I agree, Akuma’s damage is highly overrated compared to most of the cast, and his most damaging combos don’t come easy (force stand, corner, jump in). I was hoping they’d make a more 3S Akuma since vortex is dead but whatever
Akuma is very good in this game (IMO). He has almost no bad matchups. He has a strong keep away and great offense also. For ppl who are having trouble opening opponents up you have to use all of his tools. Try to trap them w/ air fireballs then go for a mixup from there. Some of the tools I use are cross up air tatsu. Empty jump low. DF whiff palm low. DF throw. Regular cross ups and even dive kick cross ups. Add in some frame traps and u have more tools than any other character. I only play this game with a friend and I play Akuma on point and he plays lei or law secondary. We have over 15k bp on 3 accounts. ( my Xbox, his Xbox and his PS3, 13k on my PS3.) I think I’m decent at this game but still have lots of mistakes to correct.
I think Akumas job is to play the bad matchups for your secondary character, build meter and to open up the opponent so you can bring in your #2 and do big damage.