nah ima vega player who needs to know the rufus match up.
no one in the vega boards kno anythin so i came here.
I’ve noticed Rufus’s EX messiah is great for characters like Sagat. You can get close to him right when he is about to wake up and the second he does do a messiah, it will either jump over his ultra or hit him out of it, works great. If it’s blocked, FADC out of the L.K followup if you can. Works everytime on a sagat that likes to ultra or tiger uppercut on wakeup if you time it right.
still hating blanka; I dunno whether to turtle and punish or rush down or a mix of both and I always get caught in three minds and then I’m dead. I know all the punishes and what to look out for. just need to practice I guess
just to reiterate, following the discussion of the bison match above, cr.MP beats bison’s headstomp (and follow-up) if spaced correctly (hit training to test)
I’m with gbursine on ryu’s doing block string’s into cross-ups; cross-ups in general I hate with rufus, tho I know LP snake strike and FADC’ing backwards is my friend here
edit: I comboed close st.MK into something today (EX Tornado?); sure took me by surprise
edit2: just tested in training mode, I never knew: close st.MK cancels into and combos with EX Tornado, EX Messiah and all strengths of regular tornado. Not amazingly useful but good to know. Also discovered that on counter-hit a cr.MK cancels and combos into all strengths of tornado, which is handy.
Yes, Blanka is my most troublesome match up by far. That roll is just way to crazy how it backs off so much. I can usually time the C.HP in time but online just blows with the input lag, walking towards them, see the ball, hold back and it doesn’t block…:mad:
That amazon slide has crazy reach also. It’s always an uphill battle for me when I face a Blanka =/.
I agree, never really felt the pain of blanka until my BP hit about 2K, now every single matchup seems to be a Blanka or Cammy? Where did all the Kens GO!
There’s lots of good Rufus match-ups and lots of really bad ones as well
I will try my best to discuss strats and provide videos to promote the ideas and combos you should use
(March 28th 2009 Tourny @ POWNZ will be uploaded soon to support info)
My favourite part I will also try to explain bait combos (When to use them and when not to)
(Not trying to be cocky im just trying to make more Rufus players)
Right now im the top rufus player in Toronto and according to Golden samurai =p best one right now on PSN i dunno lol but now for the help
BTW Please help me out with strats for match-ups from all you other Rufus players as everyone plays different “I welcome strats from scrubs to pros no ideas are dumb” unless they dont work
Bait Combos
the main bait combo i use is target combo lk, hk
Normally this move is combo’d with the ultra
but if the opponent player blocks the target combo you will be punsihed
You can ethier
-
wait half a second then Ultra and if the player trys to attack you he will eat bare ultra in the face
(trust me it works it is a gamble but sometimes you need to) -
Ex messiah kick
Good match ups:
Not all of them but ill do more later
Ken & Dan same shit
This match up isn’t really that hard as ken and dan has the worst fireball ever. As you all know a good rufus player should control the match by keeping the person on the floor anyway possible. Ken’s fierce srk is terrible when it comes to priority and a ex messiah kick will beat it. When ken is on the floor always try to dive kick the cross up when the ken player is waking up. It will guarantee a combo and stop his srk from hitting. If you are getting ken rushed try to ex messiah kick your way out (Using one ex bar is better then eating combos)
Against any shotto class you should try to bait out srk’s and punish with a hard combo like FP -> FP Galactic tornado or target combo to ultra
Throw out a ex messiah kick to counter kara-throws
Chun Li
This match can be hard at times when you are being air thrown or just really out turtled. Your best mechanism for getting in close to a player is your roll which can be executed down forward MK. When performing a roll there are many options to consider. You could attack with a c.lk or c.lp which may trade or be blocked but can lead to more rufus gimmicks. You can throw to get the knock down advantage, or if you think they are gonna attack you throw out a ex messiah.
Beware of the EX Spinning hard kick when rushing you can beat this move my once again dive kick cross up to reset the chun li and do a combo right after.
