[CS2] Taokaka vs Makoto

[Domethieus]

Will edit this once more information is collected. Till then, discuss.

[CrazyApe]

I can't seem to do my j.8D loops to 5 against makoto in the corner I always do jd instead of j.8D for the 5th one is this a glitch?

Edited August 12, 2011 by CrazyApe

[NeoGio0o]

Ahh this "character" the one with an answer for everything and just on eof those match ups where you make one mistake lose all your health and wonder why is this brain dead thing in the game. Makoto has everything a character needs to not only overcome any match up,but completely rob you of a win that should have been yours.

Makoto pressure- Her pressure is nothing to joke about, her normal's are all good for stagger pressure essentially making it impossible to mash out of her block strings. Despite how telegraph 5B,5CC,6B may look you can not mash out of it without instant blocking IB 5CC. The only weakness I think Makoto has is her lack of gatlings into her lows and over head which makes blocking her pressure rather easy than one would expect. The real problem is trying to get out her pressure safely. Her 5B is a really good poke it's air unblockable and pushes her forward allowing her to cover good space, 2A is another good one in the sense it has a really obnoxious hit box and is really fast, 3C isn't all that good but if you block it shes at frame advantage (+2) do your best to avoid blocking this at all cost. Below I will show a list of her gatling's into her low and over head so you can get an idea of how limited her mix up is outside of orb oki.

6B(overhead)-2A,6A,5CC

214A,C cancel, A cancel (high)-everything

214A,A cancel, B cancel (low)-everything ( cannot combo without RC)

2B(low)-2A,5B (1x per string)

2C(low,high damage starter but very slow)-2A,5B,2B,5CC

As you can see she only has 3 ways to get to her over head on Tao without RC all of which are predictable to block because it's either go for an over head or return to the mid, 5A is not listed here because it will whiff on crouching Tao so it's not used in the match up at all unless they are trying to do something like 2A,whiff 5A,grab,6B,2B it's legit but rearely used from what i seen. Outside of 2A she doesn't really have a universal normal that goes into both her over head and a good low. 2C is a low but it's so slow and ends her safe pressure immediately that is generally not all that good so long as you just react properly. but be warned 2C stater leads to about 5K+ corner carry and orb oki so make it your best interest to block this move at all cost. As for 214A stuff it's always safe to just stay blocking high and just react to her screaming star gazer to block the low. Without heat the over head version leads into big damage and doesn't require an RC to combo. Mashing of any kind is not recommended her frame traps/stagger pressure and damage output is just too good to take the risk even on instant block.

Makoto's Anti air options- 2A( you all saw this coming), 5A ( 5 frames nuff said), 6A ( standard anti air with the standard backward hit box) ,5B ( As stated by Ronove it has a ridiculous hit box and it's possible to get anti aired by this move also it's air unblockable), Parry ( she can parry air to ground). 6A and Parry are probably her best anti air options and both have the potential to lead into big damage and end with you in the corner blocking orb oki mix up. The most dangerous thing that could happen is getting parried and makoto having heat to RC as the combo breaks 6K easily so what ever you do never get parried when she has 50 heat or you will most likely die.Parry does not put her in counter hit state and recovers almost instantaneously so don't waste your time trying to bait and whiff punish it just avoid it all together. Proper use of triple jumps is always essential and never forget the old school trick of empty jump low.

Tao pressure on Makoto- Her DP can be low profiled so be sure to use 2A and 2B as much as possible in your re-pressure strings as it will go right under her DP and allow for a nice punish. Be very careful on doing things like 5B,Dash 5B frame traps as she can IB 5B and parry the next one which switches the momentum back in her favor or worst kills you if she has 50 heat. Makoto cannot parry lows so again be sure to use plenty of 2A,2B stuff in your block strings. For the most part never stop going for lows as there is nothing she can do to stop you without putting herself at some form of risk. Try to stay away form using to many air normal's mid block string as you might get a DP or parried for your troubles try to condition them to look away from these options before attempting any form of advance pressure. Confirm what ever hit you can and return to neutral or pressure her with lows forever both strategies work just fine and a perfect balance of the two is definitely recommended.

