First, just general stuff. Just like the last thread… general match theory. I’m gonna talk about the meta-game. Overarching stuff that I think should be on your mind (or, at least, is on my mind) when playing the match-ups. This can also get really detailed an in-depth, but will always mainly deal with strategy.
Heartless
This is where the last thread lacked, and honestly, where I tend to slack off as a player. The first post is gonna be about sharing the dirtiest, cheapest stuff we know, and can develop, with Abel. That cheap stuff, you have to be… heartless to use. Got some dirty option select, post it up… it goes here. Stupid resets… post them up. General battle tactics go here. If stuff is character specific, it’ll go in the specific characters’ portion.
I’m definitely gonna need input on this, as I probably have the least tricky Abel out there.
Change of Direction
Formally, Enemy Territory, I’m going to get the other side of things. How do notable players of other characters deal with Abel? What’s on their mind? What are they looking for? What are they scared of?
That’s the basic stuff for now. Let me know what else you guys might want to see, and I’ll see about implementing it.
So, obviously Adon is that new hot shit. Gotta know how to fight it. I actually have a pretty good deal of Adon practice. I played Gamerbee a little at SB, and I practice fairly regularly against a Gamerbee student, and Gamerbee’s student’s student. So… yeah.
In this fight, Adon can bully Abel on the ground, early. Jaguar Kick is really tough to deal with, and it can be hard to space out, since Adon has so many variations of it. Adon Stand Roundhouse is also a very good poke from mid range, as well as Low Forward. It can be tough to fight Adon on the ground. I tend to stay back a little, and try to catch a misplaced Jaguar Kick or Stand Roundhouse, so I can Step Kick it, and get in. I’ll also neutral jump a little from far away, in hopes of landing on a Jaguar Kick, but this isn’t consistent at all. Honestly, I feel like Adon beats Abel the fuck up on the ground, so you’re gonna need really good footsies to get in.
Sometimes, I’ll roll if I spot a Jaguar Kick early enough. You won’t get a punish with this, but it takes the pressure off of Abel, and puts it on Adon, which is what you want.
Pressuring Adon can be a pain too though. He’s got a 3-frame Low Jab (that combos into whatever), a DP, and he ducks Stand Fierce so getting in off of a blocked Step Kick isn’t really huge for Abel. Adon can easily turn that around. I tend to go for Low Jab or Stand Strong after Step Kicks… it loses to RJ and frame-perfect Jabs… and that’s one of the things you’re gonna have to show me before I respect it. As with anyone else with 3-frame normals, you’re gonna want to utilize normal throw out of Step Kick situations also.
Problem with this… against most characters, normal throw is a pretty safe option. If they DP, they beat it, sure… but anything else is pretty safe. It’ll beat pokes, and if it gets neutral jumped, Abel can just hit Stand Fierce for AA and continue pressure. Against Adon, this doesn’t work at all. If Adon attempts a neutral jump, he can just do nj. MK xx Air Jaguar Kick, and start pressure himself.
Which brings me to the next point… dealing with Adon up close. Fuck. That shit is hard. Gamerbee caught me with his Stand Fierce frame trap to blow up crouch tech, early on when i fought him, which basically meant that I had to let him throw me, since taking CH Fierce-> Low Jab xx Rising Jaguar wasn’t really in my plans. But… you really can’t just let him throw you all day, which means… you have to guess.
Oh, and don’t get knocked down. I usually have no trouble with cross-ups, but fuck Adon’s cross-up on wake-up. Blocking that is hard as fuck…
Damn… the more I write about this, the more hopeless this match-up seems… but I don’t really lose it that much, so I must be forgetting something, lol.
I think it’s just footsies. A perfectly played Adon should beat Abel, but if you have superior spacing, you can create opportunities. If you get a Jaguar Kick to miss, that’s free Step Kick into 35% gone. You don’t need too many of these to win a round. Also, once Abel gets ultra, the fight changes dramatically. Jaguar Kick is now off the table. Any Jaguar Kick loses to Soulless for huge damage. You have to be looking for Jaguar Kicks whenever you get ultra or super… btw, it pays to hold onto meter in this fight if you’re getting bullied. I’ll blow the meter on combos, but nothing else, really. Super is too valuable in this fight to blow meter on shitty guesses.
But yeah… once you get super/ultra, mid range opens up dramatically. You can now start getting your offense going a lot better. If Adon tries to disrespect you with Jaguar Kick, take your 400-500 and keep it moving.
Umm… what else… Jaguar Tooth isn’t a factor. Stand Strong when you see him hit the wall. If he does it when you have Ultra, if you’re at a certain point on the screen (about 2/3 away from the far wall, or further) you get free Soulless, if you wait for him to come halfway off the wall.
Also, Adon wakes up faster than anyone in the game. Your canned Abel oki shit will not work on Adon. You can’t do stuff like TT, dash-> Medium Roll (to get behind)-> whatever. That just doesn’t work. Adon is already up. He can just throw you out of that. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it. It’s still good to use. Just know that it isn’t the same set-up as it is against other characters.
Safe jumping him is possible, though, again… it’s just different timing. It’s impossible to safe jump Adon after a full CoD, so don’t try it. After TT, you can do it though.
Lastly, Breathless is worthless in this fight. Adon has good focus breakers, and he can just do Jaguar Tooth on reaction to Breathless and get out of whatever genius set-up you come up with. Breathless doesn’t work as AA really, either, as Adon can do Air Jaguar Kick to get over Breathless if you try to use it as AA.[/details]
This is another fight that can seem like it’s really uphill for newer Abel’s, but I feel like this fight is close to even, with Abel having a slight advantage.
Why’s that? I feel like this is a fight where Abel has answers for everything. At mid range, Rog definitely has an advantage as far as range goes. He’s got better pokes at mid range. A little closer, Rog has the advantage with Jabs. Seems rough… until you realize you can block by holding back. Then it’s not that big of a deal. When Rog starts Jab pressure up, just block. Normally, Rog’s do that Jab shit from a range at which it’s too far to throw. They’ll have to walk up to throw you, or they just get pushed out of range, and you can poke back with Stand Short or Stand Strong (an important move in this fight, IMO). If they try to walk up, you can retaliate with a Jab or your own, or just late tech the grab attempt. Really good Rog’s will have counter-hit set-ups to counter this, but those are very hard to time, and not reliable enough for me to worry about, personally. Just make sure you tech late, or you can eat fat CH RH combos, and you don’t want that.
