I’ve seen some vids of Momochi double-dashing sweep after a Blanka Ball and landing it (2 out of 3 times in a match). I’ve begun trying for it as well and it does catch opponents off guard; most of them don’t expect you to do anything but stand there in block stun. It’s tricky seeing as how the timing has to be perfect, but if you can make it stick on occasion, it can make him think twice about tossing random blanka balls at you even when you don’t have Ultra. It’s not something that should be used all the time though as if the blanka player anticipates this (and your timing’s off) he can just blanka ball again on landing and catch you.
But it’s perfect to induce shennanigans and play with your opponent’s minds.
If they can blanka ball again, they can block it. It’s a nice tactic, but the ball is still relatively safe (as in, you can’t punish 100% of the time) without your demon.
The demon does 600 damage though. It’s no normal punish. You can also use super demon, and you can react to ball with srk, making the move not so safe. Still, I will admit, DPing ball on reaction is tough, but after you lose half your health or focus enough hits (and I use focus on this matchup quite a bit), using ball is as unsafe as it gets.
Mmmm… I’d definitely say that I’m more geared towards Momochi’s style of play with Akuma, rather than Tokido’s techniques. Now don’t get me wrong, Tokido has portrayed an excellent variety of “rushdown”-based techniques – but it’s just too risky for me. I like to be defensive and calculating, yet able to punish people’s slip-ups and or errors if they make them swiftly and efficiently. That’s just my two cents.
Sagat and Ryu (the only two chars above Akuma on a tier chart) got “buffed?”
Akuma is going to be bad ass in Super. He didn’t lose anything that makes him awesome other than the ability to start big combos with an FADC fireball – and you can still probably do that, just for less damage…
Negatives for Akuma (SSFIV):
Combo damage after FADC is lessened.
Ultra 2 seems pretty worthless
No more loop
Positves for Akuma (SSFIV):
Trade DP -> Ultra was removed for chars that can combo Ultra after trade (Akuma can’t do this)
Supers do more damage (Rumor)
FADC -> Ultra got a damage nerf (Akuma can’t do this)
Dive kick should beat reversals easier (Changes to reversals so that meaties are more viable?)
FAs are faster (Akuma has a good FA)
Looking at those changes from Akuma’s perspective, I don’t know how you can say he won’t be as good or better in SSF4 than he was in SF4, especially when you look at the nerf stick that Sagat and Ryu got smacked with.
45-50 is a gross exaggeration. The most damage you can get off of it is around 400 which is only about 36-40% depending on the character which most loopable characters have 1100 health or more. That’s if you get about 3 to 4 reps in on him.
