What should I be learning?

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

Hey all, just signed up.

I’ve played Street Fighter on and off, just dabbling every now and again, and I’m trying to learn as fast as I can to get a decent Chun going. I’ve only really played Endless, and just about everyone I’ve played against has been quite clearly 10x more familiar with the game than I am, they’re doing FADC combos into ultras and flogging me consistently with Dan, or showing me that Guile has a better air grab than chun while stomping me into dust. And they’ve all got 2000+ PP, lol, I’m not going to catch a break any time soon, so the only solution is to get good fast.

Anyway, what is the most important skill to acquire in order to get good at this game? Some people tell me that I need to learn more bread and butter combos, but I can’t find any tutorials for them on youtube, and when I do, they are more for flashiness than for damage, and they feel impractical. I’ve gone through 20 trial mode challenges, and those combos don’t seem all that smart, some of them FADC at random and unnecessary points wasting half a bar of super for no apparent reason… wth? What are the most practical combos that you use? Do I need to have a combo that links into ultra? Should I use Ultra I or Ultra 2? Should I be using the D-Pad on my Xbox 360 controller, or the stick? I’ve been fiddling with both, but I can’t work out which is better, the stick is at a funny angle, which I have managed to get used to, but at least I can consistently hit diagonals with it and not have my thumb slide all over the place.

Or should I be learning matchups and frame/damage data? Or even just mastering the fundamentals then worrying about all of this stuff when I reach a point where I can’t improve? Something tells me I should be mastering everything, but I feel like everything I see people do is just for show, so it’s hard to tell whether I should spend precious time learning it or not. Edit: there was one thing I did bother learning for show. FA absorb fireball --> Taunt. lol. I did it to some guy, and he got pissy and crushed me into a corner in a matter of seconds! bahahaha.

/Question Spam.

Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

2

In Chun-Li’s case, I’d say learning her pokes and anti-airs are the best way of getting good. Your bread and butter (which also links into ultra 2 anywhere on the screen and ultra 1 in the corner) is cr. LK cr. LK EX Legs. You should have no problem doing this combo, simply press LK then slide your finger up to MK twice (= LK MK LK MK very quickly) then press KKK (3 kicks) if it hits and obviously don’t press it if it’s blocked, I found it to be the easiest way to do it consistently before I got my stick. Refer to the combo thread for more information, it’s in the stickies. Your choice of ultra completely depends on what character you are facing, can’t really help you with this one. Matchup information can be found in the stickies as well and I’m pretty sure they include ultra choices. Using the D-Pad or analog stick on your controller is completely up to you, can’t really help you with this one as it’s whatever you’re most comfortable with. Some people prefer the D-Pad but I found it absolutely horrible and used the analog stick . Knowing frame data definitely helps as well, many things are punishable by Chun-Li’s super and you need to know which moves are negative on block in order to punish them with your reversal super.

Basically, if you’re looking for a short answer, you need to learn everything. If you haven’t learned the cr. LK x2 to EX Legs combo yet, it would be a great place to start as well as making good use of her pokes and anti-airs.

3

Thankyou :). Now that you mention it, all of these players have been relentlessly jumping in at me and starting combos up and not giving me any chance to breathe. I try to block and get out, but they keep cr. LP or cr. LK and mix it with grabs and it just keeps me stuck blocking until they land a hit, then force a knock down. And from there, they’re fully aware of the EX SBK… so it rarely works, and I usually get punished for it, and from what I hear, that’s Chun’s only … thing… to wake up with.

I know the Cr. LK x2 to EX legs, that’s one of the only things I do know, but I didn’t know you could ultra off of that, that makes things slightly easier. I also learned from OHT to drum the 2x cr. LK and throw in a cr. LP before the EX legs, but I can’t do it consistently enough yet, but it does feel right to me, I will just practice that until it comes out right. Is it worth learning to add d. HP to EX legs onto the end, or is that impractical at my level? OHT and Meeks both seem to do it.

I’m thinking I should be going back through my matches in slow mo and working out what I’m doing wrong, I might have realized that I need more anti air focus sooner if I did.

I’ve also been trying to learn Dash Ultra, but completely flailing, the input seems to fast. I figure that the input might be quicker with the D-Pad… yet I’m not even sure if I need to learn Dash Ultra.

4

Everything, basically, but take your time and do it at your own pace.

You may want to read the Thigh Life thread all the way, good sir: Thigh Life & Style Magazine: Your guide to everything Chun-li!

For specific matchup/move help, you could use the Matchup or Q&A stickies. If you have replays/YT evidence, you could share it on the Chun-Li Video Thread, and I’m sure there will be people willing to help.

5

hmm, okay.

