The Rufus Match-up Thread

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

Remember to Post Here, we dont discuss one major character, rather we discuss everyone. Just pick up on the information. It will obviously be posted up here on the first page so you can come back and see it. As for how to post, if your posting about a match-up try to make it look nice and pretty so I can grab the needed info :slight_smile:

READY SET GO!

vs. ABEL

[details=Spoiler]Close/(maybe) far St.mk beats out Wheel Kick. Jab SS beats out wheel kick randomly. St.HP as well.
Abel can block Rufus cr.HP and punish with Ultra. Can punish Messiah (all) with Ultra.
Dive Kick shenanigans aren?t great against abel unless you mix it up.
You can ultra Abel’s wheel kick on reaction (If you can predict it…go for it, other wise just block or far mk it)
Can be crossed up with j.mk
U1 Is better for this then U2, not to much to really punish with U2 that U1 cant punish, not to mention you can combo into it.
[/details]

vs. ADON

Spoiler

Coming Soon

vs. AKUMA

[details=Spoiler]EX SS if he jumps and does air fireballs (requieres good timing)
EX SS if he Demon flips (doesnt matter which followup he uses, EX SS has enough invincibility to beat all of them)
cr.HP his tatsumakis

This match-up feels like it’s in Akuma’s favor. I suggest U1 since U2 is just to hard to land…

Whoever rushes down first pretty much wins… But we have a higher chance of coming back then he does :).

Now that we got the idea of how the fight works off of that one sentence lets get down to business! We will go one step at a time; then, we will give idea’s of strategies, finally we will give pointers on good pokes and final notes.

At Full Range~ Mid range:

To be honest… This is Rufus’s WORSE place in the fight… We can’t do late divekicks without getting hit with an SRK. If we jump in he can SRK us and his projectiles to keep us out… But fear not! We can get in, it just takes time!

To get in you’re really going to need to be patient…FAing the Projectiles will get you closer, short Dk’s will get you closer at well… It’s much harder at mid range then it is at far range… But you get the point.

Rolling at them when they’re standing is an excellent tactic. It gets you close and even if they block you’re right next to him… and that’s where we all want him Insert random Pedophile smile.

Try to remember to NOT jump unless he can’t uppercut you… Cause not spacing those jumps will only cause you to lose life and allow him to win quicker… All I can say is “PATIENCE YOUNG ONES!” Rufus is fat cause he’s suppose to be patient until it’s his time to own!

Alright so let’s all assume that you found your chance and now you’re moving in for the kill… so what do we do next!?

Close range/RIGHT UP NEXT TO HIM!:

Well we all know when someone is right up next to us we win… But Akuma has more options then most do. When divekicking we have 3 things to always worry about with him instead of just one!

option 1. He uppercuts… If we press a button he hits us… DAMN!

Option 2. He C.HP OS techs. I haven’t watched anyone do that, but you just have to watch out for it…

option 3. He… teleports! This is an issue with me for the sole reason that if you guess wrong and crouch block… he will get a free getaway or maybe just take 100 damage (from a cr.HP) So… then we’d be back at square one! Which sucks… But wait! there is an option to this!!! So lets explain my friends.

Vs. Option 1. The best ways to get rid of this is blocking… You have got to catch them in a pattern or a lucky guess… This will also work against option 2! I can’t give to much info on this specifically… Sorry!

Vs. Option 2. You can’t Divekick multiple times vs this… If you do you eat a free CR.HP… Thankfully I haven’t ran into this, But A way to avoid it is by doing a deeper divekick to cross them up! It gives you a free combo and a free fear point. (Fear points stops them from doing stuff… Scare them mentally and you win the fight.)

vs. Option 3. Alright… So you divekick, then divekick again and… He teleports. There’s many options you have if you didn’t down block.

  1. Divekick again
  2. Roll
  3. J.Fierce.
  4. If you blocked roll or C.HP

It’s a great idea to block after so many divekicks or in a pattern, even if they teleport you can roll to them and keep the pressure!

[/details]

vs. BOXER

[details=Spoiler]St.MP is your best poke here.
Tri Jumps whiff on standing boxer
Crossup dive kick is great against Boxer.
Can combo GT > Ultra anywhere on screen.
can get all the hits of EX SS after messiah, lk FADC
Hard times against Boxer? READ THIS!
The thread above gave me these good idea’s:
Bait out the J. Firece, if you do you can EX SS, especially when your DK pressuring, itll make boxers think twice about jumping
When you do your DK, Lk,Lk Combo or something, do the first lk, stop and delay a Ex Messiah, itll get a free CH combo. This actually works on everyone that crouch tech’s as well, thanks to the option select.
If you know he does EX dashes on wake up, throw him.
Jabs beat out the poor old Dash punches, including ex ones. Id say you should jab and buffer a tornado (ex perferred) Or you can just Ex Tornado when he does it since it armor breaks.
[/details]

vs. BLANKA

[details=Spoiler]Cr.MK xx EX Tornado to punish electricity.
Block Blanka Balls standing. Walk forward a little bit, and use Cr.FP to punish.
Meaty cross up dive kicks can punish electricity on wakeup.
J.HK into either Ultra or EX Snake Strike on blocked Rainbow Balls.
Ex GT slides if you need the damage. Cr.MK xx EX GT if he is close and slides.
You can EX Messiah Kick Blanka out of his Ultra as long as he is still rising.
Focus attack if he tries rainbow balls for crossups…just use focus everytime he uses them
If blans does ultra on point blank. Cr.mp trades when he?s coming down, its better than be chiped to death. (if you have meter use EX messiah or EX SS to escape if you are very low on health)
U2 is really good here, Can punish pretty much EVERYTHING on block, U1 you can punish it either rising (after the very first low hit, buffer the ultra then he will land right into you.) Or after his U1, its a little harder, just delay a little then use it. If you mess up he will either block it/ youll only get one hit off of it.
[/details]

vs. C.VIPER

[details=Spoiler]Overhead kicks goes over seismo
Cr.mp beats burning/flame/blaze kicks
cr.mk/cr.mp xx thunder knuckle, on block can be interrupted with EX messiah
j.hk if she super jumps towards you
[/details]

vs. CAMMY

[details=Spoiler]FA is a godsend here.
Blocked super/ultra = walk a bit, far HKx2, Ultra
EX hooligan combination = EX SS
Punish drills with st.HP xx HP tornado or launcher > ultra

