REVERSAL DEMONS
These are the 100% Instant Hell Murder’s that change the way your opponent must play when either Super/Ultra is available. Of course, unlike combos where you’re successful attacks now lands you a guaranteed Super/Ultra, the Instant Hell Murder’s guarantee comes from the opponent making an unsuccessful attack. As I mentioned earlier, reaction speeds are much higher when expecting something. Noted, you have to know what to expect. Some reversal demons are harder than others depending on your opponent’s moves. Reading frame data of course always helps give you an idea about how strict timing is.
Also, the same move has different speeds, different angles and recovery times and EX moves can vary as well. So even if you know a special move is coming, it can be rough to know which of the 4 options your opponent may use and for some, you must know its coming or you may be too late or too early. The benefit is that if you are not that great getting in and landing combos, this route is a kind of lazy man’s way of landing the Ultra. The Instant Hell Murder does not get Damage Scaling which reduces the damage of your Ultra so you deal the full damage of the Instant Hell Murder you have open. It’s great to KO an opponent who was at half health only 5 seconds ago. I’ll give you guys a simple run down of different types of attacks and how quickly you have to be in inputting the Instant Hell Murder.
Anti Airs vary in difficulty. I will use the Dragon Punch as an example. The light Dragon Punch is very quick so in order to land the Instant Hell Murder, you must buffer the 2 LP’s DURING the blockstun and then the F/B+LK+HP extremely quickly right after. Of all Dragon Punches, this will be the hardest. The other two Dragon Punches are easier as they go up a little higher giving you a little more time to make the input. You may also be a little late with the input but you may jab them as they are coming down which is why I suggest inputting the Anti Air Demon just to be safe which is D+LP+MK, D+LP+MK,F/B+LK+HP. Finally the EX Dragon Punch which is very tricky for two reasons. It goes very high up which if you expect a light Dragon Punch; you may make the inputs too quickly and go under them. For something that is so powerful, you do not want to screw that up. Also depending on how close they were to you when they used the EX Dragon Punch, they may actually land on the other side of you.
If you have only the Super or the Ultra available, you may hit the wrong direction and no Instant Hell Murder comes out. Even if you have both, you probably intend to land one of them over the other. Example if you land a Super which does not KO your opponent and the Ultra would have KO’ed your opponent. Then, they end up winning that round, you are now going into the next round with a loss and no Super when you could be going into the next round with a win and a Super. Or even worse, you just lost the match. You might accidently land a barely charged Ultra, only doing slightly more damage than the Super but now lost the chance to land a stronger Ultra. Depending on your playstyle and based on which character you are facing, you always want to make sure the Instant Hell Murder you land is the one you intended. For the EX Dragon Punch, I suggest going into training room and learning which distances have your opponent cross over you while landing. When you figure it out though, you can calmly input the Instant Hell Murder and know for sure its catching them on their way down.
Horizontal Specials (excluding projectiles) all recover fairly quickly but can be hit by the Instant Hell Murder. These inputs are extremely quick and sometimes you may actually be baited. Blanka’s Rolling Attack may not come all the way to you (light version) and you may input a Instant Hell Murder that he will jump over. It’s honestly a bit hard but you can stop yourself from finishing the inputs. If you expect a Rolling Attack but you’re worried about making the inputs on a fake short Rolling Attack, try to wait till you definitely see the blockstun occur and input the 2 LP’s then.
A very good player will understand some moves they have are just not worth even using because you have a nearly fully charged Ultra and they would lose if they would get hit by it but have enough life that they can take you without using that move. E.Honda’s Sumo Headbutt is another example that you must be quick one. It will usually appear that they will be landing and able to jump before the Instant Hell Murder connects but the recovery frames are longer than it will appear and you will get the grab. If you’re not sure about some specials, check the frame data to see how strict your timing has to be. Remember for these, you pretty much have to expect it coming to properly react to it. Trying to input the command as a reaction will most likely be too late.
Lastly, if you’re an Akuma player, you must know the long drawn out battles with T.Hawk. You’ll love to learn his Condor Spire is nearly useless against you. When blocking the Condor Spire, the closer you are to him when he activates it, the less he will bounce back. You can then follow with a HK as it will connect when he lands. When your Instant Hell Murder is up, just walk back and forth, maybe jump around to bait him to use it. When he does, just calmly input the Instant Hell Murder of your choosing. You don’t even have to be fast about it and it will grab him. Haha now go enjoy that fight.
KARA DEMON Super/Ultra
Kara Demon is done by using the overhead chop so you can buffer the Instant Hell Murder on top of getting in a little closer to your opponent, not A LOT though. For Kara Demon, I highly suggest the Super over the Ultra as the Super is a zero frame grab meaning your opponent cannot dodge it if at the flash, was right next to you. The Ultra can be avoided if they were not committed to any action such as attacking, dashing or charging a Focus Attack. You use the Kara Demon while pressuring your opponent so the Super makes much more sense as they will be holding back, not attacking.
