301

Sol is pretty basic and that’s all he needs. That’s the scary part.
My tier list.

1st

  1. Slayer
  2. Millia
  3. Eddie
  4. Faust
  5. Sol

High 2nd
6.Johnny
7.Axl
8.I-no
9.Venom
10.Baiken

The Rest

302

Just because Sol can end something with only GV or VV (which is untrue btw), that doesn’t mean squat. Take MvC2 for instance.

You’ll see Magneto typically (keyword: typically) use about 4 or 5 enders to a combo. Felicia can use about 4 or 5 different enders as well. While Felicia has only a couple of ways to get there, Magneto has hundreds of set ups, and high damaging ways to get there.

Sol = One Touch, One Loop.

So by your logic, if he can only end combos certain ways, despite there being numerous ways of getting there and the amount of damage he does, he sucks?

Sol does not have a very high learning curve, yes. Neither does Cable in MvC2. Neither does Jin in T4. Does this make them any less affective? No.

Once again… top 4 are Eddie, Millia, Slayer, and Faust. All personal opinions mean dick :smiley:

303

Chips rush down is no where near as fluid as Sols, for teo reasons. There is not intimidation factor. Chip is not ganna hack off a horendous amount od life bar if he get a clean poke in. And secondly, no command grab. Chip in general is very underrated, but he has no priority. His move that do have priority have bad lag time. And enyone familiar with chips move list will not fall for the set ups. His high low game is just plain too slow.

Now as far as soul having rivals for damage of of one hit?.. eddy, ino, slayer, jonny, faust… these are the few off the top of my head that can do it WITHOUT meter. With meter?, you might as well throw anji/baiken, potemkin, ky, may, and most everyone else in there.

Sols looping ability is nt exclusive to him. There are shorter combos that take more damage that other characters can do off one hit just as easily. And no, Sol is not diverse. You failed to grasp what i mean by that obviously because in defense all you really did was reiterate that fact that Sol has really damaging combos and alot of priority. The flaw behind that is, he has good priority, but all his moves are so straight forward that unless he is actually countering something, they are easy to block or avoid. And you say test is over rated? He is definately not played properly in most circles of competition but underrated he is not. Test has everything Sol has plus a range game, hella projectiles and more damage that him. You really need to either play a good one or at least watch one so you can bare witness to how quickly he locks down even from half screen distance away. But back to the point. Sol is nasty, and i keep giving him credit, but i am sorry… damage “potential”, doesnt make you top tier. Damage practicality does. The bottom line is, Sols rush down is a force to be reconed with, but all you have to do is rush him back down and he is useless. Its not even as hard as you try to make it seem, all you have to do is pick the right character and its over. I used bridget because she is a perfect example of s sweep range poker and in and out character that brings hell against a Sol. If you want another example look at Potemkin… he is even slower, but its the same sweep range game that detroys Sols offense. If he cant get it he cant win. I could go on forwever about this, the bottom line is, that if you like Sol, you like him. But he isnt top tier. He is predictable, and he is too reliant on rush down as his only stregth. and point blank… he aint even the best at rushing down. Sorry, but you can wat him to be as much as you want to, but he will never be able to rush down better than jonny, or test, or i-no, or for that matter anji, or eddy. It just ain ganna happen.

there is a reason Sol is so unbalanced. Its because his flaws are so utterly obvious that if he wasnt he would be useless. They arent easily exploited, but anyone who takes the time to learn Sols move list will not be trapped by his rush game. They will just carefully rush him back down, or poke him out of all his long ass start up frames. You can see what Sol’s lacking very obviously. Him and Ky are the exact opposite. He lacks everything that ky has, and ky has everything you wish Sol had.

later.

304

Can’t wait to see how sol does at Evo. I personally think his priority alone will get him the hits he needs. And he has all the tools to eat up a rusher. My 2 cents.

305

sigh

Some people need to play a Sol who is more than just VVs and simple Dloop setups. You haven’t seen good Sol yet. That is all I will say.

