USF4 / AE2012 C. Viper Tutorial Series

[Floor]

!!DISCLAIMER!!

This guide assumes that the player already knows HOW to do Viper’s moves and techniques. The goal of this is practical application and explanation of Viper’s options. There will be little, to no HOW TO in this series. This series is mainly a HOW TO USE guide.

Flash’s advice:

Anyway, before I say anything, this is just my opinion and if you don’t agree with it then just disagree and move on. There’s no need to get butt hurt about it.

I’ve realized every time I lose its because they guessed right (which happens because of the amount of damage in SF4) or I got greedy. My consistency is there. Even though the character is random, you just need to know how the character works. The character isn’t good; shes not bad either though. She’s just a random momentum character and I’ve learned to accept that recently anyway. I pretty much watch all viper matches, even the ones you guys post, even though I don’t comment on it and everyone one of you guys who have posted videos have the same problem…none of you guys have patience…all you guys play EXACTLY the same. If you’re not blocking, you’re pressing forward, being crazy aggressive the whole time. (The ones that don’t rush in with TK/BKs try to be ahead of the game and spam seismos until one of theirs gets jumped and they die)…like it’s no surprise that nobody sees consistency. You’re never gonna be able to consistently overpower someone on your level playing like that, no matter how much you practice your book of mixups, it’s literally impossible. Nobody understands how Viper works. Everyone just understands that so and so setup is hard to block, but that alone isn’t gonna win you matches.

Viper is risk/reward, but it seems like everyone worries about the reward but never the risk. All people think about is “omg if I hit this set up I’m gonna win this match”. You have to learn to slow the fuck down. Even when I play people who I’m way better than, I don’t go nuts because going nuts is never the right thing to do unless like down 95% lol.

Viper is not Magneto, she’s fragile as hell.

A couple things people might wanna try working on if you actually care about getting better:

1. DEFENSE - HOLY FUCKING SHIT BLOCK! Yeah, I know Viper has bad defense but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t block with Viper, that’s just retarded. Also, blocking isn’t the only part of defense. Positioning, patience, and minimizing damage is also very important and that is something 95% of the country doesn’t do. I’m not really gonna get into how to do that because that’s a lot of writing and stuff.

2. LEARN YOUR MOVES SPECIFICALLY SEISMOS - BKs and TK are pretty straight forward. It’s kinda impossible to not use them correctly but holy nobody uses seismos safely (TIP: DO NOT SEISMO AT THE PERFECT JUMP IN RANGE BECAUSE 95% OF THE TIME…ITS GONNA GET JUMPED IN YOUR SUPPOSE TO FEINT THERE SO YOU CAN AA THEM)

3. IF YOUR GONNA XCOPY SOMETHING UNDERSTAND HOW IT WORKS - Positioning and timing is really important. When stealing a set up, if you change something about it, it probably doesn’t work the same and different results happen. Understand why a person does it and what is he trying to beat with it, don’t just do something because you saw Uryo do it. If you don’t know why he did it, then don’t use it.

4. GRAB - Nobody grabs enough. Everyone is too worried about hitting BKs and FFF.

5. ULTRA - Stop being afraid to ultra. If you can’t get over your fear of ultra, then don’t play her.

6. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES - If you lose…think about why you lost…you didn’t lose because you missed an ultra or something dropping a combo at a match that’s down to the wire isn’t the reason why you lost. Nobody is perfect. So, I’m pretty sure the reason for you losing is never ever gonna be that simple ,unless you played a perfect match.

Everyone watches videos but nobody is watching them for the right reasons. The level of everyone’s seismo game alone shows me that this is the main reason why I don’t participate in threads on this forum. Not because I’m too good, but because there’s never anything important in them.

