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Setsuna

[P4A] Labrys vs Akihiko

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Labrys_Vs_Akihiko_Header.png

Please use this thread to discuss and contribute to this matchup. Information will be added to the main post as information comes. Keep in mind that strats will be changed as the game evolves.

Tentative Frame Data for Akihiko can be found in this post.

Please refer to Akihiko Sanada Wiki if you would like to know more indepth information such as frame data etc.

The Neutral Game

At Neutral Akihiko can run in and stuff out just about anything Labrys has so you really want him to come to you, zone him out with j.B or max range sweeps. Most Akihikos will try to close that gap and bring you into his comfort zone with 5D/2D/j.D however you can opt to throw out a 5C in response since it'll drag along with you. If you're the one who needs to get in netural jump slowly to him and watch out for his j.C or 2B.

Offense

Your Offense:

For Labrys her offensive options are pretty limited, if you want to play the match up safely you want to end most your combos spaced away from Akihiko instead of setting up for Oki however if you decide to go for Oki be mindful that you'll be in Akihikos space and if you're Oki were to fail you would be in a bad position trying to get out (Its up to you as the player if you want to take that risk).

Your best tools during this match up will be max range 5B and 5C, theres almost nothing he can do at max range against them and if he were to get hit you can convert it into damage for yourself.

His Offense:

Doing into detail on his offense lets first take a look at the startup difference between 5A and 2A between both characters (Akihiko - Labrys):

  • 5A: 5f - 7f
  • 2A: 5f - 7f
    Though his normals are MUCH faster then ours we do beat him out in range, on your knockdown don't try to challenge him in a poking battle ... he'll win however if you're trying to approach him you can beat his out if properly spaced however also keep in mind that his 5B has Fatal Counter Properties be wary of this whenever he knockdowns you down.

    Akihikos main tool of entry are his Kill Rush (236A/B) and its many follow ups all of which have they're own properties and uses. Here is a list of his various follow ups:

    If he has 25 meter be wary about the SB Version or some of this follow ups as well such as:

    [*]SB Boomerang Hook: Guard Point

    [*]SB Ducking > Corkscrew (Dirty Cross up, hard to react to)

    [*]SB Corkscrew (Crosses up ?)

    Theres probably more follow ups or situation, if you know anymore please feel free to let me know

    j.C

    Akihikos Persona Caeser does a large overhead aerial slash downward, the hitbox on the slash is quite large. Air to Air unless you're close enough to call him out with j.A or use j.B early enough you'll take the hit, on CH grounded Akihiko can actually follow up to 3-4k combo meterless and push you right into the corner in the process. If you're grounded and he throws it out you can block out as he comes down landing if you're close enough. In rare cases you can also call him out with 2B but he has to be low enough to the ground and you need to call him out on it ASAP

    Under Awakening be careful about j.B fishing, if he reacts fast enough he can use a full screen Maziodyne (214214C/D), if it hits you'll be put under Shock and won't be able to move.

    Defense

    Your Defense:

    You have to respect Akihikos space, keep yourself properly distanced from him (remember to air turn back dash to avoid the negative warning and cover more distance). Under pressure if you can attempt to DP, alot of Akihikos autopilot and just mash into their follow ups right away however keep in mind Akihiko can cancel into his DP in the middle of his attacks and counter our DP with his own for a CH punish (so use sparingly against good players if not at all). Look for openings in his strings and Quick Escape through, this is risky since one of his follow ups is a grab as well otherwise wait out the string and punish the ender.

    Learn to IB his Auto Combo string, its a very easy move to IB, gets free meter from his punches as well as allow you punish his follow up.

    His Defense:

    His 2B has 7 frames of startup and has head invul after the 5th frame, this stuffs our j.B fishing clean. His Furious Action, the first hit is air unblockable. Added to this be wary of his Closeout Blow(214A/B) parry special which can be followed up into any of his Kill Rush follow ups.

    Gimmicks and Resets
    -

    Match Summary
    You have to play his match up very patiently, distance yourself and just fish out with j.B and 5C when properly spaced. Under pressure block accordingly and wait for openings, watch out for his meter hard in this match up ... Akihiko with 25 meter is a scary thing.

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Akihiko is a damn solid character with high damaging punishes and decent mixups. In this matchup, you're going to want to push him to the corner and pressure him to the point where he has to make a risk to get out. Akihiko's offense is truly amazing. Most of his combos and blockstrings starts or ends with kill rush. During Kill Rush, Aki has a choice of ending it with a 2AB, Ceasar(FAST STUPID OVERHEAD) hard knockdown, AOA, Short Hop, Duck and Weave Shenanigans, to grab and counter hit setups and so on. You want to keep calm and block low since most of aki's damage comes from his sweeps(correct me if i'm wrong) His AOA is pretty easy to react to and like most AOAs it's punishable on block. Be careful, if Aki gets a knockdown; Remain calm. he can do a meaty j.B or cr.A we want to keep up our defense as much as possible by being patient. eventually, you want to wait until he leaves an opportunity for us to escape.. if you get the chance PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO ROLL.

-I'll write a full insight later on today. passing out lol.

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ShadowFiend is right about everything.

From my experience here what I think works.

neurtral game

while aki speed allows him to snuff most of labry option, some simple zoning can discourage aki from being linear with his approach. 214 and 2a+b at max range keeps his rush honest.

Offense

I think Labry has little working for her on initiative offense, she'll probably get most offense opportunity from punishment situations where good read come in. Depending on axe level will determine how one capitalize on combo opportunity. how ever If labry has the life lead i think her offense opportunity should be prioritize to maintaining space where aki can't hit with his normals nor too far out of labry reach. I find this easier to maintain by not completing certain combos or simply reseting the opponent. While doing this does lose oki and damage, i find it easier to manage her mid range position since majority of her bnb finishes with her opponent too far away or too close for counters.

