Kliff vs May

[pochp]

Discuss the matchup here. I'll add information to this post when I can get around to it. Not all the matchups are represented in my local scene, and the character is new, so please contribute!

[lofo]

There's a lot I don't know about this matchup but it couldn't hurt to write some stuff down. She can low profile IAD j.KSH with her 2K so be careful to mix in IAD j.SH sometimes to scare her off it. I think the risk/reward on it sucks for her if you mix it up, but she can sneak it in if you're being predictable.

 

Her pressure can be tough to escape with Kliff's options and due to her high damage and stun power, Kliff's stance is risky. It's also tough to anti-air her j.2H because the best move for it is 623H, but her crossups make it hard to input. 6P is too slow and 5H often gets hit, but c.S can also work if you're really quick about it. Blocking is often a wise choice there. Once she gets you blocking she can do a lot of things that aren't mixups to hold you in place. Keep your eyes open and look for the slow overheads and slow throw and you'll be fine. Look for places to put in 5P(into c.S or sweep) to keep her honest. It'll stuff horizontal dolphin and whiffed horizontal dolphin in particular, and even vertical dolphin if your timing is perfect.

 

Vertical dolphin is unsafe unless she FBs it, so look to punish with sweep or f.S-drill. Horizontal dolphin is also unsafe but less so. A sweep is guaranteed and you can f.S-drill if you IB the dolphin or if she tries anything after the blocked dolphin. These are important to do consistently to keep her from turning the match into a circus.

 

Be careful to know your meaties properly. If you don't have a proper meaty and try to IAD in to "just get some pressure" she can wakeup CH whale -> combo -> stun -> run to corner -> another combo -> death. It sucks to give up pressure sometimes, but it's not worth losing the round.

 

The DC strat

I'm pretty sure this strat is not legit because May has tons of ways to counter it for huge damage, but it's kind of hard for her to deal with so it can be worth a try. Basically you want to superjump j.H over and over. It beats most of her air moves unless she's pretty close, and you can sometimes combo if you get a CH, even though you're at the top of the screen. You might want to air dash forward or backwards at the top of the super jump to adjust spacing, and be careful that you don't get hit by H-VDolphin on the way up. You also need to mind you don't get CH by whale on the way down (this is big, maybe don't do this if she has meter?) and careful of her dashing into CH 6P when you land (FD or use plunge). Other than those, you can do whatever, just flop around and mash it and hope it hits. It's a really stupid strategy but for whatever reason it can work.

[lofo]

Played some more yesterday. Vs the j.2H, 5H is pretty ok at beating the slower crossup version and combos on trade, and 6P is better at stuffing unambiguous ones than I thought. c.S could also work there but 6P has a higher payoff.

[lofo]

I feel really dumb for not noticing this earlier, but 2K low profiles her j.2H. The timing is such that she can block it every time, but that's enough to chain into say c.S and get out of pressure.