Man the way kubo plays Akihiko really does make him look A-tier and now I feel like I’m doing something wrong when playing Akihiko after watching this.
Kubo too godlike. The man is smart rushdown personified. It reminds me a lot of top Third Strike Makoto play–get in your opponent’s head, get a couple of good reads, and BAM! Dead character.
Until I get my combo execution like that, I’ve been finding myself doing a lot of blocking and baiting in my matches to get my punishes in, try to mix up/bait(if online, you should be doing less oki and more DP/AoA baiting, nobody respects shit online), and try not to drop meager combos into Cyclone Upper super.
Lightning Hands is a good way to save yourself if your DP gets blocked, most people aren’t ready for it and you can squeeze i a paralyze/fatal punish usually.
That’s all I’ve managed to observe so far. Does anybody have any higher level strats they’re cooking up? I’ve been looking into utilizing more One More Cancels/One More Bursts to try and create bigger damage punishes, but nothing concrete yet…
Would anyone happen to know any cheap video game recording hardware to use for a mac laptop to video game console?
I have a few setups I’ve been practicing and would like to show them in here to ask you guys what you think. And since I can’t exactly upload replays… yeah.
Picked up Akihiko this week and I love the character (in addition to Kanji and Naoto) - I just have the issue of opening up people as well as continuously pressuring my opponent safely as well as dealing with pressure.
I’m getting better to responding to certain things, but are there any general tips for a up and coming Akihiko player?
Learn to block, A LOT. As well as get the basics of the gameplay system down. Aki requires a lot of smart reads and conditioning your opponent to create openings. He’s not someone who can bully his way in and while he has good buttons, they are all situational and require you to know your matchups well.
He’s not an easy character to use, but he is very rewarding to learn.
I figure as much. Patience seems to really pay off with Akihiko
At first at was a bit disheartened about fighting characters like Yu or Mitsuru that have A LOT more range on their moves than Akihiko.
But now I know exactly how I am going to play Akihiko. Be patient, make good reads, and get in close when I see a chance (I have high health to compensate a bit). His pressure/rushdown game is deadly, but it’s based on reads. Many of his offensive options can be punished easily, but he has so many options that the opponents had to guess on which one I am going for.
And I haven’t messed around with other characters, but his damage off a FC is crazy.
PS: I also want to post some setups. Most not created by me, but stolen from the japanese players.
Actually, he is someone who can bully his way in. He’s an offensive character. Akihiko has plenty mixups to choose from and many ways to do it. In fact, you can honestly get by with him by just starting off with his auto combo and using the mixups from that.
For example, you start his autocombo and say you have one SP bar. Fundamentally, after you do the first boomerang swipe, you can ex weave in behind the person and do another boomerang swipe that will hit (and stun the enemy) and then do a charged one and link it into a combo.
For a character like mitsuru, you obviously wouldn’t do that unless you know she won’t DP, but that’s just one of the many things he can do to bully and get in.
I’ve had matches where I literally get all over someone within the first 10 seconds of the match and will win, because they have no idea what’s going on.
The only time you honestly need to get more situational and create openings is when you’re dealing with mashers or characters based around things you can’t normally punish by being all over. (Counter DP based characters, Kanji, mitsuru, etc.) And when you figure out how to outsmart them, you can still bully the shit out of them, cause them to fear using certain moves due to being punished prior and just mow them down.
Akihiko is amazing, really. And yes, you have to block a lot, but I’d say that with any character, since it’s easy to get mashed out in this game if you don’t.
After playing a set against a CafeID member I currently hate fighting Naoto. Are their any tips in this match-up for Akihiko?
Quite a bit, actually. If you’re facing zoning/trap naotos who love to let off that revolver, just use ceasar to drag them in. If he does a full shot setup with it, you can machinegun blow as soon as he’s finished, while getting dragged in.
If it’s a very engaging naoto, just know that most love to neutral jump and akihiko’s crouching strong is a great anti-air to punish such and get a setup started to lead to big damage. (Same with jump ins.)
However, if they’re just offensive in doing the kick flips, just block them and immediately after it’s done, block low in cause they do the angled shot with their revolver. And punish afterward.
Another good note: Their counter DP can be punished with an all out attack initiation and you can stop that, while following up after with a combo.
Never let them zone you out, because you have so many options of getting in. And you don’t even have to go through the vast effort of going through their traps just to lure them out, either.
I’d really like to see how you’re overwhelming people from the start of the match, because I’ve never been able to create any pressure right off the bat with Aki.
