[P4A] Akihiko Q&A/FAQ Thread

[Skye]

im fine with akihiko's combos and damage however i dont know how to get in on the opponent. people like mitsuru and aigis always keep me out and i try weaving in to them but it dosent work 100% i also tried using persona to suck em in and then do a evasive action to go behind them but they always hit my persona or me. how would akihiko get in on a opponent?

Akihiko requires good neutral to make situations like these work. The best I can tell you is to watch videos and see what they do. Oftentimes you need to be patient and let them come to you, or lure them into a false sense of security and catch them in an unexpected situation.

[iw2ma]

The main issue is they actually have security over Akihiko in most situations.

[Pizzarand]

I'm fairly new to Akihiko (coming from a break and a different character) and I'd like to know what his meter is worth, by which I mean how much more damage you usually do with 25, 50, 75 SP etc. Also special uses of his SP moves would be appreciated as some are not apparent to me (e. g. 4AB after Kill rush). Thanks in advance to anyone replying

[Skye]

I happily direct you to the wiki. The answers are all there.

[Mugen Tux]

Fresh, shiny new Aki main here, wanted to ask a few questions about his overall gameplan.

From what I understand, Akihiko's primarily a rushdown character with a bunch of ways to break through defenses, right?

Stuff like Charged B Hook, Duck > Throw, stuff like that.

What are all the staple things that I should make sure I've got down pat?

Keep in mind that I've played Aki for a whole of three hours, but I just really like how he plays, so I want to get better with him.

[Skye]

Fresh, shiny new Aki main here, wanted to ask a few questions about his overall gameplan.

From what I understand, Akihiko's primarily a rushdown character with a bunch of ways to break through defenses, right?

Stuff like Charged B Hook, Duck > Throw, stuff like that.

What are all the staple things that I should make sure I've got down pat?

Keep in mind that I've played Aki for a whole of three hours, but I just really like how he plays, so I want to get better with him.

Akihiko is a rushdown character. yes, but it's important to note that he's more of a pressure character than a mix up character. Not to say that he lacks mix up, but it's more about putting pressure on the opponent and scaring them and taking advantage of them from there. Akihiko has good damage, even better damage conversion, a great offensive airdash and a few really good low profile/guard point tools to close gaps between you and your opponent. The downside is that he has low range, is pretty meter dependent as far as mix up goes and the player needs to keep it fresh and Akihiko by design can easily fall into predictable routines.

That said, the first thing to get down pat is his movement option, learn how to do the lowest possible IAD, practice ducking, weaving, SB versions of both and to know when to do them when it's beneficial. Weaving low profiles a few attacks, mostly forward moving projectiles and a few moves here and there, you can use this move to make an opposing move whiff and punish it, it's most practically to make the following whiff;

Narukami 5b, 5c, 2c, fireball

Yosuke 5a

Mitsuru coup, 5a, 5d

Yukiko 5b

Elizabeth 5b

Kanji chair super (the chair throwing part)

Naoto bullets (forward only)

There are probably more, but it's good to experiment, if you know your opponent is going to go for these moves, you can weave them and make it whiff.

Aikihiko's ducking is even better in the low profiling department. He goes even lower, the offset to this is that he moves forward and can't sustain the animation, so ducking is more of a commitment and mostly a hard read than simply reaction, Ducking can go under all the aforementioned moves plus;

Narukami 5a

Again, could be more, but I'm going off the top of my head right now.

SB Weave has some invul, can go through most dps in the game and can cross up if the situation is right, I use it mainly to force a button and punish on whiff. It's not frame 1 though, so don't use it to get out of meaties.

SB Duck is more aggressive and is used for Akihiko's infamous cross up, it's very fast, but no invul.

Once you have movement down, it's time for combos, go ahead and head over to the Combo thread and give them a go, be sure to ask any questions you may have about them. As far as combo staples you'll need to get the 5b > j.b loop down. Make sure your j.b is delayed just right, usually at the apex of your jump.

That's your skeleton, if anyone else has anything to add, feel free! Welcome to Akihiko.

P.S. it's A hook > duck > grab.

[Mugen Tux]

Oh, wow, thanks so much! :D

I didn't expect such a detailed response.

