Fox is a character notorious for his speed, combo and pressure game, using hit-and-run tactics to rack up as much damage as possible. His potential can be pushed even further by utilizing the unique properties of his down air to extend combos and secure kills. Notable Irish Fox main Skarfelt has been in the lab with the space animal finding the optimal percentages to extend combos using Fox’s drill.
Fox’s down air is not great in the neutral, due to his high landing lag and negative frame data on shield but optimizing this move can lead to devastating combo extensions and potential kills if used in specific locations on stage.
Hits 1-6 of Fox’s down air can even be used to lock opponents on platforms who have missed their tech, which can possibly lead into more damage. Skarfelt himself admits that this is pretty unreliable and won’t be used often in a real set, but it is a fun little tech to pull out in very specific situations.
When you’re first getting started in the fighting game community, the amount of jargon you’ll encounter can be overwhelming. Among such muttered terms, and perhaps the most intimidating of all, is frame data. Thankfully, commentary duo Ryan “Ketchup” Neal and Jake “Mustard” Neal recently worked with ESL to release a new video–the first in a series titled “Master of Kombat”–breaking down just what frames are, how they work, and the best ways to take advantage of them.
They use Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion as their vessel for conveying these concepts, and while the data presented is centered around Mortal Kombat X, don’t worry if that isn’t your game of choice; this is the sort of knowledge that will carry over into any game that you play, and Ketchup and Mustard do a great job of making a tough concept easy to digest.
If this first episode is anything to go by, we can expect “Master of Kombat” to be a series to keep an eye on.
Despite being heavily nerfed after his Japanese arcade dominance, everyone’s favorite pesky poltergeist keeps scaring up new tech.
Most of Gengar’s high execution tactics have a consistent theme: they tend to involve multi-part moves that have the ability to be cancelled before the first attack comes out. Built into these moves is a very small input window where you get both the attack you wanted, and the recovery of the cancel. Let’s break these discoveries down in chronological order.
Zano Shiran put together a quick explanatory video on Astonish Canceling.
Perhaps the best documented and oldest cancel tech for the G-Man is the “Astonish Cancel.” Normally doing jump+A results in an Astonishing Gengar face being summoned from the floor, followed by a built-in divekick. You can cancel the move before the face comes out and return immediately back to the ground. With Astonish Cancels, you can recover on the ground and have the projectile come out.
This allows Gengar to extend into some of his highest damage combos, and play with his opponents expectations on block.
Note that though Astonish Canceling is technically unsafe, punishing it requires the opponent to risk getting hit by the built-in safe Divekick. The ability to cancel this attack properly is both an important combo and mixup tool for any aspiring Ghost Trainer.
Building upon the same technical idea, Johnathan Brown has found that you can shoot a charged Shadow Ball and cancel the recovery into Gengar’s Shadow Stealth stance at the same time! This effectively opens up even more pressure with Gengar, giving him the ability slip out if his Shadow Ball is out prioritized in zoning wars. There’s a chance this can also be performed to a similar extent with other moves that slip into Shadow Stealth; what can you find?
Have a nice 300+ damage combo while you’re at it.
Given the age of the game and the complexity of the character, the flexibility that this tech offers is frightening.
Dhalsim is one of the most interestingly changed returning characters in Street Fighter V. The alterations the classic character received change him from a pure zoner to a fighter who thrives on tricky mixups gained from smart space control.
One of the players who has taken quite well to this revamped Dhalsim is Leah “gllty” Hayes from GIANTSWORD. In this new highlight reel, The BEAST shines a spotlight on gllty’s Dhalsim, showing tournament match moments from events like Texas Showdown, Northwest Majors and others.
With Guile now out for Street Fighter V on PlayStation 4 and PC, many are likely wondering what this newest appearance means for the returning character. It’s this question and more that BROKENTIER’s Jay “Viscant” Snyder addresses in the latest edition of his “Hit the Ground Running” article series.
The first thing that Viscant notes is how some of Guile’s traditional buttons have slightly less range in Street Fighter V. This includes traditionally strong buttons such as crouching forward kick as well as his aerial normals.
Viscant also identifies some of Guile’s notable command normals that every player will want to learn, including Backfist (towards and fierce), Step Kick (neutral or back and roundhouse), Straight Punch (back and fierce), and Sobat Kick (back or towards and forward kick). These moves either act as crush counters, or move Guile forward while still keeping him relatively safe. Sobat Kick also allows for a combo on counter-hit, making it more useful than in previous games.
