Hi.
I’m part of the new generation of players that invaded your boards as SRK came out. We have one thread where we are free to ask whatever question and we get replies from more knowledgeable people but skimming through the thread will lead you to realize, like I have, that the same questions keep coming up over and over. And so, I thought it would be nice if us scrubs had a compendium of F.A.Qs and random facts that would grant us greater insight. (I originally kept everything in notepad but decided to make a thread out of it :P). Being new to the SF scene and all, I’ve found myself to be spending much more time reading about the game than actually playing it~ And I’m sure I’m not the only one in that regard. I thus went through all of the aforementioned thread’s pages and compiled most of the relevant questions and answers.
I plan on updating this thread regularly, and also, if there is anything that you might know and would like to share, do post and I’ll add it~
Oh and I know this is really messy, and I’m working on making this more readable and easier to skim through, so just bare with me for now~ Is there a way to change the size of your font btw?
Special thanks to the members of the SRK community who’ve been patient enough to answer all of our questions! :
skisonic, Keits, excitebike, Kunai, digitaleufel, Black Dog, kensk, hfz90, DannyCat, Zephyr Blayze, Grits’N’Gravy, wonderpug, DaDesiCanadian, Epic Username, LordofUltima, Xeno-V, Sirlin Snake Shirt, Phishfood, 4r5, BeGuiled, OJuggernautO, ICD-3, caliagent#3, Dandy J, Dime_x, Spiku, Arlieth Tralare, armagan, Forte, Jinrai, Airthrow, fins4ever88, 2Slow, Overworld, Dentron, minty, eoneo, Lusche, DaFeetLee, Mr.hitBOX, akiramike, hyphz, mysteriousm, ShinkuuR, Elements, Barnaby_Goog, Omerta, pennylane, PBalla, Poe22222, bytex, DevilJin 01, COUM, Doza, svenghali, eric25, TIFunkalicious, Kakelmut, mechajesus, Eckostyle, hadoken_mofo, Tressley, RadarTrap, darkfroggy, Dizz, Humpski, Yars, Ephemeral, ClxJames, tribaL, King9999, sweetypiejonson, Kagna, JubarPL, conebone, ColdCutsDeep, Telepathic, bbing51, Pieguy, Aquasilk, J-Money, konkrete, deadfrog, gbursine, epy0nkaru, VirtuaFighterFour
Sorry if I forgot anybody~
Thanks for the sticky!
:r: F.A.Q.:
What is a block string and an attack string ?
A block string is a series of tightly spaced attacks that are meant to keep your opponent in block-stun. These have various purposes in various games, but generally they are used for three reasons:
1.) If your opponent blocks your attack, you get super meter! If he blocks a series of attacks, with seemingly no room to move or counter, you get more meter! Yay!
2.) If you do the same block string a lot, your opponent may become conditioned to the idea that when you land the first hit in your block-string, you will automatically go for the rest. Take this opportunity to try a mixup or a throw! Yay!
3.) Another use of a blockstring is to apply pressure on the opponent until the pushback from all the blocked moves places you into a safer position. Ending with a move that puts your at neutral/plus frame advantage is a plus.
What exactly is FADC?
Focus Attack Dash Cancel (sometimes also referred to as Saving Attack Dash Cancel or SADC).
It involves threading a dash between the press and release of the Focus Attack combination.
So basically, MP+MK(hold) -> << or >> -> MP+MK(release) will cancel the Focus Attack into a dash in the direction you’ve dashed (forward or back).
It can be a very useful recovery and setup move. If you attempt to punish with a mp.srk for instance, and it gets blocked because you mess up, you may FADC it so as not to get punished yourself.
In addition you can also use the FADC cancel to set up into an ultra. So Ken, for instance, can do: hp.srk xx FADC xx ultra, to land the full ultra if you FADC on the second hit of the hp.srk.
You can FADC forwards or backwards. FADC backwards (double tap away on the stick) to avoid punishment or FADC foward to move in on someone.
I don’t know if there is a different label between these FADC moments, but allow me to explain the different opportunities that you will have to use FADC:
A;) Hold + to start up a Focus Attack, then dash foward or backward to cancel the animation (no Super bar used)
This allows you to regain mobility so that you’re not forced to follow through with the Focus Attack after pressing the buttons to initiate it. However, at times you can be punished when you finish your dash, so use with caution.
