a diagonal low direction. Projectile normal. Hits mid. good zoning move. stops air momentum. can be spammed to make a wall of bullets.
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【B+C】
After grabbing the opponent, Bern hits him with a crystal sphere, vacuums the opponent in a black hole and making him/her appear again as she claps her hands. Can be followed by OTG moves.
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Special Moves
| Bite him before the elbow「肘から先は 食い千切っていいわ」 ― 236ABC Bernkastel lobs three cats into the air directly in front of her, each at a different distance from her, with A being the closest and C being the farthest. Halfway through their descent, one of the cats gains an aura and this is the only cat that can hit the enemy.
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| Come, black cats「おいで、黒猫たち」 ― 623ABC
Bernkastel jumps upwards spins forwards, cats spinning around her, dealing damage. Despite seemingly being a standard dragon punch, has no invulnerability frames. can be used as a decent anti air. can be crouched by some characters. Air Usable.
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| Bite him below the knee「膝から下は 食い千切っていいわ」 ― 214ABC Bernkastel commands three black cats to run towards the opponent, the frontmost cat has an aura and hitbox. Cannot be reused until the cats have left the screen. Very useful for setting up oki.
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| Come, devil cat kings「おいで、猫の魔王たち」 ― 41236ABC
Bernkastel summons several caped cats who, after a short delay, fire lasers at the opponent. Lasers have deceptively wide hitboxes. All versions appear identical. 3 Hits for 315 Damage. The lasers are + on block, and Bern can even link after them if close enough. |
SP Moves
| Rondo of black cats「黒猫協奏曲」 ― 236AB
Bernkastel lobs six cats forwards, each cat is lobbed in a slightly different arc, between the A and C versions. I.e, if someone is standing at a distance away from you where both the A version of this skill and C version would hit, all six cats will impact for 6 hits and 540 damage
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| 「黒猫輪舞曲」 ― 623AB
Bernkastel jumps forwards with black cats surrounded by green auras, dealing more damage than the basic variant. Has invulnerability. however it can be crouched and it is rather slow. it is a decent anti air as well. | |
| Parade of black cats「黒猫行進曲」 ― 214AB
Bernkastel commands 5 cats to rush the opponent down. All 5 cats have auras and are capable of striking the enemy. The 5 cats all move at different speeds, varying between the front most cat, which moves at a speed equal to the C version of this skill, and the last cat, who moves at A version speed. At point blank, the ability causes 5 hits for 450 Damage
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| Rondo of devil cat kings「猫魔王交響曲」 ― 41236AB
Bernkastel summons six cats all sporting their own snazzy cape and magic circle. After a short delay, they each fire a laser at the opponent, all of the lasers bar the Blue and Red will strike the opponent full screen, due to them all firing within the same area of effect the original had. The Blue laser fires at a low angle, and at full screen will strike the floor and vanish, the red laser fires at an upward angle, and will pass over a standing opponent at all ranges, but makes for decent anti-air. At full screen, 4 lasers will impact for 420 Damage if at point-blank or any angle at which the blue laser strikes, 5 hits for 525 Damage. |
Level 2 Supers
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Mystery that pierces everything without mercy「全てを穿つ無慈悲なるミステリ」 ― 236236C
Bernkastel summons eight snakes the arc out behind her before lashing out at the opponent from different angles. The first snake will strike the opponent from below, launching them. Even if they are OTG. Snakes strike at lightning speed, extremely powerful in combos and has potential for a combo extender due to OTG launches. Can combo into itself. 8 hits for 696 Damage. air usable. |
Meta Super
