Anti-airs

I know Gouken doesn’t have the best anti-airs but I’m really frustrated at them and I think I need to ask how to deal with it. People jump in at me more or less for free, especially in that “ambiguous” area right above me, even if I’m pretty sure they’re going to land in front. It’s most noticeable with Dee Jay, since his cross-ups are such an important part of his character. There doesn’t seem to be a way to really uh, hit them. EX Tatsu, Light Tatsu, c.MK and c.HP whiff (their hitboxes are too diagonal to cover this angle). If I predict it, I can sometimes get a jb.HK or Kongo, but of course doing this repeatedly can make me predictable or put me into the corner.

I get beaten a lot by very, very bad players who just jump at/over me over and over again mixing up between grab and other random garbage and it is immensely frustrating. It isn’t that I don’t predict the jump, it’s just that I feel like I have no tools to deal with it. There’s a range, like:

http://puu.sh/608mC.jpg

or about there, where if Ryu jumps forward, my only option seems to be to block, or Kongo. Kongo can work but there are of course inherent risks (been j.MP’d a few times for that, for example). jb.HK is of course very good, but it can whiff and the reward isn’t very substantial since they can get up before you can really set anything up, and there’s a chance you’re giving up a lot of space.

The thing that annoys me the most is how much I have to consider to beat this very simple thing they’re doing. :frowning: If I were Ryu I could just uppercut, lol.

Thanks in advance.

Cl.st.hk. Spend a few matches trying to use that as your go to AA. After you knock them out of the air with it, dash in and grab them or cl.st.mk palm. Cl.st.hk shuts a lot of that down, hits above and a little in front but in general I try not to be in that zone you pictured. I’d rather be closer or further…right there, your proximity tools don’t activate, your fireball is useless, your normals are too slow, jumps are more ambiguous, etc.

Keep in mind, cl.st.hk is nearly useless in most wake up situations…but not all.

cl.HK is useless if they time their jump-in okizeme really well. Those who jump awfully late are susceptible to cl.HK… or even autocorrect lk/EX Tatsu.

I can see the struggle vs. meaty attacks, but Gouken should have plenty solutions vs. non meaty attacks.

If you know they are going to jump and you aren’t comfortable with AA’ing them, then just walk under them and react/punish accordingly or just spend more time blocking the setups that give you trouble in training mode.

Focus backdash, nj.hp, dont let them into that area where they can jump at you for free by zoning properly with fireballs, etc.

more anticipation and reading will help. at that distance you have plenty of choices. especially if you jump the same time or a little later even. depending what they use in the air.

your saying you tag em w a DJ.hk…well that’s a good start