Ken Strategies and Matchups

[caliagent_3]

something random i found 2 days ago, shoto far s.strong and far s.forward beats cammy far s.roundhouse.

whats best groove . is he better as an anchor or clean up

1. C
2. A
3. N & K

C gives you the lvl 2 cancel with silly damage and mix up potential. This is most likely your groove of choice if you’re a beginner ken player. A-groove is second only if you can do his AA CC, it’s free damage if someone jumps. N and K are tied, mostly because of meter issues.

[goodm0urning]

I am having some trouble with Raiden. Can anyone give me some tips so I can use my C-Ken to curb stomp this fat son of a bitch?

[King_Of_Bums]

On Ken…

Ken is a fustrating character to use, because the majority of his game revolves around RC funky kick whoring. Seriously, there is NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING!!!) that Ken possesses that can’t be easily countered besides RC funky kick.

St. Rh…rollable, jumpable, JD-punishable and really doesn’t even have that much range contrary to popular belief.

Fwd + RH…a little better than st. rh but suffers from the same weaknesses, just to a lesser extent.

Fireball…when used like a poke (i.e. Sagat st.fwd), it’s pretty decent, but unfortunately, this game is dominated by grooves with roll, making it VERY VERY VERY risky to use. It’s still a pretty decent poke against non-roll grooves—makes it a little harder to punish, but be weary of small jumps.

RDP + Kick…the good thing about this move is that no one ever counters it. The bad thing about this move is that it is EXTREMELY punishable if they get tired of being stupid and decide to do something about it. You can roll, super, CC right through this move and fuck Mr. Masters up hardcore.

s.short…I don’t think many people realize, but Ken’s s.short has the EXACT same range as his c.fwd and c.roundhouse. It looks like it has shorter range, but it doesn’t. Standing short is good in the sense that it can stuff a lot of moves (i.e. slide attacks) and that it’s bufferable into short Funky kick. But this move will trade sometimes…NOT in Ken’s favor (it’s a short :sad: ), so it has to used carefully. Still one of his best moves. shrugs

So as you can see, most of Ken’s best tools are HIGHLY punishable…that’s where RC Funky Kick comes into play.
RCFK is NOT highly punishable. Let me break down some common in-game scenarios and how RCFK deals with ALL of them.

1. You RCFK, your opponent sticks out a poke, they get kicked in the grill. Basic.

2. You RCFK, your opponent jumps over it, Ken recovers in time to block or DP.

3. You RCFK, your opponent jumps too late, they get kicked to the floor.

4. You RCFK, your opponent rolls, Ken recovers in time, throw or short, short, super. (Works against most characters, but characters with quick rolls like Iori can punish it).

5. You RCFK, your opponent crosses you up, Ken recovers in time, Reverse Dragon Punch. Hell, sometimes you can do a regular DP, and he’ll turn around automatically.

6. You whiff RCFK (very common to see Ken doing this), your opponent attempts to punish your recovery with a poke (i.e Sagat st. fierce), Ken recovers in time. This is why it’s good to whiff RCFK----you won’t see many (if ANY) people punishing a whiffed RCFK.

The bottom line is, without RCFK, Ken requires a tremendous amt of work.
With RCFK, Ken becomes a beast. Your opponents face will be like :xeye: and yours will be like :badboy: . haha

Im kinda new to using ken, so this maybe a newbish question, but here goes nothing. How do you do the roll canceled funky kick (as you have called it.) I see it used all the time, and i can do the other two (rc the hcf+mk and hcf+hk) but what is the secret to doing it with short? I’m guessing its doing the roll at about down or down forward, then finish it off with negative input. Is it that simple and i just need more practice, or do you know something I’m missing?

[King_Of_Bums]

Does anybody have any reliable strategies for fighting Eagle or similar rushdown characters? Every time I fight him with Ken (which never happens on purpose), I get completely owned, with me occasionally pulling out a narrow victory, which is pretty sad for an r2 Ken. Also just for confirmation, the funky kick refers to the move that is done by a reverse dragon punch motion kick right?

i think funky kick refers to hcf+lk, not rdp+ k

[CMX]

Im kinda new to using ken, so this maybe a newbish question, but here goes nothing. How do you do the roll canceled funky kick (as you have called it.) I see it used all the time, and i can do the other two (rc the hcf+mk and hcf+hk) but what is the secret to doing it with short? I’m guessing its doing the roll at about down or down forward, then finish it off with negative input. Is it that simple and i just need more practice, or do you know something I’m missing?

yeah just negative edge it and practice it a couple times.

