F-Shiki

From Dustloop Wiki

Defintion

An F-Shiki (also colloquially known as "Fuzzy Overhead") is a unique type of overhead attack that only works in specific conditions.

The term F-Shiki (F式) can be roughly translated as F-technique. "F" coming from the Japanese Venom player F who popularized the technique, and shiki (式) which roughly translates to technique or formula.

Example

Explanation

There is a property in fighting games that most overlook: When you are in blockstun, you can switch high/low blocking, but your blocking animation and hurtbox does not change until you leave blockstun or block another attack.

This means in the above example you are considered blocking low, but with the animation and hurtbox of a standing block. F-Shikis take advantage of this and use overheads that would miss on crouching character, but not on standing characters. The most common version of this is doing a jumping normal immediately after jumping, such as Neo's j.A in the example above. This also means that characters that are very tall when stand blocking are more susceptible to F-Shikis compared to shorter characters.

Thus, an F-Shiki requires:

  1. Opponent blocks the first attack standing
  2. The second attack is an overhead that is fast enough to hit the opponent before the first attack's blocktstun ends.

Avoiding an F-Shiki

With this knowledge, we can infer a way to avoid the F-Shiki completely: block the first hit crouching! This will keep you in a crouching animation and the F-Shiki will miss. However, many of the strong F-Shiki setups involve blocking a regular overhead into an F-Shiki, so this isn't always a viable solution.

Certain F-Shiki setups only work on tall characters since they are tall enough to be hit by the setup, while other characters are too short and the F-Shiki will miss.

Depending on the setup, instant block mechanics can help you avoid the F-Shiki since it may reduce the amount of blockstun enough to let you move before the overhead is active. Pushblock mechanics such as Faultless Defense in Guilty Gear or Barrier Block in BlazBlue may also work to push you outside of the range of the F-Shiki.

Application

So why go through all this trouble to set up an F-Shiki? If the opponent recognizes an F-Shiki setup, does that mean they are no longer useful? No, because after setting it up it's usually just as easy to go for a low attack! The timing difference between the overhead and the low is nearly imperceptible, thus making an F-Shiki a very powerful mixup tool even after the opponent is aware of them.

Some Games Prevent F-Shikis

Some games like Dragon Ball FighterZ and Under Night In-Birth have built in protection against F-Shikis, either by making jumping attacks blockable both high and low during the rising part of a jump or through other means. These systems don't technically remove F-Shikis from the game, but do remove the majority of the strong F-Shiki setups.

F-Shiki vs. Instant Overhead

Some players may get confused between the two because both often look similar, but the key difference is that instant overheads can hit crouching opponents, thus not requiring the opponent to first block an attack standing like an F-Shiki. Having said that, some Instant Overheads only work on characters that are taller while crouching.

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