Sin vs. Zato

[Eshi]

Discuss the Zato match-up here.

 

Zato Board's Thread

None yet

 

Pros 

- Beak Driver cuts through Zato's drills in neutral and can counterhit him.

 

Cons 

- Eddie absorbs Hawk Baker and Zato can punish before it can be canceled

 

General strategy

- Be very careful in neutral since Drill and Eddie are very good at interrupting you. Backdash in neutral is good against drill - even if it hits, it will not give Zato hard knockdown

- Focus on offensive pressure since Eddie's defensive options are very bad

[KentoHardRok]

Eddie control I have found is pretty important against Zato. Some people are lazy about pulling him out so a quick 2S or even 2P will give you a few seconds to really pressure zato. Leap is important and in this MU I found elk hunt kinda sucks. His drills shut it down pretty easily but a leap into airdash can cover an insane amount of ground quickly and if done over a whiffed drill can turn the tide. Just have to watch his eddie bar and try to avoid the random shark attack, if you block it you can quickly get eddie on recovery. 

[Dreiko]

236H is gold in this MU. It blows through drills and still hits him. It's one of the few MU's where the drill being out doesn't mean now Zato gets to do whatever he wants and just rush in with no care. Sadly, once he does get in, it's really bad since Sin's DP is very small and his poking capacity is terrible. You wanna do all your damage as quickly as possible and not give him too many chances.

[A3Religion]

If they do Unblockable Drill setups, you should practice wakeup Blitz Shield reversals. The unblockable isn't frame perfect so you have a strong margin of error.

[Valas Phoenix]

 

Pros  - Bull Bash is very effective at removing Eddie from a safe distance

 

I don't think bull bash is so effective... When I played against Sin as Zato I used to do Break the Law YRC on bullbash to pass under safely and punish it with 22HS, then I had enough time to summon eddie from the pool and run close to start my pressure game. It's almost like you're giving him a free knockdown once Zato knows how to deal with bullbash, he could also just do blitz shield>22HS>summon eddie. Keeping eddie safe from bullbash isn't so hard either for zato, he can just press 4HS+another button to blockbarrier while he's sending eddie under bullbash safely, then he can do mawaru>22HS and close the gap. I'd suggest you use bullbash only if you have tension to YRC it, that way you're safe and you could also catch eddie or zato with beak driver if he's getting close, otherwise it's a risk.

[Eshi]

I don't think bull bash is so effective... When I played against Sin as Zato I used to do Break the Law YRC on bullbash to pass under safely and punish it with 22HS, then I had enough time to summon eddie from the pool and run close to start my pressure game. It's almost like you're giving him a free knockdown once Zato knows how to deal with bullbash, he could also just do blitz shield>22HS>summon eddie. Keeping eddie safe from bullbash isn't so hard either for zato, he can just press 4HS+another button to blockbarrier while he's sending eddie under bullbash safely, then he can do mawaru>22HS and close the gap. I'd suggest you use bullbash only if you have tension to YRC it, that way you're safe and you could also catch eddie or zato with beak driver if he's getting close, otherwise it's a risk.

You're right, I posted that back when Sin was new and Zato players didn't know how to deal with it.