Elena Thread

Classic Fighting Games Street Fighter x Tekken
81

Shes pretty good. But I feel she plays a similar game to Hwoarang and he does it better. Two overheads she can link out of so shes a mix-up queen. st.lk hitting low means shes a real threat when she is close. B.hk hops lows so thats nice and gives a better mix-up between overhead/low/throw. Her super is strong at 320. Rhino charge being duckable is TRASH. Sweep and slide are nice. st.lk into cr.mk is awesome boost combo hit confirm. cr.lk seems to have good frame advantage. Her lk dp seems to have good invincibility while the HK one has pretty much none from my testing. EX version has a decent amount it seems. Her damage isnt crazy but she scores damage consistently. She is a good point char and can create many opportunities for her partner.

But like i said hwo plays the same game so time will tell who plays that role better of footsie char with a strong support role with good mix-ups.

82

Is it me or her air target combo doesn’t work? The second hit misses for both air target combos. Seem only to work if the character is in a juggle state which is stupid

83

Her j.lp>j.mk air combo works just fine on standing opponents(just need to get her landing straight), but I’ve also been having trouble connecting her j.mp>j.hp.

84

If you super jump it seems to work every time. Thats another thing Hwoarang has over her. His works without super jumping and it hits at a better angle.

85

Worked up a great corner combo starting with an overhead Mallet Smash:

Med. Mallet, cr.mp, cr.mp xx Med. Rhino, cr.mp xx Med. Rhino xx MK Scratch Wheel = 412 dmg with no meter

[EDIT] Had to fix a typo, it’s not another Mallet after the third cr.mp but a cancel into a second mk Rhino, all you need is one Mallet Smash to start the combo off. I apologize if y’all tried to replicate the exact combo I wrote earlier. It was pretty late and I was getting tired after waiting several hours for the PSN to update itself.

86

man her ex DP sucks =(

87

I can’t recall if Mallet smash forces stand. If it does then that combo is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!!!

And I would seriously consider Elena as a point char for a second team. Prolly pair her with Heihachi or Steve.

88

That sweet science! :slight_smile: man you’re making the wait for the UK update even more unbearable lol glad my girls looking strong in this game. Was planning on running her on point as well, great minds eh! :wink:

89

What do you guys get the feeling Elena’s general strategy is? I played around with her yesterday and this is what my first impression was:

  1. She’s not a jump character. Even if her cross-ups were good, that jump is functionally useless, even to retreat with.

  2. She has great, quick, long-range overheads, and her overhead special can be comboed off of.

  3. She looks like she has quick pokes, but nothing too long range.

  4. Overall, she looks like she’s most comfortable mixing it up high-low at the max range of her overheads. She seems like she has a good DP which can help get her out of trouble if she loses one of these exchanges or the opponent guesses the overhead right.

What I really want to know (and I’d really appreciate anyone else able to advise me, as I’m at work now! :P) is if anyone has found some close or mid-range normals that give frame advantage on block, and in general how you guys think she should be played.

90

I think I know what you’re thinking and it’s prolly not that. Yeah Mallet Smash forces stand but can’t reset, it just juggles. I made a typo in my earlier post, there’s only one Mallet involved and the third cr.mp combos into a second Rhino to keep the juggle going. The damage is still there, but sorry if I got anybody’s hopes up about what would be awesome tech. I was pretty tired last night. :[

None of her Mallet Smashes can be combo’d into so it looks like they’re meant to be combo starters.
Mallet does force crouching opponents to stand but don’t know if it’s important or not since it’s so quick.
You can’t Switch cancel Spin Scythe until after the second or third hit that can extend into launching her opponent in the air
Similar with Lynx tail that you can’t Switch cancel early enough for some sort of reset as it knocks down too quickly
EX Mallet Smash causes a ground bounce but imo is too quick for any sort of reset, but who knows

Dammit I wish somebody would just rip the frame data already so I know what I’m dealing with. I just spent over 30 minutes trying to link her b.hk into st.lk and it’s hard as fuck.

Also in my opinion Elena has a hell of a lot of range to attack from which seems to be an advantage. She’s great at starting combos from a longer distance than most of the cast, her st.mp makes a great anti-air. Maybe her main strategy is to keep stacking consistent damage like how Cammy plays in SF4. Otherwise, I don’t spy any long Switch cancel combos and resets in Elena’s future right now.

91

imo elena plays very similar to her 3 self aka pokes and hit confirms. He buttons seem extremely good.

92

I’m liking Elena in this game, very fun to use

93

Don’t know if this has been noted yet but EX Rhino Horn hits crouchers (unlike the normal one) and has some projectile invincibility if performed late (just before projectile hits you) might come in handy :slight_smile: I’m loving Elena she has very interesting tools. Also cancelling off normal spinning scythe leaves opponent standing and you know how important that is in this game. I feel she’s going to be awesome in the right hands!

94

After spending a good 8 hours with her and some friends playing and learning the new characters, my general consensus is that she is ‘okay’. I’ll post my pros and cons below. These are just gut reactions after some playing, I wasn’t really testing for frame data or anything like that - just playing with friends and trying to get her down.

