[LEFT]The "DO"s and "DO NOT"s of SFxT Combos[/LEFT]
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[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]DO NOT[/LEFT]
[LEFT]1. Do not use jabs or shorts after a combo has already been hit confirmed, unless there is absolutely no other option.[/LEFT]
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[]Due to damage scaling, even ONE extra light attack in a combo brings down bottom line damage significantly under the vast majority of circumstances. This game does not require an unreasonable level of execution to achieve respectable damage. If you feel unsure of your ability to complete a juggle without using jabs, I promise you that just a bit of time in training mode will give you alot more confidence.
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2. Do not use Cross Rush (ABC Combos) unless there is no other option.
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[]Attacks in a Cross Rush do not do full damage, but still cause a point of scaling for each hit. Because of this, Cross Rush combos do not generate very good damage. There are some situations where a M-H-Launch Cross Rush will yield better combo damage than a medium into manual launch, but it is best for developing players to break the habit entirely, in my opinion, before starting to care about that discrepancy.
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3. Do not burn meter to continue a combo after a lengthy or heavily scaled hit confirm.
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[]Meter is precious in SFxT. You must always consider how much value you are getting out of each bar of meter you spend. A general rule of thumb is that each meter used in combos should net you at least 100 damage.
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4. Do not use Cross Arts
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[]A Cross Art is almost never a good use of meter. There are exceptions, but if you are a developing player, abstaining from using level 3’s is advisable.
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5. Do not use Cross Rush during juggles
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[*]There is only one character in the game whose options are so bad they are forced to juggle with Cross Rush. That is Rolento. If you are not playing Rolento, Cross Rush has no place in your juggles.
[/LIST] DO
Use as many heavy attacks in a combo as possible.
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[*]Each hit in a combo causes the next to do slightly less damage. The longer a combo gets, the more this snowballs until you are doing very little with each attack. Because of this, using as many powerful attacks and as few weak attacks in a combo as possible, ESPECIALLY towards the beginning of it, will yield much better bottom line damage.
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Use links as hit confirms
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[]Most characters absolutely do not need to use Cross Rush to hit-confirm into a launcher. If at all possible, use links into manual launchers. You will do far more damage and not be scoffed at.
[/LIST] 3. Practice your combos
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[]Go to training mode. Experiment with your team. Find the most damaging combo options possible (if you need help, there are abundant resources available here on the subject) and practice them until it is second nature. You must be able to execute your combos without focusing too heavily on your execution. During a combo, you should be focusing on how much meter and health you and your opponent have so you can make good decisions as to what options to go for.
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Start punishes with raw Launcher if you intend to use meter following it.
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[*]The first 3-4 hits of a combo are very important to bottom line damage. A raw launcher deals 100 damage flat and sets up a juggle. Most teams don’t get any more efficient than this, although there are exceptions.
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Learn to recognize damage opportunities
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[*]A combo starting with “jab jab jab” is not a damage opportunity, it’s a management opportunity. Use heavily scaled hit confirms to balance your team’s health, not fruitlessly burn meter. A combo starting with a fierce attack, special, launcher, or otherwise hard-hitting attack IS a damage opportunity. Use these combos to make your opponent really pay for their mistake.
[/LIST] Portions of this post are credited to Vulcan Hades.
Also: Check your juggle potential! Some characters moves use more juggle points than others, and some characters have normal attacks that have more juggle potential than other normals.
Optimize your usage of supers, find out how many hits you can perform in a juggle before you start losing damage on your super vs the damage from normals! It is less hits than you think. A super that does 300 damage loses 30 damage for each point of damage scaling, at 40% you are only doing 120 damage for 2 bars.
If you use boost chains, remember you don’t need to use all 3 buttons. Light to Heavy or Medium to Heavy works on their own. If you hit confirm with light light light don’t do medium heavy just do heavy!
I like how Capcom designs all these flashy game systems and makes them the first things that are easy to mash and look like they do a lot of damage with all the flashy lights, freeze frames, tag exchanges, thus fooling the user like that it how it is supposed to be played. Puts them in the manual encourages players to do it.
Good players break it down, realize the most optimal way for the game to be played is to not play it using the shit that they put in. Am I wrong for thinking that it is absurd that things made visually to look like they are good are actually bad habits?
I disagree about not using Cross Arts. Until the 2013 patch drops it’s the best method of taking away recoverable health. That alone makes it worth it, imo. It’s also a great anti-air and a great time waster depending on who you have on your team.
Some raw Launchers are extremely slow though. Like some have 15-30 frames start up so it might be better to punish with heavy xx Launcher. Obviously depends on what move you are punishing… But also depends on what characters you are using.
What I mean by that is that some characters rely on meter to get out of situations. They need to spend most of their meter on alpha counters and EX reversals so these characters will tend to go for cross-rush combos/launcher punishes more often to save their meter. But other characters/teams deal so much more damage with 1 meter that it would be a waste to punish with only a launcher.
