Oiboi

Sword blockstrings for me invariably end in swordswipe. The reason is because I can FRC to make it safe, and even on block (especially at max range after a blockstring) is safe with no tension. I usually prime a dash so I can get right back into their face after the FRC; 6P, 5K, and 5HS are some scary good moves on offense. As for landing a 6HS midscreen, if the first hit hits you can immediately cancel into swordswipe (this is of course assuming your still talking about the sword). FRC for combo if it's nearish the wall, or at least an oki setup. DP will also work if you want a gauranteed air combo (depends on the range it hits however). If it's the second hit that lands, you don't have as many options. Unless the 6HS was after a dash, so that the end of the low hit is right in front of you, you won't land a DP, and swordswipe has too much startup to connect. I BELIEVE you can do 2K or 2S and have it connect but don't quote me, they usually block it and I do swordswipe for pressure, so I'm not sure about all the combo options off the second hit. If your talking about Raou 6HS, 236S K will hit at full midscreen usually. Potemkins weird though, to connect on him you have to do P toss. You can also run up and do something like 5HS Edguy.

6P as oki? wut. If he's mentioning f.S, it's probably the spit. That's the only substantial f.S that's worth mentioning usually. A good venom can launch several balls in zappa's general direction so even if the dog dies it's pointless. This matchup IS in Zappa's favor, it's just a tricky match due to venoms ability to control the screen in a peculiar way. Naked/unsummon: -The start of the round is a bit tricky against Venom. The idea is to put pressure on him before he can put pressure on you but he has ways of stuffing rushdown attempts (Vertical stinger aim, if you do f.S he can beat it with his own f.S). However, it's unlikely most venoms will try something like this due to the fact that in most matchups, Venom must do a defensive maneuver; this means that they may be predispositioned to being defensive. -Still, aggression even if they know the matchup is the better idea. Getting locked down by Venom is a pain in the ass. Almost all of Venoms pokes are more susceptible to summon than most characters, due to their odd frames and way of attacking, so getting a summon isn't a terribly difficult thing to do. -f.S is still a good option, just do it slightly past full range to bait a f.S or 6HS (since Venom moves forward a little). 5K will beat out almost all of Venoms low pokes and is fast enough to beat a lot of his standing pokes. 6P is good, but only in certain situations. Ghosts: -Almost useless in this match once venom gets pressure. Good for P toss FRC and getting rid of deadly lockdown balls, and once you get pressure are very nice, but don't take them for granted. -Must be very good with the ghosts to do anything substantial against venom. Look out for dubious curve on non-frc tosses. Sword: -Free counterhits are go! DP and swipe are too good, even sword slide is silly. -Venoms pretty easy to combo. Look out for the balls and you'll do fine. Dog: -Tricky as hell to use because Venom can hit 3 or 4 times with any generic poke if he sets up and prepares properly. -The idea is to get a knockdown and keep that 2D on his ass the whole time, or at least make sure he has no time to do a stinger aim to get you off him. -Always always always be ready for that summon if your dog gets killed. Raou: -Due to raou's large hitbox while he's attacking, LOOK OUT FOR BALLS AND ATTACKS. They WILL land a counterhit if you try attacking with them on him. -However, it's a bit like the sword, in which any kind of aggression from venom is easily defeated. Overall: Definitely in Zappa's favor but it's not impossible by a longshot for Venom to win. It's a tricky match and is pretty momentum dependent, in that either one eventually has trouble once the other gets control of the match.

If all else fails, Dead angle or super. Likewise, if he's throwing it out for spacing and not blockstring, you can do f.S and interrupt it.

Well, People reaction to summon if you throw it out when they aren't attacking. The trick is that doing it when they are attacking, there's nothing they can do against it. I suppose BBU can be treated similarly except it's invuls aren't as good as summon. Still, I would think close range BBU can be easily reacted to with 6P since it has upper invul from then on, and reaches above knee invul shortly thereafter, allowing zappa to get under it. That's just my take, anyways.

Pretty good fights overall. I'd only suggest doing more throws. That 6HS 1hit RC 2K combo with the ghosts was nice.

Ok, that makes more sense. I suggested j.HS cuz I know there are weird instances where it'll beat heat fist but aside from that you shouldn't be jumping that close anyways.

Not bad, but watch out for flicks. He'll use them to advance safely even if it doesn't connect. Trick to this? Bait it by doing P toss FRC Throw setups and stuff like that. jS with the sword is safe against heat knuckle/heavenly pot buster? Not that I recall... Do you mean j.HS?

Try to IB the 6HS, or if your at a decent enough range, just backdash away, and you'll be fine. Combos against pot are basic stuff + 20 more hits because he's so big and heavy. Mixups and spacing is VITAL though, because of how dangerous his pot buster is. Protip: NEVER GET IN THE AIR HOLY CRAP Heatfist seems to grab zappa no matter what. Dog is good, really good, try to get the dog and own him into the ground.

