I’ve just realized that I tend to never use my ultra, I would much rather go for a mixup off ex tatsu. I also lose 90% of games I play online, I wonder if there’s some correlation here. When I play online all I do is run across people who wake up ultra but also the ones that use their ultra when they know it’s a 100% guaranteed hit, the underlying trend seems to be people using their ultra. When I play Sakura I tend to select her Ultra 2 and in the rare occasion of using it, it’s always diagonal angled after a ex tatsu. I’m wondering if my Ultra selection should be changed to Ultra 1 and use it after a lvl 3 FA. But I then think to myself, I’ve never seen Uryo land a Ultra after a lvl 3 FA. What’s the right direction for me, to imitate pro players or to try to win online, whats the correct answer? I hate the notion of winning like a scrub but I also hate losing to a scrub. Maybe at the end of the day I’m the true scrub for even having to contemplate using a Ultra because I don’t wanna look cheesy. It’s almost like I play the game under constant supervision of commentators and could only imagine how they would rip on a pro player for using a wake up ultra or doing something very unsafe. I know this makes no sense because I’m nowhere near pro but I would hate to pick up bad habits only to secure wins online. I need guidance lol 
Wow you’re really asking yourself a lot of questions Oo.
Obviously you figured whats wrong here … yes thats right … You’re not Uryo ! and you’re playing online !
Stop asking yourself weird questions , if your ultra bar is full and you landed a ex otoshi, USE IT, unless you only play to train yourself at resets and stuff like that … Just use it.
Now ultra 1 or 2 . Depends i guess, can you land ultra1 easy after ex otoshi first of all ? If not just forget about it tbh. The damage is good but failing it after an ex otoshi can make you lose a round.
why not use ultra 1 after a crumple?
well you can do that but, honestly how often do you land a crumple ? Its gonna be hard to rely on that against anyone worth it. Landing a ex Otoshi is much easier and and much better goal. Now if you can train on landing U1 100% after ex otoshi, go for it, even tho U2 is still superior in some matchups and situations.
Train yourself to master ultra 1. Do it on both sides until you can. Make it your primary ultra and use U2 against jumpy characters (Akuma, guy, twins, gief, gen, sim and seth). They both have their own pro’s and cons…
Just a heads up, use the Q+A thread, just trying to keep the forum from being cluttered.
Personally I use U2 for every matchup. It has better mixups post ultra, it pushes people towards the corner, can be used as a raw AA, can U2 after shouken in corner.
U1 has very limited mixups, the only use I can see for this is a raw punish. Would really only be used to end rounds.
I use U2 after ex tatsu when I know my otoshi is going to stun them, because the combo into ex tatsu into otoshi is gonna be scaled a lot so the stun after otoshi will be heavily scaled, so I do U2 and then land one hit on them and get a stun and do a full tatsu loop on them with little scaling.
I just think U2 is a better ultra overall, but U1 has that damage so it’s personal preference really.
Both ultras can be landed after Ex tatsu.
@Kikoo, you mean ex tatsu instead of ex otoshi?
I use U1 for the damage in most matchups, I use U2 for people who I know will be in the air a lot (like Akuma, Juri, Seth. I don’t use it for Claw though because he can just change flight direction).
Land EX Tatsu and then dash and then do the Ultra. Its pretty easy, just think of it like Ryu’s Shoryu FADC Ultra 1, the timing seems the same to me. You don’t have to do it right after the dash, you actually get a few milliseconds(?), so you can take your time.
What I’m trying to say is that when I first started trying to learn how to do it, I would EX Tatsu dash and let it rip and then whiff because I was doing it too fast. Although sometimes you can still hit with the second sweep, but yeah, you want full damage. You have a lot more time to input the Ultra than you would normally think.
I dislike U1; it lacks setup options which I pretty much base my whole game on
well arent u the party pooper
U2 just good to stuff crossups or counter bisons devil revers and vegas dive. U1 damage is wasy better
U2 is good for far more than that.
