Some topics we should discuss after watching @
Mr Aquaman 's Ares amazing performance:
f23 trait cancel mid combo - is there a reason to use this if opponent knows to tech roll?
112 mb invis / tele in the corner - wow really nice I really like the tele into neutral jump 2. Is mb invis worth it?
Meter management
What players should know before fighting Ares
Is Ares bottom 2?
I want to see what one of the guys who've been using it successfully say, but as far as the f23 tdc cross up set up thing I think it's pretty useless if they tech roll. I've tried using it a bit but most of my training partners are former Marvel guys who seem to mash like crazy while they're getting combo'd and will tech roll every single time and I haven't found any obvious way to make it work or seen any reason for me to keep trying it in my normal envoirnment.
Lots of people don't tech roll like that though and even some who do usually tech roll could miss it if they're not expecting the combo to end.
Those corner set ups are definitely worth it. I've been using both of them for a long time and they're in my corner set up thread because they're really good.
They're sort of match up specific(mb invis isn't great against characters with a hard to avoid, safe way to check you and the tele set up can suffer against character with strong option select wake ups) and I usually go for cross up godsmack set ups or mb f3 to stuff wake ups because they tend to be more consistent and less likely to accidentally get blown up by and opponent doing random shit but I think they're both worth having in your repertoire.
Meter management is a problem. I never have enough meter for Ares. Lately I've been focusing hard on polishing up and expanding my unclashable combos and set ups because any time the opponent clashes is usually a disaster(dat feel when the opponent clashes themselves out of the corner and regains 25% health...). I definitely find myself doing tdc's as much as I can, turning invis on and off, and far teleporting more often than I want to just to gain meter.
I feel like we could go into a lot of depth talking about Ares and meter. It could be it's own thread.
Know before playing Ares?
2 rules for Godsmack:
-if you're standing when you see it, nj and full combo punish
-if you're on the ground when you see it, wake up
Block low until you see the overhead.
Don't let him teleport for free. Attemp to punish by mashing throw if you have to. If he's using far teleport a lot or predictably(like waking up in the corner) at least attempt to punish it(jump ins and throwing shit work well) - it's more punishable than you think
Back dash a lot. Always tech roll
Don't try to jump over Axe unless you know how to jump over Axe(many characters can jump it consistently, but even if yours can you'll screw it up if you haven't practiced)
His invis goes away if you make him block an attack
Most normals/strings into low sword have an interruptable gap and the ones that don't often jail, so mashing d1 if you suspect it's coming isn't a terrible idea
I could probably go on a lot longer with this...
Is he bottom two?
I probably wouldn't rank my match up chart like that(if you're going to use a numbered list you need a specific, systematic method for determining placement between a lot of the characters) and I don't know enough about the other lower tier character and their match ups and advanced tools to really make a judgement, but I don't think Ares being that low is out of the question. I honestly can name two characters that I feel are definitely worse than him right now.