Xaphiel

I'm with Jo on this one, don't Return Jack for the MF level up unless you're out of coins or that little bit of extra damage is really going to help you. The 5K>2D>coin is a better option for getting your level up, especially since you save the 25% tension for another JH, a KJFRC during that Lv2 combo you can do now, or just for keeping that 25% to save up for 50% to keep your opponent guessing about your new options like DAA and especially overdrive.

Yep, it's true! The higher level your MF the faster Johnny enters kamae(Mist stance) so that means you can cancel the stance faster. Go ahead and try it out in training mode, just MC and hold forward to walk. Notice that at higher levels, Johnny begins walking sooner.

I can mist cancel at the fastest possible rate with Lv2 MCs most of the time, but I don't always get an attack or dash or whatever out as fast as possible after the MC. This, I think, is partly due to playing on pad and I feel like it would be less of a issue on stick. Also, I'd love to wavedash.. but I just can't on pad without having to take some recovery time just to re-grip the controller. I'm eager to utilize wavedashing, and when I do that idea of Render's you mentioned sounds genius, thanks! But yeah, I practice with Lv2 MCs a whole lot, I'm more than decent on Lv1 MCs, and I'm not good at all at performing a Lv3 any faster than a Lv2 without messing up. Concerning 2S, I use it semi-often, but I sort of don't like the recovery time if it's whiffed. It's fairly brief, but even so it's been capitalized upon quite often by my experience so far. I'll use it more often on some characters than others, of course, but I find myself using 2D more for the better range & KD, and using 2K the rest of the time.

Haha XD You got it, I rarely use c.S, I usually use 2K or 5K instead. And I love my throw game, especially using MC mixups in your strings to go for a dash>throw instead of throwing out another poke. Which reminds me that I should mention I'm still working tightening up the timing on my dashes after a MC.

In training mode I'm currently working on getting my combos down pat. I still drop them too often for my tastes, and I'm getting more familiar with some character specific combos. It's slow going since I rarely practice, and then rarely get to play against an opponent as well. Loooove connecting with a simple poke and performing MSJH to get in, and then follow up with a combo into knockdown (with mist if possible) or a Lv2 combo. Also working hard on my timing issues, both FRC and wakeup, since my meaty attacks aren't always as... well... meaty as I'd like them? Jo> Whoah, you can get a TK Ensenga to connect off of a max range c.S? Fantastic! That would be great, since I imagine that most players don't see JO bust out with an ensenga after c.S.. it would probably catch them off guard the first time, and if nothing else you have the usual mixup of 2D or TK. Sweet deal.

You can break out a 2D even if you didn't IB the Fuujin? Fantastic! Thanks very much for the help.

Ugh, I'm having lots of trouble punishing Fuujin. I'm decent at throwing out pokes to stop fuujin when I think it's coming (5k, 2S, 2D, 2K) but when I block it, I'm just not quite sure what to do. It feels like I'm always just waiting for FB Rin to pop out after Fuujin when Anji has 25% tension or more. So I wait to see if he's going to Rin, IB it if he does and come back with 2D into coin, or a Lv2 combo. My main problem is that I don't know what to do against all the other followups off of Fuujin, so if someone could give me something to work with against each, I'd be extremely grateful. This matchup hurts for me, having to worry about autoguard, guardpoint, and all the invulnerabilities and wackiness of Fuujin puts me on the defensive from the beginning, and I obviously need some work on my defense.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, and furthermore I'm sure most JO players know that Johnny's dash *does* take him up off the ground for a short time. So instead of backdashing slideheads you can forward dash to avoid them in the same manner, and you cover some ground.

Doing this right here is currently where I'm at. I'm having a lot of trouble getting those good hits into damage, because my opponent (who knows me well) is reacting superbly to my offense. Well, doing that and still getting some things down on pad :\ You really have to step into matches with a gameplan... you absolutely *have* to. Even something as simple as "I'm gonna really work 5k this match, throw it out and then mix it up into a low, a high, or MC->Dash->Throw." really helps the fuck out. Really. Then you can even just extend your plan a little bit with something easy like "If he adapts, then I'll just watch how he reacts to my 5k's, see what he's going to be expecting, and then produce a counter-strategy to get some damage in."