B:) Hold + to start up a Focus Attack, then either release both buttons or let it charge all the way for a Level 3 Focus Attack. After the hit connects, dash forward or backward to cancel the rest of the FA animation. It doesn’t matter if the FA is blocked or hit. (does not use any Super bar)
If your FA hits, doing FADC allows you to regain mobility and move in closer to attack the opponent. Afterwards, you can follow up with an attack. This is especially useful if your FA hits causes the opponent to go down in a crumple stun.
If it’s blocked, sometimes you can dash forward to apply more pressure while they’re still in block stun. Or, you can dash backward to reset your offense. Block stun after a blocked FA differs from character and I believe it also differs depending on the level of FA that was blocked (Level 1 and Level 2 only, Level 3 is unblockable).
C:) Hit with a normal or special move, hold + to cancel hit animation to Focus Attack, dash forward or backward to escape or resume mobility (takes up 1/2 a super bar)
As mentioned before, this can bail you out of a normal attack or special move that usually would leave you wide open after the opponent blocks. Sometimes, players will utilize this to get a throw attempt in by forcing an opponent to block a normal or special move, FADC, then throw while they’re still blocking. It helps to do a move that has a lot of block stun, or to have a character with a fast dash to recover from FA quickly and throw the opponent while they aren’t expecting it.
NOTE: Not all normal attacks and special moves can be canceled with FADC. Also keep in mind that you cannot FADC if you are too far off the ground. Example: You cannot FADC a Fierce Shoryuken if you hit the opponent in the air and you are well off the ground.
Another reason method C is good, because it can prolong combos and link attacks you couldn’t normally link.
An example of very effective usage of FADC is Ryu’s jump-in HK, WK, WK, jab Shoryuken, FADC into Ultra Combo.
Method C is probably the most common usage of FADC and is vital to learn to succeed with any character in SFIV. Practice this hard.
Hope this helps.
There’s been lots of discussion on ways to FADC:
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=179898
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=180383
The consensus generally seems to be that this is the best way to do it:
:r::d::df:+:hp:, :r:, :mp:+:mk::r:, :qcf::qcf:+:3p:
So basically you can buffer one :r: before you focus, and you don’t need to hold :mp: + :mk: you can just tap them.
Practicing with Ryu is a good idea because you have quite a bit of time to get it all out. If you practice a lot then it’ll get engraved in your muscle memory and it won’t feel so daunting. :woot:
Special note: special moves done as reversal will gain armor break.
Is it possible to FA from a non-special move cancelable normal (eg ken cr. rh/hk)?
Cancelling a move with a focus attack is only possible under two conditions:
- The move can be Special cancelled;
-OR- - The move can be Super cancelled.
So for example, Guile and Balrog being able to Super cancel their sweeps enables them to FADC after these moves, the same way ryu and dan’s can cancel their close HK. You should test your character’s moves out and determine which can be cancelled in such ways~
Is it possible to FA reversal using FA (eg react to charged FA with my own FA)? Or is it considered to be armor breaking.
Officially, Lvl 3 FA is armor breaking. There have been credible reports of witnessing a lvl1 FA counter a Lvl 3. The theory is that perhaps a Lvl 3 FA is only armor breaking during its initial frames, because it is know that the move loses at least its armored properties around midway into the attack.
So techinically, the answer is no. But there is still more to find out on this one.
How do I cancel an EX move into a (backward or forward) dash?
Let’s say its an Ex Shoryuken
First the Shoryuken:
:r::d::df: + :2p:
As soon as it hits, you then press:
:mp:+:mk:, then :l::l: or :r::r:
How to apply more grabs/FA/etc into my play?
Watch more vids.
Of course, it all comes down to experience. In all competitive games in general you must be able to read your opponent to a certain extent as to determine your next move. You will have to look for holes in your opponent’s game, note patterns and punish accordingly, so on and so forth. Watching vids will not literally tell you how to beat your neighbor; what you should pay attention to is how they apply FADCing in their game, how systematically they apply pressure upon their opponents or how they escape from tight situations. Look for combos you never thought and think about instances in which you could apply said combos in your game. Most importantly, do not be afraid to try new things out! Getting good at SF is a steep learning process but it also allows for a lot of variety.