306

I play your mom when I feel like a nut. :lol: :lol:
j/k

307

POT is the one of the 5 best in this game… nobody i have seen yet knows how to use him right…:wink: yeah… that sounds about right…

308

whoa there buddy slow ur roll dawg…GV, VV, command grab r the only things in his so called mind games dude. i dont think u read my post thru. i never sed n e thing about him not being effective neither n e thing about ending combos…READING IS FUNDAMENTAL. and yes i do think he sux. no skill required but thats my opinion.

now as for chipp not having a good rush…i am only gonna say u havent played a good chipp at all. no priority? dude wut r u talkin about? his s.S, f+p,s.HS have like mad priority! and omg plz show me a normal besides dust that has horrible recovery for chipp. plz show me dude i’d like to kno…(sarcasim) and dude wut does knowing chipps move list gonna do against u in a real fight? if thats the case the same could be sed for all chars then so ur comment on that seems rather stupid. and how in the hell is chipp’s high low game slow if he’s the FASTEST CHAR IN THE DAMN GAME? dude think b4 u speak cuz that makes no sense. granted it may not be up to par wit millia doesnt mean his high low game isnt good. if u think sol’s high low game is good then ima jus assume that u jus dont kno wut ur talkin about.

beast of fire: ok wit u sayin about not playin a good sol, i have played a good sol and that’s ID’s sol. he knows wut he’s doing it him and yet its still sol dude, VV and GV and loop setups is wut sol is about dawg. prove me wrong. wut else can u do???

MY tier list…
TOP
zato
millia
faust
johnny

UPPER
slayer
axl
bridget
sol

MID
chipp
anji
baiken
jam
ky
testament
zappa
venom

LOW
i-no
dizzy
may

309

I said lag time as in start up frames. And no, i am sorry, chipps high low is weak. And no, he is not faster that Milliia, or Jonny. He dashes fast, he doesnt make transitions from waves of rushing or command moves fast. And i say know his move list because 50 percent of losses against Chipps re due to unfamiliarity with what he is capable of doing. You can only do so much damage with chip before some one gets grounded, and thats only if you can manage of overwelm them. Teleport overheads are slow, and the over head from his ground chain is slow. There are others too, but he still has very little thats practical to work with. Sol just has more options off of a ground chain than him… way more. Granted he is better than most people think, he still cant take damage well or dish it. His combos are pretty to look at when you actually catch them, but then you will be dissapointed when you look at the persons life bar. Chip is very underrated though. I totaly agree with you on that. His ability to otg in this game really improved on him, but there are just better people for his style of play.

And on the Sol issue, you can continue to assume i havent played a good Sol, but the fact of the matter is. I have played, and play a good Sol myself personaly. That is why i know exactly what gives him problems and how easily weaknesses can be exploited. You dont even pick Sol against Axle or Bridget in high competition, that is like a no no. Its so dead obvious.

Sol has alot of things that works for him, but he is no where near the best at any of his best tactics. This is like my third time stating this, and you continue to bombard me with “sol can do this” Sol can do that", if i didn’t have an acurate knowledge of what Sol was capable of i wouldnt be here. I dont need you to tell me he can play a simple mind game with command throws, or his dust attacks etc. I know what he has… i am sure i probably know it better than you, and definately alot better than you think. Because if you trully believe that Sols rush down, and weak mind games will be indefinately effective that something is seriously wrong with you. And maybe you are not playing decent competition. What you have is a personaly opinion, which is all fine and good. But a personal bias isnt ganna just MAKE Sols same olde rense and repeat mix up work. I will be blunt and honest, against a good majority of character in this game, they have no answer for Sols rush. They cant out prioritize it, and they have no strong pokes or solid enough rush themselves to counter his offense. But there alre key people and playing styles who Sol just utterly sucks against. Along with the whole high tier chart i made, there are people in mid tier that will rape him too. If you wanna get technical, against all out rush characters, throw mix ups of not, anji will own. And he is middle to bottom mid tier. Guard impact owns Sol cause he cant do jack about it. And Anji has loops too WOW… one hit and sol goes for a ride. That crap dont make you top tier man. I am sorry, and Anjis rush down/loop change ups are better than Sols. Although the damage ratio is lower, his rush will be more solid cause you cant really predict what is coming next, and you know if you attack back he doesnt have just the option of blocking at his disposal. If you want a high tiered example look at Jonny, almost everything jonny has will stuff Sols offense back down his throat. He advances faster, has more range, and more priority, and takes more damage. He can also start combos just as damaging as Sols infamous dust loops from anywhere on the screen. Moderate rush characters can beat Sol at his own game, he just plain aint as full proof as you want him to be, cause the fear of being put in a dust loop is not ganna always intimidate someone. 50% of Sols game is intimidating the opponent, making them afraid to jump or stop blocking, so that you can force in and do your command grabs, or high low game. But its alot of smoak and mirrors to hide a simplistic angle of attack thats easy to stop if you know what you are looking at. Same is true with most characters, but its the exception not the rule. Sol is just easier to see though because he is not very versatile. He is good in his own right, but as far as being the best rusher, he is not anywhere near the top of that list. There are too many people in this game that can rush effectively, and better than him. his loops are the only thing that make him scarey, sure he is “capable” of doing more. But ask yourself how much of that is really practical? Honestly. If some one rushes you down just well enough to stay out of corners you are ganna have hell. And i know this, because i play Sol. Characters that can poke you before you get to them or rush you down better give you a huge problem. If you deny that then truthfully you are playing yourself. Bias and favorism is fine by me… but be realistic. I like Sol too, but i know he very well what he lacks.

later.

