[Xrd] May Q&A/FAQ Thread

[RurouniLoneWolf]

*long list of questions *

 

Hello. I'm sure someone with more hands on experience with Xrd May can answer these in greater detail but for now, here's some answers to push you in the right direction.

 

1)The best way to answer this question is "Depends on the matchup". There are a lot of tools that are commonly used in across the matchups (playing footsies with 5K, f.S, j.S,j.H,j.2H, controlling space with the beach ball and the applause for the victim dolphin). But at the end of the day, if you want to get consistent results from your plans in neutral, you got to start breaking it down matchup by matchup. I'd recommend starting with a more straight forward character like Sol and start considering the best way to make use of your tools. If you run into problems or have questions, then ask them in the May vs Sol Matchup thread to try and get ideas from others.

2) No. You don't need meter to make Applause for the Victim oki work. The YRC is mostly used to get both a beach ball and dolphin out or other stuff designed to mess up your opponent's wakeup options. Also, don't be afraid to experiment because you're inexperienced. Experimentation is a core part of learning what works and what doesn't no matter what skill level you may be at. Hmmm, right now, it feels like you might be trying to tackle a lot of things at once so for now, it might be better to keep it simple while you deal with learning other stuff. After you summon the Applause for the Victim dolphin, send the dolphin ahead of you before starting your pressure. When you start getting comfortable with this, try waiting longer to send the dolphin so you can do stuff like open people up with 6K> (Have the Dolphin hit) > do the rest of the combo. Or stuff like blockstring -> have them block the dolphin while you reset your pressure with run up 2K/2D/well timed OHK/etc, IAD j.S, etc. After you master that, you should look into varying your oki pressure even more with beach ball oki and mastering pressuring opponents without the use of either the beach ball or the dolphin.

3) *Karate Chops sonicbrkr on the head* Never waste time learning a combo you don't know how to open people up with yet. Combos are nice. But it's solid neutral and pressure that'll win you games as you fight tougher and tougher opponents. This is a common mistake though so no worries. Hmmmm, nope. I can't think of anything else. The stuff you mentioned along with varying your pressure should be enough. The problem here probably is the fact that you don't know how to seamlessly put into your pressure yet. That's fine. Keep practicing and experimenting and it'll come. How do you deal with grabs? Usually, it comes down to using a throw invuln move but in May's case, dolphin oki can deal with it and any other reversal attempts the opponent may try. In the case where you send the dolphin ahead of you, the opponent should be in blockstun by the time you reach throw range. In the cases where you don't send the dolphin ahead of you though, 6K can be useful because it makes May Airborne, which will in turn make ground throws whiff. Also, it's worth noting that OHK's start up is throw invuln though I don't think you'll ever be using specifically to beat a wakeup throw.  

4) I think I already covered #4 somewhat in the answer to #2. But I still would like to touch on dealing with other people's pressure since it's the bulkload of the paragraph anyway. Much like neutral, you'll find that the best way to deal with an opponent's pressure is to break it down matchup by matchup. Again, there are general tools like creating space to jump out with Faultless Defense, Blitz Shielding, throwing people out of poorly executed setups, etc. But at the end of the day, if you want to get consistent results when defending against other players, learning the ins and outs of their pressure and mixups is definitely the way to go.

 

And that's it. Hoped it helped a little.

 

Hey, how are we dolphin yrc'ing and keeping the dolphin in place, someone told me it's like the round trip glitch with Vergil.

 

By YRCing with every non D button but the button you're holding to make the Dolphin wait. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question?

[raisedbyfinches]

Hey, how are we dolphin yrc'ing and keeping the dolphin in place, someone told me it's like the round trip glitch with Vergil.

 

Easiest way is to do it by [i'll use applause P as an example] doing: 41236p [p]ks

So that when you do the yrc you press the three and let go of two. I've never had any problem at all with this approach. 

 

[sonicbrkr]

*Helpful Information*

 

TY for the response.  After I made that post I fought another May, and although we were doing similar things, I can't tell you how many HSHDs we collided into each other with (and don't get me started on the simultaneous beach balls lol), he won every time through the key differences in our play styles.  He was more effective with his tools and use of meter, and thats why he was able to beat me.  That and the amount of times I'd have a huge lead only to have it taken away by a whale while I was doing a HSHD, lets me know I spam it too much.

 

Anyways for now I'm gonna take it a step at a time.  I'm gonna work on my dolphin oki, making sure 9 out of 10 times, when I get a knockdown I use that move.  I'll see how that goes, then get a little more creative after I've gotten down when to use it and when not to use it.

[saber]

TY for the response.  After I made that post I fought another May, and although we were doing similar things, I can't tell you how many HSHDs we collided into each other with (and don't get me started on the simultaneous beach balls lol), he won every time through the key differences in our play styles.  He was more effective with his tools and use of meter, and thats why he was able to beat me.  That and the amount of times I'd have a huge lead only to have it taken away by a whale while I was doing a HSHD, lets me know I spam it too much.

 

Anyways for now I'm gonna take it a step at a time.  I'm gonna work on my dolphin oki, making sure 9 out of 10 times, when I get a knockdown I use that move.  I'll see how that goes, then get a little more creative after I've gotten down when to use it and when not to use it.

 I have a pretty defense reactive may mostly because I mostly played Baiken back in the day along with May. You can win with good reads and getting people when they are moving or when they press a button. I will also say it seems many people can't react well to SHD or 5D when you mix it up you can make a lot of chances for air combos. I will also say May's anti air when you hit confirm hurts. So practicing controlling space is also a good place to start.

[Kirnupiima]

As for OHK, try doing it after blocked IAD j.S or something, after which you land (let the blockstun pass) and then JUST DO IT. Get a  feel for the range and pacing of it. Dolphin oki is also good, let the dolphin's blockstun finish and be ready to go for it instead of high/low hits.

