I’d like to preface by reinforcing the fact that i am relatively new to this site, as well as Street Fighter itself. several months now I’ve picked up Zangief and I love the guy; he fits my style of fighting like a glove.
Where I am used to matches based on fear and running away from me, i sadly cannot say the same for those who are not. i simply have yet to grasp the tactics to deal with a rushdown player who can link many hits together to do big damage or long block strings. A few friends of mine play this style, and its slowly becoming my Achilles Heel.
In short, I was wondering what general tactics would you fine folks recommend against this type of match-up. i know i will never be faster than other characters, but i would like to find a way to keep them 2 inches from my face! Thank you!
What characters are giving you trouble? Almost every character that rushdowns zangief is taking huge risks in most situations. Most moves that are safe against others are punishable by gief, also lariat/spd/u1 will make most people have fear of rushing down gief. Maybe you will get thrown or stuck in a blockstring every now and then but the risk/reward is almost always in your favor.
Pretty much you force rushdown characters to play defensive with zangief, because it´s so risky to pressure him. Just watch any video against yun/rufus/guy/etc… Most players will just play footsies and keep you away, sometimes they will attack but as I said it´s very risky.
Sometimes it´s bad to block too much, if you play against someone who is rushing you down nonstop and not respecting your options just fuck it and lariat or 360/ultra, I assure you the second time they eat a 360/lariat+ free mixup they will consider attacking you like that again.
That’s actually what i was thinking; at some point during the rushdown, there has to be an opening to effectively lariat or spd, i guess its just being sharp on both and figuring out the times when.
To be more specific, its really only against overly aggressive characters in general, but that tends to be my friends who have simply played longer than I have, thus do not fear being thrown as much. The guy who got me started on the game usually plays Makoto nowadays, and pretty much showed me in countless matches why she’s gotten better; she’s fast, does alot of damage, and can pressure well. I won some, he won more, and showed how inexperienced Iam against rushdowns. I can only assume i have to find a way to block everything well, and punish when possible with lariat or spd (that and not get thrown or command grabbed)
So I guess my next question would be what can be used effectively across the board to prevent blocking so much during good pressure from say, a cammy or makoto? Even more general i guess would be Zangief’s defensive options in such situations.
Get that stick moving during blockstun and go for spd in blockstring gaps. With Meter EXspd will use inv to make an attack whiff and then it is spinning in the air flying time.
It’s you fuckers that give gief a bad name. I have no respect for butter churners, just fucking block. Gief has great footsies, try using them? If you churn butter, like every gief on these forums, or mash ppp you will get wrecked by anyone good. Be patient until you get a knockdown and then you can unleash hell. You simply won’t improve if you churn butter.
Read the guys posts, he is describing exactly the situation that calls for a buffered SPD or even a preemptive exspd. If he is playing a GRAPPLER and worried about getting pressured by blockstrings with GAPS he isn’t making them respect his COMMAND GRABS. If they aren’t given a reason to back the fuck up then he should just block? lol
^^^^ I love how scrubs think buffering a reversal spd’s during a block string is low skill. So if your not buffering the spd or u1 or u2 during a block string what do you do when they drop a link or stop the string and go for a throw or end the string in lp spd range start buffering then?
Vs makoto wake up pressure can be an issue don’t be afraid to wake up ex spd this stops many of her meaty option selects. If they are doing alot of wake up spd baiting with neutral jump axe kicks or jump back fierce consider switching to u2. Gief has an answer for all makotos pressure you just need to guess right. Like most matches it’s about getting a good read on the person your playing.
lol buffering spd isn’t really low skilled but its not high skilled either you know what is low skilled though? buffering it every fucking time the way most giefs do
PS - BP I don’t really think you are in the position to be talking down at others…kinda lame actually…
Just to be clear I am talking specifically about the situation and level that Bebop_Blue is describing. He will undoubtedly get blown up for having buffered SPD’s, as we all have and, for me at least, still do occasionally; and that is the point where he will face the next challenge. But I do think that when starting out with Gief it is a nearly essential skill to learn and have in your pocket.
@ Bebop_Blue- I was being a bit facetious when I said churn; I mean it more like have targeted buffers for gaps when they are prone to happen, like the links in Sakura’s loop or if you see the same blockstring a few times and feel confident with exspd chewing it up.
I mean churn like this: :hcf::uf::p: only at the weak spots.
Not like this:360::360::2p::360::360::2p::360::360::2p::360:
Well quarreling aside, I got the jist of needs to be done and what needs to be worked on. This will be figured into my practice rotation along with some good options after knockdown; i figure they go hand in hand anyways. Thanks everyone!
Ok, but how do people learn? This game is just a long set of temporary solutions, some take longer to figure out than others. People learn by trial and error, making mistakes and adapting. In learning how to bust open a blockstring with command grab the OP will get a) a solution to his question and b)faster spd motions with developing muscle memory for situations where there isn’t much time for a hp SPD punish or whatnot. Of course newcomers will be punished eventually and forced to adapt; then they learn how to recognize when SPD is called for and when it is a real liability.
Don’t see why rushdown characters would be much of a problem seeing as zangief usually beats the crap out of them for any mistakes they make since they gotta get in close to hurt you that gives you the advantage and them the disadvantage nobody wants to butt heads with gief but rushdown characters have no other options so they gotta storm the gate and try to topple the red cyclone you on the other hand can sit patiently waiting for them to flub up so you can land a SPD and watch the Health bar go down the toilet…
Agreed. Runaway characters, on the other hand, like old Seth, are painful for me. Unless the “rushdown” character is El Fuerte; then I just get all sorts of es no bueno.
that’s scrubs opinion, pretty much every rushdown characters has a lot of safe moves, like honda , gen, claw, their footies are better, you cannot punish their mistakes unless you are mashing everytime.
everyone has longer range moves than your spd and mp, and they are safe.
and why do you think trying a not safe basically random180 damage spd when close is your advantage when they can easily jump/back dash/reversal and punish you for 300+ damage. ??
I picked up SSF4 and played maybe one match when it came out- I never sat down and got into it- but recently paid the extortion- err, bought the DLC for AE, and picked up Gief again. The more things change… The matches where people attack me are welcome reprieves from an unrelenting tide of runaway you face as a zangief. I’m very rusty, and I don’t know any of the new players or their super/ultras. Sagat/Dhalsim/Seth being played by a competent person just seems impossible right now. It’s a constant rush down that’s anything but a rush- inch by inch getting close- and being thrown to the other side of the screen only to start all over again after 1 mistake. How do you guys who still main zangief deal with the overwhelming odds against in those matchups, and more directly, how do you deal with the crushing monotony of every match with a shotoclone/runaway char?
i’ve main gief since sf4 and if theres one thing you must learn if your gonna main gief. patience…patience is key friend. .get thrown across the screen? no problem…show how uber you are and walk that manly underwear of his (that only he can pull off) and get in their face again…try to resist jumping to get close again… cuz they’ll be looking to plant a foot on ur gut. playing against runaway chars?..no problem…the silly one always manage to corner themselves…play smart and use ur normals to zone the day lights out of them and use your improve range lp spd from time to time to punish them if they just sit there and crouch. happy hunting and b patience…
only at the weak spots.