diario de dMags

[dMags]

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Hello, I'm dMags and this is my training diary. I'm hoping that this will serve as a useful tool for myself to get feedback and improve my own game, while also sharing information and helping other players improve as well.

A little about myself, I am an East Coast US player mostly available on the PC version, however I can play on PSN as well. I've been playing the game since roughly the release of Encore edition, playing casual at first but now trying to put in work and really improve my game. I really enjoy just about everything in the game; the art style is amazing, the game is very well balanced, it feels good, it smells good, and most importantly it's fun.

Current Main Team:

Painwheel ( ?? )
Big Band ( L Beat Extend )
Parasoul ( L Napalm Shot )

So, my plan moving forward is to mostly focus my time either in training mode or playing First-To-x sets followed by analysis. I would like to do roughly 1-2 of these a week, depending upon my schedule. In addition, some gameplay footage will also be from local tournaments/casuals at Game Underground. I will do my best to keep this OP up-to-date with a link to the post containing all of my video uploads.

If you would like to play, whether it be to help me improve or to help your own game, feel free to get in touch. I'm usually available to play weeknights after ~8:30pm EST. You can either post in this thread, PM me, or contact me on Steam/PSN via the info in my profile.



Update Info:

10/14/2015 - The dream is on hold currently. I moved in September, and my new apartment setup does not include a wired internet connection to my bedroom, which really really sucks. So I can't play skullgirls on PC since I have no wireless card on my computer, but regardless the wireless signal absolutely sucks in my bedroom, so I can't even play on PS4 really. I've looked into ways to improve this, and it's just not feasible at this point in time. Thankfully I can still go to locals and play with the GU guys, but otherwise I really can't play against anybody outside of locals so that really sucks. There's a chance I might try and move my PC to the router once a week to at least try and get some matches, but I'm not sure yet how that well will work. I pre-reg'd for NEC, so I'm excited to go to that at least. RIP for now

7/29/2015 - Updating this post. I've reached a point in my own game where I'd like to mostly focus on analyzing my own gameplay, as opposed to just playing and discussing the game. A lot of this training diary is talk, without much hard breakdown, so consider this a 'phase 2' of the training diary moving forward. This is the most recent post as of right now, so anything after this will mostly be regarding video breakdown or analyzing matches. Anything before that is most likely beginner->intermediate discussion.

 

[Merlock]

You should be able to make your stick work on PC by using the xinput wrapper

 

[dMags]

You should be able to make your stick work on PC by using the xinput wrapper

Thanks, I'll give that a try tonight after work. I couldn't get motionjoy to work since my PC doesn't have a Bluetooth adapter, even though it recognized the stick via USB.

 

[Choose Goose]

You should be able to make your stick work on PC by using the xinput wrapper

Xpadder is also an option

- How often are local events run on PC versus PS3?

From my limited experience I would say local events are more inclined to use PS3 over PC. I assume this is based on: not so much shit to carry / ease of set-up / wider support for other fighting games. Caveat - I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[dMags]

Xinput did the trick, now the fightstick is working on PC and PS3 :) Also decided to make it a night and I got SG for PC too, so I think I need to push some buttons on Big Band for a little while and see what that guy is all about.

Anyway, I was able to play about 1-2 hours on PS3 in training room before doing all the PC stuff...

In The Dojo w/ Painwheel

Current combo I'm practicing broken into 4 chunks :

a - cr.lk , cr.mk, s.hp xx lk. buer
b - xx fly, (6)j.lk, cr.mk, cr.hp xx lp spikes
c - dash s.mp(jump), j.mp(4), j.hp(4)
d - xx fly, (8)j.mk, j.hp(4) xx AIRSUPER

Part a - I can do this part no problem, I tend to naturally try and go for this now when I land a poke, or trying to confirm an air-to-ground jump-in attack. I'm not really ready to start managing position on screen in regards to what combo I do, so for now I'm keeping it simple and using this as my main BnB

Part b - The only issue I have here is the link from (6)j.lk to cr.mk, it's 6 frames so when my timing is right it's pretty easy, but it's just so much slower than the rest of the combo. I need to pay attention to PW and wait until she's clearly on the ground, thankfully it's an easy cancel into cr.hp xx lp spikes, so I can roll with the combo if I link the cr.mk properly.

part c/d - I'm not sure if there's much more to do before going into launch, this part I see other PW players do so naturally I'm also going to do it. The end of this is sort of filler right now, since I know in the corner PW has better options using her buer's, but for that I'm sticking to this. I'd also like to better understand some re-stand combos here, even if they aren't viable for PW to use I'd still like to know how to do them reliably.

