Hell, that’s what I do. I figure it’s better than giving your opponent time to mentally recover and guess right on your next move.
A good amount of people don’t know how to play efficiently against Cammy, but when you get into mid/high level play, people know down-back is the best weapon against her. The only thing that can break down-back is a throw, not even a hooligan throw. However, I say playing as Cammy pays off no matter what level you’re playing because you’re really thinking constantly on how to outsmart your opponent with crazy rush-down techniques. That’s the shine I can’t get from a lot of other characters.
However to answer your question, every character takes wits and cunning to be truly good, so really it’s all about preference of playing style.
I hope if they change Cammy in the next version she remains a highly technical, difficult to master character, to meet the needs of players who want that, just without the blatantly sucking parts persisting (spinning back fist being armour breaking as an example).
Maybe I keep running into the same players online, but it seems Fei Long, Balrog and Guile are the biggest culprits for turtling on me. Any Guile who knows he’s fighting Cammy and knows what that means seems almost invincible for me. His moves are pefect for preventing her from moving in on him. The only way I can beat them is if I can count on them being not very good with Guile.
Maybe I keep running into the same players online, but it seems Fei Long, Balrog and Guile are the biggest culprits for turtling on me. Any Guile who knows he’s fighting Cammy and knows what that means seems almost invincible for me. His moves are pefect for preventing her from moving in on him. The only way I can beat them is if I can count on them being not very good with Guile.
its all about patience against guile… walk forward and block his sonic booms to put him in the corner…once hes in the corner hes in a lot of trouble…do not try an rush him down unless u corner him
I have mad respect for Studio 4C, but they were not the right fit for as actiony/commercial a project as the SF4 anime. ^^; Throw a shitty story on top of things and yeah… Capcom should have saved the budget for that animation on something more worthwhile, lol.
Here’s how you beat Balrog with Cammy. Not saying this works, but it’ll be your best bet.
Focus (pun intended) on the Focus Attack. Walk up to Rog, stand at his max Crouch Roundhouse distance, and Focus, then Dash Away. If Balrog touches a button like Low Roundhouse (as they all love that move), let go and punish.
This is the basis of your gameplan. Obviously, doing only this will cause you to die. Here are the ways how:
Balrog does the charge with D/F + Kick, which is Armor Breaker.
Balrog does Turn Punch, which is Armor Breaker.
Balrog does the Overhead Rush, which is an Armor Breaker.
Balrog walks close enough to Low Jab you twice before you can let go of the FOcus.
Balrog dashes up and Throws you.
Balrog Supers you.
Balrog straight Rushes into you and cancels into Super.
Balrog Ultras you.
Hmm. Lots of ways to die. This doesn’t seem like a good tactic so far.
Okay, the whole idea of this strategy is to get Balrog to start moving. Walking up and Focusing will kill lots of intermediate Balrogs. They CANNOT RESIST touching Crouch Roundhouse, Stand Roundhouse, and Stand Fierce in these situations. You will kill them for free. After absorbing the hit, feel free to charge even a fraction longer to make sure you reach Level 2. You have time.
If Balrog starts doing nothing, you can Dash Back and just run away, walk up, and repeat interspersed with a few pokes and such, and occasional surprise jumps and Low Dive Kicks. Basically, what this does is keep Balrog from “Footsie-ing” you to death. Yeah, his Low Jabs are a pain, but you’ll worry about that later.
So once you start doing this, Balrog feels compelled to counter you with any of the options above. Options 1 and 3 (the two Armor Breaking Rushes) are fine. What you basically start doing is walking up and Focusing and IMMEDIATELY dashing away, or walk up and do nothing. He’s gonna try and predict it and hit you with one of those. Either move you can block and Punish with Stand Jab into Roundhouse Drill. PRACTICE THIS IN TRAINING MODE. It’s not trivial at all to do this, but easy enough to become VERY consistent at it. Both moves can be countered. If he does the EX version of the D/F + Kick Charge, he’s safe, don’t bother.
So now, you basically are using the Focus Attack as a bait for punishable charges. And the Straight Jab Rush is dangerous, but is also Focus Bait. And because you like to Focus and Dash Away (vary your timing a lot for how long you hold it), it becomes harder for Balrog to actually Throw you or walk up and Jab you while you are Charging the Focus.
The last three options, all of which involve the Super or Ultra, are the biggest problems. Basically, once they get a Super or Ultra, you have to be EXTRA careful. That’s when I Focus for basically NO time at all, or stop Focusing all together. But pay CLOSE attention to Balrog. If he STARTS WALKING and loses his Charge, go back to the Focus plan. You’ll know when an opponent is waiting for you to Focus so he can “Keno-Eye” it with a Super or Ultra when he sits there and doesn’t move at all. Then, walk up and do nothing and start poking him with quick moves and doing TKCS’s, all which can let you land before getting hit by the Super OR Ultra.
Now, I’m not gonna lie: you will eat a lot of Ultras and Supers in the long run using this strategy from people who catch your Focus unawares. HOWEVER, as soon as you see the Super or Ultra activated, BACK DASH AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. Will you escape? No. But it makes you airborne. So the Super pops you up. And the Ultra pops you up. If they KNOW this, they will hold Kick and Juggle you, but you will take FAR less damage than you would if you didn’t Back Dash. And if they DON’T know this, oftentimes, they miss the rest of the Super / Ultra because they don’t Juggle you, and you get away relatively scot-free.
