Neutral jump HP will be one of his go to AA’s. This has always been good as an air to air based AA since ST. Mainly because it works where he extends his arm without committing to any movement. Can do early neutral jump HP to catch people jumping early like before. The hit box itself doesn’t stuff buttons as well as in other games, but if you use it early can still counter hit people out of jump attack attempts.
Whiff punishment is pretty solid with sweep and slide. Sweep is like Karin’s with slightly faster start up (8 frame start up, Karin is 9). If your reactions are good you can catch whiffed c.MK’s and heavier buttons with his sweep pretty easily. Slide can punish heavy buttons on whiff reaction wise and can use it to punish predictable medium footsie attempts. His slide can pretty easily whiff punish Abigail’s s.HP so if he whiffs at anything but an irrelevant range you get a free slide.
s.HP CC can easily be hit confirmed into command dash. Very good to catch people being predictable with pokes and confirming into dash and combo if it hits. The s.HP itself is minus 6 on block, so certain characters with fast ranged EX moves like Chun Li you’ll want to use it more as a counter poke/buffer than to force them to block. Against most other characters you can fish for it more easily.
Command hop and V Skill allow him to be very mobile on the ground and can easily get into pressure/throw range off one good hop or V Skill.
V Skill into HP follow up is a great anti air. Can just go into coward crouch and watch for someone to jump. HP follow up into MK/HK up ball does about 160 - 180 damage and 200+ stun.
Landing electricity on hit will be important as it’s basically free oki aftewards and push towards the corner.
Combos into LK upball are preferable when you can get them as also great oki after.
Don’t see why he should have much problems vs Ryu. V Skill crouch any fireball attempted from a far range and then once you walk in you’re easily within range to slide or sweep any other fireball attempt. Basically once Blanka walks within about half screen he can’t throw fireballs safely anymore. Baiting him by going to coward crouch is strong as well since the kick hop follow up arc will easily hop over and punish any predictable patterns in his fireballs.
s.MP is another solid poke/whiff punisher. 0 on block and combos into s.LP on counter hit.
Had a lot of fun with Blanka in the two hours I could play yesterday. His pressure and mixups are a lot of fun.
Wonder how long it will take when his vskill punch, c. Grab and target combo will feel like natural options. Since I’m so used to ending combo’s/blockstrings in balls, electricity and hops.
His neutral poking game is a mixed bag. His cr hp, mp are not as great as they were in other games, they both are quite lacklustre in range and hp just feels sluggish. His overhead, sweep and slide feel really strong on the other hand but are ofcourse unsafe.
I am in Brazil, but I too would be willing to play some matches with you in order to help you understand the fundamentals better so you can get to bronze ranks, stay there and then start your climb to silver and over.
Maybe we can set a lounge tonight with @KingCrimson to start up with this.
I’m in Germany but wouldn’t mind trying the connection if y’all don’t. I haven’t had time to play much for a while and I’m pretty rusty and dropping ranks.
@KingCrimson has my CFN and can invite if it happens
I played with people in Taiwan and the connection felt playable.
I will be up to it. I main Zangief and I am on silver rank, but at lounges I can try and pick your mains to understand their pressure options and approach to help you guys improve with them.
DId a facebook quiz “How would you look like as the opposite gender” and realise I look so much like Sherry Jenix as a girl lol.
Haven’t been on SRK due to health reasons and stuff. Hope everyone’s been doing well!! (Twinblades kicking ass in ranked/LordWilliams masturbating and Dime posting essays etc).
Whenever you guys can meet up you should run some of the grounded normal drills. It would also be good for FilthySpecs since that is sort of how you want to approach the game with Cammy anyways.
I found those drills really helpful when we did them. I think it also helps to get more comfortable in matches and not get too nervous, or let the nerves push you to bad decisions. One of the most valuable things to get down early.
Hopefully I can hop on tonight for a bit in the evening. Not sure if I’ll have time for matches or just training mode but I’ll be happy to play regardless.
Blanka has a few quirks that make me think he’s not as strong as I originally thought (sketchy AA normals, poor hitbox on Elec., cr. fw -1 on block) but I still think he’s very good.
As DevilJin said, his whiff punishing game with cr. RH and River Run is really good. River Run may be -7 on block at every distance, but it’s a fantastic tool in a game with stubby normals and, most importantly, no trip-guard. You can catch people jumping from over half a screen away. It’s also still great against projectiles, especially since it no longer has a stray hurtbox on startup like in IV.
His mix-ups are the best of any character in my opinion. He has the mobility and tools to get in on every character and a variety of moves to keep you guessing once he’s up close. You can’t play him with a set pattern, he’s all about shenanigans. You have to get creative and make use of all options. Example: command hop > jab command grab is very fast and clears the whole screen.
His Rainbow Roll is very good. You can bait DPs and other punishes by pressuring with Roundhouse RR and switch up with short and forward RR. At the right distance you can whiff it on purpose and follow up with a throw.
@Bea_Iank and @stormdetonation, I am down for doing a Lounge with @FilthySpecs. I do think if we’re doing this to help Filthy improve, then we should probably forfeit our wins so he/she gets a lot of playtime in, at least early on… We can always break free of that at, but it will still be fun and won’t hurt to get some more insight.
Also, I just picked up Ibuki in the last few days, so don’t expect me to be really strong. I’m taking a more methodical approach with her and am working on a more solid groundgame first, and even with that, I’m only allowing myself small nuggets of options as I work on improving.
That is the main idea. To give him more play experience against different types of players.
Even if we end up winning, you can forfeit your next match at the lounge.
I may throw in a zero hour Blanka there as well, along with my 'Gief.
