USF4 Ken Match-up Thread: Updating 1st Post Edition!

Stance animations to block and properly punish Jab Hands from Decapre at certain unsafe ranges with reversal special moves:

Ken:
Crouch block beginning string of hits from Jab Hands.
Any block stance should be acceptable from final hit from Jab Hands.
Jab/Fierce DP will work.
Punish examples:

Meterless
Jab DP
Fierce DP

2 Bars
Fierce DP (on 1st hit) xx FADC, (Jab DP or Fierce DP)
Fierce DP (on 2nd hit) xx FADC, Ultra 1
Fierce DP (on 1st hit) xx FADC, Cr.Jab, Cr.Fierce xx (DP)/(Tatsumaki)
Fierce DP (on 1st hit) xx FADC, (Cr.Jab)/(Cr.Short), Cl.St.Jab, (Sweep)(Ultra 2)

3 Bars
Fierce DP (on 2nd hit) xx FADC, Air EX Tatsu
Fierce DP (on 1st hit) xx FADC, Cr.Jab, Cr.Fierce xx (EX DP)/(EX Tatsu)
Fierce DP (on 1st hit) xx EX RFA, (Ultra 1)/(Ultra 2)/(St.Roundhouse xx [DP]/[Tatsumaki])

4 Bars
Fierce DP (on 1st hit) xx Super

What the hell do I do against a teleport spamming decapre on knockdown?

Runaway teleport? maybe try ex tatsu or throwing a lp fireball so it catches them when they stop. Never tried it though.

sorry I meant when she knocks you down.

Guess

relax and block.

Haven’t double checked to see if every link goes to the appropriate page, but I made the first post much more pleasant to the eye.

Nice work!

if you mean what side she’s going to end up on you can tell by how fast she travels and the distance. if’ts done meaty it’s trickier and un-punishable but you can still react. I recently knocked out the best decappre in the world…IMO at hypespotting and i was 1 round from being eliminated by him. once you become a brick wall she’s shit. and Ken beats decappre so thank your lucky stars you play ken lol

I don’t know if this is common knowledge but I recently found out that in cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.lp , f.dp the second cr.lp will with on boxer thus making it harder to hit confirm for people with slower reactions like me. I haven’t tested it on other characters yet. Thought I’d just share with you

Same thing happens on Guile.

For Guile if I land j.MK I go for cr.LK > cs.LP > fs.MP > cr.HK

Against Rose, Chun, Ibuki and Poison (and maybe others I didn’t find), c.hk knock-down, f.jump normal (the normal, to create a slight delay after landing), EX hurricane. It bounces the opponent to the corner, where you can U1. Bounces differently against other opponents, so it doesn’t work. You can get a bit more range on it with kara-U1. A bit over 300 damage against Rose, Chun and Ibuki. For some reason, about 270 against Poison.

just thought i’d share some things about these match ups

DUDLEY

There are two ranges where ken just controls duds, which is the tip of low forward range and out dudley ducking range. If you keep these spacings dudley really can do much but desperate U1 a whiffed normal or something. If dudley has Ultra 1 you have to play more cautious with fireballs and srk fadc. Dudley can punish the srk fadc free. Ken’s fireball vs ultra 1, well you already know, plus with the buffed range in ultra… Anyways low foward shuts down dudleys ways to get in really well. If you see the dudley player is ducking, low forward into ex tatsu is a good punish or even cr.mk xx hadouken fadc ultra 2. Ultra 2 for ken in this match up can punish a block ex-machine gun blow if they drop a combo. I think U1 or U2 for ken can be used in this match up, but I think you would land U2 more just cause how good low forward is.

ROLENTO

Generally, players are letting rolentos do stuff for free too much. If the roll is annoying you, it shouldn’t. DONT BLOCK IT IF YOU CAN REACT. Think of it as a better blanka ball that stays on the ground. You can hit him out of it pretty easily, but not when he does EX roll. I usually walk up a little and poke with low forward just in case they are trying to go for roll into throw shenanigans BUT what I have been doing against roll is actually walking in to the range I think it will hit me and just KARA THROWING HIS ASS. This is good cause rolento’s wake up is not too good. With meter he can be scary cause EX Mekong Delta Attack can lead in to both his ultras, but if you block it you can get a big punish.(I think it’s -5 or something like that, don’t quote me LOL) If the rolento player is doing block strings in to regular non-EX mekong delta attack(this is the attack after roll back btw) don’t let him do it for free, dragon punch his shit. Don’t just do after he rolls back, reach to the actual attack its not as fast as the EX so you can see it. As for the spacing in the match up, Rolento has the longer normals, so that can be annoying, but I think ken does best in the match up after a knockdown. Fuck rolento.

I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Is this an OS or combo?

any advice on matchup against soid ryu payer ? am getting blown real hard

Anything specific? Footsies, outside footsie range, up close, his fireball, etc. Any footage to analyze?

His AA and Fireball game is on point , cant exploit those

He loves sweeping and tick throwing and the combos he does hurts alot

Not just a specific Ryu player, but I need general matchup strategies against Ryu as well

Since i literally have no idea how to deal with solid ryus

Neutral jump is fireballs. If he’s always anti-airing, jump at a range where a jump in will hit, but an empty jump will make his AA whiff. Kara-focus dash is an okay tool to use once a game to get through fireballs. If you’re close enough, you can get a jab combo. If you want to match his FB in a FB war, make sure you’re the one to throw them first. If he throws the FB first and you don’t make a jump read, neutral jump if outside footsie range; walk and block if you’re mid-range. You can try step-kicking his FB start-up if you’re at the tip of step-kick range, you may even get a cr.MK to combo on CH. Make sure you’re always trying to push him into the corner, this gives you more movement options.

If he’s sweeping you as a poke, make sure you play around Ken’s stand HK range. If he’s whiff-punishing with sweeps, do one or to rapid crouches. It’s very likely he’s reaction to your quick movements and not an actual move to punish. You can even do a quick crouch and stand light kick if you’re in his sweep range. The crouch is to test his reactions; if he bites, he’ll sweep and the st LK whill make the sweep whiff.

Tick throws are apart of the basic mix-ups. It’s a guess between throw/block/attack. Don’t feel bad about it. Even Evo champions have to take this mix-ups from time to time (this is gonna be a strong threat in SFV). But, you can also mash DP, backdash, or hold jump to escape the throw after he ticks you.

One of the oldest strategies in playing a solid game, since the '90s, is to be aggressive at the start and get a life lead and make them come to you. Yes, Ken shine’s in offense, but getting the life lead forces your opponents to take risks while you sit back and try to punish their advances. If you ever get back in a neutral position, make sure you’re winning. Dodge his fireballs, poke him if he walks towards you, and AA all his jumps.

If you can’t get a life lead, you need a good spacing game with jumps and smart FBs. Like in the first paragraph, bait and punish whiff anti-airs. Make sure you try to negate his fireballs with your own with occasional jumps where he is unsure if he can anti-air an empty jump. He’ll become more hesitant to anti-air, and you will have the advantage of being up close in his face. Your MK is faster and longer, so your footsie tools are stronger than his at this range.

Another thing is to push him into the corner. Many solid players play at longer ranges and are more comfortable backing themselves into a corner than take an offensive risk. When he’s cornered, you need to make him whiff normals and punish him for trying to poke his way out the corner or by jumping out.