Blanka Discussion #5: Meter Management

Good tip. I have never worried about building my opponents meter. Pop quiz success.

If you’ve watched my matches you’ll see I end a lot of rounds with hop -> cr.lk/mk xx upball/raw upball/link combo to hp ball if I have a dizzy.

Doing the little things adds up over time. I don’t have the best execution or the best ability to read my opponent, but if my math is on point I give myself more of an advantage.

I’ve gotten such a meter whore that I’ve convinced myself lp-horiball ≥ walking/safejumps/antiairs. Superturbo speed gameplay is addictive. I just need to learn how to keep the full-speed flow of attack safely.

Ah! In wasn’t even thinking of my opponent.

If i’m not wrong, if you hit your opponent with a normal, you gives for him 50% of meter, and you gain 100%, with a special witch hit, you gain 100% for the input and 100% for the hit, and your opponent gains something like 25-30% for the hit, i’m right here ?

HP ball gives you 30 meter for activating, and 30 for connecting.

So if your opponent gets hit by it they only get 50% of the connected value.

So you end up getting 60 meter, and they get 15. So effectively 25% as Blanka does not have any special moves that have values for hit/activate that are not the same.

I never thinking about opponent’s meter before reading this thread, very interesting stuff here.

lol…opponent’s meter is very important! fadc into safety or ultra can easily win a match

Ex upball reversal/counter is my main usage of meter. Use it or lose it is my philosophy. Depends on the opponent also.

My mindset at the end of the round is always to finish off the opponent with something that will give me the most meter ie. normals into special, never EX and never Ultra. Usually I’ll go for lights into electricity if I don’t have charge, but sometimes I’ll use a cheeky string that I know will be blocked just for that extra bit of meter and then end off by killing them with chip damage.

If I can’t win the round, I spend the rest of the time building meter and/or trying to make the opponent waste their’s (eg. trying to get Gouki to land a Raging Demon which builds your meter for the next round).

If I’m in a situation where I cannot avoid a chip death, I go for a reversal special even if it means death because it still builds a bit of meter (although I’m not 100% sure about dying to meaty chip).

I’m a dick, I’ll do this if I have a huge lifelead vs. akuma with u1 stocked or ryu with super stocked to give me a meter advantage in the next round.

You are all wrong: Best way to end a round when opponent has 60 life and dizzy is neutral standing mp. Slap a bitch in the face…cuz blanka rolls like that!! (haha, rolls…punny!!)

Ves: Yer spoiler confuses me: How can i hit someone with 9 hk’s? is the 9 a controller motion? And I thought u just said that doing something like hp ball nets u 60 meter and opponent only 15…seems like normal into hp ball is the way to go.

What did i miss about the spoiler?

Oh, and regular rainbow rolls have different starting meter gain/block meter gain. They are all 30/40. Unless my app is wrong…which is always possible.

I mean just compare the amount of meter gain josh p. It’s fairly obvious when you do 9 balls vs. st.hk’s how much more meter you have than your opponent.

Was trying dumb stuff like whiff LK rainbow roll to make meter… and i eat a FADC to ultra, FUCK this special. -_-"

I whiff lk.rainbow sometimes, even mk.rainbow but from miles away, and it’s more of a provocation move. I stopped trying to attack with normal rainbow quite a few years ago.

So my basic meter philosophy is to hoard all of it. I want to save up for a 3 meter hard knockdown combo or a combo to super because not only do you get the best oki, you get the best damage.

However some characters I make an exception and try to hold on to meter for various other uses.

Ex horiball:
Generally used to supplement slide vs. characters who are going to try to press you backwards. Generally not a good idea early in the round, but if your opponent is low on health you can make them much more cautious.

character specific uses, all for fireball except gief:
Akuma, Evil Ryu, Ryu, Sagat, Zangief(tag far ranged lariats)

Ex Upball:
Should rarely be used as an AA. Use st.hp, nj.hp, cr.mp, st.mp, st.hk, buffered electricity, normal upball, whatever, but try not to AA with ex upball unless it is vs. a jumparc changing move or you absolutely cannot afford to trade or reacted late. Use it as a get off me if your opponent has got predictable with their strings. Vs. most things you have another option.

characters I’m willing to expend the bar on regularly:
Adon, Cammy, C.Viper, Rufus, Seth, Yun, Yang

Ex Rainbow:

Against most players it’s a get out of jail free card so it’s easy to become over reliant on it. But resisting the urge to use it is really important. The best players will punish you.

characters I’m willing to expend the bar on regularly:
Seth(beats spd, tanden, and dp)

EX Electricity:

I basically only use this as an AA. Sometimes it’s your best option especially against divekicks. Also useful for chip kills, please don’t end combos in this.

characters I’m willing to expend the meter on regularly:
Adon, Cammy, Rufus, Yun, Yang

Using meter defensively when Blanka has so many good defensive tools is an easy trap to fall into. It feels safe, but you’re denying yourself possibly several hundred extra damage if you do get an opening in the future. Yes sometimes you need to do ex upball to break offensive momentum, but it doesn’t need to be your go to. Focus backdash, st.jab, etc. can all get you out of tight spots.

I agree with your post, but just one thing : why using ex horiball against Gief ? I hate that, it’s a waste for me, just poke him and cheap with lp ball, hoard meter for escape (exupball & ex rainbow) witch is more more important against gief for me, especially since the new expuball.

Punishing far ranged lariats when you have the lifelead and excess meter can give him incentive to come to you instead of just hanging out.

I prefer stay at range to punish with a jump mp/hp or a slide.

Good Zangief players won’t lariat from those ranges. I prefer to stay there too, but sometimes if they back off it’s worth spending the meter IMO.