Oh Branka, #3ish on most difficult matchups thread, but he is the most consistent to be on everyone’s list.
as of the latest tier list, the matchup is 5-5, (I agree with that)
I’ll update the 1st post with as much cut & dry whatnot as often as I can.
to start, basic punishments:
horizontal branka ball:
c.lp beats it out clean(against those brankas who fierce branka ball right off the bat)
upon blocking it STANDING you can walk forward a step(s?), and c.fierce branka upon landing
upon being hit(standing?) you can walk forward a step(s?), and c.fierce branka upon landing
galactic tornado
rainbow ball:
focus attack if you can’t predict the side they want to hit you
upon block, you can j.rk->whatever
vertical ball:
early s.hp->whatever(judge the hit)
electricity
low hitting kicks from max range(c.lk, c.mk, c.rk)
max range c.fierce
ex tornado
backdash when too close
super
[after block] j.rk
[after he rises after the super flash] ex messiah kick
ultra
[after block] j.rk
[after he rises after the super flash] ex messiah kick(space properly)
[after he rises after the ultra flash] EX snakestrike(space properly)
Misc.
-branka slide(d/f fierce, when they do it too close) - c.lp->EX tornado, EX tornado
Notes*
-branka ball cannot be punished by c.fierce when you block it crouching
-EX messiah kick beats electricity, only when done directly next to branka(polygons are touching)
-EX messiah kick loses to Branka’s ultra on the way up:shake:
-properly timed c.mp beats most direct jumpins(60% clean, 40 % trade)
No, he calls him Branka because that’s what the japanese call him. j/k
I’d really like to know more about jump/crossup-happy Blankas, myself. I play a lot of these scrubs online and there isn’t enough of a window for me to throw out an EX Messiah.
I usually dive-kick on my Blanka’s after a knockdown to bait out wake-up Elecs. I Punish with C.MK --> EX GT. I feel that it takes away some of their options as you have time to react to whatever else they might throw out… Like a Throw, or even a Ball.
Like always, if you’re too close and you Block the Elec before the C.MK, I’m sure you can EX GT on Reversal.
@ mastermind, i think i find myself forced to block the first one more often than not. if you know they’re going to continue these ticking shennanigans, rufus roll. a rising vertical j.hp, j.mk or j.hk might be viable too.
my beefs have been with some’ve the gimmicks i put at the end’ve my first post, as well as blanka’s j.fierce.(which is his strongest aerial move imo… as far as utility goes) Ima scour the beginning of the big matchup thread about this
vs. his Ultra, what I try to use is jump back (if he’s not right on top of you) and use your own ultra (assuming you have one). Yours will beat his clean and the timing isn’t very important at all.
However, if he’s right on you there’s not much you can do but block/pray. The camera zoom always throws off my timing for any counters to the initial arc of it.
^
i’ll halfto try that. seems like its best in clutch situations where you wouldn’t survive the retarded amounts of chip. conservatively, space opera shimfony is def safer after dat j.rk
^^^
There’s still the fact that Blanka can HOLD there Ultra in one spot after they touch the floor so they can wait it out "Space Opera Symphony " and punish it at the right time.
IMO, if I can survive the chip damage, I love when Blanka Ultras me. Free j.RK into EX Snake Strike or Ultra or both if he lands in the corner
Also be careful of EX Rainbow Roll, it’s a lot like Vega’s Wall Dive. Very hard to predict what side they will hit you on. I prefer just to Focus and dash away from those. The regulars though get punished with another j.RK.
If I see a Blanka hop close to me or do the low blank ball(the one they tend to elec/grab out of) I just spam jab. Once it connects you can do 2 things.
With meter I go cr.jab-cr.jab-st.jab-cr.mkXX EX GT
W/o meter I do cr.jab-cr.jab-st.jab-st.jab-st.strong(mp)
I’m about 80% sure that close s. hp wiffs on crouching branka, or at least after s. lk. Can anyone confirm or reject?
I was going to test, but I forgot and turned my system off.
edit: ok, so the s. hp only wiffs sometimes. Maybe if you hit the link you’re guaranteed to connect, but if your timing is off you might be a sitting duck.
i’m pretty sure you can counter branka’s ultra at any distance or stage of the ultra with ex messiah, even if he’s doing it right on top of you. Sometimes only one hit of the ex messiah connects, but it’s better than taking chip.
regarding electricity spam, you just halfto block it, and then either dash back, or wait to see their next action. a smart branka player will know when to stop, or stop, then c.rk upon blockstun(I believe they’re in enough advantage)
if they electricity, w/out hitting you(pre-assumed that you’d do something that would get hit out), then you have the option to dashback, or retaliate.
if they’re right next to you, I can put money down that rufus’s neutral stance(doing nothing) and I’m pretty sure his startup to EX. tornado are prone to being hit. dashing back is the best option imo.(blocking 2nd best bet)
also to note, electricity is an alternating phase of on and off hit boxes. with 4/2/1/1 frame windows for lp/mp/hp/EX versions. this is what makes it progressively harder to hit a blanka out of electricity with anything other than the low hitting kicks, far c.fierce, and ex.tornado. (which is why divekicks have been seen hitting branka out of electricity)
regarding wiffed s.hp, I think I always make it wiff when I mistime s.hp punishing wiffed vertical balls, but it feels like when i do divekick->s.hp, or divekick->s.lk, s.hp it always gets blocked
regarding ex messiah kick against ultra: up close, b/c of the way blanka rises, I find it 10x easier to mistime and fuck up :sad:, and have been much more conservative when blanka’s directly in front of me. but I do believe you’re right.
If you go for a crossup dive kick and Blanka does a wakeup ultra, there’s a decent chance he’ll whiff.
I was able to punish with an immediate EX SS for full hits, while he was at the top of his arc. I was actually hoping to catch him on the way down with my own ultra, but I rushed the inputs (can’t say if it would have reached or not).
Of course, you can also vacuum him out of his ultra and connect with EX GT right when he returns to the ground and hasn’t yet rolled to the other side of the screen.
j/k