 

[Hilary]

Summary Points:
- What are the more common setups? Playing on steam with a universal stick? Using an adapter?
- How often are local events run on PC versus PS3?

Be ready for both. PS3 is generally the priority, but PC setups aren't uncommon. The game is kind of uneven in terms of patches applied, and while PS3 is preferred by TOs for ease of use, sometimes PC does have a legitimate balance consideration that PS3 may be missing at the time.

Depending on what you play on, I'd do some homework on the following:

PS1/PS2 stick/pad + USB converter that will work on both PS3 and PC (InPin is probably the most recommended by SRK folks)

XPadder, MotionInJoy, and Scarlet Crush's XInput wrapper if you have a PS3 stick/pad and want to play on PC.

Right now I'm still learning the basics, so I'm only using 1 character until I can gain a solid grasp of the fundies. That solo character being Painwheel. I'll talk more specifics about Painwheel later, but for now I'll discuss the solo factor regardless of who you play. Playing Solo is HARD, at least at first it is. The learning curve is high, you have less room for error, and in my opinion it requires more patience than playing a 2/3 char team. I really want to feel I can handle all situations before adding a 2nd character to my team, this means I can play solid defense, solid offense, neutral game, the whole shebang. From the other side of the spectrum, I really love the fact that I don't need to worry about assists, DHC's, Alpha Counters, and all the extra stuff that will get me overthinking. It's also nice that even when I get hit by a massive combo, I still have a solid amount of life left.

Neutral Game
- I struggle here, mostly because I simply don't know what to do...and I feel this changes for every character I face.
- I tend to either try and stay out or go in as hard as I can
- I lose a lot of life by people zoning me out ( Parasoul and Peacock ), but I think I just need more experience dealing with specific characters

You seem to be aware of how bad Solo Painwheel's defensive options are, so I won't give you the "solos suck" post. Fort what it's worth, solo play is actually a good way of building some good/safe habits with your point character that you may not have conditioned otherwise if you started with a team and came to depend/crutch on assists to bail you out of things.

Still, once you're comfortable with the game and your first character, consider that this is still a team game; knowledge of the game mechanics and metagame as it pertains to DHCs, assists, counter-calling, healing, snaps, and team synergy is just as fundamental as spacing or footsies are to your solo character.

 

[dMags]

Thanks for the info regarding setups/controllers. I plan on going to some events soon, I was just curious so I don't start buying things I don't need and/or don't buy something I do need in the future.

You seem to be aware of how bad Solo Painwheel's defensive options are, so I won't give you the "solos suck" post. Fort what it's worth, solo play is actually a good way of building some good/safe habits with your point character that you may not have conditioned otherwise if you started with a team and came to depend/crutch on assists to bail you out of things.

Still, once you're comfortable with the game and your first character, consider that this is still a team game; knowledge of the game mechanics and metagame as it pertains to DHCs, assists, counter-calling, healing, snaps, and team synergy is just as fundamental as spacing or footsies are to your solo character.

Yeah, I 100% agree with you there that playing solo does "miss out" on a large part of the meta game and also has much more limited options both offensively and defensively, but I'd like to get myself to a stable enough point where I feel I can at least hold my own with my current tool set. As you said, it's great that I won't become dependent on assists, but at the same time I don't want to become so conditioned to solo play that when I do pick up a team I'm really relearning everything again. So I think once I'm at least comfortable with everything on my plate currently ( not necessarily good with it...just comfortable ) then I'll probably start playing with another character. I've been dabbling with a few in the training mode, but nothing past learning their movesets.