Defense

Aki pressure game can really make it hard for labry to escape him once hes in. I'm still not really sure how to deal with this my self but it seems aki has little means to exploiting excessive jumping when not in danger of pre/post jump vulnerability (chicken blocking). If need breathing room, doing her air dash in reverse helps gains some distant compare to her air back dash which covers little space and ends quickly.If in block string, simply do best to IB what you can and look out for gaps. Labry 2a seems to be her primary poke but should be done sparing has it lose to Aki AoA. If wind up knockdown, I really recommend NOT ground teching in most situations, it leaves labry with little options and and put her at risk for many mix up and repeate. Normal standing allow more room for counters as well as errors even with this risk OTG. In fact aki really doesn't have much in OTG or capitalization on invalid combos so it may be worth to risk it at times.

Misc

jump C is really

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Keo pretty much summed it up flawlessly. Oh, also do not underestimate aki 2B anti air, i think he can get j. B loop from it or just a basic air combo into the dive. Like keo said, delay your techs sometimes. After his air combo to dive; if you are teching too fast he can set up and unblockable as you are waking up, keep and eye out for this. And YES IB! It's our best substitute for our shitty dp. IB all of kill rush so you can CH him out of his followups but that doesn't mean you IB then brainlessly mash 2A he could 4A and get a free fatal. Choose wisely when to attack.

Oh people, PLEASE BE PREPARED TO TECH GRABS DURING HIS KILL RUSH FOLLOWUPS. I've seen dacid confirm to KR.. Then duck grab.. Since the opponent didn't tech, he got crumbled after 4A into j. B Loop lol.

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ShadowFiend your summary was pretty spot on, I have to say though and this was something the Akihiko player said to me as well after our match was not to get too greedy against Akihiko. During our first match I zoned him out pretty from near full screen with j.B, Akihiko doesn't have a reliable approach in with out getting stuffed with it (At least thats how I interpreted his words). After that round I decided to try approaching him but he blew me up, Tsurugis outside of oki knockdown are horribly unsafe as well as improperly spaced 5C's ... Akihiko can be right in our face in a mere second with Kill Rush > Corkscrew.

And thats all I say about it for now, hopefully I can get a better feel for this match up after playing more skilled Akihiko players.

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Oh another thing, StB Max range is amazing vs aki. So if you get a knockdown and you properly space stB, there isn't much he can do but roll. Dp won't reach but our stB goes right through him making you both neutral.

In all honesty i think this matchup is even. It basically goes to whoever pushes the opponent to the corner with momentum. Both characters mixups aren't as strong but can still pose a threat. If anyone disagrees please don't hesitate to say so :)

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I think it's true that it's a momentum game but Akihiko has better ways of breaking momentum than ours and better ways of starting and keeping his momentum for the reasons that have been listed above, namely his speed beating out most of our options.

People on the Akihiko side generally say the matchup is in their favor

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I think it's true that it's a momentum game but Akihiko has better ways of breaking momentum than ours and better ways of starting and keeping his momentum for the reasons that have been listed above, namely his speed beating out most of our options

I'm aware but with a max range normal like 5B or 5C, what can he do? He can't dp. He can't even roll or guard cancel. His mixups are almost as bad as ours(roll or IB), at certain conditions we do alot more damage than he does. His air normals do beat ours but he can't get in if you j.D at a safe distance. All i can say is he's faster and gets in better but if we knock him down our momentum begins(midscreen and corner). Our Awakening super(i call it Gears of War. Don't judge me xD) is damn amazing vs. Him. It's a get out of jail free card, free mixups, great reversal AND you can IB killrush into this super. I feel that both sides have their advantages but no one is at a great disadvantage. Whoever has the momentum usually win which can go either way.

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random notes i have experienced since XBL is like 80% akihiko it seems every time i get on. granted most of it is lower level stuff. havent gotten a long set with a good akihiko yet. =\

-214B clean beats aki's jump-c to open the round. if they get into that habit, you can do that even once, they will probably never do it again. it will CH for a shitton since itll hit 2nd hit only and take a persona card.

-if you are pressuring, doing a lot of j.b crossups can discourage his usage of DP. once you train him off it, you can open a lot more options.

-if your akihiko likes to autopilot that 'rush punches, into sway, into slide forward, into AoA/Throw/Whatever', throwing out a DP when he sways will beat all of those options. he can just block if he doesnt hit a button, but it can get him to stop autopiloting.

-if they do the magnet persona move at neutral from like half-screen or more, you can 5c, and itll drag with you, extending the range, and tagging him if he immediately rushes you down after the move.

-j.d into IAD forward j.a/j.b is useful as oki at times

-be patient if hes on your shit, his pokes are generally faster, and he gets big damage off some of his better CHs. the pressure isnt insanely hard to block, so let him get impatient.

-rolling out of his pressure is surprisingly good if he you notice him trying to bait DPs a lot.

-i tend to avoid 236x, since he has a lot of tools to invul it, and he can punish it at almost any range.

-brutal impact-b has enough invul to avoid his IK and ch him for a billion damage.

if any of these are wrong. let me know. i do need to play a good aki, so these might be things that can be beaten.

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This is good info iora.

i find it risky to do anything when he calls ceasar tanden engine(gravity) he could easily SB kill rush if he sees you move an inch. if you know he's gonna killrush just neutral jump and block, it isn't air unblockable but it's DAMN fast.

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