Elena, while possessing fairly strong buttons (both ground and air) certainly struggles with some matches (looking at you, Yun, Yang, and pretty much anyone that can modify their air mobility).
I’m curious to see if any other Elena players out there are playing another character for these bad matchups, of if you just keep on trucking through the bad times. If you do play someone else outside of her, who is it, and why did you choose that character? What do they give you that Elena lacks in some match ups?
Personally, I’ve been using Blanka. Actually having a reversal/a good AA to deal with air mobility (ex Upball) has been wonderful, and he can turtle very well on a life-lead, something that feels a little bit more difficult for Elena.
Only two characters I know I struggle against is Guile and Yun. I use Oni to shut down Guile’s walling with counter fireballs, fundamentals and my own variant rushdown. Oni’s st.lp makes an excellent anti-air to counter Yun’s divekick on reaction and has the strength to punish Yun heavily for any and all stupid mistakes.
Poison is probably the best catch-all for Elena’s tough matchups, but Elena seems to struggle more against player types than specific characters (in my opinion).
If you’re having trouble with divekick characters, I honestly recommend employing more s.jab. It’s the most consistent tool she has to shut down divekicks from almost any character.
If you’re having trouble with Rufus divekicks, I recommend stand blocking them and making some call outs with EX Scratch Wheel. Backdashing works, too.