I’ve actually switched mains from Bob to Hon-Fu, seeing as he fits my style of play better. I decided that since there isn’t much info for him on the 'net, I’d write my own guide, to be updated later, stealing everyone else’s format. So without further stalling:
Hon-Fu
Command moves:
:df: + :snka: : A 45-degree nunchuck poke from a crouch. Looks like a good anti-air, but :dp: + :snka: is better and more damaging (big surprise). Its one good point is the :df: + :snka: --> :snkc: --> :snkc: chain, and you can tack on a :dp: + :snka: / :snkc: at the end, making it probably Hon’s most damaging ground combo.
:forward: + :snkb: : A spinning kick that moves Hon about 1/4 across the screen.
Specials:
:qcb: + :snka: : I could go on for pages about how odd this move is. Hon whips out an extra pair of nunchucks and waves them around, sending the opponent back and forth and hitting for 8-10 hits. Despite how it looks, it has a really odd, surprisingly shory range range (probably 1/3 of a character width away from you) and low priority, and if you don’t distance it right often the opponent will fall out halfway through and punish you. Badly. It’s his most damaging special, though, and can be comboed off of his close :snka: --> :snkc: --> :snkc: chain. If you mash :snka: throughout the move, you’ll get a followup that knocks down and is pretty safe, but you have to mash the hell out of that A button to get it to come out. If you don’t get the followup, GGPO. Also keep in mind that this move will sometimes switch sides with you and your opponent, even on block.
:dp: + :snka: : Here we go. As you’ve heard, this move has insane priority, gobs of invincibility, and it’s super safe. Its biggest downside is its range, or lack thereof; you’ve practically got to be standing pretty close to connect with it, and it can’t hit lows. It’s also got a moderately big whiff time, so it can’t just be spammed, and watch out for characters with good breakshots, because this move will fall prey to them.
:dp: + :snkc: : kinda bad, except it does slightly more damage in juggles. You can only get one of the two hits to connect, and it doesn’t knock down on hit. It is useful for tall jumps, because it has a lot more vertical range than :dp: + :snka: .
charge db, f+ :snkb: , mash :snkb: for followup : Hon’s primary zoning tool, since he moves so fast and his hitbox is pretty small during the move. It’s one of three specials that hits low, which is nice. Mashing :snkb: will get a followup headbutt that knocks down and is decently safe, but if you mash too early you could stop the spinning short and miss out on potential damage.
:qcb: + :snkb: : A jumping swing that can hit up to 3 times. It jumps over a lot of stuff and has awesome safeness, but it’s very slow, so be very careful when you use it.
:hcf: + :snkc: : Evades high, pretty quick, good damage, not too much to say here. It’s pretty good ground combo fodder, but it won’t connect from a juggling move, so keep that in mind. Can be used as a good AA from far away and does about a half-bar.
:qcb: + :snkc: : Counter move, and kind of jokey, but it still has potential. Basically, the first two times it counters something, Hon takes no damage but otherwise does nothing, then the third time it counters he does a big ol’ autocombo that does lots of damage.
Supers:
:qcb: :hcf: + :snkb: :snkc: : Decently fast, and pretty high priority and invincibility, risky on block (what super isn’t?). Can do 1/4 of a bar of chip damage on block. Has decent combo options (see post below)
:qcb: :hcf: + :snkc: : Its one big flaw is that it’s one of the slowest P-powers out there. Both hits are overhead, though, and it has crazy amounts of invincibility (and it can be used as a breakshot!), but it’s really, really unsafe.
Strategy:
As good as :dp: + :snka: is, you can’t go rushing in spamming it. The main thing you want to do it bait, bait, and bait again. Hon can get within annoyance distance using his pokes. Standing A is really quick and has decent range, and standing far C has a deceptively long active hitbox. His crouching B and C are both quick and safe. His jumping C has decent priority, but it’s slow and has short range. Once you’re in close, you want to start annoying the opponent, continuing to poke and harassing them.
Try to get the opponent antsy, so that they’ll try a poke, throw, or reversal-type move, all of which the :dp: + :snka: will beat, doing a decent chunk of damage and annoying the opponent even more. Hon in particular has to pay attention to how much meter a character has, because characters with good reversal supers and breakshots can prove troublesome, and with as much damage as :dp: + :snka: does, Hon still struggles to land tide-turning damage.
Matchups:
In addition to Sky of Fire, Hon has about a million other anti-airs: df + A, hcf + C, and qcb + C, so Hon basically rules the skies. Characters with good lows are troublesome, and good ground games in general are difficult for Hon.
Good matchups: Yellow-bar Duck King (doesn’t really have any options against him), Xiangfei (lack of range on almost all of her moves), Krauser (Big, slow, and low priority) , Joe (again, lack of range and speed), Sokaku (bad range and low priority),
Decent-Good Matchups: Mary, Mai, Terry (his aggressiveness works against him here), Lawrence Blood
Decent Matchups: Hon-Fu, Chonrei (good fireballs, but otherwise lacking), Rick, Tung (his tiny hitbox poses a problem for Hon),
Decent-Bad Matchups: Franco (range, speed, and mixup), Yamazaki (snake hands, and his s-power), Andy (Hi-Sho Ken harassment), Geese (good lows, good mixup and good supers), Bob (huge damage potential off of anything and great low pokes, but loses a bit of flexibility without his jump C), Chonrei (tiny, good fireballs and can be unpredictable), Kim (what can I say? He’s Kim), Cheng (he can be very slippery, and his breakshot is fantastic)
Bad Matchups: Billy (ra-a-a-ange, among other things), Chonshu (small, fast, annoying, and aggressive), red-bar Duck King (Breaker Spiral and the dozens of setups that go with it)
^ Above list very subject to change.
Combos:
Combos aren’t really a big part of Hon, but he does have some:
close :snka: :snkc: :snkc: --> special/super
Quick, and good damage.
:df: + :snka: :snkc: :snkc: --> s/s (juggle)
Probably Hon’s most damaging combo option. An interestring trick to do is do a late cancel with :qcb: + :snkb: at the end, which is a reset, but doesn’t look like it, and you can force a mixup afterwards.
:down: + :snkb: :down: :snkc: --> s/s
Good combo off of a low.
far :snka: far :snkc:
Though it doesn’t look like much, it’s probably Hon-Fu’s most useful combo, because it’s completely safe and it allows Hon-Fu to double the damage of all of his standing A pokes.
