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Korey

[VS] Aulbath: Creature From the Black Lagoon

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Hey guys, I've been an Aulbath main for YEARS...so I think I can drop some science on him.

PROS:

Strong ground game/dash pressure game

Bubble loop can win the game for you

Strong Dark Force

Good Normals

Strong Throw game

Great A2A game

Good at breaking through pushblock attempts

CONS:

Bad Anti-Air

Bad Guard Cancel

Somewhat one -dimensional offensive options.

Normals:

Aulbath has a pretty good set of normals, but I think they're best utilized when he's dashing. However, he has some of the best light attacks in the game. c.lp gives you +8 on block, +7 on hit and can link into ITSELF. Pretty awesome imo. C.lk is around the same +7 on block, +6 on hit. His s.mp, c.mp, c.mk and c.hp are all unique because they're two hit moves. You can cancel those at the first or second hit into the other moves (with the exception of c.hp I think). His sweep is pretty decent too, but best utilized when dashing.

Aulbath's dash game is probably what makes him the scariest. All of his normals are tailored for lockdown. Dash sweep is really fast and safe on block (depending on distance). All of his dash lights are simple ways of getting in on the opponent and start off his offensive rush series.

His Aerial moves are great too. Pretty much every one has a use. lp, mp, hp are my favorites for air to air encouters and I use j.lk to jump in at grounded opponents, because it chains into other moves. You can also have an instant overhead with j.lk> Drill.

Special Moves:

Echo (B, F Punch)- Echo is a good move, but I use it mainly for zoning/trap purposes. If you hit them on the ground, it's a full jump in combo. If you hit them in the air, it puts them into a juggle state. Best combo to do when that happens is Echo>J. HP> Pursuit Attack.

Gas (B, F Kick)- Gas is also a great move, but I mainly use it in blockstrings. Sometimes in Zoning. Any time you hit this move it puts them in a stun state for a full jump-in combo. However, if they're far away...you won't be able to combo them. A simple dash sweep is the best way to maximize damage at that point.

Tricky Fish- Fish's weird jump back move. Can be done two ways (b,b K or DP+K). I hardly ever use this move. It's not the best, but I suppose you could use it to peg people who are being stupid and jumping in predictably when you don't have charge. I also use it when I don't have charge for a bubble combo. Does decent damage.

Pokey Command Grab (HCB P)- This move is great because both of Aulbath's throws have invincibility. Mix this in with your dash pressure for some scary situations.

Pearl spit Command Grab (HCB K)- Read: Pokey Command Grab and substitute P for K.

Supers:

Sea Rage (HCF+ PP): This move can be used from time to time when people are throwing FB's full screen or something. Some people use it for Chip but it doesn't do THAT much imo to even be good about chip. Waste of meter, imo

DA MOTHAFUCKIN BUBBLE (DP+PP): The Scrub Busting, Rage inducing, Cheapest move in the game. This is your objective with Rikuo. Get a knockdown, bubble, pressure them and land them in it...do full combo. This works better in the corner than Midscreen, but it has its uses midscreen as well, because people like to give me space when it's out. So I just walk behind it. Some characters can escape it with Dark Force/Specials/ Wall Jumps or w/e, so be cogniscent of which characters have options and which don't.Once you land the bubble, the main combo you're looking for is:

Bubble (Begin Charging), LK Poison, jump lk> Hp air chain, low lk, stand mp (two hits), stand mk, low RH.

That combo builds a ton of meter (most of the time netting you another meter to bubble again) and does the most damage. Learn it, as it's also applicable to any other time you land poison or echo when they're grounded.

Water Tower (F,DF, D + PP or KK): This move is funny to me because its got its uses for screen control at full screen, but even then it's a waste of meter. However, if they get hit and pitched up by it, they get put in a juggle state and you can combo poison into it (However you don't get a full ground combo afterwards....that'd be mega cheap). Sometimes I use it in bubble combos to be flashy. If you use the PP version, you can hold the Punches and it'll travel on the ground until you release them. KK is a set activation point.

LEVEL 3 SUPER OF DEATH (down,down+ PP): You can only use this super on Default color. Waste of meter, hit's low and is hella slow. Doesn't do any damage either. But if you land it, you automatically win the game of Vampire Savior and you are better than Oouchi Jedah and Sasaduka COMBINED.

Combos:

Dash MP~ link combo

low jab, low short, low mk, low hk

Low lk, stand MP (two hits), stand MK, low hk

Ground Gas/Echo hit> jump lp>hp, low lk, stand mp (2 hits), stand MK, low hk

Dark Force: Rikuo gains Hyper Armor and all of his moves become crouching. Rikuo can't block though. He can jump off the Crab with KK, but he loses his hyper Armor if he does so. This can lead to INESCAPABLE Bubble traps, because the bubble can't be broken if Rik is hit.

