Skillful Rekkagnition (Fei Long Matchup Thread)

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
121

To be clear, when you think about footsies, you should be thinking about:

  1. Normals/Specials to keep the opponent out
  2. Normals/Specials to knock the opponent down
  3. Normals/Specials to whiff punish
  4. Normals/Specials to advance you forward for offense
  5. Safety of those moves
  6. Can those moves be canceled to something stronger
  7. Can those moves set up additional offense

Fei’s Rekkas (and EX Rekkas) are strong in #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. That makes them a really powerful tool all-around. His cr.HP, cr.MP, and cr. MK add some depth by covering other ranges with cr.MK and cr.MP having the bonus of being Super-Cancelable. This presents a strong case for a top-notch footsies game. Only thing I’d say he’s lacking is a solid sweep to round it out. While his sweep isn’t terrible, it’s really really bad.

These are all approximations below of footsies match-ups and not the match-ups themselves – people may have different opinions based on their experiences and it’s certainly not concrete. Everyone can beat everyone given certain circumstances, so theory fighter has limited application:

Rose: Fei should win this. Rose’s cr.MP is strong, but her pokes are slow and easy to catch or whiff punish. Slides can be defended or punished with cr.LP xx Rekka or cr.MK at varying ranges. At the range where cr.MP hits, you know to block. At the point where it won’t hit, she’s just throwing it out there to try and catch your Rekkas. Rekkas still win since this gives Fei a positional advantage. Rose can be tight with her poking wall between fireballs and normals, but once Fei gets maybe 2 Rekka strings on her, it becomes his game.

Vega: Vega’s footsies are better. He has quick 4-frame jabs that outreach LP Rekka and other strong pokes to complement this. His only problem is the inherent risk in his game when he tries to start a rushing offense. Charge moves are slow, blockable, and punishable. His jumping heel attack is his main go-to for starting an on-ground offense, but given it’s a 50-50, it’s not a great one. If he sticks to playing footsies, Vega can outplay Fei.

Bison: This should be even. Bison has a 3-frame cr.LK that can punish bad Rekkas. Good Rekkas give fei a strong position, but Bison can hang tough in the corner (much better than Rose can) and wait for the right moment to pull one of, I dunno, 5 escapes? st.MK and st.HK are also great, fast pokes with excellent range.

Rog: I don’t know much of Rog’s footsies… But that’s probably because he doesn’t rely much on them. He has a great poking game up-close with amazing option selects though; this forces Fei to play carefully to avoid being swept or combo’d into. On a knockdown or combo, Rogs use safe-jumps and a myriad of option selects rather than playing defensively. Rog’s s.LP is probably the only poke he’ll throw out at a neutral range in order to stop random Rekkas from coming through. Sweep is his other big move, but only at a certain range.

Chun: Excellent normals for footsies between cr.HK, jabs, and cr.MK. Her sweep (on contact) is relatively safe, and pushes the opponent outwards on block. Her Jab Fireball is great as an offensive tool as well to shield her approach and gain some forward momentum. The reason why she might lose to Fei (though she can definitely hold her own) is that Fei only needs to get 1-2 Rekka strings to put her in the corner (like Rose). At that point, the dynamic swings to Fei’s favor. Achieving that can be a challenge, however, so I wouldn’t call this Fei’s victory. Chun has many tools to push herself forward if she plays mid-screen and can be downright deadly while there. It’s just the corner game where Fei is stronger.

Ken: I don’t think Ken has as great of a footsies game as the others mentioned, including Rose. His fireball and f+MK are his big tools, with f+MK more of a bridging-the-gap tool. To keep people out, he doesn’t have much else to go on. His cr.MK and cr.HK are slower than most others and have less range. Ken also lacks a good knock down option from a long-range poke which all of the other characters have in this list (his sweep isn’t great for that purpose). Ken is deadliest up close and he recognizes that. At neutral range, Fei wins this clearly. Ken’s advantage is in his rush-down and the threat of a Kara throw at poking range.

Ryu: Fei wins this again, but Ryu’s footsies game is much deeper than Ken’s. His Red Fireball is a sweet knock-down move that sets up his offense. Ryu’s sweep is also significantly faster than Kens, making it a more viable punish option. Though he doesn’t have a f+MK step-kick, he has f+HP which is even better since it nullifies Fei’s neutral-zone Focus attack. At the core of his game, Ryu has a faster fireball which makes for better footsies overall.

