Balrog (Boxer) Beginner's Guide

i know the difference between cancelling and linking. but if I cancelled the last c.lp I wouldnt be able to cancel into HB. So I guess it could be both that I cancel the last c.lp and have to wait for the animation to finish to HB or im just too slow, lol

I just had a look in the framedata thread. LP dash punch has -2 frame advantage on hit. And -3 on block. So thats 100% safe? if you push db afterwards they cant even jab you as c.jab is +3 on startup?

This framedata stuff is really interesting. EX Dash Upper give +4 on hit, that means you can combo after that?

EX Dash Upper -> c.lp, c.mp xx HB ?

what the correct distance for playing footsies with balrog?

usually just close enough where you can land c.HK

just watched gootecks’ balrog 101 on g4tv and it explained so much. good stuff. and it told me that the ex dash upper into combo is possible.

now I got to practice execution and get some game experience

you link the last cr jab of the combo and that will allow you to cancel into headbutt. it’s all timing and rhythm … just practice and you will get it.

cr jab x cr jab ~ cr jab x headbutt

One thing you have to keep in mind with frame data is that it does not take into account the RANGES.

For example, if you do a rush punch from point blank range which is blocked, you will finish at -3 AND with Balrog right next to the opponent.

Characters like Ryu (and I think Ken) can dp your face (3 frame startup). Geif/Abel/Honda can grab you.

BUT! If you space out the rush punch such that only the tip of Rog’s glove is blocked by the opponent, you will finish around sweep range and thus will be too far for any of the above mentioned moves to hit you.

Therefore, -3 on block is not 100% safe.

Yes, in theory that combo works. However c lp ~ c mp is a 1 frame link though, so it’s hella tough.

Preferably, Ex Dash Upper -> c.jab -> c.short -> FP HB.
Jay Wang is right c.jab -> c.strong would be pretty hard to link.

yea, gootecks showed that in the video too. jab dash punch spaced so that you barely connect will leave you just outside Ryu’s low forward. You can sweep on reaction if the opponent does a low farward or sweep after the block.

Also, he showed that c.jab, c.short xx <special> is the way to go as you have more frames to react on.

I was pretty impressed by his execution. You could hear him double tapping away on the buttons.

Question: Does balrog have any normals that can stand his opponent up for a rush uppercut combo?

I use crouching jab into a standing jab

Does that actually work? I’m pretty sure neither of those normals are capable of standing your target up from a crouching position.

thanks a lot, I just switched from guile to balrog and this helpes a lot.

played 16 matches against an ok gief player yesterday. only won 4 matches but it was close all the way through.

But what got me all the time that I didnt have a counter to was when he knocked me down he would do a crossup bodypress into SPD. You know, jump over me flying bodypress style so I would have to block the other way and then SPD me when I was in block stun. And then do it over and over again.

Tried doing c.Fierce but it was too slow, as he was doing the crossup meaty, and headbutt didnt work either as I would just get hit instead.

Only thing that worked 25% of the time was mashing c.jab. Noob tactic, I know, and I hate it, so Im asking for advice of getting out of that loop.

should the headbutt work? Maybe its something lag related again?

i use TAP against gief when they try cross me up

oh gawd, why didnt I think of that? TAP has invincibility on startup. Never use TAP, so it totally skipped my mind.

thanks, will try that out

You are playing online? Well, that’s the problem. But some things I use against Gief doing meat crossups:

Backdash

It will get you out and possibly make him whiff SPD if he isn’t ticking into it, leaving him open to counter attack or giving you more time to reset space. Careful if he catches on and tries to poke you with his forward sweep. Get around this by blocking low after, because if he connects, it’s back to the wake-up game. IIRC, I’ve also been hit with his Body Splash during my backdash, but it counts as an air reset and he can’t nail you with SPD if that’s the case. He can’t SPD if you are in block stun, hit stun, or airbourne!

Block > Jump

If he’s just Body Splash > SPD then this should work in my experience. You can jump back to reset space, or neutral jump and come down on him with a deep j.hp > combo <-- this is hella dangerous though, but if he whiffs SPD it’s all G. This will NOT work if he starts tick throwing SPD ( c.lk > SPD ) because c.lk will hit you before you get into the air.

LATE EX Headbutt

This is hella risky, but you CAN tag him if you time it right. High risk/ High reward - Ultra his ass if you connect.

TAP

I don’t really use this to escape cross-ups, so I can’t really say anything about it. Time it right and you’re free. Time it wrong and you are TAP’ing right into his arms for SPD.

My .02

Informative posts like the above by Mango should be added to the first post so people don’t have to read through the entire thread or post the same questions repeatedly.

I wanted to know the difference between EX and normal headbutt.

P.S. sorry if it was discussed already.

Rog’s HB get’s invincible frames on start-up when it’s EX. All other moves get Hyper Armour.

It’s good for throwing out if you can predict a poke or something. I mainly use it when I need a clean AA HB > Ultra FTW.

a good thing to learn after you learned the basic normal combos of balrog(other than ex upper loop) is dash into ultra… doing this in a match would scare/gain respect your opponent

if your having trouble/inconsistency with ex rush upper loop, only use the loop on counter-hit. Counter-hit makes ex upper ~ c.lp a lot easier, so with that you can have the ex upper ~ c.lp ~ c.lk xx headbutt (ultra/super) combo in your arsenal

For ex-rush uppercut link timing, I just went into training mode and practiced the link timing until it started coming naturally. I think that’s a much better idea than relying on counter hits to make it easier for you.

Ah thanks I think I’ve started noticing it myself too.
The normal Headbutt has invincibility frames too, is there info on EXACTLY how many invincibility frames do EX Headbutt and LP/MP/HP Headbutts have?

I already know the first use for the EX headbutt - while Guile’s doing his double leg-sweep! I keep doing HP Headbutts after the first leg-sweep to get tripped by the second on the headbutt startup :wasted: