Excellent! I appreciate the new characters because I want to do them first.
Thanks for the Poison one!
Now I just gotta work on the input timing for LMT. I can hit it facing left more than right which really annoys me, but still very inconsistent.
How advanced can we get as far as combos are concerned? Can we go to Sako level execution?
Sakura. There is a lot of information here so I would love to see this turned into a video! If you need clarity on anything, feel free to ask me anything. 
Spoiler
Sakura
Preferred ultras: U2 for combo versatility, U1 for high damage/comeback potential. Choice is up to the player, UCW is not recommended.
Entry level difficulty: [5/10]
Advanced difficulty: [8/10] - due to execution requirements
Anti airs:
- Crouching heavy punch; will be your primary anti air to stop jump ins on most occasions.
- Standing heavy punch; more situational, but it’s fantastic for putting cross-up attempts on blast.
- Jumping medium punch; Sakura’s main air-to-air move.
- Light and medium dragon punches; useful for the classic fireball into anti air game.
Anti focus:
-LK or HK tatsu (armor breaking and safe on block)
-Any version of dragon punch (not armor breaking)
Punishing combos
Tatsu Loops - aka Sakura’s advance combos that require 1 frame links
(The notations are shortened so cl.hp, cr.hp, cr.hp would look like this cl.hp xx tatsu, cr.hp xx tatsu, cr.hp into whatever.)
- cl.hp, cr.hp = dan, e.ryu, ken, poison, ryu, sakura
- cl.hp, cr.hp, cr.hp = abel, balrog, dee jay, dhalsim, dudley, el fuerte, hugo, juri
- cl.hp, cr.hp, st.lk = e.honda, elena, guile, sagat, seth, t.hawk, vega, zangief
- cl.mk, cl.hp, cr.hp = akuma, adon, cammy, chun, cody, c.viper, dee jay, fei long, gen, guy, gouken, hakan, m.bison, oni, rolento, rose, rufus, yang, yun
- cl.mk, cl.mk, cr.hp, st.lk = ibuki, makoto
- cl.mk, cr.hp, cr.hp = blanka
- cl.mk, cl.hp, st.lk = decapre
-Tip: Personally, I recommend keeping the tatsu loop specifics on your phone or writing it down in a notebook to cut down on having to memorize every single character’s data.
Confirm combos
- Denotes 1 frame link, can opt for st.LK for easier (but less damaging) 2 frame link after a LK tatsu.
NOTE: HP shouken FADC must be followed up with st.HP (1 frame link) to combo. EX shouken FADC grants more frame advantage and makes the st.HP link easier and also allows st.MK to be used instead.
Meterless
cr. LK > st. LP > cr. MK xx HP Shouken (204/320)
cr. LK > st. LP > cr. HP xx HP Shouken (223/336)
cr. LK > st. LP > st. LP >* cr. HK (128/245)
One Bar
cr. LK > cr. LP > cr. HP xx EX Shunpukyaku/Tatsu > Otosi x2 (255/371)
st. HP xx LK Tatsu >* cr. HP xx EX Shunpukyaku/Tatsu > Otosi x2 (365/491)
Two Bars
cr. MK xx HP Shouken > FADC >* st. HP xx LK Tatsu >* cr. HP xx HP Shouken (418/548)
Three Bars
cr. MK xx EX Shouken > FADC > st. HP xx LK Tatsu >* cr. HP xx HP Shouken (428/558)
cr. HP xx HP Shouken > FADC >* st. HP xx LK Tatsu >* cr. HP xx EX Tatsu > Otosi x2 (421/537)
Four Bars
st. HP xx LK Tatsu > cr. HP xx EX Shouken > FADC > st. HP xx EX Tatsu > Otosi x2 (460/591)
st. HP xx LK Tatsu > cr. HP xx HP Souken xx Super (488/351)
Important Juggles
LP dragon punch > MP dragon punch
EX tatsu > any jumping attack/HK otoshi
EX tatsu > U2
Corner only
Airborn tatsu > U2 (KKK)
Dragon punch > U2 (KKK)
Ultra setups
Mid-Screen
EX Tatsu (with or without combo) > U2 (can slightly walk forward if spacing is bad)
EX Tatsu > Dash Forward > slight delay > U1
Corner
HP/EX Shouoken (with or without combo) > U2 KKK
EX Tatsu (with or without combo) > U2 KKK (SHOULD slightly delay the input)
EX Tatsu > backdash/whiff st.mp > LP Shouoken > U2 (Better damage)
EX Tatsu > Dash Forward > slight delay > U1
Meaty charged hadoken > FADC > U1
Footsies
Sakura is an offensive, frame trap, high damage and stun output machine. She has great knockdown pressure, some solid resets and gimmicks that go along with her insanely effective offense. Despite her great mobility and good pokes like cr. MK and st. HK, she can struggle against lame play and turtling. Her overall game plan revolves around wanting to get in and stay in, she cannot control the mid-range like a typical shoto. Successfully landing 1-2 combos after a mixup can lead to a fully stunned character or even possibly death!
