F.A.N.G. General Thread: Nothing up the Sleeve

Street Fighter V F.A.N.G
1248

Things to keep in mind when fighting Guile :

  • Slide is projectile-invincible, so it should go through Sonic Blade (unless it’s a strike hitbox, in which case fuck this match-up)
  • Slide cancels into Coward crouch, which cancels into Nishikyu, which cancels into Slide
  • LK Ryobenda is 2-hit projectile, as well as all versions of Sotoja
1249

yes not guaranteed as they can jump in in some cases but still useful

1250

Hey Guys - Trying to pick up FANG
Credit to you all (this guys wierd)
I was wondering (And this is only from 10 games of ranked 6/4) how do you feel he needs to be played to succeed with at High levels?
I seem to have alot of success with his pokes and a type of Karin footsie based style (MP andDFHP are AWESOME) yet when I look at all the online footage etc it seems to be rush down heavy Cammy style

1251

Yeah I don’t miss the jab jab mp special FADC ultra from SF4 either. I’m just talking a single jab canceling into a special move so he can get a better punish on -4 and -5 things. At this point he can get abused by so many things because all people have to risk is a single jab as a punish.

1252

The “intuitive” way to play F.A.N.G - stay behind Ryobenda and spam Nishikyu - doesn’t hold in higher level plays. You are right to observe that Gold/Platinum F.A.N.Gs are VERY aggressive.

Your gameplan varies a lot depending on your position.

  • Close range : careful, F.A.N.G sucks here unless he has frame advantage, so you shouldn’t be here unless after a st.HK or a Coward Crouch Kick. St.LP>ST.MK xx LK Ryobenda is safe-ish, careful about CA. Throw is of course an option if frames allow it.
  • Mid range : Spam that cr.MK. With CH, it links into cr.MP and LP Sotoja. When you’re at the limit of cr.MK, use cr.MP into MK Ryobenda so it builds a wall instead of hitting the opponent. Safe-ish and makes people afraid of pressing buttons. If they jump, cr.HP, if they stay on the ground Coward Crouch Kick into close range pressure.
  • Poke range : df.HP to poke and punish, MP Nishikyu into either Slide to get in close-mid range or jump for a j.HP (hitting with the edge beats most AAs, careful about reversals). Sweep for punish, if you have V-trigger you can cancel it - if it’s blocked you’re safe, if it hits you can combo cr.MP xx LP Sotoja.
  • Long range : If fireball war, use LK Ryobenda to get 70 meter or Slide/Coward crouch so their projectile doesn’t disappear and you can throw yours safely. Otherwise use HK Ryobenda and throw V-skill and Nishikyu. It doesn’t win matches but it adds damage and make the opponent impatient and prone to mistakes. Careful about Projectile invincible moves (Necalli’s Disc Guidance, Ryu’s Tatsumaki) and Armor Moves (Laura’s EX Charge, Mika’s EX Peach etc.)
1253

Armored EX moves from Mika and Laura can be punished on block with st.HP.

1254

F.A.N.G buff suggestions:

  • 1000hp/1000stun
  • Poison damage is now 100 over 8 seconds, not 50.
  • St.lp, St.lk, cr.lp, and cr.lk are now all +6 on hit (can now be linked into cr.mp).
  • St.hk is +2 on block, coward crouch kick is now +3 on block.

There. I did it, I balanced him.

1255

I agree with these, maybe keep him at 950 HP and buff poison to 120 instead. I would prefer to keep his weaknesses and increase his strenghts rather than making him another Jack-of-All-Trades.

What’s the point ? You already have your safe jab/throw mix-up at +2.

Nope nope nope nope nope nope.

Nope.

We’ve FINALLY gotten rid of the SF4 jab-mania where you could land any combo from jab, I don’t want to get back there. Light to medium links are very rare - to my knowledge, only Chun-Li has one and she’s BS, I don’t see any reason for F.A.N.G to have one. What I would like is :

  • Medium to medium link (for example make st.MP +6 on hit so it links into cr.MP)
  • Reduce EX Sotoja start-up to 11f so you have a jab xx EX Sotoja combo to punish -4 moves.
1256

The +3 is so you can use mk out of it without the fear of being srk’d, but I guess you can just jab link into mk if that’s a serious concern. You’re right here.

You’re absolutely right about the jab to medium stuff I put in though. FANG should be able to confirm damage, but it should be from his mediums, true.

1257

I’d like all of that, plus:

Coward crouch throw invincible.
Controllable EX slide.
Coward crouch into slide cancel just for fun.

1258

I would only agree with the poison buff and giving him more blockstun on st.HK and coward kick. He isn’t supposed to have 1000/1000, and giving him those kinds of confirms from all lights would be ridiculous, even with 4 frame jabs. If I had to give him anything else, I would rework LP Sotoja. Make it one hit that does not poison, but is fast enough to combo from a jab similar to something like Ryu’s cr.LP xx LK Tatsu. If you absolutely must poison your opponent after a cr.MP, you still have LK Ryobenda.

