How to Akuma? Pls Help!

[Jsmash]

First and foremost, I am brand new to SF; so if the stuff I ask seems dumb, sorry. I play MK and actually do very well online, but the execution is much more fluid and simple in MK, I’m having a LOT of trouble with SF. I haven’t ever won an online battle.

I’ve decided to main Akuma for now. He fits my play style because he’s almost like a combo of Ryu and Ken but with added slipperyness. That Teleport is a lifesaver against Zangeif/Abel!

Ok, so I’ve read in depth tutorials, I understand the mechanics of the game (combos, FADC, difference between a link and a chain, etc).

To give an idea of my execution skill level, I can execute all my normal/special moves 10x in a row, and FADC normally fine, but when I try to say… Shoryuken > FADC > Hyduken, I can’t get it to come out (I think I’m weak on the double dash into Hyduken, anyway).

A couple Akuma questions:

-If I fire a projectile, a lot of times they will jump over it and come down on me with a high HP/HK. I’ve tried to counter it but a lot of times my projectile animation hasn’t finished in time to respond. What should I do?

-Wait for Super or use EX Specials? I tend to use my EX Specials more often than my Super, not sure if I should be filling that bar or not.

-How to combo into Super/Ultra on Akuma? I typically just execute the inputs from a few steps away, I want to combo into it so they can’t block it.

-Links or advice on well buffered combos to practice on Akuma?

Thanks guys I know most of this has been asked before, so if you just link me the answer that works too.

[ShadolooDoll]

How to Akuma:

Get a sweep (or roundhouse ending in sweep)

Use a set up that results in some ambiguous or unblockable and proceed to fraud the fuck out your opponent with vortexes. If he/she tries to escape- allow the computer to select what you should do with OS. Akuma can really shut down an opponent’s wakeup options.

His super can be canceled from an overhead, is super fast. He doesn’t combo into his ultra, it’s more of a punish.

Akuma has good AA normals, not just the dp like crouch fp, stand strong I think it is when spaced right.

A basic buffer is low forward xx fireball. This isn’t always a true blockstring, but you should still use it in footsies.

[Jsmash]

I really hate how I can do 20 of my specials in a row in training but as soon as I go online NONE OF THEM EVER COME OUT. I am seriously going to snap my stick off the panel the next time I execute that shit 5x in a row and it wont bloody come out. It’s losing fights.

[LiangHuBBB]

Repeat every combo you have trouble with all the time until you get used to them / can do them more consistent.
You won’t be able to hit the 1 frame links from 1 day to another. It takes quite a while until you are more consistent with them.
Spacing is the key of not getting hit by jp. HK. So don’t shoot fireballs from an unsafe position.
Keep playing vs ppl on your lvl until you get better then vs better players etc.

[RadicalFuzz]

LK = Light Kick
LP = Light Punch
MK = Medium Kick
MP = Medium Punch
HK = Heavy Kick
HP = Heavy Punch