This match is definitely in your favor. The way her tools work are very similar to your own except you do more damage and have more health. You can?t be too reckless on her though purely cause of her DP. I try to play this match by just advancing forward to a point where you can dive kick without making large jumps that can be easily DP?d on reaction. She will want to jump as much as you do for her dive kick so return the favor and just anti air with s. hp or c. mp. Trading with a s. hp is still a loss for her so just keep at it. Once you have your rush down going you need to judge your opponent and try to bait a DP if you feel they?re getting a bit mashy with it after your dive kicks. On blocked DP there are a couple ways to punish. If you?re unsure you could always c. hp, but if you blocked it deep you can dash twice and hp xx hp tornado, target combo to ultra, etc. To continue your offense on a knock down you might realize that her DP is a bit more difficult to cross up than others. Start your jump for meaty cross up dive kick from a little farther back and you can pretty much guarantee a stuffed DP if they attempt it. The biggest problem for Cammy is her very limited ability to cross up with her dive kick. In fact, the only times it ever crosses me up is in the corner (from my experiences anyways). With this said you can easily deal with her by holding down back and jumping back out of dive kick attempts to escape. The last bit of advice I can offer is to be careful with your EX Messiah?s when she has ultra. Cammy?s ultra can be reversal?d before you can even use the hk follow up to try and go over it.

Cammy Tricks to Look Out For

The most annoying Cammy trick imo is the guaranteed Hooligan Combination grab. If you get knocked down and tech recover, a meaty Hooligan will grab you guaranteed.
She can bait throw attempts just like you can. Same mind games apply as many of your own.
There are certainly ranges for safe Canon Drill (Spiral Arrow) that can set you up to bait invalid punish attempts. They especially love DP attempts if they have 2 bars. Many Cammy?s can?t do this or straight up don?t know but they can easily hit confirm a counter hit standing fierce to ultra. A lot of them like to fish for these opportunities by baiting your option select throw tech attempts.

Focus hurts her pretty badly since her only AB is that spinning backfist. Blocked Cannon Spikes can be hard to punish since she lands so far away. c.hp is ok. Walk forward slightly and sweep is better since you get the knock down. The most damage I can get punishing it without ultra is 200 with a walk forward far s.hk into nj.hk. With ultra, you can get walk forward far s.hk, forward j.hk, into ultra or 2 far s.hks into ultra. Punishing with just an ex GT also works if you’re having trouble with any of those.

One thing to remember about the hooligan combination throw is that it cannot hit you when you are crouched. Anytime you see a cammy throw out a hooligan combo just stay crouched. If you know it is coming the EX Hooligan can be EX SS on reaction. Usually I will just anti air it with c.mp. If you try to jump back roundhouse or fierce you will get thrown. If you stay crouched and don’t do anything, similar to Akuma’s EX demon kick facepalm, cammy will end up behind you. I use to hate Cammy’s but it’s now become a pretty easy matchup

Thank you Katterimari and bja_eh
[/details]

2

vs. CHUN-LI

[details=Spoiler]J.MP and J.MK are good Air-to-Air tools.
She has a floaty jump. Ex SS her.
Dive Kick beats EX SBK on wake up
She can punish blocked Rufus?s cr.HP with super/Ultra

Chun: While it’s known a perfectly timed dive kick will beat EX SBK, it may not be as well known that if Chun blocks a dive kick, even perfectly timed and spaced, she can EX SBK between it and your next move. So if you play someone good enough to know and do this, keep it in mind and be ready to dive and block. I had this done repeatedly to me by a top Chun, but I thought I was screwing up the timing so I didn’t adapt correctly and bait it. Afterwards he told me, “thought you’d catch on sooner” lol

Also, until you have at least 1 stock of meter, your goal should be to run away until you do. A good Chun should be rushing you the eff down out of the gate, but then can’t really do that any more once Messiah is a threat. The good news is most Chuns don’t know this and basically make life easy for you. Thanks!
[/details]

vs. CODY

Spoiler

Coming Soon

vs. DAN

Spoiler

Do you really need help again dan?

vs. DEEJAY

Spoiler

Coming Soon

vs. DHALSIM

[details=Spoiler]Focus the limbs not the fireballs.
U2 is amazing here. Make sure to RUSH.HIM.DOWN! Late Dk’s can beat his knee if timed right, and then poof your in. Another good thing to do is EX messiah over to him. Youll do really well in this match-up. Rufus has all the advantage and its a free win for him once hes there. Dk him to hell when your on him, low dk’s will own his slide for a free combo. Mix up those tick throws against him and if he jumps back jump with him and J.RH, EX SS. When he has U1 stocked do some more tick throws and stay on the ground while he wakes up, you can bait it out and grab/U2 him if you have it. otherwise the DK’s win the game here.

Sim- The match-up is a free fight for us! DONT focus the fireballs, focus the limbs. Divekick him to shit and take some damage… Pretty much just BULLDOG your way to him and DONT let him out of the corner… U2 is amazing for corner games, cause if he teleports its a free 500 damage : ).

Next, Random ex messaihs at a certain range (where hed random poke) is good to… If he blocks it you’re right there with him… just use the sweep option more then the OH cause he can st.MP you if I’m right and cancel it into a Fireball… putting you at half screen again.

Another good thing to remember is that FAing ALOT of the time will get you closer, quicker… He will be afraid to throw out limbs constantly cause you can Crumple him and be on em…

Finally, when your on top of him and he tries to jump away just jump with him and HK em… It’ll make him think twice about jumping!!

[/details]

vs. DUDLEY

[details=Spoiler]Dudley’s options are very limited as to how he can get in. I find that zoning him out with st strong and sweeps works pretty well. You can beat his jump ins with cr. mp pretty cleanly, you just have to work on the timing. If you can land either a cr. mp or a sweep, you can get a free chance to mix up. Cr mp anti can be followed up with a walk forward throw, a short dive, walk forward messiah, or walk forward block. The only real threat he has to counter these options are ex upper or ultra. You get even more mix ups once you land a sweep.As for his mgbs, if you block a lp mgb, Dudley is at -2. Rufus cannot punish this because his fastest move, cr. jab, is 4 frames. Dudley also ends up outside of your throw range, so a 3 frame throw isn’t very helpful either. Some Dudley’s will do something risky after this has been blocked, like an ultra or ex upper in attempt to catch you for counterpoking. If you block it, you’ll get to land a big combo. Others will know you are blocking and throw out a cr. jab or whatever back into pressure strings. You are free to ex messiah here, but just beware that it isn’t always the best idea.As for his mp fp and ex mgbs, all of them are punishable on block. you can cr. jab into ex tornado all three of them. Mp mgb is only -4 on block (making it the hardest one to do) fp is -5 (not as bad) then ex mgb is -8, you can punish this one with cr. mk into ex tornado if you are feeling gutsy. Just a few times in training mode and you’ll get a feel for which mgb was done and which punish you can use.As for his pressure game, once you get knocked down, you can throw him out of a lot of his wake up options, mainly his overhead, but you can also throw him out of his ducking dash forward move. Or feel free to ex messiah these options too.

