Considering that Ryu is the most likely character one’s going to face in G1, that’s really no surprise… Being an online Rufus can feel like an uphill battle, and those who rely too much on EX Jesus shenanigans eventually get stopped by people who’ve learned to block. I’ve been guilty of it, and I can see how a lot of people would move on to a character that can beat those shotos more easily once their G2 tactics stopped working.
It’s a shame, though. He really IS a good character… I do pretty decently with him even though the only “real” combo I’ve learned is HP-GT (outside of the different combos into Ultra, and the easy J.HK combos), and recently my execution on that’s off as well. Really should work on those MK-into-EX-GT moves, too.
OK I’m pretty sure this question has been asked before but I can’t find the answer. Anyway for the combo Dive kick, st.lk, st.hp xx hp tornado I cant seem to hit the tornado I’ve done it before like once or twice but it was by luck. I can’t seem to get the timing for this at all. When I do it Rufus spins and nothing hits (doing it too early?) and if I try slow it down the move just doesn’t come out (no doubt too slow…)
YO! I’m looking for a good rufus to play some games with on xbox live because I’m trying to learn the match-up a little better. I play an akuma so if anyone can help me out hit me up with a pm or just send me a friend request on xbox live.
I don’t really have any problems with Rufus other than being completely outplayed by people are just better than me (that and the few bad matchups he has) but I still can’t EX messiah FADC ultra consistently enough. The problem seems to be negative edge, making me do mk messiah, or not dashing (even though my inputs are 236(hold6) mk+hk, lk, mp+mk(hold, release 6 and press 6, release mp+mk))
This is the only actually useful combo I have problems with, advice?
If you’re getting mk messiah u are not hitting lk+mk or mk+hk at the same time. If you are not dashing out of the EX focus then you are probably doing the dash to early or not at all. When I was just learning to do the combo I would focus on holding the EX focus then tapping forward twice to dash out. Similar to how you would dash out of a regular focus attack if u were baiting a move. The full transcript would be this:
Also practice doing other characters FADC combos because some of them are easier than Rufus’s. For example do ryus srk into ultra or sagats tiger upper cut into ultra. Once you get the timing and feel for one they should all become easier for you.
The mk messiah comes out after the FADC (I believe because that’s when I release mp+mk). I don’t have any problem doing other character’s FADCs into whatever. And for some reason I never miss it in the corner (backdash or forward dash -> snake strike)
It’s such a waste of meter to miss this combo
So you ex messiah w/ lk followup > fadc > mk messiah? Sounds like you get negative edge from just holding down the button too long. The best way to learn is just to spend lots of time in training mode, hours if needed :3
Here’s a few problems I’ve been having. How do you move in on good Chuns and Ryus etc that just zone flawlessly? You can’t just dive in because then they will anti air you, in worst case into ultra (Ryu, Sagat, and Balrog amongst others). You can’t really random sweep because then their projectiles will hit you (depends on the character) and random hp.gt gets beaten by normals or reversals. These players usually just wait and react to what I’m doing, so my options seem to either be to just try all my options randomly or react to something they are doing (hk/ex jesus into ultra if they fireball for example) or to just try and play footsies/poking game which Rufus doesn’t seem that good at. Of course, his st.mp, st.hp, st.mk, c.mk and nacho are all good pokes but I don’t see me winning like this against, say, Chun or Rog.
Another problem is once I get close and apply pressure I seem to overextend so that I get srkd, I’ve played against some decent players and what they do is basically reversal my dives. Somehow they seem to always pick the correct option whether it’s block high/low/tech/reversal. One thing I learned is to frame trap with dive > c.lk xx lp.gt but that won’t beat a normal block and can in worst case put you in a bad position where they jump away if you block after, if you attempt to tag them with c.lp after lp.gt or c.lp xx ex gt they just reversal my c.lp. Sometimes I try to do some crazy stuff like dive > c.lp > st.lk > throw or st.hp xx hp.gt. I also try to dive > c.lk or st.lk > throw. Am I doing something wrong or do I simply need to get them out of my head?
I’ve had the same problems with a few people… The logical answer is to bait them, but the best I’ve played are cool enough that they don’t reversal until I’m actually within the zone where they’d hit me.
I guess YOU have to appear as unpredictable, really… Vary the way you go through their fireballs (triangle divekick, neutral-jump divekick, Focus-dashing, EX Messiah, simply blocking), and if you’re in range and anticipate a fireball, throw out a cr.HP occasionally. Keep them on their toes, and they should be easier to bait with stuff like a low divekick just outside their range.
Figuring out the precise distance you need to be for that low divekick to not land within SRK range is also good. Divekicks have short recovery, and I’ve baited out a good few Ultras by whiffing’em, but somehow the SRK-type moves hit early enough that it doesn’t matter.