Heres some footage from last tournament (not all footage uploaded i will when i recieve it and please provide your own or other footage for match-up strats)
Set #1
Chun Li
Round 1
[media=youtube]K-g_6nzXa7s[/media]
Round 2
[media=youtube]Koohv…e=channel_page[/media]
M.Bison (Dictator)
M.Bison has bad anti air so you really need to pressure him with the dive kicks.
if you get scissor kicked and block you have 3 choices in ways to get your self up close and personal.
-
jump and dive kick followed by rufus gimmicks
-
ex messiah kick if you think he will throw out a kick or attack
-
most of the time i find C.Jab beats a lot of bisons pokes after a scissor kick
Avoid headstomps and try to guess his reverse air demon so you can jumping RH to ex snake hands. Also on the rush down try to avoid ex psycho crushers
Abel
Watch out for his crouching RH to heel kick as it gets him in close. Try to spam dive kick against him as his C.FP will only reset you while your in the air. you wanna stay in the air to avoid throws.
DO NOT BAIT ULTRA HIM OR TRY TO CHIP HIM WITH ULTRA ON WAKE UP!
This was some old footage from Jan 2009 Tournament in Toronto before console release
Unfortunately this round can show you the risk of bait ultras if you miss and show you the consequences of trying to chip an abel on wakeup
Im not too proud of this one played very poorly
[media=youtube]vC6gB-jJ5WA[/media]
Vega (Claw(
Cammy
Dont spam dive kicks stay on the ground. Anytime you block a cannon spike punish with a C.HP
Rose
Guile
Honda
Viper
Gen
Fei-Long BONG
MY FAVOURITE PART BAD MATCH-UPS
Start by semi-bad
Zangief
Zangief is a good match-up as well but im gonna put him in bad match up section because i know some people have problems with rufus vs gief cause they are both close ranged fighters
C.HP, C.MP(Raise the roof) and jumping RH is your best friends this matchup
Even though your probably a rush down player with rufus you need to learn a turtle style to fight this fight as zangiefs throws have a 0 frame start up
Always be aware of the players meter as he will ex greenhand himself in and you should bait these. IF YOU BLOCK THE GAY GREENHAND you should just neutral throw to punish him. Throws are your main weapon in this match because it pushes the geif far away from you which is where you want him to stay.
The Gief Do’s
Most giefs use lariet almost everytime you jump. If your sweeping distance and you are jumping in use the roundhouse as the two hits usually beat the lariet. Cross up dive kicks beat lariets but you dont wanna stay in long because a second lariet can own you.
IF the zangief is playing mad cross up game a wake up ex scissor hand can punish him (you can also do this if they are jumping in)
Wake-up EX Messiah can get you far away from him so use it to run away!
NO JUMPING TATSU FOR US
Most giefs also spam lariet to build meter you should C.HP when the lariet is almost done to stop him from building meter and to shut him up
The Geif Don’ts
DO NOT ULTRA CHIP HIM ON WAKE UP! an ex greenhand has like almost 0 frame start up and invincibility makes it a gay move so always bait them out and throw them after
the Target Bait combo to ultra works if they lariet, greenhand, or attack but if they block your gonna get punished
Heres some more old footage (Dont hate on bait combos cause i havent posted one yet they work trust me) Not too proud of this one
[media=youtube]viJPr185x2c[/media]
Blanka
The hard thing about this match up is that your target combo to ultra does not work on him so you are down a combo. There is a certain distance you have to be on the screen i would say mid screen to punish a blanka ball with a C.HP
His lightning is gay so you dont wanna rush down you have to mix up with turtle game and rush. Whenever you see a blanka use a LP Ball he will either jump, lightning, throw or slide so you wanna jump back or backdash as back dash gives you 8 frames of invincibility
Get him in the corner so you can ultra combo him and if you block his ultra as soon as the ultra is fully blocked and hes still in the air ultra him
Blocking rainbow ball punish with a C.MK to a HP Galactic tornado as a standing HP will whiff
BTW if you dont know most characters can C.Jab blanka out of his ultra if you wanna try it out or you cant take any more chip dmg
Ill post the POWNZ 03/28/2009 Rufus vs Blanka match later
Sagat
The anti rufus the fagat Sagat HARDEST POSSIBLE MATCH UP FOR RUFUS
He has all the tools to keep your fat ass from getting in close
When he has distance on you, you can find yourself eating tiger fireballs to the face and to the groin all day so what do you do?. walk yourself in or roll thats all i can really say.
