I’ve beaten her ST. MK with ST. Heavy clawless. It’s got a deceptively long range. Plus you can jump much more than she can. He doesn’t have to take it if shes throwing out her “superior” ground normals.
I like Medium ASE as an AA against certain characters jump arcs, and cancelled off jabs to get out of close range. I don’t like raw Medium ASE against ground approach unless the character is on the slower side. If they’ve got good walk speed you end up giving up too much space if it doesn’t land.
They say that about Laura…they stopped saying that about Mika after final round. I actually don’t have problems with Laura. Fighting Mika feels like Zangief and Ibuki shacked up and had a half Russian half Japanese bastard bitch baby.
I don’t have much trouble with Laura either. Vega completely outclasses her in neutral, and her 50/50’s aren’t nearly as ridiculous as Mika’s are imo. She has to work hard to get in on us, and she doesn’t put you in the corner after one mistake lol.
Some Higher level Lauras wreck my shit, but the R.Mika match up doesn’t seem unfavorable, at least not yet. There seems to be a weird variance in how some Lauras play, but all Mikas seem the same. Maybe I just haven’t played a top Mika yet.
I beat OmgitzAndre a while back once I found out that Medium ASE beats her jump and her dash which actually has mediocre range. She doesn’t have any fast long range normals to clip the start up of it. I also got a lot of mileage out of being really disrespectful with grab attempts, since Mikas usually don’t spend meter on anything except EX peach.
I still beat Laura and Mika players consistently. You really really just have to zone and be on point with reactions. Laura can’t fireball from sweep range since you hit her out of it. Mika really can’t contest your normals.
That’s a bad button to use anyway vs them. You get jumped on and GGPO.
It’s usually a spacing thing, and for some reason I have trouble punishing it too. This is just speculation, but maybe the -10 listed may be if you block it point blank. If he is out farther there seems to be much less you can do to punish it. If you are close enough you can mash out clawless TC as a solid punish. iirc you could also mash slide and get him.
And btw clawless st.lp is also 3 frames.
Edit: The best advice I can give for Bison is to shut down his (dash) gimmicks and recognize when his turn is over.
So Mika seems to blow up Vega’s claw normals with her st.MP into bullshit corner carry. I was quite shocked acutally.
The guy I played didn’t even bother using any other buttons. St.MP buffered into her corner carry from a range where it will either hit or whiff. I coudn’t challenge it.
That shit has 3 active frames and starts up in only 5 - AND it has great priority. Completely opposite to what Vega’s pokes are.
At least Vega’s normals LOOK good.
I dunno wtf Capcom was thinking giving her so much potential from one button alone.
You just don’t use it. It’s good on paper but if you add the time it takes for you to do the motion, its startup becomes something unusable.
Might be plausible against slow jumping attacks though, like Vega’s FBA or Bison’s Devil’s Reverse etc etc.
I don’t have much experience agaisnt NEcalli but I know ex roll is useful to go through his stomps, which are actually projectiles. SO mash that between his strings from time to time. Punish seismos with air VT. When he transforms though…do everything you were doing but don’t get hit…
pretty sure that claw on s.MP, s.LK, cr.LP and cr.MP are important for neutral game, also claw off-s.MP when you have to and the slide. When she has to wakeup, cr.MK, s.MK and claw on s.HP are your go to pressure normals i guess.
Vega
Pros
Strong midrange and far range normals with Claw; good for poking and footsies
Fastest walk speed in the game which heavily compliments his normals
Second strongest footsie character in the game
Strong throw and throw bait game due to walk speed
Command grab in bare handed stance adds another layer to his up close game with his walk speed and forward dash
Good situational anti-air options. Anti-Air Crush Counter s.HK leads into huge damage with meter and/or V-Trigger
Huge comeback factor with V-Trigger and Critical Art
High damage output when in Bare Handed stance with meter and/or V-Trigger
Cons
Below average stun (950 stun)
Low damage output with Claw mode due to a lack of special cancelable normals
V-Reversal is situational but gives you unique punish opportunities
Claw and Bare Handed stances makes him a more complicated character
Have to understand and utilize two different tool sets
Takes more damage when mask is knocked off
Limited means to deal with slow fireballs ie. Chun/Nash.
V-Skill attack does not work well against them
V-Skill evasion still leaves him slightly vulnerable
Air V-Trigger counters fireballs but one time use
Struggles on the defensive with no reversal attack options
I agree with most everything said, though I would add “situational/hard to use AA’s” to the cons list.
My only real complaint with our boy is his damage output with the claw on. Our pokes aren’t really threatening unless we have V-Trigger stocked, and the lack of a cancelable medium makes trying to combo with the claw awkward. I think cancelable cr.mk would be good, or if they are hell bent on no cancelable pokes with the Claw then make st.jab hit crouchers.
Edit: I’d also take a damage buff to claw normals if they don’t want to change any cancel properties.
I think Vega is pretty strong and viable to be honest. I agree with almost everything. I think his offense is very strong with claw off so I’d add that to the pro list. Situational anti-airs is definitely a con.
I think they really need to emphasize his lack of defensive options in the corner. Once you’re there, the game might be over, so he’s very strong in neutral/offense, but has extreme faults in the corner.