[King_Of_Bums]

yeah just negative edge it and practice it a couple times.

Ok, at least i was thinking right. But can you show the part where you normally put in the positive input, then the negative edge. I’m guessing away->between away and down -> down + Lp+lk (roll and positive input) -> between down and forward - > forward release of lp+lk (negative input).

[CMX]

Ok, at least i was thinking right. But can you show the part where you normally put in the positive input, then the negative edge. I’m guessing away->between away and down -> down + Lp+lk (roll and positive input) -> between down and forward - > forward release of lp+lk (negative input).

input order (the way i do it)

:l:, :db:, :d:, :df:.:lp:+:lk: (push and hold both), :r:.:lk: (hold lp and let go of lk)

[FSgamer]

Im kinda new to using ken, so this maybe a newbish question, but here goes nothing. How do you do the roll canceled funky kick (as you have called it.) I see it used all the time, and i can do the other two (rc the hcf+mk and hcf+hk) but what is the secret to doing it with short? I’m guessing its doing the roll at about down or down forward, then finish it off with negative input. Is it that simple and i just need more practice, or do you know something I’m missing?

Ok, at least i was thinking right. But can you show the part where you normally put in the positive input, then the negative edge. I’m guessing away->between away and down -> down + Lp+lk (roll and positive input) -> between down and forward - > forward release of lp+lk (negative input).

It depends on how fast your inputs are:

b,db,d+[LP+LK],df,f [release LK]

or b,db,d,df+[LP+LK],f [release LK]

Try both, see which one works better for you.
If you get a Hadoken, you’re probably releasing LP & LK at the same time, or you’re releasing LP before LK.
If you get a plain roll, you’re probably performing the inputs too slow.

[King_Of_Bums]

I did it a couple times, so all i need is practice. And, even if i release both lp+lk, i dont do a rc’ed hadoken. But thank you all for your help. (I’m just going to stick with rock, sakura, and bison from now on :P)

[the_judge]

bump
Negative Edge is proven the best way to RC Funky kick.

[System_1]

any tips for n-groove ken? I’m not that good, so some easier tips might be more useful.
thanks

[FSgamer]

any tips for n-groove ken? I’m not that good, so some easier tips might be more useful.
thanks

-lj.HK
-lj.MK
-cross-up lj.MK
-running c.LP/LK
-run c.MK xx lvl 3 Kick Super

[Hellion]

crossup lj.MK xx dp + LP
d.lk x 2 xx dp + LP superjump crossup MK, close s.HP xx dp + HP
RC Short version of Funky Kick
(I suck and don’t have the time to practice that, its like 50% for me so I stick with MK version)

[Trix]

I’m having a hard time hit confirming Ken’s c. mk into Shippu. The only way I’ve done it is to buffer the first qcb, then do another qcb + k, but the super comes out maybe 1 out of every 20 attempts…

Most of the time, I just end up getting c. mk into hurricane kick.

Suggestions?

Heh, I really need to get better at buffering in general…

[epsilon]

lol, you don’t hit confirm it, its not 3s.

if you need a low hit confirm use short short super.

[Trix]

lol, you don’t hit confirm it, its not 3s.

if you need a low hit confirm use short short super.

:lol:

Well, I’ve seen Combofiend and some other Ken players hit confirm it, so I was just curious.

Though, I will work on your suggestion. Thx!

[epsilon]

pretty sure they arent truly hit confirming it.

hit confirming is setting the computer to random block, and only letting go super on hit.

in a match there are a bunch of things than can tell you whether or not the c.mk will hit.

[Trix]

Haha, I figured out how to hit confirm the c. mk into Shippu. It does involve the buffering method I mentioned, but the input just has to be hella quick and precise.

Though, the method you gave me also worked, but that’s just a matter of my stick spinning skills, which is somethin I’m still workin on.

[Illan_3rd]

wats kens best groove?

[FSgamer]

wats kens best groove?

Most people would say C.
I’d say is a tie between C & N.