[CPEX] Jin vs Taokaka (WIP)

[cadacus_ater]

Initial Notes and Match Start

I'm not very good at analyzing this character, so this advice isn't completely fleshed out and Frame Advantage will have nothing for now.  I'll try to put down what I can to get things started though.

Taokaka is a fast, high mobility fighter with extremely good air control.  Her damage output is below average and her health is the lowest in the game, making it somewhat easier to outlast her, but you may need to rethink how you handle neutral if you want to win.  Taokaka does not have as many mixup options as she did in previous iterations of the game, now with only one overhead to speak of, but she still has the ability to rapidly cross you up with her mobility and play keep away with ease.  You may not find very many good Tao players, as she has a relatively high learning curve, but a good Taokaka is worthy of respect.

At match start, you will probably want to either stand in place while guarding to see what she does or maybe dash forward, then stop your momentum with a Barrier block.  The key to winning against Taokaka is a solid ground game; aerial combat is very difficult against her, even jump ins for high attacks are risky with her drive options and her 6A anti-air.

 

 

Neutral

Full Screen

Her projectiles are, sadly, better than your own in CPEX overall.  She can confirm off of them more easily than you can.  I would use ice swords sparingly, they won't help you very much at all.  She can either play keep away at this distance if she has a life lead or try to confuse you with how she will approach.  Watch her carefully and look for opportunities to counter attack from the ground.  If she uses a drive dash into you while you are in the air, most of the time she will beat whatever normal you throw at her unless you have the good fortune of preempting her with j.C.

Long to Mid-Range

This range feels slightly in Taokaka's favor.  Be careful of zoning too often with 5C; if she set herself up correctly, she can counter you while you recover.  Her 2B low can cover a lot of ground and shrinks her hitbox substantially for low profiling, but has a lot of recovery and at the correct range can be punished if you IB it.  Her 5C, 2C and 6C normals can be charged to make them safer, but if you are at the right range, you can hit her while she charges with 5C or perhaps 2D or ice sword.  A good Tao may not let you do that very often however, and could release early to frame trap you.  The safest option is just blocking them.  Be careful of her cross-ups.  Sometimes they can be punished, but you'll need some experience to know when it's safe to do so.

Be careful of her slender hitbox.  5C can push her out of 5D range if you aren't close enough.

In general, air to air is completely in her favor with all her drive options, but sometimes a rising j.B, j.C or j.2C can tag her if you time it right.

Point Blank

This is the range you want to aim for most of the time.  Be careful of her 6B overhead.  Though it is slow, it can catch you off guard fairly easily if you aren't used to seeing it.  Look for her throw; it has a very short range, but can mess you up all the same.  If it whiffs though, punish it.  Don't expect her to use it often, but her crawl can let her low profile most of your normals, as such, you may wish to use 2A often to condition her respect.  Do not use 2A/5A for every AA situation, her j.2C can beat it in most cases.  You may get lucky sometimes and tag her out of a drive with 5A with relatively low risk to you, but don't lean on it.

 

 

Offense vs Defense

Your Offense vs Her Defense

She has no real defensive options aside from her mobility.  Once you get in, don't let go.  On her wakeup, use 2A oki if you want to pressure her wakeup; she can beat your 5B oki with low profiling.  Watch out for her moves that allow her to low profile your 5C if you try and intercept her.

Her Offense vs Your Defense

I would not use DP C very often as a defensive tool with all her mobility options, but if she seems committed to a move, you may want to toss it out.  Just don't expect to catch her with it if she is using her drive all over the screen.  DP D is a bit better, but watch your meter.  Watch out for crossups and follow her movements as best you can.

 

 

Gimmicks and Miscellaneous Info

Gimmicks

Her OD, Almost Becoming Two, forms a clone of her that mimics her actions with a 12 frame delay, making her pressure and combos more difficult to deal with.  Block as best you can, but keep in mind her 22C in this state can cause a decent amount of chip damage.

Her j.4D drive where she dives down at the ground then dashes very low across the ground refreshes her jumps when she reaches the ground from her dive, and thus can be canceled and re-input repeatedly as a spacing tool or to bait you into attacking.

Misc. Info

Her jump cancellable normals on block include 5A, 5B and 6A.  She still has drive cancels to watch for however.

Watch out for her 2D (diagonal forward-up dash) drive when you approach from the air; it can stuff you fairly easily at the correct spacing and give her a nice combo.

236C (down swipe) gets overhead properties if used a second time [236C (down) > C (up) > C > (down, overhead)], unless she is in OD.

236C also has a B followup that hits low.

Her projectiles will either go straight forward, forward in an arc, or travel along the ground.  She has only two really tricky projectiles. One is the baseball, which upon whiffing will come from behind her and travel across the screen again after some delay.  The other is the red bowling ball, which rolls along the ground and is useful for oki on your wake up from her 3C.  Be careful of her intercepting you if you attempt to jump out of it.

There are five different cancels she can use off of a drive.

• 6 makes her arc forward
• 4 makes her arc backward
• A makes her attack with one paw (no damage?), is -2 on block, +1 on hit and consumes 1 air action
• B makes her stretch out and attack with both paws (no damage?), is -5 on block and about +0 on hit
• C makes her leap up, but does not consume an air action

 

 

Frame Advantage

Frame Advantage

 

Frame Disadvantage

 

Punishes

 

 

 

 

Summary

I would put this matchup at 5/5.  As long as you block effectively and confirm well, you can generally outlast her or outright beat her.  This matchup is more about patience than anything.  Getting antsy can get you in trouble.  Approach with caution, look for opportunities to counter her and don't let up when you get momentum.