You’ll be singing a different tune when certain characters will be able to essentially guarantee ~200-400 damage, every round, with their twin ultra choice.
Eating a 350 damage gief ultra on purpose that leads to a setup or a Hakan ultra that leads to a full oil and potentially a setup is just probably a bad idea.
It benefits some characters more than others obviously and for characters who aren’t nearly guaranteed to hit an ultra every round it very much ups their overall utility.
As a Blanka player I primarily use U2 for stopping mixups, but lose the ability to combo into a hard knockdown “easily” without U1. Now against a character like Sim or Ibuki, if I end up being in a situation where I can combo into u1 I can run a good setup with my 90 frame knockdown, and if I end up in a situation where i need u2 to defend myself it is also an option because I was never picking it for the damage anyways.
As Cody 2 ultras is useless. 85% of matches you want U2 because it’s more damage, twice as fast, and doesn’t require 2-3bars to combo into like U1(outside of a knife throw in the corner OR EX Badstone in the corner the only way to combo to U1 is either focus crumple, HK Ruffian FADC or EX Zonk FADC.). There are only a handful of matches where U1 is remotely recommended and even then most players can get away with just using U2 instead. Plus they will (hopefully) be fixing Cody’s U2 so that he isn’t punishable after the dust portion hits on airborne meaning U2 becomes even better an option as you can tack on an extra ~50-120 damage depending on scaling to the end of a combo.
Now that being said, my alt of Makoto is going to LOVE 2 ultras even at 60% damage. U2 is used 90% as an escape option anyway and even if it is used offensively as a counter to a fireball it allows makoto to combo after and that post u2 combo would likely not be subject to the 60% damage reduction so she ends up getting a decent chunk still. Her U1 is nice because she can combo into it either off of a counterhit sMP or Axe kick or karakusa and she can setup a mixup after which could easily end the round even if the U1 did less damage. Plus U1 gives her another wakeup option and only has a 6F startup which is pretty damn quick for an ultra.
PR Balrog believes that 2 ultras will actually be viable for Balrog as U1’s most important aspect is the corner carry not the damage and U2 is going to likely get a range buff in USF4 and having a 1F grab may be able to be jumped out of but it still is an incredibly good punish option that makes tons of things normally considered safe become unsafe.
Rose having 2 ultras is likely going to be very good as well. Her U2 isn’t about he damage of the orbs it’s about the setups and threats. She can do combos that would otherwise be impossible by using the orbs, she has cross up knockdown setups that are hard to see and she has the ability to make almost anything safe by timing her attacks to have the orbs cover her on block. Plus they allow her to walk forward while always threatening an attack which allows her to go for throws much easier. She doesn’t lose any of those things by having the damage knocked down to 60% but she DOES gain an anti air option that she can use to punish even neutral jumping over her fireballs due to the reach it has (though it is admittedly very slow.) it still will do 300 damage at max charge which is a healthy chunk.
Some characters will get a lot more out of it than others, especially those that get a knockdown setup post ultra like Makoto / Gief / Ect.
Everyone talks about Gief but I’m terrified of Hakan more than anyone, his ultras being an anti air and a command grab, his ability to move during his focus attack when oiled means that these system changes in theory could hugely benefit him.
Claw players such as myself are going to taste a lot of salt when we accidentally input the combination we do not want. BHC and Splendid are very similar in shortcut input thus having that option will mess most of the inexperienced or hasty. That being said, both their punish options are viable and similar in that respect. Though in truth this will not benefit us greatly.
A lot of characters won’t use both Ultra at the same time.
People are acting like they’re obligated to take both, I don’t really get it. If your Ultra cover the same options, just take the better one alone and keep the damage. Easy.
No game is as slow as WW. Play it and see for yourself.
sure I get it.
but regardless of more opportunities and options and versatility you’ll still have to put in the work in actually landing your ultras.
and in the case of double ultras you have to put in twice the work in connecting with your ultras more than once to equal your opponent who has just one ultra.
Landing my Ultras? I was more thinking about forcing my opponent to change his approach against me, which will make him salty benefit me…
you sound just as angry as your avatar looks angry.
u mad bro?
again…opportunities to land either ultra is fine.
but who cares.
if we both play a ryu mirror match.
you choose just ultra 1.