**I just found out that the release of a button counts as an input for specials and supers! **
nice find. that’s actually called “negative edge” and is talked about in the 3s video tutorial available at combovideos.com or on youtube.
although it mainly talks about 3s mechanics, there are also many things in that vid that can apply to other fighters as well.
On some of the move lists, the move requires a “+” such as D+K ,so does it mean press down and kick at the same time or down first ,then kick?
’+’ means you push the two commands at the same time.
example: d+hk - push down and hard kick at the same time
‘,’ means successive commands
example: d, d/f, f - roll the stick from down to forward (hadouken motion)
‘~’ means successive commands quickly, for like a kara throw or sagat’s fake kick. this is much more commonly used in tekken notation
example: F+mk~lk+lp
(note: most like 99% of people dont use the last on this forum, but spreading the knowledge doesn’t hurt, Tekkenzaibatsu.com has a whole legend for tekken notation if you feel so inclined)
Reversal?
A reversal is when a special move, super, or ultra is done on the very FIRST frame the player is coming out of block stun, hit stun, or waking up from a knockdown. Aside from letting the player know that they perfectly timed their move, if they were aiming for a reversal, most non-fireball special moves also gain armor breaking properties.
Sticks?
Where can I find the health and/or damage resistance of characters?
http://www.eventhubs.com/guides/2008/oct/05/stamina-stun-dash-and-jump-rankings-street-fighter-4/
What is hit confirming? Ive searched, and I cant find a solid answer, just a bunch of people talking over my head.
hit confirming - seeing something hit, then following it up. prolly not the true technical term
for example: i do c mp with balrog. i see it hits, so i know i can combo into a headbutt
not hit confirming would be like doing the c mp then the headbutt regardless if it hits or not. this isn’t safe and can be punished.
simply put, using a move that has a relatively large window for canceling/linking into another move. you can throw it out, see it if hits before you do the next (mostly likely risky) move.
e.g. ken’s c.mp in 3s. as long as you buffer the 2xQCF during the c.mp, you can decide to hit kick depending on whether or not your opponent blocked or got hit by the c.mp. in other words, you have enough time during their hit stun to decide whether or not to super, and still have it connect.
e.g.2, chun’s c.mk in 3s. not a link, but a very late cancel. you can throw out c.mk, buffer 2xQCF, and if you see it hit, cancel into her super. if it whiffs or they block it, you won’t super.
it’s a technique that can make a character very powerful because you can see if it’s safe to continue what would otherwise be a punishable combo on block. of course you have to have some amount of good reflexes to pull it off – hit stun or cancelable frames don’t last forever.
although usually used for a single move, the idea of hit confirm may also apply to a chain of hits:
e.g. ken’s c.lkx3 in 3s. c.lk is a relatively fast move, and there is no way anyone could hit confirm off of just one single c.lk. that’s why you do three – you see whether or not the first one hits, and while your brain is processing that info, you buffer two more hits before you finally cancel into the super. otherwise, if it wasn’t for hit confirming, the scaling done by those c.lk would be avoided.
**MOVE PRIORITY.
Is there a golden rule for move priority while two characters are in the air? like does a light kick beat a hard kick, does a hard punch beat a light kick? is there a rule like this? i cant seem to find the info anywhere?**
There is no such thing as priority. It’s just a vague notion derived from other properties of the moves. Such as: Startup frames, Active frames, Recovery frames, Invincible frames, hit-boxes, and/or hitable-boxes.
A jumping light kick may beat a hard kick because the light kick has less startup and hits the hard kick before the hard kick can hit you back. But that doesn’t mean a hard kick can’t beat a light kick if you get the hard kick out early enough.
You might say a Dragon Punch has a lot of “priority” because it seems to beat out everything. But a Dragon Punch doesn’t beat out everything because it has some sort of high priority value. Dragon Punches tend to beat out other moves because it has Invincibility frames. Moves are actually whiffing through the Dragon Punch, and then the Dragon Punch hits you. But it’s still possible to beat a Dragon Punch with good timing and careful positioning of the hit-boxes. (Though it’s still probably better to just block it if you know it’s coming.)