EDIT: VS Dudley, Forward throw, dash x2 jump and divekick just before you reach the peak of your jump and dudley cant do anything, he HAS to block, everything whiffs or gets stuffed.

EDIT2: ACTUALLY, I just discovered that, the only thing that whiffs is the EX jet upper (well the super and both ultras too…), everything else gets stuffed, so, what you can do if you really wanna own dudley, is do the same setup above, but hold UP FORWARD until you see the divekick hit or get blocked. If he did EX upper the upper will whiff and you will jump towards him which you can tag him with a: j.HK (1) j.HK (2) into Ultra 1 for big damage and a free mindfuck. Now thats a punish!!
[/details]

vs. E.HONDA

[details=Spoiler]Cr.MP beats out Buttslam.
Cr.LP beats out headbutts at the right distance
Focus the crossup buttslams
Cr.HP if you block a headbutt (just the HP one)
Ex tornado after mp or HP headbutts
j.HK owns him in the air, beats out his pretty good air normals and honda seems to have a slow enough jump to do it on react
can get all the hits of EX SS after EX messiah, lk FADC

What can he do against EX messiah on block?

LK follow: cant focus, cant jump. Ultra/super on block.
MK Follow: jump, EX Headbutt, ultra, focus.
HK follow: jump, EX headbutt misses, Ultra misses, Super misses.

(so as long as he doesnt have meter, you can take a bit more risks with EX messiah)

In this matchup you?re going to have to deal with hondas turtling…a lot, honda?s neutral jump HP is a pain since it can stop most rufus air normals, so you will have to find a way to break his defense. Once you get the knockdown it becomes a lot easier for rufus since Honda has no real way to avoid rufus? rushdown other that EX buttslam (punishable with cr.hp anyways), EX headbutt (if you time your divekicks it wont hit you) or super/ultra (same as EX heabdbutt). If Honda tries to mix you up on wake up with his buttslams, you hace 3 simple options, you can focus it and escape (dont try to punish, you wont), block the correct way or EX messiah, focus is the easiest and while not the most effective it wont burn your meter. Honda doesnt really need to jump here, so try not to be psychic and go for random jhk unless the honda youre playing really likes to jump at you. against headbutts you can punish HP ones with cr.hp, mp and EX with EX tornado, AFAIK lp headbutt cant be punished so take that into consideration. So basically, like boxer, this is a battle of patience, you need to understand what honda is doing and how can you avoid it in order to get in, surely is hard, but if you get the knockdown, dont let him go away.

U1 is really good against him, Id add my two sense here but… They got everyone Covered, Just play abit defensive.
[/details]

3

vs. EL FUERTE

[details=Spoiler]FA when you are getting up to take away ? of his options. Can still throw you.
Wall jump at you = j.HK —> EX snake/Ultra
You can go either way here on this Match-up. U1 is really good for punishing combo’s and the added extra damage, U2 just limits his options, but the entire match he will bait it out.
I personally Use U1, much better punishes, and it scares him sometimes.
Remember that Fuerte ISNT a big threat, hes a threat when your down. Otherwise, Rufus has the advantage throughout the entire fight. Low DK’s make his EX AA Grab Wiff, the “tri” DK’s that is. DK the shit out of him when your close, gain pure advantage and take that man over. When hes down, usually you can bait his AA Grab and punish with your usual HP HP GT BnB.
[/details]

vs. FEI LONG

[details=Spoiler]Blocked super/ultra = far HK x2, ultra
Cr.mp is your friend here, it stops his air attacks
Only the first hit of chicken wing armor breaks, only the lk version is unsafe on block though

I enjoy fighting fei. You don’t have to rush him down, you can outzone him all day long if you play it right. I like to play it at mid distance, abusing st. mp to stuff rekka punches, sweep to bait him into jumping or to knock down, cr. jab ex tornado to punish rekkas, and cr. mp to stuff all jump ins. You can also react to chicken wings from mid screen by just pressing st. fierce, it will either trade or cleanly beat it out.

As for rushing him down, don’t go in until you land a sweep or a throw. If you think they are going to chicken wing on wake up, whiff an early dive in front of them and try jump back fierce punch, you should beat them out cleanly from the air. If you think they are going to flame kick, you can do cross up dive kick, if you time it right, you will always beat the flame and get a free combo. The only thing you have to watch out for is the fei’s that use ultra 2, it will beat out all of your dive kicks, cleanly beating cross up ones because it makes his hitbox expand. If you see that someone picks it on you, aim for cross up dives after knockdowns until they get meter, then land a knockdown and just empty jump over for the punish, they’ll switch to ultra 1 next time.

I also prefer ultra 1 in this match. Ultra 2 doesn’t really suit me here, unless you fei focuses a lot, if they are focusing a ton, you’ll want to try throwing out more galatic tornados, this usually works pretty well for me. Ultra 1 still works great when you corner them, if you can react to their jump with your own j. rh. and you can always get it from a cross up dive into target combo. Another thing is to be patient, just block their focus and let them dash in, you can land more ex messiah’s this way, be sure to always either delay your lk follow up, which can cleanly beat flame kick, or to do nothing and throw, this works when they are start to wait for you to do the lk follow up.

After watching that video, you see that there are a lot of pressure situations that come from having blocked a chicken wing, be sure to learn to press fp on reaction when it happens, it trades in your favor, resets the distance, and stops fei from having an easy way in. As long as you are on point, you can out poke him, outzone him, and even rush down when you get your mind games going.

