@sketch Rings is 1-15F invincible
Starting to think Impact Palm may be a viable anti-air vs some chars. The dmg off it isn’t bad either, around 640z
Not IMO. He’s nothing more than a bad regular Phoenix as anchor. Smart players will just run to the corner where you lose all of your mix up outside of throws or fly into overheads and push guard you out. He doesn’t seem like he’ll be able to set up yellow graces reliably as anchor either which is vital to making his mid screen game scary.
Hello all! I actually got this game yesterday, so I’m late to the party. But I surprised myself greatly by taking an interest in Strange. I havent read all the above yet, but am about to. I just wanted to get the following posted asap. As I scrolled down it seems some of this has been grazed upon, but not really analyzed. So here are the 2 things I’ve been pondering w/ Strange, and hope you guys are interested to dive in and discuss. As I play and learn I plan to contribute to the conversation as well (for reference, Im messin with Doom Strange Sent, but Sent is subject to change):
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I saw above someone was basically saying if you’re sitting back, you’re doing it wrong, but for those long distance situations where you want to at least set up an offense, I’m wondering… when you DO have the breathing room to put a thing or two on the screen, what sort of projectile sequences do you guys like to do? For example, something like M discs, call Doom, Eye of Ag, yellow orb, push the Eye… I just made that up, but am basically wondering if there are some established projectile patterns that keep us positionally strong?
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A friend of mine, who is quite good, told me he thinks Strange should be played as an anchor. Mostly because apparently in XF he has some devastating loops at his disposal. “Doesn’t he function better with assists behind him?” I asked. “He doesnt need them, he has his own.” “Are you consistently able to keep him safe enough to summon them?” “Yes, L and M discs keep them off you.” Do you guys feel Strange has an ideal position? Is he like Zero where he’s at his scariest with two alternating assists available? Or like vanilla Akuma where he’s by far at his strongest looking for opportunities to XFC and clean up the mess?
Im sure neither question has a “right answer,” at least not yet. But as these were the things I was thinking about, I thought I’d open up the panel for discussion. Thanks in advance to anyone who contributes! I’d really like to keep at it with Strange, and know there’s a learning curve, but if there’s not some exploitable cheese at the end of the rainbow, I’d likely move on.
Whats up dude, hope you stick with Strange, the more players the better and the more chances to find new stuff. So i’ll respond to you questions with how i think by numbering the way you did.
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I don’t think strange is as good an anchor as your friend may think, cause I feel like he can get overwhelmed easily if he facing a character with at least one assist. Its true that strange has an infinite in XF3 but that shouldn’t be the only reason you put him on anchor, but if your opponent has no XF and you have meter strange can lame the crap out of the other guy with mystic sword pressure, jumping DoD, and EoA and covering yourself with SoV. The thing is strange’s mixup game is in his teleports and sometimes if he’s on his own its easy to see coming. Also Strange gets a lot of mileage from punishing stuff and keeping pressure safe with L mystic sword.
I really like strange as number two,and that being said i should tell you my team which is currently hawkeye(sorry vergil), strange, doom. At the start of the match i can keep away pretty well with hawkeye and punish with combos if needed, and if hawkeye start bleeding or he looks like he isn’t cutting it i’ll look for any loose limb arrow punsih DHC SoV and have strange in with already some damage done to the opponent. With an assist strange can do faster mixups without having use specials that most of the time give your incoming mixup away. If the match instead ends up with hawkeye being dead then strange comes in with at least doom assist and XF2 in which he can actually do his infinite off of a XFCed SoV punish. -
well it doesn’t really matter the sequence i think as long as you don’t use grace first unless they’re full screen or something. What i find myself doing a lot is putting up EoA every chance i get and impact palm it and then maybe do a few DoD or set up a grace behind it.
So these are my opinions on the matter i’m also curious to know what everyone else is doing. If anyone wants to run a few sets some times i’m on xbl and my gt is XDrStrangeGuyX and if my friend list is full send me a msg and i’ll make room.
Hey man thanks for the response!
