Need help understanding Blanka's strategy (or lack thereof) from Gouken perspective

I’m mostly a Gouken player, and hands down the character I have trouble fighting the most is Blanka. Shenanigans are just insane, I can’t seem to find any consistency behind all the Blanka matches I’ve played so far. The “lack thereof” in the title is just alluding to how it seems like Blanka’s style is chaotic and random.

So, if anyone is kind enough to divulge secrets, I’m really curious what is the general Blanka strategy with fighting Gouken, and how I can retaliate in return. I’ve learned to stop throwing out so many fireballs because of EX-hori ball and slide, but even though I’ve learned to bait and block those moves most of the time, I can’t seem to punish well enough. In addition, I can’t seem to anti-air Blanka at all from the ground, so I just have to let Blanka jump in on me and hope he doesn’t knock me down, which usually ends up happening anyway.

With rainbow ball, I know the recovery is pretty awful for blank if it’s blocked, but I don’t know if it’s long enough for Gouken to start his bread and butter cr.fp > ex-palm combo. Does anyone have experience with that?

Thanks in advance.

i can only beat gouken players with dan. :S

Counter more? Blanka ball is his only move with armor break properties, and I usually only use that to close in the gap to throw/electricity/slide/hop. On knockdown, I’ll usually try for another knockdown, usually via throw or slide, since Gouken’s wakeup game isn’t that great. Otherwise, if I think he’s not gonna counter, I’ll go for the j.mk crossup, cr.mk., fp.elec.

I believe you can punish most of his rolls on block with normal palm, and I’m sure you can punish rainbow roll with your bnb.

[quote=Makro Planar;8015612With rainbow ball, I know the recovery is pretty awful for blank if it’s blocked, but I don’t know if it’s long enough for Gouken to start his bread and butter cr.fp > ex-palm combo. Does anyone have experience with that?.[/quote]

Focus it. Easy way to punish, focus, wait for land, crumple.

Otherwise, it’s a hard matchup. Blanka play generally divides into 2 groups:

Aggressive: Mullah, Fax Gitmo etc.
In your face, uses a lot of pressure tricks like repeative crossups, lp xx hop -> throw, lp xx elec or blanka ball fadc for more mixups.
The way to comabt this would be a lot of defensive training, how to block repeating mk crossovers and teching a lot of throws. Don’t let him jump in for free, learn good anti-airs against him.
Turtle: eg. Realyst. Lots of DB, close balls for chip, cr.MP anti-air.
Hard for Gouken to crack, just get that one knockdown and keep the pressure up. Blanka has terrible wakeup: best we got is EX upball which is punishable on hit with full Gouken ultra (probably some non-ultra punish as well). Get in his face and pressure him.

Just don’t do any meaties when he has ultra :lol:

Goukens give me a lot of trouble as well. I’ve learned to stay sort of close to them and treat him like a spammy shoto. Ultra 2 also helps.

post questions like this in the Gouken threads. ffs.