Isn't that every match with pot? C3 often has tourneys like that. 8 hours late waiting for one guy to show up... AWESOME!!!

Well, I'm simply listing things that 6P/2K CAN beat and primary moves you need to look out for from the enemy. That's why I originally put BBU in that section, since it's such a dangerous move that can really mess you up if your not careful.

Really? That's good to know. I think I've beat BBU with 6P before but I think I was deep inside when it happened, which hit his feet (where the hitbox is) instead of whiffing on the front. And I'd imagine 6P would beat j.HS, just wasn't sure.

Ok so here, I'll start with slayer for this stuff: Things 5K works against: 2HS 2D (Must be anticipated, can't do it on reaction because 2D's startup is too ridiculous) 2K Things 6P works against: (Pretty much everything else but I'll detail a few good moves it works on) 5HS 6HS 5K Any dandy step (Chase him and 6P, none of the followups except K will touch you and you wanna hit him before he comes out anyways) Mappa's Dead On Time (Must be preemptive, but works so well; close range, you have to hit the 'effect' around his feet) Things to look out for: 6K 2S Pilebunker (beats summon) Throws (Reload people know how stupid slayer's throws are against zappa) Any air moves (Only the sword and dog will be safe against these) Any of his other supers besides DoT BBU (despite appearances, beats 6P, summon, etc...)

Isn't it? I should write up a list of stuff to use against slayer, and which moves you need to look out for. Hm, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to do that for every character, but slayer is an annoying as hell matchup so lol.

Good to hear. By the way, I'd want to fight you some day but mirror zappa fights are really annoying. Dangief, you know what I'm talking about lol.

5K has a higher hitbox that won't hit ALL lows, but it will hit a large majority of them. Ky's stun dipper slide is tricky to hit, I usually just block the first hit, then backdash and throw if they don't cancel the second. 6P will go through an amazing amount of moves. It, in fact, will even defeat Dead on Time. Versus Baiken specifically, it's not as safe as a move because she'll just block and counter (Although, I like to bait counters then summon through them).

Better idea: 5D j.P j.P j.P j.P j.P j.P j.P j.D P Toss P toss P toss After the first p toss they can tech but I almost always get them with the other two as well. I can pretty much gaurantee it does more than 71 damage too lol.

Top strats: rush in 6P/5K seems to work so often on so many characters/players it's scary. To keep it on topic, I'll use a Baiken example: I like to use 5K in this match most often because it's very short blockstun, goes through most of her quick pokes (which happen to be lows) and best of all can set up a tick throw. If I land a counter hit, it's a free summon combo into pressure setup. Ghosts have a weird way of mixing people up. Despite having 6HS as an overhead, there mixup isn't that awesome; what really gets people is frame traps. I like to do a supposedly unsafe block string then suddenly super jump j.HS the ghost right on them and it almost always gets a free knockdown.

I like to do a lot of useless FRC's to fake them out and make them think I'm going to FRC and pressure each time, so when I DON'T do it they're sitting there for no reason before realize I'm going for a tick throw setup. It depends on how you do it; if possible, I'd suggest not spending that last 25% unless it's absolutely necessary...

Better yet: K toss FRC backdash P toss pressure. You get haunting, P toss stuffs them while items fall in and you can do anything you want. FRC P toss for extra safety lol.

It's a little weird, positioned properly Zappa's airgrab beats ANYTHING in the air (yes, even slayers jHS and May's jHS and other air shenanigans). The trick, though, is that you must be underneath and slightly to the side of them for the throw to work; Therfore, his airgrab is almost entirely only a defensive move. However, that totally works for Zappa, because he already has some great anti-airs and airgrabbing people always nets big advantages for him.

Couldn't you do jS jc JS jHS? Or perhaps j.S jc j.K jS jHS, so you fall faster perhaps? Or maybe a super jump would work...

Sometimes, you can't dash for it to land. Knowing when and where to dash is difficult but learning it is extremely important. Starting deep in the corner: 6HS 236S K 6HS 236S K(Sometimes P depending on chara, but almost universally K here) Now you have to dash in, or the 6HS will either whiff or hit, but then the DA won't hit. So you need to do a very short dash (the momentum is all you need) then 6HS again. Alternatively, you can dash in for an edguy RC to reset the loop as well.

Just as a note, f.S FB isn't an unblockable. Actually, I'd think it'd be easy to see coming because it's just kind of obvious to do an overhead after a low, and the flash and sound pretty much scream overhead. Not a bad tactic (it obviously worked) but I'm not expecting that to happen often. And that dog loop is silly. It's a viable combo, Umarerul; he could have continued until he killed the guy if he had the patience/didn't mess up. But, the damage is too small and it takes too long for it to even matter, as it'd time up eventually anyways. If it's your cup of tea, whatever, but I hate boring fights like that. Also, he could have bursted.

Depending on when the gunflame comes out, it can still hit after the invul frames pass. Good on wake up vs Oki but any other situation, the gunflame has a good chance of winning.

Consider yourself Signatured, Phrek