When you want to yolo lariat or chip with ex.lariat it helps to start the attack when they’re not in a defensive crouch AND to walk forward while waiting for them to abandon their position. This is esp true for charge characters, for example when Balrog doesn’t have charge, his mobility is limited to only TAP, backdash or jump. at a certain distance, opponents can’t successfully jump away from ex.lariat or avoid it without getting chipped to death. This obv isn’t true for all characters, but for even characters with a DP, doing a DP on reaction can still lose to ex.lariat since it’ll only absorb a portion of the damage, and won’t be a reversal so it won’t break armor (except for Sagat’s powered-up DP).
A lot of this comes from my idea/opinion that there’s a time difference (and difficulty difference) in doing certain motions from certain positions and combined with reaction time and input proficiency can means that from neutral (e.g. not in hit/block stun). It’s harder to perform certain motions from certain positions. i.e. doing a reaction lp.spd to Rolento’s roll is much easier from an offensive crouch or walking forward, versus a defensive crouch or walking back. Same with a DP: it can be harder to do a DP from a defensive crouch versus an offensive crouch.
This is (kind of) similar to when Chun does a well spaced U2 to chip you out, if she does it up close and you have meter you can ex.bb out (but not U2 or U1), you can’t ex.lariat because shes’ trying to chip you out and you’ll die before you can absorb all the hits. If you jump you get tagged because Hugo’s so big and his backdash doesn’t go very far so even if you can block you get chipped out (or hit) after backdashing. GIVEN everyone can throw ex.lariat on reaction given they’ve got balls of steel.
Inch closer, don’t get impatient, keep blocking, don’t jump at all unless they’re overusing Lk.FB. Use Cr.Mp to fish for fireball releases. Use Cr.Mk for knockdown when you’re sure they’re going to release. Don’t over extend on their wakeup when you do get a knockdown. It’s better to let Juri get up and backdash toward the corner than it is to try and be cute, eat an EX.Pinwheel and get thrown full screen again.
Matchup is tough but it’s not a blind luck roll of the dice. You can play patiently and intelligently and make the Juri hesitate.
Is it just me or did Hugo get worse after this last update, my matchup with Blanka, Vega and Bison went from 4-6 to 2-8 easily. I can no longer punish blocked blanka balls, wall dives and blocked head stomps?
I am also looking for any advice to handling pressure from Dudley? Seems that when he gets me in the corner and starts to press buttons, Hugo can’t do anything. Is there any advice anyone could give me on this?
He got almost nothing but buffs and certain match ups got a lot better because of the clap changes. What you’re probably experiencing is people getting more familiar with the match up.
Blanka ball and headpress were never punishable when used right. Blanka balls can only be punished with U2 when they’re spaced correctly. Bison can control where he wants to land after a headpress, so it depends on what he does but it can’t be reliably punished on block most of the time. If he decides to land away from you it goes too far too fast for BB or U2 unless he’s in the corner. If he stays above you for the follow up he can cross over and then back again to mess up your inputs. As for wall dives, why are you blocking it? Why is he wall diving you in the first place? Wall diving hugo is a really bad idea. Just anti air him. Or focus dash through it and meatsquasher, ultra throw, or whatever you feel like doing. If you block the first part of EX wall dive you can reversal BB or U2.
The best way to deal with Dudley is to… not get pressured in the first place! In other words, don’t lose the neutral game. If Dudley has you in the corner you fucked up. Footsie with him, be ready to EX clap or meatsquasher random focus attacks, and don’t let him jump at you. You can moonsault press his f+HP, st.HP, forward duck, and backswing blow on block.
I’d say people are just starting to take him more seriously. He is definitely not the bottom tier character some people make him out to be. You honestly just have to be spot on in your footsies against the likes of Dictator or Dudley. Can’t say anything on the Blanka matchup yet, haven’t had many.
Some matchups are literally unplayable. Wouldn’t be quite as bad if the f*cking inputs didn’t always overlap, resulting in MS instead of UT, Lariat instead of BB, etc.