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Hey, Let's Learn Some Skullgirls

sketchspace

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Ms. Fortune Ms. Fortune Ms. Fortune
So I've been playing Skullgirls since that steam summer sale so 1-2 months now? Anyway the initial hype for me has died down so I'm writing down my thoughts to keep me motivated. If it helps you out, cool, glad I taught you something.

My teams:
Fukua (M Shadow) / Big Band (M Beat Extend) / Cerebella (H LnL) <- the main
Painwheel (LK Buer) / Parasoul (HP Tear) / Big Band (HP Brass)
Valentine (HK Bypass) / Peacock (Walking Bomb) / Big Band (M Beat Extend)


Stuff I want to get better with:

in general
  • Use alpha counters more. I've got a few good ones on my teams, especially Beat Extend since that sets up for a combo.
  • Adapt better. Main thing is to stop choking, my guess is that I need to play a bit less reckless as the round closes (ie more careful with assists, wind the time down, keepaway and force opponent to take risks).
Fukua
  • Learn more resets.
  • Know when to keepaway, know when to rush, know when to just try to evade.
  • Work on using command grabs.
Big Band
  • Learn some A-Train resets, only know throw resets so far.
  • Learn some burst baits.
  • Get better with PBGC into SSJ, Beat Extend, Brass Knuckle.
Cerebella
  • Learn some resets.
  • Learn how to use her command grabs.
  • Use Tumbling Run in neutral.
Painwheel
  • Learn some resets
  • Stop dropping combos
Parasoul
  • Learn some resets, she has like 2 overheads, 2 underheads, and a taco kick.
  • Get the hand of throw -> Roman Cancel soldier.
Valentine
  • Mainly get the hang of her. I want a pure rushdown character, either her or Ms. Fortune. Gonna try Ms. Fortune but a bit biased because of Leona AND Blue Mary colors.
Peacock
  • Get the hang of air dash combos. Gonna stick with single Argus combos for now while I learn.
  • Practice controlling the screen with projectiles.
  • Learn what to do if the opponent gets close.
___
That's all I feel like typing right now. Thanks for checking out :)

~sketch
 
If you don't mind my asking, why do you use M Beat Extend instead of L Beat Extend for your Big Band assist? Also why Brass assist on the Painwheel/Parasoul/Big Band team but Beat Extend for the others?
Big Band
  • Learn some A-Train resets, only know throw resets so far.
  • Learn some burst baits.
  • Get better with PBGC into SSJ, Beat Extend, Brass Knuckle.
I have a big section on resets and another big section on oki in the Big Band Compendium which I will copy paste at you here:
Big Band Resets said:
-Kinda obvious since you can do this with any character but I should mention it for the sake of completeness: after any restand (for example after s.MK, j.LK j.MK), you can go low with c.LK/s.LK or you can throw with throw. You could also go overhead with Giant Step or instant j.MK. Resets like this are really easy to reversal out of so watch out!

-Also obvious, after any s.HP or s.MKx2 you can air grab. Because this is obvious most experienced players will see this coming and tech the grab.

-You can also air grab every character off s.MK (1 hit), which is harder to react to.

-After a restand, chain into s.HP then do j.LP, j.LK (1 hit), j.MP. After you land you have a few options. You can air grab, which is more difficult to tech than the above reset because the opponent recovers lower to the ground and therefore can be grabbed much faster. You can j.LK, which will counter hit an opponent trying to tech. You can also let the opponent land and go for a high/low mixup, which can be reversaled out of but the threat of the air grab and j.LK options can help keep the opponent honest.

-After Beat Extend, you can do j.LK j.MKx2, air throw. This is difficult on heavier characters. You can bait the opponent's throw tech attempt with j.LK as with the above reset.

-After s.HP you can Emergency Brake to go under the opponent and cross them under. A shorter Emergency Brake can leave Big Band on the same side as the opponent, making this a 50/50. However if the opponent is jabbing on the way down you can get punished for attempting this mixup.