Strategy/Mindset:

First of all, Rikuo is NOT Guile. A lot of beginning Rikuo's make the mistake of doing that and they realize that Rik can't really handle people jumping in on him like Guile can, because Rik lacks AA normals (Stand HP DOESN'T WORK). The best you can hope for is to trade or make them land on Gas/Echo. Even then....that's a crapshoot on characters like Lei Lei, Jedah, QB, Raptor, Felicia and Gallon because they have ways to jump over it and get you killed. You can turtle it up when needed, but Rik's not built for that.

How *I* play McFish is to be a constant source of PRESSURE. His ground game is one of the best in the game and I abuse the hell outta that. Use dash pressure and stagger your normals and cancel them into Gas/Echo to create traps that catch people mashing/jumping. Or you can pressure them into a throw situation. Any time you can get a knockdown, bubble. This puts an immense amount of pressure on the other guy and often forces a lot of mistakes, because they don't wanna get looped. However, be careful in your pressure because if Rik gets hit... you lose the bubble and all that pressure. Once you land a bubble, do the air combo that I mentioned and if you have enough meter.... DO IT AGAIN! Rik is a simple character and abusing the cheap stuff will net you some wins.

In the Air or at a neutral state, I like to jump in with Rikuo's Air normals, because they're all really good. Use them to hold off people's offense (this is basically his form of AA) and to start your own pressure and create new angles of attack.

And throw...a lot. Because that's all I do.

When it comes to bubble usually your best tool to make sure the bubbles traps them is to unleash a sound wave, Cr. Jab (+8 on block, +9 on hit), or enter dark force and pressure with whatever. While in DF Victor, Anakaris, Jedah, and Q-Bee have pretty much no way to avoid the bubble, for all save Q Bee stay a little above their heads to keep them trapped and Q-Be stay at chest level so you can react if she tries to low proilfe out somehow. Next time I have a chance to check I'll see how long they remain in bubble to get the most damage out of it.

Waste of meter, imo. The only times you should be doing a bubble are after a knockdown situation or a at a point where you can safely throw it without being interrupted. This move has A LOT of startup and using the Dark Force doesn't allow you to do a full ground combo unless you get off the crab (KKK) and do a full ground combo. Which....takes too much effort when correctly guessing and pressuring correctly can net you bubble after bubble against certain characters. When I throw a bubble, the most common response is to jump over it. So I jump at my opponent with jumping mp> HP air chain for two reasons: 1) The Air Chain has a high probablility of beating out whatever air attacks they're doing and it beats most chicken guard attempts, because the bubble will hit by then. 2) MP> HP are both throw buttons, so you have an option select should they enter the parameters for being air thrown. If their air throw comes out, you tech it (losing the bubble, but meh) or you throw them. Not a bad trade imo.

Other methods of pressure include dashing, using echo/poison to keep them in place....or simply neutral jumping and hitting them into the bubble.

Also, it's worth noting that the bubble CAN be mashed out of. So the time in the bubble depends on how quickly you do your follow up Lk poison/ how quickly they mash out. The optimal combo you wanna be doing is: Bubble > LK poison> J.lk, HP air chain, (land) low lk, stand mp (2 hits), stand mk, low hk.

One little thing I noticed at the BFS VS tournament due to my sloppy execution, the water Tower ES attacks stay active for a little while longer than the actual tower remains on screen. Helped me out a bit in finals when I flubbed Bubble inputs somehow and got Tower.

When it comes to bubble usually your best tool to make sure the bubbles traps them is to unleash a sound wave, Cr. Jab (+8 on block, +9 on hit), or enter dark force and pressure with whatever. While in DF Victor, Anakaris, Jedah, and Q-Bee have pretty much no way to avoid the bubble, for all save Q Bee stay a little above their heads to keep them trapped and Q-Be stay at chest level so you can react if she tries to low proilfe out somehow. Next time I have a chance to check I'll see how long they remain in bubble to get the most damage out of it.

His best Anti-Airs are St. Jab and St. RH, both are situational and you have to think quickly when it comes to choosing which to use. Soundwaves are alright every now and then if you predict an attack and space it right, a Anti Air sound wave setps up a guarenteed bubble if they end up close to the corner and a decent opputunity mid-screen.

I'll edit later. Ummm for now check out the Mizuumi wiki:

http://vsav.mizuumi.net/wiki/Aulbath

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Howdy Folks! Gonna come back with some more advanced stuff for Aulbath.