I'll make sure to keep all that in mind and practice some more.

Aki is just too fun to play. @_@

[Solless]

Has anyone been able to follow up his 2C anti air grab in a combo with uppercut supper outside the corner?

 

I saw it be done in some of the older aki combo videos from Jourdal's youtube page, but I cannot do it in the game myself because the people get bounced on the ground too far away.

[Effenhoog]

You have to input the super right as they get slammed into the ground, so start buffering it before then. It might also depend on cyclone, I only ever use it when I'm at level 5

[Moblin]

Hey guys, where can I find a list of  BnBs and basics for Akihiko in Ultimax?

[Yuhoke]

Well for Ultimax basics, there's the Atlus video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDSjsRc9kn8

And for some combos, there's this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys0Hj0A4hOw

[Astarte]

Thank you for the videos! Thankfully the notations aren't hard to follow

[Freakmonkey]

Hey guys, I've been trying to get reaquainted with Aki in this game and I can't really find a suitable followup for counterhit corkscrews in the corner, it doesn't seem like 2B-jB loops work very well. Does anybody have anything better?

[Effenhoog]

Corkscrew punch proration has been mauled, you basically don't get anything from corkscrew of any strength, cyclone level, counterhit, fatal, omc, doesn't matter.  You can maybe get 5AA but you can't even get a basic string or autocombo

[Freakmonkey]

That's a shame, another question, what do you guys do for burst punishing? I don't think I can go straight to B loops but don't know anything else.

[Effenhoog]

Ground burst can be punished with dashup 5B into jump loop but it's harder timing since they land quickly.  In the corner you can punish with 5B j.B 2A 236A 4B 8B 6C 4A 8A 2C 236236B, or just straight up 236A into the rest of the combo for easymode punish timing

 

air burst gives you lots of time to run up 5B, just be careful not to 5B too soon or you get 1 hit and they don't juggle

[Freakmonkey]

What's the ender for midscreen? I'm guessing it's not AA sweep kill rush anymore.

[Effenhoog]

depending on whether you want to side swap or what kind of knockdown you want, you can usually do either 5AA 2B superjump j.B j.214A or just autocombo into B corkscrew. 

[Freakmonkey]

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

 

I don't see a yukari matchup thread so I'll just ask: When I'm getting zoned out they'll sometimes just try to jump>air garu special> back/forward dash away when I get too close. For more reference I'll have Naoto players superjump backwards, place a trap, then back/forward dash away as well. Forgive me for my vagueness, but I can never seem to find a good way to chase after them. Should I just superjump and go for airgrab? Or do I wait to see what direction they're dashing in then proceed to chase?

[Justice7541]

Does anyone know the optimal Aki combos off SB Duck?  Like off SB Duck 4A or whatever.

[Effenhoog]

Quoting myself because laziness

 

5AA 214C 6C+D 8A 4A 8A 6B super OR 5B j.B j.214A (some characters don't need the 214C because they are wide enough to get hit by 8A 4A 8A 4A 6B midscreen, I don't remember who they are though (maybe Kanji?) but it's probably rare)

 

anytime you do any sonic punch version in a blockstring it seems to work, even if you just do 236A 8A  6C+D 8A etc you should still build enough cyclone to get the fatal counter corkcrew

 

crossup does not seem to work off any hook ever, and I have yet to find a reset that works (i.e. doing a combo with hooks/sonic punches and using EX duck to crossup for a new combo).
rip my favorite P4A reset: grab > A hook > EX duck

 

 

Using the quoted combo as a base, you can also end it with 5AA 2B superjump j.A j.B j.214A to knock them down right next to you, does ~100 less damage

 

 

[MasterXDrake]

I think he stopped playing. 

[Kikuichimonji]

What's Akihiko's frame advantage for 5B on block?

[RurouniLoneWolf]

-4. Also, if you ever need to know the frame data of Akihiko stuff, feel free to look at Akihiko's Frame Data Page on the wiki

[Kikuichimonji]

-4. Also, if you ever need to know the frame data of Akihiko stuff, feel free to look at Akihiko's Frame Data Page on the wiki

Thanks. I was looking at the wiki, but not the frame data. Akihiko's 5B frame advantage was mysteriously missing. I edited it into the page for future people.