UNIST Orie

Orie by
Essagna

Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] has been out for a while now and due to most fighting game information moving from wikis/forums to Discord channels and Twitter vids, it is now really hard to find a decent knowledge base. So I wanted to post my notes on UNIST Orie here, even though I have not played the game in a while.

Character overview

Orie is kind of a general, all purpose character. She does not have any real weaknesses but at the same time does not have any amazing strengths. Her tools are fairly simple to use and straightforward, and I would say her normals are above average in terms of hitboxes/speed/properties. Her walk speed is also quite fast. In terms of execution, I would say she is one of the easiest characters in the game. Because of this, she is probably one of the best characters to pick up for people who have lots of experience in other fighting games. Orie is a character who will greatly reward you for having strong fighting game fundamentals.

Her main weakness is that she is just too fair. Orie does not have anything that is particularly difficult to block, other than assault j.a which requires a Chain Shift to convert off of. Her pressure and ability to stay in are also nowhere near as threatening as the top characters.

She also has IMO one of the worst backdashes in the game. Orie does a backflip, which has a long duration and travels a far distance. In some matchups, this combination of traits is helpful… but for the vast majority of the UNI meta, this backdash is a curse rather a blessing. Most of the strong UNI characters have gigantic normals, which is one of the things that this game is known for. So her backdash ends up being quite high commitment. It also significantly weakens her neutral game, because you have to give up so much space whenever you want to back off. Since backdash is so high commit, it means that she has to rely on walking much more than other characters. While her walk speed IS fast, it does mean that she gets negatively affected a lot more by proximity guard.

General gameplan

For ground-to-ground neutral, you want to keep the opponent at the tip of your 5b, 2b and 2c range. Once you get in, use the threat of 6b overhead with standard reverse beat pressure to keep your opponent on his toes. If you win Vorpal, then assault j.a becomes quite threatening. Unfortunately against some characters, their crouching hitbox will make assault j.a whiff if you are too close, so it is important to experiment and learn which characters are affected by this. Or you could just learn the optimal distance where assault j.a works on everyone.

At farther distances, you can threaten the opponent with assault j.c and B Divine Thrust(236b), so it is important to learn the exact ranges of these two. B Divine Thrust in particular is one of her strongest tools. A big part of playing this character is reading your opponent’s neutral habits so that you know when it is a good time to try to snipe them with it. If you have a good sense of whiff punishing from other fighting games, it will carry over nicely here.

In the air, j.c and j.214a have the longest range, so it is best to cover your landings with these.

Up close, Orie has standard reverse beat pressure. 6b is an overhead with above average speed, and also moves her forward. 4c can be used to fake the animation for the 6b overhead. Her 2c and 5c have the largest delay cancel windows, making them the best stagger pressure tools. 3c has lower body invulnerability and also has a ton of stun on counterhit, so it is a decent normal to stagger in to. 214a is a low, and the Succession(4b) followup is +4 on block which makes it a safe blockstring ender.

Combo Theory

Honestly UNIST has an amazing tutorial and mission mode, so just going through Orie’s trials should give you a good idea of how her combos are structured. In general, maximizing damage with Orie often involves going into an early tiger knee B Order(j.214b), an A Sacred Arrow(623a), or a combination of these two.

Combos listed here work on everyone, and a generic 4c214b ender is used in every case. Damage numbers are from Hyde being the opponent.

Basic combos from high prorate starters
2a2c5c j.abc 3b 214b 2c ender 2521
Most basic combo, works from any starter and from anywhere on screen

2a2c5c j.abc 3b 214b 2c4c 214b 41236c 3219
Same combo, but with a 100% meter extension. You can see it adds about 700 damage

2a2c5c j.abc 3b 214b 2c 236b 41236d 3902
Same combo again, but with Infinite Worth extension. Do not do this in the corner, as the wallbounce from 236b can sometimes cause the IW to whiff entirely. Adds about 1400 damage compared to meterless combo

2a2c5c j.abc 3b 214b 2c 236a 41236d 3702
Same IW combo again, but now is ok in corner since we are using 236a. Slightly less damage

2a2c5c j.abc 3b 214b 2c4c 214b4a CVO 22c 2c 236[b] 236a 236c IW 4794
Basic combo with max meter CVO extension. Only do this if your life is low enough and it will end the round, as the meter usage is quite wasteful.

