Counter is way faster than V-Skill, so if you’re positive the opponent is going to press a button and want to counter it, always go for the counter (ideally EX) instead of V-Skill. It also does more damage and it switches side, so it’s pretty great landing it when you’ve been cornered. There’s no foolproff way of doing that though since it’s just a hard read. Outside of a few telegraphed moves (Moonsault, Urien’s kneedrop, Gief’s charged st.HP etc.) there’s no way of having a garantee that it hits, so use it when you think it will.
To add a bit to @Deimos002 V-Skill explanation: if it doesn’t counter and just hits the opponent normally, you can link into cr.LP and then go into a combo from there. So it’s definitely worth throwing out from time to time in neutral, especially if you notice that the opponent doesn’t know how to punish it (it is unsafe on block).
So HP.Touch is actually pretty good antiair. It works in many cases even against characters who can change their jump trajectory with the same timing. It’s very fast (2f for non ex, 1 frame for ex). But if opponent reads you, he can empty jump. HP.Trouch will whiff and you get punished. If you opponents started to empty jump - use cr.HP or nj.throw to antiair.
On low levels if you play against Ken, who is also mad (which is often) he will spam HK.Tatsu from full screen. Thats free guaranteed HP.Touch and is very rewarding. But on silver they stop doing that. =( There are other moves that are reactable guaranteed parry. Some of them are metioned above. You need to explore (as do i).
MP and LP.Touch as was said should be used on a read. You have to make 2 reads actually: if opponent will throw a button and if it will be low or not. So it’s pretty hard read. Best situations for using are there you can simplify one of above reads.
Examples that i know are:
a) Opponent tries to meaty you on wakeup. Here you shold use EX since its 1f startup and is almost a reversal. Usually people use predictable button on meaty (low/non-low read is easier). But you still have to read what oki option he will use.
If opponent throws - you will get thrown, but that is not much damage and setup in s2 unless you are against throw loop char in the corner.
If opponent reads you and blocks - you whiff and get punished hard.
And if opponent shimmies you get puhished too most likely. If you read a shimmy you can delay Touch and still counter him.
b) After opponent blocks your minus button and thinks it’s his turn (st.HP or MK.Step > cr.MP > st.HP, …). Choice of low/non-low here is less predictable. You have to watch opponent habits. But they most likely will throw a button.
c) If opponent uses same block strings and frame traps over and over again you can insert counter between buttons.
d) against opponents with forward moving specials (Urien, Balrog, Laura, …). You must stand outside their crushcounter button range to not get whiff punished. On that range you can sometimes whiff Touch and opponent most likely will not react on time. And you can catch them sometimes if they used that forward moving special. For me actually works only agains balrog, which is illogical.
e) It was mentioned above also. You can use it against slow chargeable buttons.
As you can see all options are actually pretty risky, but reward is too very good. You get great damage, setup and you disrupt opponents habits heavily. So it’s a high risk high reward move and should be used with caution.
EDIT:
Actually EX.Touch can also cover shimmy on wakeup if opponent is not pressing button on reaction. Since throw has 5f startup, 2f active and 18 frames recovery and EX.Touch has 12 active frames. If opponent times hit shimmy button from 7 to 12 frames - he will get countered. But that is theoretical.
Started picking up kolin as a secondary. I wish I was better with her. I’ve always played zoners so I thought Kolin would be a decent choice because she is sort of a hybrid character.
After a throw I usually throw out a standing hard punch into Lp Parabellum. I think it gets spaced after the throw so it’s pretty much safe. That’s the only way I’ve been able to use hard punch as a crush counter.
Two things I wish they would change about this character: 1. I hate how they made it so you can mash punch to do parabellum. I wish it was motion only because its too easy to do miss her target combo.
2. I also wish hailstorm was done with a dp forward motion with the kicks.
I’d take a cancellable cr.MK in exchange for less or no advantage on block. No idea if that were too good considering its range though.
Pretty much happy with everything else though. She feels really complete and balanced in a way where she doesn’t dominate any matchup and doesn’t really lose any except Guile.
