Dudley is one of those rare characters where both Ultras are quite good, so sometimes I agonize over which one to choose once the opponent has chose their character.
So far, my rule of thumb is to go for U1 if the opponent has some move with 8F+ of recovery that tends to be abused because of the range or pushback and U2 if otherwise to maximize combo damage.
To clarify this, I’ll post some characters and my ultra of choice. If you have good reasons to choose another ultra, post them.
Shotos. Easy. U1 to punish any sweep or fireball attempt.
Sagat. Ditto, although timing is tighter.
Guile. Not sure in this one, since reacting to sonic boom is really hard, so I prefer to maximize combo damage with U2.
Boxer. U2, which may catch some dashing special.
T.Hawk, Zangief. U2 for combo followups only. U2 may discourage Condor Dive.
Hakan. U1 to really make them think twice about Oil Shower.
Cammy, Decapre. U2, although not very convinced.
I’m all about W Ultra vs Ryu, I like W because at least then I have some combo damage as smarter players will simply not fireball. With W, Rolling Thunder still does strong damage and you can use Corkscrew to close out a game.
U2 can punish Ryu sweeps too btw. I feel the new U1 has been somewhat overbuffed, it’s so godlike now…feels kinda unfair for poor Sagat lol.
First. Never, EVER say Dudley or any other main is overbuffed. This is SF4, there’s always the chance it gets to Capcom’s ears and the character gets to share tiers with Dee Jay and Dan in the next update.
Having said that, is the sweep punishable by U2 on block at max range too? I know it also has 8 frames of startup, but never thought it could have enough reach to punish the sweep. At close range smart Ryu players are always going to go for low MK.
I never considered the idea of W, but since Dudley has actual high damage from regular combos, it does have merit.
Can you consistently punish Sonic Boom with U1? I almost have to make a read in order to connect and at that point I end on the “fishing for ultra” scrub mode. Smug always uses U2 against Dieminion but I haven’t seen other Dudley’s matches against Guile.
I need to test it a bit more but I had a Ryu sweep me from non-point blank range and the U2 initially looked like it’d whiff, then it hit at the very last second and went into full animation.
Indeed W can be strong depending on your opponent, if it’s an Evil Ryu that likes to zone a bit then W can be a good choice, I always pick U1 vs Sagat and Poison because it totally ruins their game plan. If you sit back and absorb fireballs until you get U1 what are they gonna do?
You have to be really fast but it’s definitely doable, U1 is now godlike against Dhalsim as well.
Yeah, but you have to watch for the slow Yoga Fires, since you can still get hit by them even after hitting Sim because they hang over Dudley until invincibility runs out if you do your Ultra too early.
I have reacted to Guile EX Boom and regular Boom before, but it was kind of a read since I was buffering the Ultra motion anyway. It’s up to you ultimately which Ultra you use since reacting to Boom is a gamble and really hard to pull off consistently.