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    Homing Dash

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1. Introduction
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Homing Dash (Shortened to Homing) is the main method of movement in Arcana Heart and is what differentiates this game from other fighting games. It is a special type of dash that is directed to the opponents position, no matter where they are. Even if they move, it will then follow them. We will be covering air homing since ground homing is not that important

In the air you you can do

1. Directional Homing
2. Neutral Homing

A. Directional homing is executed by holding a direction and pressing D. The advantages of directional homing are -

The first movement is completely unaffected by your opponents position
It displaces you quicker than neutral homing
You can attack sooner after directional homing

Also any backwards homing has invincibility frames from the beginning. You can use this to avoid air unblockable attacks but you have to be careful.

Disadvantages are - it has much slower overall movement speed

Neutral homing has much faster homing speed, but it has a small delay before it begins moving.

A good player will use both types of homing as needed.

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2. Homing Techniques
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a. Curving Homing
Homing Dash is initially directed to the opponents position. However you can use the directional inputs to curve the homing dash

b. Homing Boost
Pressing D again during homing dash will give the character a sharp speed boost. After the boost, your homing speed will then go back to normal soon after. However after boosting you cannot block for a few frames

c. Stopping the Homing Effect
Pressing any action while homing, will stop the effect of homing. If you are moving in a direction, you will continue at the same speed and direction. If you stop the homing effect and your opponent moves, you will not follow them

Combine these three and you get this

A. Homing Boost Attack - Because doing an action during homing completely stops the homing effect, you can use this to negate the speed reduction after boosting by boosting and immediately attacking.
For example, do j5D - jXD + A. You should get a boost, and a throw. Your character should look like they fling towards the direction you used. The easiest way to see this effect is to pick clarice and do a small jump into j5d j8da. She flings herself full screen. You should piano the inputs to get the A after the boost as quickly as possible.

This is the fastest way to move around in Arcana Heart and this also opens up a whole new set of uses for homing. Here are some example uses

1. Dodging DP's and Feinting
You can use the sharp movement of Homing Boost Attacks to force your character to move unpredictably. For example boosting downwards with a normal, while boosting towards your opponent will make you land close to the opponent. Perfect way to fake a homing approach and bait out anti-airs and reversals.

2. Mixups
You can use homing to create mixups that are incredibly hard to block. For example with clarice
Jump and then neutral homing. Then you can do
9d~C for crossup overhead
2d~b for overhead
3d~A4C for Whiff throw into low
This is just one of the many mixups you can do and it is not special to just clarice. Most characters have SOME way to mix somebody up with either a crossup or an empty homing low. Try it on your character and see what you can find

B. Curving and Boosting will allow you to move your character in more diverse angles. While it may not seem very useful at first, being able to move in more angles will make it harder for the opponent to predict your movements. Also means you can chase more effectively