I guess I’m being a little to impatient with this, I take it most of the better players have played street fighter for years, and I’m only just starting. It’s hard to not be impatient when you get that lucky rushdown win by the slightest bit of health, it’s so exhilarating… and then they rage quit, LOL! It makes the unbearable losses slightly less daunting, I want to win more, but I will have to be patient, as you’ve said.

I will probably have some down the track, I’m planning on getting a capture card in a couple of months time, that will make things easy.

6

Yes, practice your fundamentals and play a bit more conservatively so you are able to notice more things that go on in a match. I don’t know how effective cr. mk, kikoken is, but if it’s anything like a Shoto two-in-one, it can be used as a basic spacing (get off me) tool.

EDIT: Wow, I thought this thread was posted in the Newbie Saikyo Dojo. Don’t mind me, Chun-li vets, I’m just your normal El Fuerte player passing b- OH GOD PLEASE DON’T SHOOT ME

7

Are you sure? Playing conservatively usually leads to me being destroyed in a corner, I think I can react fast enough to what’s going on, especially if I can go back and review it later, I might just need more experience to interpret it properly. What has usually helped a little is blocking high, then low then back dashing out ASAP (to avoid the grabbers, or whatever else they’re going to be throwing out) and Sweeping, then df. RH over them to avoid DP moves.

I think I’m thinking about it too much… obsessing almost. MUST WIN — Winning shouldn’t be that important, especially since I’m only playing Endless, but that’s what’s keeping me playing the game, and it’s causing impatience. Damn, I must seem neurotic.

8

When I say playing conservatively, I don’t mean hold back until you find yourself in the corner. If you predict the opponent will throw, you should tech it. If you dash back, the opponent will get a sense that you are not confident with your character. You should stand your ground, but don’t go for unnecessary risks either. It’s very important that you read how your opponent plays his/her character during the match. If you don’t, you will find yourself debating whether or not you should go for a jump-in.

About wanting to win, yeah I’ve been down that road, but if you take a loss as a learning experience, you won’t get too salty :wink:

9

I got the feeling that they started rushing me down harder whenever I backed off, which is why I started sweeping then jumping over them. I will keep my ground then (I really like doing that when it works, chun’s pokes are awesome), I’ll just have to pretend that I can use Chun. :sunglasses:

It gets a little frustrating after loosing 7 times consecutively, getting them down to less than 100 health every 2nd game and winning only 1 out of 5 rounds, but I have clearly gained a lot from it. The thing is, they are learning combos and that’s what they value, they get a chance to practice them on me, and I don’t get to practice combos on them, unless I get some lucky hits in. They usually have the “still training…” title on too… which just makes me feel like even more of a noob o_O

10

There’s no avoiding it. Getting your ass beat is how you learn. Watching your replays is a big help too, because you can spot mistakes you made that you hadn’t realized before.

Also, when you get the chance, try playing 3S Chun. You thought her normals in SF4 were good? Oh boy. Like the great C-Royd once said, Chun-li is a bitch in that game.

11

Yeah don’t sweat it. The champs and top players of today also started from the bottom and got lots of L’s in their yesteryears. They occasionally still do today.

12

I’ve heard about that, something like Round Houses that have extremely high priority, and she also has a DP like motion or something no?

hat’s on Xbox Live now isn’t it, you would think they’d have nerfed chun on it right? They supposedly tweaked MvC2 when they released it on XBL.

13

The game is arcade perfect, so no rebalancing has been done. That said, her normals have godlike recovery, and she can whiff them easily to build meter without worrying about punishes.

Oh god and her cr. mk. The hitbox on that thing is ridiculous, and she can confirm easily into Super Art 2 from it. Not going to lie, I dread facing a Chun-Li online.

14

I started playing ranked online matches, and it’s way easier than the people I was fighting in Endless. People at my PP level (700) don’t even block half the time, their idea of blocking is sometimes fireball spam. Playing Through Arcade on hardest difficulty seems to be helping a bit, I’m really struggling with dive kicks and Guile though. Seth is a PITFA, but he taught me to Ultra much quicker (had to learn to catch him off his sweep and sonic boom), now I can even do the Dash Ultra, not sure if I could do it on demand yet though, but that’s a hell of an improvement. Loving this game so much. Except for Seth. I hate him so much, if I get pile driven one more time, I’m going to lock my head in an oven. I also have 2 or 3 BnB combos pretty well down, one which I can sucessfully combo into Ultra thanks to ezspeng :). Definitely not using the D-Pad, it’s kind of crappy, and the stick makes a nice noise, which helps with kikoken timing.

The anti air helped so much, I saw One Handed Terror using st. MK (or do you call it forward = FW?) and df. LK to keep jump happy players off of him. He also said to NEVER jump, unless it’s completely necessary, which I’ve now gotten out of my system (I used to rely very strongly on Jump in target combo to b. MK d. u. MK to SBK). Such a drastic improvement, maybe I can face some of those B ranks with half a chance now.