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Yeah, that friend tends to be right usually, but on this one I felt he was flat wrong. And a little while ago today he pretty much told me he changed his mind. I’m still a bit too new to him for my opinion to matter, but thus far I like him 2nd as well. Seems like a char who may not take control from a neutral position, but with a momentum already going can just go crazy sealing the deal. Though I see folks talking about staying safe with L Mystic word, but the Brady book says many characters can crouch under the last couple hits making it very UNsafe… is that wrong? Likewise, lets say you end a block string safely with L Sword… what might you do next to try and get things going again, assuming the opponent is deadset on NOT letting you get things going again? Im assuming, since I’m not about to play Haggar, it’s gonna be a lot of careful blocking and pushblocking : /
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Yeah that pattern I put up was just an arbitrary example. Im not really sure quite yet what I want to use, but do a gree a pushed Eye looks to be a good start. Though when we go for the teleport, what will you usually do next for the hit confirm? He s too far away to mash rapid cL, so just do, like, cLMH fwd+H xx some special move (red Grace if the Palm hits)?
Sorry, I’m just trying to figure out a good gameplan. I’m wondering if there might be a way, withg my assists (right now PLasma Beam and Drones) to do a sort of pseudo “infinite blockstring” type lock, where I can string to an assist into a string into an assist and so on and so far, with teleports. We shall see. My XBL is SnackCakesGM, though I am nowhere near ready for competent opponents yet lol Thanks again for answering, hope others chime in w/ their pet tactics!
@safe blockstrings: L Sword blockstring ender is character-specific and while it’s a better option overall, M Sword is universal because of its bigger hitbox. it’s not as safe on block but on the plus side, it pushes the opponent far enough that unless they have a fast dash and crouching L, they can’t really punish without using up meter; and even then you can punish with 7 Rings or SoV.
Additional question: What do you guys think are some good options when the opponent is cornered? Weird how this is actually a disadvantage when I’ve spend the last 20 years in fighting games trying to put people in the corner LOL Anyway, tick throw out of the corner? Just try to chip them out? Maybe something like Palm+call drones xx L mystic sword (drones about to connect), summon Eye, push it, then maybe drop a yellow orb or something until drones are ready again then repeat? Just thinkin’ out loud
I see you and dr strange guy both anchor doom w/ beam… any good Plasma Beam specific tactics uve been employing? Since it pops them up on hit and therefore cant palm crumple, what will you guys tend to do when a Plasma mixup is successful and hits?
I’ve been trying that out actually and I like Plasma Beam a lot for Strange that I might just drop Vergil for a good 2nd since his point game is so damn fun. very aggressive “in your face” style that I’ve always liked. even when I still played SF4 my friends would be like “wtf, why are you playing rushdown with RYU?” lol. always gotta be pressing buttons with Stephen. I played a Marlinpie-esque “no defense” Viper in Vanilla and I’ve since gotten the habit of pressing a lot of buttons lol.
anyways, Plasma Beam, teleport mixups-- I’m not playing right now but I imagine you could do Mystic Sword L into a couple reps or so of the jump loop into super for about 600k-ish damage. since Plasma Beam pops the opponent up slightly and since 2R was used in the hit confirm version with a Palm crumple to set up the jump loop, you could probably go straight into Mystic Sword L and into the jump loop.
i have a feeling maziodyne and i think the same when it comes to characters we prefer, that being said maz have you tried hawkeye? im really liking him, i’m keeping vergil in my back pocket though.
honestly i don’t think cornered opponents is a disadvantage, mixups do become harder its true but i realized that is not what you want to be doing when they’re in the corner. when they’re in the corner you want to pressure them with assists and chip with projectiles, and basically make them feel that the corner is getting them no where. And also since blocking for long periods of time is inherently bad in this game they’re gonna be thinking of getting out and never going back in there, which is perfect for strange cause now he can go for left right and do your combos.
also for the doom specific stuff, what i liked doing when i had beam on him was that when i teleported behind them i would go for sweep impact palm and delayed launcher on hit. if the beam didn’t hit i would go for L mystic sword, im gonna use M now cause i didn’t know that L was character specific were all still getting used to him lol, I’m actually now using Hidden Missels on doom because it gives me time to set things up on while my opponents in block, and i’ve given hawkeye triple arrow as my horizontal assist. its also a plus that both moves keep them grounded so i can hit em with a crumple if they’re hit. if they’re blocking HM i can teleport several times while they block and its pretty good mixup i think.
i still get blown up by guys with good rushdown though lmao. jeez all my posts are long as hell.