Notable normals:
- Far standing heavy kick; far-reaching normal that’s mostly used to keep people out. It’s also great for counter poking.
- Crouching medium kick; great footsies tool that can be hit-confirmed into a dragon punch.
- Standing & crouching light punch; strong pressure tool that can be used for frame traps.
- Far standing medium punch- Situational, but it’s a decent counter poke.
Other notable normal moves:
- Forward medium kick; her overhead, slow start-up so use sparingly
- Forward jump heavy punch; Great hitbox, can stuff certain anti air attempts (if timed early) even after the nerfs
- Forward jump medium kick; primary cross-up.
Block strings:
Sakura’s block strings are fortunately very easy since they’re just chained lights ending in standing light kick (if spacing allows it). Normally Sakura can chain 3 lights together, however she can chain 4 lights together (recommend ending with st.lk) in the corner or against wider hitbox characters. It is generally recommended to end block strings used as hitconfirms with cr.lp which grants the ability to combo into cr.mk xx HP dp
Examples:
cr. LK x3, (st.LK)
cr. LK, cr. LP, cr. LP, (st. LK)
Safe Jumps
Due to Ultra adding the option of delayed wakeup (DWU) from a hard knockdown, safe jumps resulting from a hard knockdown are no longer safe. It is better to opt for a safe jump after a soft knockdown from a dragon punch which covers both options of quick rise and non-quick rise.
NOTE: Use j.HK for dragon punch safe jumps against Cammy and Sagat otherwise it will whiff (they wake up a few frames slower than the rest of the cast).
No Timing Required
MP dp > uf > j.HP/HK, (if they late wakeup) > whiff st.LP, nj.HK
Timing Required
HP dp > 1mm walk forward j.HP/HK, (if they late wakeup) > whiff st.LP, nj.HK
HP dp (corner) > whiff st.LP, nj.HP (hits infront, lands behind) / j.MK (crossup), (if they late wakeup) > whiff st.LP, nj.HP/MK again
Throw > small step back > j.MK/HP (safe jump; makes dp’s whiff)
Throw > whiff cr.MP > j.MK (alternative, makes shotos dp’s whiff except Akuma - he can walk away due to his fast walk speed)
Throw > st.LP > j.MK (5-frame safe jump)
Throw > st.LK > j.HP (fake crossup on Sagat/Cammy)
Sweep > slight step back > j.mk/HP
Mixups:
Frame Traps:
Her normals are great for frame trapping
cr.lp > cr.hp (1 frame gap)
cr.lp > cr.mp (2 frame gap)
cr.lk > cl.hp (3 frame gap)
st.lp > cr.hp (4 frame gap)
st.lp > st.lp > cl.hp (walking a bit between the st.lps)
cr.lp > walk > cr.lp > cr.mk xx hitconfirm DP
Jump-in attack xx lk tatsu (my personal favorite)
cr.lk xx lk tatsu (can be stuffed by jabs though)
Jump-in attack > delayed cl.hp
-Crouching light kick into crouching heavy punch is good, but it’s outclassed by crouching light kick into standing heavy punch in most cases since it’s one frame faster (3 frames vs. 4 frames)
- Crouching light kick into light hurricane kick is also great because it leaves you closer on block, it gives Sakura lower body invincibility, and it’s safer on block against the majority of the cast.
Tip: You can cr.lk, st. hp xx tatsu after an empty jump to blow people up but be warned that if you’re not close enough you may get far st.hp (which doesn’t combo) on certain characters. Balrog and Guile come to mind.