2a2c5c delay j.bac 66c 214b 2c ender 2585
Very similar to the basic combo, but has slightly more corner carry because of the dash C.

2a2c4c delay 623a 5ab 214b 2c ender 2639
2a2c4c TK j.214b 66c 214b 2c ender 2768
These two are slightly optimized versions of the basic combo. Not too much damage difference, so use whichever one you find easier.

(corner) 2a2c 214a(delay)4b 3b 214b 2c ender 2674
A different route you can get from a 2a starter in corner, for some extra damage.

6d j.c 2a2c5c3b 214b 2c ender 2250
Assault is the worst starter there is, so there is not much you can do off of it.

6d j.c 2a2c4c delay 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 2517
6d j.c 2a2c4c TK j.214b 66c 214b 2c ender 2575
Optimized versions of the combo you can do off an assault j.c starter.

DP Punish
These are combos you can do when your opponent whiffs a move with a ton of recovery, like a DP or some invincible startup supers.

2c5c3c 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3110
Easy combo you can do that requires no special timing.

5c4c TK j.214b 5c3c 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3692
Slightly harder combo than previous, but does significantly more damage. Definitely worth learning. You actually do not need to perfectly tigerknee the j.214b, it can still work even if delayed a bit

Combos off of 6b overhead
6b 214a4b 236b 2260
Basic of basics

6b 214a4b 236b 236c 5b 214b 2c ender 3612
Same combo as above, with a 100% meter extension. Adds about 1400 damage

(crouching only) 6b 2a5c tk j.2c j.214a 66b 623a 2a5b3b 214b 2c ender 3288
Linking the 2a after 6b is somewhat difficult. This is mainly used when comboing off of a 6b during a Thanatos 22x mixup, since there is a cooldown where Thanatos cannot be resummoned.

(close to corner) 6b214a4b dash 3b delay j.bc 3b 214b 2c ender 3048

(corner) 6b214a4b 3c 623a 2a5b 214b 2c ender 3412
Easier, and significantly more damage than previous combo but you need to be closer to corner for it to work.

6b CS 2c5c3c 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 2924
Basic combo off 6b with no meter, but using a Chain Shift

6b CS 2c4c TK j.214b 5c3c 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3300
Slightly more difficult CS combo, with the reward of adding about 400 damage.

6b 214a4b CS 236[b] 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3602
Another 6b CS combo, which does way more damage than the previous two. Why would you not always do this one over the previous two then? The reason is that doing 6b into immediate CS is better for pressure if blocked, since you are right next to the opponent. Doing CS after 214a4b puts the opponent at quite a distance from you if they block.

(vorpal) 6b 214a4b 6FF j.bc 5b 214b 2c ender 2945
Meterless combo off of 6b, using the Force Function cancel during Vorpal state. Make sure to hold forward during the FF. The situation for this combo does not happen often since it is generally better to Chain Shift early for pressure, but it is worth knowing this is possible.

Combos off of B Divine Thrust
B Thrust is one of Orie’s most important specials, as you can threaten people at almost fullscreen distance with it. So it is important to consistently confirm hits off of it.

236b 236c 2c5c3c 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3758
Basic combo from B Thrust, using 100% meter.

(close to corner) 236b (wallbounce) 5b 236[b] 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3285
New route possible because of the charged B thrust buff in UNIST. No meter needed, opponent should be close to corner but not all the way there.

(corner) 236b (wallbounce) 2c5c3c 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3486

236b CS 66c 214b 2c5c delay j.abc 2c ender 3159
Be careful and make sure the opponent is not too far away after the CS when doing this combo. If 66c whiffs, you will get punished hard.

