Tried S.HK? It’ll do better than it does now once AE12 rolls out and that kick is buffed to screw low attacks. Also did you try C.LK buffered into Hayate?
Ah…I’m back to playing Makoto and my main back and forth.
Christ, it’s an uphill battle with her. I’m at 52% win ratio, certainly not proud of that, but I’m trying.
Anyway, I need some anti-sakura technology. The sakura matchup section is empty on the matchup thread. Specifically when they do the st.lp, take a step forward, st.lp, take a step forward, st.lp over and over. It’s a great pressuring tool and it feels like I can’t do anything about it. Can’t jump, it beats ex karakusa, I try back dashing, but the lp hits me before I get it out…
I pretty much got bullied all match with the st.lp pressure, then of course once she lands it, it’s the cr.lk, st.lp, shoryuken combo.
Block, I find most times they will go for a throw, tech it and then things are better. You can somewhat attempt to go on the offense.
You should be more concerned with the mastery of the character, not your win %. I know for sure I’m below .500, but my searches for ranked matches are always set to find players with more skill so I can learn as fast as possible even if it means eating more losses. IMO, if you’re starting to win more than 50% of your matches, you need to seek out better players.
As for Sak, I second Godly-Effect. It really comes down to having sound defensive skills. It’s not really the first combo that kills you, it’s all her resets and mix-ups. Unfortunately, defense comes down to experience. You have to lose to those set-ups a few times before your mind starts to recognize them. Also, don’t forget to implement a small focus into your back dashing when faced s.LP pressure. As long as you don’t hold the focus too long and buffer in the back dash correctly, you’ll absorb the jab and get away before the c.LK comes out. Just be careful not to back yourself into a corner.
F.lp should trade with it at worst if she continues to do it which would reset letting u backdash openly. I do find Sakura to be a harder match tho because she has such good normals
For Sakura
I find cr.mp to be a good poke vs her in general. St.hk/cr.mk/St.lk is the trinity of Sakura’s normals. Be careful outside her cr.mk range, she can buffer cr.mk xx DP to counter your pokes or when you walk into cr.mk into a knockdown and possible 300-400 damage if Sakura has 2 bars and the execution to do HP DP fadc > st.hp > BnB
Her cr.hp is unbelievably easy to empty jump at a certain range. If she’s standing, don’t jump directly on her, but empty jump in front of her or over her and punish the whiff with cr.lk xx ex hayate. Sakura’s always attempt to cr.hp
Like Makoto, Sakura doesn’t have a good answer to pressure, her fastest reversal is 12f (although it’s fully invincible on startup), it’s easy to bait by using jab pressure and neutral jumping. Sakura is very free on wakeup.
Sakura can do this matchup in 2 ways, rushdown Makoto hard or zone out Makoto. Be careful of jumping over her fireball as she can lp dp mp dp AA if she recovers after the fireball in time for the jump. If you have the lifelead, you can lame out a bit and let Sakura kill herself getting in. Sakura can’t handle lame well at all.
You have to be on point with your blocking/teching as Sakura has deadly frame traps, combined with her above average walkspeed. Her frame traps/tick throws are very dangerous, especially as she has an ambiguous jump-in, (j.hk/hp fake crossup, j.mk/lk cross up, empty jump cr.lk, empty jump throw etc.) and when she gets that CH cl.hp, you’re gonna eat a lot of damage.
When stuck in the corner with Sakura, after otoshi x 2 lvl 3 meaty hadoken, just block it, there’s nothing Makoto can do except maybe wakeup U2 to escape.
Be careful with ex karakusa on wakeup, Sakura’s meaty tatsu will beat it, although ex oroshi will beat it. Don’t be reckless with tsurgi as Sakura can U2 this if she reads it. (there might be an OS for this, I’ll look into it)
I’m not sure whether U1 or U2 is better here, maybe U2 as Sakura has a terribly slow fireball and you do not want to be in the corner with Sakura. But U1 has that comeback factor, I suppose it’s personal preference here.
This matchup is basically first to hit the other wins. This matchup is slightly in Makoto’s favour imo. Her ways of opening up the opponent is better than Sakura’s.
That is all the information I could think of top of my head, I hope that helped. I’ll edit this post as I think of more info. I’m not great with delivering information though.
