Wow you guys are now trying to justify the useless close st.lk “buff”? That’s how desperate Gief players are now lol. I don’t blame you guys since anything positive for him seems like a miracle. It’s not a buff, the move is useless and we all know it’s useless.
See. Every change has to have a reason. They just don’t spell it out for you.
What they tell you: X’s move is now 2 more frames recovery.
What they don’t tell you: It’s because of H, that we’ve done this change. Matchup X vs H is now more manageable blah blah blah.
I’m curious as to what it’s cancellability is - does it chain? And I’m even more curious as to, WHY CHANGE IT NOW? Doesn’t make any sense, but hopefully its for a good reason. Cause you don’t just wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and go, what the heck.
say you are fishing for an o-s s.lk lpgh vs. fuerte doing run forward stop or makoto forward dash…sometimes at bad distances you get the cs.lk and derp derp, but since now it can cancel, it’s all good.
if you os in cs.lk distance you are doing it wrong
^ He means characters that can cover distance quickly. If you try to time it with a fs.LK you can get cs.LK instead because they got too close too fast. I still think it’s a worthless buff tho since, even though it only comes out a certain distance, it can still whiff. It’s just a bad normal and that buff is a really shitty band-aid, just like st.FP knocking down (though there’s some limited use for that normal).
that’s why I said vs a move like makoto forward dash. Like when you’re trying to ch her forward step kick, but instead she goes for dash command grab, sometimes you get the cs.lk into oh what just happened.
If far HP was a few frames faster, it would be viable after far LP’s +6 on hit. Much like the current reseting into cr.hk if they jump out.
It would be better as far HP is -3 on block and could juggle into EXGH if they jumped. But not anymore in Ultra, with EXGH’s 16 frame startup. That’s going to kill the far HP EXGH juggle and make everything harder, trade Lariat etc
You can whiffpunish cammy s.rh with gief s.hp.
Its better to have c.slk as a cancleable move, than not. Even though I dont sreally see the big wooohoo, about it 
Hi All, After thinking for a while, I have a theory as to why: Close Standing LK is now cancellable.
And it’s because of Ultra SF4, more specifically, to do with Red Focus.
Recall that Zangief’s bread and butter is cr.lp. cr.lp. st.lk xx LPGH.
On hit of the combo, there is push back of that combo, and you will most likely get far LK - and thus cancel into LPGH.
However, if an opponent decides to red focuses that combo string, they absorb the hits, and there is no push back.
Without the push back, you won’t be far enough, and the useless close standing LK comes out and and your Russian ass is cooked by Red Focus.
It doesn’t have to occur from the bread and butter combo, but other variants like cr.lp. st.lk. st.lk xx LPGH, or even cr.lp. st.lk xx LPGH.
I think its more of an issue with two hit stings into LPGH.
Thus, my theory is close standing LK being cancellable is to allow us to cancel into SPD, or the safer option of EX AS or EX SPD - done on reaction to red focus.
I see it as some kind of safeguard against Red Focus, especially against Level 2 that crumples. It won’t be as useful against characters that have a fast EX Red Focus that crumples at Level 1.
I mean, you could combo with cr.lk, but standing LK just has more versatility.
Now we have to buff EX Running Bear Grab, so that it can act as a natural counter to Red Focus.
Latest Gief changes for USFIV
- Close standing light kick is now special, focus, red focus and super cancellable.
- Far standing medium punch hurtbox increased. Hurtbox now appears in front of him from the first frame.
- Far standing medium kick is now -3 frames on hit, instead of -7 frames. -7 frames on block, instead of -10 frames.
- Angled jump heavy punch hurtbox slightly increased.
- Light Spinning Piledriver range changed to 1.70 from 1.75.
- Light Banishing Flat now has 8 frames startup instead of 11 frames. Hit advantage is now -3 frames instead of -5 frames. It is now -8 frames on block instead of -7 frames.
- Medium Banishing Flat now has 11 frame startup instead of 13 frames. It is now -6 on block instead of -8.
- Heavy Banishing Flat now has 14 frames startup instead of 16 frames. it is now -6 on hit instead of -7, and -7 on block instead of -9.
So LP Green hand is -3 on hit, does this mean it is still not safe on hit? I mean it can be punished by a regular throw o a 3 frame normal?
It’s still unsafe. That “buff” does absolutely nothing. Throw, 3f DP, 3f normal…every char in the game has a punish for it.
SPD range from 1.70 to 1.75… isn’t that no change at all?
Its 1.75 to 1.70, and thats half of the increase from super. So its kind of a big deal.
The fact is we won’t be able to punish certain things now with spd like before. That’s a gigantic loss for us but it was expected.
For example, Blanka & Rose’s blocked slide 
You can no longer punished them with LSPD
It is a gigantic loss for certain matchups such as above
you cant punish those anyways, spaced slides ftw lol
cr.LP into green hand will probably punish them.
That sucks though.
Yup, then we get dp’d, thrown, ultra’d, etc lol. It’s a lose lose for us. Awesome!
Exactly. But you could try to YOMI their getaway vehicle. Now with a shorter LP SPD range, its made their spacing more forgiving. And makes it easier for them, in that regard.