Hello fighters. Today I bought USF4 to see the robust multiplayer of this series. It appears though it is unforgiving. I seem not to win a single match no matter how hard I try. Seems like I can’t block even the most simple attacks and the enemy conbos seem to be linking to one another leaving me to block all the time with no time for attacks or throws.
I have seen posts though that this is absolutely normal and that even with one year experience you can get pwned.
My question is, on what level is winning a viable goal (after getting better of course) and what is a normal winrate for new players if there is any
BTW if one wants to train me or give me tips, PM me here for steam (Abel Main)
Abel is a VERY tough choice for a beginner. One of the toughest. Doesn’t have a mashable reversal to rely on, for one. Are you hellbent on using him or would you be willing to switch to a somewhat more forgiving character while learning the game? 0-48 sounds normal to me. I started playing SFIV on release, basically, and I have consistently been kind of murdering online, but you were late to the party which makes things very different.
To generalise, I’d say you need at least a couple of hundred hours played to get to a somewhat decent level (one where you basically win half of the matches online). The process will be sped up dramatically if you watch and analyze a lot of high-level matches, learn stuff about your character here on Shoryuken (frame traps and things like that) and play against good players. (Chances are if they are TOO good you won’t be getting a lot of time to practise offense, but at least you’ll build up a good defense.)
I`ve got 600 hours clocked in on Steam and around 200 on PS3 over a period of 3 years and I still suck, hard. Consistency is the key to get better. Can’t play the game for 3 month straight, quit for 6-12 month, come back and expect to get good. I feel it’s a good idea to spend a lot of time in training mode, practicing all the stuff that you can’t do consistently and play a few online matches in between.
When you lose a match, check the replay to see what you couldn’t deal with, then go to training room and recreate the situation and experiment with your options.
If you keep your training regime smart and consistent, you can become a good player relatively quickly.
Dunno what a normal winrate is. I think when I started I had like 20% winrate and right now I’m at around 40%.
I’m an incredibly lazy and scrubby asshole though, so don’t take me for the average. xD
It’s not so much about winrate though. There’s stuff in the game that can make you proud of yourself and show you that what you’re doing is not in vain.
For example, half a year ago I couldn’t even fadc properly and now I’m back to the game playing about an hour per day since Ultra release and now I can do 50 hit fadc combo loops in training mode no problem and I’m able to cr.lp>cr.lp>hp.srk>fadc>Ultra 1 with my Ken in online matches.
When you’re new to fighting games, I feel it’s important to set yourself different goals then just winning, 99 percent of the time you’re actually playing and not winning or losing and that’s where the fun should come from. Getting better, training hard and learning how to control your character like you actually want, playing mindgames and forcing your will on your opponent, is incredibly satisfying and winning is just a byproduct of that.
i am not a pro and what i write down there is just based on my little experience which i have.
you might want to try out yang.
he has a similar move like abels roll where you can go trough fireballs and on the other site of the opponent with i think even the same inputs.
he has a command grab like abel which i am right now not so sure what you can make out of it
he has a hit move which you can extend to a 3 hit move, same thing which abel has but of course not with its reach.
he seems to be at least from the moves itself the only one who is kind of similar to abel even when you play both a different way.
Abel is a bit hard to use or might be hard to use, since he doesn´t have an easy mashable reversal, slower walkspeed, situational anti airs. It is important that you know, how to use his stepkick and rolls, otherwise you play him less effective.
Easier character with a similar moveset? Even while he is has grappler traits, nobody of the grapplers is really like him, so you have to look for rushdown characters, who have command grabs. Makoto is quite similar to him, but very hard to use. Fei and Yang are easier to use and have command grabs, rekkas(3-Hit moves), but they don´t work like Abel.
Yang has some similar moves, but he has faster walkspeed, slower startup for his cmd grab(His command grab doesn´t knockdown manually, you need to do a combo after it), better footsies and a divekick. The roll move does actually some damage, where the roll of Abel doesn´t deal damage, but can dodge some attacks. Abel has stronger mixups, after a knockdown than Yang.
Fei would be also an option, since a 3hit move, a command grab and a wheel kick like move(Chicken wing or how you call it).
I think that I forgot something to say, but I don´t know what, so just ask again, if you want.
If you’re new to a fighting game, any fighting game, you should really spend the majority of the time in training mode rather than online multiplayer. Then you should progress into playing arcade mode applying what you learned from training mode. When you start feeling comfortable at beating arcade mode at harder settings then try for online mode.
I dont know how you are using arcade mode but it did nothing but help me in the earlier days of SF4. Arcade mode can be utilized to practice proper spacing, hit confirming, punishing, practicing execution under “pressure,” ect.
IMO people who rush straight to online will learn nothing but bad habits. Whenever I play a new game, my training regime consist of 60% training mode 30% arcade mode to utilize what I learned and make sure I have it down as muscle memory then the remaining 5-10% is either offline/online with live opponent.
Was teaching a guy online and he said that he can land combos all day in training mode but as soon as he goes online he cant do them. Thats called inexperience under pressure. Playing in arcade mode, implementing hit confirms into combos can help a lot.
So I dont know how you’re getting bad habits unless you already had them in the first place.
I agree with this, arcade mode can actually help beginners, especially in terms of playing under (some) pressure and learning how to execute their combos in an actual match setting. There are definitely some bad habits you can pick up by playing the CPU; however, things like lvl 3 focus on wakeup, neutral jump punishes, etc are easy ways to exploit the cpu when you get behind. With abel, for example, you can TT dash xx LK roll TT to infinity on most of the CPU cast. So its up to the player to discipline themselves not to use these exploits. That said, spending time in training mode and playing against the CPU is a good way to start before jumping into online.
Also to answer the op, 50 games without a win is absolutely normal for someone with little or no fighting game experience. I recommend reading the beginner threads here, as well the basic stuff in the wiki guide just to get more familiar with the mechanics of the game. Also, try and catch some streams of high level play (socal and east coast weekly’s, yogaflame24’s youtube channel) to keep you motivated…and so you can jack godlike tech. Finally, when you get past learning combos and setups and blockstrings and options selects and im-just-gonna-do-my-thing-all-the-time-fdjakfldasjeljesafjasldjsa-else and you want to learn to play some street fighter watch this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQQCan5oo90
Im gonna end this wall o text by telling you to stick with abel. Abel is a great character to start with if you can get past the initial frustration, because it forces you to learn other wakeup options other than reversal DP, and playing him will train you to anti-air effectively at various ranges with different moves (cr.MK, st.HP, cr.HP, EX falling sky). Basically, Abel handicaps you in a way that requires you learn some defensive fundamentals. Good luck, stick with it.
If you use arcade mode, don’t allow yourself to rely on the “reads” that you use to beat the AI. Things like wakeup Ultra, mashed DP, even wakeup throws, it feels like 90% of the time the AI will run into it for no reason. Thing like this won’t happen against even online noobs. You can use it to practice hit confirms in a semi-match setting though.
