Making this thread because I think it’s the most important part of his game, which has become even more important with Buster canceling. I feel like his air movement and zoning sets up his rush down. Transitioning between the two when it’s beneficiary for Zero is the best way to keep him alive.
I’m thinking about using Sentsuizan a lot more than I used to. I think it’s safer than j.:h: .
The main thing bugging me are teleporters. So I want to develop a movement string that can actually capitalize on a porter teleporting behind or above.
if they dont have a back-up assist, I generally just jump back j. :h:. it hits them in front, behind or above if they try to teleport. Also as I use dante, I also call him and then do it. It also works if you have like a beam assist or a stationary one (like trish’s peekaboo).
I tend to do this pattern when Im trying to run away and/or make them fall into peekaboo or jam session:
super jump, M raikousen, lv3 buster when you get to the other side, and then M command dash to go back again, it frustrates chars that cant catch zero, but I dont do it vs lets say: Magneto, Strange or Hawkeye. The good thing is that you can also hit j.:h: on the way down and you can even fake the M raikousen by canceling it immediatly so it looks like you’re gonna do it, but then you just shoot buster and stay there.
I wouldn’t come down with j.:h: against anyone with a slide - hard counters like crazy. Usually if I lose to a Frank, it’s cause of him catching me with a slide while coming down with j.:h:. Against them I think saving your Buster for on the way down is the best way to go.
j.H is much less safe than it looks. Loses hard to jump throws on characters you don’t want to lose to. Sentzuoppazen is a good move. Cancellable into buster for those Super Counter moments as well.
Honestly I’m not sure how far a write up on air control can go without match video along with it. I’ve had tournament matches Zero versus a mobile character where there’s 30 seconds left and 6 characters in the game. We’ve both been trying to dogfight each other down and its way too variable to say “Dash up, then buster, then dash backward, and if …”.
Assist dependent too. A trick though is you can normal jump, command dash H , do stuff, and call assists at super jump height. Catch people with gimmicks at first, but gives you one more option to win the air/setup jump ins with no happy birthdays.
Don’t take this as gospel though. This is advice from self evaluated medium skill level.
^^ I don’t think there is a specific pattern to use in his movement against everyone, but I do think there are certain patterns that are important to know and take advantage of.
Just today I’ve been practicing .Raikousen > Buster Cancel > :l:.Raikousen. This is the pattern that allows Zero to control so much of the screen and leads to be hit confirming into a combo. I think that’s something that can and should be used as a basic tool.
Right now, I have no clue. I know someone mentioned using .Raikousen in anticipation, but I haven’t had the opportunity to try that. It’s the only assist besides Hidden Missiles that gives me a bit of trouble. Though I think I may have Hidden Missiles solved.
If you’re in the air and see they calling strider just hit H… it beats strider clean and can be done in reaction if you can see they calling the assist.
H.Sentsuizan beats or makes it whiff.
M command dash also evades it completely.
every one of these options is risky and you can be punished by the point character depending on who he is, but if you’re just looking at the assist, these are 3 pretty good options getting rid of it.
Against Strider assist don’t empty superjump and you should be fine.
That double lightning sequence is great when you’re at normal jump height. The important thing to remember is that the L lightning needs to get zero to the ground or you’re going to be in some trouble. A lot of times when i’m super jumping and playing patiently i will use the H Dive to make contact then toss a buster into L lightning this will cross up a lot of times leading to a full combo and as you guys said H dive is a lot safer than j.c in some a lot of situations. As long as you have a red buster and a decent assist for mixups(i use strider) you should be getting at least two strong mixup options per buster cancel.
In the first week of this game it was hard to live without air dashing. It’s a tool that can still be used just not against certain characters(anyone with a full screen super).
I totally agree about his air game setting up a lot of his overall strategy. One thing I found that really helps me is to be as random as possible when super jumping into the air. What I mean by this is don’t do the same thing every time you super jump. Zero has so many options in the air you can really give the opponent a lot of different looks. Even throw in some super jumps without doing anything. It just makes zero more unpredictable and harder to guess when you are going to rush in for the kill. I learned this the hard way because I would get my zero killed because I would fall into predictable patterns when Super jumping in the air.
One thing I find really helps is using buster to delay my fall then coming down with j.H. Seems to catch a lot of people hitting a button in anticipation of zero hitting the ground.
Jump up Lvl 2+ Buster > H Dive - Basically took this from characters like Akuma and Morrigan who use their fireballs to cover their air advance. Seems difficult to shut down. Characters who spend a lot of time on the ground can’t do much except block and players don’t want to be blocking against Zero. Proper spacing of it is important though due to Sentsuizans increased ground recovery
M Raikousen > Lvl 3 Buster cancel > L Hienkyaku - Replacing L Raikousen with L Hienkyaku makes this sequence much safer, confirming is just as simple though with dash up M or H
M/H Dive > Lvl 3 Buster cancel - Sure someone touched on it already, but this is great for closing down characters, especially from super jump height
There’s other useful stuff like H Hienkyaku > Air Dash at peak > M Raikousen > Buster cancel for top of the screen huggers and L Raikousen > Buster cancel > L Raikousen, but I’m pretty sure every Zero uses these or something similar by now
I’m also trying to get used to doing j.d+H over j.H outside of combos, considering it is safer, converts to combos off an air-to-air more easily and still can be throw OS’d
I know this thread is old, and a my question is indirectly related to mobility, but I was wondering when zero is safe to cancel into buster ?
I find some situations, especially on the ground, when dashing, command dashing, raikousen, hienkyaky that when stopping / landing right next to the opponent that if I realease buster it fails to fire, or I get snatched before it fires.
I got the brady book, will any of that frame data help here, or is tbere a known hard and fast method for coping with this scenario ?
I usually call assist like crazy and bait people to punish assist then go “LOL NOPE BAITED” , Which consist of me doing a lot off assist calls normal jump then the Fake dive thing or dash back. Swear to god shit works everytime.
Im totally willing to try a baiting strategy. The thought has crossed my mind, but i never think of that stuff in battle. Plus my assists dont have all that much health to spare, but hey, no pain no gain.
Do you ever find your buster not busting sometimes, like after a dash or a whiff. I know its a timing thing, but it has gotten me snagged way tooften. Sometimes, esp after a j.H, if buster is released too soon not only does it not fire, but the charge is lost as well!
Hey MasaBlade, thanks for all your contributions and I apologize for talking a little smack on your youtube channel (I was the one who said that H raikousen in lightning loops is best, but I after trying them, they are all good. I just got them down, but not consistently).
You just gave me such a good idea about j Raikousen. I like to throw it out sometimes before buster is full charged, but of course if whiffed your vaulnerable all the way down. So, A properly timed assist (thinking strages daggers, or hawk/task arrows) would cover this recovery period greatly.
.Raikousen > Buster Cancel > :l:.Raikousen. This is the pattern that allows Zero to control so much of the screen and leads to be hit confirming into a combo. I think that’s something that can and should be used as a basic tool.