RoA2/Clairen/Strategy

Clairen

Overview

Combos

Tech

Strategy/Counterstrategy

Matchups

Resources

Discord

Disclaimer
This section is still being written. It may be wildly inaccurate or missing significant data.
Please feel free to make edits, but include edit summaries and sources where applicable.

Gameplan Summary

Clairen's gameplan is all about one thing, and that's getting tippers. All of her normals are excellent at keeping the opponent out, rewarding the player for hitting tippers. Once Clairen gets a hit, she wants to maximize that hit, and her tipper stun allows her to find really powerful strings to kill the opponent. Her hitfallHitfall
A tech in which the attacker can buffer a fastfall during hitpause. Exclusive to Rivals of Aether and Rivals of Aether II. Aerials are really potent in particular, allowing her to quickly become grounded after landing tipper hits. If she can make the right guess, she can kill incredibly early compared to the rest of the cast.

She's got great range on her normals, she has a pretty good Grab range, and she's got excellent movement speed with her long dash, able to play noncommittally and constantly keep the opponent guessing on whether Clairen plans to approach or dash back. Clairen has the tools to either contest the opponent through her range, or through her movement.

Clairen's downside, however, is that her disadvantage state is abysmal. Clairen is around the perfect semi-fastfaller speed, which means that she is susceptible to both fastfaller and floatie combos. Combined with her being on the lighter end of the weight classes, she is not surviving hits at particularly high percents. She's also weak both on shield and out of shield. While her tippers can be as safe as +0 on shield, these have to be spaced, and she needs to eventually move in and find a Grab to convert, her weakest range. Her out of shield options are also generally poor due to the only good close range option being Grab, and her other options leading to neutral resets at best on reversal.

NFZ

The following projectiles will be destroyed: Zetterburn's Fireball, Loxodont's MeatballIt cannot be destroyed during the first 6 frames where it is intangible., Kragg's RockIt can be pulled out, but as soon as it is released within the field, it will immediately be destroyed and disintegrate into shards, which fly at an angle perfectly away from the center of the field. Any shards that hit the field will be automatically destroyed. and Pillar, Maypul's Seed and LilyWhile technically a plant, she cannot be created in the NFZ and will be destroyed by the shockwaves., Ranno's DartBoth from Neutral Special and Up Special., Fleet's ArrowFor Forward Strong, Up Strong, Down Air, Down Special, the arrow has a lifespan of 3 frames before disappearing. Ledge Special will last for 2 frames before disappearing. Back Throw's arrow immediately break., Side Special, Getup Special, Orcane's DropletNeutral Special and Down Special (Aerial, No Puddle). and BubblesForward Air, Up Throw, and Down Special (Puddle)..

Neutral

Clairen's best spacing is a spacing where Clairen can get a tipper on her aerials or grounded pokes, whether retreating or approaching. Her Grab is probably the most important part of her toolkit, since it's what unlocks all of her combos.

Clairen has three spacings to think about. The distance where she can do approaching or retreating aerial and potentially get a tipper, the distance where she is forced to scrap (and usually lose the exchange), and the distance where either character has to move forward in order to force an interaction.

In neutral, Clairen's movement comes down to dashdancing. Her movement becomes incredibly important against characters who have ranges that contest her like Wrastor or Loxodont, and outmoving the opponent is what grants her openings.

Ground Game: Playing with babydash Jab and Down Tilt is the best, but remember that these are often to reward you with a Grab. To avoid getting sourspotted, though, Grab covers Clairen's most immediate range. Doing dashdances and keeping mobility high helps to increase your threat range. If the opponent is getting too comfortable, throw in a Forward Tilt. Getting used to doing these out of a dash pivot or empty pivot is incredibly useful. Try to avoid Up Tilt in this scenario though, since it's really unsafe on shield.
- You would think that Clairen's "random" Forward Strong is a useful option that covers undershoots against her run up Grab, but it's not actually that useful in this case. Clairen's Forward Tilt and Down Tilt cover an longer spacing, whereas Jab is almost the same, so there is much less reason to go for it. There also is generally less reward since Clairen doesn't have the tools to kill or rack up percent off of a random Forward Strong, whereas she can get plenty of reward off of tipper Jab and Down Tilt. This means that in general, it is just a high risk low reward move in the context of her kit. It can be useful in the corner to get them offstage, however, as well as a run forward option.
Anti-airs: Up Tilt is a premier option to call out jumps. Don't do this against shields on platforms, however, as it is incredibly minus on shield this way. Spaced tipper Back Air is far better for shield pressure in these situations. There are certain ranges that can also be covered by Up Air.
Air Options: Clairen can often opt for in place or retreating Forward Air. She can get caught by crossups for this option, however, and it's important to hitfall these to avoid getting punished. She can also do Back Air which is much faster, with RAR Back Air being a nice option.
- Neutral Air is probably her best option for crossups.

