I’m gonna bite and do my part to try to contribute to the cvs2 threads. Kang told me we needed another blanka thread so I tried to mend together some useful information as well as some general information for people who want to learn. Anyone who wants to correct me or add any information feel free to. Small jump and A groove blanka both need their own strategy section. I’m too tired to add anything else tonight.
Really general:
-Crossups
small jump / jumping foward is great cross over. You can link an electricity with it and even if the foward is blocked you can go for chip damage with the electricity anyways.
command hop… Please goto the section below for more information.
-Pokes
cr. fierce start up 5 and -4 on attack. It is a long distance poke with priority. It has the ability to stop jump ins at angles.
cr. short startup 4 +5 on attack. Good poke when players are close, can do a charge move afterwards if you have charge but if you don’t you can also connect with another cr. short or standing jab for a charge move afterwards.
cr. foward startup 5 and +3 on attack. It is good to whiff for meter, has frame advantage and also in my opinion the best poke to punish whiffed moves into your super.
df + fierce start up of 9 frames. Good to use at max distance. If you use it too close and someone blocks it, it leaves you punishable at -16.
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Anti-airs:
This is one of blankas strongest areas. He has great AA options charge or no charge.
-rc blanka ball
Beats every smalljump/jump in clean. Arguably the best anti air option for Blanka.
-rc electricity
Can be done off whiffed short or jab. Beats everything clean and when blanka has no charge.
-vertical blanka ball
Can be used when players are jumping in from an angle. Beats alot of jump in’s (Chun-li jump short will be able to beat that consistently if it hits the ball as cross up) and is also a good option for people who can’t rc.
-jump up fierce
Can anyone say priority? With proper timing this knocks out pretty much everything air vs air and with a startup of only 2 frames, this is extremely fast and dependable.
-crouching fierce
5 frame start up that beats alot of jump in’s coming from an angle, a good option against big characters (sagat) especially when you have no charge.
-jump back fierce
Can be used against characters that have fast, high jump ins. Kang also mentioned that it’s very safe against people who like to jump in empty with cc activations.
-any level 3 blanka supers
Basically a free super if they jump in while you are charged and have meter. Would be a good idea to use the kick super against P or K groove. Not gonna bother posting about the shout super because it’s rarely used. Only time I saw it used was on wake up by sanford in order to counter blanka rc electricity.
punch: Does 5000 regularly and 6300 on counter hit.
kick: Assuming you connect all of the hits, it does around 6000 damage regularly and around 6384 on counter hit.
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Knockdown Mixups:
-Blanka has many ways to break down opponents simply because of his strong rc electricity offense. He can mix up opponents after knockdown down by whiffing electricity and then blocking, or just blocking right next to them after a run/dash/blanka ball. This can be an effective way of baiting parries or jd’s. If the opponent blocks then you can grab them and continue to mix up the offense. Just remember that the opponent can tech or grab you also so be sure to tech their grab if they decide to do something before you call the shots. Most people either block, mash on grab, or super anyways. You can use this to analyze an opponent and try to react coordingly. If someone likes to mash on grab alot you can try baiting whiffs by using command hop back or by jumping straight up before they wake up. You can hit the opponent with straight up roundhouse and connect his basic combo (cr. short, standing jab, [ball super level 2/3 or blanka ball (see section bball punishers)]) or just activate. Also you want to rule your options out. If your opponent has full cc meter or has an anti air super you may not want to jump up. If your opponent wakes up consistently with rcs everytime then that’s a different story.
-uses of command hop :lk::mk::hk:
You can mix up your electricy game with the command hop. Being able to time your opponent’s wake up is key. If done too late they there can be severe consequences. It’s fairly easy to cross up your command hop once you know the distance of the command hop. Mix it up with dashes or run to command hop to either stay in front or cross up. Also note that if your opponent is in the corner and you are player 2 you can still cross up using the glitch.
