advanced tactics

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

No that we know Vega’s basic theory, how about we discuss advanced tactics.

Applying Pressure

Most of Vega vids I have seen usually don’t involve Vega applying pressure to other opponents. But Vega is capable of applying nasty pressure, especially in the corner. Once in the corner Vega can use safe jump in pressure, punish escape attempts from cornered victims with air grab, poke the opponent to death, or lock them down with footsies.

block strings

cr.lp - cr.mp
cr.lp - cr.lk
cr.lp - cr.lp - st.lk - st.lk - cr.mp/st.mk (yeah i stole it blaqskillz)
st.lk - st.lk - cr.mp/cr.hp (hp is dependent on space and character hit box)
cr.mk - cr.lp - cr.mp
cr.mk - cr.mp/cr.hp/st.rh
st.hp - cr.mp/cr.hp

Wall Diving

Wall diving is the next big thing people. I thank Sasaki for conforming this, and for DHevil for giving me the idea when he said that he grabbed Blanka out of elec a few months ago. What you do is once you knock down your opponent you meaty wall dive at him and izuna drop him. Most characters can get out of it but they need meter or teleport, and if they do escape it you cant get punished because they are recovering as you recover or you get punished for mistiming it.

This also bring up another aspect, grabbing. Grabbing is a important aspect of Vega’s game now. It shouldn’t be the whole of your game, but you should grab when you cant use cr.lp or st.lk to punish moves due to their long start up frames. Now that Vega’s Izuna Drop is easier to use, this equals multiple Izuna drops if you can get them. Another set up for the wall dive trap can be resets. For example after a successful df.rh - insert move here will reset the opponent and you can tick throw/kara throw/or bait a move to punish or throw setting up the Izuna loop again.

Option Select Throw

We all think this is a great idea, but is it really. If you option select throw a throw, chances are you will either throw a cr.lk, which sounds safe if there block string isn’t perfect, but they can either frame trap you, or you still get grabbed because the timing is much more strict for it. Your best bet when blocking strings, just wait for the grab, you got a total of 10 frames to react. 3 to see the start up animation and 7 more before you get thrown.

Ninja Mode

Patience is a virtue when playing with Vega. The last thing you need is a counter hit, that the guy was awarded because you mashed Option Select Throw, which can lead to a nasty combo that does 400+ damage. Your best bet when playing others is to simply weave in and out looking for a way in to land a bnb, and once your in stay in with block strings. When you are being chased down dash back that’s usually your best bet.

Post up any advanced strats if you guys got them.
Now go out and discuss people.

2

Oh, this is good.

New advanced ultra setups. I think his ultra is slowly gaining some influence as the top players are figuring out how to force the opponent to do something stupid, then punish.

Makoto Setup: (Thanks to Yagami for telling!)
As you knock down Sagat, position yourself at FA max range. Even if Sagat attempts a TU in this position, it will whiff. That means he will most likely backdash - this is when you cancel your FA into a backdash, and then ultra him on his backdash recovery!

Df.hk Reset Setup:
After resetting df.hk with cr.lp, charge your FA for a brief moment to lead the opponent to believing he can grab you - immediately back dash cancel the FA into Ultra and catch him on his throw whiff (or armor break attempt).

3

Don’t know if it deserves to be called advanced, but the sheer number of options available after hopping over a knocked down opponent with df.RH seems to confuse most of them.

cr.lk -> EX izuna
cr.lk -> throw
st.lk -> throw
st.lk -> j.back HP
throw
st.HP -> combo of choice
do nothing and punish reversal

I’ve ended lots of rounds by just mixing up between these and my confused opponent can do nothing.

Another thing against Ryu is that lots of the Ryus out there finish their pokestrings with a fireball. But as long as Claw has meter that isn’t safe, both ex roll and ex scarlet goes through fireballs instantly (scarlet only on startup but still works). I’m so devoted to showing Ryus that their almight blockstring isn’t safe that i usually lose just because i try to bait it and punish haha. Ah well. Guiles also tend to throw a sonic boom on wakeup, just ex scarlet through it.

4

Jup, and to those who say it can’t be hitconfirmed: It’s not true.
If you’re really down to sticking to your opponent even if he blocks, do cr.lp cr.lk to hitconfirm. If it hits, carry on with EX Walldive and repeat the crossup. If it doesn’t, kara throw or j.back HP/st. rh to punish techs.
And for you guys with master execution, you could even cr.lp cr.lk lp roll FADC cr.lp cr.lp EX Walldive or simply start your mixup AGAIN after the blocked FADC roll.