So again, once Balrog gets an Ultra or Super, that’s when he becomes most dangerous and you need to start playing more carefully and less reliant on the Focus.
One more thing to learn: learn how to Stand Jab the Straight Rush when Blocked. Walk up close to Rog and block. If he straight Rushes you ('cause it’s fast and safe), you can actually counter it with Stand Jab into Roundhouse Drill… but the timing is REALLY hard. You have one frame, and in general, it’s not worth trying. But if you poke him back with Stand Jab and get the timing right, hitting him even with that will irritate him enough to know that Jab Rushes aren’t free.
Now, The whole idea is to confuse Balrog. Once you get him SCARED to do moves, you can play a better game against him. Yeah, that might mean he might Turtle MORE against you, but that’s perfectly fine. Really, Balrog’s power over Cammy comes from his general lack of care: all his Normals own you for free, so he can play without fear when you get close. Once you’ve instilled the fear, things get better. 'Cause the harder a player thinks, the less likely they are prepared for everything.
This opens up the surprise Jumps, the quick EX TKCS’s, the normal move pokes you have, and the rest of Cammy’s arsenal. It helps a lot.
So the one last thing that needs to be discussed, because it’s probably the biggest thorn in Cammy’s side, is the Low Jab. Balrog’s Low Jab is a pain in the ass. So how do you stop it?
There are 4 answers to this.
Uppercut it.
Push yourself right at the max range of Low Jab and then do a Jumping, low EX Cannon Strike.
Throw him before he can get the Jab out.
You don’t.
Uppercut it. Dive Kick into Uppercut. Make him Block your Low Short -> Low Jab, then just Uppercut. Of course, it’s the most dangerous option, as you can be punished like nobody’s business, but it becomes safer once you get two meters. You can try it from time to time and FADCb and be safe. It’s a good message to send to Balrogs. “I’ve got a DP and I’m WILLING TO USE IT!!!” So that will get them, in general, to spam Crouch Jab less.
Some Balrogs can’t help but hit Jab a LOT. For those, once you get in with an EX Cannon Strike or something of that nature, get yourself right at the max range of Balrog’s Low Jab’s distance, jump forward and get OVER the Low Jab and do an EX Strike. You will beat him from above and the added height won’t matter, since the EX Cannon Strike causes so much reel. Combo into Low Strong / Low Forward / Low Short / Stand Fierce into Roundhouse Drill for free.
Low Jab leaves you at +1 on Block. So that means if you go for a Throw right away, you’ll beat Balrog’s Low Jab, which has 3 frame startup as well (though on some days I swear it’s 2). So if you DO go for a tick throw against Balrog, stop on Low Jab and DO NOT WALK AT ALL. Just go immediately for the Throw. Just make sure you haven’t pushed yourself too far from range. But if you decide to walk, you will NEVER Throw Balrog. That is the key. Don’t take a step. If you do, it’s peace out to Throwing Balrog.
Sometimes, the best thing to do is block it and just let it go. Yeah, it’s annoying, but Balrog Jabbing you out of range doesn’t help him much. Let him Jab you out of range and see what he does. If he spams it until you are out of range, Focus. He’ll more than likely stick out Low Roundhouse if he’s a typical Rog. If he combos into a Jab Straight Rush for chip damage, try to Jab him back after Blocking like I said above. Otherwise, back dash after the Jab and get out of Dodge, and reset your strategy.
So, once agani, this is the general basis around for how I fight Rog. BUT. BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT keep in mind this is a BLUEPRINT. And that’s all. It requires a LOT more work and a lot more mindgames and strategies to really defeat Rog. This strategy can only get you so far. It’s a game plan, so you have a way to approach the match. You MUST ADJUST to each individual Rog and how they react to these things to properly finish them off, especially since getting an Ultra means you can’t Focus them for free as much… and they will get an Ultra before they die EVERY ROUND. Conserving and using Meter is a MUST for EX Dive Kicks and turning your Uppercuts into safe psychic uppercuts. Also, learning a good ground game helps a lot, and learning how to pseudo hit-confirm Low Forward into Drill is also a must in ANY match-up. This is a good start to helping vs. Balrog, but it’s up to YOU to finish the job (hahaha, you like my “speech” talk there? ^_^).
D/F kick rush can also be reversal-ed with HK Cannon Spike on Crouch Block (lk, mk, and hk version)
Turn punch i have no answer for… just block maybe?.. but i’ve seen Stein stuffs it with psychic late TKCS
overhead rush: Balrog can be thrown out of it… i usually stand up and mash throw…
Balrog can be thrown out of all his EX rushes…
i should probably save your post somewhere
i know its hard to save meter in this match but maaaaan there are so many of his moves which can be reversaled with Super… FOR FREE!.. his c.HK for example!..
James what about Anti Air??? other than the obvious CS use… balrog jump arc is weird and he falls quickly… any standing normal that can knock him off the air??? s.HP??? air throw?? j.lk -> dash forward -> land into Bnb??
I have a confession, in some matches earlier I counter picked someones Zangief and Balrog with Sagat instead of playing as Cammy. I’m deeply ashamed, please don’t revoke my Cammy license.
