Is there something I’m missing? F.A.N.G. just seems so weak, even if he is hella fun to use. His moves are super slow and super weak. He doesn’t have particularly great pokes or combos. He has low health and stun. He lacks a damaging reversal besides CA. Kinda makes you wonder what the devs were thinking. His poison isn’t THAT overwhelming. It’s actually pretty fucking weak, too. He literally has nothing going for him.
Indeed, F.A.N.G had the least amount of testing among all characters, and they overnerfed him by precaution. Low damage output even with poison (about 100 + 50 poison damage from a medium attack, while Cammy/Chun-Li/Ryu land 200-220), non-existant defense, slow movement, charge character… He has been considered bottom tier on all tier lists I’ve seen.
Yes. Or at least you’re not evaluating some of his tools fairly.
Poison’s damage is a bit weak, but it does force people to approach because FANG can keep people out from long range.
He can set up walls, entirely unique to him.
He has a double arcing projectile.
Good anti airs.
Good pokes.
Normals he can abuse that are +2 on block.
Definitely more than nothing.
Yes, he has weaknesses. Low damage, weak under pressure, but those are the only really notable weaknesses in my mind.
So he’s “only” weak in offense and in defense ? That sounds like a lot of weaknesses :s Especially in a game where top-tier characters are Jack-off-all-trades.
That being said, winning with him is more satisfying than with any other character. It is also possible to reach a very high rank with F.A.N.G - Rhyllis’s Platinum replays are a good proof of it, I recommand any F.A.N.G beginner to watch these, learn some good tricks and keep hope 
Offense =/= Damage
Solid pressure with frames and long pokes. Eats white life for breakfast and dishes out above average stun. Mid range footsies and zoning with normals, solid long range zoning with walls if you’re playing smart. Safeish approaches with good up ball play. Instant hi low mixups to go into stun or take rounds. Solid vskill with great recovery which makes a nice contrast to his other specials. Great AA’s
Cons being that he does at most average damage when taking poison into consideration, has 950hp, doesn’t have a 3 frame jab and nothing throw invulnerable barring super.
He’s definitely competitive.
What are some basic links/bnbs I should get down before playing against other people with FANG? I’m interested but this game is intimidating as hell, so I never get beyond training mode because I dunno what to work on.
c.MP xx LP Sotoja
st.HP xx HP Sotoja
st.HK, c.MP xx LP Sotoja
Anti Air. cr.HP (1st hit) xx lk.Ryobenda
Should get you started. You can replace Sotoja for lk. Ryobenda if you want to space yourself away from your opponent. Follow up with Nishikyu in case they quick rise back to give you some space between you and them.
As far as knowing what to do. Just play it safe when starting and get to know your specials. When setting up, make sure you have space between you and your opponent (your safe) when on the offense. use his good normals like his st.lp, cr.MK for meaties, and cr.MP and don’t abuse cr.HK, its super unsafe and you should use it only when you start to see your opponent not protecting his feet a lot when moving. Spam Nishikyu balls based on where they are while keeping HK. Ryobendas on the ground in front of you which can absorb 1 projectile but be aware of your match up, some characters can get around his stuff with ease. Did I say use cr.MK? I mean abuse the hell out of it. Its really good when you want to apply pressure but don’t want to stick your neck out too much, good for testing to see if your opponent is button mash happy. use that data to help you apply pressure.
Thanks a lot for the detailed response, I’ve already begun practicing this stuff and it’s been super helpful. I’m just a bit confused about the s.Hk, cr.Mp > Lp Sotoja. Does the comma mean it’s not a real link? Because I cannot figure out how to get it to combo for the life of me.
Guessing the comma means it is a link, whereas the > means it’s a cancel.
It does work though. Crouching Medium Punch is what you’re trying to land, right? Not standing Medium Punch? If so it’s just a timing thing, and you’ll get it eventually I’m sure.
I forget already, but I think it’s one of FANG’s trial combos, so you can watch the demonstration through that to get an idea of the timing if you think that would be of some help to you.
Standing medium punch works as well I believe, but damage-wise, crouching is better.
Also, remember to hold down+back as the two kicks from st. HK are happening.
s.MP has a 7 frame start up, so it should only connect from s.HK on a counter hit. But then you’d rather use s.HP. Unless I’ve been wrong this whole time D:
in the corner on opponent quickrise after lp sotoja ender > whiff 2mk , then if u get ch 2mk then stp > stmp is possible but charcter specific(works on chun li for sure)
hey guys, made some videos for FANG beginners to check out and see some most frequent situations and techs for you to learn.
Let me know your thoughts!
Episode 1: BnB combo and follow up options - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWYb4VgQ5uI
Episode 2: Throw options and Follow ups - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yBaC_pkxpk
episode 3! Corner series
Fang is an absolute breath of fresh air from a lot of the characters that are very ‘linear’ in this game. Only starting out really but what do you guys do against wake up pressure. I ex ‘dash special’ (forget what it’s called) out, block or maybe low punch if I can but a lot of the time seems like I can’t do much. Is there anything pretty safish (bar v- reversal I guess)
@Feel_The_Byrne not really. Aside from standard defense options all FANG has is EX slide and super lol. Just something you have to play around
Looking to start using FANG… spent a bunch of time with him today and had a blast… figure he can cover some of bisons bad MU next season.
Is there a lot of changes ppl noticed in the psx build?
Outside V-Trigger allowing him to to cancel into his specials without charge ( most likely like Necalli’s and Bison’s V-Trigger) nothing else is reported. I hope he gets something big and a couple of meaningful improvements to his V-Trigger to make it actually an addition to his game.
He seems to do more dmg. I ha ett played a lot today but damn he feels alot better.
Fang received no additional damage. He’s terrible. Play someone else if you want to win. He got slower, and a better s. Lp