Vega (Claw) Thread

Classic Fighting Games SSF2T: HD Remix
361

It’s placing too much faith on the dictator player messing up to reversal throw from a decently well-positioned knee press; dictator’s superior throw range will allow a good player to throw you instead almost all the time. But if it was done too deep, then yeah, feel free to go for the throw. You can also backflip to throw off his timing or flipkick if you anticipate a throw. But the fact is, you shouldn’t have let him get that close to you in the first place. Point-blank range is an easy way to die in that match.

Against Ken, trying to reversal throw is fine.

362

So more Hondas for me after that message. I did manage to win one match against a decent at best Honda…and I still had to work my ass off. The difference?

Flipkicks. And I kept my distance…have to work on my timing vs. torpedo.

And then I ran into a Honda who would go for the buttsplash into the ochio while I was getting up, and for the life of me I couldn’t get tie timing down for the reversal flipkick. I think I was waiting too long.

Lastly an Akuma who defeated my turtle with the air firebal into sweep, because naturally you can’t flipkick though the fireball. After the match I though perhaps I should have gone to the air a little more with j.mp since I think that would reach over the fireballs angle.

Am I correct in my thinking vs. Akuma?

363

FWIW I seem to make a lot of trades by flipping against jump-in Akumas (usually air fireballs). I’ll take that.

Tks for the Dic and Ken throw clarifications, Ganelon!

Anyone have SPECIFIC anti-walldive Claw mirror tips or general anti-Honda tips (save j.HP and the opposite wall)? :slight_smile:

364

well…cant say much, but against honda, to avoid getting torpedoed when wall diving, try not to go to the wall on your back, go to his back up so he looses the headbutt charge. if he wants to keep it hell have to change directions as you go over him, and that is hard.

365

HHS and Lightning Kicks, jump in FP or FP Claw Thrust…works for me.

As for Honda, those fuckers get me to, headbut is 100 percent safe to use on Vega short of Psychic Flip Kicks.

As for Dics, WP Claw Thrust stops them dead in the air everytime, block Psy. Crusher then Thrown or Standing FP if out of Throw Range.

Don’t forget to slide after EVERY throw incase they teched it, it’ll hit them if you time it right and does more damage then a normal throw. (it’s the little things that count ya know?)

Dic, Honda, Akuma are the 3 to look out for.

It depends really on where you are and where they are.

If they are across the screen and you see it coming from a mile away, Flip Fick.
If you know it’s coming, WP Claw Thrust.
If you don’t have a charge at all, Single Blackflip. NEVER DOUBLE
If they jump for the wall and do NOT yell it’s a claw thrust, Flip Kick it.

366

Also for Akuma, Make him think it’s Air Fireball trap time…get in him range (yes, let him in!) and as soon as he jumps if you see a fireball…slide under his hoe ass, anything less then an air fireball and it’s flipkick time, Works for me :smile:

And Late RK Flip Kick will infact go through the fireball and kick him but it’s risky, find out if your shoto is uppercut happy, nothing better then standing over them and doing a single backflip when they wake up so they can whiff the wakeup upper and you can grab.

367

Howling, that’s what I meant by “opposite wall” :slight_smile: It was discussed a bit earlier in the thread, but thanks!

Mycah, just to clarify “Claw Thrust” as in /charge D, U+P/? And by WP do you mean LP (jab)? HHS is only a problem for me after a knockdown but I get annoyed if they build meter that way too while holding a headbutt charge. If I get a life advantage against Honda I sometimes j.HP over and over to stuff headbutts and force action on their side. I do instinctively slide after throws and seem to hit a ton, but I thought it was just a missed block by my opponents. Cool to know that it can be timed. Usually slide if a Crusher goes past me, will try s.HP for (presumably) more damage if it can connect. Will try to time Claw Thrusts against dives, also single backflips. Didn’t know about the yell, that’s a great tip! Definitely should try fake-out backflips to induce a wakeup move too. Thanks for everything.

368

Mycah: Jump back FP beats Honda headbutt clean

Why doesn’t anybody read after I’ve posted this like 50 times? ._.

369

DangielRGT, j.HP has reduced the margins by which I lose to Honda :slight_smile: I’m doing it in anticipation, though, for example jumping back at the beginning of the round or repeat jumping when Honda is just sitting across the screen holding a charge. Are you doing j.HP in actual response to a headbutt?

370

Just FYI, when you’re in Claw mirrors, just j.MP his walldive. Don’t do nothing else.

371

I’ve heard and tried that, but I think I need help with timing because my results have been very mixed. Also should I be jumping toward, away, or up?

372

Neutral jump. You can just turtle with Claw in that match and they’ll try going for it because “ZOMG CROSSUP”. Then they get hit out of it and it comes down to who has the better ground game.

373

In Honda matches, I sit as far away as possible from them. If they headbutt, i have enough time to jump back FP.