The easiest method of Kara Demon is F + LP + MP, LP + MP, F/B + LK + HP. Some people hit F + LP + MP TWICE then F/B + LK + HP. Also for the Super, some just hold Forward while hitting LP + MP twice then pull the stick down into Forward Down while hitting LK + HP. Any combination is fine. You may ask why there is a MP in the 2nd command and the answer is simply, it’s just easier mentally and makes no difference. I like using this time to time if my opponent is blocking too much. Don’t use it against extremely aggressive, crazy about reversal opponents.
The easiest mentally for ME to use the Kara Demon Super is either. Hitting F + LP + MP,LP + MP(while still holding F), DF + LK + HP… with practice. This will most likely be your most comfortable way as well. Thumb on LK, pointer on LP, middle finger on MP and ring finger on HP.
The Super is great for pressure. Second you know your opponent is in a ‘block mode’. Simply put him in a block stun, hit him w a cr.LP or two then Kara Super him. Example… Dive Kick, cr.LP, Kara Super. The chances your opponent would block 1 close cr.LP and then decide to hold up is very very unlikely.
The Ultra is not good for pressure because if they are in ‘block mode’ because the Ultra is not zero frame, the opponent can hold up AFTER the flash and dodge it and it is unlikely in mid pressure they are pushing buttons.
Overall you MUST learn this because of baiting. Anytime an opponent throws out a move that you block that can 100% land a either Instant Hell Murder must be taken advantage of. The reason why you must learn the kara is because NO attacks come out where you may accidently LP or cr.MK someone. Blocked Dragon Punches, Condor Spire, Blanka Balls ect are all PUNISHABLE w the Instant Hell Murder and you do not want to miss it because you accidently hit them.
ANTI AIR DEMON ULTRA
The Anti Air Demon is great against players who go for simple jump ins. You have to be careful against unique air attacks however. The plan is to lower your hitbox with D+MK while buffering the Instant Hell Murder so their limb is literally sticking through your body because of the invincibility frames and then it catches them as it lands. The easiest way to input the Anti Air Demon is to hit D+LP+MK,D+LP+MK,B+LK+HP. This input is the mentally simplest input. You do not want to Super because it is not invincible and you’ll simply be hit. Tokido lands this like crazy if you watch his matches.
You have to know that your opponent plans to hit your mid section or lower for this to work as if they hit high enough, you’ll get hit going into it. It also has to happen the same time your opponent attacks. If the Ultra comes out and he has not hit an attack button, after the animation, you can be hit out of it. As much as its nearly a guarantee, you have to know for sure your opponent is sticking out a limb in the right place and not using a unique attack as some will hit you. Its not my favorite Instant Hell Murder but its good to know when I notice my opponent is a forward jump HK nut. If you watch EVO 2012. Infiltration lands multiple Anti air Demons Ultra in the Top 8 and took home Gold.
RESETS DEMONS
A reset first off, is hitting an opponent so they land back on their feet in a neutral state. An example is meeting someone in the air and hitting them w air LP puts them in a reset. Or HP -> L Hurricane Kick -> HP has them do a mini back flip back to their feet. Resets have you land first giving YOU the advantage of being able to move first while they are resetting. To land the Super after a reset, you are hoping straight up your opponent is in ‘block mode’ and his thinking is that you have the advantage on attack(which you do) and he should simply just block. Upon his mini backflip reset, walk forward during that time and upon his landing, Kara Super him. Simple.
For landing the Ultra, you are betting your opponent is aggressive. Hitting buttons upon landing. The two options here are to walk forward while he is resetting and either get ready to block the reversal upon his landing he will be throwing at you in which case you can then Kara Ultra him upon his landing or front flip over him frames before he lands from the reset so the reversal or normal attacks whiff and then hitting Ultra upon landing to catch him from the reversals or buttons he has been pressing. Resets are good but you are betting you know your opponents thought on if he is going BLOCK or ATTACK.
FIREBALL ROUNDHOUSE DEMON ULTRA
This is a simple set up from across the screen that assumes your opponent is going to forward jump over your fireball. Simply throw a light fireball as its the slowest and has the least recovery frames. The combination on it being slower and having less recovery frames gives you the time to hit LP+HK,LP+HK,B+LK+HP. You’ll do a double round house which the ending frames get cancelled into the Ultra which your opponent lands into. There is a lot of flaws to this though as different characters jump with different arcs, different angles, some float. Overall, you’ll really have to know which characters to use it on. Not that great, but something people do to catch people out of the air.
HURRICANE DEMON SUPER
This is a little dirty gimmick that works on people who are crouch blocking too much. Simply add pressure to your opponent in a blockstring and follow any of the Bread n Butter combos that lead to a Light Hurricane Kick. Most his combos have Light Hurricane Kick in them. You want your opponent crouching so the Hurricane Kick whiffs and while in the air, input the Super, hitting the F+LK+HP upon landing. When you land, the Super will connect as you are point blank. Don’t assume this will work more than once as people will remember it and will usually try to jump away after the Hurricane Kick the second time around. It is nice as it gets you in point blank range without putting your opponent in hitstun/blockstun. Use this against people that block too much and don’t go for much reversals or offense in general.