Back to mid-range for a second… even though I feel like Rog owns this range as far as options go, this is a fight in which Abel, while he loses as far as options go, he wins in terms of damage. Rog can keep you out all day with spaced normals, and even knock you down a couple of times… fine. But if you can sneak in one Step Kick (usually with CH bonus), you’ll more than even out whatever damage you will have taken in getting that off, if you have decent footsies. It can also pay to fish for focuses at mid range. Rog has AB’s… sure… but they aren’t what he really wants to be focusing on. You can sneak in a crumple or two from time to time, or at the very least, take his focus away from protecting mid-range dominance, and place it onto breaking your focus, and you can turn that to your advantage.
Similar to the Bison fight, IMO, even though Rog dominates mid-range to a certain extent, unless you’re just giving it up, he shouldn’t be actually netting too much damage from establishing this dominance. I mean really… what is he gonna hit you with from 3 characters away, if you’re not just giving up damage? He has to earn it, and, IMO, it’s hard for Rog to get damage safely. He has to start taking risks like jumping (Low Forward all jumps from afar), or just trying to bum rush in. You can throw his dashes, EX CoD most of them, or even Step Kick any of them without armor, if he does them from far enough away. Again… if you play solid from mid range, you can make Rog start throwing out Rush Punches from pretty far, and punish them hard.
If Rog does work his way in, stay patient. I still don’t see what the huge deal is with Rog up close. Block his shit, late tech when he gets really close… just chill. Most Rog’s will lose patience and try shit like Overhead Rush. The safest one is -5. Free Jab TT on any of them, into oki.
Where Rog does frustrate me, somewhat, is his defense is really strong against Abel’s shit. If you get a Step Kick blocked, you want to get in and fuck shit up, but between Rog’s Jabs, Headbutt, and EX Rushes, he’s got good answers to all of your options. This is a match in which I don’t even feel like Abel has the advantage on blocked Step Kick. That being said, you definitely have options for all of Rog’s answers, but it’s a shitty guessing game, that I don’t feel like is worth getting into if you can avoid it.
From what I’ve been writing, it makes it seem like this fight is free for Abel. Not at all. Again, Rog controls the pace of the fight (at least until he gets knocked down… which is something he can completely avoid), and he can keep Abel from getting any of his shit off, and put the pressure on Abel, and make the Abel player start taking dumb risks (like jumping, rolling, Wheel Kicks, etc.). Once Rog gets a knockdown, he can get really safe pressure off, which, if applied properly, Abel just has to block. If you’re one of those Abel’s that doesn’t like to block (and there are a lot of you out there), this can be a really tough fight. Even if you’re not, the fight is still hard, and will come down to hitting on a couple of key points and key times. If you get a knockdown, try to ride momentum out, but stay aware of Rog’s options, because unless he has no meter, he always has options.
Heartless
This is still good. Shit… I still use it:
Being able to pressure Rog when you get your chances is essential in this fight. What you want to do, obviously, depends on the situation.
If Rog has no meter, I like to go for overheads, in hopes that I can get the counter hit. If no counter hit, you can still just try to get a Step Kick off there, since there’s not a lot Rog can do to stop you.
If he has meter, and you can cross him up, just do that. There’s a way to jump such that you’ll make stuff normal Headbutts, and make EX’s whiff. EX Rush punches will go the other way, though this allows Rog an escape. If you have Breathless stored, you can OS Breathless on the jump in, to take care of any of his options.
[media=youtube]E_ggRJNQ4Uc#t=1m40s[/media]
If you can’t get to cross him up, it’s a guessing game. You can pressure safely with Low Jab. It’s safe pressure. Nothing Rog wakes up with will beat meaty Low Jab, though it won’t necessarily lead to anything great for you. It can though, so it’s worth using. I like to just do raw TT on Rog’s waking up with meter. They like to do EX Rush Punch and it’s a good little mindfuck to just TT them out of it, so that can be something you pepper in.
Update:
[/details]
Blanka
[details=Spoiler][/details]
[spoiler=C. Viper]
Heartless
[media=youtube]gWxMLfiDGPM[/media]
This also works off CoD knockdown, and FS knockdown with slight timing variations.
[media=youtube]5lV42NsuW8g[/media]
New MagMan set-up. Takes advantage of EX Seismo invincibility to create a CH on the 2nd hit of cl. Strong. Allowing for links.
Overally, I think the original OS I came up with months ago is a safer option with more damaging outcomes, BUT, against safe jumps, people are actually starting to smarten up and just block, so the actual benefits I’m starting to see in practice are going down.
The MagMan set-up is less safe, but is more likely to elicit a big reward for you, IMO. Also, it gives the Viper player a different look, so it’s definitely valuable.
OK, so this fight really used to be the bane of my existence. Early on, I had zero idea how to beat Chun in this game, but I think I’ve got it pretty well figured out now. Key things to remember are this: Chun has no life, and Abel does a lot of damage.
Obviously, you want to get in on Chun, and you can afford to take some risks to get this done. Watching poking patterns is essential in this fight. Paying attention to how Chun pokes gives you key information, so you can know when might be a good time to jump, or respond to Chun’s attempts to keep you out, by sweeping her. Once again… footsies matter. Even though Abel’s walk speed is horrible, you can still force action by walking at Chun. Even with that slow-ass walk speed, it will elicit some sort of response. Pay attention and take advantage.
At mid range, obviously, you’re gonna be dealing with Stand Strong, Stand Fierce, Stand Roundhouse, Sweep, possibly Low Strong from time to time, Kikokens and Hazansho. Know the ranges on all of those, and ways to capitalize, ie. punishing whiffed sweep, with a sweep of your own to get in, or jumping Stand Roundhouse, etc.
I always have my eye out for Hazansho, because that’s my biggest opportunity at mid range, and I don’t have to do much to get it… just be ready. If I see Hazansho, it doesn’t matter how late I react, I just focus absorb, dash TT. Easy damage, and it gets shit going.
EX CoD is also a decent tool against Chun, though, I’m not the hugest fan of using it, since moves like that die to neutral jumping, and Chun’s neutral jump RH is so fucking good, and leads to big damage. Still, it’s an important tool.
