As Rufus Vs. Ryu(or any other shoto) on wake up you are at a disadvantage natuarlly. You are left guessing their next move. If they are crossing up though you should be able to react and block. If the cross up is timed right in order to punish you may be able to get an anti Air EX Messiah. Doesn’t hit for alot, but puts them on the ground.
I like to just block, tech grabs if they try to tic grab. Or ex messiah through their grab attempt. Rarely would any player just sit and block after a blocked cross up, so punish accordingly.
If they cross up into block string than attempt to cross up again Ex Snake or J. hk will teach them better. Watch closly for block string to grab.
Also, note that back dash is nice. Rufus’ is not to great but will work sometimes. I barely use it since rufus’ back dash isnt so great but it will catch some off gaurd.
Hope this made sense, tired so it may be a bit jumbled up. lol
Do you mean when you are waking up or when Ryu is waking up?
edit ok, I thought you might have meant when Rufus was waking…
Ex-messiah on wake-up is an obvious answer when you have it, but I’ve noticed a lot more people at my level (I’m like 6k on G2) doing focus baits when I’m waking, trying to get me to burn meter. I wake up a lot with lp.snake strike, but if I find that he’s just crouching next to me on wake up, which avoids it, I’ll cut that out quick and then sometimes try to wake up with lk.messiah, which will hop over his low attacks. Other times I take a less risky approach and just… block. I believe cr.mp can also hit someone trying to get you with an imperfect cross up if timed right, but if they do it perfectly, you just have to know to change directions and block the other way…
On a side note, another thing I’ve noticed a lot of people doing lately, which I hadn’t really seen before, is after blocking the first part of the messiah kick, they’ll do a a jumping backwards rh.k, which will nail the rh.k messiah followup. I dunno exactly why I’ve seen ken and ryus doing this, as I thought a shoryuken would be more effective, but it seems to work for most any character. If you notice this happening to you, switch to the lk flashkick followup…
I usually try to do a forward jump for the first dive kick to “get in” and then if I’m going to follow immediately with another dive kick, I’ll use the lowest straight up jump dive kick I can pull off.
Sorry I’m not sure on where to ask this question, but I’m new to Rufus, and really confused on his EX Messiah on wakeup.
Almost 75% of the time I try to reversal with EX Messiah kick, nothing comes out, or I get hit by whatever the opponent is trying to lay on me. Is the timing strict for this? Do I input the command as he rises up, or do I wait until he’s fully standing.
Also, I’m finding my biggest problem with rufus is people waiting right next to me after a knockdown. What are the safest options for this situation? I know EX Messiah kick on wakeup isn’t necessarily a good idea.
I’m new to rufus and I have been reading everything that I can. I found a lot of helpful stuff in this thread, but I am trying to figure out some of his distances and zoning, and I need a little input from some of you guys who know the fatman’s game well.
Distances:
From full screen he appears to have very little, so I try to never be at full screen distance.
From 2/3 distance, his c.FP seems to be a killer poke, and his fierce GT with forward on the stick will cover the distance.
From mid distance (1/2 screen to shoto sweep range): This is where I am struggling. I know that his messiah kick will cover this distance, but unless I EX it, I seem to be getting stuffed a lot. What do you typically use from this distance?
Up close: His focus attack sucks, so I try to avoid that. From this distance, it seems that his dive kick shenannigans, baiting a jump so you can EX SS, or baiting a poke so you can tornado or EX messiah kick seems to win the day. Agreed?
Another big question I have is:
In what situations do you employ the tornado versus the messiah kick?
Is the tornado something you typically reserve for comboing into? Do you just throw it out there if you can bait a fireball?
Lastly…if you are playing as Rufus and you have no EX meter…what do you do to build meter safely? If the other guy is not in my face, I have been spamming LP tornado to build meter, as Rufus seems to rely on his EX moves.
Adding to that: When you don’t have meter…do you still try to rush down…or do you play more defense while you build meter?
I seem to do ok with Rufus when I have meter and I seem to get murdered when I don’t.
Many thanks to anyone who will take the time to advise me here.
Always glad to have another member of the Rufus army. I’m not the best Rufus by far, but I’ve been playing him since launch so I’ll try to answer the questions I feel I have good answers to.
Distances:
If you’re at full screen vs. anyone but gief you’re doing it wrong anyway, so that’s the best course of action.
Rufus can’t do a lot at midscreen, with no fireball and all. If I remember correctly, you’re coming from playing guile, and I believe that was about his sweet spot right? You sort of have to unlearn that. Generally I’d continue working myself into position with vertical dive kicks. Since most of the time you’ll be playing Shotos, try to get into the “sweet spot” of them, just outside srk range. Midscreen is dangerous because Rufus is a fat, floaty piece of uppercut/AA bait, so it makes your dive kicks and approaches much more dangerous. The main reason I feel the Sagat matchup is harder than the Ryu matchup is that Sagat has such a far reaching high damage AA that links to ultra, where as Ryu only has a few options. Of course, that can be counteracted with a j.fp but that’s for a different thread.