Dash Pressure game:

Easily one of Aulbath's shining characteristics. The amount of options in mixup is only really limited by Aulbath's hard-ish method of landing overhead. So it really boils down to three things: 1) Throw Game 2)Frame Traps 3) Jump/Re-Dash mixups

Aulbath's d.lp, mp and lk are what get him in the fastest. LP and LK are more oppourtune imo, because they have greater blockstun and are harder to AG or GC (MP is two hits). However, I find myself dashing with MP a LOT to set up the dash link (will be covered later). The key to maintaining dash pressure is to gauge how the opponent is going to react to what you're doing. If you see a lot of your opponents blocking your strings, then move in for the throw. Aulbath is usually in a ton of frame advantage, so unless you mis-time it/they're mashing really hard...it's relatively safe to move in for a throw/command throw. Aulbath's command throws are wicked sweet because they are invulnerable on startup, especially the ES versions. Abuse that if you get a shot. Make sure to bubble afterwards to maintain the pressure!

If you see that opponents are trying to AG/Jump out of your mixup (my Bane, unfortunately), then you can use frame traps to catch them from moving forward/ jumping. How do you accomplish this? Sonic Wave/Poison gas. These will catch most opponents as they dash/ jump at you or jump away, which allows you to get a free ground combo or a juggle combo in the case of the sonic wave catching them in the air. You can also set up your strings right by staggering the attacks in the string. abuse your LP and lk, because they have an insane amount of frame advantage and allow you to stay in and smack people who are trying to AG between your strings. If you see your attacks connect, hit confirm a hunter chain. Once you set up the frame-trap game, you can begin to work in your throw game again.

What if your opponent keeps pushing you away with AGs? No worries, because you have the ability to maintain pressure by simply jumping or dashing in again! Sometimes Aulbath finds himself either 3/4ths screen or further, depending on the push. With this, you can space a jump in nicely, and Aulbath's A2A/A2G game are both soooo solid. In the instance that you get pushed but are still close, go for a dash sweep or dash mp. Both will get you back in relatively fast and catch people who are trying to move forward. Sweep is great in this instance because you get a knockdown and what little momentum they just got back just got double agented.

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Just got to fully reading this. Great write-up Korey. A few things to add.

If you land a gas outside of dashing sweep range, your only option for getting damage is sea rage. 41236PP

A tip about that input. Jap's write it as 4123[6]PP. apparently holding the towards aid the inputs to work more successfully.

lastly, I would like to start a list of how to escape bubble traps, in general and unique per character. When Aulbath get's hit, the bubble goes away!

Generally:

-If you are in wake-up to a bubble coming at you AND Aulbath is putting a meaty on your wake-up, you have these options.

1. Reversal, wakeup dp/super whatever

2. wake-up guard cancel during blockstun

-If Aulbath had a meaty timing that was too early: wake-up and throw him

-If Aulbath had a meaty timing too late: wake-up and trade moves so he takes some damage. The bubble disappears when Aulbath takes damage.

Character specific:

Sasquatch: mp+mk dark force for super armor. Do not Jump.

Bishamon: hp+hk dark force for super armor. Do not jump.

Morrigan: 63214kh~mk~lk. A reversal Valkyrie turn is a great escape option

Felicia: Wall jump over the bubble.

Lilith: Super Jump Up than LI over the bubble

Zabel: Reversal teleport away

Lei-Lei: hp+hk dark force, super armor. Do not jump.

Qbee: reversal es dives. Or jump up and command throw over the top of the bubble

Anakaris: Backdash through the stage

jedah: Jump up, then fly over the top

Bulleta: jump up, double jump over the top.

Demitri: reversal ES Drill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldzHWRwN94o#t=2m50s

Gallon: i dunno, maybe this is why the match-up is soo bad for them

Victor: i dunno, maybe this is why the match-up is soo bad for them

Aulbath: ??? He might be able to Dark force out.

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Talbain can, if there's enough room, jump up and do an Air BC: 3 9 ? ? ? (who cares about the last three?). Just like most of these escape maneuvers, there are things that Rikuo can do to to prevent it from happening, and that's where the mind games begin.

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Jedah can DF and escape the bubble trap. I believe QB can too, since their DF animations put them in the air and the invincibility yadda yadda

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How do you handle the Victor matchup? It's pretty much the main matchup I ahve trouble with, have a hard time getting in on him unless they fall for a bunch of stalled dashes which no one good will fall for to long.

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Victor can be a pain if you let him get started. His J.FP is annoying for Aulbath to deal with on the ground (and somewhat in the Air too). Victor's GC is just decent enough for Aulbath to get GC'd out of any long Dash pressure, so it's important to stagger your chains really delicately. At neutral, it's important to move in slowly and steadily, because a good Victor will stick out limbs to keep you from dashing at him from anywhere beyond 1/2 screen. But, you can punish some of them with a Dash. RH. If you get put in a reset situation, it's really a guess on your end what you should do. Victor has three main options. High/Low/Throw. He can disguise them too by doing stuff like whiffing his DP in front of you to get you scared and have you sit to block. But, when I find myself in that situation sitting on meter, I just Dark Force the fuck outta there. The invincibility will make his Command Throw and Low options whiff and you can punish accordingly. Also, I wouldn't suggest on getting too complacent about Jump ins. A well timed low FP from Victor will get you and put you into a reset situation.