310

rubs his temples Speaking of reading, you obviously didn’t read my post. I said nothing about Chipp. I simply said that while Sol might have the Dust Loop, Volcanic Viper, Grand Viper, Gun Flame, Bandit Bringer, or Wild Throw to lead into, it does not make him a bad character. That is of course, unless you were referring to Prowess.

Sol is widely overrated and underrated. People say he’s given too much credit as a good character because they swear up and down all he can do is DLoop. Other’s say he’s overpowered because of the DLoop.

Sol has something to aid his rush game that Chipp doesn’t. Gun Flame FRC. It provides you with cover to begin the rush. Now he has the option of coming in with an overhead, Dust, air attacks in case you duck, go low in case you’re blocking high, or he can tick on a command grab or normal throw. His 2D goes under a lot of attacks, his K is a 3 frame move, and his 6P grants him the same upper body invulnerability as Chipp.

Does this make Chipp any worse of a character? Not at all.

What I don’t understand is that if Sol is such a lousy character, so predictable even, why do people still lose to him? Why do they even bitch? If he was such trash they’d just ignore him and leave him where he is.

Dust Loops require the corner, yes? Most scrubs don’t know how to do near full screen set-ups (GF FRC/BB Loop) to get the opponent to the corner to set it up. Shit, there’s that Korean Sol who’s got better rush down then any other Sol I’ve ever seen, and he doesn’t even use the DLoop.

311

yes i was aiming the 1st comment at prowess.

ok i totally have to disagree on that bcuz chipp is way faster than millia and johnny. hell chipp beats millia. granted neither can take damage good, chipp dishes out more damage than millia period. not to mention that its hard to keep chipp still wit her cuz he’s constantly on the move. as for johnny, no. johnny is no where near as fast as chipp at all. if ur referring to the whole mist cancel dash bit yes it is fast yet easy to see.

ok so wut ur saying is that once u kno chipp’s moves u can beat him wit no problem? once again if thats the case u havent played a good chipp as i stated b4. as for damage, now unless the chip player is using jabs and shorts to start combos yea chipp wont do that much damage at all. however using f+p or s.S to start combos, he can dish out damage. and heck dont let chipp drop on u wit his air HS. that thing is so meaty and does good damage as a combo starter. i mean chipp has far too many tools and options to work wit that even i havent learned to master yet. like akuma in 3s, tons of options and when played rite he can be deadly. granted if u hit him he will die fast, so will chipp but i’ll tell u for sure its gonna be damn hard to catch’em. lol i mean n e 1 can kill chipp but its all a matter of keepin up wit the speed.

312

OK, i c a lot of Slayer fans out there, but exactly y does he get more props than Johnny? O, and about Sol, he IS just Dust Loops and FRC’ed gun flames. U could use the bandit revolver rush, but hes all about usin the same stuff over and over.

313

Yeah man, he is just Dust loop. Never mind the fact that it gets started from anything he lands. Whee, whoops I fucked up, I lost over half my life! Yay! :smiley:

314

Ah, gotcha :slight_smile:

It’s not just the damage that makes Millia top tier, it’s her insane cross-up/mix-up game. Have you seen her lock somebody down in a corner? It’s nuggin futz. She makes use of that low hitting special that can be FRC’d into 6K. Crazyness. Let’s not forget her relaunch combos. Her airdash is also faster than Chipp’s me thinks. That I could be wrong on though. Feel free to correct me.

The thing with Chipp is that he has to hit you a lot to deal out chunks of damage. He can very well get those hits though, but God forbid you breathe on him.

I’ve played several Chipps. Of course, none are world class players, but they definitely know what they are doing and have a solid grasp of the game. My first time playing Chipp caused me some anal bleeding due to the fact that I knew NOTHING about how he played in GGXX (I haven’t seriously played the game until now, but I did however play GG and GGX). Once I caught on two his normals, specials, B+B’s, etc, it started becoming less of a hassle. It’s not cake mind you, but once you know how a character plays it’s a lot easier to deal with them. Common sense there.