Anyway, once you work your way in on Chun (how you do this, obviously depends on what your opponent is doing… but no matter what, there’s a way in), it can be really tough to stay there. Chun has a great backdash, and EX SBK, while not amazing, will kill standard Abel side switch shit, and any other ground-based attempt to cover the backdash, so her defense is potent enough, even when she’s on her back. The pay-off on successfully mixing her up in these situations is too great to ignore though. You have to take advantage of these scenarios. Standard Abel side-switch shit works, rolling in for launch, or rolling behind (to potentially thwart backdash attempts)… it all works, though it’s far from fool proof. Like I said, Chun can backdash out, or EX SBK. It’s just a normal SF oki situation though… nothing to run from. Yeah, she can guess right, and maybe do some damage, or maybe get away (closer to the corner in the process), but who gives a shit? Abel may just do another 35% off Chun’s wake-up, and that’s well worth the relatively minimal risk of attacking Chun. Get good at mixing up, and understanding when Chun wants to EX SBK (-18), and Chun really can’t do shit, once she’s down.
Now the other dynamic to this match, is Chun’s offense on Abel. Once she lands a knockdown, she has super safe set-ups, OS’ing against a roll-out, so you have to deal with them. Safe jumps to establish point blank range, from which range, she can implement normal SF4 mix-up of tick throws, vs. frame traps. Chun’s frame traps hurt. Counter Hit Close Roundhouse xx MK Hazansho-> cr. Jab-> st. Jab-> st. Fierce does 333, meterless, 503, with super tacked on the end. That’s no joke. It can be really tough to deal with Chun up close, and there’s no easy answer to this. Learn to live with taking a throw or two, is my advice.
All in all, I still feel like this fight favors Chun, but only very slightly. She wins out in terms of tools, IMO. On the ground, she’s just better… but Abel can definitely minimize the damage he takes getting in. Once he’s in, Chun can get out… but she can dies in 2 mix-ups, just as often. Strong footsies will get you the knockdowns, or unmolested jump-ins you need to get in close, and from there, if you pay enough attention, you can kill Chun very quickly, which is your goal. Get in and kill quick. Leave a little room to bait, and fuck Chun up hard whenever you block EX SBK. Make her scared to use that move, and she’s absolutely free on wake-up.
I play Dudley more than any other SSF4 character outside of Abel, so I know both characters pretty well. I fucking hate this fight. Abel/Abel is probably my least favorite fight in the game, but Abel/Dudley (on either side) is a close second, for pretty much the same reasons.
Neither character can really deal with the other when they get going, and I don’t feel like either character has any huge advantage in footsies, so it’s just a really random race to the first knockdown, then guess after guess on wakeup for whichever character got knocked down first.
Neither character can jump in on the other, so it’s a grounded fight. At mid range, from Dudley, you need to be looking for Stand Fierce, Fwd+Fierce and focus as the main threats. Dudley’s focus is really good, and a lot of Dud’s (myself included) spam the shit out of it, hoping for that crumple. These are all really good pokes. On your side, it’s just like any other footsies based fight, in that you’re looking to toss out Stand Short, to open up Step Kick opportunities.
Dudley’s offense is just like yours in that he’s trying to get in, and utilize his wealth of options to mix up. He’s got frame traps for days, so once he’s going, it can get really tough to get out, especially for a character like Abel. You have to try your hardest to keep him the fuck out. Stand Short is your friend.
On defense, Dudley is ass. Here’s all the pertinent info:
Dudley has no reversal without meter. His Jet Uppers don’t have invincibility, and they’re slow anyway. If you ever fight a Dudley that uses this move for anything out of combos, they suck. Just beat them… Anyway, his Cross Counter (which is just a shitty guess “reversal” anyway) has 3F start up, so it can just get stuffed. If you get a knockdown, the world is your oyster. Do whatever you want. You have nothing to worry about. If you get Dudley to block a Step Kick, he does have a 3F Jab, which links into his big combos, and can knock you on your ass. Step Kicking Dudley is still necessary, IMO, but it can backfire on you easily. There isn’t much Abel can do to bait this stuff either, without meter. Even with meter, you’re just guessing with EX TT to beat the Jab mashing after a Step Kick. Like always though, when dealing with 3F moves, Normal Throw is a great option.
Luckily though… people still don’t seem to know that 3F moves really cause Abel trouble out of Step Kicks, so you’re not even terribly likely to find a Dudley mashing Jab on you, since that’s not really part of most Dudley’s natural game, and we all know players would rather bitch, than learn the Abel fight, so I guess you’ll only need to know this if you fight my Dudley? So just go crazy after Step Kicks, unless the Dudley shows you that he knows something.
Once Dud gets meter, EX Jet Upper has invincibility for days, but it has a weird angle. It can be tough to reversal cross-ups with it, even if the Dud’s auto-correcting is on point, so crossing Dudley up is a good choice. Don’t be scared of pressuring Dudley even when he gets one bar. It’s still just guess uppercutting on his part to stop you, and he needs 3 bars to keep it safe. I’d rather have Dudley blow his bar on EX Jet Upper, than on MGB combos…
Lastly, we have Breathless… up against Dudley’s general lack of options at mid range. Dudley is a character that you can just do Breathless on. His AB is really slow, his jump sucks. As a Dudley player, the only thing I can kinda rely on doing is Thunderbolt from certain ranges, but most Dudley’s forget this move exists… plus it requires charging, so I usually like to hold my charge for a split second before I let it go. Against Dudley’s that actually know what’s going on, it can pay to just do Breathless, and not even hold it. Just let that shit go. Dudley’s jump is so bad, that no good Dud would even try to use it to get away from Breathless. There’s gonna be something else he’s trying to do… so he’ll stay on the ground for a little bit, and you can just grab him up.
It’d work on me. :-/
Um… yeah… that’s all I have for now…
Change of Direction
E. Honda
Spoiler
Ultra Selection
Soulless/Breathless
General Strategy
I go from thinking Honda has a slight advantage in this fight, to thinking Abel has a slight advantage in this fight often enough to just call it even. Well, maybe at the end of the day, Honda has a slight advantage, but w/e. It’s not so huge that it should scare you at all.
This is yet another fight that requires a good deal of patience from Abel, as Honda has tools and quirks that cans stop you in your tracks. Defensively, Abel has some issues with some of Honda’s shit. Honda can be tough to AA, and once a good Honda starts working his grab/low Jab mix-up, it can be tough for Abel to deal with.
From mid-range, Honda out pokes Abel between s. RH, s. FP, and Jab xx Hands. It can be really tough for Abel to get in, and trying to force your way in from this range is a surefire way to kill yourself. Another issue from mid-range is that Honda will inexplicably just phase through your shit, if you land a Step Kick. s. FP seems to just miss most of the time, and even Low Jab will miss on CH Step Kicks. Shit is silly. You can combo S. FP from Step Kick from close to max range, so it’s better to operate from just a little further out that you would against other characters. Honda out-ranges you, so it’s best to dance just outside of your poke range, and look to punish whiffs with Step Kicks, and work to maybe score CH Step Kicks when you get more comfortable with the footsies in this fight. CH Step Kick leads to an easy combo into s. Strong, that won’t miss. If you’re confident in your links, CH Step Kick also combos into Low Fierce.
