4 Months Of Rufus

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

After maining Rufus for 4 months here is what I’ve come to find:

I misunderstood what people meant by “rush down” character. He’s not so offensive that you can color outside the defensive core of the game, but anyone with a Reversal that’s 4 or more frames is in a very bad spot on knockdown against him. Against characters that I see *a lot *(Ryu, Ken, Seth, etc.), knockdowns are very different than if the opponent was someone like Makoto for example. The weapon of divekick ambiguity is significantly diminished by characters with 3 frame Reversals (DP, etc.). If you get Ryu into the corner, cross-up divekick high and he decides to DP, you have to block. While the hit potential of this exchange is 50/50, the risk/reward is far in favor of someone like Ken, Sagat or the aforementioned Ryu. This is because DPs can always be FADC’d into another attack (Ultra being the big “oh fuck” moment), and all we’re looking for in that scenario is a throw that would put them in another mix-up (which is not necessarily great given their 3 frame DP).

Here are some key questions I have:
[LIST]
[]I often see Ricky and Justin do a forward throw on Daigo’s Ryu, dash twice, and then divekick. Yet, EVERY SINGLE TIME Daigo never DPs.** I’ve eaten SRK here more times than I care to remember. I know that this is not a safe jump, so why does Daigo just block?** Is there something I’m missing?
[]When I get ahead against someone, should I lay back and make them come to me? I think that Rufus’ finishing power is not that great. I often see people make comebacks with him more than I see people dismantle their opponent with him.
[]Is divekick > st.lk a TRUE BLOCK STRING? I’ve got this down pat as part of his B-N-B and yet I’ll eat a mashed SRK if the person goes for it. This is even when the divekick hits very low.
[]What is Rufus’ best option-select (if any)?
[/LIST]
Thanks in advance. Feel free to tear me a new one about how wrong I am. As long as its information I can use I’m open to anything.

2

Any wake up scenario is never in favor of the person waking up. What you are saying is false, because when you are crossing them up they have to decide to either sit there and block (thus not being able to deal any damage), (o/s) throw, or commit to a reversal . Whereas Rufus can just do a late throw tech and be perfectly safe, unless the opponent decides to do a delayed reversal or something. The wake up game is always rigged in favor of the person who is on the offensive. Whoever is on the offensive is dictacting the pace of the match and has the highest chance of getting in damage.

Why you never see Daigo reversal DP is because he knows that if it gets blocked, he will eat a punish and be put into the same situation as before. A reversal is a very bad option risk/reward wise because even if it does hit, it won’t do a lot of damage unless he has meter to FADC into ultra. Granted, it does reset the neutral game and even gives Ryu the chance to go on the offensive. But the risk still outways the reward. Daigo, or any other decent player for that matter, will rather block and wait for an oppertunity to get out of pressure safely.

When the round starts, play footsies. Do some instant divekicks to gain distance, whiff some jabs, walk in and out of your opponent’s poke range, etc. After your first knockdown go for some left/right mixups if the situation allows you. If your cross up gets blocked, start to pick their brain. Look for any habits that your opponent might have. Figure out how patient they are and learn what you need to do in order for them to panic and start pressing buttons.

What I tend to do in the first round of a match, in order to learn the pacing of my opponent, is to execute my frame traps as fast as possible. And by that I mean that I will leave a very small gap in between my normals. Divekick, st.LK into st.MP or st.LK, step forward, st.LK. If they aren’t getting hit by your frametraps you can either leave larger gaps (use st.HP instead of st.MP or walk forward longer after a st.LK) in between your pokes or simply throw them. Just remember to switch up your frame traps so that your opponent can’t adjust, don’t let your opponent feel the least bit comfortable.

To answer your question regarding when being on the life advtange, there is no clear answer. It very much depends on the character you’re playing. Dictator for instance does very poorly at making comebacks when he has the life deficit. His mixups really aren’t that scary and he doesn’t do a lot of damage. But to give you some kind of idea when to be agressive and when to play more defensive is quite simple: can you be agressive at this point in time? If you’ve just landed a sweep for instance you can just cross up divekick without any real fear of eating a reversal. So by all means jump on in. But if you just messed up your messiah, FADC, ultra and got an ex snakestrike instead, don’t recklessly jump in. The neutral game has been reset, there is no reason for you to do damage if you already have the life lead. Just sit back and play some footsies, let your opponent come to you. Unless if he’s a Sagat or Sim he will have to come and get in some damage if he wants to win.