Thought I’d write up a quick post of things I think many people neglect to utilize when playing Cody, many of which I’m sure you know about them but I just feel it’s worth reminding people to use them!
#1 - FAR HP as an anti air or early preemptive attack to prevent jumping.
Any match you don’t feel you need to be keeping Zonk charged consistently is a match you should consider utilizing far HP more for anti airing. It covers a range where B+MP doesn’t reach and far HK is uncomfortably slow for reaching. In addition it reaches up higher than far HK does and does more damage than any other anti air normal Cody has. Simply put, this is a move everyone should be using more than nobody is doing so.
#2 - F+MP with an OS for on whiff. F+MP is a good tool for meaties/pressure AND has a fast enough recovery to be used for OSes. At only 12F recovery you can do OS Ultra 2 or OS MK Ruffian and catch a lot of people trying to backdash or jump away. You don’t have to OS using only lights!
#3 - HK Ruffian - FADC - Zonk. This combo builds more meter and does more damage than HK Ruffian - FADC - F+HK. In addition it is possible to do this combo even without precharging! clsHP (hold button) - crMP - HK Ruffian - FADC - let go of HP will combo a level 1 zonk. That combo does 11 more damage (after scaling) than F+HK and builds you 26 more meter (F+HK builds you 42 meter in that combo while Zonk builds you 68 meter. 68 meter is more than you build on a RAW F+HK) You can even combo EX Criminal Upper after the zonk in this situation. The 99 juggle usage on zonk is ONLY if it’s the first hit in a juggle (E.G. clsHP - Zonk = no more combos. clsHP - HK Ruffian - FADC - Zonk = same juggle usages a HK Ruffian - FADC - F+HK) [NJ HP - FMP - sMP - crHP - HK Ruffian - FADC - Level 3 Zonk - EX Criminal Upper = 489 damage!]
#4 - crLP - crLP - crMP - HK Ruffian - HK Ruffian in the corner as a BNB. If you can recognize your opponent is standing after crLP - crLP - crMP then canceling into HK Ruffian while the opponent is in the corner will net you a higher damage, and more meter gaining combo. crLP - crLP - crMP - HK Ruffian - HK Ruffian will do 218 damage 310 stun and the HK Ruffian - HK Ruffian ender will build you 92 meter compared to the 37meter you gain for a HP Criminal Upper finish. In addition on some characters it’s even possible to do HK Ruffian - MK Ruffian which jumps the damage up to 236! Almost 20% more than the crLP - crLP - crMP - HP CU combo that does 200 damage. (Also on Ryu and a few others you can do clsHP - crMP - HK Ruffian - MK Ruffian MID SCREEN for 331 damage and a ton of corner carry compared to the 288 damage of sHP - crMP - HP Criminal Upper)
#5 - Kara Zonk Knuckles are possible to do by hitting MK or HK 1F before releasing the zonk. It’s a bit difficult to master but you can increase the range on a zonk knuckle from 11 to almost 13 training blocks by doing a HK Kara zonk That’s nearly 15% more range. Given Cody’s limited mobility that can really help.
Try and incorporate some of these things into your game and see how they help!
#1 Good point, although I find myself getting counter-hit pretty frequently when trying to AA with far hp. Combination of online + lack of reactions maybe, but it’s not as forgiving as b.mp. #3 I do this all the time. You can get the necessary charge starting with c.hp xx hRK only if you don’t fancy the link or you’re playing against one of the chars c.hp c.mp xx hRK doesn’t work on. #4 Very true. That char specific midscreen combo is very good to know. It works off c.lp c.lp c.mp xx hRK and cl.mp c.mp xx hRK too.
another important tip: Don’t get too frame trap happy. Establish your throw game. I always see a lot of codys forgetting to throw. Your opponent won’t press buttons if you are never going to throw them
I’m not too sure about using the Standing fierce as an anti air. I find myself getting counter hitted a lot when using trying to anti air with it purely base off reaction. It works if you are preemptively sniffing out far jump ins but standing house goes further and does a better job at it. I just don’t think standing normals should be used to protect your head because while standing your head is vulnerable throughout the entire startup frames.
For close jump ins back mp works perfect but for jump ins at the medium range - far range where back mp might not connect, I think Crouching fierce is the much better option. It lowers cody’s hurtbox lower than that of standing fierce and roundhouse, has a much better hitbox, and comes out faster both of them.
The thing about using far HP for anti airing is that most of you don’t use it much so you aren’t used to when / where you need to be hitting the button.
The biggest advantage to anti airing with far HP is that even if it trades 120 is on the top end of jump ins so the trade is about equal.
The hitbox shown in that image is only active for 1F and appears on the last active frame of crHP. Before that the hitbox looks like this:
Which as you can see is still a very good hitbox but not one ideal for anti airing.
You shouldn’t be EXCLUSIVELY using far HP. But it’s a good button to switch up your anti airs which makes people hesitant to jump from different distances or heights.
Hmmm, never thought about using far. HP much. I’ll look into adding that in my gameplay. As for not being frame-trap happy, I’m still working on getting out of that habit.
Was really surprised that midscreen combo worked. It seems to be very hit/miss of landing it. Is it spacing dependent? who else besides ryu does it work on? Also kara zonks are hard as fuck lmao. Don’t think I can ever be consistent with that
You have to be pretty close to Ryu for it to work. Obviously it also works on Ken. I’m not sure who all it works on mid screen but it works on a handful in the corner.
I agree that most Cody players should use far standing fierce more not only as a AA but as a far ground whiff punish button against certain moves. It’s quick and fast for a heavy button and seeing it hit hurts and feels good. Very good AA option.
i’ll also add 1 to the frame trap happy stuff. Establish a throw game and see what they do from that. If they’re teching throws, do a few more and start throwing in some frame traps when they catch on to test them. If you don’t condition them to break throws, you’re not threatening them to push a button. Throwing is free damage + knockdown + gets the opponent flustered because of the past 2 situations. So they’ll get angsty and want to push a button. Just make sure to mix up your frame trap buttons.
Found a new possible tip for people that I knew about before but hadn’t fully explored.
Cody’s backdash can be canceled into specific moves on 23F. In addition when canceling on 23F his backdash distance INCREASES by 13%.
You can cancel the recovery of Cody’s back dash into any move that is subject to the “Reversal” cancel option.
This means:
Any special move (except Fake badstone)
Super
Ultra 1 or 2
And most importantly: Focus attack
So for instance say you do Criminal Upper - EX FADC - Backdash. You are at -9F in that situation and many characters will try to punish you with a sweep. But if you cancel the recovery of your backdash with ANOTHER focus attack (no meter cost, it’s just a regular focus) you’re technically at -6F and any sweep 7F or slower will get absorbed by the focus attack and you can land a crumple.
Of course this is a risk vs special moves performed as reversals as they are natural armor breakers. But it’s worth exploring!
It can also be done with specials too so you can EX Zonk cancel the recovery of a backdash for instance or EX Criminal Upper and potentially beat a punish attempt on your BD.
I’m just gonna add my thoughts on matches that greatly helps Cody out.
Abel - 3f mashable cr.jab to beat out abel step kick options on block. Also helps Cody’s footsies and poke options.
Zangief/Hakan - no reason to NOT try and pick up the knife at least once. Rocks still work but Cody can challenge their normals and jump ins a little better with knife.
Vega - This match is already hard enough and slow. Knife again, helps increase your footsie and poking options.
If you’re struggling and rocks doesn’t cut it, pick up the knife and try it. No one does that now and it’s probably hurting their game more than it should.
