Is Bob a good point character? Or is he better suited for 2nd?
Welcome to the wonderful wide world of no one knowing how to play against Bob :-P.
Bob works really well in either spot honestly. He has really solid footsies, pressure, and confirms to lead into launch or solo combos. But he also has very meaty combo fillers and very helpful ways to use meter. In fact, having meter probably makes Bob an even more complete and threatening character, being able to boost into hcf+PP to leave you in a +1 situation. Or you can use the meter for tag canceling the three hit DP+K, mp for a dirty set up.
So, pun intended, he’s a pretty well-rounded character. If it helps you at all, my main team is Bob x Abel. A lot of it has to do with how comfortable I am with bob, but he makes for a solid footsie character
Hey, I just started playing SFxT and have chosen Bob. I just wanted to ask what exactly are you using for footsies, getting in and good block strings for 2013?
I can do the Bob combos just fine. The problem I’m having is creating an opportunity to do them in the first place.
Thanks.
Everything :P.
More seriously, he really does have a lot of great footsie tools. J.HK paired with his jump angle makes it a beast for getting in. Any whiffs or hesitation on the opponents part mean you’re right in their face, especially with j.HK > HK giving you a little extra block/hit stun. Just don’t going around throwing haymaker jump ins because everybody’s AA is super strong in 2013.
Next up is probably far MK, which has an awesome lasting hit box. Throwing out there works quite a bit, and it can be transitioned into his strings if you’re close enough.
Cr.MP and far HP are big reaching moves, with cr.MP giving you a link depending on where you hit it. Far HP is just a great solo poke with a big hit box and is safe. Cr.MK is very solid as well, with the ability to safely boost to far HP at max range, or cancel into DP+k, LK.
Medium to close ranges, far/cr.LK and st/cr.LP are your go-to moves as all of them can lead into combos and links and have some amazing hitboxes
Your Bob is really really strong. I didn’t know he could do all of that and be safe lol.
You mean because of all the stuff I listed, or did I play you on the KS stream :O?
You played me on the KS stream as Devilstar22
Hello fellow Bobbers.
New to SFxT in general but I will be playing Bob. I am thinking with Sagat Like Nos is doing (so any beginner tips and tricks for the fatso and the Muay Thai King would be great!)
Anyways I am finding him a lot of fun. Awkward to kind of play but im sure after a while I will get use to it. I don’t mind losing so I will be sticking with him for sure.
Nice to meet you all, hope I can contribute in the future.
Beginner tips for Bob Sagat?
- Put Sagat up front!
- Get good with Sagat! This sounds kind of silly but I think it’s important. I still find Sagat sort of slow and clunky myself, and if things get shitty with Sagat at the start, that could be the match right there because it could be hard to cleanly tag out (you may not have any meter and DP > tag isn’t very good anymore anyway)
- Check out EmblemLord’s sagat primer in the Sagat sub forums. It’s pre-2013 but still a great place to get a basic idea of what Sagat should be doing for your team.
- Get your combos down because this is a damaging team. Especially in later rounds if you’ve got meter and Sagat out front. Zone until you force an opening or they make a mistake, then combo into Bob for 500-700 damage. One wakeup mixup with Bob and they’re dead. I get a lot of perfects with this team compared to when I used to run Chun/Bob. I also get a lot of undeserved wins by obliterating lifebars off lucky DPs lol.
I’m starting Bob today. The idea I have for this team is Julia/Bob or maybe Sim/Bob. Any tips/ideas for me?
Hey guys, I’m just picking up Bob and planning to main him in 2013. Has anyone found any interesting okizeme setups with him?
I found this option-select for Lili’s wakeup: 2LP~5MP~623MP. On hit/block, Bob does cr.LP-cl.MP (+4 on hit, 0 on block). On whiff, he does cr.LP, MP Cracker. It punishes Lili if she tries to wake up with EX Angel Knee, EX Feisty Rabbit, or backdash.
