Akuma Set-up Thread: We are unblockable!

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

Hey guys,

I thought it’d be a good idea if we had a separate thread just to point Akuma’s setups. However, I’m not a huge setup master myself and i’d like your help in order to organize this thread and also to build the knowledge into it.

My idea is to organize the thread with the spoilers drop-box separating Universal Setups and then Character specific ones. I’ll try out some codes here to see what I can do and hopefully you can help me out.

What are Set-ups?

A Set Up is something like a rehearsed play. If you manage to get your opponent under certain conditions your gameplay opens itself into a thread of options similar to the Evolution Tree inside Diablo or other RTS games. From then on you have different gameplay options that will lead to advantages in your game. The perfect setup would be an Unblockable: a situation where you will hit your opponent with no doubt. But there are also setups that leave the opponent in a situation where everything is against him. He has to decide whether to block, evade or counter-attack and, if done correctly, even when he tries to counter, you’ll be safe.

Akuma: The Setup to be character.

Akuma has always been a powerhouse inside Sf4 series when it comes to attacking. But lately, players like Tokido and many others have been discovering several setups for him which are transforming him into a character that is optimized for setup play. One setup leads to another and many times the Akuma player is trying at all times to position himself into a setup situation. Although this is not mandatory, it seems that the character will be best used for setups if his gameplay continues to evolve this way.

Universal Setups

Spoiler

These are setups that work against all of the cast.

After Demon Flip Throw

Instant Dash, Tiger Knee’d Air Jab Fireball: If done correctly, the fireball will cross the opponent up and it will also allow Akuma to combo after it.

After Forward Throw

Double Instant Forward Dash, Jump: This is a safe jump against all of the cast with 5 frame reversals and normal reversal times.

Double Instant Forward Dash, Cross-up Tatsu: When executed right, this Cross-Up tatsu will go over all reversals, including 3-Frame Shoto Uppercuts.

Instant Single Dash, HK Demon Palm Whiff --> Will land in front of the opponent.
Instant Single Dash, Tiny Walk Forward, Hk Demon Palm Whiff --> Will land behind them. | This setup works against almost every character. I didn’t test against the whole cast but I noticed that vs Balrog you have to walk a little further but against the majority of the cast you really don’t have to WALK at all. You need to keep the stick holding forward after the first dash and than you can input the demon dive as soon as you see Akuma moving. It seems just one or some pixels will get you behind them.

The Tokido Ex Fb Strategy:

Close to medium distance combos ending in Ex Fireball, MK Demon Palm Whiff: This acts as an empty jump that it’s really ambiguous as it seems like a true safe jump. It is safe, but it won’t hit them if they just block. You can use this to bait reversals or you can go for a c.lk

Close to medium distance combos ending in Ex Fireball, Walk forward just a little, Demon Throw: This is not safe by all means but it is used to mix the opponent up with the first setup mentioned above.

This is used a lot by Tokido. Actually, this is why I believe Infiltration never quick stands Akuma’s Ex Fb. He usually holds still to get the opponent out of timing. As seen on his match vs Tokido on Canada Cup.

HK Tatsu Into Corner

If you’re near a corner and start a combo, you can choose not to end it with tatsu sweep and, instead, use Hk Tatsu. If the tatsu takes the opponent all the way up to the corner, do an Instant Jump Lk. This will be a perfect timed ambiguous cross-up with the Lk. It will hit the opponent on the front and you will land it in front for a low attack but the weird animation makes the opponent miss his block.

After Ultra

Wait briefly, Tiger Knee’d Air Jab Fireball: This fireball will also cross the opponent up and will allow Akuma to combo after it.

vs 4 or 5-Framers

Spoiler

4 or 5-framers are the charaters who have 4 or 5 startup frame reversals in the game. I will add the full list later but since some of them are really popular characters, I did some testings against some of them. Even though they share the startup frames on their reversals some of them are exceptions to some setup due to other characteristics that they may have. Sagat, for example, wakes up slower than the rest of the cast, causing some of the setups to whiff on him.

Safe Jump Command Dive

Tatsu, Sweep, Instant Jump, Instant Command Dive Kick: This setup works miracles. It will safe jump almost all 4-framers in the game and it will also stuff some reversals. In the cases where it won’t stuff nor block it, you will avoid the reversal. This happens mostly with reversal Ex moves.

Characters tested: Guy, Fei Long, Guile, Adon
This will whiff on Sagat!

Ryu St. Hk Setup vs 5-framers

Forward Throw, Instant S.hk Whiff, Instant HK Demon Dive: This will stuff or avoid 5 frame reversals, except for Cammy.

