"Not fat enough? We can fix that!" Rufus Match-up Thread

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

Discuss Rufus matchups in this thread.

Here is the latest tier list (Feb 2010) in case you need to check other things:

http://www.eventhubs.com/guides/2008/oct/17/street-fighter-4-tiers-character-rankings/

Rufus Frame data:

http://www.shoryuken.com/wiki/index.php/Rufus_(SFIV)

Match-ups:

Abel **
**
6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

Close/(maybe) far St.mk beats out Wheel Kick. Jab SS beats out wheel kick randomly. St.HP as well.
Abel can block Rufus cr.HP and punish with Ultra. Can punish Messiah (all) with Ultra.
Dive Kick shenanigans arent great against abel unless you mix it up.
You can ultra Abel’s wheel kick on reaction (If you can predict it…go for it, other wise just block or far mk it)
Can be crossed up with j.mk

**Akuma **

5/5 even, according to the latest tier list in (February 2010)

EX SS if he jumps and does air fireballs (requieres good timing)
EX SS if he Demon flips (doesnt matter which followup he uses, EX SS has enough invincibility to beat all of them)
cr.HP his tatsumakis

Balrog (Boxer) **
**
5/5 even, according to the latest tier list in (February 2010)

St.MP is your best poke here.
Tri Jumps whiff on standing boxer
Crossup dive kick is great against Boxer.
Can combo GT > Ultra anywhere on screen.
can get all the hits of EX SS after messiah, lk FADC
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=187004

Blanka

5/5 even, according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

Cr.MK xx EX Tornado to punish electricity.
Block Blanka Balls standing. Walk forward a little bit, and use Cr.FP to punish.
Meaty cross up dive kicks can punish electricity on wakeup.
J.HK into either Ultra or EX Snake Strike on blocked Rainbow Balls.
Ex GT slides if you need the damage. Cr.MK xx EX GT if he is close and slides.
You can EX Messiah Kick Blanka out of his Ultra as long as he is still rising.
Focus attack if he tries rainbow balls for crossups…just use focus everytime he uses them
If blans does ultra on point blank. Cr.mp trades when hes coming down, its better than be chiped to death. (if you have meter use EX messiah or EX SS to escape if you are very low on health)

Cammy **
**
6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

FA is a godsend here.
Blocked super/ultra = walk a bit, far HKx2, Ultra
EX hooligan combination = EX SS
Punish drills with st.HP xx HP tornado or launcher > ultra

This match is definitely in your favor. The way her tools work are very similar to your own except you do more damage and have more health. You cant be too reckless on her though purely cause of her DP. I try to play this match by just advancing forward to a point where you can dive kick without making large jumps that can be easily DPd on reaction. She will want to jump as much as you do for her dive kick so return the favor and just anti air with s. hp or c. mp. Trading with a s. hp is still a loss for her so just keep at it. Once you have your rush down going you need to judge your opponent and try to bait a DP if you feel theyre getting a bit mashy with it after your dive kicks. On blocked DP there are a couple ways to punish. If youre unsure you could always c. hp, but if you blocked it deep you can dash twice and hp xx hp tornado, target combo to ultra, etc. To continue your offense on a knock down you might realize that her DP is a bit more difficult to cross up than others. Start your jump for meaty cross up dive kick from a little farther back and you can pretty much guarantee a stuffed DP if they attempt it. The biggest problem for Cammy is her very limited ability to cross up with her dive kick. In fact, the only times it ever crosses me up is in the corner (from my experiences anyways). With this said you can easily deal with her by holding down back and jumping back out of dive kick attempts to escape. The last bit of advice I can offer is to be careful with your EX Messiahs when she has ultra. Cammys ultra can be reversald before you can even use the hk follow up to try and go over it.

Cammy Tricks to Look Out For

The most annoying Cammy trick imo is the guaranteed Hooligan Combination grab. If you get knocked down and tech recover, a meaty Hooligan will grab you guaranteed.
She can bait throw attempts just like you can. Same mind games apply as many of your own.
There are certainly ranges for safe Canon Drill (Spiral Arrow) that can set you up to bait invalid punish attempts. They especially love DP attempts if they have 2 bars. Many Cammys cant do this or straight up dont know but they can easily hit confirm a counter hit standing fierce to ultra. A lot of them like to fish for these opportunities by baiting your option select throw tech attempts.