Cable is AHVB and assist coverage. Does this make him a sucky character? No. He’s top tier because those very things can turn games around. Does having the DLoop and VV make Sol a sucky character? No. While you can pop out an AHVB at will, Sol has to put you in that corner somehow. Unfortunately for everyone else, he can put you there :smiley:

315

First of all, Sol is not garbage, so you can get that crap out your head. I never said he was an easy character to beat, nor that he lacked the tools to be effective. I merely said that his rush down is redundant. He has a set ammount of options, and though he can vary what he is doing that fact is dependant on circumstance. His high low game, and his command grabs are useless if the person doesnt stay on the ground, or take the block impact of something. He can frc gun flame to begin his rushes which is a huge advantage, but what happens with people who can reach through it?, what happens with people who can dash through it like Anji or Baiken?, what happens with people like Potemkin who will just counter it?, not to mention Sol cant be effective if he doesnt get in on someone. If a characters commands the center of the screen for more than half the round Sols meter is gone and he is dead if not sooner. Now go ahead and tell me frc gun flame isnt the most practical way to start his rush down, lie to me. I play him, and i know how to corner you from mid screen. You can only use his high low game assuming the person is constantly blocking low (which would indicate inexp) or they are backed to the corner, or they jump frivolessly. I will agree with you, that once it starts you are hard pressed to escape his rush down, but that doesnt work against mid range people.

Now, when i said that Chip isnt fast I should have been more spicific. It has nothing to do with how fast he dashes, or how fast he can ground chain, because that is not important in the greater scheem of things. I say fast as in a characters ability to cover ground in mid string. An example would be, If Jonny started rushing from his corner against a blocking opponent how fast could he back them into thiers? Same with Millia or Sol. All these characters rush down FAST… as hell. Chipp in no way shape or form takes damage better than Jonny, i dont think that is what you meant to say. Probably for Millia, but they take damage about the same, and millia has better range and air game.

Now as far as his over heads are concerned, they are slow. Just like i said before, You can maintain a fast pace with him, and you can easily be blocked. Any move you do with him that would potentialy crack open the opponent has a high risk factor. The greatest move in his rush down arsenal is his command throw, unfortunately its slower than most. His teleports are moderately usefull, because of how slow they are. Every one knows about the j.HS, its easily blocked or avoided. And that is one of his best overheads, see what i’m saying. I never meant to infer that you could win by just knowing thier move list, you win by knowing how to play them yourself so that you know what they have at thier disposal. Its also about knowing good moves to retaliate with when chip does stuff like teleport over you. That stuff is not guaranteed. People like Sol, Faust, Jonny; they have better rush down because during 70% of thier rush in, you have the option of, either Block it/or get hit, when playing chip you arent even guarnteed a block on alot of his command moves that cause the stun you want unless the person is just gratious enough to stand there.

I agree with you on one point, a good Chipp is a nighmare for Millia, cause he is a faster dasher. But if she catches him, he will lose. He cant combo as well as her. I had a recent run in with a good chip at a tourney last month, and catching his anus gave me a f’cking headache, granted i was playing mallia and i couldnt catch him. It was double elimination, next round I picked Sol, and raped him. His mistake? he blocked. As soon as he loses mobility it is over. Millia cant be evasive very well… in fact if you dont rush with her she is pretty useless. But Sol bull dogs. You block in the corner and you die, you teleport at mid screen you get put in dust loop, you do a move with more than 4 frames of recovery time you die. What can Chip realy do about it? He cant reach Sol after a regular gun flame let alone a frc’ed one. Chips speed off a dash is great, his chains are fast and weak. They dont push the person back hardly at all and his overheads can all be stopped by a dp type move which almost every character has.

Chip is very underrated. But alot of its not ill placed. He is underrated by many and properly played by few is how i would put it. So its easy to say “you just havent played one” or that i am swayed by the majority. But i am being totally realistic with you. Chip is not a character I fear, for his lack of priority, inability to break defensive opponents, and his low damage potential.

laters.

