I’m pretty new to fighting games and find myself having a lot of trouble playing against people who are good at putting pressure on me, especially in SFxT. I find myself blocking most of the time and trying to punish but it’s always too late or unpunishable. Any tips for dealing with this?
Well, what I usually tell myself is that instead of waiting for the pressure, throw it right back at them.
Learn your characters you use and learn the best way to get out/get into hitting.
Or just mash Dragon punches while blocking if you play such characters (ryu, ken, akuma).
BTW can you tell us who you use? It helps out alot more for tips.
The best way to stop pressure is to apply a lot of pressure like jakeyjake said, but in sfxt the alpha counter is probably going to be your best get out of jail free card, it does require a bar of meter though. Alpha counter by pressing HP, HK, and forward just as your opponent is hitting you.
Don’t spam shoryukens like this guy said, you’ll get pooped on.
If you score a knockdown make sure your doing a safe jumpin and do not drop the blockstrings and just keep the pressure up. If your playingwith a good fireball character, play the zoning game but make sure you change up the timing of your hadokens occasionally so they don’t bait it and get a nice jumpin on you. Just play that hadoken-shoryuken game. Its pretty basic. If you think they are going to jump shoryuken use the low version medium for those slighty more higher and farther angles. A good spacing ryu can be really frustrating to play against, then they will get mad start playing reckless and you’ll start getting free combos and ex shoryukens on them. When they start playing more catious about jumping in at you and conservative then its even easier to put pressure on them. Mix ups all day.
Block and tech throws. Learn your opponent’s options - what’s high, what’s low, what’s safe and what’s punishable.
Backdash and uppercut are useful tools but the first thing you should learn is how to block patiently.
I didn’t write a paragraph but that’s because I believe this concept is so essential to any SF that it’s better to write 3 lines that will stick in your head.
and if nothing works out, well, if you cant avoid a rape, at least enjoy it…
I’m playing Hwoarang and Ryu, and thanks for all the tips. I seem to have less of a problem with it when using Ryu because it’s much easier to space with him. I’m quite good at blocking, but I don’t know how to tech throws, it’s always just luck for me.
I was actually looking to make this thread too, not meaning to hijack it or anything. But I’ve been having the same problems, I play Jin and Hwoarang and although I’m getting better I’m still having a lot of trouble seeing through their block strings. It seems like whenever I expect for them not to jump they jump and when I neutral jump to catch them they don’t jump. I wonder if I’m too predictable or am just not all that good at reading people.
@ Freakmonkey, crouching fierce punch is your best friend for those quick reaction anti airs. Just about every character’s cr.HP is an anti air. The training room will help you out alot.
No offense, but if this is the advice you are handing out, then you shouldn’t be giving ‘tips;’ you still have a ton to learn.
not necessarily true.
the OP asked how to stop pressure.
if your opponent doesn’t respect your options then a good dp to the mouth will humble him a bit.
just don’t do it every chance you get.
@MegaMettaurX-Thanks dude, although it’ll be a bit difficult with Jin’s crouching fierce being so slow and verticle. I think I could miststep out when they jump though.
I haven’t played any SFxT yet, but from what I’ve seen, he should definitely have some options for punishing aerials, if he has that dodge thing Kazuya uses to dodge fireballs, it might work. In the end it’s all about trial and error. Training room helps you learn fundamentals, online play teaches you how to effectively apply them. Just keep practicing, I guess.
Mashing out DP’s in block stun is an awful answer to pressure, and it is going to cause you more problems than it solves. Learning how to solve problems the right way is what we should be working on here, not mashy short-term answers.
I’ve been in situations where I’ve just tried to mash DP under pressure and I ended up just getting punished either during the startup or they would just block and then continue with killing me 
I find myself just sitting there blocking and anytime I see a chance to punish when I do something they always end up out of range or block it. So what exactly should I do in those situations?
its not a short term answer.
it’s something to keep in mind.
you can block all day and wait to punish, but if someones doing unsafe things in your face, setting the pace and showing them you’re willing to do certain things alters their approach.
it shows them what you know and are willing to do to win.
im not saying mash it at every blockstring, but if they auto pilot and are constantly pressuring you.
that sounds like you’re getting out-played.
you’re going to have to practice better spacing and footsies.
also, when i say mash DP, i don’t literally mean churn butter to get a dp out, input it and then immediately block, if it doesn’t come out, you block their next attack.
don’t forget you can make most of your blocked DP’s safe if you have meter.
I agree that mashing is generally a bad idea, but you really can’t block and tech throws 100% of the time and expect to get out of pressure. Sometimes you have to get your opponent to respect your options, or at least be aware of them so they don’t just walk all over you.
I agree it’s definitely me getting outplayed, but I don’t really know how to improve my game. As I said I’m pretty new to fighting games so I’ve no idea how to go about learning proper footsies and not even 100% of what it is. I’m at a point where I don’t drop my combos, decent at blocking/anti air, but outside of that I think my game is terrible.
combos, blockstrings and anti air are strong tools to have.
but footsies, spacing, and fundamentals will win you games.
http://sonichurricane.com/?page_id=1702
Thanks for the sonichurricane link, the information there seems really useful. I’ll definitely read through it all later.