| Leviathan that swallows everything without mercy「全てを呑み込む 無慈悲なるリヴァイアサン」 ― 641236C Bernkastel summons an ominous green mist that encompasses the entire battleground floor, this mist hits the opponent up to 13 times for 468 Damage and deals impressive chip damage. This mist strikes OTG opponents. Immediately after the mist is summoned, a monstrous leviathan jumps from it and dives back down, causing impressive chip and block damage to anyone struck by it. The leviathan jumps a great distance into the air, roughly the same height as Erika and Bernkastel can reach with their double jumps, making it impossible to jump over. If the leviathan strikes the opponent, it knocks down, allowing the mist to continue damaging OTG. A leviathan strike + Mist deals 14 hits for 849 Damage. At full screen, the leviathan misses, causing only the mist to strike. Combos extremely efficiently and can even be used as some bonus OTG damage or Okizeme. The leviathan strike even combos from an OTG 236236C. however this move doesnt give you the pleasure of using bern's beautiful okizeme afterwards. you can spam this move in the air and be relatively safe. an option to get in with this move is jump mata super DJ meta super j66 meta super after all you can just Spam and Spam this move over and over again until meta ends. When used as an anti-air tool, some rather strange hits can occur. Because of the way the leviathan strikes, and then the mist begins to deal damage, the opponent is normally OTG by the time the mist begins dealing damage. But occaisionally, opponents further in the air may be struck by the leviathan, and whilst being grounded, gets struck by the mist. This leaves the opponent upright and standing, as the mist knocks the opponent out of falling state and deals a great deal more damage due to how OTG prorates. In these rare situations - 14 hits for 1148 Damage. Air Usable. |
Combos
Bern's aerials and air mobility provide her with a powerful series in the air:
Sj. 9B > Sj. 9C > Dj. 9B > Dj. 9C
Which can be entered into and finished in a couple of different ways.
Launching:
- 2B > 2C > 5C ... (Most simple launch, but difficult to land, as it has to be started right next to the opponent) - 1485 Damage without finisher (all finisher damages are measured from this launch)
- 5A > 5B > 5C > DC > 2B > 2C > 5C ... (Easier to land, but decreases damage due to dash cancel) - 1584 Damage
- (Starting with partner) 2C > Attack Touch > 5C ... (Easiest to land, allows for a long launching combo from the partner)- ~1272 Damage
- (Opponent in corner, 1 Kakera) Airdash at head level > j.9B > j.3C > 5A > 5B > 5C > DC > 5B > 2C > 5C ... (Unexpected launcher, almost always results in a stun. It's also possible to jump into this and hit twice with j. 3C.) - 2168 Damage
Finishing:
With the appropriate delays, any of the following can be used after Dj. 9C to finish the combo:
- 623C (No SP, standard finisher, Oki) - 1704 Damage
- 623AB (1 SP, typically a bad use of SP, as the damage isn't much of an increase from 623C, Oki) - 1789 Damage
- 623C > 236236C (2 SP, very high damage and a high chance of a stun) - 2351 Damage
- Meta Declaration > 641236C (1 SP+, high damage, unreliable due to the fact that the opponent might argue your Meta Declaration, but giving up on the metaworld argument will still allow a different finisher and will waste more of the opponent's SP) - 2196 Damage
- Meta Declaration > Airdash > Dj. 9B > Dj. 9C > 236236C > 641236C (3 SP+, unreasonably high damage and extremely frustrating for the opponent, practically guarantees a stun, but doesn't seem to work on every character, and is rather unreliable and expensive, especially against opponents with at least 2 SP. Overall, this is more satisfying than elaborate revenge, but is expensive, difficult, and situational.) - 3414 Damage
- 623c 236236c 236236c *meta declare* 641236c (5 SP and decent amount of damage. it is easy practical and it guarantees a stun. if you only have 3 or 4 SP you can 236236c meta world 641236c for 2900 damage for a high chance of a stun as well.) - 3200 Damage
Strategy
MetaBoost
Meta boost is a unique ability, as it has numerous functions. Outside of the Meta World, it causes the meta bar to regenerate extremely quickly. Within the meta world, this regeneration acts against the meta bar's gradual depletion, extending the duration of the meta world. Now, despite all of this MetaBoost still expires when her partner's ability expires when triggered via Meta World. This means, that the shorter the duration of her partner's ability, the sooner MetaBoost expires, and thus you receive less overall time in the metaworld. For example, with a character like Ronove, who has a short duration ability that with any other character, generally expires a good chunk of the way before meta expires naturally, will cause Bernkastel's MetaBoost to expire earlier too, causing the Meta Bar to begin depleting itself at the standard rate much sooner. On the other hand, if you pair Bernkastel with Jessica, who has an extremely long duration ability, the boosted Meta World actually expires before MetaBoost does. This means that in these pairings, After meta ends, the Meta Bar will enjoy MetaBoosts standard effect, regenerating extremely quickly, even right after a meta expires.
