Ibuki Beginner Combo Trouble

This is my first fighting game and I’ve spent about 30 of my 40 hours of playtime using Ibuki. I’ve been practicing what Izuma calls Ibuki’s “Bread and Butter Combos” in his guide and had a couple questions about how to properly execute them. My first issue is canceling a single move into any special that requires more than a qc motion to execute. For example I cant cancel s.mp into neck breaker because the s.mp animation doesn’t give me enough time to execute the hcf motion. However if I start the hcf motion while performing the s.mp (resulting in an ageman or c.mp) canceling into the Neck Breaker is no problem. I was wondering if this is designed that way on purpose or with enough practice I should be able to do a normal s.mp xx Neck Breaker, because from what I can tell in most situations the s.mp would be more beneficial. I apply this same “technique” for TC4 xx Neck Breaker or Raida, ie I begin the hcf or hcb motion during the animation for the mp and by the time the hp animation is finishing my hcf/hcb motion is complete and I can cancel into the special. Is this a bad habit that will hurt me in the long run?

Also, any of her combos that require me to link c.lp into anything generally have a 10%-20% success rate for me, possibly failing at various points in the combo. From what I understand none of these bread and butter combos have single frame links so it shouldn’t be necessary for me to learn how to plink right now, correct? Should I just suck it up and start learning how to plink right now anyways?

Sorry if this belongs in the newbie thread, I just thought these questions were a little too specific to post there.

S.mp isn’t possible to cancel into a special move so you shouldn’t worry about that. Most standard combos instead end in s.mk xx neckbreaker, for example: cr.lp, cr.lp, s.mk xx neckbreaker or: s.mp, s.mk xx neckbreaker. The same problem you explained is there when cancelling out of st.mk though. The stick has to be in neutral when pressing mk so practicing cancelling out of s.mk is important . About the TC4 technique, I think it’s fine buffering hcb/hcf during target combos for ease of use and consistency as long as you never get accidental neckbreakers if your opponent blocks TC4.

Thanks, that’s really good to know. I’ve been trying to do cr.lp, cr.lp, s.mk xx HK Kazegiri, but canceling into neckbreaker sounds a lot easier. I’m getting enough practice on my dragon punch motions trying to improve the consistency of my Kazegiri FADCs anyways.

I’m in the same boat. It’s super frustrating. Right now I’m trying to do a “simple link” with cr.lp s.mk mk.Tsumuji and I can make it land maybe 10 percent. But if I split it up and just do the s.mk I can cancel into the special move just fine. I know it’s possible, but I’m just super tired of not getting links properly. I’ve spent about 50-60 hours playing on PC and the majority of my time has been in training mode and it just isn’t clicking for me.

Yeah I’ve logged almost 70 hours and I’ve more or less stopped practicing the links for now. If you remove the cr.lp from the beginning of those BnB combos you’re left with combos you can just cancel into specials with ie st.lk st.mk xx Tsumuji. Feel free to add me on steam, I always like playing against other Ibuki’s. Steam ID: Dusticle.

I’d like to add another inquiry to this thread:

I play on pad and I’ve been having a ridiculous amount of trouble getting TC4 xx lk.Tsumuji > s.lp > st.mk xx lk.Tsumuji > s.lp > s.mk xx Neckbreaker even once. I can probably get up to the second s.lp about less than 25% of the time and it’s extremely frustrating. I understand it’s a one-frame link, but it feels like there is no rhyme or reason to the timing and I fear I may never get it down consistently. Then there’s netplay beyond that…

How integral is the Tsumuji Loop to playing Ibuki efficiently and can I get away with not actually learning it? Or should I just give up on learning this character?

Its not that important. You should focus on the knock down instead. Use the tsumuji swipe ender and mix him up after that. Practice the overhead f.mk > st.mk xx tsumuji. You can also link f.mk > st.lp > st.mk xx tsumuji