[/details]

vs. GEN

[details=Spoiler]Gen?s Crane cr.MP is unsafe even on hit, so if he doesnt cancel it into walldive or roll…punish
His wall divekicks are not safe if he lands next to you, punish accordingly
Gen?s Mantis mk xx HP hands is safe on block, dont try to punish
If he has super/ultra stocked dont cr.HP, he can ultra/super (Zan?ei) if he blocks Rufus cr.HP
[/details]

vs. GOUKEN

[details=Spoiler]Bait parry?s with short dive kicks etc.
All rush punches are unsafe on block
EX SS the demon flip
Tornado owns the counters
[/details]

vs. GUILE

[details=Spoiler]focus the 2nd kick of his sweep and punish
EX messiah between the kicks of his sweep
jump after the first hit and divekick
Flash kick sucks as anti air (even divekicks trades)

You will want to bulldog the hell out of him. You’ll spend a lot of time walking forward and blocking sonic booms, so get used to it. If you are really patient, you will be able to slowly walk them to the corner, which is where you want Guile. When he is there, he will have to take more risks, like flash kick to get you off of him or try and jump out. Both of these are punishable, so make sure you are ready to block and react with your own jump rh or even ex snake strike to keep him frustrated and in place.

As for the ground game, it all depends on spacing. If you are in the middle of the screen or farther I prefer to try a jump fierce if you know he is going to throw a boom. On block, you successfully found a way to get close, on hit I suggest crouch mk into ex tornado if you’ve got it, or sweep if you can combo it. This strat needs to stop if they anti air you or if you they have ultra 2 on hand. If you are closer than half screen, you can aim for a high dive kick after a boom. If angled correctly, you will stuff his cr. fierce or forward rh. (you will want to work on this a lot, you are aiming for a 45 degree angle, otherwise you’ll totally get stuffed). If your Guile tries to use pokes during the ground game, keep your eyes peeled for his cr. mk, backfist, or stand fierce, you can use sweep to reaction punish the cr. mk and you can sweep underneath the fierces.

When you get close or you land a sweep here is a list of some options. Dive kick into them (can be flash kicked) walk up and throw (can be flash kicked) whiff dive kick in front of them (use to guard the flash kick, if not try doing a delayed throw) walk up and do delayed dive (can be flashed or crouch fierce option selected) walk up ex messiah (will trade with flash kick for one hit) or you can aim to do a low cross up dive kick (will beat flash kick if timed right) lastly you can do a mid or higher cross up dive kick (will beat flash kick cleanly). That is a lot of stuff, but knowing your opponents options is always useful. If you try for dive kick pressure and you get beat out by their cr. fierce, they are most likely doing the crouch fierce option select. To best this, you will want to do whiff dive kicks then block the cr. fierce, punish it with cr. jab into ex tornado or if you are good you can dive kick into a combo. If they try this a lot, you can just do st. lk into st fierce and it should cleanly stuff it.

I prefer ultra 1 in this match, but if you have god like reactions and you are able to stay within his sweep range, you can use ultra 2 (not recommended). Early in the match, I like to focus booms until Guile gets 1 stock of meter. Most guile players like to use it when they get it. If they do, you can actually punish an ex boom with a well placed far jump in fierce or a dive kick if you are close. If the Guile walk forward after throwing a boom, avoid focusing them, this means the guile doesn’t mind closing the gap all on their own and they will actually punish you with a fierce for focusing their booms. If they do this, you can feel free to try and jump straight up and dive kick after the boom. Once you get your ultra 1, you can land it off a number of things, jump rh, dive into target combo, ex tornado or regular tornado in the corner or whatever. You want to land this each match. I’m a big fan of landing a forward throw, two dashes, cross up jump mk into target combo to ultra. It works really well and you can always just dive instead of using the cross up for a rather dirty mix up.

Last bit of random thoughts, avoid air to air with him unless you can react to his jump ins with your own jump rh. His jump throw, jump fierce, jump back mk and rh are all very strong. You can beat all of his jump ins with cr. mp but this won’t come up very often (or shouldn’t at least). If you can predict sonic booms, you can do a fierce messiah into lk option to beat them. I try to use this only when I have two stocks, if it hits, you are golden, if not, flip fadc and back dash (which guile can punish your back dash with a flashkick for free). All of mix ups from ex messiah get beat by ex flash. If you try to short dive, the guile can just stand straight up and throw you, the dive will whiff. And when you are trying to dive in from mid range, watch out for his stand fierce, it stuffs from most angles, so you need to be a lot higher than normal if you want to beat the fierce punch.
[/details]

vs. GUY

[details=Spoiler]And for Guy, I have been having a lot of luck with stand fierce. If he flips at you, stand fierce (the close version) will cleanly stuff him. As Gerjay said, you beat him on the ground pretty cleanly, taking away his air to ground options leave him at a heavy disadvantage. And if you knock him down, try doing a fairly high cross up dive kick against him, it will blow right past his ex up kicks on wake up for a free punish.

U2 Is good in this fight, His jump is so long that you can react slowly to it. his dashes are unsafe and so are his command jumps.[/details]

vs. HAKAN

Spoiler

Coming Soon

4

vs. IBUKI

Spoiler

U2 is recommended here, She reminds me of the Sim match-up. Its a free win for Rufus here, Just Dk at her, FA her kunai’s and once your in on her dont get off of her. If you have U2 and she does the jump or anything you can easily punish, you can punish her Uppercuts on block as well, even after the kunai throw with either Ex Messiah or U2, Not sure about ex SS. Not to much help to suggest here IMO… Shes a very easy match-up.

vs. JURI

Spoiler

Coming Soon

vs. KEN

[details=Spoiler]Far St.HP beats step kick if you predict it.
Ex messiah between cr.mk xx hadoken/EX hadoken
[/details]

vs. M.BISON

[details=Spoiler]Cr.MP beats out Headstomp and Devils reverse. EX SS is good here too.
Tornado beats out scissor kicks.
J.rh beats head stomp and devils reversal, just time it right.

What can he do against EX messiah on block?

