Alex General Discussion: "At ease, loo-suh!" The Alex SFV Thread

Street Fighter V Alex
2781

Made an optimal sweep punish list. The moves listed either work 100% of the time, or at worst whiff only when optimally spaced vs you.

optimal punishes are depending on what ya got and what you can do. generally, your optimal punishes are usually:
meterless: st.hp x mk elbow most stun/dmg and gives good oki/meterless KD
1 bar meter: anything ending in EX chop or EX knees.
super: st.hp x mk elbow x super gives best dmg without VT use
VT: if you used his v skill you get can get a cr.mp into VT at all ranges, which isnā€™t bad. Or you can just use st.hp/st.mp because
they combo into VT (or VTC) at nearly all times basically.

Some stuff like forward angled cr.hp works on a lot of characters, other times it doesnā€™t work at all, and is -12 to boot. Keep note of this because EX Knees are his best use of a meter punish and give best oki because no backtech. When you can land a st.hp - MK Elbow, use that instead, as he still has answers to a lot of things even with backtech, and stocking up on meter isnā€™t that bad of a thing.

If they sweep upclose generally you can st.mp/st.hp/cr.mp punish. If I say ā€œworks at all rangesā€ itā€™s because the others donā€™t work at all times (sweep, cr.hp, etc etc).

Bison: st.mp works at all ranges. st.hp works except if heā€™s optimally spaced it 2-3 character lengths away. If you have meter
donā€™t be afraid to EX chop. Personally Iā€™d just st.hp for the KD unless I have meter for EX Chop, or have the VTC/VT for st.mp.

Birdie: this kinda sucks, heā€™s more or less safe vs everything at max spaced sweep. You can actually st.hk and stuff nearly everything
he can do except for an armored bullhead or super. Alternatively, the safest thing you can do is cr.mp, which still whiffs vs Birdie but doesnā€™t leave him vulnerable at all, your pick.

Chun: Thank god! forward cr.hp works at all ranges! Generally if you hit her at the very tip sometimes it wonā€™t pop her up for the EX Knee followup, but 95% of the time it will. cr.mp also works 100% of the time if you wanna play it safe, and st.hp is usable unless
sheā€™s spaced it perfectly.

Cammy: cr.hp and st.hp work at all ranges. Take your pick, you can get the mk elbow meterless KD or get the EX Knees followup, your choice.

Shotos: st.hp/cr.hp punishes them at all ranges, take your pick of punishes.

Karin: sweep/cr.mp work at all ranges, st.hp can catch if sheā€™s a bit deeper, didnā€™t space correctly.

rmemeka: st.mp works at all ranges.

Laura: cr.hp/cr.mp hits at all ranges

FANG: cr.hp/st.hp always hits

Necalli: only st.hp and cr.mp

Gief: st.hp always works

Nash/Rashid: only cr.mp works

Vega/Sim: cr.mp always works, but you can use st.hp as it hits up to only the most optimal vega spacing.

That should do it. If you want to play optimally/safe all the time hereā€™s what you do. Counter sweeping isnā€™t really worth it because of the shit he can get out of other, safer stuff. Some characters will beat your shit in for using it (necalli/birdie/nash, etc).

2782

Various Alex info: http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2016/apr/08/hk-elbow-slash-can-be-juggled-you-can-control-his-ex-jump-moves-headstomp-always-hard-knockdown-and-more-bunch-handy-sf5-alex-info/

2783

Headstomp is always a hard knockdown?
Ohhh-ho-ho-ho

2784

Just gotta say this character is a LOT of fun. Loving his footsies right now and damage too. In a game with no invincible back dash you have to respect him once heā€™s in. And that EX DP makes me feel like Iā€™m playing a Shoto. :slight_smile:

2785

I been against a few Cammys. Cammy can punish a badly space flash chop with b.mp. That fucked me up so much.

2786

How negative is Alex dashing in after f throw/powerbomb? -4 right? Dashing in being a free 3f/4f DP pisses me right the fuck off, I get not automatically grabbing 50/50 off of every knockdown but dashing in being a fucking free DP? Who the fuck thought that was the right way to balance this character? If he was -2 or -3 at least he could cover space against the DP folks who need meter to for a 3f dp.

2787

You are meant to use other options after power bomb. Then once they are sitting still go for dash power bomb and such.

2788

I think Iā€™m finally starting to ā€œgetā€ him. Things go a bit better

Good one if youā€™re not miles away from the corner is V-Skill -> st.HK -> HK Elbow -> cr.HP -> LK or MK Knee. Knee leaves you at a very good spot to continue your pressure and finish the fight right there if it doesnā€™t kill.

HK elbow should corner carry enough to have corner cr.HP be non issue in almost any situation.

2789

So what is the most viable option for downbackers or people who play keepaway? I know thatā€™s vague as fuck, but for real, itā€™s got me scratching my head. Now that people are getting used to alex it seems to be happening more and more to me, that people take the approach of just waiting for me to do something and react to it. That happened to me a bunch today, and I just faced a bison player who would just sit and jump back if I jumped at him, and would kind of jump all over the place in general and just play footsies. What if someone takes that approach? I feel like alex is sluggish enough that if someone wanted to just play keepaway and react, they can get away with it. Iā€™m used to this with birdie, but with him I can pressure with can or just building trigger. With alex, Iā€™m a bit at loss. How to approach someone that is simply reacting to you?