My philosophy is that once I’m in, I’m not looking for simple punishes so much as combo setups. So normally I’m looking to start dive kick fun. Remember that one of Rufus’ greatest strengths imo is the ease to combo into his ultra, almost every option you have at this range can be used for this purpose. Dive kick -> target combo -> ultra, dive kick -> hp (s.lk->hp)->hp tornado->ultra, ex jesus -> fdc -> ultra. With so many options, you can usually make one work, and this is really the key to rufus’ game. Outside of that, you’re completely correct, baiting is a powerful way to setup Rufus’ bnb combos.
Easy, which one will net you a safer ultra? Alternatively: do you smell a fireball coming? If so tornado. A little more complicated: if you hit with a single hit of tornado, its a guaranteed knock down, with jesus kick you have to guess right to get that knock down. Also all options of the jesus kick can be punished if they guess right, which isn’t hard considering his high low mixup isn’t overly fast, by simply blocking unless you fdc the lk.
Personally I’m really guilty of not using tornado enough. I typically reserve it for combos or if I smell a fireball coming, but its a pretty good way to cross distance for a hit/knock down from rufus’ sweet spot. Also, its -relatively- safe once they block it, especially online (but we all know that doesn’t really count).
This is probably why I lose, but I generally rush down to build my meter. The trick is doing it in a smart way, which is exactly where I fall apart (falling for stupid baits, etc.). Really, for Rufus you have above average health, and once you’re in you can do so much damage in a single combo that its not as important to have a life lead like with other characters. If you play correctly, its equally hard to get you out for much of the cast (aside from ryu/sagat, where half their moves will knock you out again).
Anyway, that’s my feeling on your questions, I may have answered them with totally obvious things that you already knew though. Feel free to correct me anyone who’s better, I’m still learning as well for sure. Also, enjoy your time in the Rufus army, you won’t want to go back once you start whipping ass while looking so stylish.
I’m half-decent with Rufus, but not the best. I think my downside is my extremely overly aggressive take-the-opponent-down-in-30-seconds-or-bust playstyle. Something that I should tone down a bit.
However, I’ll share my advice that I’ve learned through reading and personal experience.
I reserve full-screen for building meter, if necessary. Focus absorb, LP Tornado through fireballs; LP/MP Snake Strike over them.
I also reserve it for defensive purposes against non-projectile characters and baiting jump-ins (j.HK/EX Snake Strike) or punishable approaches.
Sounds about right. I don’t know many Rufus players who utilize HP GT as an approach from that far. I know I do, and capitalize on attempts to punish it. I know very well that doesn’t work on those who know that gimmick.
J.HP into EX Tornado or Ultra is a good option here too, I feel it’s under-utilized by most players. j.HP has deceptive range, and so does the Ultra followup.
I go for footsies with cr.MKxxEX GT as a personal favorite. At this point I’ll also go for j.mk crossups and short-dive whiffs at this point and try to punish. A lot of psychic/pattern reading here for my playstyle.
Rufus 101. :rock:
In a combo, Tornado: more damage and free Ultra in corner. EX Messiah if not in a corner and have at least 3 bars and Ultra.
If you can exploit the invincibility frames through whatever, EX Messiah Kick. Far easier to EX Messiah through a fireball than GT.
I employ it as an approach. It stuffs a lot of things, such as Blanka Balls. I’m going to start working on a Chart of Rufus’ Moveset vs All Character’s moveset in terms of trades or stuffs. But I’m being distracted by other things (some other Capcom game).
I find it the opposite. The EX Messiah seems to be just a safe haven, I’d go as far as to say that it’s Rufus’ Flaming Shoryuken. EX Snake Strike is purely situational, the whole match could go without it ever needed to be used once, and EX Tornado is far under-utilized by most Rufus players; those who don’t tag them at the end of a combo/blockstring. (I find myself using it for silly wakeup attack attempts and chip damage)
It depends on the playstyle, and in mine, EX Messiah is my failsafe with its invincibility, but most of my damage comes from divekick combos.
Meter is my reward for rushing down. It gives me EX Messiah Kick, so that I can use that if I jack up a blockstring or combo.
However, if I feel threatened, and low on life, I will build Meter by falling back to fullscreen. EX Messiah Kick is and has always been the main culprit of my comebacks (stuffs Ultras, through projectiles, fairly decent chip).
Your correct, this is a terrible place to be against anyone.
Fierce GT is alright, if opponents see it coming, prepare to get punished. Don’t rely too much on cr.FP either. It has a slow recovery time that can get you in trouble too. I tend to just stay out of this zone unless I am fighting Gief.
st.MK and st.MP(st.MP requires you to get a lttle closer) are great here. Both have nice range and priority and come out fast. I also use cr.MK pokes. If you land a cr.MK and have bar, cancel it into EX GT. If they land in the corner, free ultra.