Assault j.a instant overhead
6d j.a CS j.c j.214a 5c 623a 2a5b3b 214b 2c ender 2480

Poking with 2c
2c is one of Orie’s best ranged moves and a decent move to throw out at its max range, but be careful of its recovery.

2c2a(whiff) 2c5c delay j.bac 66c 214b 2c ender 2744
Easiest combo from 2c whiff canceled to 2a, works from any distance and any position on screen.

(max range) 2c2a(whiff) 2b 236[b] 5b5c 623a 5a5c 214b 2c ender 3457
More damage, but slightly more difficult than the previous combo. Also you need to be at basically max range of 2c

Combos from a 3c or 66b CH
These two moves put your opponent in a special stun state on counterhit, so you get ample time to get a followup combo. 3c actually hops over lows in UNIST, so it is a decent move to use in stagger pressure.

(3c/dash b CH) 5a5c TK j.2c j.214a 66b 623a 2a5b3b 214b 2c ender 3591

Combos from air A Order
J.214a has the longest range out of Orie’s air moves. Most characters cannot contest this move when used at its max distance, so spacing your jumps and doing j.214a when landing is quite strong in certain matchups. You will generally use these combos from air-to-ground situations off of raw j.214a hitting, or confirming a max range falling j.c into j.214a.

(far) j.214a 5b 236[b] 3b 214b 2c ender 3283

(far) j.214a 5b 236[b] 623a 2a5b3b 214b 2c ender 3485
Slightly harder version of the previous combo, adds about 200 extra damage.

(close) j.214a 5c 623a 2a5b j.abc 3b 214b 2c ender 3336

Antiair
3b is Orie’s main anti-air, as it has a nice upwards angled hitbox and even has upper body invincibility from frames 5 to 7. B Sacred Arrow(623b) is the other usable antiair, as it has head invincibility.

AA 3b delay j.bc j.214a 5c 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3164

(far) AA 3b 214b 2b 236[b] 66b delay 623a 2a5b3b 214b 3152
More difficult than previous combo and even does less damage, but much easier to hit confirm. The key is in the delay between the 66b and 623a. You want to delay just enough so that the 623a hits when the opponent is at the apex of the launch from 66b.

(close) AA 3b CH 2a(whiff) dash 5a5c delay j.bc j.214a 5c623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3119
Slightly less damage than the previous combo. The main reason to use this is because it is safer to confirm if you are actively doing the 3b/throw OS.

(far) AA 3b CH 2a(whiff) dash 5b 236[b] 66b 623a 5a5c 214b 2c ender 3271
At max distance, the dash before the standing 5b is needed. But at anything closer, you can either do just 5b or slight walk forward into 5b.

AA 623b CS airdash j.214b 2c5c3c 623a 5a5b 214b 2c ender 3582
623b can only be comboed with usage of a Chain Shift.

What is ender?
Orie’s combo theory is pretty consistent, and the vast majority of her combos lead to 2c4c or 3b into 214b and then 2c… into some ender. There are a lot of different enders you can do, and you can pick whether you want to maximize damage or get better post-combo positioning.

2c into…

• 4c214b – basic no meter ender that gives a knockdown
• 4c214b 41236c – 100% meter extension with Sacred Spire, no knockdown
• 236a/236b 41236d – max damage IW extension. Use 236b midscreen, and 236a instead if in corner
• 4c214b CS 623c – generally used to end a round if you are in Vorpal, so that you can capitalize on the CS meter gain
• delay 2b236b – knocks the opponent a distance away from you, gives you some time to concentrate(5d)
• 4c623b – sends the opponent into the air, gives you some time to concentrate
• 2a(whiff) – least amount of damage here, but you are right next to your opponent as they wake up, and you have time to concentrate
• 22a – best used in corner, or close to it. Thanatos does not hit meaty, but this does discourage the opponent from trying something on wakeup.
• 22c – best used in corner. Use this if you want to force a mixup with lows and assault j.a.
• 4c TK j.2c – best used midscreen, and only works if you did not use up a jump cancel. Gives a different type of knockdown, and you can sometimes catch people off guard if they are holding to tech and expecting the generic 4c214b knockdown. You can also cancel the j.2c into Force Function for a gimmicky crossup

