well…-1 is still pretty safe,except for against zangief I guess. I always use HK tatsu to punish…its worth trading 1 frame advantage for extra dmg and stun IMO. Generally I will HK tatsu if I’m close to them and all the hits with actually hit them, and then go defensive and block and tech afterwards to hopefully bait a reversal. If I’m far away from my opponent(like max range c.mk poke), then I’ll do an ex.tatsu and continue pressure after the tatsu.
If you keep getting command grabed you have to jump back or backdash. Those are your only two options to get out of a command grab and the end of a tatsu. I don’t know how well backdash works though because I always use jump back hp since it’s a good way to keep them off of you.
Yeah, I just played a slew of Championship matches with Ken last night and a lot of them seem to be character specific. For people who have command grabs, especially Gief, what I usually do is I either neutral jump into another string of moves, or I do an instant jump-back HP.
For people who have invincible moves like the “reversal uppercut” characters, it’s actually quite hit or miss. Either I block, or I throw / tech. This depends on the skill of the other player and some luck. Sometimes if I block I get thrown, and other times if I throw, I eat a reversal move. I’ve had inconsistent results with the back-dash because some wake-up atacks from certain characters reach far enough that I’ll still get hit even after I do it.
lol, I just posted about this the other day.
Theres no reason you should be getting thrown if you’re going to block to bait them. Hold down+back and then tech their throw. You can tech retardedly late in this game, so take advantage of your options. The only time I really get hit when doing that tactic is when they use a reversal with a lot of startup frames, like rog’s headbutt, and they’ll catch my c.lk. Thats pretty rare, though.
Alright. I guess it’s back to practicing then. Thanks for the help.
what is the learning curve to ken. i ask because althought im a learning player im getting tired of bison and was looking to get into using a command character and was told abel wasnt the best route to go to
Hes not too hard…probably took me like a week to completely adjust to him. I think the hardest part for me was learning to do kara-throws on command, also linking c.lp to srk consistently was a bitch. I got punished so many times :[
Any uses for kara fireball?
It is good to use to get closer to a fireball character but not from many distances because if you kara fireball at the wrong time they can punish it easily. So there is uses to it just know the distances where it is safe.
I really only find it useful against Guile, when I need just those couple of inches to stuff him with my step kick.
its useful against sagt when he throws a high tiger shot u duck it then kara fireball
Duck it and step kick him in his big dick lol
Augh, just wrote a long post and it didnt post and now its gone 
basically all i was going to ask was.
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Can someone explain option selects to me. I think i understand what they ‘do’ but dont really understand how they are performed and in what situation you use them.
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not really specific to ken but i main ken and people in here seem to know alot. What is a one frame link and what do things like ‘__________ puts you at/is +1’ im guessing its to do with frame data but havent seen anywhere that explains these things well.
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Whats a decent option after a landed tatsu ? I used to get grabbed alot after landing a tatsu on someone, although i dont anymore im not sure of the best option after landing one.
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Whats the range like on the kara DP, as i havent seen anyone do one in a match or even seen a video of one just curious as to what the range is like.
#3 is crouch tech for your safest option unless it’s gief or abel then jump back hp I think
Thanks, am i right in thinking thats an option select ? the crouch tech i mean
yes crouch tech is a option select, if they try to grab it chooses throw and techs for you, if they don’t it chooses c.lk instead, however you can get thrown on the start-up of the lk and then you can’t tech at all so watch out.
as for your questions…
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an option select is where a sequence of button presses gives the game multiple options on what to execute depending on what your opponent did in reaction, they work off 2 principles; variable recovery time depending on if you hit with a action or if it whiffed (moves recover faster if you whiff ie. whiff a jump-in, or they can be canceled if they hit) or they use the attack tiers for example how kicks > punches and heavy > medium > light so mp + lk + lp is option select mp/throw tech.
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a 1 frame link is a link where you only have a single frame after the recovery of 1 move to input the next move in the combo, ken’s 1 framer is cr.lp > cr.fp and is made easier by plinking. the +/- on moves refers to their frame advantage, ie. how many frames ahead of your opponent do you get control of your character… +1 means you control your character and can input a move a frame before they can, which is important to know when setting up CH/throw punish/jump punish setups.
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ost (option select tech) or dash back or dp, only dp if you think they will push a attack button and you want a CH (very risky)
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it adds a almost inperceviable amount of distance only really good for regaining distance after extra combo hits or for use after a forward throw, immediate f.dp will put you in front of the guy (you recovery just before they get up but it looks like they can punish) and a kara-dp moves you just enough to land on the other side of them. (if you dp too late after the throw though you CAN be punished).
Cr.lP > Cr.Mp is a 1 framer?Those arn’t as hard as I imagined since I can pull of C.Lp > Cr.Mp without that much trouble with a controller. And nice explanation Lulu, I already kinda knew what frame-data was meant but I never actually looked at it before myself TBH cause I didn’t need it, but that clears that up : D
I should start learning to option Select though, looks fun. And can anyone tell me the inputs for a Kara Fierce SRK [And his ultra if you can]? I forgot and havn’t used it yet. Only hadouken, throw, and focus regularly. And ultra I think I tried but didn’t give much distance really
Thanks alot Highlulu, appreciate all the answers. Think they will go a long way to improving my understanding of the game and the terms i see used on a regular basis. I’ll try and add these things to my game to improve my ken
o shit highlulu i didnt knw u were from concord did u go to the turney yesterday? u still playn ken?cuz if so i gta take u out lol
I normally just do
:r::df::r::mk:~:hp:
Its really useless, though. The only time I even use f.srk is during combos, and if you kara it then it tacks on like 2-3 frames iirc, which means it wont be comboing anymore. The only use I have for kara-srks is to get under people with a strong srk that are trying to bait you with an empty jumpin, like zangief or something. In order to do a kara-strong srk though…you cant use f+mk~mp because that just makes you focus attack, so you need to use your f+hk for the kara
So it is
:r::df::r::hk:~:mp:
Its really awkward and I’ve only done a few times, and the f+hk kara has less range…so yeah, not too useful. And if you fuck up and f+hk into their jump in you’re pretty much gonna lose half your health.