5

the best way to hit one with vega’s ultra is definitely ultra after throw tech. Or just hold on to your charge during a blockstring or intense sequence, if you just throw it out then you can be succesful.

6

i reely feel cheated playing online!..i would love to dive deeper into izuna drop stratagies but i still get reely inconsistent input lagwhich is obviosly an absolute nightmare for landing izuna! the timing is always different for me…

on another topic (and i dont know if u guys agree with me on this one) is ultra setups while being preasured in the corner…i think alot of ppl are afraid to go for an ultra in this scenario due to its crapy startup…but i have found lately that if you are patient and hold a good smart defence, that your opponent sometimes gets slopy and you can catch him with an ultra…this seems to work well because vega is already so close to the wall so the ultra startup is much shorter and i seem to be able to catch ppl quickly…alot of ppl seem to completely forget vega has an ultra and wont see it coming…also if it whiffs sometimes it will land you in a safer place out of the corner

7

This stuff doesn’t seem very advanced at all…

Baiting moves with long range FA? Izuna traps? Patiently forcing/tricking opponents into an Ultra set up? Seems like stuff that people have been doing all along… at least I have =/

I never make any use of the df.hk cross overs though. It does sound like it can bring great mix up into Vega’s game. I never really use it as a cross over into mix up, so it will be neat to see what happens.

8

Well duh,consider yourself being advanced Vega player.

9

Well i don’t know if i would call this advanced but i have been finishing with crouching heavy punch then jump back heavy punch. The jump back heavy punch doesn’t land very often but it seems safe so far even with DP’s because of the distance and catches some of the longer normals they may try. The reason for this is if they are getting up there in stun. I will do maybe a jumping heavy punch into a crouching heavy punch then jump back heavy punch if it did not stun them. Both have 200 stun so if you think your close it should work. If not you only miss a little extra damage and a possible combo if you have your claw. Its recovery is pretty lame so you should have a good idea if you want to do a jump back claw or w/e. Just something to try I guess.

I have been trying to turn my Vega into a more rush down stunning character it has been throwing people off so it could be working will have to give it more time. It has been working though I have been getting a lot more stuns.

10

well why dont you enlighten us as to your super advanced vega tactics then mr know it all!

11

oooH ooooH oooooH, I wanna ask a question I wanna ask a question. What if you bait FA, and the guy reversals a horizontal type move, HUH HUH what happens then. You see its more than it, when to bait with FA, is it worth it, do you have enough life, can you take the punish ment, etc. when to try the wall dive trap, who it works on, spacing issues.

12

I wouldn’t call Vega an advanced character to be honest.

Oh yeah, and I meaty Izuna all the time. I can usually get it to work at least twice in a row.

13

Can’t he use TK instead?

14

new use for super yay. Its not guranted but it can be killer and some people might just not expect it escpecially the aggressive happy people.

insert move xx lp.RCF xx Super

remember, this might or may most likely work if you condition your opponent that your block strings involve lp.RCF and thank to the mechanics of SF 4 you can hold it of intull the first roll hits then finish the animation and he will cancel automaticly. And yes this has been know for a while, but in never heard of or read of using it in a block string. and use fly to the wall closet to the opponent, so he cant jump out, do a invicible move, and may simply have to whiff an Ultra just so he wont get caught in it, since Vega’s Super can grab anybody out of any special move, you guys take it with a grain of salt.

and if you land a lv 2-3 FA or lv counter and you have Ultra if you want to facilitate your life simply let the animation end and as it ends insert sequence and walla insta ultra, now you dont have to worry about is it going to hit, but knowing fancy people they like the FA Ultra bait, but remember not every one throws another move after you absorb something like that, and you cant always bait them. one more trick for your bag of tricks people.

15

If you position yourself perfectly, and backdash on his wake up… tiger knee should whiff as well. which means, every option he has can get him into trouble if you have ultra meter and you’re perfectly positioned. It’s more like a 50/50… cause you have to guess if he’s going to act or not. if he doesn’t reverse, level 3 FA will smash him and you get a free combo, or ultra… but if you decide to backdash and he doesn’t act he’s obviously ok. If he does decide to reverse or backdash… you have free reign to punish all of his options after your backdash (Ultra his back dash, ultra his whiffed TU, or hook kick his whiffed TK).