Focus hurts her pretty badly since her only AB is that spinning backfist. Blocked Cannon Spikes can be hard to punish since she lands so far away. c.hp is ok. Walk forward slightly and sweep is better since you get the knock down. The most damage I can get punishing it without ultra is 200 with a walk forward far s.hk into nj.hk. With ultra, you can get walk forward far s.hk, forward j.hk, into ultra or 2 far s.hks into ultra. Punishing with just an ex GT also works if you’re having trouble with any of those.

One thing to remember about the hooligan combination throw is that it cannot hit you when you are crouched. Anytime you see a cammy throw out a hooligan combo just stay crouched. If you know it is coming the EX Hooligan can be EX SS on reaction. Usually I will just anti air it with c.mp. If you try to jump back roundhouse or fierce you will get thrown. If you stay crouched and don’t do anything, similar to Akuma’s EX demon kick facepalm, cammy will end up behind you. I use to hate Cammy’s but it’s now become a pretty easy matchup

Thank you Katterimari and bja_eh

**Crimson Viper **

6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

Overhead kicks goes over seismo
Cr.mp beats burning/flame/blaze kicks
cr.mk/cr.mp xx thunder knuckle, on block can be interrupted with EX messiah
j.hk if she super jumps towards you

Chun-Li **
**
6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

J.MP and J.MK are good Air-to-Air tools.
She has a floaty jump. Ex SS her.
Dive Kick beats EX SBK on wake up
She can punish blocked Rufuss cr.HP with super/Ultra

Dan **
**
7/3 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

**
Dhalsim **
**
6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)**

Focus the limbs not the yogafires

**
E. Honda **

6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

Cr.MP beats out Buttslam.
Cr.LP beats out headbutts at the right distance
Focus the crossup buttslams
Cr.HP if you block a headbutt (just the HP one)
Ex tornado after mp or HP headbutts
j.HK owns him in the air, beats out his pretty good air normals and honda seems to have a slow enough jump to do it on react
can get all the hits of EX SS after EX messiah, lk FADC

What can he do against EX messiah on block?

LK follow: cant focus, cant jump. Ultra/super on block.
MK Follow: jump, EX Headbutt, ultra, focus.
HK follow: jump, EX headbutt misses, Ultra misses, Super misses.

(so as long as he doesnt have meter, you can take a bit more risks with EX messiah)

In this matchup youre going to have to deal with hondas turtling…a lot, hondas neutral jump HP is a pain since it can stop most rufus air normals, so you will have to find a way to break his defense. Once you get the knockdown it becomes a lot easier for rufus since Honda has no real way to avoid rufus rushdown other that EX buttslam (punishable with cr.hp anyways), EX headbutt (if you time your divekicks it wont hit you) or super/ultra (same as EX heabdbutt). If Honda tries to mix you up on wake up with his buttslams, you hace 3 simple options, you can focus it and escape (dont try to punish, you wont), block the correct way or EX messiah, focus is the easiest and while not the most effective it wont burn your meter. Honda doesnt really need to jump here, so try not to be psychic and go for random jhk unless the honda youre playing really likes to jump at you. against headbutts you can punish HP ones with cr.hp, mp and EX with EX tornado, AFAIK lp headbutt cant be punished so take that into consideration. So basically, like boxer, this is a battle of patience, you need to understand what honda is doing and how can you avoid it in order to get in, surely is hard, but if you get the knockdown, dont let him go away.

**El Fuerte **

6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

FA when you are getting up to take away of his options. Can still throw you.
Wall jump at you = j.HK —> EX snake/Ultra

**Fei Long **

6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

Blocked super/ultra = far HK x2, ultra
Cr.mp is your friend here, it stops his air attacks
Only the first hit of chicken wing armor breaks, only the lk version is unsafe on block though

Gen
**
6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)**

Gens Crane cr.MP is unsafe even on hit, so if he doesnt cancel it into walldive or roll…punish
His wall divekicks are not safe if he lands next to you, punish accordingly
Gens Mantis mk xx HP hands is safe on block, dont try to punish
If he has super/ultra stocked dont cr.HP, he can ultra/super (Zanei) if he blocks Rufus cr.HP

**
Gouken **
**
5/5 even, according to the latest tier list (February 2010)**

Bait parrys with short dive kicks etc.
All rush punches are unsafe on block
EX SS the demon flip
Tornado owns the counters

Guile **
**
6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

focus the 2nd kick of his sweep and punish
EX messiah between the kicks of his sweep
jump after the first hit and divekick
Flash kick sucks as anti air (even divekicks trades)

Ken
**
**
5/5 even, according to the latest tier list February 2010)

Far St.HP beats step kick if you predict it.
Ex messiah between cr.mk xx hadoken/EX hadoken

M. Bison (Dictator) **
**
4/6 in Bison favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

Cr.MP beats out Headstomp and Devils reverse. EX SS is good here too.
Tornado beats out scissor kicks.
J.rh beats head stomp and devils reversal, just time it right.

