Claudette Guide

Claudette Vance: Lord of Thundercloud

• BP: 11
• Height: 4
• Attacks: 1

'Lord' is putting her title lightly. Possibly one of the strongest direct damaging books from the first series Queens Blade, Claudette does not pull her punches, and punishes people for taking anything she does lightly. With the option to control the flow of battle, and dealing damage at the most unexpected of times, one could say that fighting her is getting caught up in a thunderstorm of hell.

Strategy

Claudette is damage. She is raw, unrefined, damage. With some of the most insane MOD's this game can offer ( she holder of the strongest physical attack for the first Queens Blade series at +6! ), with a fighting style that one could only call 'Nightmare-like' in context, Claudette will destroy most books without much effort on the players part. Things to note though is the strength of 'Thunder Clap', that while it doesn't directly deal damage, it does force your opponent to only be allowed to 'Jumps' for 2 turns, giving you easy set ups to deal massive damage in turn without any direct risk towards yourself. Adding onto this, she is one of the few character's that on block, will gain +1 MOD, and on a parry, will DEAL damage back towards her foe! This in turn favors Claudette for being very aggressive and locking blows with her foe.

Her moveset in turn is a bit off the beaten path. While she has the 'basic' Thrust and Swings ( Swinging disabling Thrust and Red, and Thrusting disabling Swing )  most people are used towards, she lacks Fake's of any kind, instead replaced with 'Headbutt', an attack that let's Claudette deal damage even past a block, and her 'Hilt Attacks' that, while weak, are 'fast' and tends to toss the opponent into a status to catch with 'Thunder Clap' and force their hand towards her liking. She also has access towards a heal, with her 'Extended Range:Jump Back' ( though, only for 1 BP per use ) that lets her recover ever so slightly if needed. Due to the nature of her blade as well, she's one of the few sword users who can directly break shields and weapons with her 'Down Swing:Bash' if able to do such, allowing her to shut down tanking strategy vs her.

Vs. Caludette

Fighting vs the Thundergod can be tricky stuff to be sure of. For starters you will chances are not win in a poking match vs her, forcing you to take towards catching her off guard, while not wishing to get locked into a parry or the like, or suffer that electrical sting. As with most people with a weapon though, disarming her puts her into a tight spot, including with everything but kick being a weapon attack at that. Her attacks beyond her hilt are also rather 'slow', meaning catching her with Fakes or your own Thrust can be a valid option if she goes onto the attack. She also suffers from some some rather high SCORE pages, on top of ever so slightly below average BP, making her a hard hitter, but not a tank in any measure. Quick, selective blows can riddle her down, and without a large healing option, it can soon end up in your favor. The few who are skilled at it, can also force her into Long Range, and poke her from there. Just watch out for Thunderclap, or the tides will turn for the worse...

Overall Judgement

Honestly, she's good. Utterly good at that. It's hard to fight her directly, and trying to get towards her indirectly can be tricky as well. With a move to bypass guards, and the sheer MOD she carry's, Claudette is almost better fitting for a boss! No wonder she ended up so high in the rankings, and became Queen by Rebellion! If you have to fight her, just hope you're using someone not using metal based weapons, or focuses on parrying...

• Skill Level: Beginner/Advanced
• Rank: S