LK Follow: Cant focus. EX psycho crusher will beat it, If he tries to jump back it will hit him
MK Follow: Focus, EX psycho crusher, Ultra.
HK Follow: EX psycho misses, Ultra Misses, can lv2 Focus into combo/ultra. Can jump back

Dictator has the advantage in this matchup, mostly because he is fast, has good defense and offense and can keep rufus away quite effectively, but not everything is lost and this matchup is very winnable if you know what to do (and what NOT to do). First of all, his std.HK is awesome as an anti air and can stop pretty much everything, but he has to guess if you?re going to divekick in order to beat it, he cant react to it, press hk and beat it, so you have to trick him and play mind games. His scissor kick pressure is really good as well, specially in the corner, where you need to take risks or to wait a long time in order to get out of there, again dont always jump after pressure, he can std.HK you and the pressure will start again, be patient and creative. Next is his EX headstop, Bison will either do the followup into more pressure or will escape after the first hit, now, it get hard to guess whats he gonna do and most people just block…well you dont have to! std close HP beats the followup, clean, it doesnt even trade, and if he goes for the escape option you will get a far HP that will either hit him or whiff (you?ll be safe, dont worry). When you knock him down divekick the s… out of him (but he careful when he has ultra, same deal as against honda) use your dirtiest crossup mixup for all the time he kept you out, now on wake up he will do certain things to get out: 1-. EX crusher, if it doesnt hit you it will put him at a safe distance, but as hondas EX headbutt at the right angle you will beat it and you can continue your pressure. 2-. EX headstop…you already know what to do, 3-. Teleport, look at where he is and from there you have 2 options, use the roll or another dive to get close and continue the pressure (careful against EX and ultra) or just see where is he gonna appear and cr.HP, 4.- Ultra, again, if you followed my advice, you should aim divekicks to his back so if he does ultra it will whiff, hes gonna escape for sure, but he wont have ultra so thats one less problem. And one last thing, be very VERY careful when he has ultra, he can react to your jump ins with j.mp into ultra and its faster than your j.hk, so be careful.

In the middle of the screen, after a blocked scissors, bison can do cr. lk cr. lk scissors, which you can simply hold back and walk away from it, you’ll walk right out of range of his lk. Don’t try to ex messiah this, he’ll just block it, you’ll waste a stock, and if he has ultra 1 (which all bison’s should be using in this match up) you’ll eat a raw ultra unless you fadc backdash, which he’ll then punish you with a st rh.

He can do st. rh after a blocked scissors, which is also bested by simply holding back and walking away or you can get gutsy and use stand strong to beat it.

Or he can throw out another scissors, which you can beat by doing fierce tornado or a stand strong (these are both risky, but if you guess right once, it will help to stop bison from doing this later, ex messiah also works here, but you risk losing a stock because it will typically catch him in the air and only do one hit).

One of my main goals is the stop them from doing the cr. lk cr. lk, if you can, you get to jump away, jump straight up and dive, or ex messiah more.

The corner is where things get stupid:

You can no longer walk back, so you are forced to deal with the lk’s, it is in your best interest to just wait it out. As stated earlier, ex messiah should not be used against his cr. lk’s, you don’t want to jump because you will get hit by rh and then reset back into cr. lk games, and you don’t want to press a button because you will outright get stuffed. The best thing you can do is be patient, most bison’s will try and predict your jump and rh all on their own, giving you enough space to press stand mp, or try for a messiah. He will eventually push himself out of range, giving you just enough room to breath and get yourself out of the corner.

For this match you just have to realize that you will end up eating a lot of chip damage. As always, watch out for throw attempts. Crouch teching against bison is pretty good as long as you can get into the same rhythm as their cr. lk. strings. Just try and do some really late techs because he can mix everything up into cr. mk or st fierce.

M. Bison is one of Rufus’ tougher matchups, although most Bisons don’t really abuse the strongest advantages they have. I would quote some Sun-Tzu shit but instead I’ll just say that since the only invincible reversal Bison has that isn’t trivially easy to safe jump is lk super, Rufus players should abuse it. I wasn’t getting the mileage I wanted out of my safe jumps though, so I went into the lab to figure out how to force Bison to eat mixups, or pay as dearly as possible for getting out.
After a safe jump, reversal
EX PC: punishable by low fierce; it’s a 3 frame punish at best, so take note of when Rufus turns around after blockstun for the timing
EX Scissor kick: it’s invincible but pretty stupid to use on wakeup, this is a free fierce xx fierce gt or close mp, close mp xx ex gt for 40 more damage if you like that one. if you ever see this, it’s probably FADC’d backwards for safety
EX Headstomp/Devil’s Reverse: these look identical on startup. if you see it him go airborne, hold forward. if it’s a headstomp, he’ll whiff it behind you, which can be optimally punished by divekick, close mp, close mp xx ex gt for a cool 305/1000 health. Punish dat shit! If it’s a Devil’s Reverse, holding forward will probably bait the Dic to pressing punch and trying to hit you. Jump forward strong will beat it cleanly (beast hitbox, underutilized move), or you can EX SS as soon as he comes into your airspace.
Teleport: step forward cr rh punish for best damage and one of the easiest safejump setups you can ask for afterwards. cr fierce is easier, but 10 less damage and doesn’t knock down.
[/details]

vs. MAKOTO

[details=Spoiler]Again, same thoughts here… her pokes are annoying, Forget trying to poke back.
All of her Dash punches can be Focused.
You can grab her out of her command grab.
She has pretty much no wake up game, especially against DK’s.
Once your in on her just DK her to death, she cant do anything.
Just use U1, its better that way.[/details]

vs. ROSE

[details=Spoiler]Here’s your friendly neighbour Dive-man, bringing you more Option Selects, this time vs Rose:

Throw, dash x2, divekick at the peak and OS Ultra 2, what happens if Rose…

  • Blocks: Nothing comes out, free mixup
  • Backdashes: divekick hits her
  • Forward dashes: divekick hits her
  • Regular Soul Throw: Divekick beats it
  • EX Soul spiral: Whiffs. Rufus goes to the other side and does U2 which catches her
  • EX Soul throw: Whiffs. Rufus goes to the other side and does U2 which catches her
  • All versions of Super: Whiffs, Rufus gets behind her but nothing comes out = Free combo
  • Illusion Spark (U1): Whiffs, Rufus gets behind her but nothing comes out = Free combo

Also U2 is very viable in this fight since it stops her zoning game to an extend.

How to know that you did it right?: If rose can EX soul throw you, you’re doing the divekick too late. [/details]

vs. RUFUS

Spoiler

U2 can punish all of his jesus kick. Sometimes even his FADC back.