 

[dMags]

Random Notes:

- Been playing SG on Steam instead of PS3, much more convenient for me to practice and there's way more people playing on it. Having the Endless Beta is great

- I'm getting way more comfortable with Painwheel's combos and I'm really starting to understand WHY I should use certain moves versus just doing a move because I know it's what I should do. I spent a solid amount of time in training mode practicing ( against Filia I believe ) s.MP (jump-forward), j.mp(4), j.hp(4) xx fly, (9)j.mk, j.hp(3), j.hk(restand), cr.lk/mk....<insert combo>... I was toying around with which direction to hold the stick when connecting the j.mk, neutral jumping vs jumping forward after the launch, and how many times to let the j.hp hit before cancelling into the j.hk for the restand. I then tried it against Parasoul and noticed for the j.hk to connect for the restand I need to cancel the j.hp after 2 hits rather than 3, so it was really good practice for me to understand what I should be looking for when doing combos, understanding how things work as opposed to simply knowing they work.

- Getting much more comfortable and confident with Painwheel in general, even in online matches where I get bodied I'm still learning and I'm entering/leaving the match with a good mindset

- My defense is getting stronger, I spent a little time yesterday in the training room against a Peacock/Parasoul team set to Nightmare mode. All I did was try and get in, land a combo, then rinse and repeat without taking any damage on the way in ( other than chip ). I learned that mp spikes are a horrible choice against both of these characters at full screen

- Fukua

Next Steps:

1. This is probably the most beneficial for me right now - FIND PEOPLE TO PLAY LONGER SETS WITH, playing in Quick Match hasn't been the greatest ( whether I win or lose ) since it's only 1 match, would like to play more FT5/7/10/whatevers. I think today I'll make a solid effort to send some PM's on the Beginner Matchmaking thread and see if people want to play, vice versa if anybody is reading this feel free to send me a PM to play/spar, regardless of your skill level.

2. Continue practicing secondary characters. I have a strong interest in Big Band and he seems to be an extremely good complement to Painwheel. I've dabbled with him in training mode, but I'm not ready to play online with him. I'll keep practicing with him since I'm near positive I want him on my team, and I'm going to learn to play the real trumpet using s.MP since it's godlike

3. Fukua

 

[Hilary]

I was toying around with which direction to hold the stick when connecting the j.mk, neutral jumping vs jumping forward after the launch, and how many times to let the j.hp hit before cancelling into the j.hk for the restand. I then tried it against Parasoul and noticed for the j.hk to connect for the restand I need to cancel the j.hp after 2 hits rather than 3, so it was really good practice for me to understand what I should be looking for when doing combos, understanding how things work as opposed to simply knowing they work.

A big part of using flight is cancelling into it, then using the directional inertia you get by holding a specific direction with your next input.

If you hang out around the Painwheel forums or see videos/notation describing stuff, you'll see things like "c.HP, HK-Buer xx Fly (9)j.MK xx Fly (8)LK-Buer" where the parentheses denote which direction to hold. Sometimes in the case of air buers after a fly, you're effectively tiger-kneeing the air-buer input and a lot of advanced painwheel combos relied on that. With the buer route changes taking place right now, you'll need it a bit less, but it's still a good thing to know how to do.

On block strings, you can use the same principles to end up with useful crossups or the height you need to sustain longer pressure strings.

 

[dMags]

With the buer route changes taking place right now, you'll need it a bit less, but it's still a good thing to know how to do.

On block strings, you can use the same principles to end up with useful crossups or the height you need to sustain longer pressure strings.

I've been having trouble finding notes regarding the changes Painwheel ( and all characters for that matter ) are receiving in the Beta version, are these simply in the change notes on Steam? Or hidden somewhere on this site?

 

[Hilary]

I've been having trouble finding notes regarding the changes Painwheel ( and all characters for that matter ) are receiving in the Beta version, are these simply in the change notes on Steam? Or hidden somewhere on this site?

Should be in the patch notes.

Most important:

• Old: Painwheel had two flight cancels available per jump, regardless of what you cancelled out of.
  
• New: Painwheel has one flight cancel available after an Air Buer or Buer Thresher. You can still flight cancel twice per jump if you only cancel out of normals.

• New: Unfly (press two punches in flight)

 

[dMags]

New: Unfly (press two punches in flight)

Thanks for all the help by the way, I appreciate the time and effort

I wonder how many frames the unfly takes? Definitely gunna play around with this in training mode tonight, could be very useful for air resets and baiting the opponent to attack if you can unfly and block quick enough.

 

[dMags]

I wonder how many frames the unfly takes? Definitely gunna play around with this in training mode tonight, could be very useful for air resets and baiting the opponent to attack if you can unfly and block quick enough.

