@igogorek thanks! I was going through the combos/tech thread and picked out a few tidbits here and there. But you compiling these in one post is brilliant. I’m just looking to get level up my Karin beyond the bare minimum when it comes to BnBs and character knowledge, so this is perfect.
I watched some recent videos of Justin Wong playing as well to get a sense of how to play her neutral (because that’s really all he does). Looks like a lot of s.MK, s.MP pokes and some one hit c.MK confirms into 2X JFL (he rarely seems to go for orochi) gets the job done for the most part. Simple, but at this point I’ll take it. I’m coming from Cammy, who I find to be very one dimensional so I’m trying to get away from that. Karin seems similar but has a bit more of a dynamic game and I like the fact her V-trigger opens up a whole new move set instead of giving existing moves slightly different properties.
@SubSonicAK Justin wong uses 2x Tenko, but it’s not a good ender. Mujin does the same damage and builds more meter and v-skill, while the lowest in damage, builds v-meter.
Also w/ neutral one thing to keep in mind with Karin is that because all of her cancellable lights can link into tenko, if you are accurate enough at confirming them then they become extremely dangerous yet low risk weapons (see mago).
Other buttons:
I tend not to use st.hp in neutral unless as a whiff punish. Its short range and long recovery (and not particularly fast startup) make it very easy to whiff punish.
St. hk is pretty good to use whenever you can space it such that you hit on the tip (and obviously becomes even better with V-t up), but I would err on the side of underusing it rather than overusing it due to how punishing it can be to whiff it.
On a side note, st.hp is her best anti-air normal as you have noticed and can lead into sometimes ambiguous pressure when cancelled into command dash. Her other aa normals, st.lp and cr.hp, are both quite bad so you will have to get accustomed to makeshift anti-airs (dash-unders, jump-back air-to-airs) to cover st.hp’s blind spots.
Frame traps/pressure strings:
Personally, I don’t think your choice of normals matters too much with Karin – ultimately, it’s a lot more important to have a strong throw/shimmy game. st.lk --> mediums will generally serve you quite well but you can mix and match a ton of different combinations. ex: st.lk, cr.mp, (micro-walk) st.lk, cr.mk
Lately I have been quite partial to 3 lights into st.hp or cr.mk (st.lk, st.lk, st.lp, st.hp/cr.mk), since it gives you a lot of different opportunities to walk in and tick/shimmy.
In general, I like to try fitting as many st.lk’s as possible into a string because even after its nerf, it’s still fantastic as a pressure tool since it’s +2 on block (same advantage as mediums), has miniscule pushback and largely enables Karin’s strong throw game.
Thanks @NagaSiren - really appreciate the tips, especially in neutral. I was experimenting with different button timings last night, but I think the slight frame data and distance differences between her and Cammy (plus muscle memory) really bit me hard. I was eating a ton of crush counters going for medium buttons at the wrong time. It was a little bit discouraging, like I took a step backwards in terms of progress. But that’s part of the process. I really need to start incorporating her lights, so your pointers for that are great.
The way I usually learn a character is 1) find good pokes 2) get my medium confirms/BnBs down 3) anti-airs and then tick throw set ups and lights (except for 3F jabs) and light confirms last. I really need to accelerate on those last two right now. There are so many characters in S2 that are plus on virtually everything, I can’t be throwing out mediums to interrupt small gaps in strings anymore.
What do you go for after a shimmy? cr.MK into tenko, s.HK? Wondering what the optimal range is for her baits.
I actually usually use st.hp after a successful shimmy. cr.mk is also very good, but to be frank I’m just not good at linking cr.mk into tenko. st.hk isn’t really a good option (assuming you didnt mean st.hp here) to use after a shimmy because it doesn’t lead into anything unless you have v-trigger, which i’d rather use to fish with in neutral. Obviously it’s still good if you can use its extra damage to finish out a round.
That said, st.lk > st.hk (without a shimmy) is actually a real ““frame trap”” if you have a hard read, as it naturally blows up late techs and jump techs. Against certain characters you may need to walk back a bit to space it to be safe.
For pressure, I would also suggest you practice timing her corner throw loops and learning which characters you can throw bait without moving (e.g. forward throw, down-back and they’ll still whiff throw).
May i ask what is the best way to input ex tenko on stick, i use my index and middle finger to press lk+mk and then press mp but the result is not consistent. I usually drop the combo jft, lk mujin, Ex tenko
Sorry for the super late reply… I usually use mk and hk for ex tenko. Just be sure you’re buffering the tenko during mujin and it shouldn’t drop no matter which combination you choose. I find waiting for the mujin animation to end before going into tenko just results in drops.
hi i’m a noob… what does this > mean in the op comment… for example … Guren Hosho - qcf + p > p … i understand the rest of the message in the move guren hosho. sorry i’m new
For example, qcf+p > p means that you should press the 2nd p after the animation for Guren Hosho (qcf+p) fully finishes. In other words, press the 2nd p when the recovery frames for Guren Hosho ends.