-If they’re jumping over your fireballs and landing on you with an attack, you probably fired the fireball too close to them. Another possibility is that they expected you to fireball and jumped preemptively. Every fireball within their jump range is a risk if they predict it. One thing you can do is do the quarter circle forward but press light kick. If the opponent was looking for movement (what they think is a fireball) they’re going to jump and then you have an easy anti-air with either shoryuken or crouching heavy punch.
-Think of the super as a zangeif grab IF you activate it point blank. They can’t jump out or do anything to stop it if you’re really close, about within throw range. The most common setup for super is to cancel it out of his overhead (forward+medium punch) because they’ll be expecting to block. This is performed by doing (towards+LP+MP)->(LP)->(towards+LK)->(HP). If done properly Akuma will start the overhead and then just cancel into super BEFORE he hits them. If you’re playing an opponent that doesn’t really like to stand still for very long this is going to be a lot more difficult to land. His EX specials (namely air fireball) are pretty good so I’d suggest using those almost all the time rather than waiting for super.
-There’s only one way to combo into Super or Ultra 1 because they’re grabs. (Focus Attack)->(Dash)->(Super/Ultra). The tricky part is you have to buffer the entire demon during the dash, otherwise you’ll hit them out of the crumple and you can no longer get a free demon. Other than that, it is impossible to combo into. Ultra 1 is essentially just for punishes. It’s kinda a good anti-air, but you have to use a trick. Remember how Akuma can cancel his overhead into demon before it hits? He can cancel any of his normals into super/ultra even if they don’t hit. Let’s say someone’s jumping at you, and you have ultra 1. You can do a crouching heavy/medium kick, input the Ultra, and their attack will go through your face and they’ll get grabbed. This looks like (crouchingHK+LP)->(LP)->(towards+LK)->(HK). This works because the Ultra has just a tad of invincibility, enough to ignore the jumping attack. This WILL NOT WORK with Super. Ultra 2 is a weird thing. You can cancel it out of his teleport but I’m not sure if you can cancel it out of his normals. It also whiffs on a lot of characters if their hurtbox is low to the ground. On mid-large characters you can do (HP)->(Teleport with all kicks)->(QUICKLY mash the hell out of up + all kicks). It’s fine if you don’t see the teleport or he only teleported for a second as long as it still combo-ed.
-For go-to combos, there’s always crouching MK into fireball. Off of a jump-in attack, HP into fireball is guaranteed. HP into light hurricane kick will miss if they’re crouching.
-This is 3 years old now, but this tutorial series will probably help. He talks about nearly everything about Akuma in depth:

[VolcanicAkuma55]

heres how u can start: close this thread and post it in the Akuma forum

[MissionSchabernack]

U are focussing too much on combos, like a lot of beginners naturally do, these are not crucial to win with akuma. What you need is a hard knockdown (cant be teched), out of a throw or a sweep (like mentioned by shadoloodoll), which opens up the vortex game!! Akuma has a lot of safe! ambigious options after a hard knockdown, paired with option selects (ultra! etc.), there isnt much your opponent can do, this is why akuma is perhaps the best character in the game (top 3 for sure). If you know his options after a hard knockdown, and if you can score this knockdown, you will do very fine against much better opponents, because his follow up is safe for you and hard to manage for your opponent.
You can learn flashy combos after this.

[VolcanicAkuma55]

DUDE U NEED TO FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALS, FOOTSIES, AND ZONING. I CANT STRESS THIS ENUFF. if id known about them when i first started i wood b so much better than i am today

[Jsmash]

DUDE U NEED TO FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALS, FOOTSIES, AND ZONING. I CANT STRESS THIS ENUFF. if id known about them when i first started i wood b so much better than i am today

Been trying, most online matches I get in are with B+s or better and they literally don’t give me a chance to do anything. I may get a few specials off but for the most part once they get ahold of me they take half my life with an unblockable chain/combo. I spend a lot of time just trying to Teleport dodge out of certain death.

[MissionSchabernack]

DUDE U NEED TO FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALS, FOOTSIES, AND ZONING. I CANT STRESS THIS ENUFF. if id known about them when i first started i wood b so much better than i am today

Been trying, most online matches I get in are with B+s or better and they literally don’t give me a chance to do anything. I may get a few specials off but for the most part once they get ahold of me they take half my life with an unblockable chain/combo. I spend a lot of time just trying to Teleport dodge out of certain death.

You really need to know how to block. A crossup isn’t an unblockable (there arent that many unblockables in the game, you dont run that often in players who can do them, and its quit easy to screw them up, so I guess you just lose to some kind of ambigious jump ins and safe jumps, just learn how to block, just play more), against real unblockables u have backdash, focus absorb backdash, dp, teleport etc. Just play more and focus on fundamentals. Your question “I shot a fireball, my opponents jumps over them and punish me with j.hk, what can I do” tells me all I need to know . Dont throw them mindlessly, you have to look for the right spacing, and timing, you can bait out a jump wirth just doing s.lp or stuff like that and punish the jump with dp or cr.hp.

[Shiroyasha]

First of all learn a defense, this is universal. I really like to refer to MingoDynastys Guide whenever people come up and ask how to learn a defense and offense maybe because I followed it when I started playing street fighter 4. I will quotes his defense and offense part here

Link to the thread:

Devote Yourself to Your Training! Ibuki Training Regimen

In case anybody is wondering, the thread title quote is from 3rd strike. A crude checklist of what it takes to master Ibuki, from noob to pro. Feel free to add ideas, especially ideas on how to practice each specific area. edit: as per request, I also added a section on what NOT to do with Ibuki.