@samurai bepop - Either team would work just fine honestly. Julia/Bob are already a pair, story-wise, and I like to think that Capcom did a decent job of pairing up characters based on their play style :P. I like the idea of Sim/Bob though. I’m a big fan of Sim in this game, and he makes a pretty strong point character even with his nerfs. I used to have a Sim/King team that I might pick back up because of how fun it was. However I’m sure juggle potential is going to be limited somewhat, considering it’ll be hard to combo into certain combos off of yoga flame. Obviously you’ll have to have a good handle on sim’s neutral game, but it should make a good pair.
<br><br>
@ Dr. Grammar
<br><br>
As far as oki, I actually found a couple things.
<br><br>
First off, far LK is a go to move for oki. Quick, long range low that’s cancelable. Very useful for baiting reversals and then quickly regaining pressure.
<br><br>
Meaties: farMK & cl.HK
<br><br>
- Both have specific purposes. Far MK can leave you +3 on block, and sets up a nasty high/low mix up with HP/cr.LK. The overhead part combos too if its timed correctly.
<br><br> - cl.HK can leave you at +4 and is cancelable. It lasts deceptively long too. It pushes back quite a bit on hit/block though so it can be tricky to follow up, far LK is usually a good bet though, or cr.MK. You could also cancel into 623+K, LP/2P/etc. Another neat feature is that it often tracks rolls because of its duration.
<br><br>
I don’t have too much in the vein of option selects, but here’s a couple to work with:
<br><br>
Option Selects
<br><br> - cr.LP [cr.HK], cl.MP
Standard sweep OS, pretty universal in this game.its definitely not as easy as it was in SF4, but it’s still perfectly do-able with some practice. Cr.LP > cl.MP is a 2f gap, and cl.MP leaves you at +3 on block.
<br><br> - cl.LK [623+LK]
Haven’t messed around too much with this one, but it should be useful. Cl.LK leaves you at the perfect position on block to harass with st.LP/nj.HK.
<br><br>
Misc.
<br><br> - start thinking of cr.LK xx cl.MP chain as one move. It’s a 5f low, and will leave you +4/0. St.LP is a 1f link off of it. Now that I think of it, it’s perfect for that OS that you mentioned.
<br><br> - nj.HP is a great overhead tool, and even better mixed in w/ cr.LK, cl.MP and throw.
What do you usually cancel st.LK into? I’ve just been doing boost chains rather than using the special cancel.
If meaty cl.HK catches a roll, it’ll become -2 on block, right? As I recall, most rolls recover a frame slower than normal wakeup, but the last 7 frames are vulnerable, so meaties should connect 6f earlier.
Boost chains work pretty well, but you have to get pretty familiar with the distances that certain moves will come out. You don’t want cl.MK coming out instead of far MK, or far MP when you want cl.MP. When I don’t want to take the gamble on those, I’ll just special cancel into HCF+K, LP. Leaves you at -3 a good distance back on block, and pushes towards the corner or combos in the corner off a hit. 623+LK, LK, 2P also combos off of st.LK but spinner ball is just a safer option overall. If they stop pressing button you can always see if you can get away with a st.LK xx 623+LK, 2P or HCF+5/2K.
I’ll have to take your word on the frame data because I haven’t been doing much experimenting with roll data. -2 seems about right though. Depending on your timing though it’ll probably be around -4 more often though. Still, it’s special cancel-able and pushes back quite a ways.
Holy hell, bob has some really nasty jump-in options after his spiral rocky BnBs. I’m talking 4 frame safe jumps, cross ups that make most DPs whiff, jump ins that totally look like cross ups but hit in front and make reversals auto correct.
When I get some time I’ll try to refine and distinguish them so they’re a little easier to recreate. But I’m starting to get a feel for what will happen. His j.MK does some really weird things.
So just to get a good discussion going, where do you guys see Bob at right now as far as competitively with the rest of the cast?
I’m hesitant to put numbers into it, but I definitely feel he’s in the upper part of the cast and would venture as far to say that he’s possibly a top ten character.
His ability to do so much damage off a tag in while basically opening up a near free safe tag for the other team mate to come in adds a lot to any team, and while I only get about 1/2 of this with my Bob/Julia team, it’s still that kind of insta synergy that I think makes him a great teammate in many ways.
