I will second the notion that this is a pretty unexpected buff for abel… fs damage is definitely higher, check out that sagat vid… I wouldn’t be surprised if this is lowered a little before release though. I think this is too bad as I would like to see upgrades to his less-used moves rather than his staples. Such as a wheel kick with faster start up or a useful way to apply kick versions of his COD combo.
If you’re judging it off a Sagat video, keep in mind people were saying Sagat seemed to have less health in that build.
I can’t really imagine they would buff Abel’s damage on falling sky. Seems like such an out-of-left-field change.
I haven’t noticed on any of the vids, but does wheel kick have knock down?
If it does holy shit that would be amazing ( and probably OP), that’s honestly one of the few things I was hoping for with abel
We still need some useful use for COD kicks like MrHits said. They are very rarely used and are so vulnerable when used.
i disagree about falling sky they definatly should change the ex version to an anti air,people feel too comfortable neutral jumping on abel for wake up this add more whiffed TT and grabs plus more mind games which leave you back on the floor again for another go at him, i feel abel gets over punished on wake up.also his roll needs to be fixed his ex version should have invincibility frames plus he should be able to ex cancel at the end of his roll where he is vunrable at the end of his roll,plus make all his special attacks safe and he will be balanced not top tier
If your opponent feels comfortable neutral jumping on you… that’s your fault. Abel can deal with that as it is. It only gets difficult when they jump with neutral jump meaties, and EX FS wouldn’t be those, regardless of what they did to the move, because your opponent could just safe jump it easily, anyway.
Abel doesn’t need a buff for anti-air. Abel has great anti-air as it is… it’s just not great if you’re lazy.
he has good anti airs but not on wake up!this is only vs some characters though like chun for example,plus they need to fix wheel kick and his roll,make it fast so that is hard to grab on wake up
Abel needs a weakness somewhere. His options after knocking someone else down are disgusting, unless the other guy has a good teleport. He should have problems when he gets knocked down himself… otherwise he’d be OP
You’re missing my point.
Abel can already deal with all anti-air situations, if played properly. The only ones that he can’t deal with well, are the same situations that nobody in SF4 can really deal with well, except Shotos. The meaty jump-ins on wake-up, are the same meaty jump-ins that Sagat has to take, just like Abel does. They are easier to time in SF4 against Abel, than Sagat, since Abel doesn’t have a strong reversal move, but even if they gave Abel a 5-frame start-up, invincible anti-air, just like Tiger Uppercut, people would just learn the timing to safe jump it, and Abel would be no better off than he is now.
If you get knocked down, you’re gonna have to deal with pressure. That’s just a reality of the game. Abel has to deal with it… Chun has to deal with it… Sagat has to deal with it. There is very little difference between the pressure Sagat has to deal with on wake-up, and the pressure Abel has to deal with. At the highest levels of play, there’s almost no difference at all.
My small list.
1 - 4 frame crouching jab. So you can deal with tick throws without being risky with TT.
2 - First attack of COD have advantage on block or Neutral on block for all strengths but ex.
3 - Make Ex FS work as an anti-air (5 frames of invincible start-up)
4 - Make second hit of Cr. Fierce more likely to hit as anti air
5 - Either make Forward Forward, dash in st. Fierce hit everyone crouching, or have forward forward, dash-in mp link w/o counter hit.
6 - Have one of Abel’s normals beat Geif’s st. Strong consistently. That move is dumb as fuck in that match-up.
7 - Have cr. Fierce xx Ultra work on everyone in the corner. There is no legit reason it doesn’t.
Also, juicebox had a good idea about the last hit of COD have different properties (P for damage, K for Oki), that would be fucking awesome.
If you want this game to be more offensive minded, you have to give people real reason to want to score a knockdown. As HAV said, vortexing Sagat is pretty easy despite his top-tier-ness, and vortexing Abel is also easy. Giving Abel a free out in almost all situations is going against the very principle that people want for this game: more offensive pressure. Abel already gets a free out if your opponent doesn’t throw (or OS throw). That’s pretty strong.
So many people want SSF4 to be more offensive, but they don’t understand that in order to make that happen, you’re going to have to put up with a ton of crap of defense, or when waking up. Giving everyone better reversals just makes no one ever want to attack.
as far as abels new ultra goes i hope its a grab because ppl would think twice before jabbing you out of one if his mixup like cr.hp> roll>cr.lp>roll…can u imagine the possibilities?
Sorry if this has been pointed out already (I checked the last 6 pages or so to double check but don’t have time to read all of them atm) but a couple little things I noticed from the videos that are available are that wheel kick seems to come out a little faster and whiffed TT seems to have less lag. At first I thought that was really cool but then I wasn’t really sure it would make a very significant difference (though I guess it’s better for there not to be drastic changes). It’s hard to confirm whether these are actually true though as it’s just videos and it might not even be the same in the final build, but I’m by no means a high-level player and I was wondering what everyone else thought about it or whether it could be confirmed/denied.
Faster wheel kick would be quite nice… less whiff time on TT is good enough I guess but unless you go for dumb jab TTs all the time its not a big deal as it stands. Fierce TT is pretty safe for a grab as good as it is
1 - you shouldn’t be mashing out of tick throws because good players have practiced the timing and made their setups normal-mash-proof. all you are doing is giving up a free throw
2 - completely OP
3 - no
4 - learn the timing because it already works great
5 - I like this one
6 - standing far light kick, crouching medium kick, f+mk to punish whiffs, standing strong. Abel has the moves, you don’t have the footsies to use them
7 - character-specific combos are nothing new in SF and there is a way to make it work on everyone
Specifically, cr. fierce in corner, rekka first hit juggle, FADC, ultra. Just in case he didn’t know 
I’m all for a faster-startup wheel kick. would add another dimension to his game… maybe lower the damage a little to compensate for the new mixup? still pulling for some kind of change to his COD kick moves
Abel is pretty solid as is. new ultra has got me hyped
i’ve never used abel, but you and hav obviously know whats up. Continue destroying bad suggestions.
i dont care about the start up, its an overhead/semi-AA that deals solid damage. The recovery is what i hate.
Id like a command grab to catch crouching opponents.
Sorry for asking this so far into the discussion, but how is Abel’s Ultra II ATM? What does it offer as opposed to Ultra I?