Great job Mitsurugi :D I really liked the way you worked this match. You had a good game going, even though it looked like your nerves were getting to you a little when Kekken had you under some good Zappa pressure. Really, I think that the dog bite in the corner is what did you in. I really liked the whole "tech trap-airthrow-mist" setup, major props for getting it in as much as you did. Also, I just really liked the way you moved during the match, like when you dashed, your spacing, use of double-hops. All good. Again, I think you did a great job, I wish my Johnny was as good ^^

I'm not sure if ^ is used to indicate a homing jump... but in the case of Mitsurugi's example from earlier in the thread (5D ^ [9] D, D, -9-, KPKSDE.) the ^ probably does mean to homing jump by pressing diagonally towards your opponent (9). So in this style of notation the following is used for a homing jump: ^ [9] You only have to press 9. It's not necessary to hold it, but you can hold 9 after connecting with 5D to make sure that you jump at the earliest possible time, just make sure to put the stick back to neutral (5) before going into the aircombo. Okay, now just to be absolutely clear on all points, lemme break down that combo for you: 5D ^ [9] D, D, -9-, KPKSDE Perform a 5D, then once it connects immediately hit 9 to perform a homing jump. Don't hold 9, just hit it once to initiate the jump. Quickly hit j.D, j.D, then hit 9 again to make Johnny jump while in the homing jump. Then hit the opponent with dj.K,P,K,S,D,Ensenga. Sorry if my notation isn't "standard" or whatever, but I tried to mimic Mitsurugi's, and I think it's easy enough to understand with the notation he used anyway.

I never played #R, so I can't be certain of why he did it, but I thought I'd take a crack anyway. Omitting the 5K isn't for better proration, since 5K doesn't prorate, I think, and furthermore I'm almost certain that it doesn't *force* proration. So here is why I think he didn't put that 5K in: The 5K would put May too high in the air, just like how the 5K puts the opponent too high sometimes in a DBT-DB combo. If he put the 5K in, I think that May will be high enough in the air after the DBFRC-j.D that she can tech out, and Johnny can't continue the combo if he lands first, and then jumps up to proceed like DC did. To hit someone with a j.D and try to land, then jump into the rest of a combo requires you and the opponent to be somewhat low to the ground so that Johnny has time to land and then jump back in while the opponent is bouncing off the wall.

Mitsurugi> No problem, I'm glad to offer my opinions when they're welcome. Try and get in some matches in the next ranbat, I was looking forward to seeing you play in a few vids in this one.

I'm going to comment on the JO matches from Ranbat#6, since he's probably the only character I'm qualified to criticize. Mitsuomi, *great* job on the match versus Faust! I really liked the way you handled things overall. Fantastic catch with the j.S-5K-2D-coin-f.5S-MF2(P)-KJFRC combo! I also liked the tricks you pulled with 6K FRC into throw. I loved it when you threw TE's blue bursts, good stuff! Every now and then I'd see you throw out a Lv2 MF from nowhere, without comboing into it first, and I wasn't too fond of it. You never caught Faust with any of them, and you lost your Lv2. It's fine to throw out random MFs to keep the opponent on their guard, but not when it's a Lv2 in my opinion. Also, 2H didn't seem to work out for you, use it to hit your opponent out of a slow move before it hits you, or to stop them from getting in when you don't have enough time to throw out anything else like 2S or 5H. Again, great job! Versus Keev, you did alright. Your offense was pretty good, and you got in some decent damage, but you really need to work on your defense vs DI. A few times it looked like you barely missed DI with a few normals because she was just a little too far away, work a little on your spacing. Versus KB, another great match! You caught him with 2D-coin-f.5S-MF2(P) again, very nicely done, I love seeing that. You even threw in a JH, and to decent effect, try working it into your game a little more, I think you could put it to good use. I'm pretty sure you can coin TE after a throw, so I suggest that you do that when you don't have LV2 yet, instead of going for enkasu or damage. Overall, work on your usage of 2H. When you have your opponent near the corner and you hit with a MF2(K) try using the following combo MF2(K)-dash-6H-JH-c.5S-5H-coin I think this would work really well for you, since you recoin and you can airthrow them after they tech out from the coin. You've got a lot of talent, and you're doing really well already, just keep practicing. Great job, Mistuomi.

I'm pretty sure I get what you're saying here, you said it in a way that's clear enough for me to get this idea, but I just want to be absolutely sure, so this is just for clarification: You're saying that if you were to do something like c.5S-HS-MC(with K)-2D that you would not hold the K button to stay in mist stance. Instead, you tap HS the moment Johnny enters kamae to cancel it? So this would indicate that a successful MC with this method is the fastest MC possible for whichever mist level you're at, right? I'm just curious because while MCing is now second nature to me (in fact I sometimes MC even when I didn't mean to, just because it's so ingrained) I'm not extremely fast at it. Or, rather, I'm not as fast as I want to be. So I'd like to pick up any techniques available to increase the speed of my mist cancels.

Johnny is my favorite GG character as well, and that's why he's my main. I don't care about anything else that's in his favor or against it, I just think he's badass, so I play him. In any case I currently play on pad, although I'm aiming to get a stick sometime in the future. When I mist cancel, I enter mist stance with K (X on the PS2 Dualshock) and then slide my thumb over to HS (O) to exit the stance and cancel.

