OFC Salty Santa

So my Aki game is coming together nicely but I realized I don't have any OMB combos. What are the most cost effective ones, especially If i'm going for a kill when they are like 50%

This also, if you TRULY want to improve then stop playing win and start playing to learn

So P4A starts at 6 correct? What time will there be P4A casuals before the tourney?

I'm trying to do 5b FC > 236b => 6c => b+d > [2b > j.b] x2 > 5aaa => 4a => 4c => 6b => 236236b and the the dummy is air teching out of the 4a(boomerang hook) after the autocombo

You guys must be fighting terrible Labs if you can jab her out that easily. A good lab player isn't going to stand in your face and let you mash jab all day. He effective range if far outside that of Aki's so using jab as a tool to keep her from pressing buttons is just asking to be counter hit. When you're on offense its even harder. Half of Aki's killrush mixups get beat clean by a jab from her, anything can be react to with DP. You can't beat her Air to air. Anti airing her is shoddy at best and a fatal counter at worst. If you try to approach from the air her 2a will hit you even if you cross her up. If you try to fake it out and use your persona instead it will beat your persona clean. I'm not saying the matchup is impossible but the advice listed above seems terrible to me That being said I still haven't found a way to handle her apart from "block and hope you get a hit in" as when she is knocked down its fairly easy to keep her pinned down. But as I said before you can't use killrush mixups as much because they get beat free

how can you tell when her persona is able to be hit or not?

Should I be instant blocking everything? If I instant block a multi hitting attack will the rest of the attacks count as insta block or do I have to do it like a 3rd strike parry and tap back for each hit. Can I even block the first part of a string, then instant block the last hits so I can recover faster(like red parry in 3rd strike)? Is there a safe way to instant block. MAN is there just something I can read/watch about insta blocks and their usage?

Does Aki have a single matchup that's in his favor?

What are some good uses of his counter move

The problem is Kanji's ranges trump all of Aki's from every angle.

Does Aki have any moves that are throw invincible? I can't figure out how to get away from Kanji after he knocks me down

I haven't felt more helpless in a matchup then this one

How do you get away from Aki's IKT

Labrys' Tools ------------------ Every move being safe Aki's Answers to them ----------------------- Sometimes you fall out of combos Aki's Tools ---------- Jab pressure Labrys' Answer to them ------------------------ Her absurd range, her charged axe armor, all of her moves

I see what you all are saying as far as making good reads is concerned. A well placed 236C > 6A with aki is great for that when you're on the floor. I'm just going to go into practice mode and learn different approaches. I really appreciate the input. EDIT: I'm really having a problem keeping my momentum going. I'm doing better getting in on people but when I get a knockdown but I cant catch up to them while they are down without being unsafe on my end. If I try to dash up I have recovery frames at the end of my dash before I can attempt an attack where I'm able to be hit. His walkspeed is too slow to catch up after a knockdown as well. Ive tried using ducking to catch up but that's equally unsafe.

This is the first fighter of this type that I've tried to play seriously. I play SF predominately but this game really grabbed my eye. I ran through most of the characters challenges and settled on playing Aki. Got a couple combos down for each situation(midscreen, corner, counter, fatal counter) and started playing people. As I started to lose I boiled down why I was getting blown up to a couple reasons. 1. The Neutral Game I'm not sure how to transition from neutral to offense in this game. In SF it's all about using your pokes to keep the opponent defensive then move into your optimal range to apply pressure. However Aki's pokes are so short they get beat out before I can get into range. His Persona seems pretty bad apart from setting up a frametrap or LONG distance un-safe poking. Other characters seem to have safe ways to get in with great hitboxes that I can't stuff reliably compared to Aki. 2. Wakeup pressure After my combos I try to move in to get a meaty on their wakeup but I get counterhit instead because of ground teching. Is this game not meant to have that type of pressure or am I going about it the wrong way. I was going to post this in the aki board but I felt like this was more of a game-mechanics lack of understanding more than anything else. I really enjoy this game and I'm looking forward to getting better at it. Any advice is welcome.