If you can dance around this range enough, you can get the damage you need , while avoiding Honda’s bullshit, and maybe induce a jump or two. If you get beat up around this range, don’t compound your issues by starting to attack Honda recklessly. There’s nothing worse you can do in this fight.
I’ve seen countless Abel’s fuck their shit up by being hyper aggressive on Honda, as if he doesn’t have one easy-ass answer to any linear offense you throw at him. You have to pick your spots well, and mix up really well to be effective on offense. Honda has braindead reversals, so your offense has to be intelligent. Check this video for help on this. It’s from Vanilla, but it still applies.
[media=youtube]9_RUnmzXIbc[/media]
Defensively speaking, you need to utilize all of your anti-airs in this fight. Depending on spacing and jump angles, you’re gonna want to have cr. FP, s. FP, cr. MK and Falling Sky at the ready. When Honda gets in, he can make it really tough. I just block until the Honda shows me he can run a good throw mix-up, personally. If Honda can throw well, it gets a lot trickier. You can’t rely on jumping way, as Low Jab will ground you into hands for big damage. Backdash will lose to Jab xx Hands also, as Honda can just see the backdash, and mash FP to get Hands out. You just have to pay attention and find ways out. No easy answer here, as far as I know.
As for Ultra, personally, I prefer Breathless, as it completely shuts down Honda’s jumping (which can be tricky to deal with), punishes ALL Headbutts, and has a few good set-ups to deal with common Honda shit. It just disrupts his game greatly, IMO, and takes things off the table that Honda really needs to use in this match-up. That being said, while Breathless does take shit off the table, it requires Abel to differ in a lot of situations and choose to block, which changes the dynamic in it’s own way. There’s a little back and forth, but overall, I think Breathless is very useful in this fight.
Soulless also has uses. There are a couple of extra set-ups against Honda to land raw Ultra (like point blank Roll through EX Headbutt-> Ultra), and obviously you can combo it, which has its uses.
Overall, Abel has a tough time dealing with Honda’s shit once he gets going, but Abel can keep Honda from getting going. Offensively, if you know how to fight Honda, there is all sorts of shit you can, actually must, do to be effective. This is not a fight that allows you to play standard Abel game and win, IMO. You need Honda-specific shit, but with Honda-specific shit, Abel can be very effective offensively.
Either way, though, this is a tough fight for both characters. Even, IMO.
Heartless
Abel’s got a pretty decent OS against Honda.
If you can land Falling Sky on Honda, if you step back just a little bit, then jump, you can cross Honda up with a safe jump MK. The way that jump works, I don’t believe Honda even has time to charge a Headbutt (I wasn’t able to do it in training mode), and even if he does, it would take so long, that the Honda would need near a near frame-perfect charge time to execute it, so he wouldn’t benefit from SF4’s huge reversal window. It would have to be a ST reversal, if it’s even possible.
Now… what you do from here depends on the situation.
You can OS a Short Roll here, and that will beat all normal Butt Slams. It loses to EX Butt Slam, though. If the Honda you’re fighting doesn’t do EX Butt Slam, or if they don’t have meter, you can just OS with Short all the time. The Butt Slams will whiff, and for punishment, well you can have whatever you like. Stacks on deck.
The problem with EX Roll is that it’s much harder/impossible to punish the Splashes without Ultra, so Short Roll is better for the punishment, but it carries a higher risk.
If you do have Ultra and one bar though, then EX Roll is what you always wanna go for. Obviously, since it’s an OS, you won’t get the EX Roll unless Honda does a Butt Splash, and any one of them, including EX, gets punished by either ultra.
The other benefit of this OS, is that it’s pretty damn good even if the Honda smartens up and just blocks. It’s pretty tough to backdash out of this set-up, so the only options are Splash or block. Splash gets covered, and if Honda blocks, he’s point blank against Abel, and he doesn’t have either charge. Back charge was lost on the cross-up, and down charge was lost to be able to block the jump-in. So you can go for whatever you want right here. It’s a small window, but it counts. SF4 has so few situations where the attacker is at 100% advantage, and this is one of them for a short time.
El Fuerte
[details=Spoiler][/details]
[spoiler=Fei Long] Ultra Selection
Breathless
General Strategy
I’m gonna be honest… this is not a match that I know all that well, but I played a good number of games with 300 lb. Eugene yesterday, and I never really play Fei’s so now’s as good a time as I’m ever gonna have to get some match impressions out there.
I think Fei causes problems for Abel, but it’s not a horrible fight, or anything. Most Fei Longs are gonna look to control mid range with Rekkas, and then bombard you with Chicken Wings, since it’s just really effective on Abel. On block, it leaves Fei at even frames, at point blank, and Fei’s options up close, especially at even frames, trump Abel’s IMO.
Still, I don’t think the fight is that bad. Poking at mid range with Stand Short helps control what Fei can get away with. Dancing around at max range on Stand Short allows you to pepper some pressure in, and be able to block Rekkas on reaction. If Fei starts up with CW, Stand Strong beats it clean. This fight is all about footsies, IMO. If you know how to play footsies, you can earn yourself some Step Kick opportunities.
Speaking of Step Kick, Fei is another character that won’t succumb to standard Step Kick shenanigans on block. Reversal CW will beat every single normal option Abel has out of Step Kick. I find myself doing stuff like Step Kick-> Jump Back, to try to punish CW attempts. Yeah… this isn’t great, but it’s better than just giving away damage if you miss time a whiff punish or something.
If you let Fei get in on you, on the other hand, his up close game can get a little tough. Quick light attacks combo into knockdowns, and the pressure continues. He’s got an overhead, that’s safe on block against Abel (-4), and even though his command grab is slow as all hell, it really doesn’t pay to press buttons on D against Fei, so you can find yourself getting caught with Tenshin anyway. It can really get difficult if you let Fei in, and he’s never more than one CW away from establishing point blank position.
You get beat down for a little while though, and you’ll get that Ultra up. For me, this is a Breathless-only fight. When I play this match, I literally expect to land Breathless every single round on Fei. This move definitely helps out in the match.
