[HC] Important mid-level techniques

[Vadsamoht]

I'm working on bringing some of the old content over from homingcancel so that it's still available ahead of the Steam release of LM. Please be aware that I'm not the original poster for any of this, so I can't personally answer questions. Also some of the content goes back to the pre-LM period, and so might be outdated in whatever the latest version of the game is at the time you read this. I'll leave it up to your intelligence to figure this out or ask someone who knows - I'm not going to personally test every bit of information I copy over, or else you'll be getting bored of AH5 by the time I'm done.

 

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Important Mid-Level Techniques in AH3 - Bill307 on May 26, 2014

 

It'd be neat to make a video of these, but for now, here's a text-only version of important techniques that I think players with some experience should try to learn as they level up. I've also written counters to most of these techniques.

 

(Note: there are many counters and counter-counters that I don't list!)

 

=== Summary of Important Techniques ===

(roughly ordered from simpler to more advanced)

 

• If your opponent will die in 1 more hit, OTG them!
• If your opponent is air blocking near the ground, air-unblockable them!
• Important things to dodge with 4D.
• When to guard-cancel backwards/forwards.
• How to recover from being hit by a fully-charged 5[E]/2[E].
• How to punish techs (wake-up / recovery out of hitstun) and bursts by throwing them.
• How to escape setups or catch your opponent off-guard by teching differently.
• How to bait ground throw techs.
• How to high jump block.

=== OTGs ===

• If your opponent is knocked down with little/no life left, hit them with a single OTG B/C/E attack to kill them. Don't give up free wins!
  • Counter: always try to ground tech when you have no life left.

 

=== Air-Unblockables ===

• Every character's 5E and 2E are air-unblockable. Most characters have a much faster air-unblockable move. If your opponent is blocking in the air just above the ground, hit them with one of these!
  • Counter: dodge it with a well-timed 4D.
  • Counter: guard-cancel a move before it.
• Most characters can keep the opponent in the air a bit longer using 5A, then chain into an air-unblockable, e.g. 5A 2E. Using 5A first is especially useful if the opponent is falling too fast.
  • Counter: guard-cancel the blocked 5A.

 

=== 4D ===

• Dodge air-unblockable attacks with 4D or 4GC/6GC (guard-cancel).
  • Counter: delay your air-unblockable to hit them after 4D or 4GC/6GC.
• Dodge most reversal supers by holding 4D during the super flash.
  • Counter: use a super that hits late or has many active frames to catch the recovery of 4D. These supers usually aren't invincible, though!
• Dodge unblockables like 5[E]/2[E] with a well-timed 4D.
  • Counter: release 5E/2E slightly early so that 4D becomes 4GC, then punish the guard-cancel.

 

=== Guard-Cancels (GCs) ===

• If your opponent likes to use a slow move in a blockstring, 4GC the move before it to make it whiff, then punish them.
  • Counter: don't do the slow move: end your blockstring and punish the 4GC.
  • Counter: jump-cancel before the slow move, then homing and punish the 4GC.
  • Counter: use a different blockstring or just throw them while they're looking for that specific place to 4GC.
• If your opponent autopilots A B C chains in their blockstring, 6GC before the B move so that the B move clashes, then stuff your opponent's slow C move start-up.
  • Counter: stagger your blockstring and they might get 6D instead of 6GC.
  • Counter: jump-cancel right before they 6GC and homing at them to punish it.
  • Counter: anticipate the 6GC clash and cancel into a DP or super instead of your C move.
  • Counter: throw them while they're blocking.
• If you have a good/fast/invincible air special, escape blockstrings with 4GC and cancel into your air special as early as possible. The invincible frames are special-cancellable.
  • Counter: if their special isn't invincible, use lots of mid-hitting moves in your blockstring to stuff it.
  • Counter: jump before they 4GC and block/evade/punish their special.
  • Counter: throw them while they're blocking.
• If you have an invincible ground reversal, escape blockstrings with 6GC and cancel into your reversal as early as possible. 6GC is special-cancellable as soon as its invincibility ends.
  • Counter: if their reversal isn't invincible enough, clash with their 6GC and use your own invincible DP/super to beat it.
  • Counter: most reversals can be dodged with 4D. Clash with their 6GC and 4D.
  • Counter: jump before they 6GC and block/evade/punish their reversal.
  • Counter: throw them while they're blocking.