Other resources

UNIEL to UNIST changes
I want to get strong at UNI by Ranpo, translated by jasepi
UNIST character primers

Saturn pad is the god

Really, it is. I wish I discovered these sooner; really could have saved myself a lot of pain. I also wish I knew about the USB and PS2 variants before so that I could have loaded up on them back when they were sold at a reasonable price. Nowadays they are super rare, so the price has skyrocketed. I was fortunate to get two USB Saturn pads on eBay for a great price, but you can see here that a new one goes for about $150. The PS2 variant is even more rare and is considered to be a collector’s item, so the price is that much more ridiculous. You can see here that the special Darkstalkers version goes for around $350. Pretty crazy that controllers can go for so much nowadays!

The way I obtained two is kind of interesting. I had been trying unsuccessfully to obtain one on eBay for about a week, and one day a listing popped up for a used white USB Saturn pad going for $50. I bought it immediately, and then a few minutes later an auction popped up for a used black USB Saturn pad starting at $50, from a different seller. It seemed a bit suspicious, but since these auctions usually end up at around $80-$90, I took the first bid thinking that I would get outbid very quickly. Surprisingly, I won that auction as the only bidder. So you can imagine what was going through my head at the moment. Won an auction that I intended to lose on a duplicate item. I was also suspicious since I was the only bidder, so maybe the seller had some negative history. In the end, the black Saturn pad(the one I got unintentionally) was amazing and is now my main FG controller, while the white Saturn pad is still good but has some minor problems.

Saturn pads have a reputation for being the best for fighting game pad warriors, and I can totally see why now. The dpad has an amazing design, and doesn’t grind the thumbs at all. Even the DualShock 2, the contryoller that I’m the most familiar with, kills my thumbs after a few hours of usage. So I definitely recommend all pad warriors to get a Saturn pad eventually. Especially if you’re getting old like me and don’t want to deal with messed up thumbs. Beware of the knockoffs though. There are a number of USB controllers made by different companies that are based on the Saturn design, but use greatly inferior materials. So avoid Retrolink. You also want to avoid the PlaySega pads. These are actually made by Sega, but they also use very low-quality materials.

Xrd Millia matchups

In general, most of her good matchups from the Guilty Gear XX series are now less advantageous. But at the same time, her traditionally bad matchups are now less bad. The main changes are in nerfs to her neutral game(pin, j.d, far slash, backdash) and her significantly toned down antiair game. Even her mixup is weaker because of Tandem Top disappearing on block, and less reward on a successful ground throw. On the other hand, the new roman cancel mechanics allow her to get more consistent damage off of stray ground hits and certain punishes, which alleviates one of the recurring weaknesses she had in the XX series.

Axl – Matchup still feels advantageous, but much less so than before. Maybe 5.5-4.5 now? He is harder to fight in neutral because of Millia’s pin nerf and Axl’s new Rensenbeam, but his offense is a lot easier to deal with because of no Rensen FRC and less gatlings. His DP is super annoying, and baiting it with crossups seems to be inconsistent because of its huge vertical hitbox.

Bedman – Feels like a solid 6-4. Bedman’s movement is one of the worst in the game and it is fairly easy for Millia to maneuver around the various projectiles and Deja Vu seals. His defensive options are also lackluster other than the alarm clock super. Admittedly, I have not fought much Bedman as he is an unpopular character, but it feels like she can just play passively in neutral and just wait for Bedman to overextend himself.

Chipp – Still her worst matchup by a huge margin. Feels like a 3-7 when playing, but is probably a 4-6 in reality. Fighting him in neutral is still a nightmare, even more so now since pin has more recovery and her AA options are much worse. She is basically at his mercy whenever he gets 25% meter. On the bright side, his offense is a little bit easier to block since air teleport FRC is gone. His midscreen damage output is also much lower than before since no Force Breaks and tk Alpha Blade combos are (kind of) gone. S and H Tandem Top YRC are godsends against him, so saving meter is key.

