You’re just starting to learn Ken, and you don’t know where to start. Well, this is the place to pick up on the beginning concepts for the character.
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Hey guys, have yet to pick up the game but I’m trying to get all the info I can before I get my hands on it next week. My question is how does Ken’s v-skill/trigger work exactly? Will he keep running if you hold down the buttons? Does he stop immediately when you let go?
From what I’ve seen he takes a few frames to recover and that allows time to input a move or hit a button. I can’t really be sure though
Hey what would everyone say is the optimal range to play ken at. Should I be playing at mid screen or at long range?
If you tap his v-skill he will run, you can then either :
If you keep the buttons pressed he will do his step kick which you can cancel into v-trigger if you want to. Step Kick is safeish at max range (hit with the tip of your step kick).
@Laucian456 I think his best range is close. He his a pressure character so you kinda want to be in their face.
Thanks for the info man I know it’s a bit basic lol so with the step kick, does it come out after the minimum run distance or at a different timing
Hey I’m also new to SF (at least seriously, what are his BnB stuff? like I Can combo from st.MK>st.HK>whatever or b.MP>b.HP>whatever, but I wanted to know if there are some actual BnB combos I need to know and what are some of his best tools for pokes?
Thanks. Its weird because the videos iv been seeing of him people are playing him mid range but I have also bee reading that some people think everyone is playing him wrong and that he should be played at long range
SFV noob here but I played a lot of SF4. I see Ken has changed a hell of a lot and I’m really struggling to get to grips with him at all now. My SF4 game was built around step kicks, kara throws and FADC juggle setups, none of which exist in this game!
As goofy as the run is, I can see it has some practical use, I’ve used it on reaction to run under aerial attacks and SRK but that can’t be particularly intentional. Any tips for starting again with Ken, please? I basically feel like I’m learning a new main in many ways.
Basically if you don’t know how to play him, watch Momochi videos of Ken in SFV and try to do the same thing at least for the overall look of it. For people who are new to SF and don’t know Momochi is one of the best SF player and he played Ken in SFIV and has played some Ken in the betas.
I am far from an expert myself.
For the step kick I didn’t honestly really check, I kinda get the range of step kick by doing it multiple times in training and now I know what is the max range for it. Always do it at max range, the closer you are the worse it is, even at max range I wrote safeish because it is punishable by some stuff, but it’s harder for your opponent do to so.
For the combos there is a thread here which is going to be filled by people, there is already a full punish list for example. BnB combo starting by light attacks would be like cr.lk > cr.lp xx HP.DP.
Else a combo that you’ll do a lot for example : c.mp, b.mp>hp xx hp shoryuken which is like the basic stuff you do with no meter. It’s easy but the one trick is the range, if you are too far b.mp will miss and you’re screwed.
Here is the list (not made by me) :
Ken weakness is pretty much that he sucks at pokes, he has very short range on most of his stuff. Ken mostly react to missed pokes by whiff punishing them. (This is my understanding, again I am not super good).
To start with Ken honestly watch Momochi games I think it’s the esiest way.
Here are some, can’t find the others on youtube, they are most likely still on his twitch.
Thanks for this, it’s much appreciated. I’ll have a good look.
I’d like to incorporate his run into my game and while we’ve talked about its timing here, can anyone share the most practical uses for it? I imagine I can throw it in now and again during blockstrings to continue jab pressure or throw, in that case what are the best Normals to cancel?
A little underwhelming, I imagined it would be less risky.
2 of the best ways to use the run are canceling from a successful sweep for meaty pressure. And canceling from an AA cr.hp to cross under for a mix up. From the cross under you can switch it up between throw, cr.lk>cr.lpxxfp.srk, or cr.mp>TC1xxwhatever.
Thanks, I can definitely incorporate those. What moves do you use to hit meaty? I need to practice for sure, I often get beat out by slower moves onnmy own oki
Easiest normal to land meaty is probably cr.mp, just switch between cr.mp and a quick cr.lk x cr.lp chain confirm, Ken’s meaty options aren’t exactly amazing because of his poor frame advantage in general. After the meaty however you can start your shimmy/frame trap game if they blocked.
Forgive me for thinking aloud, just processing.
If I understand meaties correctly, both c.MP and c.lk will hit at the same time, so what is the benefit between mixing between them during oki and AAirxxrun? Can better players react to c.MP sometimes?
Can I get these same meaty follow-ups after HK tatsu as well?
And by shimmy do you mean what is mentioned in that "right way to play Ken video? I’ll have to rewatch to remember it.
Why and when do you use normal air tatsu, and what do you follow up with? It seems to combo only on cross-up.
well, they have different properties on block and on hit. cr.mp on hit allows you to combo into your b.mp x st.hp target combo so you get big damage from it but it has more pushback on block so it moves Ken further away from his opponent
cr.lk has minimal pushback so it can set up tick throws, and also leads into cr.lk x cr.lp confirms
and well shimmying is just a form of baiting, it’s the technique of attacking > walking back > reacting to your opponents button presses or simply stuffing them on start up and getting a counter hit. Ken’s shimmy game is really strong because of his crush counter confirm ability, his b.mp being 4f and confirmable and his run setting up some throw gimmicks.
Meaty st hp rules though, it beats all non invincible moves, it’s safe on block, it allows a cr mk to combo on hit (or a run back mp if you cancel it but that will have to be a read).
On CC though, it’s the truth. You can do run, cr mp, TC1, special for crazy damage. The fly in the ointment is that the opponent gets to punish you if he backrolls instead of quickrising so i am trying to find a consistent timing for the same frame advantage on air resets.
Little harder to land meaty though, and I’m trying to keep things simplistic so the guy isn’t overwhelmed with options and keeps the universal stuff in mind. Annoying thing about st.hp is just that it takes so long to start up, it’s fairly easy to see coming so I doubt many people will go for techs if you try meaty st.hp
9 frames is unreactable though, there is no way you can recognize it and decide accordingly in 9 frames. Besides, if you mix it up with throws the opponent is bound to react to the dash/run.