You can also use it as an OS for some characters in the corner.
Yes my bad Ex tatsu ofc
The quick answer is use the ultra when you can maximize damage off of it.
If you just pulled a long tatsu loop combo, go for a mixup for a reset and THEN go for the ultra.
If you pulled off a quick c.hp xx ex tatsu punish, go for the ultra as damage scaling hasn’t kicked in too much.
IMO Uryo doesn’t go for an ultra after FA crumples as he can easily pull off a very damaging tatsu loop combo. In most of the videos where he is playing catchup and needs to make a huge comeback, he goes for the mixups early on to maintain momentum and a mind game advantage. The ultra is used to finish it off if required. If he uses the ultra at the first opportunity he may lose out in some potential setups that could have lead into mixups.
For me, I’ve been trying to use U1 for the longest. I’ve gotten the timing down for executing it after EX tatsu but online I waste a good amount of meter trying to actually pull the EX tatsu off so it’s time for an Ultra change. U2 definitely has better setups outside of just EX tatsu and more viable but I think the damage is less by default. Also, it’s harder to punish U2 either direction because of block-stun, unless the diagonal whiffs completely. If U1 is blocked, you’re left wide open and it can be brutal as I’ve learned first-hand. I work my mix-ups and mind-games at a pace where my ultra is sort of my desperation move to gain the W esp, if he’s within K.O. range from it and I am too of his ultra.
I personally think u2 is easier to use, has more ways to combo into it and more practical. Plus the untechable kd window is longer. If you’re looking for damage then U1 is where its at; it by far does more damage than u2 can do but the untechable kd window is shorter than u2. Personally when i play online, i like to use u2, cause lag fucks me up. Offline it’s always u1, because you pretty much can walk up and just activate it after a ex tatsu.
I’ve actually been wondering about this myself (given that I’ve only recently switched mains to Sakura). It sounds like I’ve come to roughly the same conclusion as everyone else:
If the only way you’re going to land an ultra is in a combo then go with U1 for the damage, but if you need it for anti-air purposes or if you’re fighting a character who it can actually be used as a (very limited, one use only) zoning tool (against Makoto for instance) then take U2.
Does this sound about right to the more experienced Sakuras? I think regardless of which Ultra you take the vast majority of its usage is going to be in combo anyway, so usually it doesn’t really matter (U2 is nice against jumpy characters though as already pointed out) so it makes sense to default to the one that does more damage. On the other hand U2 actually opens up more possibilities to combo into it (dp > U2), but is that enough to justify taking it over U1 in a match where you don’t need it for the anti-air?
Honestly, you have other anti airs. A good player shouldn’t be jumping at you in such a way the puts them at risk for getting hit with u2, even if you don’t have ultra. In some matchups, u2 is useful to have as a wake up option (akuma), but personally i really dislike waking up with ultras. To me, the thing that’s best about u2 is how much scarier it makes sakura’s corner game. If your opponent does anything wrong in the corner, they can eat a meterless combo into ultra, with a mixup after. Ultra 1 i only use as a round ender, or, when it will leave me with a sizeable life lead, against characters i don’t mind switching my play to a zoning game post ultra.
What about damage scaling after…let’s say EX tatsu between both Ultras? Is U1 still the higher damage output? I’ve been a lot more weary of scaling since a good portion of her game is jump in–>links–>EX tatsu–>Ultra and I’m sure getting to the Ultra portion significantly decreases the overall combo damage.
yes u1 does more damage after scaling.
cr.lk>st.lp>Cr.hp>ex tatsu>U1 you’re looking close to 500 damage (this is of course if you walk up/dash and activate and get all the hits. You can actually activate U1 without dashing and walking up but it’s def not worth it. It only does a bit more damage than u2)
Same combo but using u2 gets you around 445-450.
I know from goofing around in the lab that jump hk>cl.st hp>ex tatsu>u1 does around 515-520 damage.