316

If the solution to Sol’s rush were that simple, well, he wouldn’t be a threatening character. Sol doesn’t work the same way that characters like Millia and Eddie do; he’s a power character. He gets his damage through threat and intimidation, and if you try to look at him like a high-low mixup character, you’re doing the character a disservice. For example, let’s say that Sol runs in and strings to his crouch Slash, then stops. Crouch Slash gives him a frame advantage, so if both of you try to move or attack at the same time, his attack will be there first. If you just try to jump out, then he can dash up and toss out a standing Kick, which will pick you out of the air and give him a free combo (or Dloop if you’re near the corner). If you FD, he can chain to crouch HSlash and cancel to Gun Flame, which puts you right back on the ground and on defense (he can FRC to get even more rush/mix options). If you just try to attack back, he can throw out Kick as well (fastest normal in the game), or he can do Forward+Punch, which has good invulnerability and gives him free aircombos/Dloop on counterhit. These type of options are what threaten you into staying on the ground; after being hit out of the air or countered a few times and taking big damage because of it, you won’t feel so free to jump whenever you feel like it. Once you’re locked down in this manner, the command grab/Dust options open up for more damage. That’s how the character works, and that’s just one example. It’s not just some tired high/low mixup like you’re putting it.

There are always counters to isolated incidents like these. Anji doing autoguard too much? If he just tries to F+HS through everything, Sol can just sweep his feet out, which gets him a Bandit Revolver combo (RC for Dloop). Baiken using her autoguard run leaves her wide open to lows. If Potemkin tries to Hammerfall through FRCed GFs, Sol can just block with a dash brake and counter him on recovery unless he FRCs himself. Simple solutions. If you can’t recognize this sort of thing, you lack experience, plain and simple.

It takes some nice, consistent play to keep Sol at mid or far range for the entire match, and if you screw up, your plan is shot. He’s got moves that cover good ground and get him inside fast (Bandit Bringer, Grand Viper, Bandit Revolver, Riot Stamp). Sol does not necessarily need meter to get inside. A single Gun Flame, un-FRCed, either forces you to block or dodge, and if you jump, it gives him the opportunity to get in (his Kick stops most air attacks cold, so he can dash in with it). The only character who could realistically do this without a monumental effort is Axl.

Like I said, you need to play some good Sol. You obviously don’t understand the character as well as you think.

317

Riot Stomp sux so much ass…but plz SOME1 answer y the heck Slayer outweighs Johnny!

318

Riot Stamp sucks when a player abuses the shit out of it, which newbies tend to do. It’s insanely fast and hard to see coming most of the time; you have to be on the lookout for it, at which point it becomes very counterable (F+Punch from almost everyone). Like a lot of Sol’s moves, spare use makes it good. Variety = good.

Slayer has too much bullshit. Johnny’s a good character, fairly versatile, but he doesn’t have the same kind of kill-you-because-I-got-lucky factor. Johnny takes some forethought to get your damage in. Slayer gets a hit and usually takes some decent damage. He’s a lot simpler than Johnny to play and is more mobile; he can also deal with Johnny’s priority because of his invulnerability tricks.

319

I disagree, in two equally capable hands a mastered Jonny verses a mastered Slayer will win. IMHO. The “i got lucky” factor with slayer is worth mention, but against an exp jonny you rarely have a chance to do much but block unless you can get to him before he reaches to you. Then you have to out prioritize his standing normals. Then theres that coin that snuffs out so much its not even funny… I have played some excellent Slayers, but I lack the exp with him myself. And i cont like to give alot of insight on a character unless i personaly play them. But thats about how i see it… i could be way off though. Slayer has a dash that really get annoying when used properly. And his ability to get in and out with blistering speed would be a problem too. Short damaging combos are a motha…

I should try to pick up slayer but i am kinda enveloped with May at the momment. Perhaps later on this summer.

Not just Axle, any character with long/mid range pokes that can be comboed.

never said he was a character based on high low. In fact i spicifically said that the majority of Sols rush game is indeed based on intimidation because of his ability to take disgusting damage. Then i further pointed out that this was the rule and there were exceptions to this. Long/Mid range characters being one of them. Isolated incedents? in a real match there is not time to asses “he is doing this to much”, no good player is going to be that obvious or redundant. They will do it once, and punish you.

I agree with you on his ability to get over and around projectiles, which is why i said mid/long range characters and not projectiles. Its not only Axle that can stop this, but Bridget too. Also May in sevral instances. Venom’s that convert to range game give him a problem too… and venom has some scary options if he grounds you. If we were talking about ANY character being played inconsistantly in the first place my point wouldnt make sense. Obviously i am talking about advanced competition and I sencerely hope you are too. So consistance is a given, because Sol could just as easily be inconsistant as his opponent. We are assuming all possibilities, not just suggesting them exclusively to strengthen a point. Thats called Bias.