1259

His poison needs a buff for sure, id like his st.HK to have more + frames on block, his coward crouch either being throw inv or not get crush countered when hit while hes lying there. Also give him the ability to control how far his EX dash goes.

Oh and make the second hit of his cr.HK reach as far as the first hit

1260

Unfortunately, I don’t think they’ll ever buff his poison to do 100 damage. The highest I could ever see it being would be 70, MAYBE 80, because it affects almost **every **aspect of his game. His damage, his zoning, his V-Skill, his V-Trigger, etc. I’d still like it to do 60-70, but anymore might be too much.

I don’t think they should make his s.HK +2, but I’d be happy to get a 3 frame normal that can combo into c.MP on counter hit. Even if not, s.HK is still always going to be a very useful button, so it doesn’t really need to get better, does it?

EX Sotoja being 12 frame start up so we can combo into it from lights would be nice as well.

I wish the first hit of s.MK reached just a bit further, but maybe that’s too much.

1261

I would say the contrary, since poison isn’t cumulative it gets weaker the more you use it, so buffing it to 100-120 wouldn’t be a problem.

If it’s blocked, a 3f jab beats/trades anything you can follow up with. It’s not a “very useful button” even by the extremely low standards we F.A.N.G mains have to use.

I agree with that. The hitbox of first hit should have a slightly longer horizontal range than st.LP.

1262

I would really like the V-trigger to be more interesting. Maybe have it make poison tick at double the current rate and some other modifier? I think a lot of other tweaks would be good but helping his v-trigger would really help the character be more interesting. It’s just so boring right now.

1263

FANG’s damage is only slightly lower than average, even without taking into account his poison (which if it lasts fully puts his damage in a good spot, in my opinion).

If his poison went to 100 or 120, landing a single upball could lead to 140-160 damage. That’s absolutely way too strong against some characters who have a hard time getting in, and that’s JUST his ranged game we’re factoring in. His super would do way more damage on average than any other super in the game, because poison does not scale and this buff would put its damage to be over 420. All his combos would have a maximum damage increase of 50-70 (as well as minimum damage going up by at least 10-20). His V-Trigger would suddenly become one of the stronger ones in the game, considering it’s only 2-bars and lasts a long time.

If this is a buff they ever added, FANG would needs to be nerfed in other areas to compensate, at least from my moderate understanding of the character. I’m all for wanting the character to get stronger, but some things simply have too big of an impact, and I think poison is the biggest example for FANG. Next would be giving him a good 3 frame normal probably haha.

I agree, against people with 3 frame jabs it’s much less powerful. However it’s still great for combos, excellent for pressure vs 4-Framers, good to shimmy with, etc. Maybe “very useful button” is an exaggeration, but it definitely has a number of applications. I’m mostly concerned that if it became +2, it would become a bit too brain dead.

1264

F.A.N.G combos from a medium normal deal 100-110 damage + 50 poison, most characters reach 200 (up to 250 for Ken). Increasing the poison damage to 100 would make his combo damage average if the poison deals its entire damage, and subpar otherwise.

I don’t find it excessive. Upballs are easy to block on the ground and mostly punish bad jumps, which a shoryuken punishes for 140 damage. Then you have to stay unmolested for 8 seconds, which makes you deserve that damage.

Yeah, I don’t know what to do with this one. I usually use it in combo after Sotoja so the enemy is already poisoned anyway.

I don’t think so, but it’s pretty hard to predict.

1265

I like most of what he has going on right now. Somethings Id be interested in seeing:

  • Give him something he can confirm off lights. He’s the only character in the game right now who can’t do this (?) Alternatively, I think something interesting aesthetic wise, would be to let his normals that have direct use of his hands apply poison, even if a weaker version of it. I think this is only his sLP/crLP; I forget if he does with dfHP…
  • Let him cancel off the second hit of his double-hitting normals, at least crMK or sMP.
  • Make Sotoja Body invul, and make the EX full invul.
  • Maybe make poison stack, but not 1,2,3,etc. Something like 1,3,5,etc. with regards to number of hits.
1266

Yall want SS F.A.N.G.

1267

You’re right, his combo potential off a medium is particularly weak among the cast after looking into it more. Most characters can get somewhere between 180-220, though a few other characters get less than that, such as Vega with his claw, M. Bison, Dhalsim, etc. I think a better way to help that ‘issue’ (if it is one, since he has other strengths) would be to give 10 damage to c.MP, and 10 or 20 to Sotoja/Ryobenda and Poison. A little less extreme this way, I think.

Even there, c.HP cancelled into our offensive specials will suddenly make our anti air damage really high, close to the 200 range if the poison lasts its full duration. And for other situations, a combination of V-Skill, Up Balls, and HK Wall make it a real pain for certain characters to get close without getting poisoned at all.