Chojin

No, you always had to MC into another move, e.g. 5H, MC, 5K, 5H

WHAT Johnny: Ground throw, 6H CONNECTS?

Fat-ass pipes and an output splitter?

Someone's going to be recording this stream, right?

Well, it *was* on for about a second. I guess they will be starting soon. EDIT: Back on. Woo!

I think it's a typo. Shadow Hole is done with H, not D, and the changes make more sense in the context of Shadow H as opposed to Shadow D.

Thanks for the Robo-Ky changes, coolest. Seems like he got a decent upgrade, although I'm not sure what to make of the general heat decrease; it might just mean less 6H spam to reduce heat, but it could be an overall buff if it makes staying in 80+ heat mode easier. With the 2S and lvl 3 214S changes, Robo-Ky might also be less dependent on 5H FRC for combos now. The command throw change is interesting, too; much less damage now, but higher tension gain and higher float should make RC combos afterwards more viable. And who isn't excited for the FB change? Should be able to do a high/low/throw mixup after TK FB.

I need the Robo-Ky changes, like... medically.

Seems like Johnny got buffed like crazy. Sweet!

Holy hell, they buffed the crap out of Axl, especially his damage and his new gattlings.

Anything's progress, right?

It looks as though he still has the Shadow D unblockables; it's just that the drill special one is more difficult to time.

If they're giving Testament some pretty wicked buffs (delay EXE beast, homing FB skull), he's going to be on the receiving end of some brutal nerfs.

Kind of disappointed in the Johnny changes, although I'm sure they aren't exhaustive. New coin is kind of cool and should give him more oki options, and a guaranteed knockdown from the air super is nice, but I don't think they're enough to fix Johnny. Maybe there's more in the loketest.

Pot can't buster through a meaty attack, since it's invulnerable starting on frame 3.

The dudes I play against play Order Sol and Jam... so... I already have a couple of those vids up.

The second hit of danzai is safe, I think, but if you IB the first hit, I believe you get a free CH 5H.

It was implied that it's only dangerous when she has a kick charged, since that's the *only time* that the move is particularly risky. And yeah, there was a poor burst, but that's besides the point; Jam does a delayed 236S, K after a blocked 2D which can very easily catch the opponent standing or doing a move. Even *if* the opponent blocks it, it's WAY too dangerous to try to punish it because of the threat of the charged kick, so the situation is very, VERY much in Jam's favor. Think about it this way: if you guess correctly that Jam isn't going to follow up with charged kick, then then best you can punish with is probably a f.S. If you guess wrong, though, Jam gets 60-70% for no tension. So, going by the numbers, it's overwhelmingly in your best interests to continue to block afterwards, which is what Dogura in fact does. So, what we have is this: a fast, delayable, low-hitting move that can be hit-confirmed into a large combo for no tension from *anywhere* in the screen, and to top it all off, it's more or less safe. It's only disadvantage is that it requires a charged kick to be useful... but honestly, when *doesn't* Jam have a charged kick available, especially in this matchup. EDIT: OK, so you mentioned that you can use a crouching move to avoid charged kick, which I think is true, but it doesn't change the fact that the risk/reward for 236S, K is still overwhelmingly in her favor.

1) So after more experience, I retract my previous statement about 5P being a good anti-air. Yes, it hits every so often and leads to a nice combo, but it only really works against really low air-dashes from long-range. It's technically possible to hit IAD dropkick with 5P, but it's too dangerous, considering you'll take at least 50% damage if you mess it up. The same is true with air throw, especially considering they nerfed the range in AC. Now, uppercut will work, but you have to deal with drop-kick crossing you up, which again means you will get killed if you guess wrong. Honestly, the only safe way I've found to deal with IAD dropkick is to jump and block. That way, you actually have a good amount of advantage afterwards and you don't have to deal with the cross-up issue. 2) Agreed. This move is not something you want to use against Jam... pretty much ever. 3) Disagree. Horsie is crucial in this match, since it is a very important combo starter and it's one of Robo's only practical moves that trades with FB puffball. Yes, you can eat a 6P into death, but that just means that you shouldn't be predictable. Hell, most characters can 6P you through horsie, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use it against them. 4) If you are lucky enough to have Jam right next to you, then go for it. However, Jam has this nasty habit of stopping just short of your DP range, which lets her either CH you out of DP or punish you when you land. Whatever you do, *don't* react to burst rush with DP. 5) IB everything that is in your power to IB, especially those moves. However, make sure that you stay blocking low during blockstrings, since Jam can use 236S, K to ruin your day for 0 tension and 0 risk. Also: in principle, burst cancelling is a big threat, but in reality it is too difficult and too dangerous to be something to seriously worry about. *New points* This match sucks more than I originally though it did. She is the rock to your scissors. Jam is much less risky and does better damage than you and has an answer to *everything* you have, all of which lead to big combos, while you have virtually zero answers to her best moves (I *defy* you to beat FB puffball, much less get a decent combo off of it). Most of your best assets (2K, missiles, f.S, heavy weight) are now liabilities. You're basically down to whoring out command throw, 5D, horsie, and DP, none of which are even the least bit safe. This match illustrates some of my points, i.e. why 2K and missiles are a liability and why Jam's 236S, K is super-friggin cheap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb9CpeCRBqw When Jam has 50% tension, you're kind of boned as far as safe wakeups are concerned. A meaty 5P will beat 632146S, but will not recover quick enough to beat 236236H. Lvl 3 bazooka will beat 236236H, but often will still get hit by 632146S. I think the only safe wakeup games you get might be off of a max-range lvl 3 bazooka, but that's really difficult to do. Avoid finishing blockstrings/combos with 2S unless you're positive that you're in range. I can't tell you how many large combos I've eaten because 2S whiffed right in front of Jam. Oh, did I mention that 2P mash clashes with your DP? During bazooka mixup, this is by far your best low option: lvl 3 bazooka (Jam blocks), run-jump in, land, 5K, hit-confirm DP super, land, 5K [JI], c.S, SJC, K, S, P, S, JC, D This combo does something like 190 damage, is hit-confirmable, and preserves your tension gain since you didn't FRC. *Opening gambits* Asking to die: 2S, 2H, 5H Extremely risky: f.S, 2K, any jumping move Moderately risky: 5P, 6P More or less Safe: Jump and block, block, backdash, 2D Jam pretty much beats your ass at the start of the match, since she has multiple safe options that lead to big combos. TK dragon kick will counter hit you out of any jumping move and possibly even 5P/f.S, which leads to a 50% damage, 0 tension corner-loop into knockdown. Oh, and it's unpunishable. Drop kick will beat most of your options for a smaller combo, probably around 30%. Her ground options generally will get beat by f.S or 6P, but the threat of TK dragon kick and IAD drop kick should keep you from doing those. Your best option is to sit on your ass and start to build tension.