By Mingodynasty

6. Defense
   I suggest learning a good defense before learning a good offense (ignoring the saying: the best defense is a good offense).
   Having good blocking skills involves things like teching throws (crouch tech), not panicking, and making smart use of your own defensive tools whether it be cr.LP, FA, backdash, whatever. And lastly, of course, it involves reading your opponent and recognizing blockstrings and patterns.
   Thankfully, defense is a universal skill not limited to just Ibuki. Taking a break for Ibuki for awhile, I suggest you hit up multiplayer with a high hp character (since Ibuki has low health and you’ll be purposely be taking a beating), preferably one with just as much a poor reversal game as Ibuki. I usually pick Dudley.
   If you can, I suggest you grab a training partner offline and do this in training mode. This way, both of you get to practice: you practice blocking and your opponent practices offense. If this is not possible, then you’ll have to do this online. If you don’t have a training partner (I highly recommend you get some) then you’ll just have to hit up the trusty ranked/endless modes and block those flowchart Kens to death.
   If they stop attacking you for some reason, maybe because they’re a charge character or something, then I like to taunt with Dudley’s rose to get them mad, or spam f+HP or jump around and play like an idiot (but still hitting them because I’m abusing the lag), etc. Once they rage, then you can go back to practicing blocking.

7. Offense
   Okay so, I believe the best way to work on your offense is to start with a structured, layered approach. Too often I see people just push random buttons up close, hoping that they hit. Sometimes they do hit, and it doesn’t even get converted into a knockdown. Sometimes you get dp-ed instead, and then you simply label your opponent a dp masher and your offense game falls apart.
   So in training room, we’ll start with Ryu as the training dummy, crouching (because crouch vs stand hitboxes are different, and most people crouch block), and finally random block. The random block here is most important as it will force you to hitconfirm your buttons into a knockdown.
   The first thing you need to learn how to do is hitconfirm Ibuki’s number 1 bnb: cr.LP , cr.LP , st.MK. This is actually the combo I referred to in section 1.
   For simplicity and for now, you can just simply end it with a Tsumuji, like MK Tsumuji. This will help for when you do other setups with different buttons, that you focus on one thing instead of having to worry which ender you want. If Ryu blocks the two cr.LP , cr.LP, you should stop, walk up, and try again. If Ryu gets hit by the two cr.LP’s, you should link st.MK xx Tsumuji. One thing to keep in mind during this training is that the two cr.LP’s should be chained. That is, if Ryu blocks the first cr.LP, he should not get hit by the following cr.LP. This is to help you keep your strings tight, and only leave gaps when you intend to. Lastly, chances are you will quickly get bored of this slow and methodical training, and you will likely insert some random freestyle to spice things up a bit. That’s okay for now, but it’s best to try and stay focused on what you’re training. The point of this exercise is to ingrain specific setups into your mind, and build structure into your offense. Once are you on your way with your structure, you’ll realize that most of your freestyle is basically just autopilot.
   Once you are confident in your bnb execution, and your hitconfirm reactions, now we add a layer to what we have just built. Continuing off the cr.LP , cr.LP setup starter, when Ryu blocks it, instead of restarting, you should walk up and throw. So basically, you start with cr.LP , cr.LP , and then
   -if Ryu got hit: finish combo with st.MK xx Tsumuji
   -if Ryu blocked: walk up throw
   This is basically an extension of your hitconfirm setup. After realizing that your opponent is blocking, you attempt a throw. This is already miles ahead of most autopilot players because you are actually paying attention to wtf is going on in game. You don’t let a hit cr.LP go without a knockdown, and you don’t let a blocking player simply downback their way out of your pressure.
   Once you are confident with your hitconfirming, now we add yet another layer. This time instead of going for a walk up throw, I want you to go for a walk up st.MP , st.MK xx Tsumuji. Make sure that you are walking up just as much as you would for a throw, otherwise st.MP will likely whiff at too far spacing. The additional benefit of this is that it also shows your walking/standing animation to your opponent, so players will actually be thinking that a throw is coming. So basically, you start with cr.LP , cr.LP , and then
   -if Ryu got hit: finish combo with st.MK xx Tsumuji
   -if Ryu blocked: walk up st.MP , st.MK xx Tsumuji
   This will be your basic frame trap. If you can master this, you will already be miles ahead of every autopilot player, as now you will have the ability to mix up your setups based on what you expect your opponent to do. If you expect them to tech, you use your st.MP frame trap. If you expect them to be afraid of that frame trap, you throw them instead.
   So do you see what I mean by having structure to your game? We started with Ibuki’s most basic bnb, and turned it into a scary mixup that can secure another knockdown. Once you have structure based off your bnb, now we can add some “salt and pepper”.

