Fighting against the Ninja Glade: Ibuki Matchup Thread *11/5 Update*

The three I’ve had the most problems with on Ibuki have so far been Chun, Nash and Zangief.

Chun is because her fireball is extremely dominant in the matchup, it’s really hard to deal with it without having to rely on resources. I’ll have to training mode some stuff here to see if it really is bad.

Nash is because of similar reasons, having a slow fireball against Ibuki is a strong tool. His v-reversal is the best for dealing with Ibuki’s pressure also out of anyones. MK Scythe is difficult to deal with when used correctly can only be punished with super sometimes, ex raida most of the time. You have to commit a lot in this matchup and that doesn’t feel great.

Zangief’s buttons pretty much all beat Ibuki’s, straight up. It’s difficult to get solid whiffpunishes in on him. Ibuki has good answers to his jump, but because he is so dominant on the ground there’s really no reason to jump. This matchup has to be played 100% passively because it’s really hard to beat his normals, which leaves whiff punishment as the option. V-skill is strong against him though.

Ehm guys. I really doubt gief beats ibuki. I suggest to look more into ibuki strenghts over her weaknesses

There’s no way Chun’s fireball is dominating vs a character with like 9 anti projectile options. Granted the non metered options only move her forward a bit and don’t get her in for free, but they work. Once you get a meter Chun can’t throw fireballs anymore once you are inside about her HP fireball range. If she throws a fireball at that range instant jump forward EX kunai will sail over it and hit her in the face then you get free MK command dash in for juggle. At that range you shouldn’t have to worry about her being able to block it if she goes for one. You just have to use your other options like slide, f+MK, f+HK, V Skill and walking/neutral jumping until you’re in range for the instant EX kunai. Once you get people to fear instant EX kunai they usually start jumping because that resets them out of getting hit by the bomb portion. When they start jumping you can start AAing them. Once you get the spacing down you’ll know where to use it so the bomb doesn’t miss them and you get the frame advantage even if they block.

It’s not even like instant EX kunai is that much of a resource. One bar and one kunai to potentially get juggle into neutral tech only pressure or air reset and then get the momentum started to win the match. This is definitely a match where Chun will stop throwing fireballs once you walk into range with meter. It’s not worth the risk for how little damage her fireball does. I’ve lost tournament matches and seen other top Chun players lose tournament matches to throwing out one bad EX fireball and that’s with the opponent usually just making the read and jumping forward.

The problem is generally more going to be Chun’s buttons as it traditionally is. Luckily V Skill is good vs a lot of her buttons and f+HK at near max range will counter poke a lot of the buttons she likes to abuse. She will have to switch to more situational buttons like b+HP and slide to get around it if you are spacing it well. It’s only 3 frames slower than her s.HP so as long as you can start it before she throws s.HP you can potentially stuff that as well. Her s.HP can be a pain if you aren’t using f+HK and V Skill so make sure those are ready for s.HP.

You can use similar instant air EX kunai tactics vs** Nash** once you get one meter. You can punish his V Reversal on reaction with EX kunai or super similar to what’s done in this video.

Don’t know enough about this match to know how good/difficult it will be in the long run, but I already seeing her doing better than Chun Li in it. You just need that one touch to put him in a bunch of neutral tech only or no tech resets to go to town on him with punishes for V Reversal as long as you have meter.

As for Gief, s.HK can beat all of Gief’s standing buttons. Especially his standing lights and mediums. His f+HP can trade with your s.HK, but if you have your s.HK coming out first you should win. Forcing him to use crouching buttons with less priority like c.LP and and s.LK to make it whiff and force you to use other buttons. You have to make a bit of a read with s.HK as he can crouch under it, but with the right spacing and read he will have to put away the standing buttons for a bit. Especially since s.HK can cause crush counter and at close enough range can land s.HP and convert into big damage.

Which then forces him to revert to crouching buttons that can be beat with s.MK or f+HK. His charged HP can be annoying but if you have EX meter you can again force him to stop using it with EX kunai or instant air EX kunai. EX kunai hits his feet where he has no armor (only upper body armor) so it’ll just blow right through it. V Skill of course also being good vs abuse of anything that isn’t charged HP.

Has anyone been having issues fighting bison and alex at all?

Alex’s c.MP can be annoying, but just use V Skill sometimes to keep him honest about it.

Bison can be annoying till you knock him down. Don’t be afraid to V Reversal against his pressure. Both characters you can take for a ride once you land a combo into LP Raida or sweep target.