I actually use his FA quite a bit, but mostly as AA. This is where you want to rush them down with dive kick shenannigans etc. You are 100% right on that one. But this is the hardest part to learn about Rufus. You have to rush, but rush smart as stated above.
I think those are 2 completely different moves that do 2 different things. I use tornadoes for comboes and the only time I messiah kick is to close some distance if they don’t see it coming. Remember that EX Messiah is your shoryuken on wakeup, it can get you out of a bad place with the quickness.
I mainly use it for combos. It has too much recovery for me to use it for anything else. Plus, the fireball destroying property can be so hit and miss.
I use MP Snake Strike over fireballs and lp SS for just straight building meter.
In my opinion if you are playing him correctly you should always have meter after the first part of a match. When I first start the match though, I tend to play a heavy defense because I like to read my opponent and see their tendencies. I have seen people rush for meter too. Just remember that without meter you have no moves to escape.
Glad to see that my advice is pretty similar to the other posters’ advice.
I don’t usually get punished on tornados, but that’s probably more a factor of the skill level of my opponents. Got some good advice out of your posts as well, never thought about using st.mk as a poke, even though it is a pretty fast one. How safe is it?
I’d listen to the other two over me, I’m sure both of them are better and more experienced
Don’t know about better or more experienced, I am pretty terrible :lol:
It is relatively safe, I do it from max distance and very close. It is godlike up close because you can cancel into GT after the first hit. And if I remember correctly, it is not character specific like MP xx HP GT
I just want to thank all of you for those great and detailed responses~!!!
I literally started with Rufus last night, but after an hour of getting my ass kicked, things started to click a bit…but he still wasn’t feeling familiar to me…I think your advice is exactly what I needed to start building that familiarity.
For me, to play any character, I need to know what my go-to options are for all the common situations, and this goes a LONG way to helping me understand my options.
The next thing I need to do is hit up training mode and work on comboing into the GT, poke strings, and mastering the dive kick as a crossup.
Last night when I tried to use the dive kick as a pressure tool, about 1/2 the time I whiffed it and the fatman just jumped up like an idiot, medium kicking at nothing :bluu:
So yeah, I am going to take all of this back to training mode and then report back.
Thanks for the info, I’ll have to mess around with that in training mode.
Actually its pretty funny, because while each of our pieces of advice pointed to offense they seemed to be focused around different aspects of Rufus’ offense.
I mean, some of your plan of action is going to be character dependent…
I’ll bust out a messiah here generally only if it’s hopping over a fireball for a guaranteed connect. HP GT will close the distance, and is safe on block, setting you up for an “up close” situation. You can also try triangle jumps to move in, as well as straight up jumps to try to bait a DP.
Up close I do indeed start with the dive kick shenanigans, but I also mix it up with blockstrings, where I’ll throw in a mix of the f.mk overhead, and lk.messiahs. Lk messiah and the overhead moves look kind of similar and I think it is good to mix that f.mk in to create more confusion about how to block, in addition to creating the guessing game with the messiah followup. I try to keep it random as far as how many low dive kicks I’ll throw out before starting on a block string, or trying to B&B. A lot of people try to grab after a blocked dive kick, so following it up with another dive takes you off the ground and makes you ungrabbable. Basically though, if they start to read how your throwing out dive kicks, mix up the pattern.
Another big question I have is:
Kind of hard to say. I do like to GT opponents on their wakeup when I guess that they won’t be mashing out a wakeup DP. GT seems to work well VS Blanka on wakeup.
I use lp.snake strike to build meter, or mp.snake to build meter and to hop over fireballs being thrown at me. If I don’t have meter and I’m not in the position where I can sit back and build it, I still try to rush down when possible (well, except for playing Blanka, Gief, Akuma, etc where I play a more patient game altogether), but you definitely have to be wary about your opponents meter. Sometimes I just try to bait them to get them to burn their own meter. But there is no better way to build your own meter quickly than with a well executed rushdown.
If you’re going for a meaty crossup dive kick and you’ve already crossed over your opponent, the down+forward direction gets flipped. I almost never put myself in this situation, but it does exist.
That’s one thing I love about Rufus. He has different ways to rush you down/stage an offense.
Again, not a problem since I love helping people! Plus it’s nice when people actually read up on Rufus and ask questions regarding specific problems. Too many people in here don’t like to read.
Comboing into GT is easy once you get it down. My suggestion is double tap and not negative edge. It is what seems to work the best.
Divekicks whiff on Zangief and Balrog if you triangle jump them so be careful.
Crossup dive kicks also become easier once you learn where to dive kick. I normally do it just before their head. It seems to angle perfectly then.