The good news about fighting Victor is that he's a really big hitbox standing or crouching. So he can fall for stuff easier like command grabs, instant overheads, dash pressure, frame traps, etc. When fighting him A2A, you have to make sure you're above him in order to beat him out on most things. Also, he has no answer to bubble trap, so if you catch him with that...it's pretty much GGs.

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Yeah if I get him in that trap it's GG but getting him there can be tough, thanks for the tips. Would J. LP or J. LK be the better jump in on him occasionally?

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Yeah if I get him in that trap it's GG but getting him there can be tough, thanks for the tips. Would J. LP or J. LK be the better jump in on him occasionally?

lp should be used for a2a, lk should be used for A2G.

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Wow this character thread is barren, haha! So I'm gonna start posting up matchup strats! Note: Any Matchup numbers are strictly my opinion on the matchup.:v:

Thanks to ActionHank for sharing some of his matchup knowledge :)

Zabel (3-7). This is a hard matchup for several reasons. Zabel has an incredibly fast jump, which makes it hard to pressure him on his Oki...or in general for that matter. His Aerial options are as good as Rikuo's and he definitely has the edge in the movement department. A lot of this match is gonna come down to straight guesses. In the neutral game, it's important to realize the length of his stretchy limbs. F.MP is the most likely limb you're gonna encounter most. If you're predictive, you can hit the end of his limb with a sonic wave and follow up with a dash sweep. If he's doing IAD pressure, stand jab will interrupt him if you time it right. I normally just mash it. If you knock him down in the corner and bubble, Zabel can teleport out of the way and land on the other side ;_;. So if you're gonna bubble him, you have to be fast and hope that he doesn't get a reversal teleport. Back to the neutral game, be cogniscent of the fact that the can use his down up chainsaw move in the air to avoid your sonic/ poison. This is a match I like to play in the air, because Zabel moves too fast to try and fight him on the ground. Also, it's REALLY hard to command throw Zabel because of his crouch walk. This disables a lot of his "Proximity guard" limiations and lets him walk right out of range.

Sasquatch (6-4): The only true enemy in this fight imo is Sas's damage output. His overheads are fast and if he connects with one then he'll go into a big damage combo +good oki game. In the neutral game, sas likes to throw stand mp in order to discourage jump-ins/ set-up short hops. His sweep ain't half bad either. When Sas is on the defensive, look out for ES Ice tower. Just jump over it or chicken guard it. Try to avoid the corner because Sas will DESTROY you there. Also, watch out for command throw. Hard to see it coming, but if you don't prepare yourself for it, you'll be eating a full combo from it. Sasquatch can use his DF to escape the bubble trap. The keys to winning this fight are to exploit Sas's bad defensive options. His low fierce is only really good if done early at a distance, so jumping at him within that range is a great idea. ES Ice can be jumped over and punished in certain situations.

QBee (2-8): This is by far my most frustrating matchup because QBee's tools. Her S.mp and dash mp are so good against Fish, because they can stuff any attempts to zone her out with Echo/Gas attempts. QBee also likes to pester you with stand mp to keep you from jumping out. The key in this matchup is to not let yourself be pushed into the corner, because QB will murder you there. Some things to note is that it's really hard to connect with a full poison/echo combo on her, because she is so low to the ground when she is in her stun state. It's also really hard to pressure QB, since her jump speed is very fast. So be aware of that and take steps in your strings to prevent her from wanting to jump out (ALL bee players do this). Other than that, it's just a rapid fire guessing game that's in her favor. Rikuo can somewhat fight her in the air and that's most likely where you wanna stay. If you do find yourself in the corner, then try to dark force out. Be aware of her DF too. It's similar to Jedah's but with slower rise, I think.

Gallon -(5-5) Some people don't agree with me, but I really like this match because Rikuo has a lot of tools to bully Gallon. If you're at 3/4s to 1/2 screen, Talbain has a slight advantage due to his quick dash/ good jumps/ ES BC. It's generally a bad idea to try to zone here. But once you get within his c.mk range, you can really go to town on him. Rikuo can also fight Gallon decently in the air and his bubble trap is hard for Gallon to deal with. Once you get them to settle down into your gameplan, Wolf isn't nearly as bad.

