I might be dropping Vega for a little while. I wish I had chosen a more basic character to build my fundamentals. I feel like I’m lacking in that area the most because I mained Vega since I picked the game up last July. Everytime I win its mostly from gimmicks I know would never work on any decent player. I’m actually trying to round myself out by playing different characters and games. Once I feel like I’m ready I’ll pick the claw up again. I have to ask if anyone else gets the feeling he’s incomplete? I’m not even talking about him lacking I.frames or reversal options. I can’t pinpoint exactly why though. Don’t get me wrong I love the bait and punish style and the range of his pokes I’m just starting to get truly familiar with his weaknesses I guess.
It’s not going to help you much. Going away from Vega to learn fundamentals is bad both ways. Vega is the absolute best character to learn fundamentals with, and using another character will cause you to become reliant on reversalling instead of blocking.
If you’re going to change characters do it because playing Vega isnt fun for you. If you want to get better learn how, when and why to block, and actively think more during matches.
I enjoy playing Vega, I just feel gimped playing as him because I don’t like to rely on gimmicks even if they work. I’ll try to get with you on XBL again soon. I learned a lot those last two sessions. Much of my game revolves around punishing whiffed dps and nj setups, I need to put a few more tricks in my playbook.
If you want to play solid then start by learning how to properly block and control space. If you find yourself relying on neutral jump set ups then play without jumping, which will put you in a position where you are forced to block. Since you dont have a reversal you again are forced to block. Blocking is the single smartest thing you can do in pressure situations. If you press a button you better damn well be sure it’s going to land. Take the throw a couple times if you have to. It’s still less damage than eating a counterhit combo. Watch your opponent, their life, their meter, their spacing, their habits and adjust. 99% of people on XBL and PSN require very little thinking to beat, so it’s good training for awhile until you get it down. I remember when I play you that the very first thing you did every match against me was walk back. That tells me you’re afraid of my ground game and pretty much gives me all that space you just gave up, puts you closer to the corner and on top of that, gives me the go ahead to come after you hard. So is there a good reason to walk back at the start of a match? Vega has an extremely good ground game. Make your opponent fight for every inch of space. If you’re walking back it needs to be to control space (causing a normal to whiff that you can punish, making the opponent unsure of the range he’s at and whether or not his moves will hit, luring the opponent into a trap, etc).
So start with that. Learn how to control space. Try playing matches without jumping at all. Only wall dive when comboed into. Use your normals. This will help you to play more solidly so that, when your opponent is down to 10% life, you can use those gimmicks they’ve not seen you use the entire match that you’re so good at and take the win.
What’s a good use for Sky High Claw besides going through projectiles? I never use this move.
If you end the motion towards the opponent it will cross them up if they’re not hugging the back wall. Its pretty gimicky though. I use it at most once in a match on wake up. Good match ender.
Edit: EX version only.
(1) Should I be playing Vega a certain way, e.g. defensively and carefully? I mean, I would say I’m an impatient, very aggressive type of Vega player and I like to do mind games and shenanigans too…so should I be picking up a more ‘suitable’ if you answer “yes” to the first question? Should I pick Evil Ryu, or Guy, or whomever is a hyper agressive character? Thanks 
You should experiment with playing Vega different ways, sometimes just as a reaction to the opponent, and sometimes just as a deliberate challenge to yourself to try it. You can also pick up other characters to either enhance your strengths or better cover for your weaknesses, but just remember that it will take a little more time to play multiple characters effectively.
Your goal is to eventually be able to win as often as possible vs the strongest opponents. Wins and losses do not matter as much when you are training so long as you are working on bettering your game, exploring your options, seeking out new strategies/tactics, and remembering (and practicing) the lessons that you learn.
Knowing your opponent and the matchup helps you put together a solid ground plan beforehand. Adapt your style to your opponent. Did he give up a lot of ground after I punished his first mistake? How does he or she respond to your pokes? If you consider “defensive” to be turtling on down back then No you shouldn’t be defensive. Vega isn’t exactly designed for rush down either though. Stick to spacing and footsies, watch for opportunities to punish and maximize on them when possible. It’s all risk vs reward. Watch your opponents reactions and you can set him up to take a big risk (and eat a big punish).
Hope this helps!
Is there some sort of special trick into doing the Jump Forward High Punch into a RCF? I’ve tried to do it day after day and never come close. I just end up do the full standing High Punch(where he slashes you twice) If there is some little hint that would be helpful.
I think I write something back a couple pages. If you still need it I’ll find it when I get home
Sent from my HTC Evo 3D using tapatalk.
The most important thing to do is to charge back for the move as soon as you leave the ground. As soon as you push up-forward, you need to be snapping the direction to back or downback by the time Vega barely starts jumping into the air.
Then you press HP while still charging as you fall onto your opponent to attack them with j.HP. Then, as you land you press HP again while still charging to get the first hit of cl.HP. Then, after the first hit of j.HP fully connects but before the second hit, you can use your charge and do forward+HP (or PPP) to start the RCF.
The trickier part of this is starting your charge as soon as you jump.
K, I’ll try it out hopefully it works.
EDIT: Ok, I’m back, the problem was I was inputting the RCF too early.
Is there a trick to getting ST to come out after CH? Even properly spaced I almost always get a standing HK instead of ST.
Slide the stick to a down-back charge as Vega is doing his Cosmic Heel animation, don’t wait for Cosmic Heel to connect before you start charging. As you notice Vega start to (barley) crouch from the down-back charge after he finishes Cosmic Heel, input forward kick. With enough practice you won’t need that visual cue anymore, and it’ll become muscle memory. That’s about all there is to it.
Main thing is to start the charge for Scarlet Terror ASAP. Instead of going from down-forward to down-back, just do a half-circle backward in one fluid motion.
Hard to learn, easy to master.
Rabbi laid it out pretty clear but I just want to throw in that it should almost feel like a roll from down forward to down back, snapping to the back position as quickly (and naturally) as possible, and that you have a significant amount of time to input the forward + hk or hk+mk for EX. You will get the timing down quickly when you realize that you can let your opponent safely fall enough frames to be 100% sure you have the charge to ST.
Edit: sorry this came out looking wonky. I really need to invest in a forum app. OT but how good is tapatalk?
tapatalk is good for me… i think the price is a tad high but not enough to complain about.
Thanks for the tips! It seems like I have a bad habit of not starting the charge for ST until I see the CH hit so I guess I’ll have to spend some time breaking that habit.
You will get in the habit of maintaining that charge as often as possible. Muscle memory like Rabbi said.
Here’s a quicky. Vega getting corner pressured. Decent opponent spaces right at wall jump distance. Already risky but let’s say you land on your feet and tech. Is there any way to punish them for trying to throw?
This has happened to me a few times and even if I tech the throw they still get me back to the corner.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk