Hi fellow Abels.
See topic: Who’re some recommended pocket characters when maining Le Frenchie?
My friends need a break from Abel and I figure if I’m actually going to learn a second character I should make it count. Adon? Gouken? Sagat? Juri? I’ve had fun with them so far. Ultimately, hoping whomever I pick up will help with the Giefs and Cammys out there.
Cool thanks. (Also let me know if this doesn’t warrant its own thread!)
this is an interesting and maybe important topic for players out there, however the subject matter is simple in essence and therefore we could simply supplement existent threads; there’s no need to create a whole separate thread.
Recommend pocket characters when playing Abel?
If we take it from the perspective that you’ve put forth: Picking up a secondary to handle match ups which Abel does poorly in then it might depend on your personal performance vs the roster or how you feel about certain matches
surprisingly some Abel players truthfully struggle in the Dhalsim match and therefore they might reasonably consider picking up Hakan for example:
More Abel players here in this forum would be better able to answer you question if you’d tell us what match-ups you personally struggle with;
we could instead be purely theoretical about it and presuppose a strong Abel; in that case the troublesome matches are going to the those as a result of character archtypes, inherit character weakness.
Abel struggles against Dive kick characters, vortex and maybe zangief (Depends who you talk to)
If you’re looking for a character that functions similarly then I’m afraid your options are slim, besides Makoto I don’t think many characters really play or feel very much like Abel. Give makoto a try as her up close command grab game works around fear similar to Abel while also dealing out the same if not more damage than Abel and having arguably more consistent ways landing.
She takes a good amount to work to play well I’m afraid, she is not friendly to the ‘pick-up’ and play way of going about, but she’s well worth the effort.
Other Recommendations
Pick up Cody: You’ll learn the important of frame trapping effectively while also learning to REACT to counter-hits which I think is a major skill that will help out tremendously with Abel. You’ll learn the important of slow normals and the importance of timing to counter hit crouch tech while also paying attention to the mind games behind upclose normal/throw game… all very important and relevant for Abel.
Cody also has an array of strong anti-airs.
far fierce, back+strong, far rh, rh ruffian, similar to Abel.
Playing two characters with an arsenal of anti-airs will help keep you sharp as you get used to mentally shifting back and forth between anti-airs depending on the spacing; another important tool to play abel.
it’s healthy for a player to choose a heavy footsie based character; i’d recommend Ryu/Fei Long
getting used to paying attention to spacing is important as it will help improve your whiff punishing game with far lk/step kick.
Great advice, thanks. Second post was spot on. I’ll always be improving my Abel, but someone with a bit different playstyle sounds appealing. I’ll give Cody a shot right now, perhaps a footsie-oriented character later on. Fundamentals can always use some work.
I’ll throw this post up in General in a bit to get some conversation going.
How good is Bison?
Bison is one of the better/best second character for abel in terms of matchups. However…he is SO boring to play lolol
wait… bison as in boxer or dictator??? regardless, they both are really good seconds for abel…but once again: both are boring lol
dictator isnt boring. I think he is more fun to play then Abel. Dic doesnt do much damage, so the matches are always intense, you really have to work for a win.
He is a very strong character, but only in strong hands he really becomes solid!!! Watch some gagapa videos, he beats alioune and a lot of japanese players.
The fun with this character for me lies in two mixup occasions.
Throw / Frametrap mixup, he has a very solid ground and tickthrow game and a TON of frametraps. You can go for 2x cr.lk and throw or 2x cr.lk, cr.mp etc. The following scissors always lead to a knockdown.
There we are at point 2.
Meaty normal and meaty throw mixup. After a scissor you can dash to your opponent and do a meaty throw or a meaty cr.mk, leading into a combo. After each throw you can slide to your opponent and do a meaty close standing hp, leading into a combo. You can also do a meaty light attack for the tickthrow frametrap pressure.
There is a lot of thinking, predicting and reading in a bison matchup, it is NEVER autopilot, its intense and intelligent.
Balrog playing him as a second to Abel really helps with all the bad match ups with the exception of akuma being a problem for both of them.
I sub several characters but cody is def my second main in fact he was my original main before switching to abel I also use guile and sagat for fun
Bison is a good secondary for Abel imo; I also think Yun is good. My best secondary is Guy, which I admit is a bit silly since they both pretty much excel/struggle in most of the same matchups, but meh.
Sagat
I say evil ryu
Someone saying Bison has to work for wins? Am I on the right forum?
I alt Gouken, high damage output, sick zoning. I would only use him in tourney vs Hakan/Honda/T.Hawk/Chun Li.
This is quasi-on-topic, but how is Abel as a secondary to Makoto? Do they sort of cover each other’s bad matchups?
Abel is looking really good to me. I like Makoto and her grabs and pressure and mixups, but I want . . . MORE MIXUPS.
Basically wondering if they’re similar enough in terms of playstyle, but dissimilar enough to make them both worth learning. If that makes sense.
I would loosely think of them as a pair similar to fox/falco from smash…
Very similar in many respects but some big differences when you look closely and spend alot of time getting a feel for how they work.
I’m not sure of match-ups which one covers for the other, I think on the whole they suffer similarly and share the same advantageous fights.
what do you guys think of evil ryu for secondary?
im thinkin of Oni as secondary, less setup heavy character 
I do think Sagat is a very strong secondary for Abel. He is good against divekick characters, and destroys most true grapplers. He does struggle with some vortex characters like Akuma/ibuki etc… but overall a good pick.
I do like Cody as well. I currently secondary Gouken to destroy honda/grapplers and I just like him a lot, but I think I might learn Sagat or get my cody stronger as a secondary.
i was thinking of learning gouken also for a secondary but currently im working on E Ryu. vortex characters like cammy and akuma are bad for everyone. best to learn a secondary to deal with grapplers like gief and divekick characters like yun