As for his Sonic Boom, based on the frame data, it’s arguably the best normal projectile in the game. Guile’s booms take only 38 frames of animation, compared to the other characters whose projectiles have over 40 frames of animation. Also, with +8 frame advantage on hit, Guile can always combo into a sweep as long as hes close enough.
His Flash Kick on the other hand is not a true reversal, except for the EX version. However, each version of the move comes with projectile and throw invulnerability during the relevant early frames, meaning that they will work in situations where you don’t need a true reversal.
Of course, that’s just some of what Viscant talks about. Head on over to BROKENTIER to read the rest of the article.
The legendary Mikado Game Center at Takadanobaba Station in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward has been hosting a number of events for Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- these past few weeks.
Fresh from hosting the Mikado Open a couple of weeks back, Mikado will be holding a special exhibition event featuring two of the game’s notable players this weekend.
Nakamura and his Millia will be going up against Karinchu’s Johnny in a first-to-seven set. Nakamura will be familiar to most players as one of the top 8 finalists at Evolution 2015. Karinchu, on the other hand, started Xrd with Ramlethal, but has now switched to Johnny in -REVELATOR-.
The exhibition will start this Saturday at 6 PM JST (2 AM Pacific, 5 AM Eastern) and will be streamed at Jonio’s Twitch channel twitch.tv/joniosan.
The legendary Mikado Game Center at Takadanobaba Station in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward has been hosting a number of events for Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- these past few weeks.
Fresh from hosting the Mikado Open a couple of weeks back, Mikado will be holding a special exhibition event featuring two of the game’s notable players this weekend.
Nakamura and his Millia will be going up against Karinchu’s Johnny in a first-to-seven set. Nakamura will be familiar to most players as one of the top 8 finalists at Evolution 2015. Karinchu, on the other hand, started Xrd with Ramlethal, but has now switched to Johnny in -REVELATOR-.
The exhibition will start this Saturday at 6 PM JST (2 AM Pacific, 5 AM Eastern) and will be streamed at Jonio’s Twitch channel twitch.tv/joniosan.
This Sunday sees the start of the top 8 bracket of the Street Fighter V Crash tournament series. 8 teams comprised of some of the best players in the region will now fight for the chance at the gold.
The matches on Sunday will involve Group A of the bracket. This group is generally considered to be a “death pool,” as it contains two of the strongest teams at the moment: Team Topanga, consisting of EG|Momochi, Tokido, and Mago; and Team Razer with RZR|Infiltration, RZR|Xian, and RZR|Fuudo.
The other two teams are no slouches themselves. Team GZ Dojo features Qanba’s Dakou, as well as Xiaohi and Abao, and Team Daddy’s Going has Aiku, MaestroSora, and Street Fighter veteran Zzangmoo.
With a bracket as stacked as this one, this Sunday’s edition of Street Fighter V Crash is sure to be a real slobberknocker.
Street Fighter V Crash’s Top 8 Group A will start Sunday, May 8 at 2:00 PM KST. This means the the tournament will be taking place at 10 PM Pacific (1 AM Eastern) on Saturday evening. Those interested can check out the livesteam on twitch.tv/crash_en.
Guile has been the topic of much discussion lately, and by now you’ve certainly had a chance to see some of the more ridiculous things this returning fighter is capable of pulling off in Street Fighter V. Even though massive, impractical combos are exciting to see, you may be looking for a place to get started when it comes to picking up the character yourself.
In his latest entry to his running “SFV Bread and Butter Combo Guide” series, Bafael offers viewers a great introduction to the American hero. As with previous videos in this series, you’ll learn anti-air options as well as some combos to help get you started.
This week’s installment of Next Level Battle Circuit is now streaming live courtesy of Henry Cen. As usual, the event is being broadcast from its namesake, Next Level Arcade, in New York City. Tonight, they’ll be showcasing competition in Street Fighter V.
If you would like to check out these weekly tournaments, you can head on over to Next Level Arcade and take part every Wednesday. The address has been included below.
4013 8th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11232
The stream is currently live below, but you can also visit Twitch to join the chat. Full brackets will be made available through Challonge.
