Don’t know why, but I’d say of all the character’s akuma is the one i’ve put the most work into, used the most, have the most raw skill with, etc of all the characters but even with this i get my butt handed to me online since its so easy to have all my damage/efforts undone by being hit like 3 times after hitting my opponent many more times than that. It annoys me that i lose so many matches with this guy when i really want to use him, but i just lose health too fast, which has left me using bison more and more. Any strategies for remaining aggressive and not turtling to keeping health high with this guy? It just seems like ive put in way more practice with him and getting minimum benefits from it, although i’ll admit im not really that great at the game and have not/will not invest in a stick lol
invest in a stick
Just try to turtle some more or get out by teleport while being in defense and there is a gap to get out. Then you will recognize when there is a chance for “aggression”. Don’t give your op possibilities to punish your whiffed moves/specials. For example don’t end your blockstrings with lk tatsu (maybe because it’s his bnb). Use hit-comfirming and give yourself sometimes a break during your own blockstrings to see if your OP is a masher.
And most important: Don’t buy a stick! You don’t need one for Akuma’s inputs. Everything works like a charm with pad.
Honestly?
The short answer is:
Don’t fuck up.
Akuma has loads of damage and mix-up potential combined with a solid keep-away game if he needs to. The trade off for having these abilities is that he takes a tonne of damage when hit. To minimise this, you seriously cannot afford to make mistakes and your defence must be solid. By defence I mean blocking and teching, not teleporting and running. Once you have defence nailed, work on solid punishers for when your opponent makes mistakes of their own. Akuma can chew away up to 360 damage without meter which is a lot in this game. With meter it goes even higher. Once you have this down, begin looking at smart ways to engage your opponent and take the fight to them.
Beginner Akuma’s don’t fare particularly well if they get too aggressive without backing themselves with sensible caution. The end result is often a quick KO and lots of frustration.
Akuma isn’t an easy character to learn because his game gravitates towards a technical style that requires a solid handle on defence and smart attacking. I personally found learning him very difficult and just plain accepted that for a long time I was going to get my ass handed to me until I got the hang of things. If the losses are a bit daunting, maybe consider using Akuma as an alt. while you build him up a little. Frankly I found him pretty in-depth to learn so I just poured all my time into him (and still do) which meant I had to take my licks in the process. I think we all did, and, still do.
This is true. But don’t forget that you have this (best) teleport (in the game). You just don’t want to come too predictable with it because game strategy of most opponents is to bait and cover your teleport.
But think of Dictator and his safe lk scissors. Or Sakuras tatsu resets… Sometimes you’ll just need it to avoid bigger damage and it takes away some of the guessing game that other characters have to deal with. 
In my limited time with Akuma I’ve found that its all about picking the right spots. Pretty much you have to be a very cautious player, and then strike with precision once you get that knockdown. Also know which players you’re facing, as some can be more dangerous than others (Ryu, Ken). Just try to be careful. Akuma is quite hard to use, that’s for sure. Don’t be discouraged.
Alright thanks guys, i play on ps3 if any of you want to play me and help me improve there. I don’t use his teleport alot because sometimes it gets misread as a shoryuken which means big punishment if it does. I think maybe ill try ken as well today (although he can never be cooler than akuma haha) since he apparently can be played very aggressively which i like. Maybe my problem is liking offense too much, i dont like to chase and attack, not sit back and wait for people to keep making mistakes, its less exciting, but i guess it must be done to win.
I think another issue i have is getting either ultra to land. U2 whiffs overhead so much, and U1 just gets stuffed or jumped out of a lot, and its hard to land focus attacks on opponents over C level rank i find 
Does anyone have good ideas for landing either or which one will land more if i work on it? i’ve been using U1 lately, but at evo i saw infiltration using U2 a lot for some weird reason.
If you map 3PPP to the PS3 dualshock triggers then it shouldn’t be read as an SRK. Anyway:
- About Ken being offensive - Akuma is VERY offensive, he’s all about rushdown. You just have to be smart and know when to strike. There are some matches where he needs to turtle alot, yes, but generally he’s all about going in.