Original post here:

Nah that match is still stupid I just rape all the giefs because I’m that much better then them heh anyway before I say anything this is just my opinion and if you don’t agree with it then just disagree and move on theres no need to get butt hurt about it Ive realized every time I lose its because they guessed right(which happens because of the amount of damage in SF4) or I got greedy my consistency is there even though the character is random you just need to know how the character works the…

Safe Jump Transcript

Spoiler

f.throw > dash x2 > j.HP > cs.FFF works on:

standing and crouching:

EHonda
Ibuki
Makoto
Dudley
Gouken
Gen
Yun
Abel
Dictator
Hakan
Yang
Guile
Zangief
Rufus
Fei
THawk
Adon

standing only:

Dan
Chun
Cody
Guy
Evil Ryu
Elf
Claw

================================================

f.throw > dash x2 > j.HP > c.FFF works on:

standing and crouching:

EHonda
Makoto
Guy
Zangief
Fei

standing only:

Ibuki
Dudley
Gouken
Akuma
Gen
Oni
Yun
Chun
Dictator
Hakan
Yang
Rufus
Elf
THawk
Adon

crouching only:

Sakura
Viper
Cody
Juri

================================================

f.throw > dash > HP TK feint (buffered) > sj.HP (anti 4f)

works on:

Ken (MP & EX SRK)
Ibuki
Makoto
Dudley
Gen
Yun
Juri
Abel
Dictator
Yang
Rufus
Elf

doesn’t work on:

EHonda (whiffs)
Seth (whiffs)
Dan (whiffs)
Chun (whffs)
CViper (whiffs)
Sagat (whiffs)
Cammy (whiffs)
Dee Jay (whiffs)
Cody (whiffs)
Guy (whiffs)
Hakan (whiffs)
Guile (whiffs)
Blanka (whiffs)
Claw (whiffs)
Boxer (whiffs)
Fei (whiffs)
THawk (whiffs)
Rose (whiffs)
Zangief (whiffs)
Adon (whiffs)
Sakura (whiffs)
Gouken (whiffs)
Dan (whiff)

================================================

f.throw > dash > MP TK feint (buffered) > sj.HP

works on:

Guile
EHonda
Ibuki
Seth
Gouken
Gen
Dan
Sakura
Yun (HK upkicks)
Juri
Chun
Abel
CViper
Dictator
Cody
Guy
Hakan
Yang
Zangief
Rufus
Elf
Claw
Fei
THawk
Adon

doesn’t work on:

Dudley
Ryu
Ken
Akuma
Oni
Evil Ryu
Yun (EX upkicks)
Dhalsim (whiffs)
Sagat (whiffs)
Cammy (whiffs)
Dee Jay (whiffs)
Blanka (whiffs)
Boxer (whiffs)
Rose (whiffs)

================================================

f.throw > dash > LP TK feint (buffered) > sj.HP

works on:

Blanka
Boxer
Sagat
Dee Jay
Rose

doesn’t work on:

Cammy (whiffs)
Dhalsim (whiffs)

================================================

f.throw > dash > LP TK feint (not buffered) > sj.HP

works on:

Cammy
Dhalsim

================================================

f.throw > backdash > HP TK feint (buffered) > j.HP (anti 4f)

works on:

Ken (MP & EX SRK)
Ibuki
Makoto
Dudley
Gen
Yun
Juri
Abel
Dictator
Yang
Rufus
Elf

doesn’t work on:

EHonda (whiffs)
Seth (whiffs)
Dan (whiffs)
Chun (whffs)
CViper (whiffs)
Sagat (whiffs)
Cammy (whiffs)
Dee Jay (whiffs)
Cody (whiffs)
Guy (whiffs)
Hakan (whiffs)
Guile (whiffs)
Blanka (whiffs)
Claw (whiffs)
Boxer (whiffs)
Fei (whiffs)
THawk (whiffs)
Rose (whiffs)
Zangief (whiffs)
Adon (whiffs)
Sakura (whiffs)
Gouken (whiffs)
Dan (whiff)

================================================

f.throw > backdash > HP TK feint (not buffered) > j.HP

works on:

