ok so i usually play shotos and i decided i didnt care if people thought steve was good or bad hes my favorite character so imma play him lol, anyway to the point, aside from being completely confused on what to do when, i have no idea how to approach and actually get in with steve, my team in steve and abel, never played either of them before this game, and i find my self doing his command dash (qcf+k) all the time to get in but i know its not a good way to get in, and btw another quick question can you end combos with QCF+K +HP? i have tried alot but i know im garbage atm so I figured id ask people who’d know, tyvm everyone for your help ahead of time.
Steve has a few ways to get in:
-His ducking works vs most fireball chars but gets blown up very hard by any decent low poke, so only use it when you confirm your opponent is throwing a fireball. His st HK(albatross) functions the same too, just dont abuse them, youll get blown up by lows hard since those moves are only upperbody invincble. And to answer your question no you cannot combo into qcf+ K HP as it is a command grab that hits only standing, and you cannot combo into grabs in the SF engine, the only applications are punishing raw tag ins and using your own team set up combos or simply training your opponent with meaty overheads on knockdown and then using it.
-One sick thing steve can do is buffer his pokes into stHK using chain cancels, you can throw out his LPs and MPs and press HK, if it whiffs nothing will happen, but if it hits you get in for free with a frame trap using the MP followup to the albatross. You can also do this with buffers into ducking too. Very useful in footsies when your opponent is throwing out pokes
- His F+ MP~LP is a godlike chain, and is one of his best full screen pokes, it can lead into full combos on hit and has ridiculous range and forward momentum( watch out though, the MP has slightly more range than the LP, so pay attention so you dont whiff it), it’s a fantastic way to get in and is very useful in footsies, the problem with it is, it gets blown up by neutral jumps hard, so dont abuse it too much.
-Lastly, jump, if you feel your opponent is going to throw out a poke or a fireball, you can always jumps, jumps are extremely good in this game, and are good to throw out once in a while in footsies, watch out though as they are extremely risky, especially in this game where you can tag cancel a DP into 500 damage!
Be patient with Steve and throw out buffered moves, once you are in it’s pretty easy to stay in with his frame traps and forward momentum moves and canceled moves like albatross and ducking and his huge advantage off his MPs and flicker cancels, unless they are mashing reversals, then you can bait those out later.
you can combo his f+mp~lp?
Yeah, you can cancel into flicker automatically by holding back and then canceling the flicker by holding d/b. F MP~lp d/b then you can link things after it, you can link into crLP into chain launch( you can use the tech with crlp crmp into launcher by skipping fierce giving you a 100 damage launcher and if you have a partner with decent tag in combos you can do more damage), or you can link into crMP or crHK and do his bnbs, but it’s a hard link.
I can’t really say jumping works with Steve, a lot of popular characters like Juri, Lili and Poison flat out beat Steve’s jump-ins for free and the hitbox on his j.HK is actually a lot smaller than it feels like.
I’ve had a lot of personal success just using your HK weave and HK ducking to get in and just stay at a range where you can pressure with c.MP x LK Ducking ~ LP. At that point you guys are pretty much neutral so you can c.MP to trade or at that point if you notice they are pushing buttons a lot, jump in since they tend to try and counter poke on the ground instead of hitting the slower anti-air buttons. You could also walk back a little bit and let them spam that poke and then f+MP by itself and you might get a lucky crouching CH which lets you go into your c.MP bnb for 500 damage with 1 meter.
Really just check what range you like being at. s.LP or c.MP is a good range as they both connect into your combos. s.LP links to c.MP and you can confirm with multiple s.LPs or 2x c.MP has worked for me as a hit confirm since i always go into LK Ducking ~ LP and EX Sonic Fang if I hit or just continue to pressure if they blocked.
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You should never really press buttons after LK ducking ~LP being blocked, its -3, and Steve’s fastest normal is 4f which is crouching light, even Dhalsim players can beat you out of it, if you want to continue pressuring on x2 crMP blocked you should chain into HK albatross spin into MP which is 0 on block, which is much better frame wise than LK ducking. However on hit you should always go lk ducking foxhunt into ex fang, thats for sure.
I agree, steve’s jump is absolutely terrible and not ambiguous period but it is important to use jumps in footsies vs laggy pokes spammed by your opponent(ie Chun stHK, Guile F+HP, rufus crHP) and fireball wars, its not his best option, but it’s an option nevertheless.
I also dont agree with doing F+MP alone, I think its better to stick with F+MP~LP flicker cancel for the frame trap and easier hitconfirm(you dont need a counterhit)
If you have ever played Dudley in SF4, you in general have to play Steve very similar to that. Be patient, and buffer things so that when you counter poke someone you get in and make sure you punish mistakes as hard as possible. This is personal opinion, but I find it extremely hard to open people up with Steve due to the fact that his big damage comes from a low that must be hit basically point blank and his overhead is only linkable into a normal if you hit it as meaty as possible. If you have a character that is very good at getting in and pressuring like Rufus, put Steve second, push them to the corner with Rufus, and then tag cancel Steve in for big corner juggles. Staggered crouch strong x 2 is money and will catch people pressing buttons.
Also, think twice before you just throw out Ducking Body > Ducking Hook willy-nilly. It travels far, but it isn’t that fast (16 frame startup) so you will get counter-hit a lot if you just throw it out in poke wars and it can be neutral jumped to death.