DEALING WITH BAYONETTA

[SpicyMango]

I seriously need some help dealing with her. Idk if I'm the only Cloud who struggles heavily with her but I just can't deal with her. Idk if I should rush down or play campy. It's frustrating. I know she's a new character and it takes a while to learn the matchup but it's just frustrating

 

[HFlash]

Shield alot and play campy. Her moves in general are slow, and she gets a free kill anytime she gets you with witch time. You need to grab her alot, and really try not to be knocked off stage. She has one of the easiest ways to punish Cloud's lackluster normal Climhazzard recovery (with dsmash).

 

[ArcanaXIII]

I would personally avoid this matchup altogether solely because Bayonetta destroys Cloud offstage with Fair juggles, Dsmash spike, and Witch Time.

If you don't mind using Cloud in the matchup, then avoid using stuff like Dthrow into CS. They aren't true combos and in doing them, you are just asking for Bayonetta to Witch Time you for free. Make more use of your projectile. Bayonetta can't aim directly at you on a flat surface, so take advantage of that. Utilize pivot Ftilts and normal Ftilts to space yourself out of her range, throw in some short hop Nairs to cover your landings and keep her out.

Of course, don't just throw out moves randomly, or you'll get Witch Timed.

Dtilt is also an excellent tool against her because it's a low profile move and you can probably get under her attacks and set up for a barrage of Uair or air dodge traps into another Dtilt.

You'll have to probably have to play pretty defensively, and that's not really a bad idea, considering how she doesn't exactly have a kill throw, or at least one that's decent, nor does she really get anything off of a grab. Make her come to you for most of the time, I've heard her neutral isn't too great, and Cloud definitely has her beat in the neutral.

Most importantly, avoid challenging her offstage. A run off Nair/Fair is fine every now and then, but don't get too overzealous with it.

 

[TheGoodGuava]

Bayonetta is easy to camp and outspace, play defensively and keep her at a mid distance with backair, nair, and blade beam while charging limit. She doesn't have many good approach options and you can effectively wall her out. Her recovery, while long, is also very gimpable. Without the second jump it covers half the distance which is not very far. You can use dtilt to try and 2 frame her and combo into an up air or you can ledge drop backair to keep her off stage and kill/rack up damage. Also, make sure you ledge recover low enough to ledge snap climhazzard. Cloud's dair and upair both have constant hitboxes, much like sex kicks, and beat out ALL of Bayo's smash attacks and a lot of her normals due to their extremely low priority. Recovering onstage with upair or dair are both relatively safe options because of their sex kick properties making it difficult for her to effectively punish. If you can actually do it, a lagless ledge getup > dtilt is one of, if not your safest option as its almost impossible for her to punish. Overall I think this match is in Cloud's favor, he has way to many options against her and can abuse her garbage mobility relatively easily. 65:35 tbh

 

[SleuthMechanism]

I find it odd that there's even a thread for this considering that i find Cloud to be bayonetta's most difficult match up. just space her out, it's as simple as that. Charging limit break and throwing out a couple sword beams alone will force her to approach and unfortunately for her bayonetta's approach options aren't too great and can generally be beaten by a lot of clouds staple moves such as nair, fair, bair and ftilt. play defensively to win basically.

 

[Zenithia]

I find it odd that there's even a thread for this considering that i find Cloud to be bayonetta's most difficult match up. just space her out, it's as simple as that. Charging limit break and throwing out a couple sword beams alone will force her to approach and unfortunately for her bayonetta's approach options aren't too great and can generally be beaten by a lot of clouds staple moves such as nair, fair, bair and ftilt. play defensively to win basically.

This on so many levels. Spacing her her out and playing defense is key with this matchup. It's why I even switch to Duck Hunt for Bayonetta—I can capitalize on the defensive zoning abilities that she's so weak against.

 

[IncomingGhost]

This on so many levels. Spacing her her out and playing defense is key with this matchup. It's why I even switch to Duck Hunt for Bayonetta—I can capitalize on the defensive zoning abilities that she's so weak against.

Yeah, Bayonetta can really screw Cloud up if you just blindly approach her. Just shielding and then using witch twist does work. Not to mention punishing unsafe strings with Witch Time. However, Bayonetta's approach options arent too hot and Cloud can zone her out pretty well

 

[GHNeko]

Yeah you have to play lame as **** vs Bayo. And just dont let her catch you. ez day.

This MU is easily in cloud's favor.

 

[Zanarkan]

When I started playing Bayo when she first came out I came across a lot of Clouds in FG that kept approaching with short hop Nair and Back air, I would avoid this habit, and like some of the people here have already said just shield a lot and force her to approach. When you short hop you can still get caught with her grounded side b finish where it pops you up, which leads to a ton of damage so avoid that at all costs.

 

[GHNeko]

If you do manage to get caught up in Witch Twist, quarter circle DI into Bayo makes her after burner kick follow ups much harder.

 

[Deleted member]

I seriously need some help dealing with her. Idk if I'm the only Cloud who struggles heavily with her but I just can't deal with her. Idk if I should rush down or play campy. It's frustrating. I know she's a new character and it takes a while to learn the matchup but it's just frustrating

You need to play campy and play patiently against Bayonetta. The matchup really deals with both ends trying to bait one another, but it's safer if you don't go after Bayonetta.
Cloud is the definition of an anti-camp character. If a character like Bayonetta camps Cloud, then she will allow him to charge his Limit Break, eventually getting buffed from its effects and having access to more powerful specials. If we talk about Final Destination, then Bayonetta's neutral B won't hit Cloud; the shots will end up slightly above him. Speaking of neutral B, if Bayonetta is doing it too much, don't be afraid to use Limit Break Blade Beam; the move has transcendent priority, making it effective against her.
Bayonetta has a lot of effective ways to start combos and has powerful attacks, but they all leave her vulnerable when shielded. This allows Cloud to get in a free smash attack, Cross Slash, or combo starter with d-tilt.
One thing that I learned with Cloud in this matchup is that you want to bait her a lot. You want to bait her into an air dodge (which, by the way, lasts very long) or get her to use Witch Time; this enables Cloud to get in a free punish. For example, if you d-tilt to u-air a lot, she might catch on to it and go for an air dodge or Witch Time; bait her into that and go for a different move.
If you are not patient and are very aggressive against her, Bayonetta will be using her smash attacks, combo starters, and Witch Time. Her smash attacks do a lot of damage and have a ton of knockback, side B will lead into combos in the air and can rack up to 50%, and Witch Time could have her get a free smash attack.
Off-stage is devastating for Cloud as well. She has ways to gimp him easily and her down smash meteor is practically a guaranteed KO on him.

tl;dr Play patiently against Bayonetta and go for some baits. If you go aggressively, you will get massively punished for it.

I will say that, in general, it's best to play Cloud patiently and defensively rather than playing aggressively and offensively.