Ok, I’ve never really managed to put my Ken into words. It’s really techy. I’ll do my best though.
To start off, I’d like to say that for the longest time, I basically never used Ken’s hadouken except to stuff the opponent when they wake up or for chip damage if they block on wake-up. If you play like this for a long time, as in basically without hadoukens, it will indefinately benefit you in the end. Don’t get me wrong, hadoukens have a use, what I’m saying is that what I did was master as much Ken as I could before learning to incorperate the hadouken into his bread and butter combos, and into my general strategy as a whole. So I’ve gone from virtually no hadoukens to using them to bait, to gain meter, to chip, to stuff wake-ups, to end B&B combos, etc… In taking this path I feel it has overall improved the potential of my Ken.
Secondly, one of Ken’s ‘weak points’ is his hurricane. Or rather, that’s what everyone will say. The fact that his hurricane kick (qcb + kick) does not cause a knockdown in your opponent is something many consider to be a major weakness that places him under Ryu and Akuma. This is rightfully so, because this move is usually punishable even if squarely landed by itself or after a combo. An example of the hurricane’s misuse is qcb + RH. Vague description eh? Well, that’s because there is little room for the use of the roundhouse (hk) hurricane kick in Ken’s ground game… it will only hurt you. Ken’s Hurricanes have good uses however. Obviously when used in the air you can gain extra height, distance, or air time, or for an advanced method, use the TK Hurricane for anti-cross-up and quick getaway. Since you’re new to CvS2, I’ll quickly describe TK. It stands for Tiger Knee motion, which has its origins in SF Alpha. In the case of the hurricane, you press down, down + back, back (qcb), up + back + RH. Basically you fly backwards across the screen while hurricane kicking. Back on topic, there are a few major uses for a hurricane kick:
-they build meter fast
-they have more priority while jumping than a j.RH
-the short kick version is great for ground-based play
-the TK HK is a great anti-cross-up
Basically, using the H.K. on the ground should mostly only be done with short kick, which is very fast, gains meter very fast, carries priority, and is rather safe. Sure, even if you hit they have a small chance to hit you when you land, but I find it’s safe 9 times out of 10 if you add a jab shoryuken to the end of it in the form of what I call a “broken link”. Even if they just jab, the SRK will plaster them if you throw it out neatly as you land. The short HK is also great for baiting, and sometimes from full screen I’ll even bother to take advantage of its speed by quickly throwing it out randomly for meter. Reasons for using a different strengths of HK on the ground include using it to proceed over a horizontal projectile to hit the opponent, using a different strength at point blanks for switch-ups… both of which have limited value and I don’t generally recommend. There are alternatives.
The jumping Hurricane Kick is great for situations in which you and your opponent meet in the air. I’m finding success with this move while jumping more and more, and vs. taller characters, you’ll even find it works great as a jump-in and if you time it right, you can cross-up with it. At any rate, unless you need trip-guard, you should always use this right before you land if nothing else, just for meter gaining purposes.
I’ll add more material later.