Not sure why I was thinking air resets, I don't think its too applicable there, it lets you fall faster so maybe you could xxfly during an air combo then unfly to drop them, go for a low reset, but then again I doubt the unfly was put in for that purpose nor do I see it being a very reliable tactic since your opponent should catch on.

Anyway, back to realistic thinking....looks like the unfly is instant, which is awesome. Great improvement to flight and will definitely make it safer knowing you can block on reaction with PP+block, not that I'll be able to haha but the potential exists

I'm sure other people knew this already, but I just noticed PW gets 3 flights if she starts with a grounded flight. Just need to remember, once you're airborne you get 2 flight cancels, regardless if you got there via flight or jump. (omitting Buer xxfly's )

Another thing worth pointing out with the Buer change allowing 1 flight cancel...If you only have 1 remaining flight cancel before the Buer, it doesn't put you to 0 flight cancels, so basically you can't get a million Buers in one combo anymore, so save the Buers for the end of your combo

 

[Icky]

I then tried it against Parasoul and noticed for the j.hk to connect for the restand I need to cancel the j.hp after 2 hits rather than 3, so it was really good practice for me to understand what I should be looking for when doing combos, understanding how things work as opposed to simply knowing they work.

This is due to different weights in the game, causing different characters to fall at different speeds. They are separated into three groups: Lights, Heavies, and "Holy Fuck Big band and Double Weigh A Lot."

Big Band and Double are the heaviest, so they fall to the ground faster than any other characters when hit into the air

The second group is Parasoul and Cerebella who are right in the middle for weight

And the rest of the current characters are light weights.

There are some hit box differences with characters which falsely makes it seem like it's more complicated than just these three weights. Example: Painwheel and Squigly are often the "floatiest" when trying to combo them, almost as if they are the lightest characters in the game. And Big Band's hitboxes give him the illusion of being heavier than Double, as he'll actually hit the ground before Double during certain combos.
Just make sure to try your combos on everyone to figure out the different timing for the weight classes, and the potentially slightly different timings for each individual character in each class!

 

[dMags]

How do you guys remember all this junk haha thanks for the info, I'll need to revisit this once I'm past all the basics, as for now I'm pretty much trying to same combos on all characters, and if they drop...err..I mean...when I reset them I just try and make the best of it.

The biggest problem I have right now is that I don't have the muscle memory yet. I'm thinking it might be worth it for me to literally right out a "workout" for me to do in the dojo, since right now I tend to just practice whatever is on my mind. Quality > Quantity

Lastly, I've been playing with Big Band a little bit just trying to get used to him. Jumping from Solo to a Team is so difficult at first, it really is getting re-adjusted to everything. Just some personal notes I need to remember regarding BB/2char teams:

- Watch your health, it drains a lot faster and is now a legitimate strategy that needs to be incorporated into gameplay
- Stop pressing Assist whenever I feel like it
- Better meter management (I need to actually use it more), with PW I tended to resort more to resets than using meter unless I know it'll kill a character, or if I have a good stockpile I'll start usng them, otherwise I end up sitting on meter
- Stop doing PW combos with BB you stupid fool
- PW: I've been using the mp stinger for an assist, haven't used it too much so I'm not sure yet whether I like it or not
- BB: I'm not taking advantage of his specials really, I have a lot of trouble figure out his combos in training mode. Some of the crap people figure out is amazing haha
- BB: I tried playing through arcade mode using BB's Heavy and Light Beat Extend as an assist, sometimes it was really awesome and useful, but other times it got blown up right when he came on screen ( probably from me abusing it ) . I really like that you can combo off of it easily and works as a fairly decent GTFO move ; on the flip side I think I really wanna try out Heavy rush punch, since the armor property sounds awesome ( even though he takes damage I think PW can really benefit from it still connecting, as im sure most the cast can )
- BB: I keep forgetting to do his taunt when I have the opportunity
- BB: Basically I just need to develop the "i'm playing BB and he's totally different than PW" mentality, keep practicing and get that muscle memory

 

[Icky]

I can help you out with Big Band tomorrow if you're still planning on dropping by Game Underground~

Also, he's a guy (not sure if you typing "she" was a typo)

 

[dMags]

haha good find, yes that was a typo. I'll be coming by tomorrow, so yeah if you wouldn't mind I'll definitely take all the help I can get. I don't think I'm gunna play SF4 at 2, so I'll stick around SG once you guys finish up the tourney

 

[Tomo009]

Ok, theDMAGS, don't get flooded under information overload.

