At first, I thought that ken would be my character but then when I found out that 99% of live players use ryu and ken I decided to play with a diferent char
then i found sakura
but I can’t play with her yet, I don’t know how should I play (more offensive or deffensive) also, a friend of mine said that sakura isn’t a character for beginners, is this true?
my main problem is that I can’t block or counter attacks coming from the air, her shoryuken is so strage. I also can’t get near to fireballs characters due to spam, when I try to jump in the shoryuken me, and then they keep spamming fireballs.
I hope that you help me, I just bought SF4 tuesday and I’m loving it and I don’t really want to change my character.
I’m new to her too, but…
Use crouching HP instead of shoryuken as anti-air, it’s really useful.
For those type of people, I usually somehow get through fireball spam(jump over, focus attack/dash through, otoshi over, tatsu over…) but I jump in empty and block at a safe distance to bait a shoryuken from the opponent, then punish them. Like, jump in to land in range for close combat instead of jump in on top of them with an attack.
Also, EX otoshi from anywhere at screen punishes fireball for free.
At the right range you can tatsu over a fireball and hit the opponent, I think.
What’s her best air to air attack? For both neutral jumps and forward/back ones? I usually play Ryu, where neutral jump mp and forward/backward hp or hk are usable.
What are Sakuras best attacks in those cases? I don’t really know what to use against Dictator air spam. With Ryu or Akuma i hit them 2-3 times out of the air so they stop doing it. I’m just using Dictator as an example. I know you can back dash and punish in that case.
Also, what’s a replacement for Ryus forward jump and instant hk as anti air? I know c.hp is fine while still being on the ground. But what if you need more range?
(Yes, i did a search, but terms like “air” are not that great)
shytzoo blew my mind when he hit me with air to air lk then landed, dashed underneath me and combo’d as if it were a normal reset off ex tatsu. mp is pretty good too.
So, here’s a nooby question… As I’m starting to get a hang of j.HK, c.HP, ex tatsu, otoshi and at least getting it every now and then in an actual match, and also starting to be able to cross up with j.LK, what’s the deal with these resets I keep hearing about?
This Since it extends far to the side and above her body, as long as you’re not too late or get out-reached (which usually comes when they anticipate you and use their own air-to-air).
As mentioned j.LK works a treat, I find it’s better to use if you think j.MP won’t make it in time. I played around with dashing under and stuff, seems a bit tempermental so be careful with that, probably character, height and distance specific.
As for vertical jumps I find j.MK works great as an anti-air, use it on the closer jumps if c.HP has a tendancy to lose to certain attacks (hello Vega’s j.HP >.<). Vertical j.HP seems like another good one but the range is shorter than j.MK…
Let’s not forget Air Shunpuu, great priority and causes knockdown shame about the damage
Generally speaking a reset “resets” the combo, but that means your opponent has an opportunity to stop you from continuing the “combo” so it’s a risk to trade some guaranteed damage for more unguaranteed damage (and possible stun).
For Sakura the reset comes after an EX Shunpuu (or j.LK in certain situations as previously mentioned), you’d usually use j.LK or LP to knock them out of the air and make them land on their feet, as opposed to their ass. As they’re falling dash under them to confuse them, hopefully they will either not expect it or be blocking the wrong way, then do another combo. Once/if they catch onto this you can mix things up; vertical jumps, throws, not crossing-under, in the corner you can even cross-up.
Example: j.HK > c.LK > c.LP > c.HP xx EX Shunpuu > dash or walk > LP > dash (under) > c.HP xx EX Shunpuu > Otoshi
The LP after the EX Shunpuu makes them land on their feet and ends the combo, since they’re probably holding back to block dashing under now means they’re no longer blocking and fall prey to the follow up combo.
I’m not very good at explaining things, hope that makes things clear
They’re supposed to put you on the other side where you’re opponent is blocking. So they’re blocking up front but for a split second you can hit them from the back, I think.
Here’s what GoDSh0t told me:
If you watch carefully i follow up the EX Shunpukyaku with a jumping light kick. The light kick resets them in the air (they flip around). After the reset i go for a “cross-under”, basically i walk under them and end up on the other side. Since i’m on the other side, they have to block the other direction, but since it’s happening so fast they have to be anticipating it otherwise they’ll get hit. For example, I’m on the left side, you on the right; i reset you with j.lk, you are holding back (since you’re on the right side, you’re holding right to block), but i cross under and you’re still holding right; as a result you’re actually moving forward since you’re now on the left side and open for a hit.
I’ve always thought a dash before the Ultra helps my timing, since instead of trying to press KKK at the right time (in this case, above Sak’s head level) and risk missing, you’re almost guaranteed a full Ultra if you press it right after a dash. I say almost because sometimes I do the motion too quick and I end up missing. =(
Being that I play completely off reaction, I lean towards defensive. Oh reaction play will and does get you prison raped online. But to me, Socks is a rush down off a mistake type character. I played a few Socks from here and every one seems to have their own way of doing things.
I tend to use her hadu’s prolly more than everyone here. Joe has played me more than anyone on here and he can tell you, I abuse her hadu’s as if I was playing Ryu lol. Oddly when I use Akuma, I dont use his hadu’s as much lol.
Yeah pretty much, it’s dash then immediately do the motion. That’s: F F D DB (B) D DB B + KKK, no waiting for the dash animation to finish or you will be too late.
Sadly I’m cursed with not being all that great at doing two quarter circle motions very quickly and my stick seems to be getting worse so I often botch this up. EX Otoshi or EX Shunpuu are the usual “whoopsies”. I find looking at the stick helps accuracy, you don’t really need to be looking at the screen at this point, just wait for the final kick of the EX Shunpuu then look down whilst doing the motions.
Yeah, nothing’s more annoying than being too fast on the Ultra >.< Too slow, yeah it happens but too fast? You know how hard it is to be too fast? XD
Incidentally if people are wondering why Otoshi are coming out instead of Ultras I’ve worked it out. If you’re like me you probably roll the stick from F to B so it’ll look like this: F F DF D DB (B) D DB B. If you overshoot the second D input and get another DF motion it’ll look like this: F F DF D DB (B) DF D DB B. Notice what I bolded is one of the “short-cuts” for the DP motion, luckily Ultra overwrites Otoshi but if you press KKK too soon it’ll recognise the DP motion and give you an Otoshi
Once in a while when doing a simple Shouoken, I see Sakura begining with a c.HP and then canceling into the Shouoken. I have a hard time understanding why exactly the c.HP is inserted into the motion because I’m really just doing the regular Shouoken and pressing HP only once…
If I consciously want to do a c.HP xx Shouoken, I do a DF, c.HP, D, DF, c.HP (meaning that I have to press the HP twice).
So I’m really wondering why this c.HP is inserted into the regular Shouoken motion.
Does anyone have an idea about what strange forces are at work here?
