If your looking for a high Damage character , Sagat aint on the list. Bitches only think he’s damaging because they spend the whole round jumping over Tiger shots.
What are you meant to use Tiger Knees for? When and why are you meant to use them? Would be cool if you could talk about each particular strength + EX.
If your in a sidewalk and want to cross the street quickly kara ex tiger knee can get you over there pretty safely and fast.
Rh tiger knee is your best damage special, so it’s good for punish combos. TKs also knock further than uppercuts. The short version is safe on block after a max distance cr. strong and the forward version is safe on block after a max distance cr. forward. It’s good for spacing and pressure. The ex version is always safe and can let you set up mixups or fake out a less experienced opponent (ex tk srk fadc ultra, for example).
Kara Tiger Knees are also used to quickly moved around the screen, after a forward throw a kara rh tk jump rh will set up a five frame safe jump.
Finally, it is an unorthodox anti air. From the right distance (ie the start of the match) if you’re unsure what your opponent will do, but are suspecting they will jump, or even throw out a far reach low, you can do a forward tk to hit them out of the air early, hop over their low attack, or just be safe on block.
New to sagat, Can someone help me with the basics please…
Welcome to the way of the Tiger. My first advice is to study the stickies above, especially the common faq one, you get a TON of answers from dudes much smarter than me. You’ll get move properties, mixup options, combos, and massive nerd-outs on frame data.
BUT since I’m bored and tired I’ll give you some things that were helpful for me learning, and I wish I knew when i picked him up!
-
Sagat is primarily zoning. Best strategy against majority of the cast is to zone with shots (varying high and low w/ different speeds) to force them to jump, in which case you anti air them to get more space. Crouch shot is great to stop from walking forward, but mid range shots can be risky, because if they were guessed, its a free jump in. Be wary when your opponent picks an anti-fireball ultra, although you can always try to bait by faking with wiffed lp’s.
-
best combos for beginners: stick to cr. mp xx TU for damage, or use a Tiger Knee (TK) to get em off/push towards corner. cr. lp is 3 frames,and if you cancel into a special you can get a quick punish for pretty good damage (cancel into low shot to safely get some space, or TU for a knockdown)
-
cr. lk, cr. lk, cr lp xx TU is the hit confirm, you need to learn this for wakeup pressure. link timing is strict but 10 min of practice in training mode each day you’ll pick it up quick, and you can p-link the cr. lk to make it a bit easier.
-
two bars = death for opponents. any TU can be fadc’ed, and you can follow it up with step high kick (fwd HK) into ultra for HUGE damage. some of the cast fall funny so you might have to vary timing for fwd. HK, or just ultra after the fadc.
-
Sagat gets random free ultra all the time. You anticipate a 3/4th screen jump in? Fwd HK -> ultra. if you hit em high you can 2x fwd HK. Trade an uppercut? Fwd. HK —> ultra.
-
cr. lk starts the wakeup offense, its +3 frames on block, so tick throws are easy, or just hit confirm a string for safe pressure. cr. lk -> cr. mp is a great frame trap. You hit it perfect meaty, you’ll be +5 on hit and can do whatever you want!
-
Tiger knees: only safe if you hit them with the tip, and HK TK are never safe. EX’s are pretty unpunishable too. TK is the armor break move.
-
random meter - burn a bar for Angry charge, it’ll freeze so you have tons of time to react of they jump or do something unsafe, and it makes your next TU hit for more damage and armor break.
-
Sagat is weaker in the footsie game, but his stand mk is a great poke, and his cr. hp hits hard and has good range.
Hope that gets you started, good luck!!!
Thanks, this is all a great start for me… Glad to see that the forum guys are friendly.
No prob the stickies are ripe with knowledge, and not much in terms of sagat strats has changed since day 1, altho we’ve had to adapt to some nerfs.
Just be aware though, 'gat is not an auto pilot instant win character. His gimmicks are few, and you consistently have to work, play smart, and probs most importantly BE PATIENT to get your damage.
Train hard and play smart, and best of luck to you!!!
Listen to him. He’s nice with it. Solid Sagat player.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Thanks dude, sorry to blow up your rufus so bad in endless the other day, keep learning! As you can tell by my akuma/honda play, I can do a reasonably intelligent sagat write up but don’t have the first clue how to play anyone else.
Lol it’s cool. I’m the same. After Fei and DJ, it kinda goes downhill from there. I can play a little, but not.enough to be a threat when playing someone else.