However, unlike Paul, who is good and great on tag ins but limited in many areas, Bob kinda scoffs at those. His walkspeed is pretty good, he has safe ways around projectiles, anti-air is great, he can duke out with the best of them in the normals department, and his neutral jump is something that literally no other character has and nets hits a lot more often than most other characters. Lest we forget he has a very safe way to boost into his cl.mp, which is still 0 on block and can link to stand jab on hit.
His mixups aren’t great, but I think the fact that a lot of them are very delayable is what makes them pretty good. He can definitely make you hesitate, which is really what you want anyways, and that lets him work on his safer options like Granchi Cannon and Gauffretes Kicks.
He’s not without his flaws, however. A lot of his mixups can be spotted and either dp’d or jabbed out of a lot, and rarely is he safe on any of them. His best normals are a tad slow and a bit of a reliance on his crouching normals makes him a little more prone to raw launch than most. Would also venture that he’s more susceptible to AC than most, but I go back and forth on that. Defensive options are also pretty lacking, with no really solid option beyond EX Step > Apres or EX Cracker, which whiffs on crouchers.
Overall though I think it’s his well-roundedness (lol) and great damage off of any tag scenario that at least put him with some of the better characters in the game. Your guys’ thoughts?
Yea my opinion of his placement has kind of bounced around a bit. But it hasn’t gone much lower than top 10. He has a lot of similar tools that the top characters do, while having nearly the best range in the game. His mix ups aren’t the best but they lead into a ton of damage, and he really doesn’t need to commit to his mix up options because he can pressure just fine with his buttons.
I think defensively he’s really lacking up close, but ex dash is a helpful tool that you can confirm into a counter attack. EX cracker is also useful for shutting down deep jump ins. From a distance though I feel that his neutral jump LP/HK shut down a lot of the casts’ options.
He has pretty good match ups with the “top characters” too. I really just can’t think of too many characters that completely outshine him. Kaz, Nina, chun, Dudley, maaaybe Hwo and Jin and Akuma. Those are the characters that make me think “okay, they have more options and maybe a better chance than Bob.”
I think his backdash is somewhat ok, adding to his defense and he seems to have a nice reaching raw launch to help get out of pressure from odd ranges.
I think his backdash is awful! 
But I still think Bob is good! I thought he was good in vanilla, and he’s definitely much better now. Great pokes, great ability to confirm and go into combos, some good pressure, and that neutral jump is ridiculous good in a lot of ways.
But… I also think he has his share of weaknesses, in that he’s pretty free on wakeup, poor defense (bad backdash, no universally invincible attack-type moves, fastest attack is unplinkable 4f standing jab), but the big one is I think that we all get away with wayyyyyy too much. There are recognizable gaps and holes in a lot of Bob’s pressure, but people just don’t know yet and we get away with murder right now.
He’s a scrub killer for sure, and he will smother and obliterate people who don’t know how to deal with him, but I don’t think he’s top tier. Close though! I think he might be top ten, and if not, just under it.
Yea, bob’s backdash is pretty awful. I think one of the worst in the game. Lots of recovery and it’s grounded for a good duration. Still, I think defensive options/reversals aren’t nearly as important in this game, as everybody has a launch and an alpha counter. Plus EX special step is an overall great defensive option. Invincible upper body and lower body armor for 1-22 frames. Only has 6 recovery frames and can be confirmed into a good combo and safe tag.
I’m still not really convinced that the gaps in his string are what keep him from being top tier though. Maybe if that’s all he had. But he still has a great set of normals with great range, great advantage, and pretty solid speed. They have monster active frames too. Who says that he needs to use MK strings? Granted MK, MK, HK is virtually safe and can’t be interrupted with anything other than reversal. But I don’t see many Bob’s, including me, just use simple stuff like cr.LK/MP xx spinner ball, P. Which is uninterruptible and leaves you right at st.LP range. I mean, Bob can just do a MK then…stop. If you realize he’s stopping too late and throw out a cr.LK to interrupt you could be eating a nj.RH for half your life.
I guess I just don’t understand how saying “his strings have holes in them” really neutralizes his effectiveness as a character. Hwoarang has pressure that is used often with holes in it, law’s string into d+MK xx anything has a huge gap that can be punished by loads of stuff. Hell you can punish him for just using b+MP, LK. It doesn’t take away their effectiveness.