Characters tested: Fei Long, Guile,

Ryu

Spoiler

Forward Throw, Instant Whiffed s.HK, Instant Hard Demon Flip, Instant Demon Dive: This dive kick has to be executed fast, always on the first frames of the follow-ups. Akuma will dive and stuff all of Ryu’s Srk’s, Ex Srk will whiff.

My comments: Although this is a valid setup and it can be executed with proper training, I do not recommend basing your gameplay on this. If you mistime it even a little bit you will get traded into Ryu’s Ultra.

**The unblockable: **

Forward throw into corner, Instant Forward Dash, Jump Mk: This is a unblockable air attack if executed right. The character has either to frame block or reversal. The reversal can be punished with most Option Selects and depending on the move used as a reversal Akuma can actually wait for him to whiff it, walk up to the opponent and capitalize for maximum damage.

Rufus

Spoiler

Demon Flip Throw --> Instant Dash --> Instant Ex Demon Flip Dive Kick

This will hit cross-up on Rufus 99,9% of the time even when out of perfect timing. It is known that this setup also hits many, many other characters but it is completely timing dependant. The variations on other characters are being tested by the community.

Suggested setups that are yet to be confirmed their specific situations:

Spoiler

Forward Throw Into Corner --> Whiff st.HP --> Tiger Knee’d Air Fb = Will hit cross-up

2

I think this is a great idea for a thread. I would like more information specifically about techable knockdowns (basically having a two part setup based on whether or not he quickstands or not).

For example - we combo into tatsu -> light SRK. What is a setup that can put pressure on both a quickstand and a delayed wakeup? What about if we use medium SRK? What if we SRK -> FADC into light/medium/(hard?) Shaku. I’m sure ShinAkuma204/superlollo, etc. could contribute a lot to this.

Also, does forward throw -> whiff s.hk -> HK demonflip -> divekick stuff Ken’s moves? It seems like I’m getting hit by his DP a lot.

Also, is forward throw -> whiff s.hk -> HK demonflip palm to crossup too slow? It seems when I try to do this I get thrown or beat by their jab. If this is too slow, what is the optimal setup for forward throw -> ??? -> crossup palm?

3

Also I think the unblockable is f.throw in corner, instant dashx2 -> jump mk. Haven’t really gotten the timing down on this, it’s difficult for me to dash towards the left =[. This only works vs Ken/Akuma/Ryu/Makoto I believe as well.

After demon, I try to tigerknee air fireball on their wakeup, but often get thrown on their wakeup (fireball doesn’t seem to hit them). This means I am crossing them up too early? Also do we need to walk back a little bit after the Demon? (will go into training mode and see if there’s a normal I can whiff for timing purposes)

Also requesting information for when we can use jump -> instant air fireball over tiger-knee fireball. Seems like I am never in a situation to actually use jump->instant air.

4

Yes you have to take a tiny step back first

5

For x-up air fireball after DF Palm or U1, use their feet as a placeholder to jump.

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Does it also work with “Quick” Zanku or does it have to be TK’d?

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It doesnt HAVE to be TK’d but it helps. It makes the fireball meaty and inescapable unless an invincible reversal is used.

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Demon flip grab > walk forward slightly whiff fs.hp > hk cross-up tatsu.

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[media=youtube]TpWDB2fQiAM[/media]

Video by KgtheLegend.This video should teach all the new akuma players his basic and most used setups.

Other setups are: f.throw in corner> whiff st.rh> instant jump and press mk early. This looks like a cross-up but has to be blocked holding forward. The timing is hard though because if your st.rh comes too early, you will miss your mk. This works on a lot of characters but they all require different timing but the easiest characters are cammy, sagat, and rose.

f.throw in corner> whiff light df.palm> instant jump with l.k. This would be a fake crossup also and easier to time than the setup above.

On Sagat
Only hp>tatsu>sweep then walk forward a little and df.grab this would make his TU whiff if he is mashing. Sagat can escape it by delay TU or by walking forward.

On Cammy and Akuma
After tatsu sweep, wait a little and don’t move then do mk.df grab, this will also make their dp’s miss but can be avoided by the same ways mentioned above. Also, I’m not sure if it only works with linking to hp then tatsu>sweep because I never tested with a 3x jab link. Idk if this works on other chars cause I’m too lazy to test; however, if it works on Cammy and Akuma I think it might work on other chars.

Set-ups after lp.dp
This is what tokido does, after lp dp he instant jumps and does an air fb. It’s not a tk fb, it’s a regular fb, it might take a few tries to figure out the timing. If the character doesn’t quick rise then after you land from the air fb, do an instant jump cross-up and this can be hard to block. Also, I figured out that after you land from the air fb and you do a light df. kick and the fb hits the df.kick will still combo. Set-up is fully effective when the opponent doesn’t quick rise.

