Before you close the thread Buk, read this first! The old P groove thread was pretty disorganized, and the new P groove thread really didnt have any thing going for it. I wanted this thread to be a whole compilation of what has been said so far. In otherwords, this thread breaks down all the garbage that didnt need to be said in the other threads.
Most of these things have been cut and paste, and are not my strategies. I did however reword it so that people can have an easier time reading it. Once again I dont take credit for the things that Im going to put in this thread, as they are ideas that are posted in the other threads
These strategies came from:
Nick T.
Eightysix
Lifetimeboy
S4v
Kcxj InVeRs3
Some of my own stuff
With that said Ill compile the information into different sections:
-P groove main strategey
-P groove tips
-Character Selection, various in depth character posts(why they are good)
I’d say one of the more important parts of playing P-Groove is learning to read your oppenent. If you see a pattern forming, take advantage of it. Highly risky, but the trade-off is pretty good. Unless you eat supers.
One miss timed parry and you’re dead but one perfectly timed parry can lead to big health damage plus psychological damage. K is way safer overall than P.
You wanna focus on straight up ground game/footsies more than parrying all day. Make sure they know that they can’t jump at you for free cuz you’ll punish them with an anti air. Not a parry that leads to a usually blocked combo or throw at best.
P-Groove really has little to do with parrying ability, it’s all about having a really strong ground game. Good players will mix you up so much that trying to parry is gonna be a big risk that you don’t wanna take.
Basically you don’t get that manny parries, but maybe you try for alot that are relatively safe. People only see the ones you guessed correctly on. It’s really only 10% of your game tho, 90% Footsies.
Effectively incorporating low parry into one’s general gameplan is an absolute must to becoming a powerful P-groove player. I personally would not go near P-groove ever, unless I’ve throughly practiced such.
**Character selection makes a huge impact on P groove. **As I type this i’m starting to think the most limited character selection goes to p. Here’s my order from most limited to free: P, K, C, N, A, S. I get the feeling that the C, N, and A can be swapped in some ways but the the others are pretty fair I think.
Parrying jump-ins is another no-no. If you can hit them cleanly - do it. Every time. Matter of fact only time you shouldn’t always anti air is if the enemy is also p/k or has a custom/air super.
Bouya said on wakeup P groovers should do: **10% Shoryu, 10% Parry 80% Block. **If you use a wakeup super and miss. You then set up the worst thing that can happen in the game. You waste your super and you get punished by your enemy’s super.
Try to out poke the enemy. Stop going for risky parries. Sometimes players need to play risky, to keep the enemy honest. Thats the real skill, knowing when and how to risk.
The main disadvantage about option select-ing is that your not going to take full advantage of the parry. You will only get a sweep. With cammy it’s good because her S. FP almost always gives a time to capatalize. Thats why Cammy can be good for optionselect there. You really don’t wanna go for a parry and not be able to capatalize as much as you can.
**If you almost never parry, then the enemy won’t be looking for it as much. **Then maybe you can get one important one that can win you the match. Good players hardly parry at all. Thats why the one chance they get a parry they make it something that defines the winner of a match.
In a match your working on your ground game, footsies, and patience. Then, throughout the match your getting the enemy to think a certain way so you can get that one critical parry to win.
Knowing matchups is an obvious asset towards playing a good P groove. Knowing when to parry high/low in different situations become match up dependent. Know your matchups
Intentionally use a semi-laggy, but safe move to make your oppenent block it to see if they attack right afterwards. Frames can come into this idea as well. Using a move that has slight frame advantage/disadvantage (ranging around +2 to -3)can be very deceptive.
Small jumps are good for a 3 option mixup (throw, low, high) best used after a knockdown. You cant parry when in small jump. Small jumps basically make you more mobile, with the option of letting you mix your opponent up.
Option Select - Joystick and button input that simultaneously functions as multiple possible actions, automatically choosing the best possible counter to several of the opponent’s options. Insert down/forward + the punch/kick of your choice in hopes of parrying in case your opponent tried to hit you first.
Proxy Parrying - Making your opponent throw out a far hitting move. From there, you see the move come out, and parry the ending hitting frames of the move. In example Chun Li’s s.mp. You can watch the s.mp come out, and walk into a parry. This is what is known as “proxy parry”
I agree with this. Shutting down the air game (Anti-air them, air throw, etc.) then establishing the ground game is a good way to fight, but this seems to be the goal of almost every groove. Just in P groove you want to absolutely shut down the air game and force opponents to attack from the ground so you can get parries and punish them. I know I’m repeating what you said but I guess its easier to comprehend fi you keep hearing it.
