Cedric

Battle Fantasia
=Cedric=
CEDRIC GUIDE (shota harry potter everyone is gay for for some reason, no really go do ashley's command grab on him)
Notable normals
The entire D button - Notable because you're not going to use it. I list this first before even mentioning jabs because you're going to spend the entire match doing all you can to hold down the D button for a drop kick. This is IMPORTANT.
Standing/crouching A - Just to make people block a sonic boom, really.
crouching B - This move is GOOD for three reasons. First, it's the only real low Cedric has while holding D. Second, it combos into dropkick for MASSIVE damage. Third, you can easily combo into it. See combos later on.
Crouching C - Launches, great in combos off of dropkick or just out of nowhere as it also doesn't reset. Decent priority/might have a disjointed hitbox.
Jumping C - Properties of crouching C without launching. Probably the best jump-in Cedric has (his jump-ins are more useful than you might expect thanks to the command jump).
Command Normals
6D - useless. see above. It's a relatively fast (but EXTREMELY obvious) overhead that can be charged to be unblockable, but 99.9% of the time it's more useful to hold down the button for the dropkick. Might be able to catch someone off guard as they won't expect Cedric to do an overhead, but this is only good if it won you the round.
4B - SUPER good. A kick that moves Cedric forward. Helps him get charges for the sonic boom, and if you hit with it, you can get the aforementioned MASSIVE damage as it can combo into 2B. Going into Cedric, I personally thought that it wouldn't be a good move to randomly stick out in attack range. I'm used to charge characters having moves that move them forward, but at the risk that they suck horribly on block. This move is +7 on block. Do it whenever you have the time to. There is no risk except for gachi, and all you need to do to avoid that is not be predictable.
Chains/Attack Set
2A -> 2B
2A -> 5B
2B -> 4B
2B -> 2C
2B -> 6D
All very good except 2A -> 5B (less range than 2B) and 2B -> 6D (usually useless). Combos listed further down.
Specials
[4]6A/C - Sonic boom! Very short recovery, but the charge time is enough that you can't just use this as your entire lockdown or anything. There are a lot of ways to get this particular charge, so it shouldn't be a problem.
[2]8B/D - Flash kick! VERY fast, seems to have invuln and definitely has massive priority. THE reversal move without meter.
[2]8A/C - Command jump? A is a very short hop, and C jumps VERY far. Gives you a way around things and to clear a LOT of ground while holding a sonic boom input. ([1]7A/C)
[D] - The drop kick. Without a doubt THE best move in the game IMO. Holding D for 2 seconds or so gets you a level 1 drop kick, for very meh damage and speed. Holding it for 2 more seconds gets you a level 2 drop kick, which is VERY fast, and does a decent amount of damage as a poke/combo ender. The one that REALLY makes this move shine is level 3. Level 3 wallslams, allowing you to combo. A VERY VERY scary level 4 exists, but it takes 100 seconds or something along those lines to charge, so you won't see it much. When you DO have a level 4 dropkick... It had DAMN well better hit. If you hit a level 4 dropkick, you've all but won the round since it does like 60% of your opponent's lifebar ON ITS OWN. Use in combos and as a whiff punisher at all levels (except 1, just keep charging in this case).
236236A/C - Fireball super. Very fast, can get you out of some situations when used as a reversal, but it doesn't have invuln so be careful. Decent damage on hit, pretty good chip, and you can throw another fireball in while it's going.
236236B/D - Counter super. Instant, covers all air and ground hit zones, does a RIDICULOUS amount of damage, and even gets you a whole free combo. COMPLETELY worth gambling with for that damage.
Heat Up! (A+C/B+D) - Cedric gets ANGRY FACE POWERS. Specials in general are powered up. Throw two sonic booms instead of one, flashkick does 3 hits instead of 1. JP Wiki mentions something about drop kick getting a buff as well but I'm not sure what it is. Meter is probably better saved for counter supers, depending on the matchup.
Combos
Japanese wiki combos for the most part. Any combos into dropkick can be done with levels 2-4, but only level 3 and 4 will allow the continuations listed afterwards.
Ground combos
4B (link) (2A x 1-3) 2B -> Lv. 3/4 Dropkick -> walk forward -> 2C -> flashkick
This is THE Cedric combo. It is your best friend, and a TON of damage for no meter.
5C -> Lv. 3/4 Dropkick -> 2C -> flashkick
Variation of the above.
2B -> 2C -> flashkick
I'm not sure if this works. Theoretically, good for saving a dropkick charge when you don't need the extra damage, if you're near level 4, if you're not to level 3 yet, etc.
CH 2B -> 4B -> 2B -> Lv. 3/4 dropkick -> 2C -> flashkick
No comment. Standard fare stuff really, but preferable to (2B -> dropkick) if you hit that CH 2B.
2B -> 236236C
Stalls so you can get a level 3 dropkick ready.
Counter super -> Lv. 3 dropkick -> flashkick/236236C
O SHIIIIIIII-
Anti-air combo
2C -> flashkick
Cedric is below the hitbox for 2C so this can be a good idea sometimes. 2C is still a little slow, so be careful.
Gachi combos
On Upper Gachi Drive:
j.C -> standing C -> Lv. 3 dropkick -> flashkick/236236C
On Lower Gachi Drive:
sj.A j.B -> 2A 2B 5C -> Lv. 3 Dropkick -> j.C -> flashkick
Throw combos
Throw -> flashkick
Throw -> 236236C (corner only)
Throw -> dropkick -> if level 3 -> flashkick
Brief strategy summary
Cedric's damage and rushdown are scary. Even though he has no particularly good high/low game, sonic booms have extremely small recovery time and can keep an opponent locked down. All B&B combos lead to a knockdown and enough time for cedric to throw an oki sonic boom. Almost anything Cedric does goes into a combo for at least 600-700 or so approx. damage, if not 1200 provided you have a dropkick charged up. Work on holding the dropkick and landing combos into it, apply typical charge tricks, and you're set. Especially since his damage is so scary, opponents might be scared into blocking more by Cedric than other characters, so don't forget you can throw.
An added note after messing around with Cedric's throw:
You still get combos off of throw no matter what, so they're fucked either way if they guess wrong. Scary.
Very limited matchup notes
Deathbringer
Easy easy easy. Deathbringer's only real tool against Cedric is being able to keep him out well. Even moreso than against other characters, Cedric's counter super is amazingly useful here. Deathbringer's attacks are extremely telegraphed, so abuse that counter super as much as humanly possible.
Urs
Where most other characters have more trouble than usual dealing with Urs' multi-hit moves, Cedric has a REALLY easy way out: Gachi however many times you want and depending on move, then counter super. You can throw fireballs better than Urs can as well, since his stop at half-screen. Watch out for his DP, however; it takes a bit of the command jump's effectiveness away since being in the air overall is a little less of a good idea.
Last edited by Necrosis; 06-16-2008 at 08:12 PM.