All in all, I think Fei wins the fight up close, and he’s got pretty braindead ways to get in. All this means is that you have to play a range game, and look to earn your damage through footsies. Fei’s footsies are pretty good, but they don’t own Abel up at mid range, IMO. Between Stand Short to just cause frustration, Stand Strong/Breathless to punish CW attempts, and Step Kick to punish all whiffs (Rekka, low Fierce, etc.), Abel can more than hold his own at mid range. Up close, Abel loses, so it should be your goal to stay out of that spot. If you can do this, you can beat Fei, IMO. If not, you lose. Overall, I think it’s easier for Fei to impose his will, than it is for Abel to disrupt it, so I give the match advantage to Fei, but Abel can definitely fight this one out.
Heartless
OK, so the major shit here is about Breathless.
Fei is one of those characters that gets fucked by Breathless if he finds himself in the corner. As such, whenever I get openings, I try to push Fei to the corner. Standard Abel FADC combo (without the Step Kick) leaves you pretty much exactly where you started, though with a side switch, so depending on where I’m at on the screen, and where my Ultra bar is, I’ll tailor my options accordingly. If I’m almost in the corner myself, standard Abel combo is lovely for putting Fei back into the corner. If I’m at mid screen, a reset at the end, that leaves me on the same side (like s. FP xx Short Roll) works for me, though you can always go for the gusto, and go for a reset like cr. FP xx Short Roll-> Low Short xx Short Roll that will switch sides, then TT to put Fei in the corner, on his back. Either way, the point is, tailor your options to put Fei into the corner.
Once he’s there, he’s just fucked.
Jump out. From just a little closer than max Breathless range, Fei can’t do shit. CW is worthless here. It goes for one hit, that is harmlessly focused by Breathless, and you get your damage. He can’t jump. Rekka is easily hit on reaction. Even Fei’s super/Ultra aren’t options. Fei’s Super and Ultra do not break armor. If you’re at the right range, the first hit of his Super and Ultra should miss, then you can release Breathless on the 2nd hit, absorb it, and catch him. I find that if you try to release it on the first hit, if you do it too early, Fei’s invincibility will outlast Breathless’ active frames. You’ll absorb the first hit of his Ultra, but then Breathless will just whiff, and you eat the rest of the Ultra/Super. If you hold it, and release to catch the latter part of the first hit, the 2nd hit comes around too quickly for Breathless to interrupt, and you eat the whole thing. You have to space it so that the first hit whiffs, then it’s free. This is not terribly hard to set up.
[media=youtube]F5Y-j_QkckI#t=38s[/media]
Strategically, what this means is that if Fei has you in the corner, and you have Ultra… and if you know me, you know I usually don’t say shit like this at all… but it pays to try to mash out EX TT somewhere in this, or try to get EX CoD off somehow… or something. Risk/Reward is just great. You risk getting hit and staying in the corner (that was probably gonna happen anyway…), but your reward for success is whatever damage you get from EX TT or EX CoD (200 or so, depending), plus a free Breathless set-up.
I used to think this was a really bad match for Abel, early in Vanilla, but as time went on, this fight got easier and easier. I don’t think Abel runs away with this completely, but I think it’s in Abel’s favor. Funny thing is, if you ask most Abel players about this fight, they’ll tell you Bison wins, and if you ask most Bisons about this fight, they’ll tell you Abel wins.
Generally speaking, I’m not really afraid of Bison at any point in this fight. He controls space fairly well, sure, but he doesn’t do any damage when he’s trying to do that. From mid range, he outpokes Abel with S. MK and S. HK, but whatever. Just don’t get hit by that stuff. Also, S. HK can be whiff punished. He can’t just throw it out there like it’s nothing. You can look for spots to whiff punish with Step Kick or sweep, and start your offense from there.
Once you get Bison into a bad spot, he’s not a character that you can attack with normal linear Abel shit. You’re gonna have to mix it up, and it helps to have Bison-specific stuff to lean on. I’ll cover that in the Heartless section.
Generally speaking though, this is a fight that requires patient play until you can garner some momentum, then you want to try to end it quickly. When Bison has space, I think he dictates the pace of the fight pretty well, though he doesn’t do a ton a damage doing this. This just means that you should be patient during times when you don’t control the fight, and avoid taking huge risks. When you have real opportunities, take advantage of them. Even still, stick to safe pressure. Don’t get over-aggressive. Unless you just give damage away, it’s very hard for Bison to take it. Work on getting a life lead, and pushing Bison to the corner. Neither one of these objectives is very hard to do, IMO. Once he’s there, just keep him there. He doesn’t get out without taking significant risks. Cover them.
Defensively… I don’t know. Bison doesn’t have much to worry about. Just block, late tech his shitty grab set-ups. Um… yeah. Don’t force your way through his wall of pokes. It just doesn’t pay. Chill. EX CoD if you’re getting desperate, but otherwise, I just chill. When he’s doing all that Scissor pressure. Just chill. You have plenty of life. No need to take unnecessary risks, and eat s. RH or more Scissors. If you just HAVE to get out, EX CoD can be used here to some success, but I still advocate just blocking, unless you notice a pattern that you can exploit.
Overall, Bison controls this fight, and can create space so long as his back isn’t against the corner. I just don’t feel like he gets anything from that control. Abel wins this fight in a couple of bursts, IMO. Just be patient, and don’t force anything that shouldn’t be forced. Once you get in, do your damage.
Heartless
It’s pretty easy to apply pressure to Bison without taking any real risks.
When you knock Bison down, an easy option select to allow pressure, but avoid risk is to just jump in with MK, then OS a short roll. So let’s look at the option tree.
Block- Abel creates contact, can continue pressure
EX Psycho Crusher- Abel rolls through harmlessly, Bison escapes.
EX Scissor Kick- Abel rolls through harmlessly, Bison escapes.
EX Headstomp- Abel rolls through harmlessly, can punish on landing
EX Devil’s Reverse- Abel rolls through harmlessly, Bison escapes
Teleport Back- Abel rolls into Bison, can punish
Super- Abel can block, punish
Ultra 1- Abel can block, punish
Ultra 2- Abel can just jump out, punish
Backdash- Bison can punish the roll, but Bison pretty much has to know it’s coming. If he reads the OS, and starts doing this, you’ll have to switch up.
[media=youtube]2FIUz1GoiO0[/media]
There’s an online match, in which I use this OS on pretty much every knockdown. Obviously, that Bison wasn’t very good, but you can see the application of the OS in the match.
All in all, it’s a pretty good OS, in that it allows for pressure, while keeping Abel safe. A lot of Bison’s options are safe, but they burn meter, which is good. The less meter Bison has in this fight, the more free he is.
