Good insight, Holynido. I agree with most of the stuff, but I just want to add a few things.
Low forward CADC into throw or frame traps only really works on people that haven’t seen it before. Low forward has so little block stun that opponents can mash jab once they see it and beat you out of any mix up and combo you in the process. If they were jabbing early enough, you can actually get hit before your dash even recovers! I suggest using more far fierce CADC, which from what I read somewhere on here is only -3. Low forward CADC has to be way worse that that.
I don’t feel the frame traps you listed are going to catch good players pressing buttons, and people on point can react to a jump once you push them that far out. My traps aren’t great, but I think they serve the purpose of frame traps a bit better:
-cr.lp, (throw) OR cr.lp, (delay) cl.hp. If HP hits due to a tech attempt or otherwise, link into far.HP xx Spiral Arrow or far. HP xx launch.
-cr.lk, cr.lp, st.lp. This is a simple hit confirm off of a cross up or empty jump. If it’s hitting, combo into anything. If it’s being blocked go into: far. HP, CADC (throw) OR instant EX CS. You can also just start up another frame trap.
-cr.lp, cl.hk (jump cancel). Follow with either: cross up lk, instant cs to beat crouch techs and restart pressure, empty jump throw or empty jump low to catch a stand tech on the other side. Note that this is better off of a jump in because cr.lp to cl.hk doesn’t combo so make sure they’re blocking before you go for this. Also, I mainly stick to using this against Tekken characters because instant CS is -1, but most of the Tekken cast’s normals are 5+ frames startup so you can still go straight into more pressure.
You can tack on a stand forward-roundhouse chain at the end of any of these but, after doing that one or two times, people generally aren’t going to fall for that and just not press buttons while you push yourself out. I prefer to have all my strings keep me close so I can CADC right back in at any time, which is where Cammy wants to be.
Against Ryu, low forward into Donkey Kick is not a true blockstring. I don’t know the frame data on it but the gap is large enough so that you can actually stick in a normal in between the normal and the kick and combo him for that. I’ve had many people do that to my Ryu. If you don’t want to risk that, Alpha Counter tag cancel is always an option since you can react to the Donkey kick. Ryu has a lot of tools in this game, but Cammy has counters to two of his most common ones. Footsies: Standing forward beats low forward at max range, but before you start just throwing it out try to walk him into the corner, maybe throwing out jabs or just rocking back in forth instead. You need to see how jumpy the Ryu is first. If he’s mashing low forward, you can probably play footsies with him easily. If he likes to sweep, you can either take your chances and go for a straight up jump, or look to cross him up. If your reactions are good, you can Super his sweep on whiff. If he’s impatient and likes to jump a lot, don’t stick out very many normals and always punish those jumps with DP. If he’s at a range where he might cross you up with air tatsu, do the DP early so you don’t have to guess. Or, if you can react to the tatsu, DP really late so you will auto correct and not risk trading. Fireballs: If you conserve your meter and/or have a good battery point character, keep in mind that you should almost always keep Cammy stocked with two bars so she can fight Ryu. You need Super to punish fireballs and you can do it later and further away than in SFIV, so it’s more reliable.
Zangief is the second hardest matchup for me, and often times I simply raw tag out for Ryu when I get the chance… However, I did learn that when playing footsies, although you don’t want to get pushed into the corner, since the stages are so large in this game take advantage of that. Gief’s standing short, jab and strong seem to beat me more when I’m standing still or moving towards him. However, when I’m rocking back and forth (slightly inching backwards) I have a better time tagging his normals with the very tip of standing forward. Remember that standing strong into roundhouse or fierce is not safe on block, so if you ever block one of those chains, you can always punish with Super or your own chain if he’s close enough. Also, throw him. SPD doesn’t start up nearly as fast as AE, and unless it’s just the rollback netcode, I’ve actually seen Cammy throw him out of the startup animation a few times.
Vega’s wall dives for the most part you just have to guess against, but if you have two bars you can punish any of the mixups you block with Alpha Counter. For instance, the one where he flies straight across the screen, block that, then Alpha Counter, and Tag Cancel that for upwards of 300 damage. You can do the same thing against that multihitting roll when opponents try to tag in and you’ll combo both characters. As far as spacing, I haven’t played enough Vegas to know what to do to get around his superior footsies. His jumping normals come out really fast even though his anti-airs from the ground aren’t that good. But again if you have Super, you can punish his chains. 300 damage will give you a decent life lead and make Vega come to you. I feel Vega has an equally difficult time getting in against Cammy.
Guile is my hardest matchup, and I think it’s probably the hardest for Cammy in the game. Aside from getting lucky with straight jump ins, try to inch your way forward after a blocked chain or close up sonic boom. What I do is just fight for the space where Cammy can cross him up and make Flash Kick whiff. Once you’re in that space, similar to what you mentioned, Guile can only anti-air with a very early jump back normal. Try to catch onto the rhythm of Sonic Booms and cross up when you think he’s going to throw one. The worst that can happen is him tagging you for 90 damage and jumping his way into the corner. Once you’re in (whether he blocked your jump in or not) make it count with frame traps, CADC normals and instant EXCS if you have to. I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but if you need to get the life lead, punish blocked chains with Super.
Lastly, I want to add this because I also had problems with odd jump arcs, like Bison, Ibuki, Juri, and things like Ken’s air tatsu for a while. At certain ranges you just don’t know where they’re going to land. My best advice is don’t stand there. You either want to be in those character’s faces or far enough so that Cannon Strike will beat them out of the air every time. If you insist on playing footsies with standing or low forward anyway, just make sure you’re constantly buffering DP, so you can smack those characters out of the air early before they cross you up. I think her harder matches are not the characters who have lots of options in the air, but the ones that don’t have to deal with her footsies/beat them like Vega, Zangief, Guile, Dhalsim, Sagat, and Abel (stand short -_-).