There is a lot of information in this thread and you saying you need to improve everything, don't try and soak in everything at once, none of it will stick.

Just pick one thing at a time to focus on. After a play session, try to notice any troubles that pervaded all games, note it down, do some research and practice then really focus on that in your next play session. This way you will not only understand what you are being told to improve, but will see how it actually affects your own game and you can gauge your own progress. Which is very important to do, especially when you hit a wall and are not sure where to improve next.

 

[Hilary]

oh shit you're with Icky and Peanuts' crowd?

so fuckin' done w/you.

Spoiler

jk. <3
hit me up if you need help with anything

 

[dMags]

I'll find out if I'm cool enough tomorrow haha I've never met them, I am from Boston though, but I'm just starting to get into the local scene now

 

[dMags]

Random Bump:

Haven't played too much over the past 2 weeks ( so many other video games that need to feel my wrath ) but I plan on putting more time in this week.

I need to find people to play longer sets with online during the week, planning on sending more PMs today but so far I haven't had much luck.

 

[dMags]

some quick notes from lobby play last night. I played a 2 man team ( PW, BB ), looking back at my matches...

1. The first guy I played against was only 3-4 matches, he played solo BB and my god the damage output haha he bodied me pretty easily but two big things I took from the games:

- He caught me with A-Train a few times at first, but I actually baited it out once or twice in the last match so I was happy with that.
- In the last match, he actually let off the pressure and just sat back at one point, and to be honest I sort of didn't know how to approach him. This caught me off guard, and I'm not really sure of a good way to practice neutral game without a person to play against. To be honest my neutral game is fairly unorganized at this point.

2. Second guy I played against I think I won 5-0, this was better as we were much more evenly matched and I got the opportunity to play neutral game and offense. He played solo fukua, and having the assist for a change was great. Two more points I noticed from this set:

- When it comes to punishing the opponent, I need to remember 'KISS' - Keep It Simple, Stupid.
- Playing as PW, my typical BnB was cr.lk, cr.mk, st.hp xx lk.buer xx fly, (6)j.lk, cr.lk/mk, etc..., however in matches I tend to drop the link going into the (6)j.lk or the follow up to that, so I started using cr.hp xx fly instead of the st.hp xx lk.buer. It isn't as damaging, but I can hit the combo every time and that's way more important than more potential damage.

3. Last guy I played, matches were too laggy unfortunately, can't say much about them but we seemed really evenly matched at least.

 

[dMags]

Was able to play some longer sets with other beginners last night, it was really really good practice for me, just what I needed ( and need more of )

Just a few comments to myself, majority of these I think will be solved with practice and just gaining more experience:

- I'm getting better at managing a team ( meter/health ). I still have moments when I do a super, or kill a character, and find myself realizing about 1-2 seconds too late that I should have DHC'd or tagged in another one of my teammates.

- Using PW: I get a little too reset heavy, to the point where I'm missing out on guaranteed damage, so I need to do resets more efficiently.

- I'm getting more comfortable with BB

- Fukua gives me trouble, as does Filia....

Anyway, I'm just going to keep chugging away trying to play longer sets. Creating casual play beginner lobbies and just waiting for people to join has been extremely beneficial.

 

[mcpeanuts]

Being too reset heavy is better than having the opposite problem of finishing every combo. The game rewards resets pretty heavily.

I feel like Big Band probably has a favorable matchup against Filia. s.LP and L Rush Punch are safe moves that are good at stopping her from instant air dashing at you. When Filia can't instant air dash she's not playing the game she wants to.

 

[dMags]

I'll have to keep the s.LP and L rush punch in mind...those are two moves I rarely use with BB. I know his s.LP is dirty, but I'm so used to not pushing that button with PainWheel that it carries over to BB.

 

[Ninja]

If you are going with Big Band resets are the best way to go. Using Lk A Train is a great tool to mix up your opponent when they expect a grab reset. Also with Big Band's Sound Moves it causes alot of stun that might cause a burst. Try to make your combos as loose as possible to make your opponent burst at the wrong time alowing you to get nasty damage.