Command hop can also be rc’d and command hop backward has full body invincibility without rc. It can be used to keep distance between a character, or to run away and build meter. It’s also an effective way to bait sakura’s cc. You can dash or run in close to sak then quickly command hop back. People love activating against any blanka other than n-blanka.
-super cross up
Random supers are not a very good option especially since this super if blocked can have consequences but doing it correctly can be ambiguous and hit your opponent. Knowing the speed of the blanka ball super is really key. It’s pretty much the only way you can use this. There are ways to use the level 1 to cross up for example off bite grab you can roll and then do a lvl 1 and cross up with that.
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Blanka Ball Punishers:
-There are some attacks and supers that can punish a blanka ball even on reaction to getting hit! You don’t want to make a mistake of landing a free combo into blanka ball if your opponent is using rock and can deal the damage right back to you with a level 3 after you land. Hibiki gets a free slash after every happy meal. Cammy can retaliate with a level 3 cannon drill. Assuming you use blanka’s bread and butter, Guile or Balrog can keep his charge and counter hit with level 3.
-Keep in mind that the ones posted above are just some that came to mind that can punish a blanka ball even when it connects. Alot of other punishing maneuvers also have to do with spacing because if you connect a blanka ball while your back is facing close to the corner there are alot more situations where you can be heavily punished.
-When a blanka ball is blocked you can add all of the above plus alot more supers to the list. Sagat standing foward always hits, standing fierce can hit depending on speed of ball and also spacing, fireballs level 1/2/3 all succesfully hit. Ryu level 3 fireball connects… Chun-li walk up strong to super, Cammy round house, Yamazaki roundhouse, Sakura Roundhouse, Ken blocks high and counter hits with foward + roundhouse, there’s alot more but you should get the picture by now.
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Retaliate:
-You can punish alot of blocked moves with a super. This is not really character specific because tons of people can punish these but I’ll list some common stuff alot of people abuse.
Bison short scissor kicks (2 blocked hits) can be punished with cr. short (4 frame startup) into ball super level 2/3. Watch for it if opponents do not know the proper spacing while using this move.
Hibiki slash can be punished when blocked with a level 3 ball super as long as it is not blocked from max range. Even when you block shorts into slash it’s punishable. Also note that if your opponent successfully connects shorts into slash you can still punish it as long as you were able to keep your charge. It’s not easy sometimes to hold the charge after you get hit, but you can definately successfully punish this.
Edit: I’m not a hibiki player but I talked to my boy smoothcat about it. If a hibiki player uses cr . short short short jab into strong slash then you cannot punish it because the jab pushes you out of range. But if any scrub hibiki’s use shorts into slash just remember you can take advantage of it.
Random Blanka balls + punch super… everyone should know this already.
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Random Tips:
-Blanka can easily build meter with whiff rc electricity from full screen or just use simple whiff cr. fowards. If someone jumps in you got all those options posted above.
-His alpha counter is absolutely terrible. There is really no good reason to do this unless you are at very low health and don’t want to get killed by chip death.
-For anyone having difficulty with rc electricity I started a thread about it in general discussion and even recorded movie files that may help.
http://www.shoryuken.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2356726#post2356726
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Matchups that may give you trouble:
Generally blanka can win any of his matchups after all he’s top tier for a reason but I feel that there are alot of matchups that can give him trouble.
-Hibiki: Defenses are very strong so it’s very hard to get in. Best to just turtle in this match up unless you have A groove meter because that gives him a free offense boost considering he doesn’t need to have charge in order to create damage… Jab blanka balls + RC elec can help you get in and hope that you get a knock down. Your offense level is increased drastically on knockdowns.
-Chun-li: Her offense and ticks can be hard to fight. Generally offensive chun-li’s will get you into her spinning bird trap and it can be hard to get out of. Watch out for SBK traps to counter hit rc lightning kick setups also. Make sure you anti air accordingly and keep distance between her. Jump up fierce is a great option against her.