5

vs. RYU

[details=Spoiler]http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=185142
[/details]

vs. SAGAT

[details=Spoiler]J.MK can cross up Sagat.
Crossup Dive Kick is not useful here. He can punish, even on hit.
Cr.HP under High Tiger shots.
std far HP can punish far HKs but needs almost perfect timing and reactions

[/details]

vs. SAKURA

Spoiler

Coming Soon

vs. SETH

[details=Spoiler]J.HK beats his J.HP
short divekicks (tri jumps) beats s.hp
If he tries to go for a divekick, EX SS him
Any mistake he mades should be punished as hard as posible, remind him how much life he really has
can be crossed up with j.mk

Seth- Patience and reaction is key to this matchup.
Far Fierce: The range where Seth can use this tool is very limited; it’s punishable on hit/block by U2 and on block by cr. fierce if he hits you any closer than 2/3rds of its distance, or EX GT if it’s halfway or closer on hit or block. The only range where he can safely use it is easily stuffed with triangle jump divekick.

Sonic Booms: They are extremely laggy, 48 frames (regular) and 61 frames (EX) vs Guile’s 29,31,33,39 (LP-EX) as comparison. They also start pretty slowly, so try to react to their startup more and the actual boom’s appearance less. Seth’s EX Booms can actually be full screen U2’d if you are buffering it and react reasonably well. Absorbing booms is a good idea since it helps shut down his offense and helps you maintain yours once you get it started by adding OS possibilities. Don’t be afraid to play the full screen game, building super and ultra meters by LP snake striking and absorbing booms, especially since some Seths may feel they have to take the initiative and the associated risks.

Toe Taps: Toe taps are always punishable, even on hit, though the specifics (e.g. which direction to input, or which normal for meterless punish) vary depending on corner/non-corner, neutral jump or forward jump for the toe taps. Examples:

  1. neutral jump d+mk, d+hk/neutral hk: cr. mp or EX SS
  2. forward jump d+mk, crossover hk: cr. mp, st. hp (sometimes trades), or reversal EX SS input forward
  3. forward jump d+mk, d+hk/crossover hk when you’re cornered: hold forward (away from corner)+hp, delayed EX snake strike input forward (note Seth’s height with training room squares for the timing)
  4. 2 or 3 toe taps, cornered: after first one hits, press forward+P to block 2nd and OS against #3, then input EX SS away away from corner.
  5. 2 or 3 toe taps, not cornered: first hits, hold forward to block 2nd then close fierce or EX SS, or near-reversal timing EX SS after first hits, or 2 hit, far fierce.
  6. Any toe tap can be U2 punished on hit, but the timing can be tight due to crossed over inputs.

Remember: Seth does the most damage when you let him BnB you into the corner. Favor downback in the direction of the corner, divekick BnB if you can react to a pause in his blockstring that signals an incoming SPD, punish toetaps, and you significantly cut Seth’s ability to hurt you.
[/details]

vs. T.HAWK

[details=Spoiler]-When T hawk Jumps… JUMP WITH HIM! usually they are trying to Dive their way to you… So its a free HK EX SS/U1. Just DON’T get predictable with the jumps… do it rarely and just Ex SS straight up if you can.

  • Use U2 IMO… I love the extra damage but a blocked Dive can be punished with CR.Firece and with U2.

  • Your pokes are Cr.Firece (two main uses: 1. used for punishes, 2. Used for when he constantly dashes on the ground after he’s scared to jump), St.MP (Great at a specific range, but dont get predictable!), Cr.MK (Eh… never used it on him so… experiment!), Cr.MP (AA HIS NON CD’S! If you’re good enough with the reaction EX SS then you won’t need this that much…) ST.MK (Yes… It works. A nice poke for a small amount of damage… I like it!)

There’s just one issue with T hawk… His random ST.HK. That thing owns me sometimes and how I fix that is with focus’s! I just randomly focus, if he hits me either a. I’ll let it go to hit him or just back dash…

To sum it all up you have to bait his moves out and make HIM mess up… Sometimes we just have to sit back and relax while they come to us. Which is honestly a blessing considering WERE usually the ones going towards them! [/details]

vs. VEGA

[details=Spoiler]Jump back j.mp/j.hk takes care of most wall dives
Can combo GT > Ultra anywhere on screen.

Vega- Even though Scarlet Terror starts up in 4 frames, it’s very easy to stuff with regular safejump setups (e.g. fthrow, fdash, whiff jab, jump fierce). As soon as you get U2 you can option select with it on every safejump, and it will beat backdash and both flips. EX GT OS beats backdash and 3K flip. Reacting to the 3P flip beats it. U2 on reaction to Vega jumping off the back wall freely. Crossover EX Sky High Claw is punishable on block with U2, this is a common Vega gimmick. Blocking an EX Barcelona is a free U2, or you can punish with Glory Kick into EX Snake Strike.

[/details]

vs. ZANGIEF

[details=Spoiler]St.FP for anti-air and punishing lariats that are closer.
Cr.FP for punishing lariats across the screen.
Stay away from dive kicks. Tri Jumps whiff.
Don?t EX Messiah from half screen. Lariat beats it. Use it if you predict lariat on wakeup.
Can combo GT > Ultra anywhere on screen.
EX SS if he jumps at you
Blocked normal or EX green hand = throw him Can be thrown after normal green hand on HIT

Zangief- Max range jab greenhands are punishable on hit with cr. lp xx EX GT, or cr. lp, far lp, far mp. Non-max can be punished with st. lk, st. hp xx hp gt (st. lk, cr. lp xx EX GT is the easier version if you aren’t confident in your execution.) Max range jab greenhand on block can be cr. mk xx EX GT’d (seems to be a 1 frame punish) or cr. lp xx EX GT’d for 40 less damage. All other greenhands on block can be st. hp xx hp gt punished (70 more damage than throw, gives 3x the meter).

This may end up to be of limited usefulness, but after a forward throw on Zangief, if you forward dash, cr. mp and jump forward, then execute an early j. hk, it “safe jumps” reversal lariats. I say it in quotes because it loses to delayed lariats and reversal ex greenhand. This works because Zangief’s first hittable frame of lariat has a huge hittable box on the top of his head, far above the hitbox of lariat. Hitting j. hk just a bit after you drop from the peak of your jump arc hits this, resulting in a 2-hit j. hk that can be hitconfirmed into raw u1 or u2 (though I don’t really think u2 is that useful in this matchup). If he backdashes it hits him out of the air with 1 hit of the j. hk, so you can combo into sweep, lk messiah + lk followup, EX SS for almost full juggle, U1, OR U2 since it only hits once. I’ll try to post pictures of the pertinent hitboxes when I get home.
[/details]

Thanks for everyone that contributes to the thread, Keep up the good work!

