In my post about assist focus, i touched on the difference between a Rush Down strategy and a Keep Away strategy but i mainly talking about rush down because that is my favored style of play. However, Doom’s Keep Away is among on of the best in the game due to his variety of great projectiles, so i thought up some strategies i use in my own game but applied to a more Keep away essential style.
Before i post the info, i know i have a tendency to be very long winded with my posts so I will try my hardest to be concise. Please read my entire post i still will take alot of time and effort into writing it and it will be to your benefit. I would also like to cite my definition of keep away because im sure i will have to refer back to it in replies.
Keep Away: Another Strategy in which the main goal is to keep as much distance from your opponent as possible. Because of the nature of this strategy it is important to use safe moves that will still do damage whether it be chip or on hit it doesn’t matter the damage is still done. As long as the opposing character stay at a safe distance the strat will be successful.
Essentials of Dooms Keep Away:
As a keep away Doom you should set some rules for yourself to help make sure you don’t stray into risky action.
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[]Being Mid-Full screen is the most important thing, at this range you are safe from any close range attacks.
[]Call Hidden Missiles as much as possible as long as you can get out 3-5 missiles before the opponent can attempt to hit you.
[*]When the opponent has trapped you in the corner, your main goal is to move to the other side of the screen by any means necessary, you must forget offense at that point and focus on defense.
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With those three rules said the next thing you must figure out is what projectiles to use other than missiles.
At mid-full (first full screen) range:
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[]Use ground Photon shot’s, not missiles. At this range l. photon shot is the safest because it comes out the quickest and is pretty much impossible to evade forcing the opponent to block and giving you time to move back more. i would almost never use plasma beam here because of the risk of a jump in, even though it does significantly more chip. Once blocked you should proceed to continue backing up to full (full) screen range.
[]Full (expanded or Full screen) Range: Use Missiles first. you want your opponent to block so you can deal the maximum amount of chip. During this missile call if you have an assist that can do even more chip i would call them as well. Then as the missiles connect do plasma beam of whatever strength you chose. After this you should wait a second and gauge what your opponent will do. Most people will super jump, in which case, call missiles again as an anti-air and do the same thing again. If they start to dash forward they will close the gap quick to mid-full range so i would use a photo shot barrage and try to slow them down then back up more. if you are already in the corner you should now be thinking of how you will escape.
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With this style of play i think its best to have a get off assist such as haggar and a chip/long range assist like unibeam or even a hadouken. Haggar you will mainly use when pushed into a corner and get combo damage like that or when they are forced to block at close range you can escape the corner and set up again.
As long as you follow the 3 rules set you will be untouchable. However, due to the high speed nature of the game and the variable of assists it will be difficult.
How to counter Assists:
Before the game starts you should be wary of what assists your opponent is using. Most teams only use assists that are effective up close so you won’t really have to worry. But some will use assists such as drones or disrupter that will give you a problem. Here are things to look out for so that you can still play successful keep away.
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[]When at mid-screen, try and use haggar as a scapegoat and deploy him and just run away if you feel he might be killed use a super to make him safe. Ground Ph.A can be used simply to protect haggar while also still doing chip and gaining you access to full screen.
[]For long range assists try and just wait out their use. For instance if they just call disruptor from full screen block it or jump it then proceed to set up. For characters with teleport left/right unblockables you should simply call missiles and your long range assist at the same time pressing the buttons simultaneously when you think the unblockable is coming. This will effectively anti-air the teleport and either nullify or beat out their assist call.
[*]For Assists like akuma tatsu make sure you call your haggar to beat it out. try not to call him unless you see akuma coming or need to escape the corner.
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Just remember also a few things when using this strategy.
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[]People will get fed up and try and random hyper. try and look out for moments like this. Don’t go into auto-pilot when keeping away. I think this is the hardest part about the strategy. Just like CQC you should mainly do things that your are almost sure will work and look for patterns or reactions the your opponent is doing before committing to anything.
[]Going with the last point, keep an eye on your opponents meter bar. Especially beam hyper characters, they will most likely use all of their supers trying to stop keep away so once they’ve exhausted all their meter you can free use your projectiles without worry.
[]Stay smart and safe when an opponent is closing in. Don’t forget to abuse your invincible assist but also cover him from danger, but from a distance. i highly suggest using haggar because as we all know Doom gets amazing benefits from him.
[]Don’t forget to always be looking for option-select air throws, people will be normal jumping like crazy trying to get in, so you will have many opportunities especially when your in the corner. Just be careful and make sure you don’t get grabbed yourself.
[*]Don’t be afraid to use your supers for get off me’s. Whenever you feel like a situation can’t be dealt with by simply using normals or special moves just throw out a hyper, almost all of Doom’s hypers are safe especially at mid-full screen. you can also use them if you anticipate an assist call but they will not do much damage.
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