What can he do against EX messiah on block?

LK Follow: Cant focus. EX psycho crusher will beat it, If he tries to jump back it will hit him
MK Follow: Focus, EX psycho crusher, Ultra.
HK Follow: EX psycho misses, Ultra Misses, can lv2 Focus into combo/ultra. Can jump back

Dictator has the advantage in this matchup, mostly because he is fast, has good defense and offense and can keep rufus away quite effectively, but not everything is lost and this matchup is very winnable if you know what to do (and what NOT to do). First of all, his std.HK is awesome as an anti air and can stop pretty much everything, but he has to guess if youre going to divekick in order to beat it, he cant react to it, press hk and beat it, so you have to trick him and play mind games. His scissor kick pressure is really good as well, specially in the corner, where you need to take risks or to wait a long time in order to get out of there, again dont always jump after pressure, he can std.HK you and the pressure will start again, be patient and creative. Next is his EX headstop, Bison will either do the followup into more pressure or will escape after the first hit, now, it get hard to guess whats he gonna do and most people just block…well you dont have to! std close HP beats the followup, clean, it doesnt even trade, and if he goes for the escape option you will get a far HP that will either hit him or whiff (youll be safe, dont worry). When you knock him down divekick the s… out of him (but he careful when he has ultra, same deal as against honda) use your dirtiest crossup mixup for all the time he kept you out, now on wake up he will do certain things to get out: 1-. EX crusher, if it doesnt hit you it will put him at a safe distance, but as hondas EX headbutt at the right angle you will beat it and you can continue your pressure. 2-. EX headstop…you already know what to do, 3-. Teleport, look at where he is and from there you have 2 options, use the roll or another dive to get close and continue the pressure (careful against EX and ultra) or just see where is he gonna appear and cr.HP, 4.- Ultra, again, if you followed my advice, you should aim divekicks to his back so if he does ultra it will whiff, hes gonna escape for sure, but he wont have ultra so thats one less problem. And one last thing, be very VERY careful when he has ultra, he can react to your jump ins with j.mp into ultra and its faster than your j.hk, so be careful.

Rose **
**
5/5 even, according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

**Rufus **

5/5 even of course.

**Ryu **

4/6 in Ryus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=185142

Sagat **
**
4/6 in Sagats favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

J.MK can cross up Sagat.
Crossup Dive Kick is not useful here. He can punish, even on hit.
Cr.HP under High Tiger shots.
std far HP can punish far HKs but needs almost perfect timing and reactions

**Sakura **

6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

Seth **
**
6/4 in Rufus favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)

J.HK beats his J.HP
short divekicks (tri jumps) beats s.hp
If he tries to go for a divekick, EX SS him
Any mistake he mades should be punished as hard as posible, remind him how much life he really has
can be crossed up with j.mk

**Vega (Claw) **

7/3 in Rufus favour accordin to the latest tier list (February 2010)

Jump back j.mp/j.hk takes care of most wall dives
Can combo GT > Ultra anywhere on screen.

Zangief
**
4/6 in Zangiefs favour according to the latest tier list (February 2010)**

St.FP for anti-air and punishing lariats that are closer.
Cr.FP for punishing lariats across the screen.
Stay away from dive kicks. Tri Jumps whiff.
Dont EX Messiah from half screen. Lariat beats it. Use it if you predict lariat on wakeup.
Can combo GT > Ultra anywhere on screen.
EX SS if he jumps at you
Blocked normal or EX green hand = throw him Can be thrown after normal green hand on HIT

2

with vs. blanka, you can do crouching strong for close up jump ins like if blanka is right above you. =). it works like a charm. i’m not sure if it works against blanka, but against honda, the snake strike beats the headbutt =D.

against sagat. i have some trouble, but it’s not entirely impossible. i usually try to read the tiger shot patterns and EX messiah through it, if i have 2 bars and an ultra after it, i usuall focus cancel, dash back and ultra. down fierce of course is really a good alternative against the high tiger shot opposed to the roll.

against geif. i don’t do anything stupid PERIOD. that friggin 360 is retarded. reminds me of RC in cvs2 =(. (yes i abuse RC in cvs lol). i mean if you want to rush this guy down, u literally have to be perfect on execution, cuz the most basic geif will just spam 360 and the minute u screw up ur combo, u get ur head crushed to the ground. but yea, rolls to stay away, st. fierce to keep him away and down fierces to trap, and snake strikes to mix it up. i tend to stay away from doing ex messiah kicks considering i can get punished if they spam 360.

i have a little trouble with ryu. any suggestions?

