I’ve seen that consensus too, it’s wrong. I love playing Bryan but he’s a couple of “somethings” shy of being a complete character. He has pretty much two ranges where he’s effective at, and if you learn how to play a good Bryan you just have to not be there, which is pretty easy. Gets torn up by projectiles, one two > whatever gets blown up by any decent reversal, and he doesn’t particularly do amazing damage anymore.
Don’t get me wrong he still has decent zoning tools with Gatling, st.MP, and LP fisherman, and I’m not saying he’s ass, but for this game he’s comparatively lacking a hell of a lot. Even though what they gave him in 2013 is small potatoes, he’s going to be better for it
Maybe if they made is double back knuckle safe on block and you cannot jump in between the second hit he would be a lot more effective since most of his long reaching pokes don’t lead to that much damage. I think if they added that, then he wouldn’t be so low tier. Also make Gatling combination a true block string then he would be very good, but that’s just me.
Double back knuckle really doesn’t even compare as a poke to f+mk, its way slower doesn’t reach as far and overall just is not as good, not to mention all the points there are to interrupt. Luckily I think offline it is hitconfirmable and if you can plink is a shit ton of damage so it can be used for punishing certain things or guessing… I dont’ know I think Bryan still sucks tons. His St.jab doesn’t even hit as far as it looks like it does and most of his chain starters aren’t very good so it can be hard to punish things well.
I will say I don’t think he gets torn up by projectiles, knee can be hard to use but you can use it. Also EX mach Punch has armor, soooo fuck a projectile. Id say its mostly his mixup and he has problems with people who press buttons, Even good ways to get in like overhead are just not good against button pushers… I
I need to play him more to really feel out all the options but damn it sucks that even when get hits in most situtations he can’t break 300 without a TAG : ( I think for someone who is so based on poking for that one hit he needs that damage.
Mach Breaker isn’t actually safe on block though, it just sometimes pushes you to far away to punish, and f+mk->mp isn’t really going to get punished much, if ever.
I know but its his only poke that leads to good damage and you can jump between the second hit so you cannot cancel it to make it safe unless, like what you said if you hit confirm with it, even still the first hit is not that safe. that why I said if they buffed it, it could be a more useful attack
Knee is alright, until you start realizing the limit of all the non-EX version’s ranges. I mean it limits fireballs within a certain range, but that range is practically f+MK range, which leads to more damage and is safe. Flying knee is pretty easy to crouch (he’s nice enough to announce his approach with a very loud CAAAAWWWW!) and doesn’t give you any oki options. I forgot about EX Mach having armor though, so that’s decent, ill have to try it out.
I don’t know though, I personally think 257 is a lot of damage for a safe confirm with dhalsim like range and no meter. ~400 dmg with a bar. Double back knuckle just seems like it lacks so much usefulness. Plus I was pretty sure that the second or third hit of Gatling was completely safe
I guess 257 is ok but if its used too often people can predict it and neutral jump it and you can get punished alot for it. and I believe the third hit is interruptable with a fast or invincible attack so that’s why I wanted it as a trueblock string so Bryan can have true high/low chain. Ah well Iam happy with the buffs he’s got, especially his cross-up, kinda wish for more but can’t be too greedy I guess
Yeah I agree Knee range is annoying and can actually be kind of hard to figure out if you are in range : (
As for the f+MK - I think you are right up the to the 2nd hit is completely safe, and yeah the range and speed is what makes it truly godlike. What is the combo you are doing to get 400 damage with bar?
Also to the neutral jump issue if people are neutral jumping your f+mk you can sometimes input the second button and just pass under them, but also neutral jumps beating good canned strings is just a curse of Tekken characters and it happs to most of them with most of their strings.
I was pretty sure Gatling was a true block string until after the third hit.
I can’t test really quick so feel free to double check, but Bryan can do: Gatling xx EX Mach breaker, st.LK, cl.MP, cl.HP xx Knee for something like 390 dmg.
Ok I messed up, I just tested it out, its the fourth hit that can be interrupted by a fast or invincible attack my bad. But my point is kinda the same, its not really a true high/low mix up because a large part of the cast can just mash in-between the overhead or the low kick which kinda sucks. That’s what I meant when I said I wanted it as a true block string
Yea but that would be silly broken. A half screen normal that you must block high or low or alpha counter? All the first hits are safe anyways so you can usually provoke people in to panic when you just stop at the second or third hit.
If anything I’d like to see him have a true block string follow up after his One Two punch string. It’s like -4 on block and most people don’t know that you can reversal every single option he has out of that series. His rekkas need work, and frankly I’d like them to give him an even better sweep, like Gouken style safe.
One-Two does kinda suck unless you’re already hit-confirming into it. You can even mash out a reversal before the third hit. Most of Bryan’s strings have a similar problem, including Double Back Knuckle and Gatling (but Gatling is clearly the best, since it is relatively safe when you stop before the last hit). I like using Double Back Knuckle for punishes, but not much else.
There seems to be some confusion around which block strings have gaps in them and which strings are punishable. For the purposes of the information below, I am using a 3 frame reversal to define gap/punishable. When I say less than -3 frames Julia’s super can punish it. Hopefully this clears things up:
LP-MP-(gap)-LP (unpunishable)
LP-MP-(gap)-LK (punishable)
LP-MP-(gap)-MK (unpunishable because of pushback/less than -3 frames)
HP-(gap)-LP (punishable)
(gap may be protected from reversal because of pushback when done normally. Meaty pushback not enough to be safe.)
fMK-MP-LP-(gap)-MP (punishable)
fMK-MP-LP-(gap)-MK (punishable)
fMK-MP-LP (unpunishable less than -3 frames)
Cammy’s Cannon Spike is 5 frames, I think. Ogre’s Cr. LK is 4 frames, but it’s not a reversal so it will be harder to time. I don’t have the game currently due to my lack of an Xbox at the moment, or I would help test, but here you go.
Just use sagat to test everything frame-wise. He’s got 4, 5, and 6 frame DPs, plus a 3 frame super.
But yea I was pretty sure that the third hit of Gatling was solid on block. Seems like that’s usually the best option on block, just stop at the third hit.
due to my lack of an Xbox at the moment, or I would help test, but here you go.