Notes:
Sakura doesn’t have invincibility on her dragon punches, only her EX dragon punch has invincibility. In addition to that, they are slow as well; her EX dragon punch has 12 frame start-up. This means her reversal options are not as strong as other characters since it costs 3 meters to throw out a reversal on wake-up and make it safe. Since it’s so slow, the opponent can easily bait it with a neutral jump.
Sakura has the worst fireball in the game (not counting Dan). The recovery is very slow so you cannot play the typical shoto fireball - uppercut game in the mid-range (around the same space apart when the characters begin playing when the round starts). The dragon punch has a lot of horizontal movement so you can anti-air people further than this distance, however.
Sakura was very strong in AE2012 due to her ambiguous hard knock down setups. Due Ultra adding DWU, these setups are no longer safe, so it is advisable to end combos with dragon punch which lead into a soft knockdown, which then lead into a safe jump. Sakura still has ambiguous jump-ins from these safe jumps and is still considered a strong character due to how damaging her combos are and her ability to convert cr.MK into high damage and/or mixups.
Sakura’s normals do not have much range so she cannot control the neutral position like a typical shoto. Use far standing heavy kick to control space and counter poke in the neutral. Cr.MK hit-confirmed into hp dp is the bread and butter to Sakura’s neutral game as it leads into high damage (cr.MK xx hp dp xx FADC, st.HP* xx lk tatsu, cr.HP xx hp dp). (FADC > st.HP is a 1 frame link This is a must learn skill for playing Sakura at a high level and is not easy to due. Another example of this being used is cr.MK xx LP dp > U2 (KKK) in the corner for a meterless combo into ultra. (LP dp is used for less damage scaling)
st.HP xx lk tatsu, cr.HP xx hp dp/ex tatsu is a universal combo that works on the entire cast (except Decapre which you must substitute cr.HP with st.LK - shout outs to the DLC characters funky hitboxes). This is the combo recommended to people wanting to work on their tatsu loop execution. Against wider hitbox characters, you can add another loop and end the combo with st.LK xx hp dp/ex tatsu (example: st.HP xx lk tatsu, cr.HP xx lk tatsu, st.LK xx hp dp/ex tatsu).
Pros:
- Humanbomb
- NYChrisG
- Alex Myers
- Dunhiller/Danhiru
- Uryo
- Juso
Credit: Everyone on the Sakura forums, this information was gathered from the entire Sakura community.
Maybe someday I’ll upload stuff like that as “master class” in separate videos. Try to keep it fundamental. Fei’s link from chicken wing into close fierce is 1f but it’s fundamental for his character. Evil Ryu’s low strong stand strong light stomp fadc close strong links are stronger than his normal confirms but add a ridiculous amount of difficulty for a small amount of extra damage. Remember these are for beginners.
Five for entry level difficulty? I know she gets really hard once you start throwing tatsu loops in, but a single two frame link into far short is all anyone needs at entry level, and her combos outside tatsu are pretty easy. Really good guide though.
I originally had her at 3/10 entry but I’ve had people tell me even her 2f links are difficult so I dunno. I’ll drop it down to 4/10 entry level haha
I’d like to add a note about armor cancels for Hugo.
I like 3 as well, so I put that down. You don’t have to cancel to shououken, you can generally just go for an EX tatsu which is “safe” to drop. Hell, you don’t even have to use light tatsu in punish combos if you wanna keep it down to fierce xx HP shououken. Real easy for a beginner.
Done.
If you’re going to do your own Dudley video ThirtyFour has the single most extensive video tutorial on any character I have ever seen.
That’s shintroy. He’s my acquaintance from the sf3 netplay days
Yeah I have him subbed on Youtube but I mostly know of him from the Dudley section.
were the dan combos at?
Yun
Divekick and target combos. Done.
If you can give me even a single use for his low strong low fierce TC, I’ll be impressed.
Someday
Rolento’s done! Wow, these are getting longer and longer. I thought rolento would be a much more straightforward character than most of the other ones. By the time I get to viper it’s gonna be thirty minute tutorials, lol
As of now I’m putting my finalized guides in my guide section, so that people who come here can look at them.
Decapre’s done!
how to play chun li
Thanks Lianghubbb but I already have this video in my chun resources.
Hugo’s done.
Elena’s done. Might have to fix it up come 1.04 though since I consider it likely they fix some stuff about her.