What are important things to nail down early specifically for Chun-Li for a novice SF player?
Short Short EX legs - crouch :lk:, :lk:, :2k:, :2k:, :2k:
Very essential combo that every Chun li player should know, but you need to ask this in the Q&A thread, we DO read that stuff.
If I were to mold a new sf and chun li player I would say learn to poke with her normal moves. You might lose at first but eventually you get to know what you have to do to bait out a move and hit them with your own move. Chun’s main poke is standing medium punch. Just learn the range and speed of that then abuse it. If you feel the need to jump don’t. Learn to knock your opponent out of the air when they jump at you. Her best anti air moves are standing (neutral) medium kick and df+lk. Set the traing dummy to jump in on you and learn the timing of anti airs. If you can’t anti air Blanka’s jumping high kick for example then you aren’t anti airing fast enough. Her strength and advantage is in her mid range pokes learn them all first then comes the rush down and turtle / Keep away.
This 
raiden has /thread’d this thread
Just thought of starting smaller :P, but yeah Raiden is right.
I guess this would be a good place to ask this. How do handle Ryu’s HK tatsu on block? It feels like the only safe way to counter is if I s.HK as he’s coming in, but say circumstance led me to block instead, what would be the best option?
Also, what moves do you typically use during shoto close jump cross-ups? Whenever they jump really close, I end up back-dashing out, but it feels like there should be a better option. I was thinking df.LK or s.MK, but they’re inconsistent and usually come way too late.
Ryu’s usually tend to SRK after a blocked tatsu or go for a throw. I usually either stay blocking and tech the throw if I see it coming, EX SBK to beat or double whiff a SRK/EX SRK attempt, or backdash to avoid a throw and punish. I think it comes down to reading your opponent, but you should be careful though, they can mix up their offensive options as well as you can mix up your defensive options. Look for a pattern and try not to guess wrong.
As for close jump ins, I’d recommend focusing to absorb the first hit then dashing out. Only trouble with this is you have to be quick with your dash so that you can recover in time to block if you have to as they can land and throw out an EX SRK or Tatsu and catch you in your dash animation.
If you’re just looking for execution practice in training mode, make sure you can consistently do:
BnB’s from low:
c.short, c.short, EX legs
c.jab, c.jab, s.fierce
BnB’s from high:
hazanshu, c.short, EX legs
hazanshu, c.jab, s.fierce
Block strings:
c.jab/short, c.jab, s.strong xx kikoken
c.jab/short, c.jab, s.strong xx hazanshu
c.jab, s.RH, short hazanshu
misc:
dash hosenka
I’m sure I’m missing things.
If they are that close to you you can dash forwards and go under their jump before they get to attack and punish. Also did you know you can sweep the tatsu?
If you get the timing right, cr.MP and cr.MK lower your hurtbox so low that their crossup whiffs and you can throw or do something like cr.LK to punish from there. This will only work once or twice until they figure it out and DP straight after the crossup, but it works very well on many opponents who are used to being in a position of advantage during a crossup attack and don’t react quickly enough to your completely dodging their attack.
Also, an early cr.HP will usually move you far enough forward that their crossup whiffs and again you have the surprise advantage. cr.HP is quite good against shotos in close combat as it beats crossups most times, focus most times and many other attacks if timed right.
I’d also either learn cr. HP xx MK SBK or cr. HP xx HK legs, MK legs because these are better meterless punishes than jab into fierce link. The jab into fierce is good when you connect a random jab and you’re too far away to cancel into EX legs, but if you have no meter and someone whiffs a DP, it’s not the best punish you can do.
You seriously do need to learn the anti-airs, you don’t really need to exhaustively do them in training, just make sure you know the feel of anti-airing with s.mk, df. lk, standing strong, crouching strong, standing fierce, and sweep. It sounds daunting given how many anti-airs you have to use, but just learn a few matchups at a time. Learn the feel in training mode and then get into a match and be willing to lose to make sure you can anti-air. Don’t just block jump-ins when you think “shit I don’t know which move will AA this…” When I started using Chun I had this problem, if you don’t know just guess which AA to use and if it’s wrong try another one next time. Chun relies a lot on gaining momentum and she’s usually gearing up to lose if someone gets in on you; you simply can’t allow people to jump-in on you for free because you’re not comfortable with the anti-air options.
I’d also either learn cr. HP xx MK SBK or cr. HP xx HK legs, MK legs because these are better meterless punishes than jab into fierce link. The jab into fierce is good when you connect a random jab and you’re too far away to cancel into EX legs, but if you have no meter and someone whiffs a DP, it’s not the best punish you can do.