-After Beat Extend you can do c.MK which can pull the opponent over Big Band. Delaying the c.MK can leave the opponent on the same side.
Big Band Oki said:
Brass Knuckles and Take the A-Train are good moves, but you can't normally combo off them. Instead, since they both cause sliding untechable knockdowns, you can get an opportunity to mix your opponent up while they can't ground tech. Here are some mixups you can go for in this scenario:

-Run up block - God tier mixup, block whatever reversal they did then punish it. Do not try this on Cerebella
-Dash up and either c.LK or grab - simple 50/50 mixup, as effective now as it was when God invented video games back in vanilla Skullgirls.
-Dash, jump, land and either L Take the A-Train or M Take the A-Train - another 50/50. Jumping first lets you charge Take the A-Train while you're still moving forward. This is pretty risky if the opponent guesses correctly and can be hard to get a combo from, but the armor on M A-Train can absorb some reversals.
-Dash c.LK xx L Giant Step - Low immediately followed by an overhead, you can combo off this whether the low hit or was blocked. The opponent can absolute guard but in practice it's hard to pushblock one hit then immediately switch guards, and if the opponent pushblocks the Giant Step will still reach. Risky if the opponent doesn't pushblock since L Giant Step is unsafe.
-Dash c.LK, then grab - Tick grab you can use against people expecting the above setup. You could also do a second c.LK.
-Dash, call assist and air grab - Depending on the assist and how well this was timed, the assist can cross your opponent up. The opponent may be able to jump out of this, but if they try the air grab will catch them.
-Dash, instant j.MK + call assist - Overhead option. Safer than just doing a raw Giant Step. You can also combo off this without an assist by chaining into j.HK but it's unsafe on block.
-Dash, j.HK + call assist, ground tech backwards - a tricky fake crossup. I stole this from Yaya.
-Taunt - You can safely taunt off any untechable knockdown. However you lose your chance to go for a mixup if you do.
I don't... actually know any burst baits with Big Band? I should probably learn some too.

PBGC Beat Extend is probably way better than PBGC Brass since you get more damage off it on hit, and probably way easier too since it's not a charge move. I don't know that PBGC Brass is really worth practicing.
 
If you don't mind my asking, why do you use M Beat Extend instead of L Beat Extend for your Big Band assist? Also why Brass assist on the Painwheel/Parasoul/Big Band team but Beat Extend for the others?

PBGC Beat Extend is probably way better than PBGC Brass since you get more damage off it on hit, and probably way easier too since it's not a charge move. I don't know that PBGC Brass is really worth practicing.

So I just like the delay with the M Beat Extend. I use it for some setups.

As far as PBGC Knuckles goes, I want to try it out since it has a bigger horizontal range than Beat Extend. Execution isn't a big deal since I'm holding back to block anyway.

Oh and thank you for putting up some mixups with Big Band. I'll go check out the forums again too now that I got the hang of him. I know about the Icky Thump reset and the basic launch into throw, but I want some more variety with him.

** and I forgot, as far as Painwheel and Parasoul goes I just don't have anything good with Beat Extend, so I like pushing them back with Brass Knuckles.
 
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Just a small update for now:

In general:
  • I've switched to L Extend as an assist. Main problem was that the alpha counter also had the delay, so even if I countered at a good time, I could still get hit due to the startup.

Valentine/Big Band/Peacock
  • I've switched the order because I was losing a bunch of damage due to not wanting to DHC into Peacock in the corner; I noticed I was getting punished for a point-blank Argus there. In addition, I've noticed that SSJ will come out of the corner to knock the opponent back in after a Bypass DHC; not sure why this is though.
  • I'd also rather play Big Band with Walking Bomb than Peacock with Beat Extend. Bombs help Big Band's ground pressure with various Brass Knuckles.
Valentine
  • Learn some resets
  • Improve neutral game; I'm getting the hang of not 100% rushing in, but I need to mix up being defensive (Standing HK, Jumping HK, and shuriken) with rushing (Jumping FP, air dashing, throws, low attacks).
Big Band
  • Parry more :). I've done some Bella level 3's and the second half of Argus, just gotta get more confident with it.
  • Also I've noticed that if I'm charging back for punch then I parry something, then I can press F+P for a Knuckles out the parry. Seems like it'd be good to get in with fireballs and armor through moves, gonna try it more.
Peacock
  • I think I've found my double Argus combo, but it doesn't work on Miss Fortune. Not sure if there's a universal double Argus combo without assists, but it's worth a look.
  • Practice playing while holding a punch button and knowing what I can/can do.
Aight I got some questions for the individual forums so see y'all round.
~sketch
 
