DeeJay - Spacing and Zoning

Hi all,
Over the weekend, I was able to get in a few games against some of my countries best players, and although I was told that I have DeeJays bnb stuff down very well, my spacing/zoning was not great.

One of the guys, Doctor Doom (Guile/DeeJay) admitted that, although I knew DeeJays tricks way better than him, he beat me because he was able to put me where “he” wanted me to be and use the fundamentals. Another guy, Dreddybajs (Cammy), also stated that my spacing needed work and he has already given great advice.

It’s a layer of the game that I have not paid attention to other than the obvious with Deejay (e.g. dont max out vs blanka mid screen) but it’s clearly critical.

I’d love to discuss this with you all! Where do you like to be on screen vs certain characters? I know this is a really general topic as there are so many characters, but any advice aganist any characters is great!

Can you post match vids? I think it’d be nice to have a section for DJ dedicated to just spacing/zoning. I think the Ryu section has one of these. Although that’s a tad different since his entire game is based on his fireball while DeeJay’s… isn’t really (though this may change in AE).

EDIT: At least for SSF4 DJ, throwing fireballs at Blanka anytime he has meter or U2 is a pretty bad idea.

I wish I had vids but don’t. I hadn’t a means to record except iPhone but everyone was playing games too.

i don’t space. i’m just random as hell with deejay, but its been working for a while now lol

some spacing things i’ve done without realizing it is spacing mk sobat to bait sweep punishes that don’t work.

Using the mk sobat is really good against ryu because he can’t punish with anything besides super and if you charge buffer or go back after pressing forward + mk fast enough you’ll be able to get an ex sobat if they try to throw a fireball.

DeeJay is okay from many ranges but where do you think he does the best?

He’s a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Only from max range or even point blank?

As for best range, I think DeeJay does best at near-mid range. NOT super up close, but not quite mid range. DeeJay at far range isn’t a thread, but is unlikely to be punished for his fireballs. At mid, DeeJay can anti-air and kinda zone, but can be hurt if he does a bad fireball. Sobat pressure is sorta okay if spaced correctly, but… well anyone who uses DeeJay enough knows the negatives of that move. At near to mid range, DeeJay can use his best tool (IMO), the cr. mk sweep which sets up much of his offense.

DeeJay is a versitile character, and his space is character specific. For an example, I like to be 3/4 to Fullscreen away from Balrog and Cody until they fall down. Against Viper I don’t even let the bitch breath. Against Abel and Rufus I stay full screen away sometimes and then other times I rush them down non stop. Against Ryu and Gouken… well that just depends on how How they want to play the round. I actually like to lame Akuma and Sagat out (ironic huh?). Dhalsim, I’m either full screen away or in his ass. Half screen and 3/4 screen is no mans land.

One thing I refuse to do is, chase someone. Time has to be running off the clock for me to do that

Depends on the match-up.

VS. Fireball characters (Except Guile, and Deejay, and runaway fireball characters like Akuma and Seth) I start the match-up by keeping max distance to build some meter with fireballs.

Once I get a couple bars I try to set-up my spacing to be within the first hit of EX Sobats and depending on which character I’m playing specifically I might go a little closer while still throwing fireballs to get them to retaliate with more fireballs.

Usually after around two landed EX Sobats, either from going through fireballs or on reaction to dumb focus attack baiting, my opponent is either in the corner, or close to it and I can start doing some corner shenanigans with Deejay.

And yea before somebody says it this is obviously assuming everything goes smoothly. The most common problem I face trying to set up my spacing like this is that my opponent will step into their poking range which usually means I have to do something that’ll either make me give up my spacing or that’s unsafe.

Dee Jay is the Ryu of charge characters. He thrives really well everywhere. Up close he can apply some decent offensive pressure. Farther away he can zone with fireballs. He’s got dope anti airs, great EX moves, a decent ultra, and a great one.