Sagats standing Roundhouse beats almost everything rufus can do in the air so jumping in is out of the option. I find the best way to get in is from 1 side of the screen just jump over 1 fire ball with minimum distance traveled (Shorten using a small dive kick and make sure your out of his RH range)
“DONT ATTACK OR YOU WILL TRADE OR BE PUNISHED”
When you are then close try roll or messiah kick in
DO NOT GALACTIC TORNADO through fireballs cause he will punish you
The worst thing about Sagat is that ROUNDHOUSE beats most of your ground moves too like C.HP and the ROLL so sometimes you honestly need to time a far away ex Messiah kick to counter his roundhouse
Think of it as trying to SRK Dalshim’s limps Scrubby as shit if you miss but pays off if it hits
When you finally get yourself in close you have to own him TRY YOUR BEST to make the up close an personal rushdown last for the rest of the round. Dive kick cross ups beat tiger uppercuts but you also wanna bait them out as well
Biggest thing to watch out for is being trapped in the corner so when you have Saggat in the corner try not to cross him up to put yourself in there as he can BLOCK LOCK you with light kick tiger knees “Try to EX Messiah kick out”
Take your time to get in close dont get impatient as that will be your down fall for making stupid jumps
Heres some old footage 01/2009 Battle @ Lovegetty Tournament
[media=youtube]jSGzQfTOhGg[/media]
Ill post the POWNZ 03/28/2009 Battle for 2nd place Rufus vs Saggat match later
there more intense too as the Sagat is a better player
Ryu
Ill write this later but try to follow the same methods when fighting ken just use the sagat strat for the fireballs cause ryu can Roundhouse you as anti air as well and his fireballs are just as annoying
Gouken
Directional fireballs and parrys are gay
try to get in and throw a lot because he cant parry a throw
will write more later
Akuma
Air fireballs and Teleports making the ultimate pussy gayness but turtle is a legitimate style of playing so try to use roll to get in close when he jumps
Roll under the air fireballs and try to predict wake up teleports to punish
Bait SRKS
will write more later
Dalshim
Not a fun match because you lose most of your life trying to get in
As well as his teleport making it harder to rush him down
NEVER JUMP over a fireball while he has ultra because you will be eating a YOGA INFERNO to the face
Will write more and post vids later
I dont find Sagat nearly as hard as Blanka. You can messiah over low tigers. Only thing I hate is the tiger knee. And EX messiah up close very helpful vs. sagat. Catch him on those tiger uppercuts with a S.HP -> Tornado or if you have an ultra you can target combo it into ultra and if you’re really good, messiah kick FADC into ultra.
Can a meaty dive kick hit blanka waking up before he can go into electricity? Granted, good Blankas will likely upball instead, but I was curious about this.
There’s some stuff that I have to call out on this.
Dictator is a bad matchup for Rufus IMO. First reason being, is that Rufus is one of the characters, that the lk scissor loop is effective on, in locking him down in the corner. It’s too easy for him to react to everything that Rufus does from that (st. hk for anti jump, block for ex messiah then do what ever ex he feels like.
Second reason is that if he gets you in any plus frame block string (which he has a ton that I’ve found), he will then normally start going into walking st. mk’s or cross you up. Both of which will wreck you if hit with them.
Thirdly, st. hk makes it completely difficult to dive on him as it shuts down any dive attempt from about sweep distance to about 3/4ths screen or trades in his favor.
Now granted, Rufus can wreck his shit as well, but it takes a little more work for him than it does for Bison.
Ryu is also a bad matchup for Rufus due to Ryu’s ability to keep you out easier than it is for you to get in, not being able to anti air him reliably without meter, and dp trades in his favor for big life, but Ken, Dan, and Akuma are pretty even IMO.
Blanka IMO is even.
