Anybody Have any Aganos v. RAAM Tips?

I’ve been picking up Aganos over the past week or so, and the RAAM matchup is really a head scratcher. When I play RAAM, Aganos is probably my easiest matchup. Now that I’m on the Aganos side…uh oh?

I keep looking for opportunities to punish with Shadow Ruin into walls and, as far as I can tell, RAAM’s game plan can totally do without the stuff that would make him vulnerable to that (i.e. jumping). Opening RAAM up is likewise hard. jHK is kind of a safe option (if it hits and there’s a wall behind, say hello to combo, and if it blocks, RAAM is too far away to punish). Otherwise, I’ve been trying some projectile stuff–low boulder with a jHP mixup, for example.

Anyway, any of you Aganos badasses out there have some tips I could use in this matchup? Much appreciated :slight_smile:

In this particular MU, I try to always have a peacemaker in my hand. Place a wall behind Raam and get a peacemaker. Recycle it constantly into wall and grab it again. This will give you more range than Raam, and the menace of the wall behind him will make him being cautious.

Mix overheads and lows, and if he whiffs something and you can grab him into wall, go for it

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Peacemaker’s a good idea, thanks. I’ll use it more in the matchup to see what happens.

Without a Peacemaker, the two most important attacks are standing HP and medium Payload Assault. RAAM can’t crouch under either of them. Medium Payload Assault is really good because if you anti-air him with it he gets knocked back full screen and on block you usually get enough time to grab another chunk. It also recovers fast enough that you won’t get grabbed by a well-timed Kryll Rush. If you can establish those two attacks, you can catch him standing with a sweep. His two counters to this are Kryll Shield and Kryll Rush, which are big commitments. If you establish your zoning with those attacks then be less predictable with them, you can let him take a big risk and punish accordingly.

Stage positioning is very important for this matchup. If you’re successfully zoning against him, you naturally push yourself further back towards the corner. When you get a high-level lockout combo, do a Natural Disaster ender instead of Pulverize, as it switches sides and puts RAAM back at full screen. This will give you a lot more space behind you to work with.

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This came into discussion some time ago… wish it can help.

Yeah st.HP is where it’s at for Aganos in this match up. Raam does have ways around it but as long as you’re not predictable with your use of it you should be fine. Once he gets on you though you’re pretty screwed.