Yes for Sagat.
It’s alot better for Rufus in this game.
He lost some damage from his ultra, f.hk (from trade), more recovery on high tiger shot… and just when things can’t get any worse… i just found a secret hitbox adjustment made to Sagat’s high tigershot hitbox.
He did however benefit from delay wake up, but overall i say this matchup is now a solid 6-4 Rufus.
For Gief… it’s more or less the same.
Rufus Cr.hp when whiffed at max range, Zangief can reversal LP greenhand. Alot easier punish than his old st.mp. So you want to be very careful not to whiff that move.
If Rufus cr.hp is blocked and close/mid range, that’s also a free reversal LP green hand punish. Before Rufus has any meter, the matchup is really hard as Zangief can gamble some of his life currency for closing in the distance with LP greenhand as the best rufus can do is cr.jab -> st.mp or throw.
I personally prefer ultra 2 in this matchup rather than ultra 1, since i play the defender in this matchup.
Since u2 hits completely in the air for 360dmg now, it’s pretty solid. Use u2 against whiffed SPD and Lariats. This will allow you to build meter (snake strike from a safe distance) while at the same time shutdown Zangief’s ability to do so.
Poison i feel has def become a huge problem. I do agree she is one of Rufus current bad matchups.
The problem is her weird hitbox, Bnb combos wont fully connect unless you’re pretty close. Her weird hitbox also allows her to dodge about 60dmg of your ultra damage if you hit her with target combo ultra & ex messiah fadc ultra. Some how a few hits from the ultra just whiff on poison, making he take about 60dmg less.
Her hitbox stance is kinda similar to boxer and guile too… where the dive kick cane sometime just whiff depending on their stance/position.
Yeah this matchup is really rough.
Awesome - definitely looking forward to trying out that cr.hp vs high tiger shot, in AE2012 it felt like you had to predict which tigershot he was going to do so that you’d started the cr.hp before the fireball reached you - being able to do it on reaction now is a huge improvement if you can see which tiger shot it is and respond accordingly (cr.hp punish high shot, jump or block low shot).
Poison is supposedly getting an expanded hurtbox while she’s in hitstun in today’s patch, so hopefully that will help with combos missing. She’s also getting a health reduction and some other changes, some of which are good for her. I think it’s always going to be bad for Rufus if the Poison player knows some basic anti-Rufus strategy.
Not looking forward to Gief’s EX green hand forcing stand, either - will make a cr.HP once he has four bars even more risky. I never thought to try U2 vs Zangief, thanks for the tip. Maybe that will help prevent him getting those four bars quite so easily!
Gief got a range reduction on LP Greenhand in 1.04, so he has to respect cr.hp more now. Although I still prefer using U1 against gief, seeing as it gives you more comeback potential since you can pressure him (If necessary) and there’s really no way to build ultra meter against Zangief unless you actually take damage which kind of negates the usefulness of Ultra 2 against him.
I think Blanka is tough in general at basic levels of play. Keep going for the pressure. I think it is a tough matchup if you don’t have the links down…that’s where I stand, myself.
I struggle with Blanka too, but I think it’s a match where if you play cautiously because you know you struggle with it then it just gets even harder. I try and concentrate on his meter more than I do in a lot of other matches because when he doesn’t have it I want to apply as much pressure as possible. When he does have it I want him to be scared to use it - baiting EX upball on his wakeup with well positioned/timed divekicks (either landing early or going high so he flies in the wrong direction), etc.
It’s also one of the matches where I find it more difficult to play online than offline - offline I’m much happier jabbing at opportune moments during hop pressure but online I’m consistently too slow and end up jabbing in the wrong direction, stuff like that.
Advice from a nice guy who murdered me with Blanka a couple of times last year before USF4 came out:
“you need to be very aggressive in this match. Try to get in fast and stay very close and keep pressuring blanka, thats the weakness from blanka. Also watch out for my meter building cos i can build pretty easy if you let me jump in so much and just attack while you block. don’t ex so much when i have ultra 2 and finally, don’t waste ex meter after blanka’s backthrow cos i option select this setup and it’s unblockable. Anyways just practise a lot on anti air and you will be fine.”
Crouch jabs stuff balls and hops. You’ll be surprised at their effectiveness. You’re not looking to get big damage off of them, you’re just looking to shut down Blanka’s ground options.
As you’ve probably read, cl.lk > cl.hp xx hp gt will whiff on Blanka when crouching. Change it up to cl.lk > cl.mp to convert or finish with any ex gt combo you have.
If you don’t have any meter and he’s continually crossing you up or doing neutral jump shenanigans, just do standing hp. Shuts him down right away.
If you knock him down and he has meter then ex up-ball is typically coming out against your pressure. Cross-up divekick OS jump for a clean sweep.
Any electricity can be punished by cr.mk xx ex gt.
Jumping in on a crouching Blanka is just… A terrible idea. Walking him down with periodic crouch jabs is a much better option.
Any ball in the corner is U1 for you.
Punish slides with cr.lp xx ex gt (max range is safe however).
Getting into a footsie war is not very profitable. His st.mp, slide and focus attack make it hard.
Meterless Blanka on knockdown is where you need to get your damage.
In a nutshell: I think it’s 6/4 Rufus. Blanka CAN’T get cornered or its over. His options are weak and he typically tries them all in the first 15 seconds of a match. Just know what they are and be preemptive with your thinking. Punish everything he does. Make him hate every option he has. Make him doubt gimmicky hops and so on. Beware of focus attack though. One botched sweep from you and it’s crumple into Blanka’s novelty vortex. If you sit back in the neutral game in this match you’ll be surprised at your results.
Good advice generally, but worth noting that st.LK, cl.HP does work against crouching Blanka in USF4. Finally!
One other thing I’ve been practising against Blanka and others with similar reversal options: if you do a forward throw, dash forward twice, then jump higher forward than usual before divekicking, you can hit him in the back (obvious crossup) if he stays still and get pressure, but if he does reversal EX upball he will fly off in the wrong direction and you can jump back to punish him on landing. Worth practising if you’re going to be fighting a Blanka. You can figure out similar setups for your other knockdown situations, the basic idea is to use the divekick to be on one side of him at reversal timing and the other by the time the reversal comes out (obviously doesn’t work against delayed reversal).