mix it up with cr.mk xx ex tatsu… that blows up focus REAL quick… One or two of those will put a stop to that…
why isn’t your hado coming out? that is normally how i blow through it.
The Hadoken starts up in 14 frames where the ex tatsu is 6 frame startup, and not to mention the damage… It wouldn’t be something to stick out constantly like the semi “safe” cr. mk xx hado obviously . Anyways if U see someone focus fishing blow it up with the ex tatsu cancel and at least you get a free mixup lol… One or two of those should make them think twice about doing that.
^Agree! C. MK > EX Tatsu also punishes their Back Dash. But sometimes Level 2 FA hits the Tatsu at C. MK max distance, so I like to throw in C. MK > SRK here and there. Or I just raw EX Tatsu (Armor Break) on reaction to their Focus (Note: this is assuming that the opponent is a Focus Spammer and he’s committing to release his FA2 after he absorbs any move).
P.S. I’ll be moving this thread to “Ken General Discussion Thread” tomorrow. Please post there if you have any technical questions.
usually when people ask me how to beat Ken, i say "Focus attack is Ken’s weakness because he has no 2-hit normals and none of his specials are true armor breakers."
best bet is cr.mk> fp.srk but even that is hard to get out on reaction. i also have a hard time against opponents who are really good at focusing. especially if they know the matchup, they will focus at max step kick distance and max cr.mk distance.
so to answer your question, i switch up my style completely and just have to play way more cautiously, zone them out, don’t play the footsie game.
Hey, I’m a relatively new ken player and I had a question regarding his c.lk, c.lp, c.mk combo. When I try to do this combo, I can only get it off about half the time (for some reason I have problems linking the c.mk). Is there a trick to doing this consistently?
Have you tried plinking it? That may help with the timing but I don’t plink it myself.
check this out and you’ll get it down real quick. =P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCP1sVYUxGQ
I haven’t, mostly because until today, I didn’t even know what a plink was 
. Thanks for the advice 
Its all about timing, practice, practice. I use a controller and can pull it of all the time cause I know when to hit the C.mk. Also idk if you need this at all, but doing it from a standing jab is a lot easier (And Ken can hit like 5 normals and still link into Ex Tat lol). When I began I used to do, (Cr.lk) Cr. lp, St. Lp, Cr. Mk, Tatsu. Since im guessing youre going for a tatsu not a shoryuken with your cr. combo, else jab jab SRK is fine to start with.
But I just freestyle depending on the distance so lol
try to plink that medium kick like ikaru said. so you do c.lk > c.lp > c.lk + medium kick, but you’re not pushing those buttons together, youre hitting c.lk then c.mk but in a very fast motion. it’s mostly timing man. and what can also help you is to watch when the c.lp retracts, right when you see it retract you plink c.lk and c.mk. after practicing this many times it will be second nature to you.
I agree 100% with ImagineVC =/
Thanks for all the advice. I’ve raised my success rate considerably (still not 100%, but I’m getting there… hopefully :))
Ken’s tatsu is a true armour breaker. I’m not sure what you mean when you say he doesn’t have a true armour breaker.
My preferred method of counteracting focus spammers is raw EX fireballs around max step kick range and EX tatsu or RH tatsu on reaction to the start-up of the focus attack.
Peace,
G.
Just to correct maikeru, you plink in order from strong to weak. So it’s drumming across medium kick to light kick but almost as if you’re pressing both at the same time. It needs to be that fast. Glad it’s working out for you. When you get the plinking down for that link try to do it without plinking and see if your timing improved!
If you don’t “plink,” you have to DELAY the timing of pressing cMK. button after the cr. Jab.
Is there any advantage to doing c.lk, c.lp, c.mk, vs. c.lp, s.lp, c.mk? I’ve been finding (as Bryanv2 said earlier) that linking standing lp to crouching mk is much, much easier.
Sometimes the s.lp can whiff depending on the character/distance. Other than that like you said it is easier to link cr.mk from s.lp because s.lp causes more hit stun than cr.lp.
you should do c. lk, c.lp, s.lp, c.mk that is a really easy combo to do and it doesn’t require much execution to pull off and it is considered a bnb of ken’s. out of those to you should really start with c.lk for the second one as well, but the c.lp, s.lp, c.mk is better because as you said it is much easier to pull off making it more viable because of the hit stun
thanks for the correction man, After i read it i was like whew. lol.
I’m really struggling with the simple s.mk to s.mp in training. I’ve passed the trial but I can’t consistently do it without Dan blocking the move. Which means I’m doing it too slow, but how the hell can you press it faster??