Spoiler: Examples of which you can play off of.

These L A Train setups can be placed at any ground combo not just throws.

Example of both a green stun burst bait and a red infinite burst in the same combo.

 

[dMags]

Thanks for the videos Ninja, some of the Big Band stuff you've come up with is really awesome. I'll definitely take a look at that stuff tonight.

I should probably say, when I play Big Band I've been going more for straight damage ( since I'm still not very fluent with him, so most resets are accidental ), Painwheel is the reset monster on my team.

 

[Ninja]

Painwheel is the reset monster on my team.

I see, I wish you luck on learning the ins and outs on Band.

 

[mcpeanuts]

Thanks for the videos Ninja, some of the Big Band stuff you've come up with is really awesome. I'll definitely take a look at that stuff tonight.

I should probably say, when I play Big Band I've been going more for straight damage ( since I'm still not very fluent with him, so most resets are accidental ), Painwheel is the reset monster on my team.

There's some really cool resets you can do with Big Band too. Most of them I stole from Icky, but I can show you the next time we're both at GU.

 

[Hilary]

- Using PW: I get a little too reset heavy, to the point where I'm missing out on guaranteed damage, so I need to do resets more efficiently.

Painwheel's top end damage is still decent, but I don't think it's at the point where she can consistently get two touch kills from almost any confirm like she used to.

I'm really leaning towards just resetting like crazy with her instead of how she used to play pre Buer nerf/fix. Since Encore's launch (and to a lesser extent, even Undizzy in MDE), people seem to be resisting that idea.

But Painwheel (along with Val, Squigly, and a few others) no longer has the capability to do anything else imo, and the rewards are so great for reset-heavy play.

 

[dMags]

@mcpeanuts - that'd be sweet, I should be there next week ( 5/2 )

@hlvn - Last night when I was playing, I was getting a little out of control with it, to the point where rather than trying to hit confirm I would instantly xxFly, letting them block rather than me just maximizing damage. I can't even tell you how many times I did cr.lk, cr.mk, st.hp xx fly. I caught myself a few times, but I really should be trying cr.lk, cr.mk, cr.hp xx fly and then continuing my combo, then on the 2nd loop I can throw in resets.

This is mostly just caused by me "playing fast" and almost panicking rather than taking the time to think about combos rather than just pressing buttons. Just a matter of time and practice though

 

[Hilary]

it's not uncommon to see painwheels do things like

cLK cMK sHP x Fly jLK Fly jLK
fly jLK cLK fly jLK
and/or mix any number of throws, crossups, and shenanigans in there.

Optimal damage to get a kill is good, but I think skullgirls' metagame is shifting towards just resetting at all stages of undizzy accumulation as a means of pacing the game and conditioning your opponent's attention and mental state rather than resetting because you just want to do more damage than a max undizzy combo would allow.

The 2-3k damage you see in a lifebar or attack data for a chain or two of damage doesn't say anything about how much that scares someone holding a controller next to you. Even if the damage isn't a lot, they got hit when they didn't want to be hit or didn't think they'd get hit and that is always kind of awful.

Even if you say something like "I shouldn't reset until my second chain" as a compromise between damage and staying spicy with resets, you've already told yourself you will never reset on the first chain and thus sacrificed the ability to make the point of "yo, I am actuallly a crazy person that will reset you immediately after a confirm, protect ya fuckin' neck or start mashin'" which is really invaluable imo.

I am also not the best, so #grainofsalt and best of luck. <3

 

[dMags]

Bump Post

Unfortunately, I have not been playing much at all. I'm currently on a Silent Hill binge but that should be ending shortly.

I did play for a little bit over the past weekend though, and I actually played surprisingly well ( for me ). I think this was due to the fact that I was pretty clear headed, and just let things flow. I broke out of my routine Big Band combos and tried going for some longer combos, I'm so used to playing Street Fighter I still can't believe how damn easy charging is in this game.

Over the next few weeks I really need to make a better effort of friend-ing/playing with people from here, I'm finding that against other beginner's (beginner lobby play) I'm not really learning a lot when I win or lose. When I lose it's usually just a stupid mistake on my part rather than a "holy crap I need to practice against that" moment. @Icky - I owe you a set, sorry I've been a ghost lately. But yea, I need to play people better than me if I want to improve and learn better fundamentals.

