I think Abel will probably be more suited as the second character, mainly because he doesn’t really have a good way to tag in your partner besides the regular launcher. That’s not a bad thing but the more options, the better is how I see it (for your point character).
Also I think 2nd CoD low bounds/ground bounces. I didn’t test it yet so I’m not too sure, but it may be of use when Abel is tagged in. edit: maybe it was 3rd low, i forgot and I’m not home. =p
Abel feels really weird in this game. Going to have to get used to his new playstyle.
Is anyone else having weird whiff situations with Tornado Throw and/or have tips to help prevent accidental whiffing? Occasionally I see Abel literally grab -through- someone for no apparent reason so I’m a bit at a loss. I didn’t really play Abel in SSF4, so I don’t know how reliable it was there.
hit stun is longer in a lot of situations so whiffing is easier.
As for people complaining about lack of abel damage…
fwd mk combos (all of these are after step kick dash)
meterless:
cr.lk, cr.lp,cr.mp (link), CoD: 275 dmg
cr.lp, cr.mp (link), CoD: 278 dmg
cr.mp, CoD :281 dmg (1 frame link)
st.hp, CoD: 289 dmg
1 bar
st.mp (2 hits), st.hp (1 hit), ex shoulder, cr.hp (2 hits), falling sky: 378 dmg [standing opponents only]
st.mp (2 hits), st.hp (1 hit), ex shoulder, j.hp, cr.hp (2 hits), falling sky :413dmg [standing opponents only]
cr.lp, cr.mp, cr.hp (1 hit), ex shoulder, j.hp, st.hp (1 hit), falling sky: 355 dmg
cr.lp, cr.mp, cr.hp (2 hits), wait, ex shoulder, j.hp, st.hp (1 hit), falling sky: 370 dmg [after recovery of cr.hp. not a cancel]
cr.mp, cr.hp (2 hits), wait, ex shoulder, j.hp, st.hp (1 hit), falling sky: 415 dmg [after recovery of cr.hp. not a cancel. 1 frame link for cr.mp]
st.mp(2 hits), cr.hp (1 hit), ex shoulder, j.hp, st.hp, falling sky: 395 dmg
st.mp(2 hits), cr.hp (1 hit), ex shoulder, j.hp, cr.hp (2 hits), falling sky: 413 dmg
Bonus combo - non step kick, non meter punisher (not really practical)
cr.hp, shoulder dash cancel, cr.hp falling sky: 308 dmg
more practical- CH on crouching opponent
meterless: close st.hk (ground bounce), cr.hp (2 hits), falling sky: 330 dmg
1 ex: close st.hk (ground bounce), cr.hp (1 hit), ex shoulder, falling sky: 364 dmg
abel tagged in combos
meterless:
cr.hp, falling sky
cr.hp shoulder
cr.hp CoD
1 bar
cr.hp (1 hit), ex shoulder, cr.hp, falling sky
There are others but at this point I’m kinda tired typing.
Point is, all of these were excluding jump ins or impractical start ups (unless so stated). I asked earlier why some considered this kind of damage not good for day one. Still haven’t gotten a response. This is REALLY good damage. Combine that with what was always great poke (st.lk) now leading to a full tag combo and you have a potentially very strong character.
from what I’ve seen a lot of chars can do 500 for one bar. you can do more with Abel just by tagging in your other char.
other chars can OS their pokes into much nicer things too. dunno about abel in this game.
This is the second time you’ve stated that without cited examples from “a lot”.
Then again you also previously stated:
"abel seems like he’ll be opening people up like crazy. footsie monster "
Which I will agree with.
I like having Abel on point because at no time does he have an issue getting in 
(far s.lk-c.mk-c.hp, EX Shoulder, j.hk, s.hp (f+mk~dash first if in the corner) xx Falling Sky is ridiculous as a footsies punish >.>
Plus he has so many links that he can combo off of. He seems to have no issue opening people up because if they do decide to block, TT. Yaye.
The more I use step kick dash, the less I like it. Hrm. =/
After close.HK CH on crouching you can actually do
step kick dash x2 close HP (1 hit) xx hp falling sky for 378
Also his alpha counter is his Ex roll, this is pretty amazing since you can block multihit safe moves like Ex messiah, Ex rolling crystal or patriot circle, get to the other side and punish.