If you are knocked down, the best thing to do is to block on wakeup and wait to tech a throw. Seriously, this leads to death on the missed parry because if you try to low parry and they go high they can combo into super and vice versa.
Most of the time, if a P groove player jumps at you for the first time, they want to see what your reaction is to their jumping and they will almost all the time try to Parry, I play P groove (just not that good) and most of my jump attacks are from low jumps.
Another note: When P groove has meter its more dangerous than without for obvious reasons. Once certain characters gain that super in P groove, they become that much better (Rock is an example) using Rock as the example, you now have to worry about Rock’s Shine Knuckle and play more safe, you can’t jump anymore because Raging Storm will do a chunk of damage.
On Parries:
Parries should not be done randomly, because a good player playing against P groove will attempt to mix up high and low.
Parrying is a guessing game that can lead to big damage. But parrying should not be attempted in the first Round unless you have already studied your opponent and his tendencies. But once you get multiple consecutive parries and punish him afterwards, he will become afraid to attack. Parries work on the mental thought of a player as well as his the character’s health (assuming you punish him after each parry)
P cammy is really good from scrub level to advanced. She has speed, priority, and big damage. Most bad match ups that Cammy has die because of parrying. She’s good in wide range of situations and skill level.
Option selecting her HP has can be deadly since her HP can be linked into so much.
Any half decent P groover can pick up cammy and do some damage. Basically she’s the best p groove character based on her ease of use, high priority, lots of match ups in her favor, and damage.
**By far the most solid P groove character is cammy. **
Cammy also gains more mobility due to small jump and parry. This makes Cammy a little more scary. It now allows her to rush or turtle on the drop of a dime.
-every P-groove team should have cammy. supposedly she’s the 3rd best character in the game, and if you’re already handicapping yourself by picking P-groove, at least pick cammy to even things up a bit.
-having a P-groove character with an invincible DP is HUGE. this is highly underrrated. some people use parry to cover up spotty AA games, but it also gives your opponent a chance to take the initiative and mixup their jump ins to get in. you can take it all away with a good DP. cammy, sagat, kyo, etc. all good choices. they jump, you fierce/RH DP EVERYTIME.
-i remember watching vids of gee-o putting his R2 cammy SECOND to counter the inevitable A-sakura. the idea was to have cammy be able to eat a chip shosho CC, then still hit sakura with a level 3 to even out the damage. just something to think about.
-if your opponent tries to cross up you, tap a direction. you’ll either parry or block. takes a lot of guessing out of ambiguous crossup setups.
-it’s nice to have P-groove characters WITHOUT charge supers. parrying into low forward xx super is infinitely easier than worrying about having your charge stored, THEN getting a parry, then executing and finishing it off. once you add in tourney pressure, it’s just nicer to have double quarter circle motions for supers IMO. but if you’re dope like makoto and can play P-vega, don’t worry about it.
-NEVER EVER EVER EVER waste your super. no wake-up supers, no dash into supers, no risky guesses. it’s not like K-groove where you get 2-3 per round, you usually 2-3 PER GAME. either combo into your super, or use it only if it’s guaranteed.
well, at least P-cammy can parry sagat’s low tigers (or just level 3 through them if you’re quick enough). afterwards, it’s footsies. sagat’s standing lk beats cammy’s standing rh, but cammy’s far standing fierce trades with his standing lk. but the problem with cammy walking up and spamming fierce is low forward or standing fierce into super.
this match is just disgusting. sagat gets like level 2 like every 5 second which does more and has more uses than all of cammy’s already slow charging super.
and sagat takes less and does more, which makes it even worse when he gets a damage boost from the groove subsystems.
i’d take K cammy over P cammy vs sagat but for almost everything else, i’d take P cammy.
Yeah Sagat does more and takes less but, I think a really solid P cammy can handle sagats. I would rather face a C sagat than a K sagat tho. If Sagat gets a random super in, cammy is finished. However if cammy controls sagat on the ground and is really patient, she can win. Cammy does have more mobility and better pokes Vs. Sagat i think. It’s really just all about patience for Cammy.
Counter hit Far s.Fp will link into super too, so thats another way to do damage from far out. I usually try to Proxyparry from far out, then when the short trades with your fp, super!