Neutral Game- Makoto's ground movement is unparallel so be careful when making ground approaches as the slightest mistake can have you eating her pressure strings or even worst counter hit damage. In the air Makoto should be fishing for counter hit j.B so keep those j.D to a minimum unless you want to see your life bare suddenly deplete to zero.Well spaced j.C are good in this match and are more reliable than j.D as an air to air at worst j.c will trade with her j.b and neither of you will be able to pick it up. A lot of Makoto's like to do run up 6A since due to it's silly hit box they can essentially throw this out without having to space it at all so I suggest you switch between air approaches and ground approaches to keep them guessing ( a well timed and spaced dash 2A can beat out her run up 6A). As always be unpredictable and wait for your time to get in eventually they will grow impatient and make a bad decision in your favor so stay patient. Makoto has really good ground movement but outside of astral vision stuff her air approaches are bit lack luster so always be ready to 6A overly aggressive Makoto players. If they are abusing furry tail simply backdash away and whiff punish it with 2A (just in case they parry) another option you have is to block it and go for a 5B,6A punish only problem is they can parry the 5B so essentially it's a risky option. If timed properly you can get 6A or 2D to trade with it ,but the trade is very inconsistent so I would avoid attempting this option when your low on health and you can't get anything out of it so stick to the whiff punish.

Best tools in the match up- Your mobility will always play a big part in your neutral so work on spacing your drive cancels out properly, j.C is very good in this match up as an air to air poke and is very good at netting counter hits be sure to use this more than j.D as j.D will lose to Makoto's j.B,j.2C,j.C more times than win against them. When throwing out j.C always be ready for a counter hit/hit confirm as this normal covers a lot of air space and is free damage against makoto's that try to do stuff in the air vs tao. j.4D is pretty good at switching your momentum when your really high in the air and can sometimes be a very good way to get in, but it leaves you vulnerable to things like run up 2A,6A,parry so try not to use it too much. Overall avoid making too much physical contact with your drives to avoid the risk of being parried for all your life or a change in momentum. Try to space yourself outside her normal's and control the space around her to limit her advances and you should be fine.It's important to note that 214D,j.C, dash 5B, 3C, 236A,loop does not work on makoto so you have to do 6A into loop instead after 214D,j.C,dash 5B in order to properly combo.

Escaping Makoto pressure- Unless you IB 5CC ( a bad pressure tool overall) your not back dashing anything that isn't either 6B or 2C it's just that simple. To back dash her 6B you need to input it a bit late and you have to IB the normal beforehand so be sure to hit up training mode before attempting anything. Due to being able to cancel to her normal's into a parry hexa edge should only be used on reaction to 6B or 2C as any other time it can be parried if they yomi it out and can become a waste of heat. Makoto can parry your counter assault but rest assured have only had this happen to me once i think ever in playing this match up (curse you counter assault nerf). Orb Oki with OS parry is 100% reversal safe so never ever wake up hexa edge as you will look free and eat damage for trying to avoid blocking. Counter assault her normal's not the orb itself or else it's a free bait and punish same thing applies to busting. Makoto can also parry both gold and green burst so be cautious when doing wake up gold burst against her because you might just get screwed over. Astral vision pressure is not safe so you can either mash out of it or just jump away take advantage of the rare opportunities in which they use astral vision mid block string. Her pressure is not that serious once you get a real feel for her gattling's so just remain calm and be patient on your escape. If you ever block her overhead the only two things Makoto can do is either block (shes at frame disadvantage) or cancel it into one of her astral vision (A + B cancel=cross up, B= puts her air borne J.2C is the only way she can resume pressure) so be ready to act accordingly.

