Yeah, it’s quite possible to apply pressure in the corner as long as he doesn’t get out a teleport, but you have to get lucky as fuck to get through the fierces.
this match is pretty dumb because literally there isnt much rufus can do besides wait and let Gief fuckup.
basic game plan is to try to crouch fierce ending animation of lariats, whiff snake strike to build meter, and from there on just punish mistakes.
blocked gief fist is free combo. gief jumping is free ex snake strike. what i have found is taht dive kicking against gief is not a smart idea because at best it trades with lariat, and this doesnt happen very often.
and as retarded as this match is, i would much rather fight gief than blanka.
That’s because the Gief/Rufus match up is full of mind games. The choices placed before both players are pretty even risk/reward-wise throughout the match.
Guess that he’s going to Lariat correctly and counter with Ex Messiah Kick ftw or get blocked and punished by ftl.
Psyche him into being unsure of when to Ex Banishing correctly and you get to pressure with crouch fierce. Guess wrongly and you get knocked down into lame wake up game.
4 options on wake up- Jab/Fierce Snake strike, Ex Messiah, Focus> Dash left, Focus> Dash right- each optimal in different situations.
Rufus vs Blanka though is just plain tedious since whoever’s defending is going to have a much easier time. The whole match is about you trying to get the lead then sitting on it with crouch Jab, strong and fierce, or pulling your hair out while trying to get the life lead without stupidly running into more balls.
ok so i learned you can punish electricity with cr mk xx EX tornado.
afaik cr mk is only move rufus has (besides ultra) that beats electricity clean. that actually made me sad because electricity beats EX jesus kick.
I completely agree with this post. I don’t have a stick yet, and Rufus is pretty beastly on pad. Still, if Gief chooses not to fuck up, it’s fucking hard.
I never dive kick against gief, just jump fierce if I want to jump.
toward+fierce beats lariat
Blanka is incredibly tough. He shits all over my characters.
Dhalsim can be tough as well. I played a decent dhalsim today. Played patiently for a good 60 seconds being zoned out before I died round 1, perfected him round 2, got zoned round 3.
Anybody formed some sort of strategy against Cammy yet? Good Cammy players are giving me a hard time.
I’m pretty sure EX Snake Strike beats her little ball move grab thing. Maybe even strong Snake Strike.
I hate fighting her. She’s hard to approach because she can just cannon spike whatever you do on reaction. I’m think maybe hang back and build meter with lp snake strikes and make her come to you? Most of my wins against Cammy players came from punishing her shit.
I’d love more experience against good gief players. Most of the gief players i’ve played so far were easily dispatched with Rufus C.HP.
This whole match is just you trying to punish her.
If the Spiral Arrows, throw. It will get her every time.
Try and bait out Cannon Spikes. They aren’t very safe on block and you can punish however you see fit.
For hooligan all you have to do is jump, divekick.
I figured that sitting back and letting her come to you was the best way to play. I tried to kind of play her like Zangief, but cr.fierce is so bad against her. I guess s.fierce whenever she misses her upward cannon spike thing, throwing is almost out of the question.
What does Rufus get after a blocked df+fp from Blanka, I think its like -14 on block, but i don’t know what I get. Thanks
I just throw. Safe, easy, and damaging.
-14 on block means you could safely do s.HP x HP Tornado… mean you could pretty much do whatever the hell you want like even c.MK x EX Messiah Kick, LK > FADC > Ultra for like 60% damage.
The main problem I see with that is the St.HP xx HP Tornado is that the -14 is when she is practically laying on the floor. She isn’t nice enough to hit and stand up 
Cr.MK combo would work though.
-14 on block is only if Blanka does the slide straight in your face… Its not nearly as unsafe it he does it at max distance. I’m pretty sure you can’t s.HP or c.MK if its done from max distance.
I don’t have experience against many Blanka players, but I would assume when in doubt, c.LK x LP Tornado works well enough as if a Blanka player is properly using DF + HP you probably won’t be able to walk up and throw them. If anything c.MK x HP Tornado is still safe on block.
Blanka is the devil. I am not even joking, he must be the spawn of Satan himself.
Just gotta turtle until he makes a mistake, which rarely happens. cr.MK is your best friend and cr.LP is good on stopping Blanka Balls.
Be careful of the damn crossup Rainbow Roll…
In other news I lost 1k bp in 10 min. GAH! 2 Blankas, a 30 second 1 round with Zangief, a scrub ken, a meh ryu, and a good chun.
I hate blanka in general. He’s such a bullshit character.
If you’re getting crossed up with rainbow roll, would it be a good idea to focus it and cancel into a dash if blanka ends up behind you?
I’ve yet to master the C.HP punish for blocked balls. The timing must be really tight for that.
Easier punish for df + fp with Blanka is to just ex tornado after you block. Best used when you block a max range slide. But that uses meter. If you block one up close and don’t have meter, you could just cr. lk/cr. lp xx lp tornado, or if you have ultra charged, target chain, ultra.
A well timed st. lp will beat ball clean. If you are playing a crappy Blanka watch for electricity here and walk forward and punish with cr. lk/cr. mk xx ex tornado. Usually since walk forward cr. fierce is really inconsistent for me as a punish to ball, I’ll high block the ball and dash up while he’s still in the air just to close distance.
More over if you have your back to the corner and you want to be a little risky, jump back on reaction as soon as you see the ball, and dive kick. If you time this correctly, Blanka will land in the corner and will have to block your dive kick. If he does not, this will lead to big damage + knockdown potentially in the corner if you have Ultra stored. This can also work midscreen to an extent, but it’s really recommended to give this a try in the corner.
Anti air wise, if spaced right, cr. mp and st. hp will beat Blanka’s jumping normals if decides to jump, or if you have meter just ex snake. For crossups, close st. hp/hk or hp/ex snake work out.
Footsie wise I’ve found that you can counter his cr. hp with cr. lp xx ex tornado. His cr. fp beats out st. and cr. mk, as well as he can cr. hp your whiffed cr. hp.
I think that’s all I’ve found for now regarding him.
I suspect that some strengths of the ball aren’t punishable. Another thing that needs to be tested -_-’
I found out that HP tornado beats electricity clean and scores a knockdown.