3

EX messiah kick is used as an anti air, it does good damage. And if you have meter and ultra meter, you can FADC it and ultra after the lk follow-up

against Ryu:

Cr.HP punishes tatsumakis from far away. If he likes throwing hadokens, FA them to build ultra meter. if youre close and they throw a fireball, Galactic Tornado eats it for free and hits ryu in the process. Be carefull when using Dive kicks, you might get SRKed.

Punish whiffs with EX tornado. and remember to juggle with EX snake when you connect a jump.RH in a poke war. its good damage. Ryu tends to FADC blocked shoryus and go for throws after that, be careful.

4

Changuillo, it’s cool to use my info here :).

With Zangief, there are some things I’d like to add. After a blocked EX / Regular Green Hand, if you have it go for a reversal EX Messiah Kick. I’m not sure about frame data yet, but it seems you can punish it every time.

Also you mention that you should jump after a blocked Green Hand, but be careful because if the opponent knows this they will air-to-air you or use Lariat. I would recommend doing a Dive Kick that is really close to the ground. If he goes for the SPD, you are airbourne and he will miss and if he hoes for a jump hit or Lariat, you’ll land fast and can block or evade.

Finally, with cr.HP, remember that Gief can lariat to beat it, so don’t just chuck it out all the time.

By the way, does anyone have any tips for turtle Honda players? I don’t get to play the match-up very often but it’s a tricky one. If he has Ultra, it’s totally unsafe to jump-in. If Honda has the life-lead it’s hard going.

5

oh yeah i forgot to mention the Dive kick after a blocked EX hand, silly me.

yeah, you should be careful with larit if you go for cr-HP but overall is safe to throw it. I didnt know about punishing blocked EX hand with EX messiah kick, it seems that there arent many frames to attemp it, but it need more investigation, good stuff.

6

Well the thing is that if you mis-time it, you will get SPD’d, so a lot of players Jump up because of the fear factor.

However, it’s good to try and learn to do this because otherwise you hand Zangief the initiative on a plate.

7

I see, hey BTW does anyone has tips against Guile? more specific…a turtling/semi aggresive guile???

8

whiff dive kicks, tornado (light punch), messiah kicks, jumping fierces. snake strikes work like a DP. u can snake strike through sbs if u do it right and guile can’t really do much.

9

Against Gief, throw out crouching fierce if you’re feeling lucky or to punish something Gief does (ie lariat), but not only does lariat beat it, so do max range standing and crouching jab and standing short. That doesn’t amount to much damage, but still, Gief can control Rufus from that range better than Rufus can. Once you get a little bit inside that range, only lariat or a move that’s already out beats crouching fierce, so if you want to zone Gief, do it from a little inside crouching fierce range.

10

add st. forward to that arsenal too cuz i was getting handled by those vs. my cr. fierces.

i just stay within sweeping distance and if geif gets too close i do snake strikes cuz gief is big; seems to have a shitload of trouble avoiding those. (lp ones).

11

just like to add something i found interesting today. rufus -->forward (aka yun’s hop kick) avoids c. viper’s ground pound move. u like go right over it. so i’m thinking since a lot of c vipers follow up with a flame kick, maybe a FA? unless the flame kick is c viper’s Fa breaker.

12

crimson viper’s move that breaks FA is her thunder knuckle

13

against Red snake:

cr.mp to beat her air flame kick (EX snake strike works too). So for example, if she throws an EX seismo, and SJ into flame kick (a very common play by viper players nowadays) , you already know what to do.

Againt Abel:

Ultra and EX messiah kick beats the axe kick. if close enough, you can roll as soon as Abel throws an Axe kick, and rufus will evade it and be on a good position to attack (but wont have advantage since Axe kick recovery is quite good)

14

Rufus destroys abel imo.

15

what happens if during my pokes the abel/zangief player keeps on spamming his EX graps? i fought them and i always got sucked by their graps during my w.k pokes T_T

16

jump or EX

you can’t poke a move that has invincibility

17

short hop dive kick is your friend against gief

18

explain? the moment rufus takes to the air, i think any decent gief is gonna be spamming lariat.

actually, whenever rufus gets in close, gief is probably gonna be spamming lariat.

19

Rufus can do triangle dive kicks, that means, really (I mean REALLY) short jumps into dive kick, it catches people off guard since they dont expect him to do that (dont be predicable though)

20

sometimes my dive kicks beat lariats.