He can zone grapplers
make fireball characters think twice with EX Dreads
unmercifully cross up charge characters

Helps he only has like 3 bad matchups (like 6.5/3.5, not 7-3)

I space myself depending on the person I’m fighting or ‘types’ I’m fighting. For say Ryu/Akuma/Guile, I stay at about DeeJay’s sweep range, but a tad bit further back so there’s room to throw projectiles, jump in with Knee Shot, and do MK Sobats without punish. And if they throw a projectile I can usually slide under it. So technically against the 3 above I stay in poking range, but a tad bit back to avoid Ryu’s C. MK, Akuma’s S. HK and Guile’s S. HP C. HK range.

But against say Sagat/Ken I stay about 2/3rds of the screen away, sometimes half screen (depending on if they’re poke happy or fireball happy).

Zoning/spacing usually refers to who you’re playing against and how you and your opponent plays. If you like to poke and say by chance you’re against a Sagat who likes to range and throw out a couple S. HK / C. MK pokes, you won’t want to be in J. Knee Shot range. And since DeeJay usually loses in fireball wars due to his recovery from AS, it’s best to mix up long pokes with AS’s between. MK Sobat/HP and LP Air Slashers are my personal best friends, and I usually like to stay in half screen range. But then again, it depends who I’m playing.

But a quick generalization of my range; Between half screen and 2/3rds, this way if I throw Air Slashers and the opponent; jumps at me, neutral jumps, FA and dash towards me, I’ll be in distance to punish. Zoning/spacing takes a long time to practice and get used to (I have been playing this game since release and I’m still getting used to spacing lol).

^Dee Jay has better FB recovery than most of the FB characters… Guile’s the only one that beats him. It’s just that he doesn’t have Guile’s short charge time to help him out in FB wars.

Yeah that was my fault lol, I was going to edit it but I forgot. DeeJay is 2nd for projectile recovery speed. But against any command projectile chars (Ken Akuma Ryu etc), DeeJay tends to lose fireball wars. (Luckily in AE DeeJay’s AS recovery is hella awesome now).

Even just in Super? What? I seriously get punished for more stuff using DeeJay than almost any other projectile character I’ve tried using. He recovers faster than Chun/Gouken/Sagat?

I dunno about Chun and Gouken, but he most definitely recovers quicker than Sagat.

I believe Gouken is 2nd to Guile, but it recovers faster than Dee Jay’s, that much is certain.

No.

People read the frame data…

Dee Jay recovery is 39 frames
Guile’s lp boom is 29 frames. His Ex boom is like 35 frames

Akuma/Gouken/Sagat are all mid 40-some frames.

Dee Jay can’t hang in fb wars the same way vanilla guile couldn’t. His charge time. Granted Dee Jay doesn’t rely on his fbs like Guile.

The problem with Deejay’s fireball isn’t the speed of recovery, but the charge time coupled with the fact that it is telegraphed by the charge.

Ryu’s fireball with worse numbers is a way better tool not only because he has better fakes than Deejay, but because he doesn’t have to give up his best anti air options to throw a fireball.

or you could just check the frame data instead of guessing!

High tiger shots recover 1 frame slower than air slashers, but also start up a frame faster so they even out, they are harder to react to however for a multitude of reasons.

Chun’s fireballs are very slow, goukens are okay.

Cody is actually first in projectile recovery, but his rocks have horrible startup, which is a mixed bag as he gets thrashed by psychic jumps, but reacting to his rocks allows for him to easily antiair.

Totally agree. Deejay isn’t a fireball character, he’s a character with a fireball.

? Just do it like ST Guile. Throw fireballs with df+punch so you’ll still have down charge?

was pretty sure that didn’t work in this game? Maybe I’m stupid, would check but I’m busy atm.

The Guile I was referring to has a name for being defensive, but in reality he knows all about proper spacing with Guile and where to be on screen in relation to the opponent at all times. he likes to stay a little less than full screen.

He said my main mistake was attempting to get into a fireball war with Guile. I was guilty of this at times but when I made an attempt to get on top of him with EX Sobat and knee shot, I ate AA. I had played on a laggy screen for about a hour before that and didn’t risk sliding under booms so i can EX. Sobat him.

When I did get in, I was able to put decent pressure on him and I like getting in Guiles face.

But against such a Guile, how should DeeJay apprach the match-up? As I said, he likes to stay a little less than full screen until he has meter and can play more agressively.