 

[Icky]

Just send me a message on here, or on steam if you want to play!

 

[dMags]

@RetroStation - I didn't wanna get off topic in your training diary, so I figured I'd just tag you here.

"You need more BB combos. Also, whenever you manage to smack with a LV1, taunt right after; it'll make the next one hurt more. Your PW's decent, but it also still has a ways to go. Look up tech from Krackatoa, Elky Dori, or Elda Taluda... You'll definitely learn some awesome stuff from them."

So in regards to this, I used to do the taunt after BB's level 1 but I found that I got punished a few times so I stopped doing it, I'm not sure if this is because I'm inputting the taunt too late, or maybe it's just a character specific thing? Either way, I'll revisit this because the benefit is worth it.

As for the other comments, I totally agree. I'm still getting my feet wet with certain aspects of the game, and more often than not I end up just doing a very simply combo because I "freak out" and push buttons way too fast without thinking, even though I know much better combos.

 

[Icky]

Unless you kill a character Big Band's taunt can be punished by a lot of people if you try and do it off of a level 1 knockdown, definitely don't do that everytime you use his horncrush super. I don't know off the top of my head who can punish and can't punish it though, since i never taunt

 

[dMags]

Yea, I can't remember the exact situation ( or specifically, which character did this ) but after I landed the SSJ and started the taunt, they instantly did a ground tech towards me off the SSJ knockdown and were legit in my face ready to punish. Once it happened I said to myself "welp, I don't see why the entire cast can't do that" and I stopped doing it. So maybe it's something to test out first and see if the opponent actually ground tech's, but I feel like at high level play it'll get punished rather frequently once the opponent is aware at least.

 

[mcpeanuts]

I'm pretty sure everyone in the game can punish a taunt done after SSJ. However there's a trick you can do. Big Band's taunt is super cancellable, so when they go in to punish your taunt you can cancel into another SSJ and hit them. This is kind of gimmicky though and it doesn't tend to work on people more than once so don't rely on it. I only go for the taunt after SSJ if I think they either don't know how to punish or don't know about the gimmick.

As far as not freaking out when you do your combos, this is really just a matter of practice. Not everyone will agree with me here but I think it's worthwhile to play arcade mode to get combos down to muscle memory. It doesn't have the stress that playing another person does but you still have to try and hit a moving target that tries to hit back. I wouldn't recommend using arcade for anything else though because it can teach you bad habits.

 

[dMags]

I'll usually do that or go in training mode and set the CPU to nightmare. I'm sort of in between beginner and intermediate skill levels right now. When I play in beginner lobbies, I'm very relaxed and confident, I hit my extended combos and try more 'out of the box' things, and typically I win and my gameplay looks solid. Then I play against people Intermediate and greater, and I lose that confidence and start playing scrubby again ( almost once a round I end up bursting out in laughter because of the junk buttons I push without even thinking ). Like you said though peanuts, it's just a matter of practice and getting more experience, so I'm not discouraged by it or anything.

 

[dMags]

Played a bunch last night, just a few notes:

- I reversed my team order, so I played BB point and PW 2nd...holy crap it feels sooooo much better than running it the other way around.
-- Now I have a safe DHC from my point ( Hatred Install )
-- a viable raw tag ( not as abuse-able as Bella's but still good IMO, it worked A LOT last night catching people off guard ) -> This is big for me because I would always have trouble finding that perfect moment to tag PW out or DHC to BB when I was playing the other order.
-- In my opinion BB on point is better against a full team than PW is
-- If BB does go down early my team isn't completely destroyed since I still feel way more fluent with PW, hopefully he's done enough damage to make it easier on solo PW

- I need to explore and practice assist's for PW, so far I'll either use light pinion dash or cr.mp. I don't think I'm going to find anything better, but I need to just work it into my gameplay more, especially to make blockstrings safe and lockdown the opponent.

- I have a bad habit of holding back while I combo, so playing as BB when I try to do Beat Extend I'll end up getting a rush punch instead...gotta cut that out

Otherwise, I feel like my game is still progressing and getting slightly better each time I play. This Saturday I'm gunna play in the GU monthly, so I'm sure that'll be a friendly slap in the face to remind me that I do in fact, still suck haha should be plenty of fun though