Last edited:
Valentine/Big Band/Peacock
  • I'd also rather play Big Band with Walking Bomb than Peacock with Beat Extend. Bombs help Big Band's ground pressure with various Brass Knuckles.
I like H Bomb for Big Band since you can call it and immediately M or H rush punch. If timed right, the bomb will make the rush punch safe on block if they try to punish, as long as the punch connects from outside of throw range. It also keeps you safe if your punch whiffs because they jumped, which happens all the time. Admittedly I have not tried L Bomb assist so maybe you get some good stuff out of that too, but I just wanted to mention it since it's what I do and it's been working great for me.
  • Parry more :). I've done some Bella level 3's and the second half of Argus, just gotta get more confident with it.
If you're not already aware of this, you can punish Argus on block by super jumping after the first half and doing Tympani Drive. You have time to fly all the way over to Peacock and tag her with the end of the super. Watch out for DHCs though!
  • I think I've found my double Argus combo, but it doesn't work on Miss Fortune. Not sure if there's a universal double Argus combo without assists, but it's worth a look.
Ending a combo with s.HK xx H Item xx Argus should give you double Argus on everyone. s.HP (1 hit) xx H Item xx Argus should work too if you've already used your OTG, but it's a little harder to time.

I'll also drop this here since you're using L Beat Extend now. I found that this combo does more damage than any of my double Argus combos if I DHC to Big Band, even though SSJ doesn't do as much as Argus. Haven't tested this on everyone so use at your own risk:

s.LP s.MP c.HP s.HK xx M Item + Call L Beat Extend,
j.LK (1 hit) j.HK,
Release Item,
s.MK,
j.MP j.HP,
j.LP j.MP,
c.LK s.MP s.HP xx M Gun xx Argus

This could perhaps be optimized further but it's what I've got so far. I should post this in the Peacock forum too come to think of it.

e: Holy shit shout outs to the forums software for automatically adding quote tags to my post in such a way that it broke my post.
 
So a weekly update:

-I've been working on some submissions to the community combo video. I want to submit a max of 3 and whatever I don't use I'll put into my own combo video. Making them has been fun, it's been helping my execution.

-I'm also putting some of matches on youtube, the first week you can find here ->
.
This is more for me just to see how far I've come and not get discouraged. If you want to watch it and offer feedback, I'm not gonna stop you though.

Team-wise:
I'm switching up the Parasoul team to: Parasoul (Napalm Pillar) / Painwheel (2MP) / Cerebella (H LnL). I just like doing Hatred Install combos with them.

Overall-wise:
I played on PJs stream for a bit this morning. Main thing for me is to avoid getting thrown. I don't like to guess between being hit low, thrown, or a backdash, so I prefer just not being in range. It's something to consider if the opponent does get the jump on me. Also hope Skullgirls on PJs is a thing, was cool playing against people in lobby with chat despite the lagginess from foreign countries.

Character-wise:
Big Band
Use your kara (MK) to increase range on attacks.

Fukua
Getting better with the Painwheel match, ultimately it's about my ability to keep her out and to capitalize on the risks she takes to get in. If she does get in though, it's rough getting out.

(that's really it as I haven't played much this week).
~sketch
 
First off, no longer playing Valentine/Big Band/Peacock. Valentine wasn't working out for me since I couldn't get her combos, and I tried Squigly instead of her. Peacock last wasn't working out, thought I could use her to pressure the opponent but for one, everyone does a high amount of damage in this game and most anchors like Filia or Big Band have advantage over Peacock. So I'm scrapping the team. For now I'll stick to Fukua/Big Band/Cerebella and Parasoul/Painwheel/Cerebella.

So I've got monthlies in about two weeks, this is some stuff I want to steal from people:

Cerebella
Run into Diamonds are Forever
Run Stop Resets

Parasoul
Mid-combo tear explosions

Painwheel

Armor baiting
Consistency
Real Corner Combos
Some Resets

Big Band

Use low Hp / low Hk more.

~sketch