Baiting srk at a proper distance sounds like a good idea, test how well they know ‘their own zone’. But what about chars that don’t need to rely on reversals like Sagat and Chun who can just st.hk of justice? I can bait those and punish with ex jesus/gt if anticipated but I’d like as many meterless alternatives as possible to save 3-4 bars for ex jesus fadc into ultra or just to get out of really sticky situations (like Sagats corner lockdown)
Edit: I can of course just do some mixups but the problem is getting into mixup range without random random stuff ^^. Sweep might be helpful here but it can also be punished easily and gets beaten by other chars moves
The best way for me to get in is :df: :mk:, it’s so fast that to reaction DP it is not kinda possible unless they were anticipating it. So, u know the drill, you never jump forward over fireballs but jump straight up, either add a dive kick to creep forward or land then walk forward. Once, you’re in that posistion where the next move is either -1, he fireballs, which you jump over and combo away. 2, he jumps towards you, which you then crouch and :mp: 3, you :df: :mk: followed by usual Rufus shenanigans when close. Now, after awhile he’ll recognise your pattern of either jumping or doing the roll kick which he will then do some psychic DPs or anticipating that roll kick so he’ll pause (probably in the :df: posistion) so, you gotta mix it up, bait the baiter, if he whiffs, try to punish accordingly. (This is why Ryu to me is probably Rufus’s toughest match up is because his light DP recovers so fast and Rufus’s diddy legs are so short, it’s really hard to punish a whiffed light DP.)
To approach I find you’ve got to shock people with some rufus footsies. At half screen they know they’ll eat at least a jumping fierce if they fireball and they’ll be preoccupied by thinking about DP’ing those dive kicks, so perversely you often have the upper hand if you can step forward into footsie range and hit them with pokes.
Just remember the ‘inside’ game is more important than the ‘approach’ game when you are being zoned hard. Once you are in you don’t want to let them out. Learn those mixups and be relentless.
As always, though, we’re talking strictly offline play here. With even a little lag, horrible ryus can spam fireballs all they want, and you still won’t be able to react in time to do a jumping fierce if you don’t guess that one’s coming. So if this isn’t working online, well, just hope for better netcode and more options in SSF4.
Thanks for the clarification but I was talking about offline. I prefer offline and I feel like I can compete with decent/good players (the really good ones still beat me to a pulp but I’m starting to win rounds here and there! :D) and online you just get sad because some random Ryu or whatever who just do unpunishable lp srks or you meet someone who is bad so you just dive for 2 full rounds and win t.t.
Thank you all for your advice! I feel like I still have a long long way to go.
I wrote a big long post and SRK ate it which is less then awesome so I’ll try and do the short version. Ryu is a pain in the ass and a good Ryu will be buffering DP while you’re close anyway so its not as easy as “do it before he reacts”. You have to be a little tricky or else any time they sense forward movement they can just c.mp,c.hp, or DP on reaction. First is spacing, play the match from right outside his crouching mk range until you’re ready to get in. Vary the ways you get in, GT, dive kick, j.hp, cross up, roll. Occasionally whiff dive kicks and standing jabs (as fake GTs) if the Ryu is being really cautious. Neutral jumping from the right range is also good for baiting DPs.
vs Chun be patient getting in. Chuns s.hk can smack you out of the air, sure, but only at a certain angle. Work your way in slowly. Vary the ways you try to get in. A lot of chun’s AA normals hit kind of on a diagonal so if you can dive kick her on top of her head go for that. Bait ex SBKs on wake up. Don’t rush things. Her backdash is good so don’t be too reckless. If they abuse the backdash just let her backdash herself into the corner and from there you can stay in that ass.
I have no idea what to do against good Sagats. Lots of down back. Kara tiger knee is a bitch. If they have a tendency to throw out lots of s.hk when you’re close, toss out a sweep every now and then to stop them from doing that. Other than that. I dont know. It’s a bitch. Check out Louie’s matches in the video thread.
Oh and against any character with a DP, be more prone to meaty dive kick early and the round and bait later. Early on, good players are reluctant to reversal DP since its unsafe and then general threat of a wake up DP is usually enough to keep you off of them. Don’t be scared of that. Worst case scenario you eat a DP in the teeth and learn to bait more. Later on in the match, when they get 2 meters and Ultra, they’ll be itching to get that off so favor the bait.
This should all probably be in the matchup thread but whatever.
You can punish lp SRKs with your standard s.hp xx hp GT but the timing is tightish and personally I still dont have it down. I generally just punish with c.mk xx ex GT. That nips him from a pretty good range too.
Thanks for the advice, I learned you can punish Sagats wiffed or misspaced tks with c.mk > hp.gt. About the lp srks I was just talking about online, I usually go for c.mk just like you said and that seem to work on a lot of things. I’ll definately check those videos out as well, thanks.
So messing around in training mode I found that EX Messiah FADC into EX Snake strike also works on Abel and not just Honda, is there anyone else this works on?