Alex just has alot of damage, but ibuki has his 3 nightmares:
good jump in button,
3f jab
wake up reversal.

the problem is he has great range

Ehm. Alex has ibuki nightmares. Great range pokes, ridiculous antiair jab and stupid health/damage.

Yes, but you can overwhelm him with preassure

Balrog and Alex are both matchups that I feel Ibuki players will complain about early on cuz they are definitely going to have a range/hit box advantage over Ibuki button wise. Luckily like you said, they are also both characters that are going to be free to Ibuki’s pressure once she gets in. Their health won’t matter much when they will be able to do less to get out of Ibuki’s pressure than 900 health Cammy. You basically will on average steal more health from them before they can get back to neutral again or nearly stun them.

It’s just like 3rd Strike Ibuki. I don’t give a shit if you’re playing Alex or Hugo with a bunch of health and stun because as soon as I stick to you you’ll never get me off of you until you’re close to dead. Whereas a lower health character like Ken or Chun has better reversal options to keep me away without relying on parry. Which in effect, virtually gives them more “health” or ability to stay alive vs her. In SFV Alex’s V Reversal is one of the slowest ones in the game so there are probably some medium normals you can hit him with and still throw him out of his V Reversal.

Plus the V Skill works as a deterrent for abuse of long ranged pokes. Trying to poke too many times at V Skill is basically giving Ibuki the bombs she wants to lock you down into huge damage and mix up faster. Plus more V Reversals to get pressure away herself. Granted, her V Reversal is also pretty slow start up, but since it basically makes her teleport and shoots a hit box out it has some interesting applications that other V Reversals dont.

Alex has a semidivekick to punish ibuki vskill and having more health means that ibuki needs to get in 1 more time. Both of those conditions reduce ibuki chances to win. If alex gets in it becomes a trainwreck for ibuki as well, two reads and she is dead.

You’re talking about stomp? How is a crouch charge based move going to punish V Skill even if she whiffs it? You’re better off punishing it with EX slash elbow than stomp since at least you won’t be sitting in a crouch position telegraphing it.

A rushdown character doesn’t need to get in one more time vs a character without a special reversal or 3 frame button. Once you’re in, that’s it. You should be stuck to Alex like glue. Alex can’t realistically do anything to get pressure off of him other than use his slower V Reversal and Ibuki has a lot of options that stop V Reversals. Whereas Alex’s main command grab trap (f+HP) loses to V Reversals (other than VTCing into command grab) and then he still has to deal with her 3 frame s.LP, 3 frame LK kazekiri and EX kazekiri as a reversal. That’s why they made Alex’s mid range so good because he can’t afford to let the opponent get in. If they stick to him even one time he may not be able to get them off until he’s dead. You have nothing to reset spacing once people are forcing you to block that isn’t V Reversal or well timed tech grabs.

No im talking about his air move that comes down as a dive kick. That move can punish ibuki vskill and get a good bite over her health while staying possitive for meaties.

Alex has poor defense but it is really not as bad as balrog or vega and vega/balrog players are claiming ibuki as one of tbe easiest matchups due to the reasons i explained. it is a game of better Buttons + health + ibuki eating stuff in neutral game vs ibuki rushdown and fishing for a hitconfirm, i like ibuki style but i dont see her winning consistently when she has to deal with that kind of chatacters. I even prefer to fight characters like chun, ryu and ken to fight with ibuki than the fast grapplers this game has. Laura is an exception to the rule due to having worse buttons than alex and her tactics being much weaker to ibuki vreversal, rushdown game and spacing.

A good Ibuki isn’t going to whiff v skill much for you to eagle dive at it any way. It must be something you are fishing for on anticipation because that shit is unsafe on a block. If Ibukis offense gets as strong as I think it will, Alex wont want her in even one time

Which other grapplers you supposing she’ll have trouble with?

Alex and vega, mostly. They share some traits, great defensive buttons, command grab, health and good damage output out of 50/50s. Balrog has health and defensive buttons, same for birdie, pr rog said ibuki is his best matchup lol; gief is too slow so he cant place his normals as good as the mentioned characters, therefore i dont consider him a menace and ibuki can actually play a neutral approach with vskill and win consistently. Laura normals are not as good defensively as they are offensively so ibuki will be going through her defense consistently, same for rmika, reason why i consider ibuki a counterpick to deal with my vega worst matchup and i will stick with her.

