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Megatome

Combatting Susan

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Hi! I've played Blazblue since CSEX, but I'm not very good at fighting games as a whole. I can go head to head with most characters my friends play, but one of my friends plays Susano'o, who I almost never have fun against and who infuriates me to no end. I just can't ever seem to beat him, and I can't quite pin down why. It feels like he might have too many options for standing overheads and low hits, or like his attacks come out too fast, but I can't put my finger on it. All I know is I can't stand fighting him because of how one-sided the battles end up being. That being said, does anyone here have some general tips for fighting him? Keep in mind I'm at a pretty low level of play so anything too advanced is probably going to be lost on me.

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The following is more general defensive advice in the context of Susanoo. You said no advanced advice, but defensive advice really relies on frame data so I'm going to have to bring some of that in.  If you don't already know, the game runs at ~60 FPS, so frame numbers given are in x/60ths of a second.  However fast that might seem, all that really matters is the comparative speed (after taking frame advantage from blocking into account) because that determines whose move wins going into a situation where the buttons were pressed at the same time.  Frame advantage, as in +X, 0, or -X, refer to how "far ahead or behind" the attacker is compared to the defender framewise after the defender blocks an attack.  Frame advantage is per move and is not cumulative.  I apologize if this is review to you.

Susano'o's moves are not fast, in fact most are relatively slow.  

* His fastest (non-distortion) attacks are 2A and the C mash special if unlocked at 7 frames.  For comparison, most characters have a 6f jab, some even have a 5f jab.  Susano'o's fastest moves are even in speed with some character's B pokes.  

* His farthest reaching moves like 5C and the D moves tend to be slow to glacial in comparative speed, with a notable exception in 5B which is Susanoo's best allround poke at 9f startup.  If you feel Susano'o's reach is overwhelming you, 5B is likely the culprit.

Alone that doesn't mean too much, but Susanoo also doesn't have very many moves with positive frame advantage.  His only options are:

* 5A (8f start up, glacial for a jab, but it never whiffs on crouching and is significantly plus on block at +3)

* 2A (0, so even for both players),

* 6B (+2), but its startup is very slow (18f) and most characters can poke, DP, or jump out.

* 214A (the sand kick, goes from +1 at lvl 1 to a whopping +12 at lvl 3).  

In fact, a lot of his moves are more than -5 on block (meaning punishable w/o instant block by most jabs, by many B pokes if IB'd), esp. the moves that come late in a blockstring like his drives.  Taken together with the slowness of his moves, this means Susanoo actually has a lot of gaps in his blockstrings, esp. later on.  This means he is theoretically quite vulnerable to being poked or DP'd out of his pressure.  

Don't just press buttons against him though!  By canceling moves, Susanoo can get around this for a time or even leave 1-4f gaps meant to trap you into pressing a button to get countered!  However, he cannot do this forever.  Susanoo cannot chain his jab into itself, and cannot microdash to stay in on you.  Eventually he either has to

A) commit to walking or dashing back in, allowing you a gap

B) go for a mixup with a high or low, which if blocked will probably end his pressure unless he has higher leveled specials or a rapid cancel

C) try to throw you.  Unless he purple throws (more easily broken), this forces him to leave at least a small gap

D) try to use a positive on block move

E) use jump cancelable normal (5A,B,C) or 5D/C mash pushback to disengage.

Here's how to deal with each of those, generally:

A) Learn when he likes to do this, or react if you can, and try to get distance (unless you're a close range character, then try and get close).  If he flat out ended on an unsafe move with no cancel, you might be able to punish, but if he's varying his pressure well trying this could just get you frametrapped.  Basically, use the gap to escape and return to neutral.

B1) Block it.  Susanoo may have a lot of overheads, but all are reactable if you practice.  All are - on block, most are unsafe.  Furthermore, he severely lacks safe lows.  3C, 2D, and 236B are his only lows.  2A is NOT a low!  Those moves are 12f, 16f, and 18f startup respectively.  Not reactable, but still quite slow.  -8/-10/-15 respectively on block, all punishable if he doesn't cancel or rapid.  The best way to block these is to instant block them to increase your frame advantage.  It may seem hard, but learning to IB in this game is critical because it widens your windows to escape or counter pressure.  Wider gaps can make safe moves unsafe or even make frametraps invalid (which eliminates the mindgame).

B2) OD raid it and either do a fast poke into OD combo or use your Exceed Accel.  Works best on moves that are severely minus on block/how long recovery.  5C is one of the best examples, but the drive mixups are good examples too and have fewer cancel followups.  The likely result of this is either he went straight into a cancel to make that move safe and you can punish with a poke in OD combo or Exceed Excel (because you canceled your own blockstun), or he stops pressure there and it's your turn to pressure (or get distance if that's what your character needs).

C) Poke the throw attempt, backdash/jump out of the throw attempt (better for scenarios like a tick throw after 5A where your poke would get countered), or tech the throw.

D) 5A can't be used late in a blockstring and is slowish (so not optimal for stagger pressure),  6B has a long startup that can be interrupted, Monolith (214A) has to be unlocked.  If he does hit you with one, play it safe and block the incoming pressure until a new opportunity arises.

E) Not much you can do to punish, but this returns the situation to neutral and you're out of pressure.

So, essentially, get better at blocking his mixup overheads on reaction, punish his risky plays,  and learn to IB moves that will give you a good opportunity to counterpoke or jump out.  At times, you will need to risk his using a frametrap or blocking a DP if you have one.  Forcing him to vary his pressure in and of itself will open up options for you to escape.  Alternatively, if his frametraps are what are catching you now, calm down and force him to try and use his risky mixups.  As an Azrael player (another character with strong, built in frametraps), nothing is an easier match than impatient blockers.

This is probably way more than you wanted, and maybe less than useful, but there is no magic bullet.  Just getting better at defense.  If you tell me what character you play I may be able to help more specifically, esp. if I play that character.

Or one of the Susanoo mains will come around and expose me for being a fraud.  Hope so, as they can probably articulate the weak points in his pressure better and more clearly.

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