I think a lot of its effectiveness primarily comes from the way throws are in V compared to 4.
If you try to shimmy me in SF4 and I fear you might throw me, I can option select (LP+LK+MP or MK) to either tech the throw or catch you with a normal as you back up in an attempt to shimmy. Granted, those option selects could get blown up pretty hard if someone catches on to them.
In SFV, you have to commit to defending that throw attempt or block. You could also press something and risk eating a CC. Whiffing that throw leaves you on an island to get punished. Itās a much huger risk here.
So basically crouch tech option select blew up any potential shimmy attempt? I see throws being whiff punished in SFV into big damage, but that wasnāt really prevalent in 4. I guess thatās why CH normals into Ultra was such a big thing at high level play. Punishing players for crouch teching.
Sakura is fun when she gets to dictate the pace, walk someone to the corner or getting dem shimmies. Amazing walk speed, st. Lk is amazing, good damage, good ex moves to burn meter on.
When sheās not fun? Playing against Bison, Akuma, birdie, rashid or Cody. No matter how much I play, these are just terrible shitty matchups.
Other matchups may not be exactly even (guile, Menat, ken, Cammy), feels more like a slight disadvantage.
Beware balrog and everyone else is pretty even or she wins.
Also gotta be comfortable with Sakura light confirms into dp. Canāt hit these? Donāt play her.
She is often considered bottom 5, just ahead of Ryu, Zangief, Alex and Vega.
It is possible to win frequently with her, specially at lower levels, but she is too honest and her VTs arenāt that great. VT2 has a good damage potential, but it kills her tatsu in neutral. VT1 is just weak.
You also got to play an offensive game with her.
She is a lot of fun, but if you are looking for a strong character to play, look somewhere else.
My homie Ceelows recently had a nicely detailed write-up on her:
Summary
I recently hit GrandMaster with Sakura and felt like contributing to the conversation about Sakura on here since I do see frequent posts about the character. I think Sakura is a fairly solid character. Japan may have her bottom 5, but I think she might sit around the middle? I donāt play offline enough to feel I can give an informed opinion on this just yet, but I donāt think sheās terrible. Iāll go through common concerns and thoughts Iāve heard about the character and give my respective opinion.
āSakura has too many inconsistenciesā
Probably the most valid concern. I think her anti air options can definitely cause some issues and even be the source of potential bad matchups. Akuma is one example. With the various options akuma has in the air, Sakura must revert to either Cr HP, light DP, EXDP or air throw/jump back jab and each of these options have some faults. Cr HP can be beaten by divekick and air fireball, EXDP can go underneath akuma, light DP may trade and also go under akuma and air throw/jump back jab can be beaten with a well timed demon flip palm or air fireball. The last 2 options dont have huge consequences, but are inconsistent nonetheless. Her cr mk also has the tendency to whiff during a combo, and back HP doesnāt always connect after st mp because of distance. Her whiff punish options also become worse in VT2 due to VT2 tatsu whiffing and VT2 DP not reaching close enough after st lk.
āSakura needs tatsu loops backā
This might just be Sakura fans wanting the fun factor back from SF4, but I personally have accepted that Sakura is just a different character in this game and plays very differently from SF4. Her tatsus are generally pretty useful, with light tatsu leading to a +2 situation on hit, a counter-hit confirm opportunity into low jab, and a good buffer option in neutral since it is safe on block. Heavy tatsu also has the benefit of a plus situation and can go through most projectiles. You do need a read though since the startup is slow, but the fact that it is safe OB makes up for it. Medium tatsu leaves something to be desired, but is ok for corner combos. EX tatsu also has great corner carry and safe OB.
-" Sakura has terrible neutral"
In my experience so far, her neutral has to be used counter-intuitively. St lk is useful to get out of the corner with lk>VT2 activation hoping for a CH confirm into another St lk. Itās also useful for whiff punishes and checks in neutral. Her st lp is useful for dash checking and opponents trying to walk too close. Her fireballs can only be used against certain characters and are useful to get in rather than keep away by charging them from a distance. Her cr mk is good enough to catch opponents trying to walk back out of pressure combined with a light tatsu buffer. With these options in mind, I think she has viable neutral, and with VT2 she can become one of the scariest characters in the game by changing the entire course of a round with just light buttons.