Another problematic character for ibuki i believe is bison. He has good defensive normals superior to ibuki, good health and his damage output is huge so ibuki cannot commit many mistakes. Yes you guys will say ibuki will get in and mixup to dead, but will it happen consistently? Imo nope. Ibuki is a great character in specific counterpicks but overall i think she is not THAT good due to matchups chart; in practice, people commit many mistakes and ibuki just need one opening and two reads to win a round, but theoretically she shouldnt get in consistently in certain matchups.

Ex kunai can break defenses, i love that move and i abuse it, but it requires meter! And meter bar charges with health loss, blockstrings or combos, so before ibuki can potentially get in at her problematic matchups she need to lose health lol

I like comparing things to marvel since im a marvel player, if i were to compare ibuki to a marvel character it would be firebrand. Firebrand neutral game sucks. It is terrible for marvel standards. Theoretically he lose to almost all the top 20, morrigan vs firebrand is worst than sim vs gief. But people suck at blocking and defense and firebrand will get a hit and rip through the other player team, it happens the same with ibuki. Theoretically she is bad in some matchups, but people will give her the opening and then they will lose to the ridiculous pressure, but why did she get the opening in the first place? Not because the other character lose to ibuki but because the player made mistakes! and such style cannot win consistently at least theoretically imo

Thanks for the info.

Vega I can see cuz he actually has the walk speed to outwalk Ibuki and consistently stay in that range where she is going to have trouble in neutral. Burly characters like Alex don’t really have the walk speed to make that happen. She can walk him down and take some white chip from some normals if he tries to approach so that she can get in range to counter poke. Which Ibuki is clearly one of the best in the game at counter poking due to her walk speed and how fast her normals are despite their hit boxes. Alex has long buttons, but he can’t reposition himself like Claw can to keep bad things from happening all the time.

New matchup notes for some of the characters I jotted down. As I fight more of the characters or have more time I’ll write stuff down for the others. If you guys have any other matchups you’re looking for notes for lemme know. It’s also updated on first page.

Cammy: The average Cammy you fight online will most likely take to the air with dive kicks. If they are jumping forward at you from a range have s.HK or c.HP ready for a jump in or wait if they plan on diving early to try and make your AA whiff. Regular dive kicks that are done too high in the air are punishable on block. If you’re worried about whiffing AA you can stick to something with quick recovery like b+MP and fish with that.

If you’re fighting a more grounded Cammy just make sure you have your f+HK and V Skill ready for their button approach. Most of her buttons can be taken care of with those 2 options. Which then gives you room to move in with your shorter, comboable buttons or throw in an EX kunai and start pressuring. As you’re pressuring her, be mindful of her meterless DP and fish for crush counters if she gets blocked or whiffs. Be mindful of her V Skill and try not to throw too many kunais or V Skills at a range where her V Skill can pass through and land. If you do end up having to block her V Skill, remember to V Reversal it so you don’t have to take the free frame trap. You can also try to stuff it before it starts if you know she may try to cross you up with it or just use it really obviously.

Chun Li: She has a lot of options and is generally a strong character so you’ll need to be mindful of them when fighting her. Firstly you’re going to need to know how to deal with IALL. If you can’t deal with IALL you’re already half way to losing against her since it’s basically the best “dive kick” in the game and most higher level Chuns will know how to do it. The main thing to note is that when done precisely its definitely plus on block so it’s not something you want to try to and V Reversal as she’ll most likely block and punish you.

Your best option is to crouch when you figure its coming to make your hurt box shorter and give you the most time to prepare with hitting a button. Then when she goes for the IALL react to it with a c.MP or c.LP anti air depending on what you have time/reaction to do. If you do it successfully she’ll reset and you walk forward and meaty her with a s.MP when she lands. By the time she starts announcing the name of the air legs you need to have a button out and she clearly stalls in the air for a second to make it more telegraphed.

From there you are dealing with her fireball and buttons. Her fireball isn’t really that scary since it doesn’t do much damage and only the HP one travels fast and has short range. Try to pester her with a MP/HP kunai to get her thinking about something else. Otherwise just use your other anti projectile options to move around it and get in. Once you get an EX meter she should’t be able to throw them much anymore as instant EX kunai will blow it up and get you in. s.HP is one of her main mid/far range buttons so have f+HK or V Skill ready for that. You can also try to walk outside of the range of it and c.MK or sweep under the hurtbox of it as it’s starting. Be mindful of her 3 frame buttons (c.LP/c.LK) and make sure your meaties are tight so you don’t get blown up by them.