You seriously do need to learn the anti-airs, you don’t really need to exhaustively do them in training, just make sure you know the feel of anti-airing with s.mk, df. lk, standing strong, crouching strong, standing fierce, and sweep. It sounds daunting given how many anti-airs you have to use, but just learn a few matchups at a time. Learn the feel in training mode and then get into a match and be willing to lose to make sure you can anti-air. Don’t just block jump-ins when you think “shit I don’t know which move will AA this…” When I started using Chun I had this problem, if you don’t know just guess which AA to use and if it’s wrong try another one next time. Chun relies a lot on gaining momentum and she’s usually gearing up to lose if someone gets in on you; you simply can’t allow people to jump-in on you for free because you’re not comfortable with the anti-air options.
I would start with her trials… Most of them are not useful in match, but it’s a good learning and idea tool.
When you train, turn on the damage counter.
Learn the ranges of all her normals. A good way to work on your spacing is to repeatedly poke the dummy with your normals. For example, poke the dummy with max range MP. The opponent will be pushed away from Chun, so follow the dummy and continue striking as soon as Chun is in max range. Aim for perfection. Do the same with Far HK, and any poke strings you devise, e.g., cr. lk x2.
MP is a good poke. It’s fast and long and you can anti-air if it gets jumped over. It’s a good habit to check if your opponent is blocking with this move, even if you think they probably are, you should get bossy with it. It’ll open them up even if it doesn’t damage them.
Record the dummy to walk into Chun, walk away into Chun’s anti air range (different ranges for different angled anti-airs) and then jump in with an attack. Practice getting familiar with the timing of all her anti-airs. Practice moving around and still being able to anti-air. Far MK, Close MK, Far HP, D/F LK, Jump forward HP.
Aim to get as much damage as you can from all your opportunities. Chun gets frame advantage from most of her attacks, so have a plan after everything. Have something to do after every kind of knockdown.
You shouldn’t jump much, but you should know the ranges and uses of her jump ins. Jump HPX2(two hits), Jump MK(long range), Jump HK (head shot), Jump LK (crossup).
Learn the Cr. LP > St. HP link.
Learn Cr. LK xx EX Legs.
this thread is pretty cool. its cool to see the chun info that comes out this far after release.
personally i would say aside from her AAs, i would say learn the cr. lp -> st fierce link. its saves bar so you can link into super!
also cr.fp -> hp legs is good too, but i would say thats the hardest to learn and not needed AS much. totally useful and you feel badass, but cr jab > fierce youll land more times in a match for sure.
also dash -> U1.
Be sure not to miss those EX Legs, DF.LK and air to air-j.FP into U2.
Be on your toes with your normals (Poking, Anti Airing)
Learn when to use EX SBK as a reversal and when you’d get safejumped/stuffed.
Learn when to use j.HK, j.MK or j.FPx2 as a Jumpin attack.
Headstomp Shenanigans are fun to learn but unsafe.
Don’t sit too much on your charges!
fuck that
dude if you want to get better with chun li your going to have to learn how to combo with her as well as learn her anti-airs & pokes her best pokes are s.mp,cr.mp,s.hp,cr.hk,s.hk & s.mk all have their pros & cons to them standing hp does not really work against fireball characters all too well unless you can react really fucking quick & hit them as soon as they start up their fireball (harder to perform on guile) motion & crounching mp goes underneath bison’s scissor kicks her target combo is pretty nasty as well 1 combo you do have to learn is cr.lk,cr.lk,cr.mk into legs hard to hit at first but if you piano it right you can hit your opponent & if u pressed ex legs u can combo your opponent with ultra 2 p.s if anybody wants to get their chun li game up i can help u guys out mind u my bp is low with her simply because i hardly play rank matches & i’ve negelected her as well for quite some time
on the subject of ryu’s heavy tatsu:
If you block the first hit and then manage to crouch, you can punish with crouching heavy punch. IMO this is the safest punish. If you try and punish with sweep after a block, then he might cross you up, and you’ll get her flipkick instead. If you know the flipkick won’t come out, then definitely sweep, though.
On the subject of playing chun, you need strong fighting game fundamentals to play chun properly. That means a lot of zoning, a lot of anti-airs, and less emphasis on flashy combos. Combos only help you maximize damage at each oppurtunity, but none of chun’s bnb’s are damaging enough to net you a win at the low level. You need to be able to create enough opportunities for damage to get enough damage ftw.
Also, don’t jump. This is true for most chars, but especially so for chun.
I usually sum up my strat with: If you’re out, you’re winning!
This is a really great thread everyone. I’m a noob to fighting games and Chun Li is the character I am learning… I will first learn all these techniques.
Sorry to be a bother but does anyone have any videos (instructional, demonstrational, or ‘in use in real battle’) of previously mentioned techniques?