That being said, I’m tryna up my Sagat play, as well as Rufus. When I finally do, I’ll give you a run for your money.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
To anyone that wants to honestly become better than Good as Sagat(Becoming Amazing) you have to be on point with your AA. Sagat’s AA is the single most important tool to his zoning game, more so than his fireballs. Look at the best Sagat players in the world, do you ever notice why people respect their fireball and normal zoning so much? It’s because they know that they can’t jump in on that Sagat because their reactions are great and so is their spacing. Does anyone ever wonder why Daigo is so good at the ground game and why he gets so much respect from jump in’s? It is because the man does not miss AA. When you play a Sagat that can AA it’s a huge psychological advantage for his entire game, people respect your ground game + Fireball game a lot more.
So my advice, sit in training, build your reactions, TU everything.
Impossible for me reaction TU when cornered under pressure strings. Definitely separates the men from the boys.
-Sent from my Jelly Bean Nexus 7
Trust me, you can do it, just needs focus! Go into training mode and try to react to close jump ins, that’s all corner jumps really are
Lately I’ve liked ending my blockstring in low tiger shot… which sets up a decent frame trap/OS after… basically after they block the low tiger… pushes em back far enough that you can cr.mk xx TU… and if they do nothing… you just whiff a quick cr.mk poke. If they try to move fwd or stick something out the cr.mk hits and cancels to TU automatically. Main reason I like it is the spacing… makes it look like most reversals would whiff so people try low pokes all the time or just block. Also the cr.mk recovers decently fast… if they neutral jumped after the blocked TS it’s easy to AA. If they back jumped… easy to kara TU. If they fwd jumped… they will crossup most likely… so u can just block or go for autocorrect TU.
I don’t know how good of a setup it really is but it seems really low risk… takes advantage of frametrap and OS… and is easy to react to most anything they try to do… (short of mashing reversal during the window anyways). Then obviously since it follows close blocked low TS… it’s VERY easy to setup.
Guess my question is how bad is this setup? lol
It works wonders on buddies/randoms but I don’t really play sagat much in serious matches.
seems pretty legit, I’ll check it out and see how it works
I’ve been wanting to get nice with Sagat for awhile but have been unsuccessful. I’ve been below avg to say the least. I’m gonna try this. And try to learn how to zone.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Is there a list of all of Sagat’s safe jumps somewhere?
Which Kara uppercut is best for what situation? Like I understand towards light kara uppercut travels further, but is it faster then towards roundhouse? Say I want to punish a jump in from like 2/4-3/4 of the screen away which version would I use? And how exactly do I react in time to kara uppercut there jump in? Also which is the quickest cleanest way of inputing the uppercut after the towards light or roundhouse, thanks.
As a basic/loose rule - generally roundhouse Kara is better for all AA uppercuts because, yes, it’s faster and speed is what you need, light is better for Knee traps or to punish people trying to close ground from outside uppercut range. For example rufus players will try and neutral jump dive kick over shots but a well spaced kara knee will catch this where as it’s too far for an uppercut to hit.
Personally I also use the light if I’ve focused crumpled someone after a back dash because occasionally you can fuck a roundhouse kara, but it’s impossible to fuck a light kara because of the longer window.
Reaction come’s from experience and also knowing how to bait. As high shots recover faster than low one’s , you would usually prepare yourself for a kara AA from a high shot or a standing jab fake fireball when an opponent is at mid/far range. You would never kara from mid/close as an AA because Sagat has enough options there. So once you have them in that distance your focus should be on looking/baiting them to jump. Separate the stage into sections in your mind and once your in the kara range be aware of that. That parts a little hard to explain but Sagat players will understand what I’m talking about.
Technique wise you just hold forward, press round house then flick the stick into the uppercut motion in a fairly fast one/two motion. Not sure what else to tell you here.
Other than that you can use kara uppercuts as either surprise attack or as a reversal on some specials. With 2 bars and an Ultra stocked you can use the invincible frames and challenge a fireball character with a kara uppercut through the fireball (bad ass, you’ll feel good) or you can punish move’s on block like Bisons PC, Blanka ball, Honda headbutt etc etc, or you can take an educated guess on a back dash if you have some meter. EX kara knee is also good for closing bigger spaces, for example against Dhalsim. It’s also handy for a chip kill.
All characters can be AA with a kara TU but it’s not often wise against everyone. Some have floaty jumps, some narrow, some can use normals to alter trajectory. You will get a feel for it and if you want to be a good Sagat player, it’s essential IMO.