I chose to play with W ultra.
you get lucky or do something skillful to cause me to eat your ultra that does x & o amount of good damage.
I have to get lucky or do something skillful enough to hit you not once but twice with two ultra to compete with you on the ultra variable.
its like the lottery bro.
if you are gonna spend 1 dollar…what would you rather play?
the lotto that gives you 1 million for your 1 dollar?
or the lotto that gives you 500k for your 1 dollar?
it doesn’t matter if I get two chances to play with my one dollar for the 500,000 because nothing is guaranteed.
in other words its harder to be lucky twice than just once and you HAVE to be lucky twice to equal someone’s just once you die luck.
therefore I need faster ultra meter gain to get the chance to equal your chances of getting lucky.
the point is having two different ultras available during the round, i.e. covering more standard situations. Having an anti air ultra and an anti fireball ultra available (at decreased damage but still hurting raw…) during the match will lead to noteworthy decreased options for the opponent in the later stage of a round, as (e.g.) Ryu can not jump anymore nor can he throw a fireball. Meaning it will be more difficult to set up the killing blow…
Double U is mostly for limiting options or creating more situations where you can land any burst of damage, but if you feel you need to land ultra twice in a round for that to be worthwile, red focus can be taken into account as a more effective way to build revenge meter for that.
Right now it’s kind of dangerous to absorb with focus back to back because of the gray health accumulated and the threat of being hit out of it by a multi-hit move or quick followup. And pretty much the main reason you’re getting all that gray health with the fear of losing it all is because you’re constantly dashing out of that focus absorb and rarely ever get to breath as your opponent comes after you. But with red focus you can potentially take someone’s 3-5 hit string or whatever, strike them, they crumple and while you’re executing your Bnb after crumple you’ll be regenerating all that gray health. So if you play it right, for the 2 EX bars you get to keep your health, get a lot of revenge meter and take a chunk of damage off of the opponent.
Of course this is just a best-case scenario type of thing (gotta make the read because we know what beats it) and someone just using 1 ultra can do this as well, but if you want to make the most of having both ultras without taking too much damage just to get them, I think you’d need to master utilizing that mechanic.
Rose with 2 ultras will indeed be sweet. However with Oni it would be pretty pointless.
Don’t forget that u can Red Focus most ultras (obviously not grab ones), so that could help.
that’s assuming anyone will fear it.
why should they if the damage is piss poor AND your ultra meter doesn’t grow any faster than mine.
and if it doesn’t I have nothing to fear.
pfft.
i wont care you have W ultra as your choice ultra
toss out your ultra 2 hadouken and/or shinshouryuken all you want. i’ll just advance on you regardless if I know its low in damage and you don’t gain ultra meter any faster than my ultra 1.
but if you do gain ultra meter faster with W ultra than with ultra 1 or 2 then that’s different. then I will be wary of you and your added options.
but if you don’t gain meter quickly with W ultra…i’ll just swag stroll up into your grill and still chest bump you into submission…
coz I know you cant toss them ultras out any more often than I can. and with piss poor damage.
and with pissy damage.
pfft.
I aint scared.
you guys keep stating it gives the W ultra user more options.
more options of putting your opponent on the defensive.
or punishing openings.
no it doesn’t.
that’s assuming your opponent will fear it. which they wont.
not if u can only toss them out once or twice in a round.
who cares your Gief will have the option to grab on the ground or in the air.
it does less damage.
and if you cant toss any more of them out than I can toss out my ultras when I have just single ultra stocked.
it wont be me that will worry…its gonna be you.
you need to be lucky twice to do what I do to you just once.
the odds are in my favor, not yours.
you will be the one that’s gonna get pressured. not me.
oh god where is my ignore button
There’s quite a lot of Ultra being armor breaker.
Actually, Ultra being non armor break is probably the minority.
if anything needs to go its kara throws.
god I hate kara throws.
If throws weren’t so easy to avoid already, perhaps. D:
If anything landing grabs ought to be easier. Tech OS gone before kara throws please.
Tech OS can go as soon as getting to point blank range is made more difficult.