I was wondering if there’s ever been a general guide on how to be a rushdown player. If so, does anyone have any links?
Not really. Your best bet is to look over the Footsies Handbook, and from there, glean over some information that can help you apply pressure safely, as well as understand the momentum of the match.
Being a rushdown player is a very advanced playstyle that requires extremely good character control, strong matchup knowledge, the ability to adapt to your opponent’s playstyle, weakness, and tendencies, and a willingness to fight at ranges that sometimes puts you at risk for a counterattack.
- Get in that culo
- Give no fucks
But rushdown is usually about trying to fluster your opponent, making them feel like they never had a moment to breath. IMO, that’s the strongest part of a rushdown style: The ability to make your opponent freak out and start mashing hoping to get out of the pressure. So as long as you can make your opponent feel like they never got to play, then do that, and keep doing it until they mash.
Yeah. I saw the footsies handbook and have that bookmarked on my computer. I wondered if there was something that was a bit more specific, but then I guess not unless someone has some good tips but in a character’s section.
A lot of that will be character-specific, as some character’s natural playstyle is more conducive to rushdown than others. Beyond that, just focus on perfect your ability to control your character, work on your setups to land damage, and pay close attention to how your opponent reacts in certain situations (i.e. how they respond to close-range pressure, how they react to zoning/turtle styles, look at the strategies they want to use and are comfortable playing, etc etc).
Most of this stuff comes with experience.
To me good rushdown is all about detecting when your opponent is scared and predicting how they are going to try and run away, as opposed to lame play, which is more about baiting and getting people frustrated into approaching when they really can’t. An added bonus of playing like that is you tend to mindfuck people much faster to where the person being rushed will make a lot more blatant errors than against playing against a lame player of equal skill (“GET OFF ME” mentality).
That is why good rushdown players can get away with walkup throw from half screen, or just walking up and poking over and over. They know when their opponent isn’t in control. Also good rushers tend to hang back a lot more than you might think when they sense their opponent knows what’s going on, waiting for that one opening. It’s not about just doing the same thing over and over, at least not in good fighting games…
I think my problem is that I’ve been taking time to look over all of the ideas and mindgames, but just applying them at the wrong times. Like I play Adon in AE and at times I wanna try and swing a s.:hk: at them, but get poked out of that since it isn’t that fast of a normal. I have an idea of when I want to use it, but I guess when I decide to do it, maybe my opponent is getting button happy and I pay for it.
Also, it’s strange when I get rushed down. My opponents will tell me that I need to play more aggressively, but at the same time they’re going crazy as soon as the round starts. So is there a way to be aggressive at the same time as them, or am I right in waiting them out and look for an opening?
Mind games is such a difficult thing to study. It’s more about intuition and your ability to analyze your opponent, and having enough experience to know how to counter or punish their tendencies or weaknesses. St.hk is a pretty good poke with strong priority and speed, but whiffing it randomly can get pretty dangerous. Don’t be predictable with it, try to bait out their counter poke, and punish their whiffed moves. Adon’s primary form of pressure is safe jaguar kicks on block, and on knockdown, going for ambiguous crossups and/or safe jumps.
It depends entirely on the matchup. Some matches allow you play aggressive while other matches demand that you play a bit more patient and footsies based and look for opportunities to press the attack. Usually 2 aggressive and rushdown characters that have weak defensive options will tend to play extremely fast and try their best to gain momentum on their side for the majority of the match, which is where you’ll land damage.