Things to look out for- Avoid being hit as much as you can as anything can lead to some sort of corner carry and off counter hits she can end with orb oki. After orb oki try to delay your neutral tech a bit to avoid as much mix up as possible and keep in mind the orb's active frames are over far before the orb leaves the screen, this allows them to go for a green grab setup despite the orb being over you. With the help of orb oki and astral vision she can do a few cross up shenanigans so be on the look out for this as the only way she can do it is when your back is not completely towards the wall so pay close attention to where you are on screen. As always avoid her AA and avoid being parried if you can as the change in momentum is something you cannot afford to let happen. Her 2A has a dumb hit box and can catch wake up back dash for free if they simply get to point blank range and mash it, A lot of her legit stuff will be things like 2A mash,2b or 2A mash,6B as it is her universal normal that can go to both a low and an overhead as well as a grab setup so do your best to make some distance with barrier as her normal's lack range.

Crawling-I tend to find crawling to be less useful than it was in CS1 as before you could crawl Makoto's 2A now they seemed to have changed it's hit box so that it hits Tao when she is crawling. You can still crawl 5B and for what it's worth 5CC though even in IB you can't crawl these normal's mid block string unless they do some form of big delay which is likely not going to happen. I have seen Makoto's do dash 5B and it looks tempting to crawl this but I tend to avoid it all together due to the risk of them just doing dash 2A as their form of approach. Again I feel that her damage output is too high to be taking risk for damage she can deal back in double if you guess wrong, but if you feel the risk is worth the reward by all means go right ahead and crawl her dash 5B for a nice 3K+ punish just know you will lose at least 4K and be put into orb oki if you guess wrong. A notable use of crawl in this match is the fact that you can crawl 236A,Break shot follow up though It's rare for Makoto's to do this full screen vs a character that doesn't stay still as well as it being easily whiff punishable.I guess it's useful when you have one guard primer and they want to try and break it with 236A,Break shot as you can just neutral tech crawl to go right under it and punish fro some damage, but again 2A saves the day as they can just do 2A,5B,5D lvl 3,RC for a hit confirm into combo if you crawl and just a better way to break a primer if your blocking .Overall crawling is something I find to be mush riskier in CS2 and just ins't as good as it use to be. So i don't really recommended using it, but if your the type of player that enjoys taking risk for damage go right ahead.

Final words- A calm mind and good spacing is needed to defeat this brain dead squirrel and even then you can still be robed a match by just her sheer damage output and her solid orb oki. it's important to avoid being too random in this match up and pay more attention to what your opponent it doing try to get a feel for how they are approaching you and find a way to counter act them in a safe coherent manner. Burst early to avoid giving her too much momentum and never sit on your meter counter assault ASAP. Makoto has an answer for everything so it's only natural you might find yourself without options remain calm and look for the weakness in the player rather than looking for a weakness in the character because outside of lack of gatling's she has everything she needs to be brain dead a "legit" character (dat S tier).

Will edit this post if I find new information and fix any grammar mistakes I may have made.

Edited October 3, 2011 by NeoGio0o
Adding more info

[Ronove]

You might want to add 5B to the list of anti-airs that Makoto has at disposal, that move has a ridiculously good hitbox.

[milesw]

You might want to add 5B to the list of anti-airs that Makoto has at disposal, that move has a ridiculously good hitbox.

Just wanted to ask whats your avatar from

And as a fellow Makoto player I'll say that the above guide is very useful and true.

Use your crawl and 2a,2b much much more in the footsie game.

Around this distance us Makotos will be dashing forward and back with 5B.

One thing I personally hate as a Mak player is a 2A thats a low!

Cant parry them.

A skilled makoto player will know exactly in each matchup where an opponent will want to attempt a 2A and parry it.

So go nuts with yours. Seeing as it low profiles her DP too!

crawl goes under her fireball.

If you see her charging a fireball and you're grounded at any distance away from her...

Its fairly safe to jump up and j.D straight at her and you wont get hit by the fireball at the angle you dive at. You wont hit her but it will give her a good shock when you are up in her face.

And obviously 214214C does the job too.

To me this matchp is stressful vs TAO

she can turtle around the screen snatching random hits and I cant catch her :/

Edited October 3, 2011 by milesw

[NeoGio0o]

Just edited the post adding in anti air 5B (thanks to Ronove for the input) also I added my personal opinion on Crawl in this match up.