Man I have to agree unfortunately. Loser ragequitters and horrendous rollback aside, Gief just sux. I’m trying to like this game and character but it’s not fun at all. Every session feels like a grind and getting beat by terrible players simply cause their character is way better or I miss one aa is too much.
I get it, I hate to be this way too!
just waiting for Alex. If I dont find him fun I’ll probably just stop playing unless they make gief better.
I want to give you all a hug and tell you it will get better, but I can’t promise that. *tear
I’m just over here trying to get some matches in, do the best I can, and trying not to completely give up.
I’m not done with Gief yet but I’m done with RBG. That move is complete garbage. Worst special in the game. At least he has a sweet jab.
Least Gief gets something.
Already can see them taking it away whenever they do a balance patch.
It’s bad but you know what’s really sad? It’s way better than his SF4 rbg lol. That move was literally useless and only came out when the player fucked up.
it so true, lol. I only use it when i press wrong buttons and u can guess how many time i get a kick in my head =))
As a Charlie player since Alpha, I don’t know why but I’ve been playing Gief all day for shits and giggles. God, I can see why Gief is considering bottom tier. He’s got stuff, IF you can telegraph your opponent, which seems utterly 50/50. He is not someone to fear when up close, and that is Gief’s biggest attribute since SFII: when he’s close, he should be scary as fuck. SFV feels like everyone can walk over him.
It is a joke that everyone (may be only except dhalism) can now actually walk in front of gief
And spam tons of easy shits and can melt gief easily
Some people says that gief’s corner pressure is good;
but I have to say everyone’s corner pressure is good in the current system setting
Even a zooner like nash can also preform a heavy corner pressure against gief :s
Gief is strong when he’s got his opponent in the corner, but when he’s so free to pressure I often find that I’m the one getting cornered.
They just announced the March update will come with “slight gameplay balancing,” holding out hopes for Gief Buffs.
just make lariat hitbox extended and hit crouchers so we can get something off of cr light punch at a minimum please!!! Other buffs are welcome 
I know my Gief knowledge is bar-minimum, but I felt I was doing okay when I was willing to trade blows with my opponent. Seeing as he has the best health and damage, I was getting more out out of wearing each other down. The pain was getting hit by combo heavy characters and those who could poke and run. Nash, Cammy, and especially Vega’s (one particular) was mocking Gief. I’m too mediocre to say he needs buff, but seeing as most Gief players feel he needs some, then I’m partial to agree.
I don’t think so. They posted the balance updates earlier in the month and there was nothing there for Gief except the nerf to throw tech OS, which I guess helps him indirectly.
That’s exactly it. Other characters can play keep away effectively and hit confirm for easy damage without meter that eclipses most of Zangief’s damage opportunities.
You can just block, they don’t have many options to crack Down Back guard. If your in their limited throw range, you have to guess.
I think the V-Skill is underused and highly valuable, especially the FLEX. Iron Body needs that more of a compliment and hard read against moves with HUGE recovery, so not quite as effective. You just have to predict and recognize when you can FLEX and execute it quickly - sometimes I get the stupid Iron Body and pay for it. But effectively, it should allow you to go from defense to offense in one quick read. They lose 50 damage, you take white life, build VT, and have position at +2 on hit, allowing you to mix-up: SPD or pressure (Standing MP or crouch LP, etc). I think you can FLEX all heavy and most medium attacks, but your doing so because of attack speed and not its short range. The hit box is all mid, and can miss a few low or high, but you should be able to clip limbs as they retract after contact. It’s not that easy for the opponent to counter your FLEX, as they have to jump over, throw or use 3 hits.
Just have to look at their weaknesses. For example, when Dhalsim Yoga fires its your cue to forward dash. Understand your role in the match-up, your slower walk speed, and lesser quality heavy pokes, puts you on the defensive. You have to counter poke and use the finesse of your lights to match them. With attack priority: H>M>L, Headbutt with its huge attack box, should be a key defensive poke.
Crouch LP x 3 is lame. And it’s not what I would recommend in SFV. After that string you can mix-up LP SPD or Standing HK if they jump or HeadButt if they press buttons. I would shorter string so you have access to the MP SPD and Headbutt for the aerial knockdown if they jump out, and other safer pokes that guard against jump outs or if they press buttons. Like Standing MK
Your at +3 advantage and can set up a mix-up. SPD or Standing MP or better if you can hit confirm into CA. But you could achieve similar results with FLEX, but V-Reversal allows you to come out of block stun.
It’s all about calculated risk, and the odds you GIVE the opponent. In poker, you should bluff 25% of the time. And the other 75% of the time, you show them the goods. How about you show them MORE of the alternative to SPD such as crouch LP, block strings, etc and the alternative to getting hit by DP such as Iron Body or Block.
Take the +3 frame advantage and perform some kind of mix-up.
Just have to understand how to play Zangief. Do your best to minimize his weaknesses and maximize his strength
He can:
- Hit confirm into large damage via CA.
- CA punishes many things that WERE safe on block.
- Crack Down Back Guard from 30% screen distance
- Becomes a hit confirm machine in V mode
- Confirms VT off of a FLEX if your opponent pushes buttons
- Deters projectiles at 60% screen distance with VT
- Nails corner jumps with BD, but he could still use trusty Standing HK, but this seems more deadly, especially the range. Against Standing HK they could counter or trade, but I don’t think so against LP BD’s range.
Because of those strengths, your game should be to walk them into the corner, threaten SPD, threaten the counters to SPD, Build VT, Save for CA
You make it sound so easy when in fact it’s the total opposite against good players. This is just “on paper” stuff where you say this works against that and we should counter with this but it just doesn’t work like that in an actual match. This character has way too many holes and weaknesses for consistent high level play I’m sorry.
How come if you St HP a jump attacking opponent so they land on their butts (not Crush counter but still a hit) they can jump out of CA? It really bugs me since the CA is 1 Frame but I’m positive the get off their butts animation is longer than that. It literally NEVER works.
I seem to also have some issues with blocking Ken’s Heavy Tatsu, I usually churn and mash for an SPD but good players seems to get a DP out before I can grab them. Surely the endlag for the tatsu + the start up for the DP cannot be less than me blocking the tatsu and hitting the SPD?
I’ve brought this up before, i think in this thread, but if you do the math on the frames, there are situations where if you buffer in an SPD you have a 1 or 2 frame window when they get out of hitstun where you should be able to combo grab them. In any situation where you are +5 on hit, and you grab them on frame 6 or 7 they should be out of hitstun, but that is not enough time for them to jump or throw a jab. But I don’t think it works.
When you come from a viewpoint, that focuses on Zangief’s weaknesses, your doing the character an injustice. He can’t be what he’s not. To the contrary, you just gotta start applying knowledge to up your game. Didn’t say this game was easy. I wouldn’t know what high level Zangief play looks like, probably Snake Eyez. We could sit down and analyse his gameplay, specifically looking at the why things work.
I’m just waiting on the game data to look at it. But if its anything like SF4, you can’t throw them for a few frames after they come out of hit or block stun. Otherwise, you could set it up to make throws inescapable. Like tick-throw, bang!
The CA will whiff when they are in block stun, or an in the unthrowable frames when they leave hit and block stun. But will connect if they are in hit stun or neutral.