Newbie Advice (gameplay examples included)

I posted something similar in the dojo thread, but I thought I’d put something here since I’m only playing as Hugo.

I’m extremely new to fighting games in general and I only want to be good enough to enjoy myself online by actually being capable of winning some matches.

Heres where I started:

And i’m playing like this after a couple of days:

I’m in the green outfit again, it’s a shame I had been drinking or I might have won:

So a couple of more specific questions:

1.What do I need to practice/keep in mind to effectively grapple?
2.I can consistently make contact with his “butt” move, but where should I go from there after the hit lands? Like dash in maybe? I usually get punished after I land this hit.

Thanks for any feedback both general and specific!

Don’t do far distance lariats like that, it’s super bad and you will get destroyed by anyone who knows how to punish that. By the same token, don’t throw out a random SA3. Don’t use the butt move so much either. There are some very specific circumstances where it can work, but if people get hit by it, it’s generally because they suck. The move has some strange properties (sometimes being an overhead) which probably confuses unfamiliar players - but by using it so much you are not developing good habits. I don’t really like telling people exactly what they should and shouldn’t do (since personal preference plays such a huge factor in this game), but if you’re that new you should probably wait until you’ve got the basics down before you decide to break the mold.

Learn to space with your ground normals. Mainly standing strong and low forward. Learn to use your jump-in attacks better (mostly down + fierce and jump roundhouse). Learn what you can reversal 360. In the Yang vid, you can 360 after you block the third hit of the mantis slash. That’s just one example.

Thanks for the feedback!