On Cody:
j.HK stuffs CRIMINAL UPPER on maximum distance
can be followed with cr.HK for knockdown
correction: only if Zang’s feet can touch cody’s head (through the cyclone-cone) then criminal upper gets stuffed.
I have to test some more on this…
far.st mp punishes bisons and chun’s st.hk if you do before and after kick.
Just getting into the Giefster, noob here…
Anyone else play on a fightpad? I love it for my other chars but I’m having a lot of problems buffering 720 motions behind a hand, s.hk, dash, etc.
I know some people like to do shortcuts with the motion, any tips?
On Cody:
If you block the dust from his 2nd ultra, you can counter the wrench dash with a well timed SPD.
“i haven’t found much use for zangief’s overhead.”, and, " i wasn’t looking for more difficulty, i was looking for new ways to mix up people into combos and what not but i guess i have to keep it basic. :-c"
you can focus cancel the st.mp. I like to let my FA build and see what the opponent does. if he hits you with an attack that does not focus break than you let him have it. if he just blocks he is dead. now this may not work every time so you may not want to use it like ever.
Hi there Red Cyclone enthusiasts,
I’ve been reading Maj’s Street Fighter Footsies Handbook, and I noticed that he wrote an unrelated, but equally informative, entry urging players to learn to play Zangief.
He was making this suggestion so that players will be forced to learn how to set-up throws and punish throw escape attempts. This will translate well into who ever you play, be it Guile or Dhalsim, to get that throw in the corner or at midscreen for momentum switch.
So I’m playing Zangief for the very first time. Frankly, I’m VERY lost.
General strategies listed in the first page here is very informative, but a bit too short.
UltraDavid’s OS guide is amazing, but they are too advanced for me at the moment.
I’ve played about 10 online matches doing just 3 things:
- j.hp or j.hk
- jab SPD, followed by banishing fist, fierce SPD
- splash, c.lk, KKK lariat
While I’ve won about half, I haven’t learned anything.
So I’m looking to get some help on “how should one play Zangief?” I would appreciate anything that would give me a good general feel for the character.
P.S. Here are some specific questions I had after skimming through the forums and playing.
- What are his tick throw set-ups?
- What are good ways to get close to the opponent after a SPD? I’m using banishing fist whiff, is this a good idea?
- Looks like Zangief is one of the most tweaked characters in SSF4, what are his changes? I keep hearing about his jump nerf, but I can’t find anyone specifying what has changed in his jump.
Well if you are just gonna use zangief to see how people punish throws and how to punish them for trying to punish throws - this is what I think you’ll need to do.
The banishing fist whiff is good to get over to your opponent after an spd. Then followup with another spd afterward is a viable tactic. To learn how people avoid this, keep doing it until your opponent wises up. They will typically do 4 things (other characters may have more options like teleport):
- Jump away
- back dash
- neutral jump up
- reversal uppercut/ultra/whatever.
When you realize the tendencies of your opponent, then you can figure out how to counter them.
For tick setups - with zangief his tick setups are really off of any light or medium normal or any air attack. Anything really…and you should change them up; don’t use the same ones all the time because your opponents will wise up and punish you.
If you didn’t use him in vanilla, don’t worry about his changes, just play him like he’s a new character.
IMO if your playing Gief as general training (a good idea), I’d focus on not jumping. Seriously - if this is for sake training and not ‘winning’, I’d fight people - jumping as little as possible. It forces you to learn his normals and get as dirty as possible with them. You’ll learn how to stuff c.mk footsies, or just about any other damn thing with s.mp. No other player from the vanilla roster personifies the ‘need’ for normal footsies like Gief does (IMO). Eventually, you’ll learn effective pressure tactics using footsies, and this will lead to setting up throws. I wouldn’t worry about the mix-ups, though I’d learn to keep EXGH buffered for hit confirming knockdown, as knockdown combos are things alot of characters have (from Ryu’s simple c.mp c.mp to c.rh to well others). But playing this way, you’ll learn how to setup throws via footsies.
As for ticks…
c.lk
s.lk
s.lp
c.lp
c.mk - not advisable as its EASILY reversible, but technically a tick
j.lk (hold down for knees) - if going for this, I usually hit lk and HOLD it, doing a 360, so I can release when I land and do the atmoic buster…but its a weak tick
- :bluu:
Thank you very much, JasonC and Unreallystic.
You’ve given me just the perfect mixture of general strategy + specific info that I was very much hoping for.
Thank you again for your time!
Is there anything that can counter sims j.mp?
Excuse me gentlemen i am 100 percent sure this question has been asked but i didn’t see it in the OP, how does gief handle abels second ultra? I cannot find the video that shows the options gief has so i decided i will just ask.
Like everyone else, don’t get caught. If he does it in your face, jump over him, if he is spaced from you jump back. If he is in good range, you gotta guess if he is gonna hold it or let it go. Basically, don’t give him his ideal range for it.
What’s the best way to deal with neutral jump HK spammers? I played some Gouken who did that the entire match, and only thing that seemed to work were well-timed jumping fierces.
Thanks bro, but guessing from your reply there are no moves gief has that beat it right?
You can EX green hand to break the armor, but that’s risky as hell. Pretty sure it goes right under lariat.
Well just in case i have no other option atleast now i know i can green hand, thanks a lot mate.
I have been doing the same thing I did vs seths ultra in vanilla try and bait it right after he gets it that way if it does hit “and it mostly will if they don’t suck” it doesn’t do that much damage.
And vs neutral jump spammers walk up and either standing round house if your spacing is right and if they are close to you or are doing it on wake up crouch + ppp lariet will beat or trade with every neutral jump attack in the game if they do it right on top of you. And after a trade follow up with a ex gh.
I was yelled at by UD I think and I had to scratch my head and say he’s right when he told me “I’m pretty sure you have practice mode”. Just pick the character in question, and have them do several jumps with j.hk or air attack of choice…ad try and AA it using c.mp, c.lariat, c.fp, s.rh, s.fp, s.mp, headbutt, or d/f rh (Honda). It works, best of all, the timing gets screwed up after a while, so it keeps you on your toes with retaliation as you can predict it only by so much.
Not the best strat, but instead of ‘worrying’ about Seth’s Ultra, I just continued with my gameplan…the damage is so sucktastic, that he bleeds more damage out of you trying to avoid it. Of course I don’t TRY to get hit, just don’t spaz about it shrug
Smudged Puma’s Edit - We need to condense the match-up threads…I don’t have the time to do much though, started a long time ago hehe.
Gief own abel… just get hit by the ultra and continue to fuck the remain health