KJunk

2K has pretty good frame advantage on block. If you can train them to sit tight after a 2K (in fear of 5HS), it opens up options like 2K -> teleport or walk forward, which leads to either mixup or more pressure. Just don't get too predictable with it... there are plenty of good things to do off a blocked 2K to keep them guessing.

Yep! That's basically what I was hoping to see. It looks like some of those combos are leading to almost 25% meter back by the end of the follow-up.

Since RC's freeze tension for ~5 seconds and Overdrives don't, have you guys played around with using an Overdrive for your first big opening rather than a RC? You lose a little damage, but you get building towards that next 50% much faster. Chain into DOT is simple enough. Combo'ing a standing grounded opponent into the air overdrive is simple, too, and gets you a little more tension gain on the follow-up chain -> knockdown. Is it possible to get a combo after a ground chain to Eternal Wings midscreen? Maybe Mappa linked into 5P or something like that? If so, seems like you could build a fair chunk of change and still get corner push and a knockdown without freezing your tension gain.

One more silly thing for the night: From full screen against a standing opponent, summon a P ball, then summon a S ball, then immediately FB Stinger Aim. Immediately after that, H Ball summon. Magic will happen. You can also H Stinger Aim right after the H Ball Summon to turn it into a 200 damage 5 hit combo from full screen. Actually the smart thing to do is just skip the H Stinger Aim and dash in for an actual combo. You have time to do it

Actually it may be perfectly acceptable for corner pressure after a knockdown. Overdrives don't slow your meter gain like FRCs and Force Breaks. If you can space out your pressure to use each charged ball individually while throwing normals, stinger aims, and even summoning more balls, we should be able to get it meter positive while locking someone down for a long time. Here's an example - after a 2D or 6H knockdown in the corner, cancel into a S Tactical Arch. Then as they're standing, 2S the bottom right charged S ball, and cancel the 2S into a S Carcass Ride. It won't hit any balls. Next, 2S or far slash and cancel into a S Stinger Aim. This will carry just the bottom left charged H Ball. You'll have time then to throw another normal and cancel into a ball summon, or just do a raw ball summon. At this point, you've used up your S and H Charged balls. This means we can use those ball summons without losing any potential balls. I like the H ball summon here because it will reorient your charged balls to be in a vertical line with 2 at the bottom and one at the very top, letting you continue to space out your pressure. Canceling a normal into a safe teleport would turn into a lot of pressure/meter build, maybe a mix-up opportunity. There's a lot of potential there. The fact that charged balls stay out for like 10 seconds now really helps something like this become doable.

Pretty cool. To me, Dark Angel is such a strong tool midscreen because of how it pushes to the corner in addition to providing pressure. Tactical Arch may be superior in the corner though, especially if you can space out the use of the balls to use each individually and in sequence (rather than just having them all hit immediately). The extra duration of the charged balls makes using them over the course of two separate combos very practical as well.

I think the idea is that being able to teleport off dubious curve makes it more usable as a midscreen combo tool. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wIWlfwzghw&feature=youtu.be&t=33m56s (at 33:56 if it doesn't take you there already). Overall the teleport changes are weird. Slower startup means it'll be tougher to use in the neutral game, but only 1F of recovery is pretty silly too. So maybe it's better off certain setups and for some combos?

Definitely agree. His original 6P was one of his really ridiculous moves, and it rounds out his poking game by covering the basic jump in/IAD approach angles. It's also strong against long pokes that hit at chest level like Faust's or Johnny's far slashes. Those would normally beat out Venom's far slash, so it gives you another way to deal with them. Between Venom's 6P, far slash, 2S, 2D and 6H, he has a good set of pokes.

After playing around with Fafnir RC Wild Throw.. yeah no real point other than silliness. I have been really impressed with what 2D > FB Fafnir allows him to do in the corner now. You could always get a combo for 25% from a 6P -> Gunflame FRC, but needing to combo into a 6P really limited how you could get that started. Something like 2K > c.S > 6P > Gunflame FRC required you to be dashing into them basically. Mixups into Sidewinder needed you to be close or didn't give you a ton of time to hit confirm. Now anything in/near the corner that chains into 2D (even at max range) can turn into a nice corner combo. Empty jump 2K is now like 40%+ in the corner. That and his Fafnir RC just mean that his poking game is pretty dangerous now if he has some meter stocked.

Just for fun, have you tried Fafnir RC into Wild Throw? Might be useful if you're poking out of the corner to put them back into it. I think it ultimately prorates harder than a Grand Viper combo, but might be worth playing around with it. Also I'm guessing a combo that ends in a TK Bandit Revolver -> 5K -> Bandit Revolver probably takes someone from corner to corner anyway.

Really patient Hakumen play, very enjoyable to watch. Most IADs were saved for situations where V was in the process of backdashing too. Only a few small technical mistakes in terms of missed combo potential and that sort of thing, and still only things that could really be spotted outside the heat of a grand finals match. Great stuff Jack

Thank you PozerWolf!

Oh I was referring to the super opener almost never happening. I've seen two iterations of the 5HS 6HS loop in quite a few vids now. It doesn't look much different then a slayer SSSS or a ky 6K S 6K S kinda deal.

The hard part is working in the 75% tension opener. It's been great in every game so far, and find how often it's used by the Japanese in match vids. It's practically never.

I've seen Johnny MFers be blockable while on misted people before. I think it's just a random bug that has yet to go away through several game versions.