At the opening to a match, is it better to back off and get the L. Kikoken going, then react to them, or do what Meek does and start with a dash sweep (back or forward or even neutral. depending on what the enemy does)?

15

It depends on who you’re up against, it might work on some characters/players but not the others.

imo a sweep or moving around to check an opponent first would be preferable. I used to do lp kikoken as an opener, but quit it eventually. Its range is good but its recovery sucks. Prime target for a shoto full screen tatsu ( :lol: ) as a response punish (as an opener), or worse a jumpin to more pain combo.

16

As a Chun player, you wouldn’t want them to jump at you too much anyway right? so if you kikoken at the start, you’re going to get them to either jump in (from which you can anti air, which isn’t easy for me), or they will focus attack and you run in and sweep, or they will as you say tatsu or maybe dive kick? Winning 1 in 3 of those situations doesn’t sound like fun, but kikoken increases your super gauge right? I’m guessing that’s why OHT starts with kikoken. I figure sweeps knockdown will get you into a routine, once they’re down, you can predict their wakeup (100% dragon punch/flash kick/bushin every single time lol) then punish, and you’re off to a great start. Like you say though, depends on the character.

17

As a general rule, if you’re going to kikoken, make it the :mp: version. Best compromise between speed and recovery. Also strive to be far away as possible. Full screen to almost full screen is the only time I do :lp: kikoken nowadays.

18

To get better I suggest you first learn every move in her moveset and know their purpose, which is good as a poke and/or an anti-air.

Then learn some BnBs such as:
Cr. :lk:, Cr. :lk: xx EX Legs (Essential combo to know)

Cr. (cl.) :lp: , Cr. (cl.) :lp:, St. (far) :lp:, St. (far) :hp: (Super link possible)

J. :hp: x2, Cr. :hp: xx :mk: Spinning Bird Kick (Super link possible)

J. :hp: x2, :d::mk:, :d::mk:, :d::mk: (Air-to-air target combo to juggle them, then follow up with stomps)

Cr. :lk:, Cr. :lk: xx EX Legs, Ultra 1 [In corner] (The main combo into Ultra 1 since Vanilla, only works on a majority of the cast so check which characters juggle)

Cr. :lk:, Cr. :lk: xx EX Legs (x2?), EX Spinning Bird Kick, Ultra 1 [In corner] (A more damaging variant, these are possible in for Ultra 2; to keep the charge for your ultra while you EX Spinning Bird Kick do the motion like this :db::b::ub::2k:)

[Charge] :b:,:f:,:f:,:b:,:f:,:3k: (Dash Ultra 1, it makes the ultra go full screen to punish projectiles; you can also use this to combo into ultra after an EX Spinning Bird Kick that was a little too far from the corner)

Those are just some common good combos to know.

Then you should learn how to zone with anti-airs and pokes along with using your Kikoken to zone the opponent while you close in on them. While the Kikoken slowly comes towards them you could guess they’ll want to absorb it, jump over it, or go back as you start following up with the Kikoken.

:lp: Kikoken - Use this at full screen when you have that much space, it travels the farthest but it also has the most startup meaning you can easily get punished if you’re in range.

:mp: Kikoken - Use this mainly at mid range since it has good startup and good travel, you will be using this one the most.

:hp: Kikoken - This one has very few uses since it travels the least, you should only use this in combos or at fairly close range.

EX Kikoken - This one is okay to use to win some projectile wars or use in combos.

Then learn the match ups from the other threads stickied, watch some matches.

I hope this playlist works since I compiled it from LordaborgineSF4, these are vanilla matches with my favorite Chun li players Nuki, Nemo, Haneyama, and Y24. Watching these gave me good ideas for tricks to know when you play against real players.
Also I learned this technique back when I started and I still use it, I think everybody knows this but some don’t

19

Sweet, thankyou. I know most of this, that SBK motion is a great idea. I think I need to build up more general tactics and establishing which combos/moves/tactics are best used for which situations, I generally struggle when I start trying to rushdown from midscreen or poke from up close or while they’re jumping. I also struggle to make good use of my ultra when I have it, I’m thinking of swapping to Kikosho so that I can get it in more easily, and relying on my super a little more. This will definitely come out well with more experience, I’ll be kicking those endless guys into dust soon.

Anti-airing with jf. RH RH then kikosho seems like it will be a handy little tool, and if I don’t have ultra ready, I could use headstomps.

20

I feel that since Super came out my playstyle changed because I relied on using Kikosho. In Vanilla having Housenka gave me the incentive to pressure my opponent into the corner, which was a good thing when ever you play. I feel like I should go back to using Housenka a majority of the time now, unless they don’t juggle then I’ll use Kikosho.