 

=== 5[E]/2[E] ===

• If you block a fully-charged 5[E] or 2[E], spin your stick and mash your buttons to recover asap. This doesn't work vs Fire or Punishment Arcanas, whose 5[E]/2[E] are true unblockables.
  • Counter: 5[E] the opponent in the corner: the wallslam is untechable.
  • Counter: cancel 5[E]/2[E] into an attack that hits the opponent before it's possible to mash out.

 

=== Throwing Techs ===

• Air throw the opponent as soon as they tech in the air. Air tech is vulnerable to throws from frame 1.
  • Counter: delay your air tech or don't air tech at all.
  • Counter: air tech and immediately throw tech. Doesn't work vs command grabs.
    • Counter-Counter: meaty the opponent. They'll get hit if they tried to throw tech.
• Air throw the opponent as soon as they tech a wallslam. Wallslam tech is vulnerable to throws from frame 1.
  • Counter: don't tech the wallslam.
  • Counter: tech the wallslam and immediately throw tech. Doesn't work vs command grabs.
    • Counter-Counter: meaty the opponent. They'll get hit if they tried to throw tech.
• Ground throw the opponent after they backwards ground tech. The 2nd half of a backwards ground tech is invincible to attacks but throwable.
  • Counter: the 2nd half is also special-cancellable. Backwards ground tech and reversal DP/super.
  • Counter: the 2nd half is also 4D-cancellable. Backwards ground tech and immediately 4D.
  • Counter: Backwards ground tech and immediately throw tech. Doesn't work vs command grabs.
  • Counter: Neutral ground tech or don't tech.
• Air throw baited bursts. To do this, you usually have to jump and block the burst, then 6GC to the opponent and throw them. The throw is not techable if done fast enough.
  • Counter: don't burst when they can jump cancel or otherwise air block your burst.

 

=== Unexpected Techs and Reversals ===

• Neutral air tech and neutral ground tech recover quicker, allowing you to escape some setups and sometimes mash to counter-hit the opponent.
  • Counter: if you get the chance, OTG a knocked-down opponent to prevent them from neutral ground teching.
• Backwards ground tech moves you away, is special-cancellable, and has a lot of invincibility frames. It allows you to do invincible reversals quickly and easily. You can escape some setups and make others less ambiguous / easier to block.
  • Counter: use a move like Flower Arcana's 236236E that locks them down regardless of how they tech or special-cancel.
  • Counter: cross them up: then their "backwards" ground tech will move them towards you instead. In this situation, there is no way for them to move away from you while ground teching.
• After a soft knockdown, you can sometimes tech in the air just above the ground. Don't tech the knockdown: after you hit the ground, neutral or forward tech in the air (if you can) and mash j.A to catch the opponent off-guard.
  • Counter: shorten your combo (less hitstun reduction) so that they cannot tech in the air after the knockdown.
• In the corner, air tech forward to tech out of the corner.
  • Counter: put them into an ambiguous cross-up situation after they tech forward.
• If your character has an air reversal, you can use it after a left/right air tech or a wallslam tech. (You won't be vulernable to attacks, but you can be thrown before you can reversal!)
  • Counter: throw them earlier in the tech animation.
  • Counter: make the reversal whiff.

 

=== Baiting Ground Throw Techs ===

• Dash forward, jump, homing j.A/j.B to punish their whiffed throw.
  • Counter: tech throws by plinking/pianoing 4D~A since 4D has less recovery. You can DP them out of their attack or even 5A if you 4D'd early enough.
  • Counter: mash buttons.
• Dash forward, 2A 2A, wait and punish their 4GC.
  • Counter: try to jump out or high jump block. Even if they hit you, they might not hit confirm since they're expecting you to block and 4GC.
  • Counter: mash buttons.

=== High Jump Block ===

• Right before you wake-up, input a high jump followed immediately by low-block (or high-block if they're jumping in on you). You can block attacks during the high jump pre-jump frames and if they tried to ground throw you or blocked to bait a reversal, you'll jump away safely. (If you get hit, you probably did a normal jump or you didn't hold block fast enough.)
  • Counter: do a late air-unblockable attack to catch the jump-out.
  • Counter: do a high/low or left-right mixup. It's more difficult to block a mixup correctly while inputting a high jump block.
• If your opponent likes long-ranged frame traps (e.g. Scharl, Kamui), attempt to escape using high jump block. If they did the frame trap, you can block it during the high jump pre-jump frames. If they did something else, you'll jump away safely.
  • Counter: dash in with a late air-unblockable to catch the jump-out.
  • Counter: hit the opponent with a low just before your usual frame trap timing. You'll probably catch them during the jump input of a high jump block.