10

Just read superlollo description on the video thread. Anybody knows this setup? Should i add it ?

"vs cammy after a lk tatsu sweep in the corner you can whiff a s.lp and immediately do j.hk…it’ll look like a crossup, you will land behind, but it has to be blocked like a normal jump in. Really tricky, but here comes the problem:

  • if you aren’t frame perfect by 1 frame the opponent can block it like a crossup
  • if you are off by 2 or more frames you’ll completely whiff and end in the corner which is bad.

But provided you can do it frame perfect like Tokido it’s almost unblockable. I tried yesterday afternoon with a friend and although it’s quite difficult to get it consistently (100% impossible online, we were offline and getting it only 50% of the times) it’s a beastly setup.

Same shit goes for f.throw (in the corner) dash x1 whiff c.lk whiff s.lk jump hk. This is even more difficult timing wise but it still works the same. You’ll get a crossup j.hk that has to be blocked like a normal jump in"

Also, the setup superlollo mentioned seems to be used by tokido here at 2:07 [media=youtube]U-6CjKZizgo[/media]

But it seems he’s using j.mk and not j.hk

It was also pointed out that in this video:

[media=youtube]g_qipyTXoG8[/media]

Tokido does this: Forward throw into corner, c.lk, s.lk, jump hk.

It seems that if done correctly this will adjust the opponent to be hit by the j.hk in the corner which has to be done outside of the meaty timing. If this is done, the hk will cross up the opponent the first frame that he is fully up and vulnerable to the cross hk in the corner.

Is this a viable setup? Is the timing of the throw, s.lk, s.lk and jump always instant?

11

Dont forget f.throw in the corner dash, c.mk whiff, j.hk against Guile.

12

Can you elaborate more on this? Is this only after lp dp in corner? I went into training room and tried cl.hp -> tatsu -> lp dp and couldn’t manage to cross up with any kind of fireball (quick or tiger knee).

Would like to know any setups we can do after a lp dp in the middle of the screen that have some sort of attack against quickrise / regular getup.

I know there are some setups that are better after tatsu -> dp FADC shaku so more info on that would be great too.

13

It anywhere but corner and the fb isn’t suppose to cross up. I recommend doing a light df.k after the air fb because it can act as a fake cross-up. Also, mix it up with df.grab but you have to delay the df a lot so you can grab them right after the block stun. If the opponent quickrises you can still get pressure. This isn’t the greatest setup, although it’s still useful because there isn’t much do to on the characters you can’t tatsu>sweep on and it does beat reversal dps.

14

The Ryu Unblockabel setup: does it work in either corner? I’m asking because I tried this last night against several Ryu’s and in most cases, if they were on the left, they were able to jump as I landed the j.MK, making them reset instead.

Or maybe I’m just getting the timing wrong?.. It’s FWD. THROW xx DASH FORWARD xx J.MK, yes?

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Double Dash forward

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Ah! So this is basically the same as the “Exploding Heart Technique”, just that it’s tailored against Ryu in the corner to be unblockable using the j.MK.

One more question, what if when I throw him into the corner, I’m already near it. If I double dash, I’ll be on top of him when I initiate the jump so the spacing will be different. How does that affect this setup?

17

In that ToXY highlight video ([media=youtube]XY2Xle87lZg[/media]) that came out a week or so ago, I saw the following at around the 2:40 mark on Honda:
Throw into corner>Whiff st.HP>LK Demon Flip Palm.

Anyone know anything about this?

18

That setup has actually be around for awhile. Fairly certain it safejumps four framers.

19

You can also do f.throw in corner>whiff st.hp>tk.fb
F.throw in corner>whiff st.hp>hk.df kick on the characters that the df.throw in corner>dash>hk.df kick setup works on
If you don’t know the characters, they are sagat, cammy, gouken, seth, rufus, sakura, guile, zangief, rog, fei, rose, abel, and maybe some other super characters.

20

Solid, i tested all of the f.throw x whiff st.hp setups.

All of them aren’t solid. It’s not a safejump against every character that i tested. It was, almost all of the time, an empty jump. Also, the f.throw > whiff st.hp > hk dive kick hits some of these characters but again, is not consistent. From what i tested, if you do the setup the way it should be done (with all moves on the first frames possible) it will always whiff.

Now, the second setup you mentioned (df.throw, dash into cornet, lk d.flip dive) is godlike. I’d like to know if more people can confirm the perfect way to do this setup and the list it hits so that i can add it to the thread.