Yes, but ideally you need to be able to confirm into it, lest you leave yourself vulnerable or aren’t 100% certain. Confirms are very important for Akuma as we’re always looking to minimise mistakes because of our shitty health. The only linked hit confirm for c.hp (outside of an FADC fireball) is cs.lp (which only works on standing opponents anyways) and also for the most part largely goes unused.
Sol makes a good point in that Akuma’s options on crouching opponents is pretty poor. In vanilla we could rip 'em open with FADC fireballs into fs.hk (forces stand) to then link into c.lp xx lk tatsu > sweep/dp. Fs.hk is completely useless now so far as a follow-up to FADC fireballs is concerned, so if you’re going this route your best option is a to just sweep 'em and go for the oki.
EX tatsu is a nice finisher if you’re confirming on a croucher and it does have good corner carry (chase 'em with a whiffed hk flip palm whiff) though the damage and stun is actually pretty poor (in Super EX tatsu did 250 stun and 200 damage. It was very practicable).
Typing this reminds me how much I miss fs.hk in combos and I’m not talking about the retarded loop. Goddammit fs.hk FADC chasers were fun
Hey guys, I need some clarfication for the Guide I’m writing for Akuma:
Do all of Akuma’s (regular) fireballs have the same recovery?
Research I’ve done so far:
I always assumed Ryu’s LP fireball had less recovery on it then his HP fireball, and perhaps Akuma’s varied in the same way. However, frame data on SRK and Eventhubs lists it simply as “Fireball” for both Ryu and Akuma.
I know that essentially, a slower LP fireball (when jumped on reaction) make it easier for you to Anti-Air, but is this simply because the opponent watched the fireball longer before jumping or is it because there is literally less recovery on a LP fireball then a HP fireball?
On a side note, it seems that Akuma’s EX Fireball differs from Ryu’s EX Fireball in that it does not offer less recovery for the EX version (whereas Ryu’s does). Interesting stuff.
All of Akuma’s hadoukens have the same startup and recovery, including EX (that is, 14 startup, 30 recovery, 44 total)
Ryu’s non-EX fireballs all have the same frame data (13 startup, 32 recovery, 45 total), EX is faster on both startup and recovery. The only difference with both characters’ normal fireballs is the speed the fireball travels at. Light ones can be safer if people jump over them later due to the ball traveling slower, but that’s it.
Thanks for confirming that, Komatik. I guess I always just assumed Ryu’s fireballs had different recovery timings on the different strengths without really testing. I also (luckily) assumed that Akuma’s were all the same regardless of strength used making him different in that regard (as well as being slightly less effective in general as Ryu’s, obviously).
Thanks for clarifying this though, good to know I’m not crazy
While they are technically all the same recovery, the different fireball speeds give an illusion of faster recovery. People reacting to the fireball itself instead of the character will jump later due the fireball arriving later which gives you more time to recover.
Please don’t take this as a dig at you, but I find FADC fireballs into fs.hk completely impracticable now and in a sense utterly worthless in battle. The only characters I find it can be consistently used on is Honda, Ryu and Ken and even then its just pointless (I’d rather take that meter and apply it to a sweep + follow up oki).
I am seeing zero Akuma players apply it with the exception of -6 when he’s mucking around which sees him land it perhaps once in 15 games anyway. I’m aware of strictly spaced and character specific setups that allow it to ‘sometimes’ connect (many of which stem from c.lp > c.mk xx ball setups) but the practicability is just non existent - especially when you considered its legitimate utility (and reliability) in vanilla.
Gamogo is right about sweep being the better option, but against characters you can tatsu -> sweep, it may be worth it to st.Hk, cr.LP xx tatsu -> sweep to do more damage and push them further to the corner (I.e. doing a footsies cr.MK xx FB FADC st.HK, cr.Lp xx LK tatsu). But this is very character specific and a much more difficult combo than simply sweeping.
I can understand you point of view guys, no worry.
But I have a feeling you have a better game than mine when it comes to footsies I hope you do cause mine sucks. And so you can close the distance in a way or another. I have a hard time coming close if it’s not from a jump, and then I use HK to extend my damage on Juri (she eat the fireball after a cr:mk: for so far it’s ridiculous) and some others.
Btw, I never do cr:lk: after a HK because I fail at this (shame on me) I prefer cr:mp: or cr:mk: (80% success) and from a range you know a tatsu will whiff, so I go for this hk combo follow up sometimes. Akuma build meter fast, you shouldn’t sit on it too long also.
Another reason I like to follow with this instead sweep, I only play online and sweep never mean shit here. You’ll miss the setup and eat a grab ^^
So I’ve given up on Viper, my execution is ass and it frustrates me, and Bison is just a bore offline since nobody falls for his dumb gimmicks. ST.HK is not gonna get you all the way to a finals.
Trying Akuma now. After a knockdown, when I’m close to my opponent mid screen, what are the best options? I tend to auto pilot a demon flip, that’s gonna end up whiffing.
If you can’t time your attack almost perfectly, you will have a hard time (like me). But once you get one or 2 setups ready, you’ll see why Akuma is so good on wake up mix ups.
Since them you’ll eat wake up grabs, reversals and whiff your attack.
So that’s not a problem with what you do more than how you do it.
Oh right, thanks. I noticed I always messed it up mid screen. In the corner I was fine and got myself a cross up dive kick 3-4 times which lead into a stun.
Bison isn’t a gimmicky character, I play both Akuma & Bison and find that you have to work a lot harder with Akuma to perfect your setups/timing and earn your wins, Bison’s a pretty good character until you face Guile lol.
Don’t expect Akuma to be an easy top tier to pick up, he requires no less hard work to learn than Viper, plus his health is a bitch to deal with when you’re playing against someone who does real punishes instead of lousy sweeps.