Stuff like this, is pointless, it doesnt solidify you point of view nor add to the debate. A difference of opinion doesnt not define ones ability. When you play or see my Jonny, or I-no then you can speak on my gameplay and exp. That comment was to a null. Sol is probably your best, so you are not subject to believe he has any weaknesses. Which is understandable, but not realistic. Frankly, you have not come to terms with any realistic point of view since i first posted and said, “sol is not the best rush down”. I never said he wasnt good. I never said he was easy to beat. I merely said his rush down is extreamly over rated because the majority of people are intimidated by it, but its not unstoppable by any means.

Personaly, as a Sol player myself i know better. You should know yourself too. There are ways to deal with isolated inccidents, but there are some characters that just plain give Sol hell. Range and mid characters with the same skill level played against a Sol will usually win. Because once a Sol, wich ispure rush down character, looses his offensive, he is useless. And its not at all untangable for Bridget, Axle, Anji, Jonny, Eddy, or even Testement to rush him back down even worse because they have way more options than him. THAT is why he cant be the best. He has all the tools… i agree with that, but other characters have the same or similar- plus some. I have been saying it all this time.

Sol is great. But he is no where near being the best at his strongest aspects. Plain and simple. And i am not assuming you do or dont, but if you actually played other characters yourself to the degree you play Sol you would know this. I am sure you do, but you are convinced I dont know what i am talking about so you want to insist that Sol is stronger than I think. Listen… I-play-Sol… as one of my primary Tourney characters. Because i know how strong he is. But in turn I also know exactly what i wish he had… the weaknesses are there, i know because i have been exploited by them. Some times they may only force you to Adjust, but against skilled people it costs matches.

later.

320

One of the players that I have matches with on a fairly consistent basis uses Bridget. Sorry, but Bridget can’t just keep you away forever the same way Axl can because his pokes don’t cover the same angles of entry. His ground pokes get beaten out by Grand Vipers; as long as Sol stays on the ground when Bridget’s on the ground, Bridget can’t control his movement. None of Bridget’s air pokes can control Sol on the ground, so the second he takes to the air, he gives Sol initiative to advance on him. May can’t control him on the ground at all; all his pokes own her. Venom at range can’t keep him out that long either, and Venom’s wakeup games are inconsistent at best against Sol (VV anyone?).

If you understand that he’s a power character, then why do you keep citing his high/low game as weak? It shouldn’t be a factor. Sounding hypocritical there.

You gave me some isolated incidents to try and make a point, and I countered them. If they aren’t an important factor, then you shouldn’t have brought them up.

Then don’t bother saying stuff like “I understand Sol’s options better than you do.”

I like how you make assumptions about how I’m not realistic because I don’t agree with you. You say that he doesn’t have the best rush, and I never disagreed with you on that. What I disagree with is the whole “he doesn’t excel at anything he does,” view. The fact that you think he’s a pure rush character shows that you don’t understand him, because you’re looking at him in the same way you would look at Millia or Chipp. Again, I dare you to find a character who has as many opportunities to deal out huge damage in a match. Everything he can do can lead to his Dloop, and that gives you so many options to deal damage that the opponent has to constantly be on alert; they can’t even get grazed by a stray attack.

The fact that you say Anji and Testament have more options than Sol just screams that you don’t have enough experience with Sol while fighting these characters. One of the guys that I play on a regular basis specializes in Testament and also played Anji exclusively. His Anji used to give me a lot of trouble, but I found that his mixup games are fairly easy to see coming once you get used to them, and his autoguard can be surpassed by low attacks most of the time (I cut off his F+HS use by using sweeps on him). Once he switched to Testament, his mixup game from a knockdown again gave me trouble. But all he can do from that is a crouch Kick or a F+Punch overhead; once you can reaction block the overhead, his offense goes to shit. Head to head, Sol beats him because for all of his options, Testament can’t deal with Sol’s priority. Axl can keep Sol pegged outside of his best range, as can Johnny, because these characters can cover Sol’s angles of entry for offense. Eddie has some of the best rush in the game, and even then Sol can break some of his patterns. Bridget’s rush is not solid enough to keep him down for long.

As for whether or not I understand the other characters as well as Sol, I’ve played practically every character in the game, and I’m pretty proficient with Axl, Chipp, Baiken, Johnny, Dizzy, and Slayer. I can see Axl and Johnny keeping Sol from getting his offense off the ground, but most other characters would have to work pretty hard to do so.