Guile
EHonda
Ibuki
Seth
Gouken
Gen
Dan
Sakura
Yun (HK upkicks)
Juri
Chun
Abel
CViper
Dictator
Cody
Guy
Hakan
Yang
Zangief
Rufus
Elf
Claw
Fei
THawk
Adon

doesn’t work on:

Dudley
Ryu
Ken
Akuma
Oni
Evil Ryu
Yun (EX upkicks)
Dhalsim (whiffs)
Sagat (whiffs)
Cammy (whiffs)
Dee Jay (whiffs)
Blanka (whiffs)
Boxer (whiffs)
Rose (whiffs)

================================================

f.throw > backdash > MP TK feint (buffered) > j.HP

works on:

Blanka
Sagat
Dee Jay
Rose
Boxer

doesn’t work:

Cammy
Dhalsim

================================================

f.throw > backdash > LP TK feint (buffered) > j.HP

works on:

Cammy
Dhalsim

================================================

f.throw > dash x2 > nj.HP / j.HP

works on:

Guile
EHonda
Ibuki
Makoto
Seth
Gouken
Gen
Dan
Sakura
Yun (HK upkick only)
Juri
Chun
Abel
CViper
Dictator
Cody
Guy
Hakan
Yang
Zangief
Rufus
Elf
Claw
Fei
THawk
Adon

doesn’t work on:

Ryu
Ken
Akuma
Oni
Evil Ryu
Dudley
Yun (EX upkicks)
Dhalsim (whiffs)
Sagat (whiffs)
Cammy (whiffs)
Dee Jay (whiffs)
Blanka (whiffs)
Boxer (whiffs)
Rose (whiffs)

================================================

c.HK > HP TK feint > j.HP

works on:

Ken (MP & EX SRK)
EHonda
Ibuki
Makoto
Dudley
Seth
Gouken
Gen
Dan
Sakura
Yun
Juri
Chun
Dhalsim
Abel
CViper
Dictator
Dee Jay
Cody
Guy
Hakan
Yang
Guile
Zangief
Rufus
Elf
Claw
Boxer
Fei
THawk
Adon
Rose

doesn’t work on:

Ryu
Oni
Akuma
Evil Ryu
Sagat (whiffs)
Cammy (whiffs)
Blanka (whiffs)

================================================

c.HK > MP TK feint > j.HP

works on:

Blanka
Sagat
Cammy

================================================

U1 > c.MP > j.HP

works on:

Ken
Dudley
Fei
Ibuki
Makoto
Seth
Gouken
Sakura
Juri
Chun
Dhalsim
CViper
Dictator
Dee Jay
Cody
Rufus
Claw
Adon
Sagat*

*need to neutral jump

doesn’t work on:

Ryu
Akuma
Oni
Evil Ryu
Guile (whiffs)
Zangief
Dan
Ehonda (whiffs)
Gen (whiffs)
Yun (whiffs)
Abel (Whiffs)
Cammy (whiffs)
Hakan (whiffs)
Yang (whiffs)
Blanka (whiffs)
Elf (whiffs)
Boxer
Thawk (whiffs)
Rose (whiffs)
Guy (whiffs)

================================================

U1 > c.LP > j.HP

works on:

Dan
Boxer

doesn’t work on:

Zangief

================================================

U1 > fs.LP > nj.HK

works on:

Guile
Zangief

doesn’t work on:

Ehonda (whiffs)

================================================

U1 > c.LK > j.HP

works on:

Gen
Makoto
Gouken
Sakura
Yun
Juri
Chun
CViper
Dictator
Cammy
Cody
Hakan
Yang
Blanka
Rufus
Elf
Claw
Rose

doesn’t work on:

Ryu
Akuma
Oni
Evil Ryu
Ken
Dudley
Seth
Dan
EHonda (whiffs)
Ibuki
Dhalsim
Abel (whiffs)
Dee Jay
Guy
Guile (whiffs)
Zangief
Boxer
Fei
THawk (whiffs)
Adon