It can also be good to allow Bison to think stuff like wake-up EX Psycho Crusher is a good idea, throughout the fight, because if you block one of those later in the fight, that’s free Ultra (U1 or U2).
Another thing I do on Bison’s wake-up, is I’ll just sit right next to Bison waking up, and I’ll jump forward.
If he does EX PC, or EX Scissors, he’s out. If he does EX Headstomp or EX Devil’s Reverse, I hit Jump Fierce and dash under for free mix-up. If he teleports back, I can do Jump MK to hit him out of that.
As for other general pressure shit, the only thing you really have to fear from Bison is EX Psycho Crusher or EX Scissors. Most Bison’s opt for EX PC since they feel like it’s safer, and a lot of times, even if they get hit, they’re willing to trade damage to escape an unfavorable position, since PC will switch sides. OK whatever. Either one they go with still poses an issue for them. Both of those moves are slow as fuck. EX PC @ 14f, EX Scissors @ 13f.
Well, Abel low Jab is a 13f move from start to finish, which means that in pressure situations, you can always safely pressure with low Jab, and block any reversal. After a Step Kick, you’re at +1 on block, so with perfect timing, you can never be reversaled out of that move. If they go for EX Psycho Crusher, you block, and get free punish with Jab CoD. If they do EX Scissors, that’s free Step Kick on block.
Basically, it’s safe pressure, which you can follow up with whatever you feel like doing on block, or combo from it on hit. This also applies to wake-up pressure. Low jab is super safe as a meaty on Bison, so you can keep momentum.
Lastly, on Bison, if you’re still having trouble with Bison’s reversals, in wake-up, or air flip-out situations, just make sure to cross over/under him before he can do anything. On wake-up, roll through him so he loses his back charge, and the only thing you have to worry about now is his down-charge options, which pose no real threat to you, as they are mainly just escape moves. After an air-to-air reset, dash under Bison for the same effect.
Change of Direction
Makoto
Spoiler
Heartless
Rose
Spoiler
Ultra Selection
Soulless
General Strategy
Ok… some people say the Rose fight is hard… I just don’t see it. Sure, she has great pokes. Yeah, she has cl. MK, which is kinda annoying… Yeah, Soul Satellite can be stupid to deal with… I don’t think any of that translates into Rose winning the fight though.
Her pokes are cool and all, but this is just like any other fight with a character with good mid range options… just don’t get hit. It’s not like Rose has some 4F low attack that hits from half screen. There’s no mix up here. From mid range, just don’t run into shit. You can still fight well, with Stand Short and Step Kick, just like any other fight. You just need a little bit of footsies. If you’re the type of Abel that struggles against Rose, Bison, or any other character like that, you just need to focus on footsies for a while, because you really shouldn’t be losing those fights, unless you’re just being outplayed.
Anyway, yeah… don’t run into Rose’s shit, and she’s not that big of a deal from far/mid-range. While she outpokes Abel to some degree, damage output is waaaaaay in your favor here, should you land one Step Kick, or even just get one blocked. There are a lot of characters that I believe are in a favorable position after blocking a Step Kick… Rose isn’t one of those characters. Sure, her back dash is really good, and it’s hard to turn her back dashing into damage for you… but the thing about her back dash, is that it’s too good, IMO. She’s got her back to the corner after like 2 back dashes. It’s a fairly large risk for Rose to backdash. Luckily… most Rose’s don’t seem to get this. Anyway, outside of backdash, to deal with Step Kick situations, Rose has EX Spiral, which is an OK reversal, but it’s one of those reversals with invincible frames that don’t last until the move’s active frames, so you can hit it in start up. You should have set-ups for this.
Rose’s only other threat after blocking a Step Kick, is her 3f Jab. Meh… if it was a 3f Short, I’d be concerned, since she could plink it, but 3f Jab requires absolutely perfect timing to actually be a 3f attack out of the block stun, unless you’re playing somebody that does Back Plinking… and I’ve never come across that, though it is technically possible.
So yeah… now… your options to cover one thing, over the other, will leave you vulnerable to some of Rose’s options, but I still feel like Abel wins out in terms of momentum and damage.
Another huge tool in this fight, IMO, is EX CoD. There aren’t a whole lot of fights in which I think EX CoD is really important, but this is one of them. The whole way Rose even stands a chance in this fight, is because of her mid range poking game. Umm… so go through it. One trick I like to use is to empty jump in front of Rose, and EX CoD on landing. Most Rose’s rely on Low Fierce as anti-air, and that won’t hit Abel jumping from the front, if he doesn’t actually attack. Most Rose’s just freeze here, and maybe try to hit Low Strong when I land, or something like that. This gets me a bunch of knockdowns, that I can use to shorten the match.
You can see it here: [media=youtube]GPg4LrSBxHo&feature=related#t=57s[/media]
Really, that whole round was won off of landing that dumb gimmick, then taking advantage of her shitty wake-up… understanding when the Rose was gonna Satellite, blocking it, which sends the message that her little get-out-of-jail-free-shit didn’t work, so she’s free for the rest of the round, then following through on that.
Speaking of… I really think Rose is free on wake-up. Yeah, there’s Spiral, but that can be easily OS’d, and that needs meter. Against Rose, you can just Roll into her, and do what you want. Once you show that you know how to compromise her back dash (there are a bunch of ways… OS Sweep… Rolling behind when you know she’s gonna backdash… or my favorite… just saying fuck it, and dashing into her on her wake-up), and EX Spiral (delay… anything, or do cl. MP on wake-up), Rose players don’t know what to do. Take advantage of that.
I also like to just cross Rose up on wake-up. That is FREEEEEEE pressure. EX Soul Throw is a 6f move. That is a complete non-factor. If you’re still in the air 6 frames after Rose wakes up… you really need to work on your set-ups. EX Spiral is a 13f move, so again… that’s a non-factor. If a Rose even tries this, she’s basically doing EX Spiral at point-blank, which leaves her at -6. Free TT. Also, it can be tough to backdash out of cross-ups, so it’s really just free pressure.
Once Rose has U2 stocked, obviously, you need to switch up, and start peppering in blocking into the mix, but don’t let it control you.
Defensively… um… uh… I really don’t see how Rose can really hurt Abel, unless you’re just giving away damage. Rose is easily anti-aired, and her ways in on Abel all carry a large risk. If she happens to knock you down somehow… just block and late tech. It seems like all Rose players love to just stand there on my wake-up, and just hit cl. MK, like I’m some dumbfuck that’s gonna try to throw them… just don’t. Let them have that. Just block. Now what is she gonna do? I can’t think of anything… If you want, you can EX CoD. I do this sometimes. It’s fun.
