I’m not new to the game, but i had no where to put this topic. I wanted to know what the best way to learn Armor Canceling i can not find a video explaining the right way to do it. I see it happen alot where a player FADC and then FADC in to a ex move right away blocking a couple of hits and stopping the armor breakers. The most i see online though is the Focus Cancel to obsorb one hit and automatically catch it with ultra. Does anyone know how this is done?
You have to kara cancel it. Basically you do the the :mp:+:mk: to focus cancel, and before that move even begins to start up, you pump in the motion for your Ultra, doing it REALLY QUICK. The reason this works is because the moment you hit :mp:+:mk: you will get armor, and can absorb a hit, even if it doesn’t look like you’ve started much of the animation yet. By doing the Ultra so quick after, the engine assumes you meant to hit Ultra, not your focus attack, because no human would hit these two sets of buttons so soon after one-another.
The by-product of this is that you can still absorb a hit off that first frame or two of focus attack, and then you go right into you Ultra. It’s not a real cancel or link, it’s what’s called a kara-cancel. If I remember right, kara means “empty”, basically. You can get this same effect through a lot of moves, the most famous one is Ken’s forward throw. As ken if you press :t::mk: and then REALLY FAST press :lp:+:lk:, you will see Ken dart forward a few inches (because his :t::mk: move will move him forward) before quickly performing a throw instead. This lets you snatch people who think they are far enough away from you.
Same process applies to any moves that have a long enough startup. You can even kara-cancel into a taunt, so you can “absorb” a fireball and be doing your taunt the frame after.
Easiest way to do it is off a reversal if the opponent attempts to go for a meaty. eg. In training mode select Guy with Ultra 1 vs Ryu (Ultra and Super Meter on refill). Record Ryu knocking you down then doing a meaty MP SRK cancelled into Shinkuu hadouken (a common chip-kill strategy - LP SRK does more chip damage but is easier to avoid by backdashing). Playback the recording and after you’re knocked down, do a reversal EX Run (qcf + KK) and then immediately do another QCF + KKK. Then run will be cancelled into his Ultra, which has higher priority (you can only cancel into moves which have higher priority). This will avoid Ryu’s super and punish him with the Ultra. If you have a full Super meter you can cancel into super as well for the same effect. Note that in this situation Guy and also just do a normal EX Run and Flip Kick to avoid the super.
This also has the benefit of looking SICK AS HELL.
Priority isn’t actually something that exists in games.
Back in the day people used to say things like an uppercut has more priority than a cMK and this is because the uppercut has invulnerable frames. Or this normal has more priority than that normal when really it came down to the hit boxes, damage boxes, start up and active frames of a move. I can normally tell what a person means when they say that but I’m not getting it this time, sorry. Do you mean you can only armor cancel into moves that have more invulnerability than the first move?
He’s referring to input priority.
When you have multiple moves with overlapping commands, input priority is what determines whether you get a :f:+:hp: or a :qcf:+:hp:
Okay, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks.
As sleazoid already mentioned I was talking about input priority, but priority in terms of whether one move beats another does appear to exist in some fighting games. eg. 3rd Strike.
And in MK9 there is priority for player one. If the same players do the same moves to each other, I think player 1 wins every time.