122

Thank you so much for your detailed reply, that is exactly what I was looking for.

123

Also I’m not sure if Nosone mentioned it but as a general rule the other characters walk much faster than Fei therefore it evens out his tag of “king”, his walk speed is middle of the road.

The ability to walk in and out of space fast whilst baiting/trapping people is in some way’s better than just individual buttons or specials - Adon is a good example of this, not a character well known for great buttons (he basically has one - St.hk) yet he’d be able to hold his own against most footsie characters because of his walk speed and safe normals/specials.

It’s always been a sort of unwritten rule that characters that walk fast give Fei problems because they mess with his own spacing. Although rekka’s are safe, they can still be punished by savvy players by knowing which strength, how deep and if it can be whiffed punished. That’s the problem with Fei Long at mid level, people see rekka and think they can’t do anything.

124

Great point Highland.

If you look at the list above, you’ll notice that the ones that win are typically the ones that have better walk speed as Highland mentioned. Ken’s walkspeed is so-so, but it’s aided by his step-kick to bridge gaps. Ryu’s walkspeed is roughly average, but significantly faster than Ken’s. Walk speed can make normals/specials more or less effective depending on how fast it is.

125

do people here use meaty far.HP against akuma? It’s crazy good against his wakeup shoryuken attempt:

LP SRK - far.HP will completely stuff his LP SRK, but only if you space the far.HP as far as possible. Otherwise both attacks will trade, but akuma will suffer 120 damage and you will only take 70 damage
MP/HP SRK - if you use far.HP from any distance (as long as cl.HP isn’t executed instead), akuma will hit fei, but fei will recover very fast due to the second hit of the SRK only connecting. This is a free ultra 1 opportunity. Plus, akuma cannot FADC his shoryuken.

EX SRK - far.HP doesn’t work here unfortunately, but you’ll only take 60-80 damage instead of eating 190 damage and wakeup EX SRK is rarely seen

126

Yep, that’s been a Shoto staple for a long time, doesn’t just work on Akuma.

127

Let me resurrect this thread for some Poison advice. Anyone got some tips?

128

Counterpick with Ibuki - that’s what I do.

129

Poison tips: 1- don’t react to her fireball with jump at any range. If you’re reacting to her fireball with a jump in you’re going to eat some anti-air damage. she recovers too damn fast for Fei to react with jump. 2- you can punish any blocked rekka. Make the most of any opportunity, get the damage and the corner. 3- She wants to do that stupid ass flip kick to gain space. If you can look for it and either react to it with a flame kick or hang out in a space where it will whiff you can punish her.

And the last thing is don’t be afraid to make a hard read. If you can get one good read and jump in on her jMP is great and one jump in will get you the corner. I know saying “make a guess” might not sound super solid, but her damage output really isn’t that high, you can afford to take a risk.

This is a tough MU for Fei, good luck, hope that helps a little.

130

Any tips against Sagat ?

131

Rekkagnition was my old XBL gamertag, I wonder if I subconsciously took it from this thread, or if someone saw my GT and decided to make a thread about it lol.

OT as fuck I know but I felt like sharing.

132

I main both , I’d actually say Fei is about an even match now, just because of the slight damage nerfs to Fei and the rekka frame data. Fei has to be much more careful with spacing as one lp rekka as raw Tiger Uppercut punish from anything but max distance. If you watch Bonchan vs Mago/Fuudo he can always take them.

I actually never have trouble beating Fei players with Sagat because I know him so well, but as a general bullet point tips.

