To start, I’ve settled on maining Bison and I’m quite happy: he’s a lot of fun and seems plenty viable at this early stage in the game. However, regardless of your views on how good Bison is overall, I think we can agree that he’s a relatively polarized character.
As discussed in the beginner’s thread he has the following core weaknesses:
-Slowest walk speed
-Situational Anti-Air attacks
-No reversals outside of CA, struggles with pressure and wakeups
-No overheads
-Linear approach & pressure without spending EX/VT
Though I’m new-ish to Street Fighter, in general when you have a more polarized character in a fighting game you’re going to run into more stacked matchups, and the prevalence of those especially bad matchups regulate the net viability of the character.
I have a lot of respect for the solo mains who just grind harder in the face of bad matchups, but personally I would like to hedge my bets a bit and start training a secondary character early. What are some good choices for secondary characters to cover Bison’s weaknesses?
It seems like we’d want someone with a mobile footsies game and good reversals. Cammy sounds like a good bet, and I’m also thinking about R. Mika, though I’m curious about other options.
How many of you are going solo? For the rest, which secondary character(s) are you picking up? How has that worked out so far?
Chun-Li and FANG for me. But I still will play Bison predominantly because I want him to be well versed with all match ups and quite frankly that takes hundreds of hours of playtime.
Out of the current cast I feel like Chun would cover Bison’s weaknesses the best. But I just wanna get my Bison as strong as possible now, work on all the matchups, then pick a secondary once all the DLC chars are out. Will probably go with Juri since I played her in SF4.
Those bad matchups are developed over a long period of time with the game. For now, focus on what Bison can do about matchups that seem tougher on paper, then worry about counterpick strategies after we’ve all had a few months at least.
I’d say go with a character that is outside of your comfort zone or playstyle. I’m a defensive player myself, so I’m picking up Ken so I can strengthen my offensive play.
As far as matchups go, I’d worry about that later. The game is two weeks old as of today and the nuances haven’t been found out.
For now, focus on your personal weaknesses as a player.
I agree with @discovigilante in that Chun would probably be the best bet to cover weaknesses in M.Bison’s matchups, though since the game is so new it’s likely no tech will be found and things will undoubtedly change.
Choosing a main outside your comfort zone is also a great way to improve your play, and perhaps teach you a thing or two about the weaknesses in your fundamentals that would help your M.Bison play as well.