Sagat Q&A: Ask simple questions here!

[EmblemLord]

I think you are talking about the wrong character.

Sagat’s normals are pretty fucking godly.

It’s his walk speed that hurts his footsie game.

[System_1]

can u elaborate? only good footsies tool i see him having is s.lk.
c.lk is ok but has shit range.

[HazeandFire]

Not talking about the wrong character, just illinformed babbling.

His footsies aren’t good. He’s a zoning character and has one of the worst walking speeds in the game. His normals are great for zoning, such as a c.lk with great frame advantage for block strings. If you’re out of range of your c.lk, that’s good. s.lk and c.mk to tiger knee and tiger shot are great normals, for zoning.
c.hp is nice too. Along with s.HK and countless other good normals for zoning

[EmblemLord]

Footsies is about being able to go in and out of your opponent’s zone and use normals to stuff whatever they have to create advantage and momentum for yourself.

It’s super important in this game due to the counter hit system which gives you more frame advantage when you get one.

Sagat has poor footsies not due to his normals which are actually pretty sick. It’s his slow walk speed. He cannot dance in and out of zones easily. It’s very noticeable when he does so. So he relies far more on just creating raw frame advantage through the use of well spaced Tiger Knees and low shorts.

There is a lot more that goes into footsies besides range. Start-up time and active frames is a huge one as well as how the normal comes out. Attacks that thrust outwards from the body tend to stuff other normals as well as attacks with relatively fast start-up time.

I made a post about this awhile back. I’ll go get.

Ok guys here’s that post.

Honestly, Sagat’s up close game gets me in trouble sometimes. Someone will be crouching blocking right in front of me and I KNOW I should just throw them back out or push them back out so I can start zoning them with shots, but Sagat has SO many good options up close that I just say “fuck it!” and I play footsies instead.

Let’s go over those options.

Crouching jab - Comes out in 3 frames. Has more range then his crouching short. Since it’s fast it’s useful during footsies to stuff other normals. Leaves you at 0 frames of advantage so it’s safe on block and good for block strings as well.

Crouching short - Comes out on frame 5, and leaves Sagat at plus 3 on block. That’s just…too good. This means that when Sagat recovers from the cr.short his opponent will still be in block stun for 3 frames. Using frame advantage intelligently is key for maintaining a strong offense. This normal has decent range as well and is another main component of Sagat’s block string. Also if you go for the option select tech throw, this will come out if you don’t tech, which is good for Sagat.

Crouching strong - Comes out in 5 frames and has good range and priority. This actually leaves you at +1 on block so it’s worth using. Slightly less frame advantage then the cr. short, but with more range, damage and block pushback. This move is good in block strings and linking after a cr. short.

Crouching fierce - I swear this thing is straight outta CvS2. Comes out on frame 8 which is decent for a heavy normal. But the thing that makes this thing nuts, is the massive priority and the huge range. This thing has more range then almost every other normal in Sagat’s arsenal save for a couple. The range is comparable to a shoto’s cr. forward. When it’s spaced out it pretty much eats any other normal for breakfast. Only very fast high priority jabs will beat it usually and even then they still might get stuffed if they mistimed it.

Standing short - Stupid range, cancellable into specials, and comes out on frame 6. For a light normal it’s on the slower side but it’s utility offsets that minor weakness. It leaves you at -1, but it’s perfectly safe on block especially when fully spaced and you cancel into a Tiger Shot. This is great in block strings and for pushing your opponent out when they are too close for comfort and you want to get back to zoning.

Overhead - The range on this thing is quite deceptive and extends beyond Sagat’s elbow. It’s slow coming out in 20 frames, but Sagat’s focus attack comes out in 21 frames and that sees use so why not this? Safe on block and has good pushback when it hits or if its blocked which is good for setting up your zoning.