================================================

U1 > Dash > nj.HP

works on:

Cody
EHonda
Makoto
Sakura
Juri
Abel
Dictator
Cammy
Hakan
Yang
Yun (HK Up Kick only)
Rufus
Claw
Elf
Thawk
Rose

doesn’t work on:

Dudley
Ryu
Ken
Oni
Akuma
Evil Ryu
Seth
Gouken
Ibuki
Gen
Dan
Yun
Yang
Chun
Dhalsim
CViper
Sagat
Dee Jay
Guy
Boxer
Adon

Credits

Spoiler

Tut layout and formatting all “inspired” by 34’s Dudley Tut. It’s how I started learning Dudley, so that is how I will teach Viper.

[zejoeh]

Good shit Floor, this deserves a lot of attention and I seriously don’t understand why it isn’t getting it. I don’t log on the forums much, but it was disturbing that still nobody had said anything. It’s about time someone actually tries to teach how to play the character, it shouldn’t be an “afterthought” after you can FFF consistently as many people try to go about it. That’s unfortunately the path I took too and it sucks that people are left with the impression that there is no character before (or after) double feinting cr.lk etc., but it’s easy to end up thinking that when nobody did anything like this before. It either scares people away from her, or the people who stick it out learn the hard way. While I don’t think you can get the most out of the character without execution and for me she’s just not fun without being flashy, everyone would be better off understanding her basic tools first and learn to apply them in matches before anything else. People new to her would benefit a lot more from paying attention to this than the feint tutorial I did, so I hope this will take off. I certainly wish it was around when I picked her up, keep it up.

[nightbow]

I have been playing Viper for 2 years now and I think Floor has made some good points up there. Patience is very important, or you will want to break your TV after losing to a patient, systematic Sagat.

IMO, since Viper has a lot of tools to deal great damage in different situation, she is the most rewarding character to players who can read their opponents correctly. e.g. does he tech or crouch tech on wakeup? if you read correctly you can respond with walk back 2hp > EX Seismo > HJC 66 > Ultra with just 1 meter. So unlike other footsies characters, you should be at the time zoning, baiting and reading. Having said that, I dont always play patiently, I just do random hjbk and get focused or 2mk ducked and I will call that a round.

[Phantazm0]

Thanks so much for this post. I know I’m pretty late to be learning viper now but this series is helping alot.

[Nujabot]

Speaking of cr.lk double feint…can anyone here legit do it? I’ve never seen another viper do it besides Latif. I can kind of do it by using lp+mp to feint or by binding a 3 punch button, but I know latif uses hp+mp straight up. I also tried watching his hands while he was streaming back in the day and i can’t figure out whats going on. He uses his index finger on mp and what seems like 2 fingers for fierce. I can’t tell if hes using his ring finger first and then index/middle right after, sort of like plinking but for only two buttons, or using two fingers to press the fierce button for some reason. If someone here can do it, can you post a youtube clip or offer an explanation of your method?

[Mohako]

Nice tips man

[abkallday]

Using

[Kreymore]

This is very well put together and a great video source for anyone wanting to play Viper. Kudos!

[subzero44]

good stuff floor, I vote for sticky. Once again, viper forums > all other forums.

[Floor]

Got a dilemma. This tutorial series was meant for AE2012, but with the USF4 changes, some of the information in the tut will be wrong / misleading / sub-optimal.

