kazukifafner

ggs to psyken and shoutouts to the people i faced in ranked (i see u up there raiden <3)

Oh wow, Yuzuriha. Instant main material right there.

Well, if they just do it without setting it up; a combination of high jump, air dash, and jC are usually enough to do the trick. If they do set it up, you'll have to guess by doing either the above, or attempting to FA through it.

ggs to wing also, i wish i cud ban everyone who absentmindedly skips the intro especially if they play mitsuru (my aki has enough trouble with her as it is ;-; )

He's canceling the duck into weave before he uses FA.

You can cancel the recovery into kill rush. So, Hop jB > 236A > etc works. He can also combo hop jB into his normals on counter hit. But yeah, hopping in general is pretty bad in this game. It's mainly used as a counter to throws (and lows too, I guess); and even at that, it's still really gimmicky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poltRtnXWEA#29m08s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THUPsFruxHA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyhHTPZYEcA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19NC3Mhf3_o

A-Kill Rush in general is a surprisingly good tool for approaching, especially if you've tagged them with a little 5A blockstun. But even raw, it works really well. Even if your opponent jumps as you do it, it's still not the easiest thing to punish unless they have a decently fast, long range air attack that hits below them (a la Kanji/Mitsuru). The best advice I can give for mixups is just to take all of the individual options that you have and throw them together in as many ways as possible. It makes you difficult to accurately read, and can really confuse your opponents. Of course, the frequency you do certain things should probably be limited by how unsafe they are, lol As a basic example, a lot of players expect something like 236A > 4A > 6C > C+D. So, if you swap out the C+D for B+D, you can tag either their throw break attempt or hop. Another example, you could do something like 236A > 4A > 4D > 6D > C+D. Fake them out by weaving away, then duck in for a throw. And of course, all kinds of options and traps exist once you've got the meter. Also, from what I can tell, you can work Lvl 3 AoA into your plan and still have it come out faster than just going into Lvl 2. When I was testing it out in training mode, 236A > 4A > 4C > AoA seems to genuinely be faster than 236A > 4A > AoA if you cancel it properly.

ggs to the chat, again and ggs to ranked matches (even though today wasn't my best day, rofl) also, terrible games to all the people in ranked who don't let the intro play out (or at least partly) it's like you don't even care about humanity or something (wud honestly prefer that you rq)

Mixing in AoA/Sweep prior to kill rush gives you another bullet in your magazine. Especially if you cancel it off the first hit of 5B. Not a lot of players expect anything at that point (especially not the first time).

Weave is a fine enough option at the edge of 5B's range, but it's typically best on approach just after her persona pressure, since she can just blow you up with her that instead of 5B otherwise. As with Yukiko, the last place you want to be is just out of range to attack, as she can keep you pinned until she gets you in a combo (especially in the corner). A well-placed parry can break it up, as well as make it harder for them to pressure you as much in later exchanges. Naturally, Liz is a major glass cannon. It only takes a two good BnBs and a super to finish her off (toss in another BnB w/ super if she enters Awakening). So it really doesn't take much to kill once you get going. As for neutral, just watch her persona's animation for grab attempts (he hunches over) and punish her for it. Breaking her persona is as good as death for the character (even considering her B normals). Also, don't try and challenge her air-to-air. jB will always stuff your attempts, and at worst, you'll get thrown by her persona for your efforts. Ground-to-air or air-to-ground is where you want her most. Especially the former, since her persona isn't nearly as scary then. A solid 2B or a well-spaced jB can put you in prime position to wreck her.

From my experience, trying to use FA on wakeup against a decent Yu is a bad gamble. They tend to time their jump arc with D's blockstun; so you might hit the persona, but are left vulnerable to an incoming jB. This is true with most of the remaining blockstring as well. Finding a reliable time to reasonably go for FA is difficult, so you've got to make specific reads to go through it based on how the particular Yu goes about it. But obviously, the best way is to get through their mixup the old-fashioned way: proper blocking. During said blocking, you should punish his persona whenever the opportunity presents itself; and should your reactions be good enough/your opponent predictable enough, you can likely hit or parry him out of raging lion. Honestly, this matchup is just one big battle of momentum. The instant one lands that first knockdown, the battle automatically swings in their favor. However, in comparison, it's harder for Aki to make a comeback the same way that Yu can (since Yu's oki is simply that much better), so you need to stay on your toes (which you should be doing anyway as an Aki player). Aki is also at a disadvantage during the neutral game. While it obviously isn't a bad against Yu as it is Mitsuru, Yu still has plenty of tools to out poke you. Nothing especially different here in the end. Good Yomi > Knockdown > Keep Momentum. You just need to respect 5B/jB's range and get accustomed to his oki game.