Wow, some really great information there Fergus. Thanks.
I’ll have to find that Sakura again and play sets.
is there a vid that shows a good example of what a buffered poke is? i read it and i understand what it is but i need a visual reference to grasp what its does/when to do it.
Also for sakura this is pretty gutsy but if you read like an LK tats on wake up you can LK fuki it LOL its like the ultimate read vs her there pretty slow so you can react to it .
If it’s meaty, that won’t work one bit.
Ok I just learned something that makes absolutely no sense to me.
Makoto’s ultra 1 loses to Dudley’s ultra 1 every time.
I had a Dudley do his ultra 1 point blank to me and so I did my ultra in response and his ultra hit me still. Went into training mode and sure enough if you activate ultra 1 in response to Dudley you will lose every time.
It makes no sense to me though Makoto’s ultra 1 has 8F of invincibility with a 6F startup and 3frames of active. Dudley’s ultra 1 has no strike invincibility (I think) but has projectile invincibility and an 8F startup. Shouldn’t the invincibility through the first 2 active frames of Ultra 1 for Makoto make her beat Dudley’s flat out if done in response?
Does anyone know if doing a move as a reversal speed up there start up of moves for example I think reversal dps can punish -2 moves on block and it seems spds start up faster ether way just wondering if something like ex karakusa might be faster if done reversal
They do not speed up your move, the move is the exact same except it is merely a matter of when you execute it that makes it a reversal. EX Karakusa is still 5F on reversal, the advantage is that since it has super armor the only things that beat it as a reversal are: Anything that breaks armor, a frame perfect meaty 3F jab linked into another 3F jab, Fast multihit moves, any throw, and simply standing outside of the rather pathetic range and punishing its 47F recovery on whiff.
However the fact is that with as much that beats it, EX Karakusa is by far Makoto’s fastest reversal, and if you see or suspect what the opponent is going to attempt on wakeup it can end up leading to a massive damage combo in your favor.
Oh soka thanks 4 the breakdown
Thinking about the adon matchup I use to haste but after reading the frame data for jaguar kick his pressure really ends after that move unless he does uppercut there all -3 or -4 ex -2
Match up thread has nothing on this so…
What can we do against El Fuerte? You’re going to get knocked down so I don’t think “don’t get knocked down” is quite good enough here.
Just vsed a (laggy, which didn’t help) El Fuerte and I don’t know what I can do.
Do you just have to get lucky and guess right between run > throw/splash/slide follow ups? I thought maybe Fukiage would work against 2/3 of the options since he goes into an aerial state, but it loses to throw going by my match. I know it’s only little bits of damage per mix up, but they add up insanely quick. Plus if I try Fukiage too much he could start up a RSF on me.
vs elf i represent backdash on wake up because i want them to comit to run slide then one blocked slide almost always means free tsurugi its habit for elf to throw after slide elf has almost no reversels on his wake up do meaty mp if he does ex run into something jump back fierce right away play rush down blocked splash is punishable…if you know slide is coming ex karakusa is free. UC2 is a threat gets you out sometimes its devastating to elf most elf will bait this ultra wich makes wake up dash karakusa possible when you know they waill wait for abare tosai think mk cross up to in corner to mk uc2 is a cross up
Hello again.
I have a quick question.
I know Makoto cancel the Fukiage with a jump, but did i dream or she can cancel it with a dodge too?
Also “failed” (whiffed) Fukiage? Can it be canceled too?
Thanks
-no you can’t cancel it with a dodge (dash). However, the fukiage that lands after U2 allows for jump and dash cancelling. Strange huh? One thing to note though is that even though it does not allow for dash cancelling, you still have enough time to dash and do LP Fuki after the first Fuki recovers on most characters. Its much more difficult, and necessary in some situations (like Cody).
-Failed fukiage cannot be cancelled. Again, if U2 hits and the rest whiffs, the fukiage can still be jump or dash cancelled. .
Blockakusa
I notice if I try to cancel the s.LK after using it in a combo I can’t get it to come out. (c.LP > s.LK xx Karakusa). I have to delay the s.LK. Am I doing it wrong?
c.LP can chain into s.LK. If that occurs, you can’t cancel it.