Maybe it’s just cause many of the characters I main tend to make parrying more risky (Akuma & Remy) but I don’t find myself trying to parry as much as I might if I’m playing as say, Urien. I do some, but with the way some talk about it, parrying seems like the be-all end-all of any strategy in this game.
So let me ask you this: how often DO you actually parry? Is it something you do a lot or something that tends to be more of an afterthought? Does the character
you’re playing influence how often or not you go for parries?
I mostly parry every fireball, being it hadouken, EX hadouken, Akuma’s 3-hits fireball, shinkuu hadouken or messatsu gouhadou (need to practice a bit more for these last 2). I also try to parry Remy’s SBs, but if he gets too happy with it, I’ll gladly take a little chip damage to quickly work a way around them instead of focusing on parries. Aside from that, I really don’t try to parry much because I’m not very good at guessing what he’s going to do, but if he’s a shoto that sweeps 4 times in a row, it’s not very hard to parry it a fifth time. That’s about it for now.
when i jump, i anticipate to parry when my opponent jump attacks me or attacks me while im mid air.
thats about it. sometimes i guess parry when someone tries to cross up on me and 10% wake up parry.
Usually, when it’s safe to parry. Jump-ins, fireballs from a certain distance, laggy moves that stick out like Yun’s Shoulder/f.HP, and also red parrying. When I play characters besides Q it tends to vary, like I’ll get more aggressive with my parries when I play Urien because he doesn’t have too many openings for big combos without them. Other than that, I stick with just good ol’ fashioned zoning/footsies until I can start reading them well.
I tend to parry more w/ Dudley to set up ex MGB bnb combos I think hitboxes might make it seem easier or harder for some characters to parry. I often try to parry overhead attacks (non-specials, mostly), some jump-ins, projectiles, and mostly go for parries when I’m going to get chipped to death, UNLESS it’s something like Akuma’s reset and I hadn’t already lost a round (assuming you’re playing a match that’s best out of 3 rounds…), since it’s NEAR-impossible to air-parry all of it, and then Akuma builds meter by hitting you after it. Hugo also seems to need to parry to close in on opponents sometimes.
Jump ins, fireballs (including multi-hit fireballs unless the opponent starts advancing, then block), I try not to parry Makoto or the twins too much cause I guess wrong more often than guess right. When I’m going to suffer chip-death, its parry or DIE. :bgrin:
I also try not to parry too much against command-grabbers (esp. Hugo and Makoto, natch!). I parry more often when I’m way behind and need a good comeback. I often try to low-parry and look for a high attack and either prepare to parry it if I react fast enough, or else try to block high. Parry into some SAs works VERY well sometimes, if you think of it in time and it’s a low risk (not going to get blocked and punished, or miss the target).
I’d like to think that I parry as much as I think my opponent will let me, however, naturally I play a defensive game without parrying too much, especially against good opponents, opting for zoning and footsies. I have problems against Chun, which I think would be better alleviated at times if I parried more against her. I usually though I end up eating c.mk and fierces all day trying to, cuz I’m not that great at parrying.
I’ll tell you at least one time when you probably should NOT parry. Unless you’re about to die in the final round of the match, or you’re experimenting in casuals (also called “screwing around”!), it’s probably better not to parry most of Akuma’s resets after SAI, cos his anti-parry options after you parry the SAI are SOOOO demonic, the chances of you parrying successfully = PUT ME on an exhibition dvd! O_O You’ll eat the follow-up damage and only contribute to helping Akuma build more of his meter! LOL
I typically parry most safe distance projectiles, and attempt to parry most air to air attacks (or throw them ). Most ground chains and some tricky specials or target combos still get me if I try to parry. So I like to think:
I think hitboxes might make it seem easier or harder for some characters to parry. I often try to parry overhead attacks (non-specials, mostly), some jump-ins, projectiles, and mostly go for parries when I’m going to get chipped to death, UNLESS it’s something like Akuma’s reset and I hadn’t already lost a round (assuming you’re playing a match that’s best out of 3 rounds…), since it’s NEAR-impossible to air-parry all of it, and then Akuma builds meter by hitting you after it. Hugo also seems to need to parry to close in on opponents sometimes.
). Most ground chains and some tricky specials or target combos still get me if I try to parry. So I like to think: