Ken’s tatsu has my vote for one of the worst moves in the game. It doesn’t matter if you connect or you get blocked - you get punished either way (I’m referring to the mk and hk versions, I don’t use lk consistently to have a sound opinion) . But it does rack up the combo hits so I still use it like a moron.
Lk I’m not sure on block, but I know it combos consistently on hit. Mk and Hk have to be deep on hit. I’ll test to see if the Lk combos completely on block but I doubt it will. The best thing about the Lk version is that it leaves ken out of most throw ranges after the last hit. I don’t know if its out of typhoon/spd range, but it does leave him out of standard throw ranges.
Gief strats: I’m finding it particularly frustrating that I can’t outright punish Gief’s lariats. Sure, I can sweep the leg when he comes near and I can bait him into throwing it, but I have a horrible time against those that just spam it in the corner. Those types of players just bore me to the point where I drop my defenses. I’ve looked at the YGB scans for Ken and Gief and it looks like a jumping-towards mk, hk or hp are his best options. I’ve just come across this data so I’ve yet to try it out. Thoughts?
Fierce Shoryuken. You can tag him from just beyond sweep range, you gotta be fast though, especially vs the Kick Lariat. Other than that, just about any jump punch will beat it. And Air Tatsus too.:bgrin:
I find the latter two and a low sweep are more consistent options. I’m too wary of being punished on a missed fierce dragon punch. That said, I do wish there were better options. I mean he’s just spinning right there in front of me!
I remember way back hearing some giefs (don’t know their skill level) saying something about Ken’s st.hk being a nightmare for lariat.
I never had much success, but is there any foundation to that statement?
In my experience, st RH can beat the Lariat’s startup, but will lose to it once the Lariat is fully spinning.
:-/
Well that’s a bust.
Was thinking about if st.hk gave Ken an advantage over Ryu in the Gief match-up.
From my own experience st.hk works quite well but if timed wrong it trades at least with the punch lariat due to it’s extended hitbox on the last spin. I’m usually too busy driving Ken’s head into the ground to worry about it.
I’ve seen some good players use it well but it’ll never be a 100% counter because the Zangief player can mix things up by choosing different lariats and moving back and forth.
Hi everyone,
I main Ken and generally have a very hard time against good fei long players. I was hoping to get some advice to improve my game against them.
Normally, I almost always die in the corner from the offensive pressure. They tend to advance and close in using flying kicks, standing fierce, and rekka kens. During the advancement, they also try to position themselves just out sweep range. This pretty much negates my low forwards and sweeps. I could guess the rekka kens and counter by throwing out a low forward or jab dp, but if I miss, I’ll surely eat a 3 hit rekka combo. If they know you’re scared to throw out low fowards, they’ll gladly take the chip damage with a 2 hit (and sometimes 3 hit) rekka.
If I try to fireball, they’ll just block or even eat a few fireballs and continue the pressure. Also I can’t get fireball happy because of his flying kick. Once I’m in the corner, it’s pretty much game over. I’m usually trying to psychic dp at this point or jumpkicking backwards.
Any ideas on how I can counter? What’s the strategy against fei long? Also in general, what should I do after blocking a flying kick? Counter attacking seems risky because I know they like to do flaming kicks right after. But if I block, they can just simply throw. It always seems to be a guessing game to my disadvantage.
Any help would be appreciated. To see an example of what I’m talking about, watch the first 25 seconds of the youtube clip between Sirlin and Damdai during the evo 3v3 matches. That’s usually what happens to me. (Please note, in no way am I putting down Damdai or comparing myself to him. I merely used this video as an example because part of it resembled my own experiences against fei long. I saw another video where Damdai beat Sirlin, but because of my lack of knowlege, I was unable to identify the strategy that was used)
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Thanks in advance.
You have the right idea. I play both characters BTW.
If you can time it jab dp is not bad after a CW since it beats or trades with flamekick and beats tick throw.
Work on getting a fireball game going from about 3/4 screen range. If he gets on you in the corner, psychic dp or a mistake on his part is all you really have.
I was wondering if any of you guys would like to try out this combo and let me know your success rate?
j.HP xx LK.tatsu, s.MP, MK.crazy kick (not overhead)
Should make 4 hits which will give you a good chance of dizzy if you can land some other hit soon after (eg a fireball). You may try other strengths of air tatsu, I just tend to use LK because it’s easier to execute with my button layout.
I got it to work against T.Hawk and a few times in training mode (Turbo 3). I think this may have limited options as I suspect the success of the combo probably depends on how deep you jump in/hit with the punch/tatsu combo as I think it would determine how far away you are as you land.
This may turn out to be a pretty worthless combo, but I can’t draw that conclusion yet as my execution is not too good. That and I’m using that shitty 360 D-pad. If it works, then it may possibly be a good tool to use against Zangief too.
I find i have more success with cr.MP or cr.MK after a few quick tests. st.MP does not seen to work against Gief but it may be of being slow
I just got an elite yesterday to replace my pro and the new d-pads are pretty darn good on the black controllers. First thing I did was test charge characters, who I had HUGE problems using. Nearly flawless. I was going to buy an arcade stick today but now I won’t bother. I don’t know if its like this with every new pad but the one I now have is pretty great! I feel like a new player.
I’ll try if I have a chance. Try it on shotos and cammy/claw/chun too. It might be a big character only combo.
That’s my thought as well, simply because hitting with an aerial HK usually knocks your opponent so far back that my most used follow-up combo in that situation is cr.:mk: XX :hp: Hadouken.
What does my FAQ have to say on the matter?
Could someone explain why cr. lk completely stuffs Blanka’s super?
It works out that way from the hitboxes. Ken’s crouching short has really good ‘priority’ so it beats the rolling part of Blanka’s super clean. It seems like most of the cast has moves that will do that.
Cause its not that great of a super. 
I can say that over the last 2 months Ken has become the char I have the most fun with. He has lots of options and his rush down is pretty satisfying overall. I like the freedom he bestows on the player at any given moment to do whatever they want.
The main use of tatsu I’ve been using is when I know I am going to confirm a jumping MK go directly into a MK tatsu for 3 hits. Haven’t been trying to add a move before the tatus, like a low strong or forward, but would that push him out too far so that the inital, just taking off knee portion of the hit wouldn’t connect? I think I’ll try to add some more stuff in the combo tomorrow. Seems to work pretty well and them throwing me afterwards doesn’t seem like an issue after the last hit of the hurrican kick, but if they block it all… thats a different story. Maybe if you know you are going to confirm a MK from the jumpin, would a better combo be in order? I was just experimenting with MK tatsu.
When someone tries to duck Ken and Ryu’s hurricane, is it easier to time and uppercut Ryu out of it, based on how slow it is… without trading? Seems like Ken’s is more a risk when trying to knock him out of it from a crouching position.
If you’re going to get thrown - and you are, with a combo ending with a tatsu - go for the :hk: (one more hit and more damage). My go to combo is cross-up :mk:>cr. :mk: > :hk: tatsu. The crouching :mk: can be interchanged with a crouching :mp: to eschew negative edging a :mk: tatsu, but your opponent can block a cr. :mp: high. Also, if they block the tatsu, mash the ever loving crap out of all 4 throws.
Why duck when you can DP? If you’re reflexes aren’t up to par (and mine aren’t), I usually duck under. If they come down near you, you can do your own combo.