So, a few weeks back Nekojita (#1 Abel in JP for AE, #2 during Vanilla) gave some Abel lessons on Godsgarden Uragao TV stream which I thought was pretty good at least for beginner-intermediate level.
I’m working on translating what Nekojita is saying in the vid though I think if you’ve been using Abel for awhile, you can understand more than half of the stuff shown in the vid.
I’ll update the thread with the video links and translation.
Feel free to discuss anything related to the vid.
Part 1
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Translation
Spoiler
Nekojita Abel’s Lessons pt 1
First he talks about Abel’s strongest move, the F.MK (step kick).
He says that most new players might use more CR.MP to start their combo but they should really keep using/focus on how to use/land abel’s best move. Doesnt
matter if at first you cant connect the 1F link to Close ST.HP since even that can be a frame trap to beat throws/jumps etc (technically it doesnt beat
throws but it can be difficult to time throw, has to be frame perfect).
- Tips on/ways of landing a F.MK:
a. Dash F.MK - This can be considered as a move of its own. Abel’s dash is fast and its difficult to really react to this move.
b. Backdash F.MK - For example, at the distance of backdashing after blocking two cr.lps etc.
c. Getting frame advantage to set up the F.MK - Sure, J.MK can be combo’d into a step kick but its safe to say that you wont really get to land a free J.MK
just like that. Maybe you can use J.LP(better hitbox, but cant be combo’d into step kick), the point is to at least get to touch your opponent and create
frame advantage. As stated in #a, instead of dash F.MK you can also do dash ST.LK F.MK. Other examples: using CR.LK/cr.lp to set up F.MK.
Objective(for now): Not to just land the step kick to start a combo but to at least touch your opponent with the move, hit or blocked.
- What to do after landing a step kick?
a. Basically, Close ST.HP. Its one of the, if not the safest option.
It loses to, for example in this case Ryu’s - SRK(duh), CR.LK, frame perfect normal throw. AKA
- reversal specials + invi
- 3F normals
- normal throws (also 3F)
Close ST.HP will catch:
- opp trying to jump (leads to full combo)
- normal throws (not timed perfectly, cant be late even 1F, which is hard) - risk reward here is in favor of abel.
- backdash (2nd hit of the ST.HP will hit)
So yeah, thats your best choice. He says that he thinks that he uses close ST.HP after F.MK 80% of the time.
b. Tornado Throw
Use it when you predict a throw(or late tech/crouch tech) or when you’re in your opponent’s face/rushdown to a point that he’s frozen for a few frames. E.g.
after a dash F.MK. When your opponent cant react quick enough/reaction has become slow(due to rushdown pressure etc).
A lot of stuff beats this though so use it sparingly.
Sure, frame perfect 3 frames (e.g. cr.lp or CR.LK of certain chars) do beat this option but being frame perfect, it is easy to drop it and playing as abel,
its part of your expectation that your opponent will mess up that part. (not saying that you should play recklessly or anything, but its part of abel’s game
plan)
c. Normal throw (as quick as possible/frame perfect)
Beats everything except reversals with invincibility and teching.
Low risk but also lower return compared to close st.hp.
If the opponent:
i) Neutral jump, making the throw whiff but it is possible to react(or anticipate) with:
- ex falling sky (best option but might be a little bit difficult)
- close st.hp
- normal falling sky (probably lp, being the quickest - but riskier)
ii) Backdash
- “Touch” your opponent with st.lk followed by step kick.
iii) Reversal SRK
- Basically block (block + delayed throw). Normal rolls will get hit. Although if you think the opponent’s going to do a hp shoryu (aka longest recovery),
you can ex roll and punish with ultra, though you cant do anything to punish lp shoryu (in this video he mentions ryu/ken lp shoryu).
- Using the EX COD (13:40 mark)
Basically used against opponent’s medium strength and above moves.
Examples:
- When you think the opp is going to do a cr.mk (or cr.mk xx fb. However cr.mk xx shoryu will beat the ex cod).
- After blocking cr.lpx2 and you think the opp is going to do CR.MK. He says it is rare for people to do cr.lpx2 followed by more cr.lps. (but then again the
key here I guess is when you think/know(based on habit/read) that the opp is going for a medium attack after the crouching jabs.
