Im coming from the noob forum so please forgive me in advance. Ive watched many Rog videos and im puzzled by something. When a Rog knocks down his opponent he usually follows up with a Dashing Upper? Why is this? Is this safe? I know im not understanding because I usually eat a reversal when I try to mimic this.
What is the proper way of following up when the opponent is waking up?
people only do it to build meter and it gets you next to your opponent quickly. that way you are in close and try to at least do some kind of mixup. you can do upper or straight, it doesn’t matter.
you may also see some people do a headbutt after knockdown which can sometimes make you land on one side or the other, which can setup another mixup.
Oh!!! Okay that makes sense, and you answered another question I was going to ask anyways. Thanks!
Plus, since your cross-up/mix-up game as Balrog is…“lackluster” to put it nicely, you might as well build meter and keep the pressure going.
Things to take note of:
Meter:
Headbutt builds more meter than Dash Punches but it usually won’t bring you right up to your opponent if they are knocked too far away, hence most people use Upper or Dash.
After knocking someone with an Ultra, you can do as many as three different Dash Punches (Example: Dash>TAP>Dash or TAP>Dash>TAP) - The first will leave you safe if you’re quick enough, the second is MUCH slower and best done if you intend to go for a meaty TAP because you very rarely, if ever, recover before the opponent does on the 3rd special.
Mixups:
You can Light or Medium Headbutt up close and stay in front of your opponent, Fierce Headbutt usually goes right over the opponent and lands you behind them.
Upper is commonly used to get in on crouchers at times, for throws or counter-hit fishing, but isn’t safe.
TAP can be done Meaty on an opponents wakeup - Given it’s an armor breaker, it leaves them no chance of Focus Absorbing though it can lose to certain invincible framed wakeup moves. If blocked it’ll usually land midway or at the glove tip if you don’t do this too close, which is relatively safe - Deep TAP isn’t as safe.
Torpedo has a lot of active frames, so does Dash Sweep (Not as many). On certain masher characters, even with certain troublesome wakeup moves, you can counter-hit them on wakeup with either one depending on the character and the moves they are doing. Obviously they could just block but those who don’t can eat it clean. The sweep is decent on people who mash backdashes while Torpedo is good for a solid, mostly forgiveable option due to more frames, and will knock people into the corner if they don’t know how to cope with it.
Dash Swing Blow (Overhead) if done meaty on wakeup (I think it has to hit on one particular frame ie. VERY hard to do) will forcestand an opponent if it connects - Sadly, it’s probably Rog’s most unsafe special so use it sparingly.
Alternatively I used to love watching Keno use Light DSB on Knockdown - Much like the other moves it’ll bring you to the opponent and builds meter - Thing is it recovers almost the split second before the opponent and is very misleading to look at. He used to DSB into wakeup throws or counter-hit jab combos, or use it to bait wakeups. After Ultra’s (While opponent is recovering from the knockdown) I TAP into DBS and from there you’re free to do whatever you want. TAP>DSP (Opponent wakesup thinking they can punish) eating an EX Headbutt has caught so many people out in my games.
I’m no pro - Like yourself, I still consider myself relatively noob. I know how Balrog works and know most matchups but I’ve not once tried to learn zoning, spacing or footsies, I rely entirely on gimicks using Balrogs moves - Feel free to check some of the movies out for a general idea of wakeup stuff.
I’m sure the community can offer far more helpful tips or ideas.
Anyways, some visual candy:
[media=youtube]0avyWc87-E4"]YouTube - SF4 - RopeDrink [Balrog[/media]
0:20 - Ultra from one corner, Headbutt Crossover into CMK Standing Jab Headbutt SUPER.
[media=youtube]4M4Xn9I7V5c"[/media]
0:45 - Meaty FA’s, Wakeup DSB’s
1:25 - Meter building TAP>Headbutt after Ultra. TAP brings me behind opponent, Headbutt back in front, you see I was fully capable of jumping over him on recovery anticipating a mashed out Ultra.
2:00 - Throw into TAP into wakeup CMK CJab Headbutt.
2:05 - My entire gimmicky playstyle in a nutshell. CH CMP’s into DSB’s, DSB’s on their wakeup, Headbutt crossovers etc etc
[media=youtube]6ibXKn-bhBY"[/media]
9minutes of just plain stupid fun hopefully it’ll give you some ideas.
And just know that(and I don’t think RopeDrink will dispute me on this) that solid fundamentals will get you further than gimmicks(although gimmicks can’t hurt!)