Keep playing until you get comfortable with the character. In the short term: 1) Develop a solid wakeup gameplan, i.e. learn the safe wakeup games you can play on other characters, like meaty 5P or bazooka (depending on the characters), and execute it every time you knock the opponent down. Once you've got this down, work in the riskier mixups like command throw and such. 1a) Know when you get a knockdown and then always get it (like off of random 5K x n) 2) Understand what the best combos you can get in a given situtation are, especially off of your wakeup mixups and random CHs, and get them every time. 3) Whenever you do something, make sure you have a reason for doing it. Don't just throw out a poke because you can, because you haven't done it in a while, or just because you feel like it; do it because it controls space well against some character, or because you have frame advantage and you think they're going to try to throw something out at you. At first, this is difficult because you aren't intimately familiar with the situations your character is commonly in, but eventually you'll learn what to use and when to use it. Really, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're a decent player, you'll pick it up as you keep playing until you don't know how you didn't understand it before. Usually by then, though, you don't really care as much.

Well, he was gutter-tier, if that's what you mean. He could still win... but he had pretty much nothing but losing matchups.

You don't need to use 5H FRC to get bazooka to combo... but yeah.

You can (and should) jump; however, you shouldn't jump in. Watch japanese match vids and see how often Robo jumps in on Sol. Not very often, right? That's because it's much safer for Robo to get in on the ground or under cover of lvl 3 missiles. Jumping in at him is just *begging* to get sidewinder looped for half-life. Sol's 5K is a much, *much* better AA than Robo's 2H, since it's completely safe, leads to TONS of damage, and can be used to get someone out of your face. Robo's 2H is really only used when you anticipate someone jumping in at a certain angle; when Sol jumps in with j.H, say, right above you, 2H will do *nothing*, so Sol can pretty much jump in at Robo all day long. Also, if you double jump and Sol whiffs a 5K, it recovers in time for him to do it *again* when you come back down. If your gameplan vs Sol requires you to jump in at him, then you need to rework it.

True, so maybe 5P is always the best option. False. Tyrant rave has 5f startup, so 5P works equally well against this.

So it seems that you don't understand why you'd use 5P. You time the 5P so that the last active frames of the move happen as Sol (or any opponent) wakes up. If Sol holds back, he will block the 5P. If he VVs, the 5P whiffs because he is invulnerable from frame 1. However, 5P has 3f of recovery and VV has 5f startup (7f for the S version). So, if you time 5P well enough and hold back during the move, you will block Sols DP. It's the same concept as a safe jump-in, which I assume you've heard about: 5P is an offensive option select that hits the opponent if he guards and allows you to block if the opponent does an invulnerable move. This is pretty much a universal tactic, since every character has something like this (with varying degrees of usefulness). I said that this only applied in the corner. There is no way that you can safely get a meaty, 5-hit lvl 3 bazooka in the corner since Sol can reversal riot stomp over the bazooka and you'll still be in recovery. So... 5P is still the safer option here. I play against a good Sol too. Yes, you can predict when he will jump in. I still think that an anticipatory run-jump j.P is the better option since it's easier to execute and leads to higher damage than IB airthrow, plus it's just as safe. This is probably where we'll disagree, since it's a matter of playstyle. This is a perfectly fine way to deal with this particular block-string; however, you should be able to punish with a lot more than an airthrow. 6H is slow enough that you should be able to DP on reaction for CH + a gigantic combo. Airthrow would work fine too, but why not go for the big damage?