Can also be used on wake up against a delayed cr.jab.
With 3 bars, you can use ex cod with really low risk since you can fadc it which can lead to a cr.hp combo/ultra. On block its +5 so you can follow with a cr.lk and it’ll be a true blockstring. Also, at +5 if you do a roll and your opponent does a shoryu, shoryu will whiff.
Part 2
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Translation
Spoiler
[A] Okizeme / Roll Mixups
Post Falling Sky:
(1) backdash lk roll (front)
(2) backdash mk roll (behind)
(1) has more frame advantage than (2). Basically its impossible to see the mixups although maybe if you focus really hard you might be able tell the
difference but then that might affect your reaction time since you’re focusing on blocking which side that you’ll eat a TT.
Your opponent has no time to react so he has to decide which side you’ll land on, well that or mash a (autocorrect) shoryu. As Abel, first you’ve to guess
between two options whether your opponent is going to shoryu or not (lol).
(is my opponent going to shoryu?) + (front/back mixups) + (risk calculation and/or BALLS) = profit? [note: he didnt say this, just my attempt to summarize
that part lol]
Maybe 1 out of 3 times you can throw out a cr.hp after the lk roll to catch people doing wakeup normal throw/other quick safe-on-block moves without invi
frames.
Post Tornado Throw
(3) dash lk roll (front)
(4) dash mk roll (behind)
Post TT mixups are “slightly” easier to see compared to (1)(2)
Against wake up reversal Shoryu (in this case, Ryu’s. Might not work vs some other characters’ shoryu/uppercut - test them yourselves)
Post Falling Sky
(5) backdash lk roll lk roll
Post Tornado Throw
(6) dash hk roll backdash
Both will make the shoryu whiff. However (5) has the risk of getting thrown. (he didnt say this in the video but for (6) your opponent can almost
backdash/escape for free)
Hit Confirming @ 8:10 mark
A lot of people say “Abel players, no matter how good, its impossible for them to 100% hit confirm, right? (regarding f.mk dash)” to which I disagree because
basically its possible… BUT…
Sometimes you see me or other abel players doing TT even after the f.mk hit, thats usually due to the decision already made in advance e.g. while pressuring
with blockstrings you figured that chances are your next move (step kick) will be blocked so you decide to go for a f.mk dash TT in advance that you buffer
the hcb command during the dash. In this case even if the f.mk hits, pressing hp/delayed hp will still lead to a TT.
Step Kick vs crouching opponents:
Against crouching opponents, for most of the cast even if the step kick hits, you cant combo into anything so your options are either using the frame
advantage and go for a command grab/normal throw or keep on pressuing with cr.lk strings. Therefore, against abel most people usually do low poke/pressure
without worrying about getting hit by f.mk dash st.hp (except on CH that is).
As for characters that get hit by st.hp even while crouching, those matchups are usually in abel’s favor (be it slightly).
Sample case, vs Boxer. However boxer’s hitbox can be weird sometimes so at rare times the st.hp will whiff.
Counter Hit Step Kick
- (vs boxer) close st.hp will whiff unless you delay it a little bit.
- other options after a CH step kick dash are
(i) cr.hp - the best option
(ii) another step kick
(iii) cr.lp st.mp [works vs everyone although i think it can also be distance specific]
For CH step kick (no dash), you can combo into another step kick if you’re in range.
Part 3
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Translation
Spoiler
Stuff vs Sagat (some stuff can be applied to other matchups too)
Blocked step kick VS Tiger Uppercut:
- Step kick (no dash)
- Step kick roll
Both of those options will make TU whiff but the 2nd option loses to throws. The goal here is to go with the lowest risk option… at first.
This will make your opponent think more after blocking a step kick. Then you can mix it up by cancelling into a dash and start the usual step kick shenanigans. For example you can take advantage of the slight hesitation of your opponent after the step kick (to react to whether you dash or not etc) and do step kick dash throw. This can lead to your opponent wanting to tech the throw or cr.lk os throw tech, you can punish this with empty step kick into another step kick.
Empty step kick is particularly useful against character with quick uppercut/reversals with invi frames that they can just do and fadc out to safety.
