I play Ryu. I can do combos in training mode. Mainly 4 links, but I can do them. cr LK>cr LP>crLP>cr MK>Hadouken. Stuff like that.
My problem is, when I get into a game, if someone gets close to me, I’ll start the combo and they’ll either block it entirely or counter it easily after the first hit.
Am i not doing the combo fast enough or what could it be?
I’ve looked a few times online for tips on how to actually implement them, what times to use them and how quickly you need to, but all i find is the actual combo inputs. I watch videos but they don’t give you real time advice as it’s specific to that game.
I do a combo when I know I can, but it is more important to land hits whenever possible. From the sounds of it your just a masher who happens to know what a combo is. If you have a lot of problems, go for chip damage, command grabs, safe moves or even normal grabs is rather annoying to tech.
You’re right. I am a masher. I’m new to the game and I don’t have the muscle memory to implement moves in a calm manner. I know this is looked down on but it’s a physical process and it will come to me.
By chip damage you mean just using what i know can definately hit, so one or two hits rather than going for 4 hit combos?
By chip damage I mean being completely safe as possible but doing little damage on block constantly. Also muscle memory is a bitch, takes awhile to get input down before you can start playing the game.
I always found SF4 characters always lacking wither it’s no reversal, cross over, anti air, anti crouch or being too slow for my taste or I truly hate charging moves etc to top it off with no defense tools to fully negate certain things.
To paraphrase the excellent stickied newbie guide “For links, if the move doesn’t come out, you did it too fast, if they block it, you did it too slow.”
Oh well then. Remember that landing combos isn’t always the most important way to get damage. Good footsies will go a long ways. A well timed and spaced cr.forward xx Hadoken is a great tool. You can win entire games convincingly from just good footsies and simple punishes. Since you say you are getting countered after the first hit sometimes, I’m curious. You’re not trying to link ALL of the normals are you? Chaining jabs and shorts are pretty much always true blockstrings, so unless you are doing those moves too slow they shouldn’t be able to counter it after the first blocked hit. For the combo you listed you chain the cr.short cr.jab cr.jab, then you link the cr.forward. The timing for chaining isn’t very strict so you definitely shouldn’t be getting blown up for hitting them on block. It’s weird to me that you are asking for the timing, if you can do the combo in training mode, you know the timing already. But I hope that helps you out a bit.
Good times to do combos. It’s kind of hard to explain I guess. So one of the best and obvious times to do combos is when you bait out something or your opponent just messes up. The one you listed isn’t a very good punish combo, but I’m sure you know Ryu’s best punish options. Though sometimes you don’t have enough time to do the best punish combo. For the combo you listed a good time to use it may be after a hard knockdown. Meatie that short and if it hits, bam combo. You always run the risk eating reversals but that’s part of mind games. And that combo is also used for just when you are in range to do it and you think you can snag them out of something you go for that combo, since it’s basically a hit confirm combo. And another time for the combo you listed it is say you jump over a fireball and throw out a j.rh to try and punish, but you’re not positive it will hit them, or you just decided to jump in and you’re not sure they wont anti air you, you can default into that combo instead of the better jump combo, since those are usually less safe on block.
But honestly I think combos are the last piece of the puzzle. It’s something we often learn first because it’s actually probably the easiest part of learning a character and we still want that sweet sweet punish damage. The footsies and mind games all come before the combo, and the combo is just the finisher. So the secret to landing your combos is to get better at the other aspects of the game.
That makes a shit load of sense actually. I am very new to the game but I’ve been learning a lot of stuff and I’ve got the TE stick so getting used to that is still ongoing.
What combos do you think are good for beginners? By block strings you mean hitting them in such a way that if they block it, it will push the opponent back? I’m also not 100% on Ryus punishing moves lol.
I can do stuff like Shoruken -> FADC into Ultra, although pulling it off in game is another thing. So, I should learn the basics really. But i can do the meaty cr MK into Hadoken and focus FADC into hadokens to counter a close hit. So I’m getting used to it.
I’m sorry, I know people probably roll their eyes at stuff like this
Traditionally, a block string is a series of attacks designed to keep the opponent from doing anything else besides blocking. This means that if they block the first attack, they can’t do anything else besides block (except stand-up/crouch). In SFIV, there are very few true blockstrings. There is usually enough space between the attacks for the opponent to perform a reversal, backdash, focus attack, or even sometimes jump. So if you do (with Ryu) something like crouching jab, jab, medium kick into fireball on a blocking opponent, they can actually perform a reversal between the second jab and the medium kick (or the medium kick and the fireball, depending on your spacing). Nevertheless, people still call these kinds of series “blockstrings” for the sake of convenience.
in order to be able to actually implement combos into your game, you need to know when to do them, and youll know when to do them by analyzing the match up, and learning everything that you should learn BEFORE worrying about combos (like zoning)
also, just stop playing the computer. it doesnt help you learn how to play the game competitively
Ok. So, if i were to say, give me a list of 5 things i need to learn to get better, what would they be. I watch videos and it’s combos, combos, combos. I’ve watched the vids on here and it’s about combos and training. So that’s why I have been learning combos and trying to get ultras/supers into the end of them.
Just focus on zoning for now, theres a lot of tutorials on youtube about it, even the ones that deal with sf2 are worth watching (same concept really)
most of the tutorials tend to talk about other concepts as well, so youll get a decent over view
So I’m to play an aggressive defensive game? Smash them from afar and smash them when they get close? Thing is, people online can already do that but I’ll just have to work on it against them.
So I’ve watch that and what I’ve gathered is, by controlling the space I can control the game. Controlling ground and air. Also understanding hitboxes and startup/recovery frames tells me when i can counter. So use Cr.Mk into Hadoken to control the direct space in front of me, and to force them into the air from afar with Hadokens which I can then counter with SRK. Is that the idea?
Because what confuses me is when people use Blanka or E. Honda and use their projectile attacks, they are so quick, I basically need to be faster and block correctly and attack on the recovery?
Also the FADC system does counter that doesn’t it? I guess the answer to that would be to watch out when they have 2 EX bars filled, or don’t let them get close enough to use it. Right?
(I appreciate all the advice given too, thank you all )
These are the two videos I liked the most when I was getting back into fighters, but it seems like youre getting the jist of it based on your replies. You can win any fight in SF with the fundamentals alone. Combos are just there to help you do it quicker.
as for your blanka and honda questions, I recommend you goto the Ryu forums and check out the matchup info. Once you watch the videos I linked already(including the videos beyond part one of their respective series), you should check this out (and donate to the person who made it, Air, who is an awesome Ryu player)
I dont main Ryu in SF4, but I definitely watch that video so that when I do play him I got all sorts of tricks.
Hey, I’m gonna ask in this thread since RisingChurch is on the topic of what I’m wondering. I’m brand new to fighting games and playing on a stick from the start.
I have a problem with the timing. I’ve played many of the trials on different characters and always get stuck on the same problem. I cannot seem to time a special after a normal.
Two examples are Sakura’s j.HP > s.MP > Hadoken > EX Focus (I think is the combo) and Dudley’s s.MP > M. Machinegun.
Excuse me if I got these wrong, but I’m completely new.
I can get the special out but it gets blocked. I know it means I must be doing this late, but when is the perfect time? I would like to know the timing in correlation to the little hit effect (the yellow spark looking thing). I sit around an hour a day for the past few days.
Again, if I posted in the wrong area or anything let me know and I can make the changes. Thanks in advance.