  • Never jump on Sagat, this is his plan, Fei is easy to AA.
  • Never use EX wing to “get in” , it’s so slow, I can uppercut on reaction or even Ultra if I’m buffering. Use it in close to blow up a defensive shot.
  • Focus advance him, whilst neutral jumping and get him to the corner - this is your A plan.
  • In the corner, Sagat’s buttons become much less effective, don’t jump on him, dont’ get heavy with rekka’s. Just pin him in there with St.Fierce, Cr.fierce ( Both counter the start up of shots), some cr.mp and tick throws.
  • Don’t be scared of uppercuts, Sagat’s grounded uppercuts don’t do as much damage as the AA one’s.
  • Tenshin is very useful once you’ve trained him to block
  • EX rekka is extremely strong, unpunishable and leads to more traps. I’d use meter on those for the most part.
  • Cr.mk will go under Tiger knee for a full punish. Don’t worry about getting hit by regular TK, it does really low damage (like 40), it’s just a tool he uses to get you back.
  • Respect him with 2 bars and Ultra

If I was telling a Sagat player how to beat Fei ( so you can see what NOT to do).

  • Uppercut all CW attempts to get in, this is obvious when they’ll throw it out
  • Lots of shots, especially slow, get Fei to jump and get a life lead with AA damage
  • Stay patient, most Fei Long players will hang themselves trying to get in and kill you fast. Pick him of with st.lk xx fireball, st.mk and cr.fierce
  • If you get cornered an occasional jump back can catch a bad rekka, don’t get obvious with it, but it’s a large punish if you pull it of.
  • Back dashing against Fei on WU isn’t the worst idea even though he can OS, but only if you prepare a full punish against the tenshin.
  • EX knee is very useful to get out of the corner and if you do, just start heading to the other corner, again Fei players will try to continually chase you down and lose damage.
  • EX shot is quite useful to blow up his very good focus.
  • Having 2 bars and an Ultra will shut down Fei’s rekka a touch and his general approach, don’t let them bait it out of you, keep it for a good chance. Don’t use it on wake up, this is the easiest spot to get baited.
  • Any deep Rekka is Tiger uppercut punish, look for the tip of the fist, you actually have a easy amount of time to punish
  • At a character length, stop pushing things, this will read to rekka’s and corner carry, or Fei’s cr.fierce. You might even get focused. Use quick normals like st.lk xx shots, or st.mk.

The match up is obviously slightly deeper in some parts, but really I feel like it comes down to the Fei player losing patience.

133

i am having fun with the simple s.MP xx super OS. It works great as a whiff punisher to catch opponents that are whiffing a lot of normals in front of you

it’s something that i have never seen used or thought of before while using cr.MK xx super for a long time. You can’t really whiff punish with cr.MK because of its low-profile hitbox, only hit-confirm with it

134

Just curious if you can upload a replay of you pulling it off in a match. I’d like to see the inputs. I’ve got a good idea in my head on how it’s done, but I’m curious nonetheless. Thanks in advance.

135

damn. i spoke too soon. I tried it in a more practical scenario, specifically against chun’s s.HP, but the HP super doesn’t have enough range to combo after s.MP

136

Does anyone have experience fighting Elena? Is cw effective in this match-up? I don’t see fuudo ever using it. Would appreciate any tips / advice

137

Fuudo does’nt really use CW period, not like say Gackt, who is a serial chicken wing abuser. One thing I have noticed is that she’s susceptible to focus dash in punish (through her sweep) , because she wants to get you on the ground to start her 50/50 high low game. I’ve also found ironically after telling you that, that blocking high is better than blocking low, because that overhead is used quite a lot in her attacking play. These are just general character things though not specific to Fei Long. I actually have a hard time fighting her with Sagat because she can regenerate so much health from focus shots and my slow walk speed can’t keep up with her.

I think she’s underrated.

138

Yea she is underrated. In our local Austin ranbats she has been doing real well (i think people still don’t know how to fight her).
One thing is for sure i did find st.lk a good poke against her in the neutral game but man she feels like a new version of bison. Feels like a hard match-up.

139

One of my friends plays her and told me I should play her like she’s Zangeif. You know once her pressure starts an overhead is coming (probably mallet smash) so you have to guess, unless you have some crazy reactions.

Learn your punishes! You can punish sweep on block from max distance, you can punish ex mallet smash, you can punish slide, and you can punish all of the lynx tails. Her jump in is weird and floaty so anti air is weird to get used to but she should NEVER jump in for free.

The only thing I’m not sure about is what range to hang out in. It seems like her normals are great against Fei both up close and far away.

140

Is anyone else having trouble with the Rolento matchup? Any advice on dealing with his knives? I’m guessing I need to play this match very aggressively compared to how I play others.