2790

The fuck is a downbacker?

2791

Pressure with elbow, dash command grab, EX stomp, overheadā€¦you just have to break their defence and back them into a corner. The usual.

2792

I try, but to no avail. Masking charge with normals and jumps is still fairly obvious to any intermediate player. If a nash just chucks booms and backdashes you canā€™t get them with ex elbow or stomp or headbutt, but play to their chase game. They can just v-reversal out of the corner. Use the same example for someone using ryu or chun. Is it possible to have the upper hand at all or is one always forced to play the chase game? I canā€™t quite figure out if thereā€™s one main tool to be using or if itā€™s about using all the tools available at once. Itā€™s fairly daunting IMO. Even if they corner themselves, with alex it doesnā€™t feel as threatening as with other character because at point blank range he canā€™t really AA except for EX knee. And while F+HP is good for frame traps and hitting pre jump frames, that pressure isnā€™t as air tight as say mika resets or birdie pokes. Rant done, but I canā€™t figure this one out. Hell, I can deal way better with rushdown even though heā€™s not the greatest at defending against itā€¦

2793

I keep getting crossed up! Especially by Chun Li, Ken, and Cammy and especially on my wakeup. Any tips on how to get past this? Is there some move that Alex has that is really effective when getting up? Or can someone tell me the trick to timing the block on crossups?

Ken was the worst, because the player would jump in for the cross up while I was on the ground and do a really late strong kick followed by a sweep.

2794

I guess itā€™s time to play the scorched earth strategy thenā€¦ as soon as you get a life lead, retreat to the opposite corner and watch them jumping back and backdashing until it hits them in the head that you are fine with waiting for the timeout even if thereā€™s still 70 seconds left in the clock.

2795

I see match-ups like Ryu and Nash getting harder as time goes on. They can apply pressure without worry of a ā€œtrueā€ reversal, and also net damage from the fireball/anti air game (best of both worlds).
Hope Iā€™m wrong, but after running sets with strong oneā€™s they pretty much dictate the pace, when they make mistakes i capitalize, but those opportunities are going to get smaller as they further learn the match-up.
Other then that i donā€™t seem to have many problems with the rest of the cast (screw zangief).

2796

I actually enjoy the Gief match ups the most at this point Haha! I feel like I have to outsmart them, and use Alexā€™s superior range to win. Finding openings to go in and command throw a character with a distinctly better command grab then mine is hella fun for me for some reason. It makes me play the character very different. I never even get salty when I lose those.

Every power bomb is a victory.

I usually win too.

My hardest match ups are distinctly Ryus and Nashs that go on heavy offense, rely on cross ups heavily, and have really practiced their block strings. I also eat a lot of Bison knee CCs that I shouldnā€™t.

2797

my hardest match up is bison, nash and laura right now, any bison that spams devilā€™s reverse has been giving me issues i need to practice anti-airing him.
Laura is just a nightmare with her frame trap/command grab mix up and Nash does Nash things

2798

Thatā€™s not the right answer though. Someone just downbacking can reasonably chill and react to all of those options.

You walk forward to bait an option and then walk back and whiff punish it, or walk forward and press your button a bit earlier from when you feel their button coming to counter hit what theyā€™re pushing.

No character is fast enough to just beat an opponent reacting. You always have to interact.

If the other person is just walking backwards just walk with them to the corner, and watch for them to do something random like jump. Once you have your reactions tuned well enough for that the person has to engage you, or put themselves in the corner, so itā€™s no longer a struggle of ā€œdefeating a downbackerā€ youā€™re just playing the game again.

2799

What makes Ryu and Nash so hard for Alex is that itā€™s hard for him to get consistent pressure because he needs meter or a hard CC sweep to get a KD to even put up a pressure game. On the otherhand, Ryu doesnā€™t need a single thing to land a KD, score big damage, or get consistent oki options. And on top of hitting like a truck while Alex hits like a bike, he has a 3f jab/dp, high damage super thatā€™s extremely easy for him to get to (does he even need to spend meter?) and a trigger that kinda shits on the ā€œmediocre damage, high stunā€ Alex has going on, which he doesnā€™t even have the mobility or meterless oki to really push with.

The devs clearly bet the farm on Alexā€™s trigger/parry and v reversal carrying him through his shit damage and mediocre defense. What Iā€™d like from Alex is just better mobility, Iā€™m fine with his ass damage or needing meter for everything, his neutral is good despite all that and he can definitely play a strong defensive poke game, his parry will definitely make it one of the best in the game I feel, itā€™s a great comeback factor.

I think Nash is a toss up, it could get worse or it could get better, he canā€™t reversal through a st.lp AA mixup, so just make sure you grind st.lpin jaguar kick/jump ins and dashing under his crossup.

2800

His damage isnā€™t ass tho. I donā€™t think Ryu is by any means super difficult for Alex unless youā€™re impatient.