Can anybody explain to me what Shadow Axe is supposed to be used for?
If I’m following up st. MP, it seems like going into cr. MP and then cancelling into something will always be safer and offer more damage than Shadow Axe. They both combo now on hit, so it’s not a matter of combo vs. frame trap. When exactly would Shadow Axe be a better choice? Does it allow comboing from a greater distance ( like, from hitting the tip of the st. MP or something ), or maybe some kind of air combo that cr. MP would whiff on?
Shadow Axe is good for VTC combos now:
[Shadow Axe, VTC, sHP, HK Knee Press, EX w.e] is what I usually use it for now.
It’s still +2 on hit and leaves him pretty close so you can frame trap with it.
@ribu - Was that combo not possible before, with the old version of Shadow Axe?
@LoupGris - I have heard people mention this, but I don’t quite understand it. How would you whiff punish specifically with Shadow Axe? Wouldn’t it be effectively the same as whiff punishing with any st. MP combo?
VTC combo’s and buffered behind S.MP in the neutral game against characters that like to poke with mid high hitting pokes, such as Cammy, Urien, Chun-Li, Karin and the mirror match etc.
Against inexperienced players you have a good chance of landing a throw directly after landing it.
But as a punishes stick to S.MP ,C.MP link, you get better damage. Only use Shadow Axe as a punish if your hitting from max S.HP range and won’t be able to combo into anything else.
So I think I understand the use for long range pokes and punishes. But I still don’t get the v trigger cancel combos. Why wouldn’t you do st MP, cr MP xx inferno xx v-trigger, whatever? Isn’t that ultimately more damage?
That question is exactly what target combos are about. The st.mp into shadow axe is about easily converting into decent damage off of a stray hit. Bison’s unique target combo is mostly built in the mind set of whiff punishing normals to get frame advantage and pressure from a range where you cant link st.mp into cr.mp. Most regular links offer more damage than target combos, at the cost of ease of execution.
After playing with this for a while, I think I see now why Shadow Axe is such a nice whiff punish.
The great thing is that it’s safe if you use it outside the standing hit range. Either it will connect as a whiff punish ( or a counter I suppose ) or it will whiff in itself. But either way the Shadow Axe only goes through if you score a hit; there is no chance of that awful -8 on block. That makes it safe and brain dead easy in neutral.
Of course you can always go CR. MP xx Inferno after the S. MP hit, but my skill is not 100% on that link. There is a chance I will drop the combo, and then I will eat it if they block. So it’s nice to have a super easy, safe alternative.
Which I’m sure is what you guys have been saying all along but now I am really feeling it. Thanks again!