**
Something you can do as sagat to deal with step kick is to use FA. Sure abel can do stuff like cr.mk xx ex cod or lk roll against FA, but cr.mk is a slow move and chances to get crumpled is high. In this matchup using FA is pretty effective.
**
Since most people dont want abel to get close, after blocking some light attacks, people tend to want to walk back out of step kick range, this is when you can catch them with a sweep. You can then start your setplay/mixups from the sweep.
Stuff you can do after landing a sweep:
- sweep xx lk roll, cr.lp, st.hk, hp TT
- sweep xx lk roll, cr.lp, st.mk, lp TT
- sweep xx hk roll, j.mk (4f safe jump but doesnt work vs sagat because he wakes up slower)
- sweep xx lk/hk roll, neutral jump/neutral jump hk, TT (you can mix this up with #3 the 4f safe jump)
- sweep xx lk roll, cr.lp, hk roll (follow up with f.mk - can deal with people mashing uppercut, throws, or backdash without really looking aka dashing towards you lol) * he prefers to do this most of the time
- sweep xx lk roll, cr.lp, hk roll, dash TT (gimmicks lol)
Anyway, since if the sweep gets blocked and you cancelled into rolls, you’ll be at a disadvantage and can be punished, a safer option is to do sweep xx hp cod fadc. The sweep xx hp cod is a true block string, the fadc wont come out if the sweep landed.
**
Cr.hp VS Sagat
- Can be used against Sagat’s FA
- Against step low/step high kick (after cr.lk cr.lp etc)
- Against step high kick (sometimes they purposely whiff the step high and do TU fadc, yaknow, shenanigans like that)
In summary, in close range(but not super close - id say range after you blocked 2-3 light attacks from point blank?), cr.hp can be useful.
Part 4
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Translation
Spoiler
Stuff vs Gouki
Unlike Ryu etc, Gouki’s shoryu whiffs easier.
- TT, dash lk roll, back jump
- works against shoryu, teleport forward, raging demon
FS, backdash lk roll, back jump will get hit by shoryu. Next setup,
- FS, backdash, hk roll, backdash.
You can use that setup against shoryu or back teleport(punish with stepkick)
You can bait shoryu or back teleport after TT too by doing
- TT, dash, hk roll, backdash
Basically after a TT you can do 1) or 3) depending on what you wanna bait.
Sure you can make shoryu whiffs using point blank lk roll but that has some risks. Most of the time its best to pick the safer/safest(yet with good return) options.
After doing/showing the above setups, you can now mix it up with your ground mixup options (the standard ambiguous roll setups etc).
Next, setups from throws.
After a throw, sure you can mixup with lk roll but I think its still better to attack from above(jumps). The goal is to hit the j.mk on the head, basically when you’re in a situation where you can j.mk to the head, do it lol.
Against shoto, after a backthrow, walk forward a little bit, wait a few frames(or do a move), then j.mk is an unblockable. Its kinda hard to get the unblockable. The way he said it, think of it as you aim for the head, if you fail you’ll get the unblockable(lol), other than that you can beat reversal shoryu.
(backthrow > neutral/front throw)
It is also good to OS/buffer a hk roll from a jumping attack(typically on wake up), he said that he usually will do/OS a hk roll off a j.mk.
He stressed that Gouki’s shoryu is pretty weak, as AA.
Since you can do a properly placed(aka headshot) j.mk on gouki’s wakeup, they wouldnt want to do reversal shoryu because that can lead to half of their health gone so basically they have two options, block or teleport away.
(note: a delayed shoryu can beat the “headshot” but iirc because of the input for that, it can get beat if you dont crossup - which can lead to a lot of damage… someone can correct me on this, I dont have time to properly test everything at the moment)
Doesnt matter whether the j.mk hits or not, just do hk roll is a pretty good option. Can beat back teleport and even if your opp doesnt do anything, you’re in range for a step kick (which can beat some of the stuff they throw out or just make them block the step kick).
Also, after the hk roll, it can be easier to land a step kick due to your opponent panicking (especially if the j.mk hits)
The term he kept using means something like “slowing down your opponent thought process/reactions” aka messing up with their heads from all of the (rather safe) options you’ve shown them.
Part 5
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Sorry no translation yet.
Part 6
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Sorry no translation yet.
Whats left : Yang, Dictator. Armor cancelling. [end]
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