In his latest episode of The Armory, Pig Of The Hut explains how to deal with a character who’s caused quite a large amount of discussion in the NRS community as of late, Tarkatan Alien. Though he was nerfed in the game’s last balance patch back in March, with players like cR Dragon winning nine consecutive ESL tournaments with him, the Xenomorph is still considered a problem by many.
Using what he calls “The Rule of 13,” which means using Armored attacks that have 13 frames of startup or less, you can perform an Option Select on the F134 string canceled into Rekkas, if the Alien player chooses to delay them in an attempt to make them safer, which will guarantee you a full-combo punish against them every time you block correctly, regardless if they stagger the first or the second hit of the Tarkatan Rush.
Pig then demonstrates how to exploit the gap between his Tail Flip, which is generally safe at -7 on block, but can immediately be canceled into his Tail Slam, which is punishable at -17 on block, but has Armor on it. Using Kenjutsu Kenshi, Pig is able to consistently full-combo punish with the 13-frame Double Slap.
If you find yourself lacking Meter however, Pig suggests Backdashing the initial Rekka, blocking the follow-ups on reaction. Though it is a risk for someone like Kenshi, if your character has a faster backdash, such as Kano, Sub-Zero or Quan Chi, this is a much more effective tactic against him.
In closing, Pig mentions Tarkatan’s near-half-screen mixup with his Low-hitting Tail Snag and Tail Flip, as well as his Low Kut Command Normal that can lead into his Tarkatan Rush mixups. Unfortunately, dealing with this will require a hard read of just jumping in for an attempted punish, or a full-screen punish if your character possesses the tools to do so. You can also head over to his thread on Test Your Might, which has a list of character-specific punishes against Tarkatan for a wide variety of cast members that can utilize the “Rule of 13.”
Pig also promises a second video outlining how to deal with the “Dragon Serpent’s” Acidic and Konjurer Variations.
Source: Pig of the Hut via Test Your Might