Elphelt – Matchup is probably even, but there is almost no margin of error since Millia can lose the round off of one hit. She has gorilla normals, so Millia can never win a poking war unless the Elphelt isn’t paying attention. Elphelt’s midrange is easily top class along with Faust and Ky, so even going for max range 2d is a risk. Best way to play is to be very noncommital, and try to make Elph retreat or overcommit. Then throw a pin and rush in for the offense, and ride the momentum. It is fairly important to get a height advantage in air-to-air exchanges, since Elphelt does not have any air normals that angle upwards. If she does the unblockable, it is very important to learn the proper Blitz Shield timing. Then you have to guess whether the shot will be immediate or delayed.

Faust – Matchup used to be quite advantageous in all of the XX games, but it feels dead even now. The nerfs to Millia pin, j.d, 6p, and her general hitbox all make life easier for Faust. His far slash is better, as Millia cannot run under it anymore. The new red roman cancel mechanics make it so that Faust has easier ways to convert his pokes to full combos. And the YRC system help out Faust tremendously in the neutral game. With that said, she is still much faster than him. S Disc YRC is amazingly useful when Faust is trying to fake his landings with j.2k FDC, so please save meter.

I-No – Matchup still feels good, but not as one sided as before. Maybe 5.5-4.5? Millia still runs circles around I-No, but the simplified HCL and VCL motion mean that it is much easier for the I-No player to snipe you midscreen. Tandem Top disappearing on block also means that Millia has no way of punishing I-No for doing reversal Longing Desperation. I-No’s offense is much scarier than before, because of VCL YRC and j.d FDC. Play very carefully in neutral, and don’t ever get knocked down.

Ky – eki-chan and Ruu(who plays Ky as a sub) say that Millia has a slight disadvantage here, but the matchup feels even to me. Ky’s new Xrd tools make his neutral game much stronger, especially seals and Stun Edge YRC. He can kind of play defensively, and just make Millia come to him. She is still much faster than him. Best way to play this seems to involve scaring him into moving backwards, and using the opportunity to throw a pin to start offense. He can keep you away very well, but eventually he will have to back off. That is the time to go in. The new red roman cancel also make it much easier to get full damage off of certain punishes, which was very difficult in the XX games.

Leo – Fairly certain this is a 6-4, but it’s a very weird matchup. Millia has a huge advantage in the neutral game, as Leo’s movement is lackluster. He also has a super low jump. However, his ground normals are surprisingly strong and he has great defensive options. He is also unique in that he has a way of punishing Millia’s midscreen blockstrings into disc, and even pin! Matchup boils down to playing non-commital and winning through small gains. Leo’s offense is quite scary, especially if you have no meter. It also doesn’t help that Millia’s fastest ground normal is 5f. He can win the round very quickly if he corners you, so avoid this at all costs and play a very safe neutral game.

May – I really have no idea, it’s probably even? Her damage output is a lot more manageable this time around, as you don’t lose 80% of your health off of one CH j.h. On the other hand, her new beachball and dolphin assists make her very difficult to approach. I find that it is best to play a slow, reactionary style and only go in when she overextends herself.

Potemkin – Probably the only good matchup that got even better in this version. Feels like a 6-4. Pot has lost a lot of tools: it is much easier to fight him in neutral since you don’t have to worry about j.s knocking down or CH j.h giving him a groundbounce. Offense is also easier to deal with: no more 6k overhead, and getting hit by Heat Knuckle isn’t so painful since he’s forced to always go for Extend. On the other hand, it feels impossible to antiair him now, and the new 6k Hammerfall Break strings build up guardbar super fast. It’s another matchup that boils down to playing a safe, low commitment neutral game.