But that's just it; because it's mostly prediction in this game, you have to be careful with your parry. Use it predictably, and you'll eat FC's left and right. I'm not trying to deny that parry is a powerful tool, but you don't want to abuse it for that very reason. It's at its most dangerous when your enemy doesn't know if/when you will use it. Once they know, they can bait it out. That's why you have to pick your spots carefully with parry, more so than with some of his other options.

Fighting predictable players is no excuse for forming equally predictable habits. Also, I don't get what you mean by describing reactions as "habitual." Sure, you can do a similar thing on reaction, and I guess you could call that action habitual, but not the reaction itself. A reaction is what you do specifically when you see and register something that your opponent is actively doing. Anything else is a prediction. Parry on reaction will always work. Parry on prediction won't.

The reason I specifically describe parry as situational is simply because it's more so than a lot of his other options. You shouldn't be using parry all the time. I would gladly block and look for an opportunity later than get punished for a misread parry. It's best used when you need that extra leg up to get in (such as against Mitsuru), or when it's basically guaranteed (be something telegraphed, conditioned, habitual, etc.).

Paralysis is fun to inflict and all, but given that Akihiko still needs to approach (ergo, turning it into just another mind match between him and his opponent), it doesn't really provide enough bang for your meter most of the time. Thunder Fists' best usage is super canceling a failed FA to make it safe.

Either or works. I think 2B > jB loops do more damage than 5B > jB loops. Typically, 2B > jB loops are more difficult, because your opponent has to start higher in the air than 5B > jB loops. That's why combos using the former typically switch to the latter after a couple reps. Given that your opponent falls a little lower with every loop, at a certain point, you'll have to switch to 5B > jB. And just as a general note, you need to watch your opponent's height when it comes landing jB or 2B CH on them while they're air. That height is what determines whether you can do any loops at all, or if you have to go straight into 2AA > 2A+B > 236A > 6B.

Parry is pretty situational, honestly. It's at its best when you can use it on reaction, as it nullifies a lot when it connects. I tend to find this most useful against projectile heavy characters (Elizabeth and Yukiko), along with Mitsuru (it's a bit trickier to time, but the benefits can help you with the matchup). As an example, if you parry the first hit of Elizabeth's beam, none of the other hits can touch you, and you can plow right through her and her persona with corkscrew followup. Granted, you have to be fairly close to do that (or have 25 SP), but it serves as an example.

ggs to everyone in the chat and all the random ranked matches dammit psyken, i hate ur mitsuru so much *pulls hair out*

Honestly, the status quo for this matchup is just about the same as a lot of other matchups, you just have to be more careful because his FA and throws hurt like a bitch. If you think you can get him with cross up jB, go for it. But ultimately, any time you decide to pressure, you take the risk that the Kanji player read you right. This is why you want to feint a lot, to condition the Kanji into thinking that you won't pressure him.

just some quick shoutouts to orpheus-kai hot damn those were some good matches, i already feel a little more confident in the yu matchup :D and ggs to anyone else i faced throughout the day too

Technically, you can always hit 5B after B+D so long it's at least lvl 2 (I think; maybe lvl 1, not completely sure). Reason being that higher lvl B+D knocks them higher into the air, giving you more time to recover. The problem is that, without the added bonus of fatal counter, the loop isn't going to work (or at least not very well).

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot that you can do with that, that you couldn't already do with your basic 5B FC > 236B.

Look, I get that you're proud of your ability. That's good. It shows confidence. I even appreciate that you are going to the trouble of posting info to help out the players here. However, what you have to realize is that acting in such a hostile and abrasive manner is not the way to go about it. I mean, first of all, do you honestly expect others to take you seriously when the first thing you do is blatantly insult them? And then, when people challenge what you say because of that hostility, you immediately return to your assumption that everyone sucks and that you are the only person who has a clue what they are talking about. Constantly acting like you're better than everyone is a terrible attitude to take when trying to be a part of a community. All the more so when, to be perfectly honest, I doubt very many people even know who you are. Maybe after you get some notoriety in the community, you can put up more of an attitude. But until then, it just makes you seem like an asshole with a superiority complex.

He's hardly attacking you, man. Chill out.