Example with my own team: Because Yoshimitsu doesn’t launch very high it limits Christie’s post-launch options. So at most I might get 280-300 damage from a raw launcher. But if I jump in heavy, medium xx special xx switch then I can do almost 500 damage for 1 meter. So in such cases, spending 1 bar for a 500 punish is preferable to doing 300 meterless imo.
But this also depends on the situation: If the use of 1 meter doesn’t kill, leaves you meterless, low on life and without any means to safely raw tag, then it might be better to do less damage and save that meter so that you at least have access to a switch cancel or alpha counter option (just to get your low health character out safely).
To add to this: A general rule of thumb would be that each meter used in combos should net you more than 100-120 damage.
The reason is because an alpha counter is usually 120 damage + gives you a free raw tag or counter hit store. So if the meter you spend in a combo doesn’t make you do that kind of damage or doesn’t get you the kill, it’s probably better to keep it for other uses.
An exception to this is if you’re trying to win by time out or do a corner carry because your character has dominant corner pressure. In those cases, it can be smart to do long scaled combos and use a lot of meter. But generally, only 1 meter max per combo unless you absolutely need to switch back to your partner and have no other means to do so.
Quote about the 100 damage standard for meter usage has been added to the OP. Further anecdotes about strategy I don’t think are conducive the attempted simplicity of the post. The hope is that players can have a hard and fast guide on how to maximize damage intelligently.
I will add to this post later about other subjects, I’d be happy to have your input when I do.
Oh, and the bit about raw Launchers has been edited as well to suit exceptions and be more specific. I may just redact that entirely because it’s situational depending on whether or not you want to bring in your anchor immediately and could be confusing.
…wait, so I ***shouldn’t ***be doing llllmhh> ll xx cross art?! smh…
really though, I agree with 98% of this… my main point of contention is with the cross art statement. Yes you burn all three bars, but at the same time you are launching an attack that removes all recoverable life (huge against a wounded opponent) AND can do a large chunk of damage with the correct lead-in (I can do upwards of 700 with my teams, which is usually enough to kill someone). It’s certainly not something you throw out as soon as you get 3 bars but saying it’s never a good use of meter is a bit much.
Most characters actually do not need all that many practical combos in a real match. For each of your character, experiment in training mode (or ask in the forums) for your character’s optimal combo in each of the following situations:
Blocked a hugely unsafe move, like a dragon punch (both a no-meter version and a 1 or 2 bar version)
Punishing a predictable tag (typically it’s a variation of your above combo, starting with a jump-in)
Coming in after your partner hits with a launcher
A specific corner combo after both of the above (typically involves a few more fierce attacks)
A combo off of your character’s best footsies normal (typically a good mid-range low attack)
SFxT has a wider assortment of combos than other SF games, because you need to be concerned about meter management, whether you want to bring your partner in or not, which character you want to leave in at the end for matchup purposes, and some other things that are unique to SFxT. But still, there is very little reason not to do the same combo when you get tagged in by a launcher, for instance. If you don’t do the optimal combo, you’re giving damage away for free, and beginning players would do well to realize that each character typically only has a small handful of combos they need to learn. Don’t get overwhelmed by the movelist or your characters’ trials.
Looks at “high level” SFxT play… hmmm…
This game atleast what we see from tournament streams is most definately not played right by the majority of players…STILL, well as far as optimizing damage goes.
Sad truth. There are very few players at the moment who come close to maximizing damage at a reasonable amount of opportunities. There are many big names with absolutely awful combos. I have a couple bad combo habits myself. In particular, I often start Ibuki punishes with TC6 rather than TC8 or raw launch. Overall though, I don’t feel my play sets a bad example. The same can be said for JibBo, and Ike Takeda. Ike has some pretty wicked execution. JibBo almost never misses an opportunity for damage and likewise has sick execution. Both occasionally make mistakes as do I, but I definitely recommend paying attention to them where combos are concerned. There are others with good damage maximization as well, just not occurring to me at the moment.
Whiff punishing leading to a lot of good stuff in this game makes the spacing way more important. It’s more satisfying here. Whiff punishing with HP~HP+HK for instance is pretty good if raw tag is too slow or short.
As for punishing, I don’t think it’s going to be too fancy looking until 2013. Remember with all those chain mashing getting nerfed and pushback being reduced, Light or Medium straight into Launcher is very feasible to punish stuff.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
I want to beat up my opponent for fucking up (Punish)
*Hitting your opponent goes to a basic mistake: Not Blocking, Whiffing a move. All fighting games resolve around these two basic mistakes *
Secondary Objective/s
I want to the most damage right now (Damage)
I want this to last a very long time (Time wasting)
I want this to put me in the best position possible **(Positioning) **
I want this to put me in the best mixup situation (OKI)
Combo optimization is a matter of figuring out which goal you want at the specific time of the hitting the opponent. Each one of these
objectives have specific requirements for Do and Don’t.
I feel there are set requirements for each combo objective you want.
I’m not too sure if there is a universal “do and don’t” but I do think that the do and don’t fall in a specific category.