Focus attack - This is Sagat’s longest ranged normal. I will repeat that. This move has more range then Sagat’s s.short. It’s also one of the faster Focus attacks. This thing is amazing if only due to the range. Throw it out and then when it’s blocked you cancel into a dash and go for a grab. This works most of the time until people get wise to it. Then you can dash in and do shenanigans like a tiger uppercut or dash in and block to bait and punish an uppercut or even dash into another focus attack. You can throw this out during poke wars and fish for a counter hit and if you get it dash into uppercut to FADC to F+HK to ultra.

Standing jab - Sagat has a pretty good standing jab. Leaves him at +3 when it hits from far away and at +4 when up close. Unfortunately Sagat is very tall and many characters can duck the jab when he is up close although some can’t like Boxer for example. From far away his elbow angles downward so it can still hit crouching opponents which is pretty cool. I need to mess with these moves more, but they may have potential.

As far as block strings go you have a few to choose from:

c.lk 3 times
c.lp 3 times
s.lk into low tiger shot
c.lk, c.lk, c.lp into low tiger shot
c.lk, c.lp into low tiger shot

Try not to get TOO fancy since links have strict timing and if you leave a hole open in your timing you risk eating a reversal.

The beauty of block strings is that once you condition an opponent to a block string when they get in, that’s what they will expect and that’s when the mix-ups begin. Remember this, The smarter your opponent is, the easier it is to fuck with their heads. Abusing frame advantage is a big part of this as well.

Let’s say your opponent is up close so you throw out 2 c. shorts and they get blocked. That’s fine because you are at +3. Now you have some serious options. You could cancel into a tiger shot to push them out. You can walk forward slightly to bait a reversal and then punish. You could throw out an overhead, which works well alot of the time since NO ONE expects it. You can dash in and grab. You could throw out a s.lk and cancel into a Tiger Knee to keep the pressure on. You could throw out a focus attack and you have ALOT of options from there too.

If you went the Tiger Knee route, the guessing game starts all over again and you do have slight frame advantage if it’s blocked on the way down I believe. If you don’t then I’m pretty sure you are at least neutral with your opponent. Using the Tiger Knee keeps the close range game going pretty much.

DO YOU SEE WHY IT’S SO TOUGH TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE UP CLOSE?!!?!!?!?

This dude has TOO many options, and they are ALL good.

Sagat is the fucking emperor. Bow down to him.

If you want to play it safe up close I would usually stick with block strings most of the time, with the occasional focus attack into grab, and pokes cancelled into tiger knees and then maybe a grab or block string from there. But you have alot of tools at your disposal so be sure to experiment.

[HazeandFire]

To compensate for his slow walk speed you can use c.MK, f+HK, and f+LK to move small distances quickly while maintaining control with the zoning capabilities of those three moves. They are all situational so get used to all three of those normals. Careful, c.MK generally loses to a focus attack and f+HK is good at far distances where they can’t easily crouch and punish a wiff. f+LK is slow so it’s good for when you’re running mind games and make your opponent scared to throw out attacks. Focus attack also moves forward slightly, while not great for footsies it’s great if you’re barely out of range for something.

[System_1]

I played my friend who uses balrog today for about 20 games or so… everytime i did the string cr lk cr lk st lk TK. he was always able to reversal with a straight dash… can any1 explain this to me? im only getting one hit of the light TK sometimes two… and i always held block right after but i got caught with the straight everytime

[EmblemLord]

There is no string with TK that is tight.

Anyone can reversal in between if they know it’s coming.

[System_1]

thanks for the info emblemlord. most sagat players just try n hit confirm c.lk, c.lk, c.lp xx TU when upclose but he seems to have alot more options.

c.lk, c.lk, FA sounds like it can lead to alot of mixups.
-blocked, dash, grab
-backdash, tigerknee or uppercut

shit matches more with my playstyle. nothing better than confusing the crap out of ur opponent.

[System_1]

he was hitting me with the straight dash after the TK not inbetween the string

[EmblemLord]

Then you spaced it wrong. The TK needs to hit on the last active frames of the attack as it’s coming down or it’s not safe.

Two hits blocked is always free damage for your opponent.