Ramlethal – Matchup felt pretty even in GGXrd 1.04, but now feels like slight Millia advantage in 1.10. Maybe 5.5? Millia is much faster than Ram, and Ram’s neutral game has been severely weakened in 1.10 because of hittable swords. Her damage output is also a lot more reasonable in 1.10 too. Playing patient in the neutral game really helps. Ram will often try to fake her landings with sword set/recalls, so instead of aggressively going for antiairs, just back off and stay at midrange.

Sin – Matchup feels like a slight advantage, maybe 5.5. Sin’s damage output is crazy, probably the best in the game. However, he has trouble opening people up, and his offense is greatly dependent on the calorie gauge. His ground normals are also amazing, so it is pretty hopeless to try to play footsies with him. I have a lot of success with forcing Sin to chase Millia and to waste his calories. It is scary sometimes because of how fast he can crank up the guard bar. Sin’s air-to-ground game is quite poor, so this is one of the few matchups where Millia can aggressively pursue antiairs.

Slayer – Traditionally bad matchup for Millia, still feels like Slayer wins but it’s a bit easier than before. Maybe 4.5? No more FRCs and FBs mean that Slayer’s damage output under 50% meter is fairly manageable, but his toolset and normals are as effective as ever against Millia. Blitz Shield is quite strong against his offense and removes some of the guesswork out of dealing with Dandy followups.

Sol – This matchup… changed a lot. Millia had a good advantage in AC and AC+R, but it feels like Sol has the advantage now. Probably a 4.5-5.5. Basically, this was another matchup where Millia had a good advantage if she played a perfect, low commital neutral game, winning with small gains. But if she ever made a mistake, things could go south immediately. In Xrd, Sol’s neutral game is much better, as he has a divekick to delay his landings and crossup hitboxes on j.k. Divekick even goes into full combos in the corner. His ground normals also seem to have better hitboxes, as I can’t win poking wars against him anymore, not even at midscreen. Along with the many nerfs to Millia’s antiair options, the neutral game interaction is a lot scarier now. It feels like Millia has to take big risks to get her offense started, when it was the other way around in previous games.

Venom – Matchup used to be quite good for Millia. It’s still good for her, but not as one-sided as before. I’m gonna go with 5.5. Basically boils down to nerfs to many of Millia’s important tools(j.d, pin, 6p), and Venom getting a great metered, non-commital neutral game option with Stinger YRC.

Zato – This matchup hasn’t really changed, still as even as ever. Both characters can completely destroy the other off of one knockdown.

Playing to win

Trying to win is pretty much what everyone is doing when playing competitive games.  But recently I have noticed that I am not always playing to win in fighting games.  In particular, it happens when playing against really strong players who have that special aura.  You know, the aura that makes you second guess yourself with every action you take.  For Guilty Gear, the only players in my region who seem to have that aura are Jo and Eiji.  When I play against them, it feels like I’m trying to hold back the tide.  It becomes less about playing to win and more about playing to not lose.  Part of it also has to do with both of them playing characters who have explosive damage potential.

This is probably one of the reasons why I seem to be unable to get better in Gundam.  Because in that game, I am pretty much always playing to not lose.  It is clear that my fundamental understanding of that game is weak, so I need to work on that.

Character preference

I noticed that in recent years, my character preference in fighting games has changed. I remember that when I started, I really liked characters who had strong setups(or setplay, since that’s such a popular buzzword these days). Nowadays I don’t like setplay characters as much, and I mainly look for characters who are faster than average and have extra movement options. Things like teleports, divekicks, air fireballs, flight, etc… These types of characters usually have low health to compensate, but that’s a trade that I’m willing to make. So I would never play a grappler, since they tend to have LESS movement options.

Of course, I still love Millia despite her strong setplay, but that is because Guilty Gear gives everyone a ton of strong and varied defensive options. So her setups don’t really turn into a one player game off of every knockdown.

I also think playing Dark Souls changed me, because I probably would have picked Hilda over Orie in that game if I was not playing DS at the time.