Mitsuru will safely out-poke you and counter-hit you all day. Chie will outprioritize you and stay in your face. Yu out ranges your pokes with his and has ridiculous oki. Kanji will out poke you and kill you if you get too close. Aigis will keep you blocking her Orgia mixups and then spray you with bullets. Yosuke is faster than you. Naoto and Yukiko will try everything in their power to stay away from you. Teddie will out-poke and confuse you. Elizabeth will fire lasers and use Thanatos to lock you down. Labrys and Shadow Labrys will super armor your jabs and force you to play that horrible oki guessing game.
I’m not saying you can’t overpower your opponents with Akihiko… Smart reads and good use of Caesar will get you in, and once you’re there, people will get hurt, BAD. However, you’re not Yu and you’re damn sure not Mitsuru. You’re not doing much of anything without meter, while your opponents will be trying to force you to press buttons. Good blocking and instant blocking will net you that necessary meter, not RTSDing everywhere and getting yourself killed.
Akihiko is a good character, and his rushdown is great ONCE HE’S CREATED AN OPENING. He’s usually not the one setting the pace, unless it’s a zoner or someone slow like Labrys, and even then, you must be constantly aware. Once again, he’s very 3S Makoto like in that he requires your constant attention throughout the match. Every detail must be accounted for.
Thanks for the tips, but I don’t think this will help against the really good Naoto’s like the CafeID member. Every time he saw me trying to bring him towards me he had some really hard to anti air super dash in and when ever he got me in the corner he had some pretty cool trap setup and would all ways threaten me in the corner with the infinite. Overall he played completely by the book in the match-up which is 7-4 or 6-4 in Naotos favor which is how the set ended and just needed some more tips for Naoto.
I usually just weave if they are shoot happy.
Then i get free meter and no chip. They usually get pissed off and come at you reckless abandon.
Then again this is just when facing garbage Naotos online.
You literally have 4 options at the beginning of a match with mitsuru.
[LIST]
[]Bob and weave into an immediate punch. (This can be punished if the Mitsuru decides to j.B you or sweep you at the beginning.)
[]His Cross Counter and reply swiftly with a counter blow. (This can be punished if the mitsuru actually waits to see what you do before attacking at the very start of the match. Which is rare, unless it is a patient or smart mitsuru player.)
[]Roll in, assuming that they will charge strike. (You can get grabbed and punished greatly numerous ways if they don’t do such.)
[]Jump back immediately and use ceasar’s strike. (You’ll get punished if they also jump in at the beginning of the match and strike with their j.B.)
[/LIST]
There’s always blocking and playing it safe, but seeing as Akihiko is more attack focused, you have to put pressure on from the beginning and keep them guessing and worried from not just rushing you down. If you worry about her DP all the time, you’ll find yourself on the defense and getting counterpoked a lot, to just taking a barrage of strikes from her auto combo all day as well. You can weave through her charge strikes and punish them every time, so I’d say use that or counters to your advantage. counters period up close when they’re poking will also knock them off you quick. You can also weave through her persona’s whip drag and if you’re in close enough, the whip will whiff completely.
Chie is difficult, that much i will agree. I’d like to give more of my opinions on her, but I think I’ll wait until I have more sound judgement on facing her a bit more.
Yu can be simply out prioritized by your ceasar’s attack in range in the air. Whenever they’re also in the air to meet, you have as much ground with your J. strong as them. So it’s whoever throws it out first that will hit or even trade. Also, yu’s raging lion can be stuffed with a simple DP. His oki usually starts with a mixup basing around his persona. and as soon as you see him airdashing over your head, all you honestly need to do is roll out, so that you would get mixed up from the other side, leading to the oki. Anything beyond that that leads to his oki without the mixup is still pretty much something you can get through, since his blockstrings are insanely obvious for the most part and particularly easy to bait. especially when he uses raging lion or his swift strike, which can easily be blocked and punished thereafter.
Kanji is simply a case of knowing when he will use his DP and when he will grab. It’s honestly that simple. You knock him down, jump in and backdash if you obviously know he’s getting ready to DP or grab and punish with ceasar or machinegun. You come in again and wail on him with a block string, weave back (because you know he’ll try to grab as soon as he is able.) and punish again. And if he has a good meter on wakeup, you instantly know to jump back, since he’ll try to spam his grab special, which you cannot roll through, block or etc. (This is also why you must hop against this character when he has you paralyzed. That makes his grabs completely whiff, which you can either expect IMMEDIATELY when he’s running to you while you’re stunned or after a block string.)