āSakura has too many bad matchupsā
I wouldnāt say too many, but some are definitely tough. The top characters like Guile, Akuma, Cammy and Menat can definitely give her a hard time, but they arenāt impossible and there are some options to deal with certain situations. With akuma, Sakura can punish stmk almost every time with the exception of a demon flip cancel. Any fireball cancel besides EX fireball can be interrupted with st lk (labbed this recently) thanks to the -4 OB change. Air throw is also a decent option to counter demon flip. For cammy, light DP is actually pretty decent against cammyās divekicks exlcusing EX divekick. She can also whiff punish a mis-spaced divekick on landing. For Menat, Sakura can bait Menatās V skill with a V-skill cancel after a charged fireball to punish it, leading to oki. She can also bait slides with properly spaced fireballs and punish with lk>DP. As for guile, you must rely on hard reads and playing more patient than the guile player, definitely one of the toughest matchups. For the ibuki MU, some say Sakura loses bad, but in my experience, and with some experience playing against Shine offline, its not too bad. Ibukiās footsies can be dealt with by using Sakuraās lights. Sure ex kunai is a pain, but almost the entire cast struggles against it.
Based on my experience so far with the character online and offline, I think Sakura is almost where she should be. The only additions I would like to see are quality of life changes, like a light DP which is airborne invincible, does a bit more damage and can be crush countered. This would make it easier to handle characters with airborne mixups like akuma and cammy. Iād also like to see a slight Cr mk buff which extends the range a bit and back HP connecting after st mp more consistently. I think these small changes will put Sakura right where she should be.
As far as tiers go, how viable she is and how worthy she is of actually playing, I think itās up to the person to decide. To some people, teirs are everything, for some they are not, and for some people theyād rather play a more consistent character. All these reasons are valid because this is still a video game and you should play whichever character makes you enjoy the game. For me personally, tiers are only relevant at the highest level of play offline. In every other instance, tiers do not matter and I believe anyone can get to Warlord with any character. Iām confident I can reach warlord with sakura in due time after hitting GM and I think anyone can as well. Tiers are irrelevant to me because I think I am still a mediocre player at best with so much room for improvement. My anti airs arenāt where they should be, my hit confirms still need fine tuning, and I still donāt have a lot of matchup knowledge with certain characters. But I think Sakura has made me a much better player since switching to her from akuma, and I think the same can be done for any player. That alone has given me enough reason to main the character, and I am having the most fun with SFV Iāve had since launch.
Her tatsus are safe on block? Thatās real good imo. Also I donāt pick any character based on tier lists, I play characters based on other things but the fun factor is the main point in me choosing one. Thanks guys for the info.
if you think being -2 is good remember the good ol days of IV when they could be up to like +4 oB and Alpha where she could CC loop them as a blockstring and get corner for free
There are reasons as to why sheās bad but itād be a long post and Iāve written it many a time, give her a whirl and see what you think of her
Iām new to SFV, I come from nrs games but I decided to play SFV because honestly inj2 didnāt keep me interested long enough to stick with it. I just wanted to play another fighter, but boy did I get hooked, I love SFV and can see why itās the most popular game right now, both in entrants and viewers, nevertheless I have little knowledge on any characters pre-SFV, and my main character is Ryu and his tatsus are like -2,000 on block so if a character is safe on tatsus then to me thatās amazing but I know itās just because Iām used to being so negative on block with ryu.
So RatShit dominates SEAM this weekend, right? I was busy with a family reunion this last 2 days, Iāve just finished to see Tokido vs Daigo and the Saturday GF between BigBird and Tokido. Looking at how well RatShit performed this year itās funny thinking at the overreactions about his nerfs in 3.5 update, the character is still very good. Canāt wait for Capcom Cup, mostly because I desperately need this SFV season to end quickly, shit becomes stale now.