- I generally use U1 as an AA when I know my opponent will empty jump. Also get used to using it as a punish tool for certain attacks, such as: FP SRK, Blanka Ball, and so forth. One cool trick is to throw out S. HK and kara the demon input. If there’s enough space it may fool your opponent into jumping in and landing on the demon. I’ve stolen this idea from watching JR’s vids.
- U2? No idea, I don’t use it.
Hope I helped at least somewhat. Cheers.
You did thanks a lot. Ill have to brave online with akuma. I think ill make a new psn once im much better with akuma because atm my record is like 26/134 matches online, which is just sad when people like bison are 34/50 and stuff XD
to add…don’t be random…random isn’t as rewarding with akuma
I’ve mained Akuma since vanilla. Gamogo more or less sumed all there is to Akuma strategy wise. Unlike all other chars Akuma takes time, patience, and solid … near perfection in execution to be competitive. Once achieved he is the most fun imho. However the learning curve is steep and daunting to say the least.
As for ultra, stick to U1 for now till you improve then you can experiment with U2. U2 is too situational and limited imho. A trick with U1 is to throw a fireball and U1. Timed it catches all jump ins, fadc, hops over fireball, blocked fireball etc. Hope this helps. Lastly, one has to learn the more advance moves and combos to be a great Akuma, rushdown.
Yes as i said in another place i realize a problem im having is landing any demon flips or finding any good attacks to start a combo with. i seem to get blocked or miss when i try to start a combo. Ive been trying to use demon flips and the LP and LK buttons to start the combos, but i just end up getting shoryukened, lariated, or tiger kneed to tha face to tha face
Play Seth for a while. Then be amazed at how much more Akuma can take than Seth.
Also, don’t get hit by combos into ultra.
haha i know seth has 750 and akuma has 850, but im not goin on a suicide mission to use sth online. I think maybe im using akuma for the wrong reasons. I use him just because i think hes a bad ass, not because i really am good/can win with him…then again, i wasnt given sean, so i cant have my 2 in 1 there.
thats as good a reason as any to pick up a character i like akuma cause hes bad ass and I’m the worst akuma on this forum until someone proves me otherwise. Stick with it u will get it and eventually u will be where u want to be. Who knows where u will get but yes its daunting aside from what the others have said i say try to look at momochi’s akuma. I personally think hes the best example of how akuma should be played.
I play akuma only right now, im pretty new to SF fighting style (played MvC2 for a long time) so im trying to shrug off the instant input and work on the timing for this game. I’d love to verse anyone to improve my akuma…like they say, no pain, no gain.
Then add me, id gladly have endless lobbies…for endless times with you on psn
Get offensive, get cheap, get dirty. Do anything in your power to punk your opponent and keep them guessing by simply knowing more than they sdo and exploiting them. Also if you get too beat up, wait for them to jump, and get up to them and demon JUST before they land. Akuma is S tier. Take advantage of this, he has a lot of set ups for damage. For example, the block a semi low air fireball. You can then sweep, hit them with a high meaty into a combo. Also he has lots of mindgames with his dive kick, always has. Even if it’s blocked you can throw, if it’s focused you can back up and tatsu through it (or demon if you have meter, lets see them parry a throw hahah.). If they block it you can also try for a knockdown, then do it again but use the flip throw. Try watching what tokido does or pikachuakuma on youtube. also there are a ton of good gouki tutorials on there as well, and there’s eventhubs and this site and it’s wiki. Also there’s another site, option-select.com with lots of match vids and overviews.
Also… that last message was kinda creepy you hitting on him? 0_o… “for endless times with you on psn…” Ok romeo. lol.
I’m way out of practice and wasn’t great when I played regularly but I remember your pain from learning Akuma in vanilla. I’d be glad to play matches sometime.
PSN: LA047
Cheers,
L-A
akuma has low health? never been hit, never noticed. anyway don’t get hit.