I feel dumb for asking, but how do you guys use P-Blanka? IMO I think a turtling P-Blanka isn’t as effective as a rushing P-Blanka, even though all Blanka can do after a parry while rushing down is probably a c.fierce or Knockdown or throw (or maybe he can do c.short, c.short, s.jab, Blanka Ball, but I’m not sure if that gives you enough time to charge once you get a parry in). And he can make a great battery character as well.
And can P-Ken and P-Yamazaki contend with the top P-groove characters when they’re fighting the usual CBS or A-Are teams?
LTB and I have talked about this rescently. He feels that characters like Sagat and Blanka are good in P groove just because they are very solid characters as is. It’s obvious that Sagat does benefit a fair amount from parry. However Blanka doesn’t benefit off of a parry nearly as much as people like Rolento, Kyo, or Cammy.
As I said before, Blanka is a solid character in every groove. Nothing makes him stand out in P groove unlike the main 3-4 characters who greatly benefit from P groove.
Ken isn’t to great in P from what I understand. He doesn’t benefit greatly from parrying. However his low jump moves are pretty strong.
I’ve heard of LTB saying that he likes P yamazaki, I’m not to sure why. The only reason why I would think this is because it really compliments his style of zoning. Yamazaki has a tough time getting in, but he can zone a lot. However when your opponent finds a way in, don’t expect him to lay off easily. Parry can get you out of situations like this.
With P-Blanka, it depends on the situation. You don’t have RC, but small jump and parry, so you lose 2 good attacks for slightly more mobility. So just use the mobility to ur advantage and think about character matchups, etc.
Basically, use Blanka to get parry setups up close depending on th character. Use these to mixup or make your opponent afraid to attack. Then if they get afraid to attack, break their guard meter down with electricity. Then when you get meter stay charged, and bait a parry setup into super.
I think P Yamazaki would be better because of some things.
-No RC: if you use Ken he’s not going to do good in certain matchups compared to if he had RC.
-Yamazaki with parry gives him a better way to capitalize off mistakes. Gives him better setups, and basically makes him a little more scary.
I’d rather pick Kyo over Ken in P anyday. They are very similar, both excel inside and sort of mixup orientated, but I personally think Kyo does better without the super than Ken, and Kyo does much more damage inside. I’d get Ken if he had a level 2 super.
i don’t think P-ken is too good at all. C/A/N ken are infinitely better IMO. just cuz some dude used him in SBO2 doesn’t mean he’s the new hotness or something. his other best grooves have RC and better ways to deal damage.
P-yama is very solid. but without a super, he has absolutely no reversal. so you NEED to be good at parrying up close against stupid stuff (ie sak’s RC hurricane kicks, RC electricity, etc). he’s golden at zoning, just make sure your opponent never gets in, but that’s asking a whole lot.
LTB- i’m still working on the P-groove dream team we talked about at evo:karate:. and is proxy parrying what i think it is? just tapping forward before you hit your fierce or roundhouse in the hopes of getting a parry, then your normal hits, then you can cancel it into super?
Nah man thats Option selecting. #### thats the reason why I made this thread is so that people don’t need to ask questions like that (repetitivness that SRK is FULL of).
Proxy parrying from what LTB and Nick T. told me is basically baiting your opponent to hit you on your recovery of your normal. Example: Sagat does s.lk, opponents Blanka tries to hit him with c.hp, Sagat parries.
Sagat has so much more shit to worry about. Parries(both air and ground), spiral arrows, low jumps, and her retarded normals. The only thing saving his ass is his lk(which a smart Cammy can get around) and the damage he deals.
And I’d place P-Ken over P-Yama faster than you can say ‘Ricky Ortiz plays for the other team’. You just said on the last page how important it is to have a character with an invincible dp.
Yama is already a pretty shitty character to begin with. Put him in P and I’m pretty sure that would qualify you as a masochist.
He’s like a walking training dummy. He has crappy defense, no mobility, limited uses for his super(Hey, Yamazaki is pacing back and forth with a lv3. I know what I’ll do, I’ll JUMP at him!), and a so-so ground game.
Dude…if you parry hella good, Yamazaki is dope. Fool deals hella damage, and all his combos are safe if they’re blocked. Pig raped me a few games at PSM with Yamazaki in P-groove, he’s got way more potential then Ken. He’s like a walking training dummy that you can’t stop. His crappy defense is accounted for with smart use of parries, he’s given mobility because of parries and small jumps, and has hella setups for his supers because of parries. If you’re using P-groove well, you’re obviously a smart player. This being the case, taking advantage of the groove’s few pros should be easy.