Her c.MP can slide under f+HK so watch for abuse of that button. V Skill blows it up pretty nicely though. Whiff punish it if you bait it and she whiffs.

Dhalsim: Should be pretty good matchup for Ibuki. You walk and generally move way faster than him and you have a lot of options that blow up his regular fireball. Which is rough for him because he depends on his opponent’s character being one that has trouble challenging or punishing the fireball from a range once he gets space. Any bad fireball is pretty much a free MK command dash in to punish so he’s most likely going to be throwing out a lot of standing buttons instead to keep from being punished. I imagine like usual, f+HK and V Skill will be good vs a lot of these options.

Generally you want to get at least one EX meter as fast as possible. Once you do you I believe you have a big up in the neutral game over him. One bad poke can be blown up with an instant EX kunai into dash in and any bad attempt to regular fireball will be MK command dash in to free pressure. Punish any raw teleports that go near you with s.MP, b+MP, HK Kazekiri or s.HK. He has pretty good throw range so you’ll have to be mindful of throw mashing to escape as you’re pressuring him. As long as your shimmies and frame traps are solid though you should be able to blow that up as well.

M. Bison: He has a lot of good buttons, but again another character where you can use your f+HK and V Skill to fend off buttons. If he does start pressuring you have a V Reversal ready as a lot of his pressure loses to V Reversal. As you get in on him he’ll have to burn V Reversals himself to not die to pressure so it’s not a bad offset. Most Bisons usually take to the air at some point so be mindful of his different air options. If he does a non EX aerial special have one of your anti airs ready. You can anti air his EX air options, but it can be riskier so if you’re afraid, don’t be afraid to block and then just EX DP or V Reversal later.

R. Mika: This can be an annoying matchup just because her buttons are pretty solid and with one EX meter there’s a lot that you have to be careful about using or you will get punished by EX peach. s.HK is a good button to have vs her as most of her strong buttons that convert in neutral are standing buttons that it can hit. Her crouching buttons are just there for pestering unless she’s pretty close so it’s a good bet to s.HK out to catch crush counters on her scary stand buttons and force her to go for the crouch buttons that you can compete better with. Of coruse f+HK and V Skill typically in the mid range as well.

The ultimate goal in this matchup is to get in and start putting her in meaties and resets as she has no real reversal. Once that happens you can start to go to town on her. Just be careful of her V Reversal as it’s quick, long ranged and puts you in soft knockdown state. Mix up your strings with light attacks or well placed mediums so that you can block her V Reversal if she goes for it.

Ryu: This matchup is one where you should be able to fight Ryu’s buttons. Well spaced f+HK and V Skill being your main tools. Use s.MP, c.MP and s.MK as you are able to move in closer to him. Just be weary of stronger Ryus that will try to parry abuse of your buttons or V Skill. You’ll want to get EX meter pretty quickly in this match as instant air EX kunai (jump forward input EX kunai immediately) and EX raida are strong tools vs his fireball game. Instant EX kunai being the best option since you can LK or MK command dash in on hit and go for a combo into meaty pressure or reset.

Most Ryus will either get aggressive at the start of the first round or move back and shoot fireballs. If they move back and shoot remember that MP or HP kunai can angle under his fireball and stuff him. If you’re far enough away you’ll most likely have room to reload that kunai also. This will usually deter him from abusing fireballs from range as he takes stray damage trying to fireball chuck you and force him to get aggressive. You also have other tools like f+HK, df+MK slide and f+MK to hop or slide under the fireballs. Make sure you have your anti airs ready if Ryu decides to jump forward at you. Which include s.HK and c.HP from farther ranges or b+MP or jump back air throw at closer ranges.

ehm… i dont think Ibuki vs Sim is in her favor…

I believe the matchup vs Cammy and RMika are slightly in her favor or at least balanced though.

Explain?

You’ll have to explain for sure as that’s the one matchup that I’m pretty certain is in her favor or at the minimum even with potential to go in her favor. It should be pretty clear that there’s good options for her in that match.

With Chun Li I had to honestly move forward at him and his slide beats IALL. Even with that that matchup is still probably even. Ibuki has many ways to just force herself in against anything but perfect use of his regular fireballs and if she gets in it should be curtains.