CC Counterplay

Advantage

Shield Pressure

Clairen's got a few moves on shield she can do. Note that for grounded moves, numbers are calculated based on testing which active frame is most likely to come out against a shield that is already up, as opposed to a sliding shield that comes in on a later hit.

Her best moves on shield are her tipper Back Air (-3) and her final tipper Neutral Air (-4). Back Air (-3) in particular should be her go-to against platforming opponents, in addition to waveland Grab.
She can use her tipper Forward Air (-7) and sour Back Air (-6) too.
Tipper Up Air (-5) can lead to amazing reward, but it's really hard and has costly startup to pull off. It also is difficult to space.
Tipper Down Air (-5), on the other hand, is incredibly strong with both the early and late tipper, and the hitbox is usually much more reliable to hit on shields below, being especially hard to jump out against.
Her Up Tilt is a really variable move, but it usually is bad on shield, both due to poor horizontal range as well as slow frame data.
- The initial back hit is the worst, whether tippered (-16) or sour (-19).
- When catching opponents on platforms, even getting the later hits is still pretty bad, tipper (-13 at best) or sour (-16 at best).
- The last hit is okay to get against opponents with tipper (-11, theoretically -10) or sour (-14, theoretically -13), but this implies that the move is coming out on frame 14, which at that point, there's no reason to go for her other pokes instead.
Clairen's Down Tilt (-10/-13) is a much faster and better option to safely poke at shield, though it loses to any attempts by the opponent to jump out of shield.
Tipper Forward Tilt (-17) and Jab (-16) are okay and can cover jumps, but they are much laggier options.
Tipper Forward Strong (-28) and tipper Down Strong 2 (-19) are high risk, high reward.
Her Echo is only really safe if she travels to ledge, because it is incredibly bad otherwise (-28).
Her Level 1 is unique in that while it's not necessarily safe (-19), it has double shield damage, making it a shield breaker option. This does not particularly increase with Level 2 (-28) or Level 3 (-27). And while realistically impossible to get off, Level 4 will break shield.

Edgeguarding

Offstage

Ledgetrapping

Disadvantage

Recovery

Getting to Ledge

Ledge Options

Out of Shield

Clairen's shield can be tricky to navigate. Her close ranged options are limited, and she has little control over being able to space Aerials out, but there are still some things she can pull off.

Defensive Options for Out of Shield
Option	Starts on Frame...	Active Frames	Recovery	Total Length
Spotdodge	2	17 (Invul)	10	28
Roll Forward/Back	4	16 (Invul)	13	32
Wavedash	5	N/A	10 (Sliding)	14
Parry	6	8 (Active)	20 (Failed)	33
Shield Grab	7	2	23 (Failed)	31

As with all characters, her wavedash out of shield should always be considered, but it's the second shortest in distance of the cast if Clairen tries to immediately act out of it, shorter than her Jab. She's got an average roll distance.

Let's talk about her offensive options. Each move will be followed by their first active frame in parentheses. This means that if a move is Move (11), and the opponent does a -11 option on shield and is in range, then Clairen will lose to a frame 1 shield while beating all other options from the opponent.

Her Grab (7) is her fastest close-range option, and it will work almost always on opponents who misspace and simply run in on your shield. It has average range and great reward when landed. Because of its threat, opponents will almost always be spacing around this option and baiting it out.
Her Neutral Air (14) is a good way of covering her close quarters space, and the final hit is -8/-4 on shield depending on sour/tipper hit. Of course, she's not going to have the freedom to space it, but it's good enough.
Forward Air (11) is good reward. It's a good fast option as well, though it is incredibly susceptible to crossups.
Back Air (13) is very large and good at catching crossups, and it's safe enough on shield relative to her other moves.
Up Air (20) is really niche. This move is absurdly slow.
Down Air (20) is really tempting, and it will work if you can bait opponents into spotdodging or grabbing your shield. If you don't, though, it becomes a lot less fun.

She's got some other moves, too.

Her Up Strong (12) is never going to get the tipper. It's not the worst get off me tool, but remember that it's barely any range in front and behind of her.
Her Up Special (16) is actually useless. Clairen is left in heavy disadvantage both by frames and positioning with this option.

If Clairen is shielding on a platform, it's also important to consider shield drop Aerials, with her best option usually being SD Back Air (9).

Lastly, always remember that with perfect shielding, her grounded options also open up, with zero frame disadvantage. Dropping shield should only be considered in the context of perfect shield reversals.