[NoblesseOblige]

I need help pls, the corner combo c.S > 5HS > [4]6HS > IAD j.P > j.K > j.HS > 6HS keeps dropping, not sure what im' doing wrong. After the wallbounce, i do IAD j.p but it doesn't combo correctly, combo counter always turns gray. I'm doing it as fast as i can so no idea wuts wrong.

[raisedbyfinches]

You're probably doing the iad too late

[Kirnupiima]

Or press P too late.

[Ben Reed]

What are my oki options from 3K meterless/with YRC besides meaty 6K? If I hit a 3K I usually panic and just autopilot meaty 6K because I'm not sure what else I have time to do that's either throw-proof, reversal-proof, or both.

[raisedbyfinches]

3k.

You get a 2k/6k/2p pressure or yrc stuff. Set up tick throws, stagger pressure etc etc.

[Ben Reed]

good, I'll work on those. I understand in the abstract that stuff besides meaty 6K works, I'm just afraid to try em right now because 6K is the only thing I know for sure won't get wakeup thrown. I'll find some lab time and test the spacing, I guess (although if I do meaty 2K without moving after 3K max-range hit I GUESS I'm out of most chars' throw range).

[raisedbyfinches]

I find that if you do things well enough they have to respect you and will be unwilling to press things because they don't know what you're going to do.

I don't think 2k will be long enough after a sweet spot 3k. If it is you probably don't get much else afterward.

I probably play too riskily, relying on my understanding of my opponent and what their options are (and which option they're going to choose - my current favourite thing is gatling into 6p to beat daa clean). I'll happily swap some health to understand the other player if I should pick wrong and try to channel my inner Efute to pull it back.

Moral - you might want to take my advice with a pinch of salt, but the things I've listed are my tools of choice if I ever press our worst button.

[saber]

New location test today. No word on the may changes yet! I hope it continues with buffs and that 1.1 comes out in America soon!

[Grimsley-San]

New location test today. No word on the may changes yet! I hope it continues with buffs and that 1.1 comes out in America soon!

 

 

I can finally mash Overhead Kiss easily now ' ^'

 

[raisedbyfinches]

It's awfully quiet in here of late.

Nobody been to tournaments, need help, figured something out or just want to share?

I will use this time to shamelessly promote that there will be (hopefully) 3 May players at a tournament this weekend in the UK.

Streamed live through twitch/cable54 - should anyone want to tune in and complain about how bad I will be playing.

[BloodWolF]

I may have to check that out. I'll be at Final Round next weekend, but that's it for this month. Then again, my May probably isn't worth watching.

[Ben Reed]

Decided to update the wiki to fill in the general-strategy section with basic info. Trying to keep it concise but I'm not super good at that. If I get anything really, egregiously wrong, feel free to correct & edit.

[ChexGuy]

I just replaced every "5S" with "f.S" to make things a little less confusing. As for the actual content, I'll leave that for someone more experienced.

[raisedbyfinches]

Pulled 4th on the weekend. Losing to Sol and Leo. First was my fault, woke up at 1 game and 2 rounds down (we play ft3 rounds here as standard) and so nearly pulled it back but it was too little too late. Leo I just don't understand what we're really meant to do, punishes, gaps, how to get around flash kick etc yet but that'll come.

Happy with how I played in general though, getting in those games with the best Bedman in Europe and a lot of other really of really strong players.

I can't go to it this weekend but we have sakura fight festa this weekend if people need things to watch. It'll be on twitch/nthgenmedia. Hopefully some of our other May players get there [also has DFC, BB, MB, AH, P4, VF if you're so inclined and not at FR].

I'll take a look at the wiki this week too. Off to Japan at the end of May, hopefully I can get to mikado and meet Kedako and Efute

[Seiska]

Been trying out May for a while now, taking it easy and getting used to her normal's chains etc. However after trying to hammer down her OKI for couple of lab sessions I've come to realize that the standard Button layout in GG just doesn't work for May.

Holding down P(square) while doing other stuff with K(cross) is just not practical.

 

I've been thinking switching P to R1 (trigger) since it's way easier to hold while pressing other buttons making it way easier to hold and release the P-Dolphin on her OKI but I am wondering does she use her other dolphins like this? The other ones seem more or less like tools to keep opponent away from you rather than lock them down for mix-ups.

 

Also can't wait for the update that makes OHK a DP motion instead of "The bane of D-pad" aka 632146 motion (Literally the hardest part for it is to input a clean forward input). 

[Capps]

I'll take a look at the wiki this week too. Off to Japan at the end of May, hopefully I can get to mikado and meet Kedako and Efute

Have fun! Do want to say that both of them are Kansai players so you'll likely find them in Osaka or Kyoto. Mikado is in Tokyo, so you're likely to run into Asesuke or Kisshi there.

[raisedbyfinches]

wall of text

You'll use ]k[ in combos, ]h[ for pressure and ]s[ to fake out oki in the corner and get ohk (because it won't hit).

I think you're probably the only May pad player. Just use whatever makes her usable for you.

Have fun! Do want to say that both of them are Kansai players so you'll likely find them in Osaka or Kyoto. Mikado is in Tokyo, so you're likely to run into Asesuke or Kisshi there.

Sorry they were separate things, 'go to mikado' and 'meet them', I have a day in Osaka so I might have to take to Twitter and provide some convincing!

[Seiska]

Thanks.

 

Need to check out the ]k[ Combos then and maybe do some Pad May Pioneering with this button layout.

[Lynxfort]

What is her best oki routes after combos end with j41236H ??

[raisedbyfinches]

What is her best oki routes after combos end with j41236H ??

Hoop yrc anything

Standing high/low

5h