GOOD THINGS

  • Her poke game is her strongest asset. Her reach is absurd. her StandingLK has deceptive reach and can easily lead into pretty solid damage.
  • Some of the best overheads and normals in the game. Between her forward slide, crouching HK, her ForwardMK/MP overhead pokes - she can keep people guessing on which way to block for days. That’s awesome.
  • Her Jump is very unique and can be hard to read when used properly. Some of her air normals have huge reach and can outpoke others.
  • If she has meter to burn or has them in a corner, her potential damage output goes way up.
  • MP Mallet Smash links into most of her normals, so it can lead into big combo strings and juggles. It’s also an overhead and is easily one of her best special moves.
  • Rhino Horn is surprisingly difficult to punish. Especially the LP version. If they don’t crouch it and block the hit, she seems really safe. This is a great tool to force people to block low, so you can start going into your overhead shenanigans. If you hit a Standing opponent with an EX Rhino Horn, she goes into this big 4-hit juggle combo that deals a LOT of damage. Great move to EX for combo potential. After hitting with a normal Rhino Horn, you can still link combos.
  • Scratch Wheel is also difficult to punish - It feels a lot like Kens LP DP, where there is only 1 or 2 frames where he is punishable. Without burning Meter, this is also her most damaging special move, I believe.
  • Her Standing MP is still probably her best anti-air. That being said, I was trading with a lot of jump ins, even when I felt like I timed it well.
  • She has some ground target combos that are really interesting. It seems like her HP->HK target combo links into Crouching MP, which is very good!
  • Her EX Scythe kicks them straight in the air and they fall straight down. You can link this into her Crouching MP even if they are not in a corner. This is a great combo tool.
  • Her forward dash is pretty good! Her backdash is ABSURD. Try hitting back as fast as you can on your pad/stick, she clears the screen faster than damn near anyone in the game right now.
  • While i hate going into gems - Speed Gems really really help her jump, and make it a LOT less floaty. Highly recommended.

BAD THINGS

  • Lets talk damage. Elena doesn’t have it. Getting in pokes and overhead chips FEELS really good, until your opponent gets in 1 or 2 combos and your health bar is gone. Everyone had the consensus that her damage was garbage while we played. In my personal opinion - In 3rd strike a single well placed normal could be a HUGE deal. Health was a precious resource, and getting tagged by a poke was massive. In SFxT - With two health bars and a lot of regeneration on the board, hers just don’t do enough.
  • She doesn’t trade well at all due to her low HP, and since a good chunk of her game is designed around her normals, Playing her always feels risky. If you get jabbed out of an overhead, expect to eat 30% of your health bar. If they are good at combos and are prepared to burn meter, change that to 40-50% of your health bar.
  • Her Jump ark is fairly predictable, and it can be difficult to jump in because it feels so floaty. A few well placed jumps can surprise an opponent, but i’d stick to playing ground games with them forcing them to stay on the ground with you.
  • I honestly couldn’t find much use for her new air target combos. They just felt weird, and with her jump being as floaty as it is, I couldn’t really see much use.I’m sure someone will find a use for the tools, but I was having much better luck trading and initiating with her Jumpink HK.
  • Scratch Wheel is very easy to trade with. I feel like there might be some Invuln there, but in general, I was trading with jump ins and even some normals. Her EX version definitely has invuln frames, but at the cost of meter. In that same vein, I feel lime most of her special moves trade too easily, and they don’t have enough priority.
  • Elena seems to have trouble with the rushdown forward momentum types, like Kazuya or Bryan. They stay close and eliminate most of her overhead game. Her keep away tools are there, but trading is bad and if those characters hit you just once they suddenly gain a massive health lead.

GAME TIME!
I think Elena is best used as a point character to try to control the battlefield. I think your goal is to stagnate the match while slowly building up a health lead. Elena does NOT work well when she is forced to play into her opponent. She has some tools to get in, but they are risky and in many cases pretty punishable. Try to force the opponent to come to you. Gain an early health like with a sweep or well timed slide. Once she gains that, draw out the match by playing keepaway. Use her backdash and big jump to stay safe. If they jump in, use Standing MP for anti air and occasionally throw out a long distance Forward->MP to poke with. As the match draws on your opponent will become increasingly frustrated and try to throw damage at you, and will start resorting to invlun moves to beat your poke-y normals. In this case, as the match draws on, become safer and safer, and when they throw that big move out, punish it. This strategy has yielded the most wins for me with Elena.

If your feeling brave, you can try Sweeping or a Mallet Smash to put more offensive pressure on the table. Since her damage output is so average, I recommend cross-rushing if she gets an opportunity to do so.

Hope it helps someone :slight_smile: Enjoy ~

95

She is Chun and Duds as I said. Use her pokes to gain ground and win the footsie war once they start blocking alot you can open them up for consistent damage with high low mix-ups. Her lk scratch wheel actually has decent invincibility. I was going through Ryus shinku hadouken cleanly when i timed it well. I had trouble doing it with EX and had to time it more perfectly.