[System_1]

so sometimes even after doing cr lk cr lk st lk tk isnt spaced enuff?

[EmblemLord]

If you are right in their face you want to do c.lk, c.lk, c.lk/c.lp, s.lp/s.lk > TK

But honestly you will need to judge the spacing for yourself.

Sometimes you can do a raw TK and sometimes s.lk to TK is enough.

Play the game and experiment.

[dc_guru]

I’m having trouble getting TU xx FADC xx F+RH, Ultra to work. I can get TU xx FADC xx Ultra to work everytime, but for some reason when i try to put F+RH in there it all goes to hell! My success rate going for F+RH is 3/10 while the other 7/10 times I get one of these 3 things happening:

1. After the FADC I dash twice and my F+RH comes out the wrong way
2. After the FADC I get a regular RH
3. After FADC my f+RH whiffs

It all seems to do with how quickly I try to throw out the F+RH, too quick and I get an extra dash, too slow and I just miss completely. Not sure why sometimes I get a regular RH, I think that may just be an execution problem (not hitting F+RH).

Also I discovered that his s jab has strange properties. What I mean by this is that after a lvl 1 FA (no crumple) it seems the hitbox changes! Let’s say your opponent is one that CANNOT duck your s jab (I was using Ryu for this), if you lvl 1 FA then dash cancel it your opponent can now duck the s jab! Strange that it does this because lvl 1 doesn’t crumple and if you look at the opponent (i had a friend hold down so that ryu was constantly crouching) their sprite doesn’t change but your elbow will just fly right over them!

[WolfGang_K]

Im trying to learn how to forward short kara cancel to tiger shots but so far im having alot of trouble getting it to come out. Is there any advice anyone can give me that will help me execute this at a very high percentage???

[HazeandFire]

I’m having trouble getting TU xx FADC xx F+RH, Ultra to work.

You should hold forward when you do your dash, and just hit :HK:

like, :r: :mk:+:mp: :r:(hold) :hk:

[dc_guru]

You should hold forward when you do your dash, and just hit :HK:

like, :r: :mk:+:mp: :r:(hold) :hk:

Thanks this has help me immensely! I’m now up to 8/10 success rate with this method! The only time I fail to complete the combo is because I don’t hit RH fast enough and start to walk up but that’s easily compensated for with a little practice.

Also I’m not sure if this was just a fluke or what but I was getting pressured by E Honda so I pulled a wake up super (Tiger Genocide) but it got stuffed by E Honda’s c c. Short !!! I got the reversal message, the super flash kicked in and then BAM E Honda sticks out c. short and stops the entire super! Does his super have no low body invincibility? To give a more accurate description as to E Honda’s position, he was not right next to me on wake up BUT he was within throw range. I guess it could also be that my invincibility frames just ended but that would truly be pitiful if Sagat’s super is only invincible for that short amount of time! Next time I won’t try to be fancy and just end it with an ex TU or TK… btw which has the most invincible frames?

[EmblemLord]

Sagat’s super has like…2 frames of invincibility or some nonsense like that.

EX TU has massive invincibility. 11 frames.

[Marshall]

Thanks this has help me immensely! I’m now up to 8/10 success rate with this method! The only time I fail to complete the combo is because I don’t hit RH fast enough and start to walk up but that’s easily compensated for with a little practice.

Try that same combo on gouken and report back with your success rate

[dc_guru]

Try that same combo on gouken and report back with your success rate

Wow you’re right! For some reason I’m having the most trouble with gouken! It seems that my F+RH just goes right by him each time! Guess I’ll just stick to TU xx FADC xx Ultra on him …

[System_1]

is FA backdash a good thing to use and are there any setups where i can use it effectively? ive had alot of success with c.lk, c.lk, FA backdash, s.lk xx TK/TS. c.hp stuffs the shit out of them too if they tend to mash during the focus.

in that rikki (chun) vs. daigo match, ive seen rikki abuse FA backdash many times and he was giving daigo a hell of a hard time. is it an effective tactic?