EDIT: Before we get to my replies, I wanted to talk about Silver Chording...which I'll just simply call "chording" for now. Silver chord from what I understand works the same as a throw in regards to damage thereafter. It's something you want to avoid using in your combos if you can figure out a way to get more damage without it, but it's great at extending combos and also safe raw tags...and EVEN combos FROM raw tags in the corner.
Simply put, chording is an art and it really requires a bit of practice, good eye (kind of ironic in squigs' case lol), and intuition. As a note I don't claim to be an expert of squigly but I feel personally I'm notable enough for people to pay attention to me...and plus I like squigs more than filia lol. But anyways here are some tips and strategy regarding chording that I think people might find useful, along with some opinions/thoughts/etc.
(All chording will assume you have it charged @ level 2)
1. Chording with no stance charge works easiest via combo on 2nd hit of c.hp, also the last of course, and last hit of s.hp.
2. Level 2 chord goes through any and everything straight to the opponent, so if you notice them constantly trying to "shield" themselves with an assist to do something unsafe, chord their ass. I don't know any squigly's personally who even bother with it, but level 2 reaches almost full screen, so if you're in range, i suggest doing it.
3. If you have silver chord as an assist, if you tag out with a charge, the charge translates to the next assist. It'll go back to level 1 after that, but it's really useful & wise to save it for when people do unsafe things your active character can't punish.
4. It's much more wise to charge up serpent's breath first in my opinion because of the DP & Battle opera (hugely underrated btw), but charging chord is something you should try to do also.
5. For some reason I don't do it so much anymore, but throwing out a stray assist and tricking the opponent into punishing is sooSOOOOO money...it's ridiculous. And some people never seem to catch on lol. But chording when your teammate is being attacked works so well. If you chord promptly you don't even have to worry about damage to your other character/s.
6. Provided you have a charge you can usually seria cancel into safety, but ending a combo with chord catches a lot of people off guard. It can catch ANYONE off guard, good players included, so every now and then throw that in there to foil people's plans. works with level 1 too.
Character Specifics:
Bella: Honestly, bella is probably the one I chord the most. When you charge up chord and youre holding the stance down, for some reason, a good amount of bellas like to just charge you...lol idk why...but you can straight up chord them. If they're REALLY smart they can do that cross-up move, but it's hard to time and they have to guess right. Plus there's no guarantee it'll lead to a punish, so 99% of the time, if a bella is backing up...especially to the other side of the screen, get ready to chord. Her "dash" is easily chorded too if you time it jussstttttt right. I believe you can block right after dashing, but many dont, and even if they do, paying attention can allow you to chord right as they put their knuckles to the ground. Oh and also, I've chorded plenty of level 3's so paying attention can really save you a lot of stress...and look epic.
Peacock: I frickin hate peacock....i really do. You're still liable to be hit when finished with chord so if projectiles are fired right you might not get it off, but chording can work sometimes. I usually just try to close in personally, but if you feel the time's right, then proceed with caution.
Fortune: Fortune jumps around a lot and a lot of her moves are really fast so to be honest, I don't raw chord her too much.
Filia: Filia's a weird one indeed. Did you know you can straight up chord gregor provided you get it before it touches you? Yup. Pretty cool. For the overly aggresive filia's that like to Instant air dash (IAD), Chord the hell out of them. It works quite well. Also, chording filia's that like to run to you works good too. I definitely chord filia's a lot.
Double: Usually I don't raw chord double, but throwing it in at the end of combos seems to catch her more than others. Idk if it's just me, but that's what I notice.
Painwheel: Like double, throwing in chord at the end of combos works well for painwheel. if youre clever enough to see through hatred guard...then by all means, but it could be really risky.
Valentine: The one I chord probably 3rd most after filia and bella. Reason why? VIALS. Even at the far end of the screen, Vals are NOT safe. And I can bet money that if a val loads up a vial once...another will be getting loaded VERY soon. It happens to me without fail and many think they're safe getting far and throwing an assist down. mmmmnoooo. It REALLY perks my ears when i see a vial load because now I'm looking for that second one especially. I've literally chorded people from across screen a number of times because they thought they were safe. Get the hang if this and it could really get you some free combos.
Parasol: Para's tears can come in really fast and depending on how far you are, it can be difficult to catch it just off reaction purely. But if they're habitually tearing and you get a rhythm for when they're doing it, you can chord safely. I usually don't bother, but it can work for sure.
Squigly: Can't forget about squigly herself lol. Hmmmm, well when it comes to our mirror matches, I actually don't chord squigs raw at all much. reason being she can chord you on block. So in turn, the only time is bother is if a squigly decides to chord me, then I block. Majority of the time you'll catch them. But in general, don't chord from afar if you can avoid it.
so anyways....with that said, chording is an art, and if you can master or at least get good at it, it can really serve you well. And to be fair, the ONNNNNLLLYYYY reason I even started with Squigs was because of chord. I didn't care about anything else lol. I don't use chord as an assist anymore, but chording itself is probably one of my favorite moves. Hopefully it'll be one of yours too :)
Dude your Finallyanime? You critiqued that Painwheel video I made. You still working on creating that Filia guide? Also nice Squig vid you literally just confirmed every reset I thought of for Squigly works.
for sure! I am still working on it. I have all the data, just need to structure and write the script for it. I have audio done for my video "10 steps to being a better fighter" (name most likely will change) but im doing stuff....just slloowwwwlllyyy lol.
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RetroStation the feelings mutual. ALL HOMO loll, no but for real thanks :) when I feel like I have some decent combos down i'll start trying to compile for the guide. I already have a lot of data (obviously lol), but like the filia guide...structuring and writing is key :/ some people do very good just doing a guide impromptu and just saying things as it comes to them, but i'm so terrible at it so it has to be scripted :/ and writing non-essay-like is still something I'm trying to get down.
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guitalex2007 oh yeah it's been answered and that was what I thought was happening initially, but was just confused :( But yeah i've done the combo maybe like.....3 times EVER and i think even that's being generous. It's definitely really hard. more hard than linking Arpeggio (qcf+lk) into c.lk or s.lp...it's a challenge. And to be honest there's not really a point is there? Aside from swag. The battle opera goes first and combo after instead of the other way around. It is cool-looking thoughhhhh. Bro we should play a couple rounds sometime :)
Oh btw, i wanted to point out jailhouse's tech he noted a page or two ago on combo...s.hk > Stance Charge > cross (or "hop") under > DP (or Arpeggio in my case). It's VERY effective when people get wise to your grab resets.
