Tips on how to deal with zoning characters?

Abel is my main but I am pretty sure I want guy as my second main. Usually I have good games with him but when I run into zoning characters like guile Its such an uphill battle. Does anyone have any tips on how to get around those sonic booms and his air throw. Guile makes it very hard to get in. any inputs can help :slight_smile:

I can say you need to have EX meter stocked in order to approach Guile. You’re going to need to corner Guile to do any real damage.

As Shin said, EX Run can help you get in, don’t do it often cause he can still just Flash Kick you since he recovers quickly and able to compensate on what your options are, if you decide to jump, you have a good chance to EX Izuna him if he goes for air throw, Aside from that you can easily bait him to do a FK or Cr FP with Elbow drop. Elbow beats Flash kick clean at least 95% of the time, Bushin flip is another option but incredibly Risky.

Although I haven’t updated it in awhile (but I totally intend to do so), you should check out: The New Guy Match Up Thread. If I’m not mistaken, there should be at least one write up for Guile.

As for zoning characters in general, try to be patient and choose your spots. Jumping forward at safe ranges, neutral jumping over projectiles, approaching slowly, and blocking are all things you should be looking to do against these characters. After seeing so many of their anti-airs whiff or get beaten by Guy’s Elbow Drop, most players of these characters ease up on their anti-air attempts and allow you to get some “free” jumps. However, these “free” jumps are still extremely risky because you’ll never know when those players won’t throw out an anti-air attack. But, I’m sure you know that already.

thanks for the in depth description. Now thinking back I find myself playing my opponents game instead of playing mine when I go up against such characters. I do too many reckless jump ins when i get frustrated from the constant sonic boom pressure which just gets me anti aired all the time. I just have to learn some more patience and learn how to play my opponent instead of my letting my opponent play me lol.

Yah once you get close watch for throw and bait out reversal Flashkicks and punish away, also use your command elbow to combo or throw, mix it up.

Basically against chars where you can’t punish fireballs on reaction due to short recovery (Chun, Guile) your approach should look something like this:

  • if they throw FBs just to keep you out just do D+MP elbows to cut your jumps (you should be doing that until get into slide/st.mp range, from there forward they’re your bitches)

  • once they realize they must play around elbow by jumping on you and air-to-air you or just dash forward, things change. from there on, you should be reacting to their fireballs (but nothing will punish them on reaction) with MP Hozantos mostly, which are pretty safe if spaced right. that will prevent them from moving forward after they throw a fireball. If they’ll want to punish your elbows they’ll be doing it immediately, otherwise they’ll be too late to beat it. hence why MP hozanto will work. If they won’t play around D+MP elbows you’ll have a free way to get in.

  • you should also try to jump/bushin flip after you reacted to a fireball, but the risk of eating AA is bigger cause their recovery is little. just mix it by cutting your jump early with D+MP, sticking a j.HK with a later timing and MP flip (if you’re doing it from MP hoznato range)

Just using all your options is very important. Once you mastered it, Guy is great at getting in.

Except for Chun… cause… st.mp range for Guy is practically range for every good poke she has.

If ChunLi was a guy she/he could poke anything, she/he would be a manwhore.

Well, your cr.HK goes under Chun’s sweep (yes, it really does… weird hitboxes) and her st.MP, which are her best pokes.

Yes!

Also dumb chun players/guile players will try to do blockstrings into fireball, MK Tatsu goes right through that shit.

I love to fuck with them by doing run HK immediately after bushin combo midscreen(some try to FK or EX Birdkick thinking I’m recovoring) which leads to free damage. In the corner, after bushin combo you can run HK to land on the other side as they get up, but now you’re in the corner. I use it sparingly. But hey, I stopped playing this game seriously a long time ago.

Sowwie if someone has already shared that!

This has been really helpful thanks everyone keep the advice coming. I really want to make guy stand out in this game

I’ve come to the conclusion that the Guy vs Honda match-up is one of the only match-ups where Guy is to by all means stay away from Honda. I’ve been experimenting with a few things and found that this match-up is all about who can surive the clock and who has the most patients.

Yeah I’ve come to this conclusion too pretty much.At this point all we can do is wait for AE changes to look how the Honda matchup will pan out because they’re really is not too much you can do against Honda.

Patience will get you farther than you think.

Patience will get you farther than you think.

Guy has a lot of different ways around projectiles, just pick the best one for the situation.
When guile throws a sonic boom try to concentrate on what he’s doing afterwards.
If hes staying back just block, jump or focus it and slowly move in on him.
Eventually you’ll be close and/or he’ll be in the corner, which is where you should have no problem beating him.
If he does a sonic boom a bit closer you can use your tastu as he’s moving forward or jumping.
You can use bushin flip or hozanto if you predict a sonic boom but it will be pretty much a guess so it’s not worth relying on, but if he’s too predictable its worth a try.
Like people have already said, once you have meter it’s not too hard to get in using ex run.

I love using mp Tat on projectile happy opponents even on wakeup when they want to apply pressure it works well.

Yeah, and ex bushin flip if they do a slow enough fireball is awesome.