Aulbath- The mirror match is really frustrating for me, since Rikuo's tools are so good, even against himself. Key thing to note here is that Rikuo can escape his bubble trap by using his Dark Force. So always have a meter on tap.

Felicia - I'm positive this is 5-5. Felicia has a number of tools to maneuver around gas and sonic wave, and she also has some options to escape bubble traps (not many though). She can blow through these options with her super, including ES versions, so be wary of just tossing out gas/sonar. Fish has to be very careful about spacing projectiles due to her jump arc and wall climb. If she jumps from a high angle from her wall climb it is very likely that you will either trade or lose to her in the air. However, if she gets below you for any reason while you meet her in the air, j. st - j. fp chain should beat her. Her guard cancel is decent, but not Demitri good. If you stagger strings with jab and lk enough you can bait and block her GC's. Also when attempting to bubble trap in the corner, keep her GC in mind and apply that same strategy. If you bait her into doing one, you'll most likely end up blocking her follow up hits, and force her into the bubble by sheer proximity. This does require a quick readjustment in spacing though. Also, stay out of the corner. You will be eating a lot of overheads, sweeps, OS throws, and even dark force mix-ups if you stay too long. Teching is also important when dealing with her Cat Spike mixup, because she is a large frame advantage when using these.

Bishamon (4-6)- Bishamon and Rikuo are similar characters in a lot of aspects. They both have solid Dash games and from these dash games can create a lot of frame traps to catch people pressing buttons. Bishamon's traps are especially dangerous because they lead to a full ghost combo into a dangerous Oki game. Bishamon has a good amount of normals that he can use to pin Rikuo on the ground (dash mp, hp) and several things he can do at neutral to discourage Rikuo from moving forward (Iai Giri slash, low hp, neutral jump mp). It's important to not just rush blindly at Bishamon and to pick your spots. Bish can also escape Bubble trap by doing Dark Force or GC'ing your options. Bish's GC is actually one of the better ones in the game, so use light attacks to bait and punish his GC. Bishamon's weaknesses in this fight are his fat body and his lack of anti air. You can instant overhead/command throw him easier than a lot of characters and you can jump in on him from within his f.hp range rather easily. So if you can exploit those options then you can have a rather easy time dispatching him.

Demitri (6-4)- This is an annoying fight for me because almost all Demitri's play exactly the same. They lame you out with fireballs to build meter/ force mistakes and then when they have meter they fish for knockdowns and try for demon setups. Demitri has a limited mixup game, but it's a big guess on your part. OS throw, Bite Super, low. But there are some common setups you can sniff out (batspin whiff, whiff pursuit, jump in mk, low lp low mp). Demitri has a very solid AA game. His Standing Jab, standing MK and DP are all very good options. The former too can't be airguarded. It's very important in the Demitri matchup to keep variable blockstun pressure, because his Guard Cancel is the best one in the game. If you get hit or block a deep batspin, you can punish it with Dash Sweep. Also, if you block a Demon Cradle, you have a one frame window to punish it on his recovery. Almost impossible to punish. If you can bait his DP, you can punish it with a dash sweep as well.

LeiLei- (5-5)- LeiLei vs Fish is a sloppy fight. Lei Lei has tools to zone out and keep Fish at bay with her items, but she can easily use her pendulum > airdash pressure to create weird/ hard to defend against attack angles. LeiLei's prime directive in this match is to build meter for Tenraiha and land overheads that setup into her unblockable setups. The key to being successful in this matchup is to not let her accomplish this objective. Lei Lei can AA rikuo from far away with low hk, mp item and f.hp. She even has an escape option with her Dark Force to get out of Bubble setups. But where LeiLei suffers the most is her low stamina. If you do catch lei lei in a few combos, she bleeds. Also if she is in dark force and you're far away, you can sea rage her for free easy damage. When she's in DF mode, DO NOT ATTACK HER if she's up close. She can't throw you in this mode, so just react to what she's doing and punish her recovery if possible. Play this match carefully and abuse LeiLei's lack of up close game to your advantage

Bulleta- (6-4) Such a slippery character! She's very hard to pin down with dash pressure, and can get around projectiles easily with her double jumps. Her ES rockets can trade and sometimes beat gas start-up, even full screen. Bubble traps are fairly effective against her if you do them after a knock down. Her only option out of a meaty cr. mk set-up is to GC it. Her GC isn't great however, and may not even give her time to punish in this case. Be wary of using Dark Force when she has meter, if you go up too high on the screen you can eat a Huntsman super, and you don't want that (each hit would be unscaled in this case). Tech hit often, and watch her angles on her jumps. BB Hoods like to jump and chicken block a lot, as it's one of her only good air to air options. Try and do full jump chains if she double-jumps or starts high in the air, and unblockable st. lp if you land before her. Essentially both characters can get good ground momentum started against each other, but BB Hood is able to escape and reset spacing much easier than Fish. When BBHood is doing her dash pressure, it becomes REALLY important to try and tech hit her as well as possible, because she always has the threat of Instant overhead. Any solid BBH player can do an IOH and whiff her jmk into 2-3 more jumping overheads between landing. This is hard to see, so spacing and good use of pushblock is how Rikuo plays defense in this matchup.

