had this ft5 today with a top ranked ken player, maybe it can help out other vega players on how to deal with the matchup. Any advice is welcomed, result was 5-1 on my favor.
Also, i will be attending a CPT event this weekend, and would like to train more the Chun matchup, do you guys know any great Chun that could help me with a Set?
Also! I discovered that vega can full punish Birdie ex bullhead (his armored move) while on clawless, and not only use a slide, the trick is to walk forward like 2-3 frames then use s.MP, s.HK. it works as a punish! If vega stands there and just use the s.MP it wont reach and birdie will whiff punish Vega
Edit: it is actually full punishable with just s.MP after birdie activate his vtrigger, my bad. Which leads me to think that vega should always fight birdie barehanded when he activates his vttrigger.
Primarily a pc thing used in a lot of team games, irrelevant if you don’t really pc game.
Clawless s.fp
FBA seems to help me a bit against Bison. Someone else actually put a vid up about Bison and Id say its spot on.
Sooo, i learned the hard way how Claw-off variation + offensive style is THE ONLY WAY TO GO in the Laura/Cammy matchups. You guys take notes…
Would you mind expanding on this. I don’t disagree but I’d like a more in depth explanation.
It is simple, the best defense is staying offence. If Vega stays with claw-on in those matchups, he will have to use s.MP, s.HP, f.HP, cr.MP and Slash H, those are great defensive normals, but if they whiff they are heavily punishable by Laura/Cammy fast stuff and once Laura/Cammy get in it might as well be over for Vega. So by going offence/clawless you are minimizing your mistakes window.
There are other reasons, like, the offence is vastly superior with claw off (s.LK and cr.LP on counterhit links with s.MP and cr.MP and those are cancellable normals that lead to a lot of frame advantage to continue pressure), clawless s.MP having faster recovery than the claw on version, clawless cr.HP being a better antiair than claw on cr.HP, and the clawless cr.HP > barcelona attack corner setups. The fact that clawless s.HP > CS is + on block is also a reason, doing a claw s.HP > SC in those matchups is dead if your opponent is not crushed psychologically.
Also because i played some casuals with Will2pac after i lost and got to test all of this theory! haha did soooo much better than with the approach i used against his Laura in the tournament games.
Imo, Vega should stay claw-off against certain characters and keep the claw against others:
Claw off: Laura, Cammy, Chun, Bison, Ken (on the fence on this one, i feel like claw off is better strategically but claw on gives the v.skill more range to punish point blank fireballs)
Claw on: Ryu, Necalli, Sim, Mika (but only because going in against her is actually more risky due to her grab reversal normal)
And of course, in the “claw-on” matchups Vega should remove the claw the moment he gets a combo so that he can convert the frame advantage on significant damage with resets.
Vega should stay claw-off against 90% (or more) of the cast. The combo enders/FBA combos/command grab threat make him 10 times more scary. He gets much better meaty situations with claw off, because of cr.MP and ex.Roll ender. Not to mention cr.MK is very useful with claw off, as it allows for excellent damage and again, advantage on wake up.
With claw on, you better hope all your combos are done on a standing opponent (not gonna happen), so you can connect ex.FBA. Otherwise, his combo damage and follow-ups are pretty ass. His st.HP is way too slow to realistically get any combos outside of that. Claw on is very meter-dependent and I feel it’s only a threat when Vega has both V-trigger and Super stocked.
He also gets more active frames with claw-off. This makes a big difference for his cr.HP and cr.MP.
I cannot disagree with that, but in the matchups i listed (necalli, ryu, sim, mika) staying claw-on is perfectly viable and imo is a lil better than going clawless due to how the claw normals help improve the neutral matchup. There are several characters that im not quite sure about which stance is better for Vega, i will update my post as i get more information…
Against Mika, you can’t really risk to simply rely on the neutral game. Vega’s claw normals look good but are VERY vulnerable hitbox-wise. Her clap will eat up his mediums.
The way I see it, you play clawless against her and confirm into ex-roll as soon as you can, for the meaty game. Then you rush that bitch down to death. You can’t afford to chip away at her with claw normals and reset the situation every time. She only needs one hit - literally.
Anyway I think I’ll make a video about this…I’ve already made some notes so look forward to that. It’s not gonna be comprehensive cos that would take an enormous amount of time and effort. But it will be useful.
Isn’t ASE a pretty good knockdown tool with claw on though, since it leaves you at advantage, and you have time to dash in. Also confirms off of cr.LP.
For ASE to be a truly good tool you need to be able to use claw st HP in neutral and i just can’t…i’m always out of range and since Vega’s best numbers on block are +2 you can’t really frame trap to use st Hp…any advice or tip to land that clawed st HP or at least get in range to be able to use it without getting counter hit or sweep i would really apreciate
ASE isn’t dependent on claw HP imo. In neutral I use lp ASE as I would use st mk, to beat opponents max range lows. Same for mp ASE, I’ll throw it out in neutral to discourage phishing at mid range. This is mixed in with st mp and cr mp. I want the opponent to be frustrated and feel the need to contest my low priority mediums, and then lose to the higher priority ASEs.
At closer ranges I cancel cr lp xx mp ASE looking for counter hits from people too eager to press buttons after they are jabbed. Once I’ve established they are blocking, I mix in cr lp tick throws and frame traps. This is how you can establish cr lp [frame trap] st hp.
ASE is great for safe chip when the opponent cant punish. So I spam it often in claw. st hp xx mp ASE is an easy super hit confirm
Clawless s.HP, cs, cr.LP, ASE M and s.Mk, cr.LP, ASE M are good strings, althought the ASE can be hit out of light normals
Im right now considering on dropping vega for r.mika in laura matchup. No point in playing clawless-only if mika is a better clawless vega and she actually murders laura… this matchup is too stupid for vega.
You need to be in point blank range for cr.lp to connect to lp.Ase. If mp.ASE actually connected from cr.LP, then claw mode would be somewhat more useful.
why not combo to ex ASE with claw on???
Well the damage from ex ase isn’t as good as the walldive, but the followup afterwards is way better. You can get a dash forward st hk that actually beats standing 3 frame lights, so it gives you an idea how much time you have to do whatever. Plus there’s that neat little 50/50 with it in the corner, and I’m sure there’s more to play around with with that too. Helps that you don’t have to confirm if they’re standing or not, too.