Sometimes I’ll just jump up and down in a corner baiting a headbutt, and they’ll do it.

If they’re up close, good luck with that. I try to make sure I’m never anywhere near a Honda player. If they get close to me, I’ll walldive way fucking up high just to get across the screen.

Wouldn’t recommend it though as I’ve been badly punished for doing so.

374

Will try, DS. Thanks!

DanielRGT, I’ve had success baiting Dic and Honda into launching with the corner jumps myself. Haven’t tried doing it on reaction from far away though. Again, will try.

I got my HRAP3 and…my play has suffered :frowning: I main Claw and I feel like I only REALLY need MP/HP/HK, and those fit right on the face. I also map MK - I put it there just to cover close situations where a c.MP will go through my opponent but I always forget in the heat of the moment. Now that I have the stick I’m diving instead of flip kicking, missing moves all over the place. If I’m going to stick with Claw I wonder if I should give up on it. The other thing is that I used to stand in front of my TV with the gamepad and play, or sit, or whatever. With the HRAP3 I’ve got it sitting on top of a box and that’s about the only way I can find to comfortably use it. Hrm.

375

Whoa hp. claw roll really beats HHS? You have to be kidding. Ill try it. I’m finally figuring out when I need to jump vs. Honda and when I should turtle.

Guess it really depends on where HE is more than anything.

Still working on perfecting flip vs. torpedo.

As for Akuma while I was able to nullify the attempts to air trap me with the slide I wasn’t able to ever slide under the fireball. I know that’s because I wasn’t close/fast enough when doing the slide. It it did deter him though. Which was enough.

376

If this is your first experience using a stick, just keep practicing. At first, playing seems awkward and you’ll want to go back to pad, but that feeling quickly fades when you realize that your execution improves once you get the hang of it.

377

Claw Thrust is Charge Down then Up plus Punch.

WP is Jab, Yes.

OMG thank you.

378

honda vs claw:

claw jumps away with j.fp (not neutral-jump fp, that shit sucks for this).

sometimes you walk at honda and then you jump back with fp just hoping to catch an errant headbutt.

if honda ever walks forward you can jump at him with an fp out and poke his face a few times and get the fuck away once you figure he has charge again.

don’t ever dive off of your wall unless you like the taste of honda’s dick in your mouth. dive off the opposite wall and hope he’s not good enough to switch charge as you pass over him and then he rapes you.

or maybe he predicted it and ass splashed right as you got near him since he might also be charging down. if i were you i’d just stay off the goddamned walls, or fake a lot of cross-wall walldives to get him to commit to ass splashes.

don’t stay close to him. ever. claw vs honda is fought at full screen with you occasionally being a tremendous gay and jumping back with your fierce punch, and definitely being a tremendous gay every time he torpedoes his way towards you.

don’t jump at a honda that is holding back or down at any point in time, ever. never. for any reason. you gain nothing from it.

if you are ever on the ground for a good period of time then be ready to have flip kicks ready.

some hondas suck at reversals so after any knockdown you can force them to block fierce claw roll and then the extra medium punch before diving away and crying because that’s about as much pressure you can put on that fat piece of shit in one entire go.

if you’re playing an online honda just holding up back and pressing fierce as you come down should be enough unless they’re decent, in which case you might sometimes have to press mk as they jump at you to try and do something about your gay running away.

if honda has a lead in life on you and knows to not do anything once he has it, get ready to suffer like fucking crazy. randomly dive off of his wall and do a few fakes and try to get him to waste charge and hope he fucks up once so you can get any amount of damage in. it’s okay to sometimes walk at him and if he doesn’t decide to headbutt immediately, c.mp him in the mouth.

I KNOW THIS MATCHUP PRETTY WELL

ps. i taught danielrgt all he knows

379

Great writeup, nothingxs! I think it’s very good to have it in-thread.

Unfortunately for myself in particular I think I’m already implementing most of the tactics described and still losing soundly :frowning: I haven’t been walking forward then jumping back to induce headbutts, but the most promising piece of advice for me is j.MK after they start approaching repeated j.HP dipshit jumps in the corner. They seem to hit me out of the air most of the time if I default to j.HP for AA. Might work in the same situation against formerly-Crusher-happy-now-advancing Dics too, although j.MP seems to AA him decent.

I’m new to SSF2T and haven’t really played since Hyper Fighting in local '90s arcades. I’m starting to think my Dic/Honda/Claw/Cammy failures are on a more fundamental level than anything. Those are the only four matchups I fear, would rather go against Akuma all day. Perhaps the best thing would be for me to hunt down videos. Is YouTube the best choice or is there some kind of fighter-specific video site? Anyone have particular name or search tips?

380

You can try searching for videos, but really just continuing to play the matchup and getting more experience is probably the best course of action.