Really? So you’re saying upon emerging from teleport, don’t even throw out a normal, but just L mystic? Interesting. It’s a very VERY rare thing that I would tell someone “hey, you should try my team!” especially when Ive only had a given game for 24 hours, BUT… because Im looking at your sig and see that u not only play Strange, but also a Doom xxx Sent team already, I’d be really curious to see if you liked the flow you get from messing w/ Strange in the 2-spot on ur 2nd team. Purely because you’re experienced with Strange and Drones separately… you think they could work well in tandem? I may mess with other anchors over time, but theoretically, both Doom and Strange could potentially benefit big time from the mechanical chicken nuggets. In particular Doom who can use them both to RTSD and keepaway.
I’m like you in that I’d much rather attack, but I also love a good keepaway sometimes just so that I have a gear to mix my attacking up with. Just when you’re ready for the attack, I’m running. And just when you’re about to catch me, I’m attacking. Etc etc, nothing new. Doom and STrange both seem good for this purpose
Edit upon seeing Waffle Ninja’s response:
I thought about Missiles, but basically put in drones for the reason you have missiles. I like having 2 assists with 2 diff sorts of tempi. No doubt Missiles and Beam are very good for Strange. I’m curious, and apologize as I know this isnt the combo thread, but if I find myself in a situation where I just launch (as opposed to Palm crumple or jump loops), does Strange have any decent options beyond ABCD land super? (not including OTG assists, though I’m sure Wesker changes the answer to this question) You can just say yes or no, don’t have to type out a long transcrpt. I’m just wondering if catching someone with an S is a waste of an opportunity. With Sent, I guess I could just MMHS land, call drones, M teleport and get my game started.
Don’t sweat typing long posts. I do LOL No doubt it annoys some, but since you’re posting good info, if anything I’d want them longer! Thanks to you both for the responses!
Hawkeye was/is actually one of my prospects for a new guys team. if Vergil doesn’t work out for me, I’ll try him out, and if THAT doesn’t work out for me, I’ll probably end up running Strange/Shopping Cart/Doom lol.
yeah rushdown seems like a problem because Strange doesn’t really have any options for getting out other than crossup teleport or something. I’ll run a few sets with my buddy’s Zero team once he gets the game and if I find rushdown really blows Stephen out of the water, I’ll consider putting a defensive assist character like Shopping Cart on anchor. but for now, Strange/Vergil/Doom is still looking pretty solid offensively and I’ll have to play more Vergil and Strange to see whether or not I really wanna keep the team.
Sent drones honestly works well with every character in this game, and actually better this time around imo because they come out slightly faster. some characters just make better use of them than others, like Wesker and Magneto in Vanilla because they have fast left-right/high-low mixups, respectively.
I haven’t played much Strange with drones, mostly just Doom/Strider/Sent as of yesterday and that was from me just playing around with Strider for a good couple of hours or so after taking a break from Strange lab stuff. Sent drones can potentially buy Strange some time to put stuff on screen and put some distance between your opponent. it can also be used as a ghetto left-right assist, but I wouldn’t use it just for that seeing as there are better beam/pseudo-beam assists out there, like Estaka or Plasma Beam.
also, regarding the mixup thing with Plasma Beam, yeah I imagine you could just do a naked Mystic Sword L and it should give you enough time to confirm a hit into jump loop, or block since it’s 100% safe. I’m not playing right now because I have some IRL shit to work out, but I’ll be happy to test it out if I have some time later on.
i tried doom, hawkeye, strange during day 1 before i realized zero’s potential.
hawkeye / strange has some nifty stuff. XF2 with hawkeye and strange left allows you to gimlet / xf / gimlet / SoV from anywhere on screen instantly and does around 1,000,000 dmg. that team has good synergy in any order as well
I agree Strange is best placed at 2nd also for these reasons:
- SoV xf palm loop can kill anyone in the game, you don’t need XF3 for that
- Strange suffers from assists, so he can still have at least 1 assist while keeping the SoV XF stuff
- he has decent assists that can help another point character
screw defense we got offense.