You can roll through aigis’ spreadshot bullets if she’s spamming those and simply machine gun blow if you need to close the distance to get on her. Once you get he down, she’ll usually spam her dp on wakeup and your all out attack can outdo that so that her DP will not hurt you and she will get hit. Once you have her confused on what she should do next on wakeup, you simply get creative on how to make use of it, keeping her guessing. Overall you must NEVER leave an aigis on free reigns regardless, because not being all over her will honestly be handing her the match, especially when close quarters is your best range with her. So once you get in there, you do not want to get out.
Yosuke is someone you simply let come to you, because going after him means playing into his game. You simply punish and try to break down her persona, so that you can actually rush him down afterward.
You have ceasar for naoto and yukiko to drag them in. Much like with aigis, your all out attack stuffs their DPs. (Yukiko’s dia and naoto’s counter.)
Learn how naoto’s strings work, to simply block it or dp her out of her flip kick. Yukiko’s as well and never let a yukiko rush you down WITH her persona. Which is why you have to make her feel as if she NEEDS to run from you, off bat. If you don’t, she’ll keep you locked in a corner, trying to mix you up and have unblockable fire getting ready to be built up for you.
Teddie is actually really easy once you figure out how he works. you can anti air him with your crouching strong, stay in on him with your setups and mixups and when he uses something like his DP, simply roll in, because for one, most usually use the bat as soon as they have you in rage mode and rolling in will get you right past the bat and in their face to punish and leading to big damage, since you’re in rage and you have full grounds for a nice setup. Either way, you can’t leave teddie to his own devices either, because he has ways to limit your movements, while using his unblockable super which his limitations on your movements will hinder you from avoiding. Your machine gun blow can easily get you in and having one simple block of SP can get you an ex weave in to mix him up from the other side. Not to mention that you could sweep, all out attack or weave in and grab or DP at the end of the machinegun setup (Or hell, weave back or even weave and throw another quick boomerang swipe.)
Elizabeth is truly easy. you can bring her in with ceasar, block string her and jump back and punish with ceasar’s slash every time she tries to use her DP grab on you. or even just hop or tech the grab period. Her Thanatos can be stopped by a DP in any manner. If he’s coming in to grab you, you can DP. If he’s using his yell, you can DP DURING. However, I only recommend when she’s using it from a distance and not up close, since it can come back swiftly. And if it’s close, simply block the string and sweep after the yell or sweep if it’s coming in for a grab and machinegun blow afterward.
Labrys period just boils down to…
[LIST]
[]Block
[]Anti-Air
[*]Roll
[/LIST]
She’s not hard at all. She has more range in axe in the air, but you have more priority on the ground. If she’s running toward you for a straight onslaught attack. (No go-go gadget hands.) Your standing jab will actually stuff her attack. You can roll past her and punish her if you think she’s going to wakeup with super armor or whatnot and you can completely BLOCK shadow labrys’ charged strikes. (You can block labrys’ incomplete charge strikes if I recall and you can simply roll through her charged one.) And if all else fails… block.
Akihiko’s crouching strong is an AMAZING anti-air and it stops a lot of labrys overhead entrances. if she tries to mix you up overhead on your wakeup, simply roll out of it.
I’ve honestly done a bunch of matches simply by using akihiko’s autocombo and nothing else, simply because it’s that easy to punish a lot of people right now in their learning phases of their characters. Once you know how to get in with Akihiko, you’ll be wrecking them easily with little effort. I’m not saying smart reads are not needed to do amazing with akihiko. However, what I am saying is if you have smart reads and know your and their character limitations, you can obviously rush them down pretty easy and call them out almost every time they try to pull something.
However, akihiko CAN rush them down, simply because he has numerous mixups at hand ready in any of his setups. He can attack high, low, grab, bait out mistakes to punish and etc, all in his simple 5AAA, to anything else he can do. He can weave in and DP. He can weave in and grab. He can weave in and block. he can weave PAST the person and mix them up from the otherside with 25 SP. He can also weave back or simply just drop the whole thing and block. His guessing games are constant. So he can definitely do both.
He’s not limited to just punishing. He can get his way in as long as you know how to use him. That’s why he’s an offensive based character, after all.
So he was using ceasar’s pull in momentum to dash in and overhead you? Or when he did that, did he completely dash PAST you to the other side and start shooting?
If he dashed in on you while you were pulling him, just block the over head and wait for your time to strike, while being wary of a possible counter waiting, since he figures you’ll attack since you’re in so close.