Jedah (4-6)- Jedah is another slippery character to fight against. To setup his offensive game, Jedah likes to throw wheels to control space and utilize his high floaty jump arc/ quick dash to start his offense. Jedah also has some decivingly good pokes. Probably the hardest thing to fighting him is that he doesn't have a true knockdown from his normals. So it forces a lot of quick guessing games that stack up pretty quick. Be careful about approaching him on his wakeup because a lot (read: GOOD) Jedahs will use his Dark Force on wakeup. But you can bait him to do that and quickly jump straight up to hit him with a neutral attack. If you do find yourself in his dark force situation it's a tough one to be in because he has a 50/50 that is heavily in his favor. Even if you do block his overheads, he can land and do a Nero Fautica (claw swipe) and punishing you for standing/ go for a contract Super to catch you sleeping. Tech hit becomes your best friend here. If you can sniff the overhead and tech hit him, Jedah loses a lot of momentum. Tech hit any ES wheels that come your way and try to beat Jedah in the air and you'll have a good shot.

Lilith (7-3)- Lilith isn't too much of a threat to Fish, because he beats her in sheer damage output. Lilith relies on a lot of Frame Trap, throw, jump in mixup. Similar to fish, but without the superior zoning option/normals. She does have a high jump that can avoid your poison/echo, so be able to react to that. Her DP is annoying, but not invincible. So react to GC happy Lilith's. Also, if you're at full screen don't just blindly dash/ jump at her, because lilith likes to throw air FB/ TK FB to control the space in front of her. But Rikuo should be able to dispatch her rather easily. Similar to Morrigan, she can punish bad jump ins by chicken guard> Luminous Illusion. When blocking Lilith strings, try not to press buttons to try and hit her out. Her strings are surprisingly tight and when she adds in ES fireball, it becomes really hard to time her strings.

Morrigan - (6-4) I feel like this should slightly be in Fish's favor, but not for the typical reasons. Morrigan can escape bubble traps very easily if she opts to burn meter on a Valkyrie Turn (super where she exits the screen and comes back with a drill). This has invulnerability on start up, and as long as they time their drill attack correctly, they can reposition her away from the corner. She has a decent guard cancel, but smart players can preemptively DP your dash attempts and shut down your offense. Her ground fireball is terrible vs. fish, simply dash under them and punish her if she's still in recovery, or jump them. Her air FB can be somewhat annoying, especially the ES version. I haven't attempted this yet, but I believe that you may be able to GC the last hit of her ES fireball and punish her (even with Fish's horrible GC). The main goal against her is to try and stay ahead of her in the meter game. Once she is out of meter to burn on Valkyrie Turns, it's pretty simple to bubble her, just don't forget about her GC options and quick anti-airs if you attempt a meaty/jump in set up. Oh, and if she uses missile super, do an immediate jump lk to get hit by one of the higher-angled rockets. This will cause you to get knocked down, and as long as you don't roll, you'll avoid the rest of the chip damage. Morrigan has several different angles with her dash that are kinda wonky, so it's important to recognize her setups. Something I don't think a lot of players realize is that she can punish you for jump ins by chicken guarding and doing Darkness Illusion in the air, close to the ground. So when doing Air-Chains, do a full jump-in chain to make it as hard as possible for.

Victor (6-4)- This matchup is closer than a lot of people think. Victor's c.HP ruins fish's day because it's unblockable in the air/resets you/ has a lot of priority. So jumping from out of close distance is a big no-no. Victor's j.fp is almost impossible to beat on the ground with Fish, because the hurtbox for Victor is above his fists. When spacing Victor, use Poision Gas over Echo. It has a fatter hitbox and Victor has a harder time jumping over it. If Victor puts you in a reset situation, it's a really bad 33/33/33 mixup. Victor's options are Hi/empty jump low/ 360/720. He can also set this up from whiffing his DP after a reset. So you have to guess as much as he does, but it's in his favor. However, if you have a meter you can just Dark Force out and give him the finger. Victor is also another character that's easier to overhead/throw. Fattie.

Anakaris

(7-3)- I actually give Anak credit in this matchup, because he can avoid fish's stuff pretty well if he stays in the air and if he gets his hi/lo throw game started...he can wreck you pretty easily. If Anak's in the air, watch out for Curses/ Coffin Drops. Anak is controlling space with those. Do your best to tech hit his normals and keep him out. If you catch Anak on the ground, abuse the fact that he lacks a meterless GC and the ability to AG. You can keep him locked down for a fair amount of time too. Abuse your throw/overhead game on Anak too because he's a fat character too.