ALLLLrighty well long time listener first time caller…Few introductory things… 1. planning on running Strange Dorm Doom 2. Due to my execution being absolute ass… im all about this strat discussion since thats where MY chances lie. That being said, i love the fact that 80% of us play doom ,kinda puts us all on the same page with that regard and brings me to my first topic. Missiles vs beam in the back. Now i know the basic disadvanges and advantages of each, the question is since missiles is probably a better over all assist because of the potential combo breaking, time buying and SoV -Missiles- Sov linking , can strange hold a majority of the cast off of doom to cover him. This kinda goes back to what guile was saying about viable projectile strings and how fast we can REALLY dish stuff out if we need to. Thoughts?
Ran Doctor Strange at a tournament today, did a lot of specials and covered my ass with SoV if they did anything. Also Read a Book XF assassinations are strong. I don’t thing Strange is amazing or anything on point but SoV is literally THE character. Projectile counter is good for making your setups unchallengeable too but if they just corner themselves, strange has nothing. IMO he will be an assist character that’s used as a one trick pony to take out problems via SoV and maybe gimmick some kills here or there with his 2 dimensional cross up game. As long as he has meter for SoV though, he is scary. I would most compare him to Akuma in how he’s played right now. Get meter, look for an opening, kill a character with XF, look for another opening on the next character and probably kill them in 1-2 SoV’s.
about Sentinel Drones with Strange:
Drones are good with Strange in that they offer ground control to lock an opponent down plus a way to setup teleport mixups. They also do decent chip. If they hit versus a grounded opponent, there’s a combo. And if they hit vs. an airborne opponent, you can go j. B, j.B, F+C into two reps of the Impact Palm loop into whatever finisher.
On my personal team (Strange/Storm/Sentinel), Storm/Sentinel are just great together in case Strange gets wrecked. Strong DHC potential, good assist for Storm, etc.
Very curious… to those of you who start STrange on point (maziodyne, anyone else)… what is your “FIGHT!!” strategy? Much as I love Strange, I can’t think of a strong approach to the very beginning of a match, other than maybe “hold back” or “hold upback” but even if that’s the gameplan… then what? I like him at 2 because, unless my point gets blown up, I can kinda start Strange on my own terms, even if I were to want to swap him in right away.
xSAMx, good to see you in here! Which team did you use in said tourn? I only got the game on Fri, so Im still at stage 1, but is SoV that strong even in XF to kill like that? Or are you talkin lvl 3 XF? And you really think Strange is THAT 1-dimentional w/o SoV?
Sketch, yeah I like drones for buying some time to setup a <whatever>. Strange Storm Sent sounds like a team I’d really dig (aside from the above concern), but with Doom so buff in Ultimate (not to mention how effective he seems to be with drones), I feel, like, obligated to play him LOL But I have Storm on standby for the 2-spot should I decide Strange isn’t working out. Thus far diggin’ Strange though. But I really want to figure out a good cheap gameplan w/ him, hence all my questions above.
I don’t have enough real match experience with Strange since I haven’t played anyone offline yet. I’m not a fan of playing somebody before you’re at least halfway of being godlike with your character/s, so I can’t really say much about what to do during “IT’S DO OR DIE… FIGHT!” if I don’t have a [character] I’ll still play casuals but I’m gonna feel like ass playing because I know I can do a lot better. lol.
I’m currently working on some setups in the corner with offscreen Daggers. trying to at least find some way to get a left-right even in the corner. might have to sacrifice some damage but if it will lead into a kill, then it’s probably worth it. maybe a mixup with L/M Daggers which will force the opponent to guess when to block since they come out at different speeds…
imo the most important thing we should be working on right now is his mobility. yeah we know Strange is capable of near-instant mixups and all that, but how you set them up is with proper use of his mobility, most evident with his Grace of Hoggoth stuff. need to find that tech that will help Strange get in dat ass more efficiently.
I asked this in the combo thread but got nada:
What combos are you guys doing after an :l: or 
teleport? They’re usually too far away to hit-confirm into an impact palm to get any kind of decent mid-screen combo.
I’ve been having to dash in to c.:L: after my teleports, but that gives them time to react and block/attack.
So guys, I’ve been practicing my bnbs for Strange midscreen and in the corner, and I feel I got them down. However…how do you actually hit with him? I go in matches and get destroyed because I have difficulty landing my bnbs. If I try to hit confirm with c:L:, they usually are too far for impact palm after s:M, s:H, I whiff and get punished big time.