6

My own question for match-up’s is For

Guile and just some tips for Rufus Mirror, IM more focused on Guile and I can say Balrog too even though the site in the Match-up covers alot.

7

And Akuma… Forgot about him -.-

8

Great Start good shit man.

9

Thanks, Im still updating the characters with my own info and looking through the other two threads about things.

10

I’m glad to see something like this finally emerge. I have a bunch of info I want to type up for some specific match ups, I’ll get to that soon. I can even help out with Akuma, Balrog, and Guile.
I play my friends bison all the time and you do have options, but it is more like a rock paper scissor game than anything else.

In the middle of the screen, after a blocked scissors, bison can do cr. lk cr. lk scissors, which you can simply hold back and walk away from it, you’ll walk right out of range of his lk. Don’t try to ex messiah this, he’ll just block it, you’ll waste a stock, and if he has ultra 1 (which all bison’s should be using in this match up) you’ll eat a raw ultra unless you fadc backdash, which he’ll then punish you with a st rh.

He can do st. rh after a blocked scissors, which is also bested by simply holding back and walking away or you can get gutsy and use stand strong to beat it.

Or he can throw out another scissors, which you can beat by doing fierce tornado or a stand strong (these are both risky, but if you guess right once, it will help to stop bison from doing this later, ex messiah also works here, but you risk losing a stock because it will typically catch him in the air and only do one hit).

One of my main goals is the stop them from doing the cr. lk cr. lk, if you can, you get to jump away, jump straight up and dive, or ex messiah more.

The corner is where things get stupid:

You can no longer walk back, so you are forced to deal with the lk’s, it is in your best interest to just wait it out. As stated earlier, ex messiah should not be used against his cr. lk’s, you don’t want to jump because you will get hit by rh and then reset back into cr. lk games, and you don’t want to press a button because you will outright get stuffed. The best thing you can do is be patient, most bison’s will try and predict your jump and rh all on their own, giving you enough space to press stand mp, or try for a messiah. He will eventually push himself out of range, giving you just enough room to breath and get yourself out of the corner.

For this match you just have to realize that you will end up eating a lot of chip damage. As always, watch out for throw attempts. Crouch teching against bison is pretty good as long as you can get into the same rhythm as their cr. lk. strings. Just try and do some really late techs because he can mix everything up into cr. mk or st fierce.

And for Guy, I have been having a lot of luck with stand fierce. If he flips at you, stand fierce (the close version) will cleanly stuff him. As Gerjay said, you beat him on the ground pretty cleanly, taking away his air to ground options leave him at a heavy disadvantage. And if you knock him down, try doing a fairly high cross up dive kick against him, it will blow right past his ex up kicks on wake up for a free punish.

Dudley’s options are very limited as to how he can get in. I find that zoning him out with st strong and sweeps works pretty well. You can beat his jump ins with cr. mp pretty cleanly, you just have to work on the timing. If you can land either a cr. mp or a sweep, you can get a free chance to mix up. Cr mp anti can be followed up with a walk forward throw, a short dive, walk forward messiah, or walk forward block. The only real threat he has to counter these options are ex upper or ultra. You get even more mix ups once you land a sweep.As for his mgbs, if you block a lp mgb, Dudley is at -2. Rufus cannot punish this because his fastest move, cr. jab, is 4 frames. Dudley also ends up outside of your throw range, so a 3 frame throw isn’t very helpful either. Some Dudley’s will do something risky after this has been blocked, like an ultra or ex upper in attempt to catch you for counterpoking. If you block it, you’ll get to land a big combo. Others will know you are blocking and throw out a cr. jab or whatever back into pressure strings. You are free to ex messiah here, but just beware that it isn’t always the best idea.As for his mp fp and ex mgbs, all of them are punishable on block. you can cr. jab into ex tornado all three of them. Mp mgb is only -4 on block (making it the hardest one to do) fp is -5 (not as bad) then ex mgb is -8, you can punish this one with cr. mk into ex tornado if you are feeling gutsy. Just a few times in training mode and you’ll get a feel for which mgb was done and which punish you can use.As for his pressure game, once you get knocked down, you can throw him out of a lot of his wake up options, mainly his overhead, but you can also throw him out of his ducking dash forward move. Or feel free to ex messiah these options too.
Here is a repost of some info against bison, dudley, and a little bit of guy.

11

Yea, I got sick of logging on and seeing a thread that does NOTHING TO HELP RUFUS PLAYERS. So I am hoping for all the help I can get for this thread to get it updated and up and running

12

Updated the places with your info. Keep this up!

13

Just a suggestion, you might wanna quote who wrote what, to give them some credit.

14

Guile:

You will want to bulldog the hell out of him. You’ll spend a lot of time walking forward and blocking sonic booms, so get used to it. If you are really patient, you will be able to slowly walk them to the corner, which is where you want Guile. When he is there, he will have to take more risks, like flash kick to get you off of him or try and jump out. Both of these are punishable, so make sure you are ready to block and react with your own jump rh or even ex snake strike to keep him frustrated and in place.

As for the ground game, it all depends on spacing. If you are in the middle of the screen or farther I prefer to try a jump fierce if you know he is going to throw a boom. On block, you successfully found a way to get close, on hit I suggest crouch mk into ex tornado if you’ve got it, or sweep if you can combo it. This strat needs to stop if they anti air you or if you they have ultra 2 on hand. If you are closer than half screen, you can aim for a high dive kick after a boom. If angled correctly, you will stuff his cr. fierce or forward rh. (you will want to work on this a lot, you are aiming for a 45 degree angle, otherwise you’ll totally get stuffed). If your Guile tries to use pokes during the ground game, keep your eyes peeled for his cr. mk, backfist, or stand fierce, you can use sweep to reaction punish the cr. mk and you can sweep underneath the fierces.