Overall, this is a fight in which Abel can grab momentum really easily, IMO, and just never let it go. Like usual, you can’t just go in dumbass-Abel style, and try to grab all day, or whatever, because Rose can beat that, but if you choose to use like 10% of your brain, she doesn’t have that many options… pick one or two to cover, and live with the consequences if she happens to outguess you from a defensive position. Her pay-off for her correct guess is nowhere near as great as yours is, and you’re at a higher percentage, anyway. Don’t run into her from far range, and don’t spazz on defense like an idiot.
If you can play footsies (ie, don’t run into her pokes) and you have halfway decent defense (ie, you’re not compelled to mash some move every time you’re on the defensive), it is REALLY hard for Rose to drain your life bar.
Heartless
Some shit I came up with using a slightly modified version of an idea brought to me by MagnetoManiac
[media=youtube]9MwuxYUD8lA[/media]
Basically, it’s safe pressure, while not as tricky as some of Abel’s oki pressure, is really safe, and has a high pay-off, should Rose attempt to EX Spiral on wake-up.
Rose can punish this tactic by backdashing and doing Low Strong, but from that range, she can’t combo anything except Super. Obviously, this set-up loses to Super/Ultra anyway (at least in pre-AE SSF4…), so who cares.
Another one of Abel’s match-ups that just gets better with age, the Rufus fight has matured a ton, since the days of getting dived on all match. This is the very definition of a momentum-based match. The match has 3 distinct situations. 1) Far range, from which neither character has much advantage, 2) Close range, Abel pressing, and 3) Close range, Rufus pressing.
The key thing to understand here, is that while at neutral state, both characters are obviously trying to move into close range on their terms, or prevent the other player from doing so (which, in turn, can allow the defender to successfully do it… more on this later), while in close range defense, both characters are trying to work their way back to neutral state, or better yet, to their advantage.
Now, the same generally can be said for most matches in SF history, but it is especially pronounced in the Rufus/Abel fight, so I’m gonna break it down like that.
Neutral Game
At the start of the match, while it is considered to be in Abel’s favor to start, I don’t think it’s that simple at all. Popular belief states that Rufus, without meter, just has no defense. I think this is greatly exaggerated. You can’t jump on Rufus to start a match; that is easily dealt with by Low Strong, which causes enough flip-back, for Rufus to start diving on Abel. Problem. So you have to approach on the ground. Well, Rufus doesn’t have a whole lot to deal with Step Kick at mid range, but he has a tool or two. More importantly, Abel has shit walk speed, so even establishing Step Kick range isn’t just free. It isn’t the hardest thing in the world to do though, so that should be your focus. You must take control of the match early
Abel Pressing
Once you do get the Step Kick off, Rufus ducks Stand Fierce, so there’s still a game to play. If you attempt Stand Fierce, he can respond with Low Short into link combo to Stand Strong for OK damage (132) and significant push-back (not to mention the all-important meter gain)… Again… nothing to be terribly concerned about, but it’s there. You can try to TT, which is a very good option, no question, but he can jump out of that, dive on you, and take complete control of the match. The only thing that’s pretty much foolproof is Close Strong after a Step Kick. That covers anything Rufus will do outside of blocking, and it can set the standard for how you want Rufus to defend you (which opens up trickier shit).
Once you’re able to knock down Rufus, without meter, you can attempt whatever the fuck you want, because he’s just a guy with no reversal. Abuse that. I tend to stay away from TT in my Rufus okizeme, just because it’s the only option you can take that poses any real risk to yourself. General side-switch shit is more than good enough here, and it just leads right back into itself.
If I land CoD on meterless Rufus, I go for safe jump OS Jab Falling Sky. Nothing he can really do to get out. Safe Jump OS Sweep serves the same purpose, but I prefer the FS knockdown, and it does more damage. Basically, just keep up pressure.
[media=youtube]opU1BFME1P0[/media]
Once Rufus gets meter, it’s a little trickier. EX Messiah is of extreme importance in this fight because it gets Rufus out of pressure, and immediately turns the tide in a dramatic fashion. Because of this, you MUST account for it in your offense. Unfortunately, there’s no cute OS for this. You have to interrupt your offense to deal with it, and that always carries a risk. Doing stuff like Step Kick/CoD FADC -> Short Roll is a good bait for EX Messiah. You can punish with Ultra, or MK Wheel Kick (don’t use HK… you can be punished on hit). Step Kick/CoD FADC-> Jump works as well, though that can lose to reaction Jump HK from Rufus, for big damage. One thing I started doing to combat this, is jumping forward instead of a neutral jump. While Forward Jump can still be tagged by J. RH, it’s much harder to do it on reaction, and I find that Rufus players will jump forward to deal with the normal Neutral Jump attempt from Rufus, which will actually make their RH whiff, and you can Ultra the recovery. This doesn’t work if the Rufus is just holding U/F though. If he just does it immediately, he’ll still catch the HK. Just something to think about.
Basically, cover the EX Messiah. You can’t let it control you, but be mindful of it, and understand when you are able to go for real mix-ups. You have to pay attention to tendencies, and try your hardest to create feelings in your opponent (either create fear, then cover the Messiah… or create comfort, then throw… you get the picture). Again… this isn’t easy, and it carries a large risk. Speaking of which, cater your offense around the situation as well. Sometimes you can afford to eat a Messiah Kick, and the following pressure. Sometimes you can’t. Understand that, and act accordingly.
Rufus Pressing
OK… so here’s where it gets difficult. Lucky for me, I’m sick of writing, and there isn’t really that much to defending Rufus. Keep him out. Stand Strong, Stand MK work well as AA’s from far… Low Forward, Low Fierce, Falling Sky from closer, Stand Strong/Step Kick are great at midrange… I pepper in sweeps too, to try to gain an advantage.
Anyway, once Rufus is in, he’s gonna work his Dive Kick/Throw/Counter-hit mix-up. Understand the dynamic here. Your main defensive tools go like this.
[LIST]
[]Option Select Tech (with Strong or Fierce). This deals with Dive Kick (well, Rufus can High Dive over this, but most won’t, and at least you’re making him mix it up, with something less effective than his normal Dive Kick), while teching throws. It also can get you luckbox Low Fierces… be ready to tag Ultra on the end of this. It’s free. This option loses to delayed Stand Fierce/Stand Strong from Rufus. Also loses to random Messiah Kick.
