Title is merely for jest, but no, seriously. xD
I’m having A LOT of trouble with two very specific match-ups: Blanka and E. Honda…
Can someone please give me an indepth guide to taking these characters on? Blanka with his hop > ultra set-ups really fuck me hard sometimes and his balls seem quite difficult to punish. I tend to not want to use Lariat due to Blanka’s slide/ultra.
Against Honda, even on just down+back and headbutt is a pain in the ass. Sigh.
No matter how you look at it, its tough for Gief (at least a 6-4 matchup disadvantage for him against both).
I turtle against both and found some success but both are better turtles then gief. It’s hard to vortex both of them and I find myself backing up after knockdown instead of green hand next to them (especially if Blanka has U1 ready).
St/Cr. jabs, KKK lariat, and sometimes nj. headbutt (recommend the mp version - works better against honda) can work against both Blanka’s ball and Honda’s headbutt. Sometimes it will work against up-ball and butt splash but it depends on your position. A good honda/blanka player can bait a lariat with a short headbutt/ball and punish afterwards (especially blanka’s short ball/slide crap).
It’s not the best strategy but I find that it’s the only one that works okay.
I don’t have the time for a real quality post, but remember several things…
headbutt is punishable…
Honda on kd is very baitable…
d/f. rh > nj. fp(Honda)…
don’t jump much…no need…WALK fwd. If your going to turtle, walk him into the corner while doing it…
s.mp is awesome in this match if your footsy game is solid, as is s.lk->EXGH…
no real reason to absorb in this fight…
EX SPD > electricity…if your fighting a blanka that reverses by mashing punches…simply bait it, and perform an EX SPD. As well if you know the distance on jab spd, you can beat it with range…
There are a couple of ways to beat ball spam…but the only kind that should be HARD to deal with are upballs.
on slide…c.lk->EXGH…
not full strats but useful tools
Thanks guys, I’ll try to use these tips next time I fight them. Blanka is just the most fucking frustrating match I’ve yet to have, his balls and slide give me hell. Once I learn these things it should become more manageable.
Well I’m not great, but it’s not a match I ‘struggle’ with…my losses are 90% of the time to people who are better than me - not because of the match-up. I simply ‘aggresively turtle’ and walk the Blanka. It sucks online due to lag, but simple back and fourth with mild footsies to bait something punishable. jabs of all forms, as well as s.mp do well, they crush the blanka ball, and both s.lk and c.lk lead to knockdown obviously, and with decent footsies you can set that situation up more often than not. Also, if you get a life lead, don’t be afraid to turn into a charge character. Blanka’s best offense is his defense, if yo uget the life lead, he’s stuck doing punishable attacks. They maybe jumpins (lariat), balls (snuff or kara GH), slides (s.lk, EXGH), or he may try and walk up for a poke. Blankas that hop or walk up for the “NO NOT THE HEADBITE!”, are prime SPD bait as he’s oficially lost his charge by walking foward. the only charge he can maintain is ‘down’ while hopping, so he’s wide open for SPDs, though I typically punish over aggresive hopping with EX SPD due to invincibility. He does have some solid pokes and links, but in the scheme of things him coming to you works in your favor.
To add:
vs blanka
I actually like the aggressive blankas because they are so punishable but a lame blanka can become a wall.
about #5, s.jab or c.jab?
if it’s s.jab - close one (chop) or the normal one?
thanks
Jumping too much will get you killed in both matches. If your opponent is twitchy, and tosses out the horizontal charge move on reaction to your jumps, then train them into doing that and jump back and hit the j.mk. It’s a long, patient fight, and you’ll have to hit a LOT of pokes. If you recognize patterns of horizontal charge use, kick lariat will be your friend. The best thing in that scenario is if you peg that, and recover fast enough to hit an EX GH followup strike. You goal is to whittle down their health a bit so they’re forced to do stupid things. Every bit counts.
U1 vs U2 use. Both can be a godsend in this match, or completely useless, depending on the situation. U1 is good if you’re capable of landing HP SPDs in the match. It means you found their openings, and you’re able to play that type of mind game. If you can’t even land a single SPD, and your entire game revolves around pokes and GH use, U2 might be the better choice, as you can punish their aerial options and their back jumps if you position correctly.
Above ALL else though, BE PATIENT. Your s/c.lp pokes stop their horizontal moves quite nicely. Even s.mp if you get the hang of it. Also, remember to block. Go into the match remembering this: you have the health advantage, they have to hit you more.
For Blanka focus attack is your best friend when he does the upper ball. Honda you can poke him for days. Also when honda if you getting in close and he does the move where he jumps up and slams down on his ass just remeber that move hits twice so what I do is block then focus dash out of there.
You really should learn how to block it instead. Thats a free spd/u1 punish
cr.lp
Check this Aquasilk vid out vs Blanka.
He does ALOT!!! of what I and Unreal talked about.
Please do note that Aqua is a bit rusty and Vance really raised the bar of Gief play so its not godly material, just solid solid local tourney play.
[media=youtube]9CaNi4e-lJ8[/media]
For the record, while I really respect Vance’s play and style, Aqua’s style is a LOT more like what I envision when I think of playing Gief. Tick throw setups for DAYS and yes if a combo is there have the execution to keep the Bob Evans on display. I think Aquasilk looked real good at the last Guard Crush. I stole his dizzy reset setup because that shit is godlike. But on topic that video is a great example of how to play Blanka. Blanka without meter like Chun is a lot less of a problem. But to be honest I struggle against talented Blanka players badly.
I thought upball and ex upball beat focus though? Is that wrong? If so I should bait that on wakeup all day.
To beat blankas you need to do some damage with wake up games. Most good blankas wake up go to move once the have meter is ex up ball bait with safe jumps and then block and punish with ex gh. If they catch on to this they might star elec on wake either spd sweep or clk exgh. I like using standing jab to counter ex rainbow roll. Learn to block and punish u1 from blanka block low then high then you can do whatever you want because you will be in auto block till the ultras over. I like to punish u1 with lp gh to ultra 1. If your on the ground and they go for u2 on the ground you can jump and there’s a little pause in the electricity when you land that u can squeeze a exgh in at.
That reset with Gief was sexy, im going to use that in my game with blanka. The guy in the vid killed me asking why did the guy pick gief ultra 2 vs blanka. I kno if blanka does super gief blocks and can go right into ultra 2.
Yeah not a fan of U2 at all BUT I will be migrating to it in the matchup since i worked on the timing to punish a blocked u1
I am using Dudley right now… What are good solid counters for E.Hondas head butt?
Wrong forum, but his EX Rush punch destroys headbutt on block shrug
What I wish is that when when you focus attack blanka upper ball then green hand go right into ultra 2. If only that would connect and why doesnt gief have an air grab? Vega, Hakan and Guile has them why not gief?
I’ve test U2 on Blanka in training mode, it works but it seems risky. Sometimes it trades with his U1, sometimes I got full U2. I’m still looking into that, imagine how bad the Blanka player would be. =P
Still trying to adjust to certain match-ups. Right now I’m just failing to punish certain tactics, lost to some of the shittiest Blanka’s on the planet. rflmao
Thanks for the information and videos guy, gonna use it to improve my game. I admit I need to be more patient, most of the time not being patient and not blocking at the right times cause me to lose.