When you get close or you land a sweep here is a list of some options. Dive kick into them (can be flash kicked) walk up and throw (can be flash kicked) whiff dive kick in front of them (use to guard the flash kick, if not try doing a delayed throw) walk up and do delayed dive (can be flashed or crouch fierce option selected) walk up ex messiah (will trade with flash kick for one hit) or you can aim to do a low cross up dive kick (will beat flash kick if timed right) lastly you can do a mid or higher cross up dive kick (will beat flash kick cleanly). That is a lot of stuff, but knowing your opponents options is always useful. If you try for dive kick pressure and you get beat out by their cr. fierce, they are most likely doing the crouch fierce option select. To best this, you will want to do whiff dive kicks then block the cr. fierce, punish it with cr. jab into ex tornado or if you are good you can dive kick into a combo. If they try this a lot, you can just do st. lk into st fierce and it should cleanly stuff it.

I prefer ultra 1 in this match, but if you have god like reactions and you are able to stay within his sweep range, you can use ultra 2 (not recommended). Early in the match, I like to focus booms until Guile gets 1 stock of meter. Most guile players like to use it when they get it. If they do, you can actually punish an ex boom with a well placed far jump in fierce or a dive kick if you are close. If the Guile walk forward after throwing a boom, avoid focusing them, this means the guile doesn’t mind closing the gap all on their own and they will actually punish you with a fierce for focusing their booms. If they do this, you can feel free to try and jump straight up and dive kick after the boom. Once you get your ultra 1, you can land it off a number of things, jump rh, dive into target combo, ex tornado or regular tornado in the corner or whatever. You want to land this each match. I’m a big fan of landing a forward throw, two dashes, cross up jump mk into target combo to ultra. It works really well and you can always just dive instead of using the cross up for a rather dirty mix up.

Last bit of random thoughts, avoid air to air with him unless you can react to his jump ins with your own jump rh. His jump throw, jump fierce, jump back mk and rh are all very strong. You can beat all of his jump ins with cr. mp but this won’t come up very often (or shouldn’t at least). If you can predict sonic booms, you can do a fierce messiah into lk option to beat them. I try to use this only when I have two stocks, if it hits, you are golden, if not, flip fadc and back dash (which guile can punish your back dash with a flashkick for free). All of mix ups from ex messiah get beat by ex flash. If you try to short dive, the guile can just stand straight up and throw you, the dive will whiff. And when you are trying to dive in from mid range, watch out for his stand fierce, it stuffs from most angles, so you need to be a lot higher than normal if you want to beat the fierce punch.

15

Its to hard to give every single person credit, especially when theres so many people thatll be posting about it. Ill just say thanks to everyone for the support

16

Zangief- Max range jab greenhands are punishable on hit with cr. lp xx EX GT, or cr. lp, far lp, far mp. Non-max can be punished with st. lk, st. hp xx hp gt (st. lk, cr. lp xx EX GT is the easier version if you aren’t confident in your execution.) Max range jab greenhand on block can be cr. mk xx EX GT’d (seems to be a 1 frame punish) or cr. lp xx EX GT’d for 40 less damage. All other greenhands on block can be st. hp xx hp gt punished (70 more damage than throw, gives 3x the meter).

Vega- Even though Scarlet Terror starts up in 4 frames, it’s very easy to stuff with regular safejump setups (e.g. fthrow, fdash, whiff jab, jump fierce). As soon as you get U2 you can option select with it on every safejump, and it will beat backdash and both flips. EX GT OS beats backdash and 3K flip. Reacting to the 3P flip beats it. U2 on reaction to Vega jumping off the back wall freely. Crossover EX Sky High Claw is punishable on block with U2, this is a common Vega gimmick. Blocking an EX Barcelona is a free U2, or you can punish with Glory Kick into EX Snake Strike.

Seth- Patience and reaction is key to this matchup.
Far Fierce: The range where Seth can use this tool is very limited; it’s punishable on hit/block by U2 and on block by cr. fierce if he hits you any closer than 2/3rds of its distance, or EX GT if it’s halfway or closer on hit or block. The only range where he can safely use it is easily stuffed with triangle jump divekick.

Sonic Booms: They are extremely laggy, 48 frames (regular) and 61 frames (EX) vs Guile’s 29,31,33,39 (LP-EX) as comparison. They also start pretty slowly, so try to react to their startup more and the actual boom’s appearance less. Seth’s EX Booms can actually be full screen U2’d if you are buffering it and react reasonably well. Absorbing booms is a good idea since it helps shut down his offense and helps you maintain yours once you get it started by adding OS possibilities. Don’t be afraid to play the full screen game, building super and ultra meters by LP snake striking and absorbing booms, especially since some Seths may feel they have to take the initiative and the associated risks.

Toe Taps: Toe taps are always punishable, even on hit, though the specifics (e.g. which direction to input, or which normal for meterless punish) vary depending on corner/non-corner, neutral jump or forward jump for the toe taps. Examples:

  1. neutral jump d+mk, d+hk/neutral hk: cr. mp or EX SS
  2. forward jump d+mk, crossover hk: cr. mp, st. hp (sometimes trades), or reversal EX SS input forward
  3. forward jump d+mk, d+hk/crossover hk when you’re cornered: hold forward (away from corner)+hp, delayed EX snake strike input forward (note Seth’s height with training room squares for the timing)
  4. 2 or 3 toe taps, cornered: after first one hits, press forward+P to block 2nd and OS against #3, then input EX SS away away from corner.
  5. 2 or 3 toe taps, not cornered: first hits, hold forward to block 2nd then close fierce or EX SS, or near-reversal timing EX SS after first hits, or 2 hit, far fierce.
  6. Any toe tap can be U2 punished on hit, but the timing can be tight due to crossed over inputs.

Remember: Seth does the most damage when you let him BnB you into the corner. Favor downback in the direction of the corner, divekick BnB if you can react to a pause in his blockstring that signals an incoming SPD, punish toetaps, and you significantly cut Seth’s ability to hurt you.

17

Updated, Ill be running through all of the match-up’s by friday to just get the keypoints out of them. I myself wont be on much of tomorrow thursday due to a test I gotta take, But ill still update it tomorrow and Thursday.

18

this is a very good piece of advice. i finally faced a pretty good guile online and his option selecting with crouch fierce was annoying me when I would try to dive kick twice to try and punish him trying to tech. Another thing to counter this is by waiting a split second to counter hit (i think wong did this vs lamerboi but dont quote me on that).

another thing i dont think you mentioned was if a guile is pretty air throw happy change up the timing of your dive kicks

19

Would you be able to beat it out with the DK in the air or?

20

Those Dive kicks can really fuck T Hawk up.