(I'll finish the rest later :V )

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I have some match up advice I could throw in if you'd like to add to your post Korey. Mostly it's just from what I have experienced, with a few insights coming from Japanese videos.

Felicia - I'm positive this is 5-5. Felicia has a number of tools to maneuver around gas and sonic wave, and she also has some options to escape bubble traps (not many though). She can blow through these options with her super, including ES versions, so be wary of just tossing out gas/sonar. Fish has to be very careful about spacing projectiles due to her jump arc and wall climb. If she jumps from a high angle from her wall climb it is very likely that you will either trade or lose to her in the air. However, if she gets below you for any reason while you meet her in the air, j. st - j. fp chain should beat her. Her guard cancel is decent, but not Demitri good. If you stagger strings with jab and lk enough you can bait and block her GC's. Also when attempting to bubble trap in the corner, keep her GC in mind and apply that same strategy. If you bait her into doing one, you'll most likely end up blocking her follow up hits, and force her into the bubble by sheer proximity. This does require a quick readjustment in spacing though. Also, stay out of the corner. You will be eating a lot of overheads, sweeps, OS throws, and even dark force mix-ups if you stay too long.

Morrigan - I feel like this should slightly be in Fish's favor, but not for the typical reasons. Morrigan can escape bubble traps very easily if she opts to burn meter on a Valkyrie Turn (super where she exits the screen and comes back with a drill). This has invulnerability on start up, and as long as they time their drill attack correctly, they can reposition her away from the corner. She has a decent dark cancel, but smart players can preemptively DP your dash attempts and shut down your offense. Her ground fireball is terrible vs. fish, simply dash under them and punish her if she's still in recovery, or jump them. Her air FB can be somewhat annoying, especially the ES version. I haven't attempted this yet, but I believe that you may be able to GC the last hit of her ES fireball and punish her (even with Fish's horrible GC). The main goal against her is to try and stay ahead of her in the meter game. Once she is out of meter to burn on Valkyrie Turns, it's pretty simple to bubble her, just don't forget about her GC options and quick anti-airs if you attempt a meaty/jump in set up. Oh, and if she uses missile super, do an immediate jump lk to get hit by one of the higher-angled rockets. This will cause you to get knocked down, and as long as you don't roll, you'll avoid the rest of the chip damage.

BB Hood - Such a slippery character! She's very hard to pin down with dash pressure, and can get around projectiles easily with her double jumps. Her ES rockets can trade and sometimes beat gas start-up, even full screen. Bubble traps are fairly effective against her if you do them after a knock down. Her only option out of a meaty cr. mk set-up is to GC it. Her GC isn't great however, and may not even give her time to punish in this case. Be wary of using Dark Force when she has meter, if you go up too high on the screen you can eat a Huntsman super, and you don't want that (each hit would be unscaled in this case). Tech hit often, and watch her angles on her jumps. BB Hoods like to jump and chicken block a lot, as it's one of her only good air to air options. Try and do full jump chains if she double-jumps or starts high in the air, and unblockable st. lp if you land before her. Essentially both characters can get good ground momentum started against each other, but BB Hood is able to escape and reset spacing much easier than Fish.

That's all I really have for now, if there's anything you want to add or change feel free, just trying to spruce up this rather barren thread.

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So are there any particular blockstrings that are good to use against certain types of opponents or do you just kind of freestyle with dashing lp,lk, etc?

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So are there any particular blockstrings that are good to use against certain types of opponents or do you just kind of freestyle with dashing lp,lk, etc?

Good question, depends on both the character and player, but primarily the character.

Essentially you want to avoid over-using dash mp/mk against any character with a solid guard cancel. The fact that the animation is long and always two hits allows your opponent to easily see their opportunity to GC you, versus doing dash lights. That's not to say that dash lights can't be GC'd as well, but certain characters have a harder time in certain instances.

As far as I know, the characters that can easily GC dash pressure are Demitri, Morrigan, Zabel, Victor and Lillith. Bishamon can too, but I seem to remember Kyle calling his DP a bit unreliable. Felicia can GC your dash mp/mk and punish every time, however, as stated before you can bait her GC with a dash lp/lk, wait and tech hit and/or punish depending on spacing.

I currently know nothing about QBee's GC in terms of beating dash pressure, the angle is fairly high, but it still may hit.

Zabel players like to do ES GC's cause his regular version doesn't always hit, and I think it doesn't go as far. ES will always hit though, and give him a mixup opportunity afterward.

