I’m feeling nice today, and I was planning to do this some time or another.
Normals. I don’t have frame data on these so I’m sorry, maybe kcxj can give you guys that.
s.lp- good for linking after rh hurricane, that’s about it, alot of people can crouch it.
s.mp-Good for whiffing to build meter when dive kicks aren’t safe or you need it fast. Also slightly useful after a rh hurricane, s.jab, link because after that you can do mp, hp dp for a pretty nice damaging (and not to mention impressive) combo.
s.hp-VERY good anti crossup when used up close because the punch hits behind her head. s.hp far is a surprisingly solid anti-air as well.
s.lk-pretty crappy on its own, usefull in the BNB.
s.mk-I pretty much never use this move because s.hk is 100000x better.
s.hk-One of the best pokes in the game. Long range, +1 on block, and extremely high priority. Close, this is useful off a crossup into the hk hurricane combo.
c.lp-Sak’s easiest link into custom.
c.mp- c.lk, c.lp, c.mp, mp fireball is a solid block string, can also sometimes be subsituted for c.mk in the crossup custom (discussed later)
c.hp-Pretty good anti air sometimes.
c.lk-BNB starter, useful for ticks, c.lk, c.lp activate is pretty cool.
c.mk-What you want to do after you link into activate. Otherwise not too useful at all.
c.hk-Sak’s sweep sucks, it’s very punishable. I’d only use this after a whiffed dp or something.
forward+mk-Sak’s overhead, useful during a GC CC.
j.lp-useless
j.mp- Sak’s best air to air REALLY high priority
j.hp-Sak’s strongest jump-in, but still pretty useless as you can just crossup.
j.lk-pretty useless, you can kara cancel this into a dive kick but I don’t really see any use in doing it, as it doesn’t build meter or anything.
j.mk-Sak’s crossup, this move is VERY good. Can land a bnb or a custom off of it.
j.hk- jump back hk can be ok sometimes, because it hits at a kinda weird angle. I heard something about kara cancelling one of the medium or hard versions of a normal into a dive kick to build more meter, I haven’t confirmed this though.
Specials
I’ll assume you know what rollcancelling is, if you don’t you can check in the articles section to learn.
Fireball(qcf punch)-Roll Canceled this can be a pseudo anti air, good for corner pressure. Also can be used to go through pokes to score a knockdown, but you might as well just use s.hk because fireball is eaisly jumped over.
Hurricane Kick(qcb kick)-Rollcancled this can be a pseudo trap in the corner. The lk version is pretty much useless. Use the mk version vs people who can duck the hk version (anyone shoto-sized and smaller) After the hk version you can link a s.jab potentially into custom which will be discussed later. In air this isn’t that useful at all when you can just divekick or s.mp, you also can link a custom if it hits air to air (this is best done in the corner)
Dragon Punch (forward, down, downforward+punch)-Useful in her BNB and her Custom. The lp version has 4 frame startup as kcxj said, AA Custom after the lp version (discussed later)
Dive Kick(qcf+k in the air)-this move has TONS of frame advantage if done deep. Stuffs alot of stuff too. This is great for pressure, and you can do a CC off of it if it’s meaty and in the corner. Great for pressure, and also Sak’s best meter builder.
Flower Punch (idk the name) dp motion + k. This move sucks.
I’m not gonna talk about her supers because this is about A Sak.
BNB
Basic combos c.lk, c.lk, s.lk hp dp as someone said before. After this do a mk dive kick over their body, and the side you land on is hard to determine, so do c.shorts again. If the c.shorts hit do another BNB, if they’re blocked, mixup between c.short tick throws and c.short x2, pause, c.short counter hit combo, or just plain blocking. If you’re too far for 2 c.shorts just do one.
Meter
This is very important to A Sak epsically. Build meter by hitting her BNB, whiffing dive kicks from afar, and whiffing s.mp’s. Be liberal with your meter because Sak builds it so fast. Although the shoshosho may do alot of damage, when someone jumps at you don’t be afraid to use the anti-air custom (Activate, dp lp, dp mp x5, qcf x2 ) You can also start with just a normal dp lp, and activate afterwards. When landing this combo, be sure to let the dp mps and the super hit as deep as possible. You can also do the AA CC off a connected fireball in the corner. Sakura’s main CC is hk x2, hp, hk, dp x14 or 13, qcf x2 k. With the dp x14 try to get 4 hits for each dp for maximum damage. The way I do this is to do 1 DP then hold forward and do accurate qcfs. The only way I can suggest doing this, is to practice. It get’s alot easier once you get the rhythm. If you can’t cancel the last dp into the super consistantly, subsitute a lk hurricane and then cancel THAT into uppercut super. Ways to setup this include a RC hk hurricane linked into a standing jab, activate CC, c.mk, s.hk, dps, super. This is very hard, and hell don’t be surprised if you don’t get it 1/100 times haha. The hk hurricane, s.lp is a one frame link, and when a game runs at 60 fps, you do the math, that’s, 1/60th of a second. Things like this get easier as you play, but don’t expect to get it 100%. A Sak can also link to a custom from a c.short, c.jab or c.jab x2, this is used to confirm wether your hitting or not, so you can garuntee the custom damge. Another pretty nice setup is after a knockdown, sj dive kick, activate through their retaliation CC. A Good trick when guardcrushing a P or K groove player for free many just block and don’t expect anything else, during this it’s a nice trick to insert a mk overhaead (forward+mk) right before the guard crush to reset the damage scaling and get alot more damage. You wan’t to wait right before the crush so that after the combo you can crush them for free with shorts or something and hit a bnb to get even MORE damage. When playing an A or C groove player (most N groove players will counter roll as it is safer than alpha countering), most of them will try to AC (alpha counter) the very first hit of the CC. A great method of countering this involves some advanced techniques, by doing hk, Roll Cancelling a lp fireball (I’ll get more into that later) If they have a knock back alpha counter(ex. Guile, Chun-li) you can put them in a knockdown state with the fireball, and continue with the AA CC. If they have a DP AC (ex. Sagat) they will pass through you, but you’ll recover fast enough to do the ground CC in their recovery. Sak can also do a CC off her great crossup (j.mk). The crossup custom is j.mk, close s.hk, rh hurricane, s.lp, activate, c.mk, 16 hp dp’s, uppercut super.
Someone else with more experience can do matchups.
it’s pretty tough to get the timing down but once you do it’s pretty easy.