MetaBoost allows for some other interesting things to occur. Willard's ability to land three Meta Supers per Meta Declaration is expanded to four, Beatrice's towers last much longer and can be used to much more brutal punishment, Eva Beatrice can land two grabs per meta, now (She can already, but the timing between opponent wake-up and meta expiration is extremely strict and easily countered by the opponent) and Chiester410 can land a second Meta Super after the first expires.
Mobility Tools
Bernkastel has the most aerial mobility in the game, with access to both Erika's double Jump and Eva's air dash, granting her the ability to stay air borne for a hilarious amount of time. couple this with her variety of air usable abilities, such as her Meta Super, 236236C and 623 Series, and she is extremely dangerous in the air. you can use her air mobility to bait some attacks that would normally hit if it were not for her air mobility.
The Meta World
Bernkastel has the unique ability to declare meta whilst airborne, allowing her to extend her air combos dramatically and even end them with a Meta Super. This allows her some unique freedom with air combos, as she now has 3 different ways to cancel and extend them and this also allows her to immediately cancel any touch into a meta declaration, allowing her to save herself from any oki or even punish with her meta super or 236236C. after a meta declare in the air you can do an air dash and combo a bit further but this is slightly hard.
Kakera
Bernkastel has a "Kakera" [Fragment(s)] mechanic system that allows her to use certain projectile attacks; each use of such attacks takes away one of her stored up Kakera pieces. For every 1.5 seconds of idle standing/crouching, walking, or running animation, Bernkastel generates 1 Kakera piece. The time adds up in parts, so you don't have to be completely idle for a full 1.5 seconds in a row to get a piece; you'll still acquire one piece for three separate half-second intervals of idling, for example. She can store up to a maximum of 8 pieces.
3B, 3C, 6B, 6C, and j.1/2/3C are all such inputs to execute a move that uses these pieces. Using any of these moves without any pieces left has no effect other than leaving Bernkastel open to counter attacks; with Kakera, though, these attacks are lightning fast ranged attacks that deal very good damage and combo efficiently, it is important to attempt to generate Kakera if you are attempting a rushdown. You can buy yourself time to generate these when facing extreme pressure through use of your 623AB to counterattack the foe or your 214AB to lock the opponent in blockstun long enough to generate some.
All fragment projectiles are positive on block.
Oki and Mixup options
Bernkastel's ability to set up oki, mixup, and general pressure is absolutely stupid.
The first thing to note is that her overhead Kakera, 6C, has enough + on hit to allow linking into 2A, allowing for Bern to do full combos off of her overhead mixup. In addition to this, while harder than other games, Bern has the option of Instant Air Dashing off of the ground into J.B for a combo. She can utilize her j.623A to cross up, and can do a deep J.C into double jump J.ABC for a fuzzy guard setup.
After landing any combos that end in J.623, Bern has the option to set up oki with 2b 2c 214x cats, similar to Battler's 3b 2c 236C set, giving her plenty of time to try and IAD, dash forward 2A, overhead, or anything else you may please.
if you get a deep j9c you can do a double jump and j9a j9b j9c for a annoying little air block string. you can do j623a but that moves you really far away and so destroys leading in plans without using kakera, meta or dash cancelling.
In addition, if Bernkastel starts doing her generic xx>J.b>J.c>Double jump cancel, if the opponent is cornered, she can go for 7j.b 7j.c 623A, which puts her at crazy positive frames, giving her enough time to do her 236A or 236B for pressure rather than the walking cats. Demonstration.
Characters whom this setup works on: Bernkastel, Dlanor, Lambdadelta, Willard, Kanon, Rosa, Eva Beatrice, and George. If the second 7j.c is omitted, it should work on the other characters.