You know.. I still haven't quite gotten that down yet. When I try to land a KJ in a MF2(K) combo, it ends up looking like this: MF2(K)-dash-6H-JC-KJFRC-whatever. So instead of chasing the opponent with KJT after landing the MF2(K), I have to be close enough to dash in and 6H them. I'd like to add the longer range of the KJT-KJ combo to my options, but I haven't put in the practice for it yet. Here is how I think it works: Immediately after landing the MF2(K), start inputting the 421 motion for KJT. Once Johnny has finished the recovery of MF2(K), hit the S button to complete the 421S required to perform KJT. Once you're in range to hit them with KJ, usually a little bit after Johnny has begun falling during the KJT, you hit S and perform KJ, and then FRC it. From there you *could* j.S them into an aircombo, but it's far better to land first and then hit them with c.5S and jump cancel that into a better aircombo, where you have both your jump options available. If I'm wrong, I'm terribly sorry for the misinformation, and I'd encourage someone around here to set things straight.

A mixup with Johnny that I try and throw out often is 5K-2D or TK ensenga. The ensenga won't hit if the opponent is too close, so try to have some distance between you and the opponent when you hit them with 5k. From there you pick from either a low, 2D, or a high, TK ensenga. If you land the 2D you can coin or jackhound. If you land the TK ensenga you can RC and follow up.

Yes, to get an enkasu you have to make contact with *only* the first hit of ensenga. To possibly make this easier to understand, let me explain a little about ensenga. The move consists of two parts: First, Johnny reaches into his coat and pulls out a bottle of what looks to be whiskey. He tosses the bottle into the air, and slices it apart with his sword. If I'm not mistaken, the first hit is when he hits the bottle with his sword. This hit is the one you need for enkasu. The second part is the fire that follows the first hit, and you don't want this part to hit your opponent, because if it does, they can tech out and you've lost your enkasu. So you want your opponent to be positioned just right, so as to get hit by the bottle, and not the fire. The ideal position for this is to have your enemy above Johnny, so that when they get hit by the bottle, it pops them up too high to get hit by the fire.

It might be a stupid thing to ask about, but I've always been curious. What do you guys think about aiming for getting to Lv3 and busting out with some insanely fast MC skills? How safe would it be to pressure when you can cancel so quickly and get back in? What about watching for a good opening to bust out with a Lv3 combo and recoin? It seems like you could really work that Lv3 to good effect, but you'd be missing out on damage earlier in the match from Lv2 MF's that you might need. I've somewhat considered the option, but I just never see any great JO players working that strategy, so of course I figured it had been thought out and/or tried and then discarded. So what information can you give me, and what are your opinions?

As Doomscyther talked about, watching vids isn't as important as playing against some real competition. They don't have to really push your skills but it's *much* better if they do. Most practice against a real opponent is good practice, you'll always be working on your basics regardless of your opponent's skill. That said, you honestly can't bring your skill level above a certain point without playing really good people. You just can't get great until you get your ass beat, and you get a feel for what serious play is like. But fortunately you can learn to cope with those serious players a little easier if you have a good base to improve from like being familiar with your character, or lots of practice against other players or in training mode.

I'm having some trouble with OR. About how should the flow of the match go for JO? In addition, what are some good points to stop his offense and put the momentum in your favor? I handle myself well for a little while, but at some point I just get rushed down and pinned with moves that I don't know how to punish properly. Also, damn his short jump, I don't want to throw out random 6P's to catch him, but if I wait to see the jump, I'm often too late. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

The higher your mist level, the faster Johnny can enter mist stance, and so the quicker you can perform a MSJH. At level 1 you enter mist stance too slow, and thus MSJH becomes a very unattractive option. There's no practical reason to RC or FRC a MF. You can, if you work it right, catch your opponent after any lv2 MF without any form of cancel.

Never do a MSJH unless your mist level is at Lv2 or 3. At Lv1 entering mist stance and then performing a JH is too slow, and just performing a regular JH outside of mist stance is a better option. So for the combo you mentioned, just land a coin to get Lv2, and then connect with a 6H. Once the 6H hits, enter mist stance with 236K/P/S and then perform 214D quickly so that you do a MSJH. After that it's just a matter of hitting the FRC and following through with the air combo. Hope this helps.

Stay away from mashing for stuff involving a specific timing. You usually won't get the fastest timing no matter *how* quickly you mash. Sure, mashing might get you results, but those only last until you meet someone who has their game down. Once you have it down to pressing the button just once when needed, you'll notice your flow will get much better, because you don't have that moment of "mash mash mash!" when everything is up in the air. Keep it cool, and keep it under control.