Level 1

Anti-Airs
– fs.HK hurtbox reduction (should trade / get beat less)
Pokes
– c.MK hitbox buff (hits from further out)
Ultra & Super Combos
– Super damage buff (changes damage numbers)

Level 2

Anti-Fireball
– LP TK hitbox buff (should hit from further out)
Punish Combos
– EX Red Focus (changes best stun combo)
– cs.HP damage buff (makes cs.FFF optimal)
– HP TK feint nerf (cs.HP xx HP TK feint, c.HK no longer possible)
Okizeme
– Delayed wakeup (obv)
Safe Jumps
– Delayed wakeup (adds more safe jumps, would like to have all in one vid)

Level 3

Buffering & Footsies
– c.MK hitbox buff
– MP TK FADC buff
Resets
– Pass through glitch fixed / changed??
Blockstrings & Pressure
– HP TK feint nerf (would change all frame data shown)
Option Selects
– Delayed wakeup (makes OSes risky?)
Defensive Options
– HP TK feint nerf
– Red Focus

The tut is basically already done, but it seems like a waste if some of the information is bad / irrelevant. I had originally planned to release the full tut and then move on to a better game (USF4 is going to suck btw) and perhaps have done an additional vid of “USF4 Viper Changes” and explain how to changes affected the tut. Should I wait for USF4 to release the rest of the tut or release tut and then USF4 changes vid?

[ThisisEubanks]

well, i know im just one person but i would like the information u have since i cant play ultra till June(maybe not even then since i might me broke lol) and im still trying to get better cuz ur tutorial has already helped me ALOT

[Floor]

I guess I will go with release vids and then makes USF4 change vid.

Here’s next vid for level 2:

[jebop]

I really wish I didn’t have retard fingers. Over a year later and I can’t reliably FFF. >.>

Really nice though. Gonna look at it anyway despite dropping Viper ages ago.

[Mohako]

Got a dilemma. This tutorial series was meant for AE2012, but with the USF4 changes, some of the information in the tut will be wrong / misleading / sub-optimal.

Level 1

Anti-Airs
– fs.HK hurtbox reduction (should trade / get beat less)
Pokes
– c.MK hitbox buff (hits from further out)
Ultra & Super Combos
– Super damage buff (changes damage numbers)

Level 2

Anti-Fireball
– LP TK hitbox buff (should hit from further out)
Punish Combos
– EX Red Focus (changes best stun combo)
– cs.HP damage buff (makes cs.FFF optimal)
– HP TK feint nerf (cs.HP xx HP TK feint, c.HK no longer possible)
Okizeme
– Delayed wakeup (obv)
Safe Jumps
– Delayed wakeup (adds more safe jumps, would like to have all in one vid)

Level 3

Buffering & Footsies
– c.MK hitbox buff
– MP TK FADC buff
Resets
– Pass through glitch fixed / changed??
Blockstrings & Pressure
– HP TK feint nerf (would change all frame data shown)
Option Selects
– Delayed wakeup (makes OSes risky?)
Defensive Options
– HP TK feint nerf
– Red Focus

The tut is basically already done, but it seems like a waste if some of the information is bad / irrelevant. I had originally planned to release the full tut and then move on to a better game (USF4 is going to suck btw) and perhaps have done an additional vid of “USF4 Viper Changes” and explain how to changes affected the tut. Should I wait for USF4 to release the rest of the tut or release tut and then USF4 changes vid?

you should continue I like Your
tutorials.

[Floor]

Second to last vid for level 2. Hopefully I can get safe jumps out by tomorrow and fire out the rest of the tut before the 3rd

[ohfuginnuts]

Hey Floor (or anyone who can answer this) I’ve been having lots of trouble with vega. After a successful flying barcelona - izuna drop in the corner, i get caught in a vortex of the izuna drop over and over…do you know how to stop this?

[Floor]

Last vid for level 2. Level 3 menu up as well. Prolly won’t get tut done before the 3rd.

[Sweetouch]

Thank you so much I’ve been trying to step up my viper game and there’s just so many working parts that work together I really needed someone to help me understand how things can mesh together! Although it will be a long and technical road I think these videos will help me become a great viper one day

[Floor]

First two vids of level 3 are up

[jebop]

So bad I can do everything, except FFF consistently. My execution is a joke.