[]EX Tornado Throw/EX CoD. This deals with the subsequent attempts from Rufus to frame trap you. This also deals with Dive Kick-> Stand Short. Loses to throws, as well as Dive Kicks. Also loses to random Messiah.
[]Backdash. This can create some space, but we all know Abel’s backdash isn’t the greatest. You can get reset by any attack, which leaves Abel very vulnerable for more Dives. Also loses to random Messiah.
[]Jab Super. Good in some spots. Bad in others HUUUUUUGE risk… but hey… sometimes you just gotta do it. Also loses to random Messiah.
[]Block. One of the only things that really beats random Messiah (though to say it beats it is kinda generous. It just doesn’t lose free… you still have to deal with a mix-up afterwards… I’ll touch on that later). Loses to throw. Deals with everything else insomuch as you’re not taking damage, and it just brings you to the next stage in the dynamic of this phase of the up-close game.
[]EX Roll. Very useful. Loses to throw, but escapes anything else, really. A very useful move, in not only escaping Rufus pressure, but also just letting it be known that the Rufus player has to attempt to throw you. This important because if you just leave it as a game dealing with catching your OST attempts, you will lose.
[/LIST]
So yeah… try to pick an option to start with, and if it fails, try to switch up and get it right (you’re taking damage here, so think quick), if your defensive option is successful, and the Rufus you’re facing doesn’t suck, understand the defensive progression here. You can’t run the same stuff. If you hit OS Fierce on a Dive Kick, the next time you’re in that position, the Rufus may very well try to frame trap you. Switching to EX TT here pre-emptively is big. You can’t afford to let Rufus change up first, because then you lose the momentum in the mindgame, and you have to guess again… at the same time, if you change up quicker than the Rufus does, it will have the same result. Rufus will dumbfuck his way into a correct response, since you were too smart for him… and you’ll pay for it dearly. Understand your opponent, and deal with it properly.
Once Rufus Ultra, tailor your responses to account for that. 3 bars and Ultra, obviously brings in another dynamic. Just watch out. It can be frustrating.
Dealing with EX Messiah on Defense
Good Rufus players will use EX Messiah as part of their offense. It beats all of Abel’s defensive options, outside of just blocking, or guess EX Roll. It’s just really good. If you block it, there’s still a mix-up here, that Rufus controls. His high and low follow-ups are both safe on block, so they are safe options. They lose to focus, so you can focus here, sometimes. Focus will lose to the Flip Kick follow-up, though that is obviously unsafe on block (unless Rufus has 3 bars). Focus will also lose to EX Messiah -> Nothing. Rufus can throw here. Backdashing after blocking EX Messiah is a decent option as well, thought Messiah-> Nothing will beat this also, as can other options, depending on timing.
Anyway, just to conclude, I think Rufus beats Abel, but it’s a very close 6-4 at this point in the game. Abel can really hurt Rufus, but Rufus can hurt Abel, and not let up. You have to be engaged in the mental battle on defense, and if you are, you can make a whole lot of sense out of it, and deal well with Rufus. On the other hand, Rufus still controls the mix-up, and if he’s one step ahead of you (or even one step behind), he can make it really hard on you.
Heartless
Nothing really super cheap here… just some stuff to think about.
When Rufus attempts to frame trap you, if you block it, a lot of the times, he’ll do Close Fierce xx Fierce Galactic Tornado. If Rufus does something like Short, Short, pause (for the frame trap)-> Stand Fierce xx GT, there’s a gap there, and you can EX TT. It’s a free opportunity to get out of the mix. Umm… yeah. That’s it for now.
I feel like Abel has an advantage in the fight, but it’s not so serious that Vega can’t compete if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’m not sure what I can say that Tatsu didn’t already say, but the fight is won and lost on the ground. From mid-range, Vega can fend off Abel very well. If Abel is going to lose to Vega, 9/10 times, it’s because the Abel was too impatient at mid range trying to get in. Vega does good damage in SSF4, so you can’t be reckless here. On the other hand, Abel has no real threat from mid range, so you can’t just wait it out completely. That strategy bears no fruit.
One note of extreme importance is that normal Step Kick combos don’t work on Vega unless you’re hitting it from close to max range. Stand Fierce just won’t combo. So at mid range, Step Kick isn’t a huge threat (though you can still get your Counter Hit combos off of one if you draw out a CH). What this means is that you have to take other risks to get in. I find that trying to jump is actually a decent enough risk to take. Vega has strong anti-air, but it’s not terribly damaging, and getting AA’d by Vega doesn’t really leave you in much worse shape than that from which you started. Other risks that you can take carry larger risks (like fishing with EX CoD, though the pay-off here is pretty huge… no larger than that of jumping though) or lack the reward (fishing with Step Kick) of jumping. Still… EX CoD definitely plays a part in this fight, though Vega can land a huge neutral jump combo on you for that. NJ. HK-> s. HP-> cr. MP xx EX Wall Dive fucking hurts.
You need to get your knockdown to win this fight, though. Once you get this knockdown, Vega is really, really, really fucked. He literally has nothing to stop your offense at that point. He is forced to just block.
As Tatsu already mentioned, he doesn’t have a single reversal that will beat meaty attacks. Roll mix-ups are golden against Vega as long as your timing is on point. He can’t stop them. I opt away from trying to throw on Vega’s wake-up. While they do work well in the mix-up, throws are the only things Vega can beat on wake-up. It’s still a big risk for him to try to do that, but… to me… there’s no need to even open myself up to reversals, when I can just keep with the side-switch mix-ups into meaty attacks that keep him in the same mix.
When Vega gets Ultra, the side-to-side shit kinda goes out the window, but at that point, you can just safe jump the shit out of him, since his Ultra, while fast in terms of Ultras, is still way too slow to stop safe jumps. Keep Vega locked the fuck down. Make him block your shit… well… attempt to block your shit.
When you knock Vega down once, you can completely end the round. The match basically comes down to a couple of points.
How little damage can you take before knocking Vega down
How many times do you allow Vega to escape your mix, once he’s been knocked down.
If you can minimize both of these points, you can’t lose. If Vega is successful in pushing up either of these factors, he has a shot. If he pushes up both of these, you lose.
It’s really just that simple.
As far as Ultra goes… I pick Soulless in this fight, though some differ since you can’t land Step Kick combos. I don’t really see how Breathless lands in this fight… but I’ve been told that it’s useful, so I’m putting it up there. I don’t really see how though…
HUUUUUUGE risk… but hey… sometimes you just gotta do it. Also loses to random Messiah.