With Akuma you can either do fireballs instead of tsumujis or end with a safe normal on block walkup and repeat
Like for example: cr.lp cr.lp > cr.mp (frametrap) if connects fireball and if it doesnt walk up and either throw or add another cr.mp to frametrap your opponent.
Once you have learned how to have a non autopilot offense and defense and how to get an easy max punish from a blocked specials (blocked reversals, ultras etc) you can start learning your mixups for each knockdown

[Kikuichimonji]

The CT Thread

-If I fire a projectile, a lot of times they will jump over it and come down on me with a high HP/HK. I’ve tried to counter it but a lot of times my projectile animation hasn’t finished in time to respond. What should I do?

Don’t throw the fireball.

The CT Thread

-Wait for Super or use EX Specials? I tend to use my EX Specials more often than my Super, not sure if I should be filling that bar or not.

Akuma’s most reliable combos are into ex tatsu and ex Hadouken.

The CT Thread

-How to combo into Super/Ultra on Akuma? I typically just execute the inputs from a few steps away, I want to combo into it so they can’t block it.

Only way to combo into Akuma’s U1 is off a focus crumple. You can anti-air with it, cancelling a cr.mk into it to low profile underneath their move and then get a guaranteed grab. You can punish stuff like Blanka’s horizontal ball with reversal Demon. You can combo into it if you do a level 2 focus off a fireball, but don’t do that.

Akuma’s Super is a grab that cannot be jumped if you execute it from close enough. Akuma’s U1 can be jumped on reaction.

Akuma can cancel mediums and heavies into teleports, and then immediately cancel those teleports into U2.

The CT Thread

-Links or advice on well buffered combos to practice on Akuma?

“Well buffered” is ambiguous. cr.lk xx cr.lp xx cr.mp xx EX Hadouken is a good simple BnB off a random hit. cr.mp is a link. If they’re standing (only standing!), cr.lk cr.lp cr.lk xx lk tatsu -> hp SRK/sweep is a good BnB. Or cr.lk xx cr.lp xx s.lp cr.hk.

Good combos to practice, all involving links:

far hk, cr.lk xx tatsu
far lp, cr.hk
cr.mp, cr.mk
Counterhit cr.mp, cr.hk
Counterhit cr.mp, far hk
Dive kick -> cr.lp -> s.hp xx lk tatsu (Demon Flip dive kick forces stand)

Combo off a focus crumple: cr.mp, cl.hp xx lk tatsu, sweep/hp SRK.

[Jsmash]

You really need to know how to block.

Yeah, I looked at some video tutorials on it. They said practice doing VS rounds against CPU and just block until timer runs out… I usually die when it’s on Medium/Easy.

It’s not about not understanding how, it’s about predicting whether to high or low block, or that I let up on the block to do my hit and before my hit lands, they hit me again.

[Kikuichimonji]

You really need to know how to block.

Yeah, I looked at some video tutorials on it. They said practice doing VS rounds against CPU and just block until timer runs out… I usually die when it’s on Medium/Easy.

It’s not about not understanding how, it’s about predicting whether to high or low block, or that I let up on the block to do my hit and before my hit lands, they hit me again.

CPU doesn’t really help you understand how to block mixups. The CPU cheats and has no good patterns to read. It intentionally does lows the second you stand up, etcetera. CPU is useful for learning what moves can beat what and to practice punishing, but really not much else. However, it is very good at practicing punishing and learning footsies.