I created this so I could possible get some more insight on using defense in this game. I feel like I am decent enough on the offensive side but I need work defensively.
I know of most the obvious things like advancing guard and what not, but was wondering if anyone has any tips I could use to develop my game. At the moment I am using wesker or wolverine/dante/akuma. Thanks!
To be honest…“Advanced Defense” is kind of an oxymoron in this game. The heavy slant towards offense (and your teams want to avoid being defensive at all costs), makes it that having an advanced defense is having an air-tight, suffocating and ruthless offense. However, in the spirit of community, here are some things that seem to work for me.
Dodging and moving out of potential “setups” is probably the most important aspect of keeping yourself safe. For example, if someone is pressuring you into the corner, it is important to know all the ways you can get out of that situation. While universal options include dashing under a jumping opponent and (super) jumping over a grounded opponent, it’s important to keep track of character specific options you have as well. As a Doom player, I know that I can do a photon shot and then immediately do a foot dive to try and get to other side of the screen if I feel I’m too close to the corner or Sentinel players will do a Hard drive.
1.5) Avoid the corners (with your back to them) at all costs as not only does it mean hard-hitting combos that will most likely K.O. your characters, but it also means you’ll have to deal with harsh mix-ups when you are incoming. I would argue it is almost always better to burn a meter on a hyper simply to make space and get out the corner safely as opposed to trying to block through it to try and make space with AG.
Know the strengths of given teams. If you see Dorm backed up by Mags, know your opponent wants to do teleport beam mixups on you. If you see Hulk backed up by Wesker, be prepared for the high-lows. If you see Morrigan backed by Doom, get on her and don’t let her set up AV with missiles. If you see Thor backed by MODOK, know that he wants to cut of space with barrier and go for command throws. If you know what your opponent is trying to do to you, then you’ll have a better chance of surviving it instead of figuring it out once they’ve tried their setups on you.
Know what is a guaranteed punish, a situational punish, and safe (we’ll keep DHC and X-factor out of this since anything can be made safe with these). For example, if someone does Hulk’s Gamma Charge and the :l: (“ONE MORE”) follow-up, it is a situational punish because they can cancel into Gamma Crush and it will tag you for high damage if you stick out a move. Gamma Crush is a guaranteed punish so if someone is Gamma Crush cancel happy (maybe they caught you once), it may be better to wait for them to run out of meter (or better yet, do side-exchanges to attack their meter) and then punish it safely. However, as a Task player, it is a near guarantee punish since I can just Counter Hyper the Gamma Crush Hyper on reaction to the flash. Knowing your options in these sort of common occurrences will make your defense better by shutting down options for your opponent.
Master X-factor canceling (blocking an enemy attack) into a character killing combo. This is a very important option because it means that you can at least take out one character of your opponent in a near guaranteed situation unless they are willing to burn X-factor. This can be especially rewarding in 1 v 1 situations if you still have X-factor and your opponent doesn’t or if your opponent’s team revolves around one character.
Be wary of resets at ALL times, even the improvised drop combo ones as you went from having a chance of surviving to being killed.
Know which lock down assists are true blockstrings and which ones aren’t. For example if you are blocking sent drones assist and your opponent’s point jumps over you, it will be a cross-up since Sent drones are not a true blockstring. To counter this you have to AG the sent drones to keep yourself in blockstun. Another assist would be R.R. gun shot for example. Also, if someone has high-low potential on you while being locked down by an assist, chicken block and AG the lock down assist in the air to keep yourself in the air, negating the high-low.