Demitri and Morrigan I find the hardest to pin down with dash pressure, any button could be GC'd for a punish at any time, and it is difficult to bait and punish effectively.

Finally, a lot of it comes down to spacing and what situation you are in. If you need to push them into the corner for a bubble set-up, you'll find yourself doing dash mp to get things started, and then dash lights to keep the pressure and make it difficult to tech hit. Dash Mp as a meaty is especially good if you vary your timing, because they may have to block two hits, or just one and it has high frame advantage. Another extremely annoying tactic is to stagger lp's and lk's repeatedly, especially in the corner. Often times your opponent will be afraid to GC you because they don't have a read on your rhythm, and you aren't giving them any 2-hitters to work with. At the same time this can punish tech hit attempts as they will get interrupted by another lp/lk.

Despite all this its best to go with the flow and keep an eye on your own patterns. Do you find yourself being GCd constantly? Well, you're probably running the same block string, so mix it up!

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Wanted to add that I tried Aulbath's Guard Cancel vs. Morrigan's air fireballs. None of them are punishable with GC. She floats too high in all instances.

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So what's Aulbath's Anakaris lock-down block-string (if he has one)?

Sadly, he doesn't have anything as airtight to hit Anak with. He can usually jump away.

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Aulbath can confirm a standing opponent and do this BnB midscreen. Forces a near corner reset, if you break guard again, it could be a corner KD = Bubble trap.

dashing.mp, LINK st.lp, RENDA st.lp, LINK j.lk, j.2hk

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People forget you can block all of Rik's attacks high when he's on the crab in DF mode. If they're blocking low, this makes for a nice mixup since you can hop off the crab with down +3K and pop them with an overhead before landing at the lowest points, then go for lows on the ground. The higher you are, the more moves you can get in, but you must be holding down when you hop off or you'll jump high. You can also hold up then hit 3K to jump super high, but this is kinda pointless. When you auto hop off at the end of your DF, you can still do attacks on the way down.

If DF ends when you're off the crab and you didn't end it manually, your recovery is a short crouch.

Other random DF notes:

-DF Fish vs DF Jedah, both at their highest points, none of Fish's normals can reach him on the crab. Same vs a DF Bee flying their highest.

-You can't Trick Fish (not even with the DP command) or Sea Rage on the crab, but can do the other specials/supers. In fact, you can't Sea Rage at all in DF mode.

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Just need to list who each scenario works against and Youtube hyperlink examples.

Aulbath Gimmicks & Tricks list:

- UB-ES-Sonar (Opponent jumps at long-range) d.mk

- Mid-Range bubble to bait 9-jumps. Can tech-hit opponents into it and still gas & combo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzErKOT0Fs#t=1h13m13s

- D.mk, tick-throw xx Gem's Anger (6321[4]K)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzErKOT0Fs#t=1h13m56s

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzErKOT0Fs#t=1h15m12s

- Mid-screen Dark Force, bubble, gas, link combo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzErKOT0Fs#t=1h14m8s

- Corner UB-st.mk xx Bubble

- Bubble trap Anakaris w/ st.mp

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyO0ecDa0dM#t=86m19s

- Instant Overhead (I.O.H.): J.lk, J.2hk

Works against-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyO0ecDa0dM#t=85m8s

- Empty air-chain: 8j. lk, j.mp whiff-recover, J.lp, J.lk, land. I.O.H. or counter-poke.

Works against crouching-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyO0ecDa0dM#t=86m4s

- Dark force armor through supers/set ups to avoid extended damage.

Works against- Zabel j.lk, Q-bee ambiguous bubbles, Bishamon’s UB-Spirits, LeiLei Item+low, etc.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnHkZaHq8-E#t=32m15s

- Rage of the Earth to punish projectiles

Works against- Qbee bubble, Bulleta’s Huntsman, Aulbath’s projectiles, Lilith Soul Flash, Morrigan’s Soulfist, Demitri’s chaosflare, jedah’s grounded wheels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xYDEoa7oEo#t=10m9s

- Abusive +frames. st.lp, RENDA st.lp, confirm

Works against crouching- Anakaris,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyO0ecDa0dM#t=85m3s

- Cross-up J.lk

Works against-

- Dark Force to escape corner/switch positions

Works great against high/low character who are mounting corner offense; Sas, Morrigan, Bee, jedah

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzErKOT0Fs#t=58m

- Bubble gas combo of J.hp, J.hk

Works against- Anak, Victor, Jedah, Demitri, Qbee, Bishamon

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyO0ecDa0dM#t=86m21s

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnHkZaHq8-E#t=28m23s

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI3HPI3Rqeo#t=1m16s

- Corner IOH causes a corner reset, if spaced correctly, Aulbath w/ take the corner side & have a crossup.

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