However, if he dashed past you and landed behind you, a quick machinegun will stuff him quick before he can let off shots. You have to expect it as soon as you see him going completely past you to get you from behind, though. Either way, the most important thing is getting him in your range. However, I think you need to just get used to Naoto’s blockstrings, so that you can know when you’re able to do anything.
have you played this offline with good people who know what they are doing?
You made it seem like all those matches are extremely easy. Which most of them aren’t easy at all.
I’ll give you Labrys being easy. Elizabeth and Teddie easy? no.
I feel like his posts assume that players are unreactive and unadaptive computer programs (maybe he plays the cpu a lot?) Any players with some level of consciousness (though surprisingly there seems to be a lack of these online) will not apply to any of those strategies posted.
I don’t mean to turn this into a wall 'o text back and forth here. It seems as if we have differing views on how Akihiko’s matchups are. I regularly play a very good Mitsuru player. He almost never does a raw charge strike, and will not be mixed up, period. I can’t count how many times I’ve had him in blockstrings and he always finds a way out. I will Kill Rush, weave, duck in, grab-oops throw break. 5AAA into charged hook- oh I grabbed you. 5AAA, hook, EX duck- nope, eat this here DP into Super and now I’m gonna take my 40% combo, thank you. Oh, are you calling Caesar? To pull me in? Dash stab A into block string from hell. To overhead with 5C? Jump D. In the air? Crouch B or DP into Super, lol.
This same guy also plays a good Labrys and Yukiko. I also play against a really tricky Yosuke and last night, I went up against a good Aigis. I won several matches, but none of them were ever easy.
Basically, Aki has to work hard in his matchups. I’ve never had what I would consider an ‘easy’ victory unless it was against some rookie spamming Auto Combs and DPs on wakeup. Akihiko requires you to stay on your toes and constantly mix it up. If you’re just blindly rushing against anyone who’s at least half-decent, you’re going to lose. Play smart with him, or die.
Elizabeth has the lowest health in the game. All you have to do is get in her face and stay there. Wait for her to get her to either try to get her DP grab in, throw thantos out, so that you can stuff her and it in her moment of vulnerability from throwing it out.
Teddie is easy. He may not SEEM easy if you simply let him control the pace of the match, but as an akihiko, it’s your job not to let that happen or let him get that out of hand.
I’m not making it seem like the matches are easy, I’m simply giving tips on what you can get through with your tools. Akihiko has a lot of tools and as the game hasn’t been out long enough yet, not enough people have maximized on that yet.
Well you never ex duck on a mitsuru, simply because her DP will stuff it regardless of if you’re infront, backing off of her or behind her. In fact, the only ex move you can do in that situation is the weave back. Playing a mitsuru of that caliber means that you have to condition them into a way of thinking and fool them, if they’re smart. Throw out some false sweeps every now and then after your 5AAA to get her used to it, then suddenly just block, so that the next time she expects you to sweep, she’ll DP or grab and you’ll already see either coming, with a nasty follow up in store for her. if you’re at a distance, just weave. She’ll come charging in with either a j.B or a sweep. Her persona’s whip cannot hit you in weave motion, nor can any direct frontal rapier attacks.
When you play them, simply watch regularly how they play. What block strings they’re akin to use, how they use them in whatever situation and if they’re quick to charge in or wait for you to make a mistake. Once you notice what they’re aiming for, you simply take that and twist it to your advantage. I don’t think the problem is mainly the priority of the characters that you’re having, but the mind games they’re pulling on you. I agree that it will always take work to make Aki function in tip-top shape, but if you’re a good reader of what the other player will do or if you’re very studious of noticing their ticks, you’ll find yourself breezing through matches, because you’ll know what they’re gonna throw next.
I wouldn’t just call that an “easy” victory, I’d call that learning the other player or downloading them.
Even good players can be downloaded fairly quick, as long as you know what they’re doing and what you can do to stop it.
Don’t assume. If I could upload some replays, I could simply show you. I’ve faced far better players than me and when I started the game, I suffered a lot of the problems that were being mentioned here, but I just began to practice and test out what normals or specials could beat out the normals and specials of other characters. Then i simply went and faced players with it, learned regular and creative setups that may or may not be commonly used and used what I know to stuff it.
I’m saying what can and cannot be stuffed in certain situations. I did not, however, say in detail of how you, in your own playstyle will know what to do to stop it. From what I usually see from other akihiko players is that once they feel dumbfounded and in close quarters, they panic and drop the ball.
All I’m saying is **don’t panic. **This is what that character is made for - To get in and you have plenty tools ready to stay in.