Utilizing both Crane and Mantis

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

I’ve decided to pick up Gen due to a loss of interest in Cody. He’s just kinda grown stale to me. My main problems are I can’t do st. mk xx hands at all (will be remedied when I get a stick, for now, cr. mp xx hands will do), I can’t finish Gekiro (I’m working on it), and I don’t know when to switch to Crane. I can play Mantis Gen effectively, but not quite Crane Gen.

So when do I switch from Mantis to Crane?

2

keep in mind that now in AE, cMP x hands (fierce hands obv) is better than sMK xx hands for several reasons.

-better damage
-better priority (hitbox)
-better recovery
-same startup
-almost same range

I’ve always been a big fan and MK>hands user since vanilla, but now in AE i just have to “admit” cMP xx hands is almost always a better choice… i had to learn to pull it out consistently now in AE

although you can still use sMK xx hands if you want… and cMK x hands is really important sometimes for hitting low despite the slower startup
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imo you should switch to crane for situational stuff… i think of crane as a support stance to mantis… use it when you need stuff like
-cHK antiair
-cMP poke (xx roll)
-overhead
-tricky sHP and cHP stuff
-air to air with jHP, jMP, jLK (or jHK > ultra)
-crossup with jMK
-longer jump arc
-faster walk speed
-super/ultras

but IMHO you should mainly stay in mantis, switch to crane for something specific and then get back to mantis right away

look for amiyu’s videos on youtube so you can get an idea

3

While holding down, quickly press MP HP LP MP HP in that order and you got yourself c.mp xx hands. This is a great poke in terms of damage, speed, priority, range.

Crane has better air normals, but ground normals are situational. I tend to be in Crane stance if I’m not close to the opponent when not much footsie action going on, for the walk speed and jump distance. And also note that Mantis anti air cr.HP works well against long range jumps while crane anti air close ones. So if you anticipate a jump in stay in respective stance, or get used to double tapping PPP, KKK.

You should really get use to switching stances rapidly in order to use Gen effectively. Some stuff I do time to time:

  • jab jab mp xx hands ( Stance change ) Oga
  • Successful Jyasen ( Stance Change ) cr.mp xx hands
  • Successful Gekiro ( Stance Change ) Oga
  • Jump in with Crane continue with Mantis combo
  • When I use crane cr.lk I press PPP right after, as if I’m plingking. If it’s blocked, opponent will have frame advantage ( It’s actually punishable ) so you don’t want to be in Crane in that situation. If it hits Mantis follow ups are usually better ( cr.hp for damage, sweep for knockdown, obviously super )
  • When you do an Oga always consider your options while you are on the way, so you don’t fuck up when it hits. You will need to switch to mantis for certain followups.
4

Actually c.MP, Hands is very situational. Vs a lot of characters it doesn’t connect all hits if you are doing c.MP at max range. It acts like if you are hitting a crouching blanka with s.MK, Hands. Really you shouldn’t be dropping s.MK, Hands. You should be using both.

Just be careful when you use c.MP, Hands at max range. I used it vs Ken and only hit him with 1 or 2 hits from hands (forget how many) and he recovered fast enough to punish me with Super and I was still performing the last frames of the Hands.

5

st. MK xx hands

MK+LP, HP, MP, LP, HP

that’s the easiest way to do it without sliding.

6

i get what youre saying man, but i’ve experienced the same thing for the times i’ve been only using sMK>hands from max range… same thing for max range LP>hands, cMK>hands

7

Yes but it’s not as often as c.MP, Hands. That’s why it’s good to mix it up, plus it makes the range game harder for them to figure out.

8

MK moves Gen forward so hands connect easily.

Kara MK throw is also awesome.

9

what happened to warrior by sand?