I’ve been using Abel in this game, and here’s my thoughts:
I think step kick is actually even beastlier in this game. On hit, it’s the easiest hit confirm into cr.hp. The best one I’ve found is step kick, st.mp, cr.hp. There’s a lot of options there; if you’re willing to spend some meter, you can use EX shoulder after the cr.hp, and go into a real high damaging combo, or you can tag cancel in your partner to continue the combo after the cr.hp. Some good shit.
Also stepkick into st.hp (also ten times easier in this game) is great because it give you time to tag cancel and continue the combo! Just remember to tag cancel on the first hit.
St.lk is amazing for footsies but I’m sure you all know that, easy hit confirm into launcher.
There is some interesting applications for Abels charge move, it’s not the quickest, but you can do a string of jabs and as long as you’re holding charge, cancel into breathless charge > forward dash tt/etc…keeps things interesting and could have some great mindgame applications, especially in the corner.
Abel breathless is gold, because it destroys jump ins, and also is great if you’re scouting a tag…more so if you have the opponent in the corner, you can just sit and hold it out until he does something silly. Smart players of course won’t raw tag recklessly, but it’s something to keep in mind against people desperate to get out.
Abel and King is definitely team swag, you can get some great combos with them
I’ve seen desk to step kick x 3 into st.hp < falling sky after a launcher…but it’s very difficult to do. The best and easiest swag combo I found after a launcher: Step kick, st.lk, step kick, st.hp > falling sky
Probably not optimal but it’s pretty sexy. Step kick > st.hp > falling sky is probably your best bet.
Oh yeah I found out today, that Abel can do cr.hp > charge cancel into forward dash, and continue the combo! It’s pretty cool, but probably quite hard to land because it’s a charge super…I can see why it is a charge move now, haha.
I prefer using s.lk to hit confirm into c.hp, EX Shoulder as opposed to launcher
Here’s some Abel + King stuff, mostly over the top flashy, but hopefully you get some ideas:
[media=youtube]O9bl5I4CIjY[/media]
I keep forgetting that you can do s.short into cr.fierce, which leads into stupid stuff.
So basically, with Abel, I’m not looking for those hefty mix-ups, but instead, I’m looking to deal stupid amounts of damage. And I agree, Abel’s better off as my second character (behind Ken).
Just read in the guide that Stepkick is -1 on block now instead of +1???
That seems like a huge change to me, at least my playstyle…can’t keep pressure on them after I get in with hit
totally sweet setup though I just read from the strategy guide: on Counter hit, abel’s overhead(close HK) causes a ground bounce if the opponent was crouching…you can then cl.fp cancel into falling sky, totally sweet
remember too you can charge to yellow flash then cancel to guarantee a counter hit state for that next normal
cool trick
Emphasis are going to be on forcing them to block, because Abel’s close s.hp is still 4f which will stuff/trade other people. TT doesn’t do that much damage (140, 150, 160, compared to normal throw 130, though EX is 200) but it still leads to oki.
After tag in off of launcher he should be doing f+mk~f, dash, f+mk~f, dash, close s.hp xx HP Skyfall
Mh I like Abel so much here, in the lab… thinking about some OS with the charged move/super arts it’s viable.
He have simple and not bad damaging tag combo and this is good because (imho) reduced the risk of doing it wrong and fail something in the process.
There are just one things truly unacettable (imho, at least), the wheel kick really sucks now, the new animation have tons of frame and start grounded… what a fail :\ the other change are reasonable or at least debatable (bye bye souless, no more cr.HP anti air ._. and it’s was awesome the return on AE2012, farewell too on throw invincible normal TT).
Working on him \o/ let’s have fun guys.
huh??? His Tornado THrows aren’t throw invincible?
Nope. LP version should out-range throws though.
Abel + Kuma combos…these guys have nice synergy. You can use step kick into standing fierce > tag cancel similar to FADC in sf4, leading to massive damage, pretty easy to hit confirm, over 450 at least with one bar with this team.
[media=youtube]EBqpGElR15s[/media]