This guide was written by ratxt1
Intro
Valerie is a high damage rushdown character. She is defined by her normal attacks, which can reach 1.0 speed with her T ability Burst of Speed, and can combo into massive damage. She can also maintain her hand size through normal draw and “straights”, allowing her to continually mount pressure on the opponent.
Blocking
Though I know we would all love to, you can’t attack forever, and blocking is a key part in keeping valerie’s offensive momentum, as with out cards you have no damage. Also though Valerie is faster than most characters, characters with speeds 0.0 and 0.2 speed attacks can give her trouble and you need to block these attacks. Even against slow characters make sure to block throughout the game, especially early, to keep your card engine going
Your Damage
Most of Valerie’s damage will be coming from her J and her AA both of which can be played off attacks, throws and dodges. J++ does 21 damage and AA does 16 damage draws you a card, and can easily be gotten through making “straights” with your normals. So when an opponent facedowns you generally shouldn’t play J and rarely should you play AA. Instead of just letting the combo drop like most characters do. Often it is ok to just run normals into the facedown as you still get As even if your opponent blocks the damage with a joker.
Dodging
Generally you should prefer Blocking over dodging. It should go without saying that you should only dodge when you have good things to dodge into (for valerie that is A and J++) and to be wary of jokers. The best times to dodge are when you have a big hand or when your opponent is low on life.
Burst of Speed
One of the best abilities in the game. Save your T’s for there ability, but don’t be afraid to use it. There are very few lost combats that it would be a bad idea to spend the T’s to turn it into a win. You should very rarely use your T’s as a throw or block (though I have won many games with a T throw).
Attacking
Normal attacks: There is nothing normal about Valerie, nor her normal attacks for that matter. These bad boys are the core of your gameplay, and some of the scariest attacks in the game. With Burst of Speed back up they can out-speed anything not 1.0 speed or lower, and can combo into a LOT of damage and multiple aces.You even get to draw a card thanks to normal draw, what more could you want?
Q: This is for beating those pesky attacks faster than 1.0 speed that you can’t Burst of Speed past. Generally you want to save this card and not pump to J unless it kills or you have multiple and your opponents almost dead. In some match-ups your opponent has no attacks that Q beats and your A or your normals with Burst of Speed support don’t. In those match-ups you can pump Q to J a lot more freely.
K: Though K’s ability looks very good (it beats blocks!), you have to remember that often a normal attack is better, as K doesn’t draw a card or add to your straight total and takes one more Burst of Speed to reach 1.0 speed than a 2. That being said K is still a strong tool in your arsenal and you should keep track of what color blocks your opponent uses. Some people don’t switch their blocks up and so you can just get a free win by playing a K of the opposite color.
A: Usually you should be using the Masterpiece side of your Ace to follow up combos, however the singleton Ace side Chromatic Orb can be used as a combat option as well. It is generally not as good as normal attacks, since it only does 10 damage on a win where as normal attacks you get a full combo. Also normal attacks draw a card on block where as A only draws a card if it wins. The main time to use it is when you are low on resources, either you don’t have a Burst of Speed or you can’t do much damage after a hit normal. Another more niche advantage to your A attack over normals is that it trades with 1.0 speed attacks much better, this is important in the mirror.
When choosing what attacks to use with Valerie and how often to attack you should look at how fast your opponents attacks are. As Valerie you can seperate your opponents attacks into three main categories. Those that beat your Q. Those that beat your A and Burst of Speed backed normals but lose to your Q. And those that lose to your A and Burst of Speed backed normals. (also less importantly attacks that lose to your normals without Burst of Speed). You should keep track of the first two categories, and try to make guesses about whether your opponent thinks he has them or not, or whether it is safe to assume he doesn’t. If Geiger powers up for Aces, you should block more, if Lum hit’s you with his Q and recurs it back into his hand thanks to his innate, you should try and stuff his Q with a Q of your own. Some characters have so many fast attacks that they almost never run out of attacks that beat your normals. These characters can be tricky to beat and you may need to play more of your damage off your throws (or just attacking when they throw).
Throwing
Even though Valerie’s gameplay generally revolves around attacking, you should not forget that valerie has some very fast throws, and can do a lot of damage off those throws (33 damage anyone?). However you can’t throw too much. Most of your blocks are on your throws, so often you have to use them as blocks and even without using them as blocks it is very easy to run out of throws (you should prefer 5/6 as blocks most of the time). Try and keep at least one throw and one block in your hand at all time, and if you do run out of one of those options, don’t make it painfully obvious that you have done so (such as blocking with a Burst of Speed).
This guide was written by ratxt1