I would like for Kolin to have a way to control how far her V-skill go. Currently her V-skill only goes for quite a bit of a distance and for you to make it as safe as possible you would need to hit it from max range. Now the issue is that most people won’t poke you from that distance, they would probably be closer than that and doing V-skill from the poke range is a huge risk.
I just wish she had V-skill plus backwards where she goes a short distance. V-skill plus forward where she goes for the distance she currently does, i feel that this would help her game greatly. The only other big buff i want is for her 2nd rep of V-trigger to combo from a medium punch at least. I know they won’t give her cr.MK xx VT twice but i atleast want to be able to get it from a counter poke cr.MP or st.MP. That doesn’t feel like something that is terribly too strong IMO. Maybe EX Hail strom being -8 is too much, maybe make it -2 or something.
I really like her cr.MK personally and i do prefer a plus on block one over a cancelable one.
WTF? Can this characrer cancel all her blockstrings into counters? And does one counter cover low and mid hits? I thought counter characters had to choose what to counter but apparently she can cover multiple levels with just one counter.
Every special-cancellable normal can be cancelled into counter but whenever I did that I did it by accident because there aren’t many situation where it’s going to connect. It’s usually better to wait until they’re out of blockstun until going for it if you want to make a read.
And the only counter that covers any height is her V-Skill. Her command counters only hit one of three possible heights, even the EX versions.
I’m a filthy scrub and lose with this character far more than win so I’m not gonna make this a Capcom Pls wish list.
I just want:
C.mk to be special cancelable and can cancel into V-Trigger twice.
My reason.
I feel like all of the season 1 cast have great “party starter” normals and I feel like Kolin needs this. All her other longer reaching normals are slow as hell.
-2 or 0 on block hailstorm.
I think it’s kinda dumb that she can’t at least have one semi safe pressure tool.
But her st.LK is 5f, her st.HP is 8f (same as cr.MK) and both have pretty same range as cr.MK
Safe hailstorm will be loopable because opponent won’t be able to interrupt icicle forming and would have to block it. Which would give Kolin opportunity to dash/walk forward and do it again.
dont get why so many people want a cancelable low forward, i’m cool with having it as a crucial hit confirmable VT cancel. its clear they dont want to let people harrass with spaced mk into light hands on top of the other ways she can set that spacing up.
what i’ve been doing is if you’re in close range and you think they’re going to throw a fireball you do qcb-lk. if the fireball does come out, you input the punch followup to go through. you have to be in close range aiming to hit the outstretched hands of the fireball. if they dont throw one you just don’t do anything at the expense of giving up some space.
at long range you time a mp or hp hailstorm where the hand hits and nullifies the projectile and makes them respect the hailstorm. this doesnt necessarily get you in but you can either choose to get closer for an attempt to counter a possible next fireball with qcb-lk p or counterpoke if you think they’ll start fighting with normals instead. (if they get hit out of the air by the hailstorm trying to jump, juggle v-skill for extra damage)
this changes when you have meter where you can respond with ex versions of both of these moves in the same ways but easier and with more reward. (im still kinda unclear on how the ex vanity step’s invul works in practice myself, i dont own the game anymore, just play locally and at friends houses when i can lol :x)
@StockyJam EX.Counter has 3 versions: LP+MP - low, LP+HP - mid, MP+HP - high.
d.MK icicle purpose i think is to cover your escape when double jumping from the corner. It prevents people from chasing you. It can also hit people by surprise for a little bit of damage. Have not seen it being used in setups yet. Don’t really expect to see.
my biggest problem with Kolin is lack of reversal.
not a problem with other characters lacking reversal but constant cross up pressure fucks me up with her. since i cant really make a come back yet since i’m still learning how to open people up and maximizing damage with her.
i’m not sure if vskill or counter works against cross ups.
does it?
@StockyJam Against crossups use jump back, air.throw. Also you can use MP+HP.Counter against crossups also. It’s one frame startup so if you wait until opponent goes to the other side and then input it - it should come on the needed side and work. But i don’t use it like that so i don’t know.
EX.VanityStep and EX.Counter are strike invincible since frame 1 so you can use both instead of a reversal. But you can be thrown out of them. About counter i’ve written a couple of days ago.