Her backdash is stupid good. Prolly dont even need scratch wheel to deal with wake-up stuff with a backdash that good. Her damage and set-ups are damn good for a SF char though she needs to take sum risks to hit her high damage stuff.

But I still think Hwoarang is the strong version of her. If you like Elena you will like him too.

96

man does she have like 800 health? I swear i dominate matches get hit twice and am losing…

97

For her I think defense gems are a must. You will prolly wanna load up on those.

98

After playing like 50 matches yesterday and being in training mode for the better part of today this is what I’ve found.
[LIST]
[]cr.lk is her best normal, good range, can be linked 3 times super easy to comfirm this into crossrush or cancel into spin sycthe wish seems to be very safe
[]you can frame trap with the follow up to spin sycthe
[]cr.lk xx cr.mp xx ex mallet smash is a very quick high low and none of my opponents have managed to block yet (if they are stand blocking link the cr.lk 3 times before chaining into cr.mp to make them think “shit im gettig hit low i gotta start low blokcing” and once they start low blocking in the middle of the string they will eat the overhead, or you could just confirm the cr.lks into a true combo but I personally like going for the reset)
[]spin sycthe can be tag canceled on block to give your partner a mixup opportunity, i use dudley I usually go spin sycthe xx tag cancel into his overhead
[]her super seem to scale really well, it does big damage even at the end of long combos, in the corner she can get over 500 damage for 2 bars off her overhead, mp mallet smash - cr mp xx mk rhino charge - cr.mp cr.mp xx super, without super this does like 388 but with super it does like 523
[]her reverse dp move seems kind of useless so far
[]sitting back and charging her rhino charge move for the ex seems to catch a lot of people offguard, they will probably think your trying to store a counter hit and don’t expect elenas feet to be flying at them from full screen, the ex version also cannot be ducked like the regular version, although crouchers won’t take full damage, also it seems to be completely safe on block, may even be at advantage…gotta do more testing
[]lp dp is her best anti air, the other versions won’t connect fully and therefore will do little damage. it seems to recover very fast too which catches people offguard, however its very easy for this move to whiff against a lot of jump ins
[]j.mp seems to be her best air-to-air
[]ex mallet smash, ex spin scythe and her super all go through projectiles but the range on all this isn’t that stellar, for no meter she only has two ways to get around projectiles, regular mallet smash(which is unreliable, spacing has to be perfect) and her slide which has to be done in anticipation, not on reaction to get under most fireballs.
[]her super seems to be a great anti air, haven’t tested it that much but i anti-aired a few people with it yesterday
[]s.hp whiffs against crouchers which makes it and her s.hp xx s.hk target combo pretty worthless imo
[/LIST]
thats it for now, fin to do more testing then play some matches

99

After spending the better part of this evening experimenting with Elena in the training room and online, here’s what I think:

Elena is a pretty poor character, and she’s never going to rise above mid-low tier at the very best. More likely she’s closer to Dan-tier for competitive play - an interesting and occasionally threatening presence, but really far behind the competition.

Her problem is that she doesn’t have any of the tools you need to succeed in SFxT. Her anti-airs are mediocre at best (st. MP does very little damage and often trades, in a game where anti-air normals like Juri’s can easily lead to 250-300 damage). It will not stop people from jumping. Her scratch wheel is similarly limited.

Her poke game is very poor. Cr. MP is an extremely strong move with a ton of frame advantage, but it just doesn’t have the range of a poke like Ryu’s cr. MK or Julia’s cr. LK, and it doesn’t have the speed of a close-up normal like Ken’s cr. LK. It exists in an uncomfortable middle ground where it’s rarely the right button to press. Her overheads are long range and her --> MK is very fast for an overhead, but you can’t link off them, so they’re little more than gimmicks in a game with 2 health bars and regenerating life.

Her reversals are poor compared to much of the stronger elements of the cast. Tag cancelling scratch wheel leaves you ridiculously punishable too.

Her health is inexplicably low, given her lack of high-damage output, her lack of mobility, and her poor move priority. Nothing of hers besides cr.MP seems to give frame advantage.

She’s downright bad at point blank, okay at middle poking range, and bad again at long range. Even when she is at poking range, her essential mixup consists of cr.MP xx mallet or lynx tail, one high and one low, and both safe on block. This isn’t a very strong high-low mixup game compared to someone like Heihachi or Hwoarang, who can get more damage, and have more things to do close up besides try the same mixup over and over.

She also has no jump game, at all. Her jump is just far too high and narrow to be useful in any way. She has a decent cross up move, but that really hardly matters because your opponent has plenty of time to react to your jump by dashing forward and just getting out of the way, if he’s not confident with an anti-air.

I suspected Elena would be awful in this game, because I didn’t think her playstyle fit in with SFxT, but I’m still disappointed it turned out like this. :frowning:

100

after further testing, her super CAN be used as anti air but you have to do it very early, if you try to hit a deep jump in with it they will have recovered and be able to block

her most reliable anti airs are s.lp and s.mp, neither of which do great damage but you can cancel them into her dp which will connect on counter hit for some ok damage