I’m pretty sure s.hp also forces stand, and cr.hp comes later in the combo anyhow so that would also force stand. I wouldn’t hadoken vega for backfliping out of my pressure because that would let him off the hook with no knockdown for like 60 damage. Then I have to chase him down again. My way tags him for about 200 damage with knockdown. If nothing else, at least hit with far RH for more damage than a hadoken.
Things like most ken’s dp after f-mk is not really in the scope of this guide, it was attempting to be to some degree an advanced tutorial, I wanted to prepare people for using Sakura at tournament level. Good ken’s almost never do f mk -> dragon punch, but they do often do f mk -> cr.lk, or f mk -> cr.mk.
Neutral jumping ex spinning bird kick is a bit more solid of a strategy, as immediate EX sbk is seen sometimes at higher level. I still prefer to block late option select throw, because if I block, the option select comes out during block stun, then I get cr.hp -> ex tatsu. If they throw, I get a throw break, if they do nothing, my option select becomes a cr.lk, cr.lp -> pressure. While your way does do more damage, it adds the risk of the chun doing nothing but holding db, then EX SBKing your neutral jump for decent damage and knockdown.
If you are throwing out ex shouken, that means there is a good chance you have 3 bars, and the combo builds a decent amount of meter. If you find yourself at the end of the combo without meter to EX tatsu, HK tatsu works fine. I tried to add like a disclaimer explaining how that is the go to in combos if you don’t have meter for EX tatsu. I didn’t want to have to re-write every combo like, if you have 1 bar, do this ect. beyond the basics.
yeah i know kens never do the f.mk -> shoryuken… i was talking about FADCing when they do the f.mk -> c.mk -> hadouken combo. timed right. a lvl 1 FADC will hit him between the f.mk and the c.mk. it wont have crumple, so a lot of kens will see this as an opportunity to SRK in order to avoid getting thrown or worse from the FADC. i tend to see a lot of kens SRK immediately after being hit with the FADC
I never really found a use for j.mk personally, but there are times where you will want to j.lk, and times where you will want to j.hp. j.lk sets up pretty much the best mixup, but sometimes you will want that damage from the heavy attacks (more often jump hk than hp though.) If you jump hp after an ex tatsu, you can immediately jump for a meaty crossup, or take a step back and jump for a non crossup. That is sadly the weakest mixup, but its the tradeoff for using a power move. I would use it mostly against characters where you do not get the j.hk -> dash under mixup.
The timing is strict, thats why it is imperative that you use p linking. Beyond that though, a little guilty gear trick we would use when we needed to do 1 frame dashes after RC’s (RC’s are pretty much FADC’s), you will do 6, mk+mp+6. This way you get your dash on the first possible frame. After you get that in your fingers, the combo begins to come naturally. No doubt it will take some time in training mode, a reasonable amount, but it so dramatically changes the amount of damage she does from a basic poke, that it is worth it. It took matches from like 80% them winning, to 50/50 for me.
Anyhow, it is an advanced guide, there is no need to do much of this stuff to win with sak at intermediate level (not that it wouldn’t help!)
Ah that might be the problem since I usually do F+MP+MK F. Well, actually I usually do F+MP+MK x2 since that’s how my brain works, double tap on one hand and the other hand likes to do the same thing
Your hands will get it down, we all have to start somewhere. First, try it slow, then gradually speed it up till it is the speed of the game. You can try it without the game even on, it doesn’t matter anyhow. That’s a trick you use for learning difficult pieces in music, but the skills are much the same for combos, (rhythm, independent finger movement, ect.) so the movements should be the same.
Yeah what Blueflamingo said. But you can always throw out a c.mk>ex tatsu after a bit of pressure with lk tatsu and a few pokes here and there. Sometimes people open up and you get lucky. It is a risk though. Better to go with c.mk>hadouken as that would be the safest imo.
I have to admit, I was feeling the same way about Sakura. I mean, when people face a decent sakura, you know they’re all trying to do the same thing, namely get you with the ex shunpu into shenanigans. That’s it. She can’t turtle and she can’t rushdown without looking for the opportunity to mix it up. When it comes right down to it, she’s pretty one-sided in terms of her offense and the way she can be played in order to be competitive.
I think about ryu, sagat, akuma and almost every other member of the cast. They can be played multiple ways and in various play styles and still have a chance to be successful. Sakura, on the other hand, everyone knows what we’re looking to set up. It would be like ryu having to rely on a jump-in to get his ultra off, and bIting the jump-in would be all a player would be trying to do throughout the match. Kinda boring and very predictable.
I’m not giving up on her because she’s too damn fun when the shenanigans work, but there’s got to be more to her in terms of strategy and technique. She just can’t be a one trick pony…can she?
Plus you kinda need a HP or c.HP to hit them up if they’re crouching.