Strategy
Neutral
Elirin's footsie tools are nothing to sneeze at, so it's best to take advantage of them -- jumping kicks, 5LK, 66HP and HP Elirin Fire can be used to establish a mid-range presence. If you find yourself playing at longer distances against fireball characters, try to find opportunities to reflect fireballs with Elirin Chop. 2HP is also a reliable anti-air option as long as you're willing to preempt the jump a little.
Offense
You more or less want to wall the opponent out with your space control tools, conditioning your opponent into sitting still and letting you take the initiative. Once you get in, you can bully them with your 5LK, 2LK and occasionally 66HP, taking advantage of their hesitation with Elirin Chop or Elirin Smash.
Corner Throw Oki
If you throw the opponent in the corner, you can OTG follow up with 2LK,cl.HP. This causes an air reset that allows you to time an ambiguous mixup between:
- Elirin Chop (High)
- 2LK (Low)
- Elirin Smash (Proximity Unblockable)
Defense
Elirin has precious little in the way of defensive options. If you find yourself on the back foot and can't get space to back off and try to reestablish your midrange presence, you'll either have to find spots to guard cancel (your LK guard cancel is your best bet) or interrupt something with EX Elirin Tsutenkaku Otoshi.
Matchups
To come.
