Its a bit embarrassing and humbling to bring this sort of thing up, being that I feel like its quite basic these days, but I have an issue with execution. I do know, as any player should, that there is always room for improvement and I always strive to become better. But this one is a wall for me. As far as my knowledge of the character will take me, the execution is killing me right now. This may very well belong in a different forum, but I figured i’d post it here because it might not be execution after all. Could just be something i’m doing incorrectly. Anyhow…
I’m having great difficulty performing FADC combos. The one in particular that I would find quite useful which i’d like to be very consistent at is c.mk > low release > FADC > Ultra 2 simply because its a great whiff punish. I’m not entirely sure what my issue is with it, but I can say one thing for certain. I have a very abysmally low success rate on player 1 side, but on player 2 side I can get it half of the time. I’m on stick, by the way.
My general strategy is to tap forward during release and then forward again while hitting focus at the appropriate timing for the FADC to come out instantly. Sometimes I will switch it up and try to buffer the double tap forward with a QCFx2 if i’m fast enough, but that doesn’t seem to work out as well. I know where the timing is to FADC after releasing the low Fuhajin, but then comes in the QCFx2 which I think i’m having an issue with, on player 1 side at least. Sometimes I think maybe its the Kx3 timing after the FADC, but I tend to do it so instantly on player 2 side and it works just fine.
I do have video of myself attempting this. I dunno if it’ll help or what. In any case… At least with this. I know its a very tight link, but with as easy as I get it on player 2 side compared to player 1 side, it boggles my mind as to what’s going on. So i’m reaching out for some advice or help or whatever I can get from you all. It would be very appreciated.
Here is me attempting it. Both sides are shown for comparison. I also realize that level 1 focuses are coming out because there are times i’m not holding focus down long enough or i’m not double tapping perfectly in tune with pressing focus at the right moment. Frustration is showing.
I’ve only just started implementing FADC into my stuff as well. Advice from a fellow execution novice: start with something easier just to get used to it. My go to last night was c.mk > low release > c.mk > pinwheel > FADC > throw. It’s a simple combo, and instead of the throw, I know I can go into more pressure, but I’m just doing what’s simple to get used to the FADC part of it. Once I get comfortable doing that from both sides, I’m going to start FADC’ing off of the release to try & consistently get U2.
FADCing other things isn’t so rough for me. Its trying to get those 2 QCFs in from player 1 side so quickly that really causes me grief. As you may have seen if you watched the video, when I just go for the release to FADC, I can do it quite quickly. Adding ( or even the intention of attempting to add ) the QCFx2 just creates a mess for me. Honestly, its just this combo. For whatever reason, the motion on player 1 side is just hard for me to do. I’ve gone so far as to change the way I hold the stick just to see if its easier to do but to no avail. A friend of mine told me that there are a lot of players out there who are in my position. That being that they have a dominant side and just can’t perform certain moves or strings from the other, and that basically, I have to just accept that fact and work around it, playing to other strengths instead. However, i’m stubborn. Its not in me to give up so easily, hence why i’ve been working on it as long as I have. But as it stands now, with this particular whiff punish combo, i’m handicapped on player 1 side.
And it goes without saying, I understand that this particular sting isn’t a necessity to win, but its another tool in the shed. A sledgehammer as far as i’m concerned. Something I would really like to have available.
It is a very tight link as to do it properly I believe you have to make use of the special cancel window at the end of her dash. She also has the option of fireball release focus cancel into level 2 focus -> dash up u2 as well as an easier option that has more scaling.
Maybe you’re the perfect candidate for a stiffer spring. If you’re fine w/ your spring, try “pulling” the motion vs pushing, kinda like a spiral, tho’ that’s even easier to do w/ a stiffer spring, as you only have to worry about two forward motions instead of fwd-back-fwd since the spring takes care of that for you.
Also for me it seems I have to use more arm from P1 side and mostly fingers from P2 side. It should feel more “flow-y” like pull-pull-pull vs push- pull-push. I recommend trying a stiffer spring either way. There are other benefits as well like faster overhead blocking, cleaner inputs, faster anti-airing (for dp’ers) etc.
Since you’re buffering the QCFx2 during a dash, you can get really sloppy with the inputs and it’ll still work. I often wind up going to UF because I have a tendency to end at DF otherwise. As long as you mash those kicks at the right time you’ll get ultra.
Maybe you should practice other similar combos, like Ryu’s DP FADC U1. I think Juri’s is the tightest FADC to ultra link in the game - I tested all of them and hers felt the hardest to me, anyway. Get used to the motion without the time constraint then work on getting faster.
Thanks to all of you for taking the time to give me some advice. I really appreciate it!
That is an option, yes. The only problem is that at further ranges the focus attack will miss. But its my go to on that side.
Yeah I tend to use my arm a lot more when attempting it. I’m about 1 year-ish into switching to stick so it could also be some nuances I just haven’t gotten a hold of just yet. I’ll consider the spring. That’s something I didn’t think of. Thanks.
Yeah I was considering practicing Ryu’s, just to see what its like. I know this link is very tight. It doesn’t help that her Ultra 2 has such a long startup. And if you see in that video I linked, my inputs tend to go nuts. Sometimes it looks as though I miss required motions when it works, and others it looks like I do the motion properly and it doesn’t. Its quite strange, but i’m not so easily discouraged. I’ll try some other characters and see what happens!
Yeah I agree. It took me a long time to finally be consistent with FADC U2. Now I can do it almost 100% of the time.
However for some reason I have a lot more trouble with FADC U1 (edit: I mean Senpusha FADC U1, cs.mp). I don’t know if I’m doing U1 too late or linking cs.mp 1 frame too late but it just seems so much harder than FADC U2.
That happened to me as well when I switched to stick. It’s a tight link, but here’s what helped me.
directional inputs:
789
456
123
My inputs were like from 1/2 to 6/9. Besides making sure you are holding the stick in a position that favors you (in the beginning, I held it a little tilted backward) you have to force yourself to think that 236 is all you need, even if it seems too little movement of your hands. And yes, on P2 side I could do it with very little problems as well.
I had a horrible execution night last night. I’ve been playing for a few years, but maybe the problem all this time is I’ve been holding the stick wrong. I like to ride the edges of the circlegate when doing qc motions. Perhaps it’s time to close my fingers tighter around the stick and go for smaller motions?
Did anyone else use the extra stick buttons for focus attack? I’m having a hard time adjusting to them removing that option, especially with a lk stored.
I use my thumb for LK and index+middle for focus, with the index finger bent back so I’m hitting MK with the first knuckle. It was pretty awkward at first but now I don’t even have to think about it. This is on stick.
Its not in me to give up so easily, hence why i’ve been working on it as long as I have. But as it stands now, with this particular whiff punish combo, i’m handicapped on player 1 side.