Beneath the pretty graphics, the game is just a bunch of rectangles moving around each other.
When someone jumps over you like Vega and you’ve completed one QCF for your super/ultra do you have to do the second QCF towards his new position?
It depends on when youre crosssed up, you can do qcfx2 in one direction then delay the button press and it will flip sides automatically. The engine is leniant like that.
How do you play against grapplers? New to the game, but I don’t know what to do against throws. I was knocked down one time and upon wake-up I tried jabbing but got thrown anyways.
It’s not stupid at all. Here are some basics, and they apply to most SF games.
Command throws are throws that require a special motion to do, like half circle forward+P, or 360+P (like Zangief). If command throws are done at the same time as regular throws (forward+jab+short in SFIV), the command throw will ALWAYS win.
Similarly, super throws beat out command throws if they are done at the same time (there might be some exceptions to this in SFIV, but I am speaking generally).
If the grappler is in your face while you are waking up, and just does a command throw with proper timing, it is impossible to jab them out of it. Because their command throw is a 0 or 1 frame move, but the startup framecount for jabs would be something like 3-5 frames, so before your jab comes out you are getting thrown.
So you need to either try jumping out of it, or doing a reversal special like a dragon punch with perfect timing.
Hope that helps.
People keep talking obout mixups? or ‘my mixup game’ can someone just clarify exactly what that means?
‘mixup’ generally means an up-close guessing game that’s in your favor. although it’s not the only mixup situation, the most frequent time mixups are performed is when the opponent is getting up off the ground. a mixup is usually some combination of attack/throw/block (in the hopes of baiting a reversal). “attack” can be further subdivided into high/low mixups. your opponent is then forced to guess the appropriate response:
- reversal is a high-risk/high reward answer to attack/throw but loses to blocking
- blocking is a low risk/low reward answer to attacks, but loses to throws
- throw tech is a low risk/low reward answer to throws, but loses to attacks, and probably loses to doing nothing if your opponent is smart enough to stay outside your throw range when you’re getting up.
- poking is a high risk/low reward answer to blocking, but loses to attacks and throws
people often use a rock/paper/scissors analogy to describe mixups, but as you can see it’s really not that simple. you have multiple ways to deal with every threat your opponent possesses, and it’s up to you to judge the best one for the situation. typically this will be the lowest risk option unless you have a very solid read on the opponent or are forced to take a big risk for some other reason (e.g. you will die if you get chipped, you’re way behind on life and there’s little time left to make a comeback, etc.).
as an example, one bad habit a lot of new players have is going for an unsafe reversal every time they think their opponent will attack or throw as they’re getting up. while a reversal is high reward if successful (you get a knockdown and take control of the match), it’s also extremely high risk, as the opponent can cause you to miss a reversal with rather minimal risk to themselves (if they just block when you’re getting up, the biggest risk is that you will know they’re going to block and poke them - not really a big deal, plus poking when you’re getting up is also incredibly risky as it loses to everything else), and if you do miss, they typically get to do whatever combo they want. thus, while the reward for a successful reversal is considerable, it’s still usually not quite enough to justify the risk. typically you want to stick to the low risk/low reward options of blocking and teching throws - which is why mixups are so powerful. the player performing the mixup has a variety of low-risk/high reward options to deal damage to you, while you are forced to choose from either extremely risky or rather unrewarding actions to deal with them.
I noticed that some of the supers have slight differences based on the button pressed at the end of execution. Is there some kind of list or a thread with all those differences?
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=179213
**Apart from target combos, jabs/shorts are the only normals to cancel into each other, right?
For example, with a shoto if I’m trying to do c.sh, cr.jb xx SRK
If I do the first two inputs too quick, they’re canceling into each and thus stopping the SRK from being cancelled from the cr.jb?**
Correct. The game wont let you cancel chains. You’ll have to slow those inputs down and link them instead of chaining them.
What exactly is a reset? When both players end up standing up a solid distance apart such as at the beginning of the match, and thus the situation has been “reset”?
A reset is a marvel term, meaning you are comboing someone, but the combo is so long the damage scaling means you are getting 10% of each hit’s damage, so you space the combo out just long enough to re-combo the person for full damage.
