She actually reminds me a bit of SFxT Juri and SF4 C.Viper with her mobility options and jump cancel-able moves. I’ve only had 2 hours of play time with the game but from what a friend was explaining to me of the game engine here’s what I’ve figured out with the character.
Normals:
s.Forward, cr.Forward, s.Fierce, and sometimes s.Roundhouse seem like her go to pokes. All of these can be cancelled into Bladed Demon (qcf+P) so seems like you’re fishing with one of these pokes while buffering it in. Bladed Demon is negative on block so you want to hit confirm into it. Jab version is only -3 on block and pushes you away so it’s mostly safe on block but I’m sure there’s an EX special that could punish it.
Her cr.Short is 4 frame start up but when your mashing it on whiff it looks like it’s 2 frames. lol
f+RH is her go-to Anti-Air. It has an 8 frame start up, really good hit box, and has some invincibility, iirc but someone will need to verify this with attack data on in training mode. It’s also jump cancel-able on hit so if you successfully AA with it, immediately jump cancel into j.Forward (2 hits) xx qcf+Fierce/PP. I think EX Recluse has a 2 frame start up with full invincibility so it’s a really good reversal and AA.
Her jumping normals are special cancel-able on hit/block (not sure if all of them are) so you can cancel into her air fireball or wall cling. Not sure if you’d want to do this on block but thought it was interesting she could do this. Her j.Forward hits twice but only on hit not on block and you can special cancel on both hits. Her j.down+Forward is a straight down dive (not a dive kick), has minimal height restrictions (can’t do it low to the ground), and is +5 on block but the timing on when you can pressure after wards feels awkward.
j.RH is her cross up from a normal jump but it seems like it needs to be done from point blank range. Otherwise, you have to utilize her double jump to get her j.Forward to cross up. j.Fierce doesn’t cross up but it’s deceptive looking so you swap between j.RH or j.Fierce to cross up or not cross up the opponent, which kind of reminds me of C.Viper. Her double jump can be done really low to the ground so you can do things like jump over your opponent then double jump back wards for double cross ups. You can also utilize her j.qcb+P to get j.RH to cross up but it’s slow so you need to trick the opponent with j.down+Forward to bait out AA’s to condition them.
Combos and Combo Theory:
Seems like the best way to maximize your damage output with Sadira is using EX linkers liberally (meter gain is quick in this game) and ending in juggles because juggles can’t be combo broken. You basically follow the combo route of the game engine - Opener, Auto Double/Manual, Linker/Shadow Linker, Auto Double/Manual, Ender. One of her weakness seems like she has no Ender that either builds meter or does pure damage but the trade off is that all of her Enders are jump cancel-able so you can always end your combo in a juggle combo for free damage.
Juggles dramatically increase the game’s equivalent of Hit Stun Decay so you don’t want to take too long to lead into an Ender otherwise your juggle combo will fail and you lose out on damage.
Her throw is also jump cancel-able so you can do throw, j.Forward (2 hits) xx qcf+Fierce/PP.
Manuals were compared to links so I was using the frame data in training mode to try and build manuals but the frame data doesn’t add up. Her qcb+Forward linker puts her at +5 on hit but I can manual a s.Fierce after wards even though s.Fierce has an 8 frame start up. Anyways, I think manuals are going to be important in the meta to make combo breaking harder, locking out your opponent, and optimizing your damage output. I was experimenting with what manuals Sadira had and found a few.
[] = Holding the button down
cr.Forward xx qcf+Strong, s.Strong (Manual)
combo starter, auto double xx qcb+[Forward] (3 hit hard linker), s.Fierce (Manual) - You can swap qcb+[Forward] with qcf+[Strong]
combo starter into whatever, Instinct Mode Activation, Fierce+Roundhouse (Instinct Web), s.Strong/Fierce (Manual)
Her instinct mode seems incredibly important in her game. Most characters just get buffs in their instinct mode (ie. Jago’s regen, and Glacius’ super armor) but Orchid and Sadira’s Instinct are unique in that their instinct is another special move. In the case of Sadira, she places a web trap on the screen and you can only have one out on screen. The existing web trap has to disappear before another one can be set out so it’s not really wise to lay one out for space control purposes. It’s a good tool for oki as you can do a knockdown activate instinct, place a web trap on top of the opponent and then go for a mix up. It’s also good as a combo extender as you can cancel her normals into the web trap and then go into a manual after wards into another web trap.
EDIT: She can also jump cancel her normals in instinct mode so looks like you can do some cross up setups and resets with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW4_BdDZL7U
Based on that video you should be able to combo Fierce auto doubles into a jump cancelled j.RH x N but sure if that was just Ultra combo specific.