Anyway, if you want me to go more in depth about a match just post about it. I gotta stop here due to time constraints.
electricity beats dive kick on wakeup, blanka can go into it immediatley so dive kicking blanka is a terrible idea on wake up
i like to jump and whiff a dive kick to bait a up ball and then j. rh ex snake strike if he uses electricity you can land and sweep and set up another wake up game
dictator is a really bad matchup for rufus his block strings always leave him at huge advantage and rufus has no answer for st. mk, you cant jump in on him at all unless your in cross up distance which he wont let you into with st. mk, have you had any success with anything against bison because i cant do anything that consistently works against him
how are you getting ryu being a bad matchup but akuma is even based on there ability to keep you out, akuma can play keep away way better then ryu
i usually dont have too hard of a time with ryu other then the fact that you cant make mistakes or you eat a fadc’d ultra, with akuma its me chasing non stop and trying to guess a teleport and punish it, you cant FA fireballs or he dashs forward and hits you with far st. rh cr. lk cr. lp lk tatsu hp shoryu for big damage, you cant jump towards him or you eat an ultra
thats just my 2 cents i find akuma alot harder to beat then ryu but maybe im not doing things right against akuma
i agree about the blanka matchup, both characters get free ultras often ( blanka gets it off of cr. mk which is nuts and rufus from a multitude of situations ) blanka has some tricks and ex rainbow balls are hard to deal with, but rufus can put out obscene damage and go to town on blanka in the corner and all blanka can do to get out reliably is wait for a gap and up ball or rainbow ball out and both are punishable on whiff with st. hp hp GT or ex messah lk FADC ultra
the only thing i see in blankas favor is having a better oki game then rufus, he can cross up with perfectly timed rolling attack or cross up with mk, but rufus has more limited options due to up ball and electricity, i sometimes will just walk straight up on wakeup and throw then next time i go for ex messiah but this isnt a great option and i cant think of a really good option for blanka on wake up
I’ve been losing to really bad Hondas lately. I’m not sure how I’m suppose to approach one that’s just sitting there turtling.
If I jump in, he’ll do Sumo Stomp. When I get too close, he headbutts and I’m not sure if I can punish him.
Does anyone have any experience with this match-up? What’s the best way to punish all of his moves?
well placed dive kick beats wakeup electricity. it was done in that first nagoya street battle vid i posted in the vids thread.
well placed meaning on top of him?
because when you jump in on ryu you eat a dp into ultra. or dp into ex fireball. against akuma, you just eat a dp. akuma’s stamina is also lower so once you get in you dont have to work as hard for the ko.
srs, I know they shut down the rufus dive kick missing zangief thread but whiffing up close on balrog is a problem I find cos tht bastard is always mashing option select throw as soon as you come near him
: (((
anyway this is gimmicky but it might work once in a while (situational and spacing needs to be right, off a kneehigh dive-kick), if your opp. blocks an EX tornado (dive kick > st.LK > st.LK > cr.LP xx EX tornado) and you spaced the dive kick right you can hit him with a far st.LP (more reach than cr.LP or cr.MK) and cancel that into another ex tornado; you might catch someone once in a while (tested this and got it working on sagat, dictator and balrog, didn’t work on ryu but I might’ve rushed the testing.) not OVERLY useful but another trick in the toolbag as it were
Cozeny, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t be cross-up dive kicking against rog, it’s just too good against him.
well other than that I always get mash-thrown on the other side; need to work on the execution of that. is comboing hp xx hp tornado from cross-up dive kick the same timing as a non-cross-up dk? I hardly ever use cross-up dive kick other than as a meaty on wake-up. ok will hit training
I agree, I’d like to know a DEFINITIVE answer to this. I played a bitch Blanka yesterday who ONLY did ball + electricity, repeat. I tried about 5-6 different dives on him (different angles) ALL failing and getting punished because of it. The dive kick in the Nagano battles is really close to blanka’s feet so I’m guessing at the VERY front of blanka is the money spot. Maybe.
As someone mentioned before not sure if it was this thread but it’s worth repeating as a lot of people are still having trouble with Blanka it seems and it helped me out a lot…
His tornado has a pretty good window that beats rolls outright, good enough that you can do it on reaction from anywhere further than half screen. It doesn’t do much damage but it’s effective at keeping annoying blankas from spamming rolls all day and is good at closing distance. Tornados also stuff Honda’s torpedo as well.