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Beowulf: J.HP and the Art of Getting In

Bucky Barkley

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Bucky Barkley
Beowulf
So the Wulf Pack just recently had our second BetaWulf Tournament, and it's kinda gotten me in a bit of a competitive mindset. One thing I noticed, which I'm sure everyone else has too at this point, is that when fighting with/against Beowulf, j.HP is undoubtedly going to be thrown out a million times. And that got me wondering, 'Why do I use it so much? Because it's the easiest way to get in. Right?' After thinking about it for a little while, I'm not so sure it is. So let me share some of the things I noticed happening during the New Wulf Order: Wulfimania 2015, Second Moon Tournament.

First of all, I saw j.HP hit pretty often. It's large hitbox is so huge that people often underestimate it and end up getting surprised with free damage. But I also noticed that a lot of the times this happened, Beowulf was so far away that he couldn't follow up on it. So most of the time, a j.HP hit at max range would just be followed by another j.HP. This can become predictable, though, and lends itself to counter-play. In one of my matches, my opponent threw his chair early and used c.HP whenever I jumped in. Since I was just mindlessly using j.HP, I ended up losing out to the armor and getting combo'd in a scenario where just blocking would've resulted in my advantage. Another thing that kept coming up was that, since it is a bit on the slow side, people could react to it. There were times where people would pull out their anti-air assist or throw out a super, relying on armor or invulnerable frames to catch Beowulf mid j.HP. I also noticed that when used by itself, j.HP will knock a jumping enemy back, making it tough to follow up and ending up no closer to the opponent than they were before.

So I'm starting to think that j.HP really isn't the best for getting in. But that leaves me wondering, what are good ways for Beo to get in on his opponent? I've started using Wulf Blitzer (236K) to close distances (I'll even use it to follow a j.HP to either attempt a follow up, or just allow a safe-ish escape), but getting blocked leaves you vulnerable, forcing you to use any remaining blitzes to get out of range, or else you'll eat a combo. Wulf Shoot (236LP+LK) can be powerful, but is slow and loses easily to jumps. His hop dashes might be good, but I seem to always get hit whenever I use them (though that's probably just because I'm bad/using them wrong). Chairless c.HK does allow him to roll forward, but it requires you to be chairless, which some people might not like.

What do you guys think? What are good ways for Beo to get in on his opponent? Should he approach certain foes differently than others? And what do you think of j.HP? Can it be useful for getting in, or is it just too risky? I may be overthinking all of this, but I'd like to know. Maybe it'll even help me get a little better.
 
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Wulf cannon to knock them down and OTG off of it.

So something like j.HP xx 236MK > 3K

if they are grounded this has the added bonus of being + on block in their face.
 
Wow, I never even thought about using down K blitz on block. Never occurred to me that it'd recover faster. My noobiness is really showing. But thanks, that's really helpful!
 
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Yep. Had a long set and j.HP 236MK 3K is fantastic for a very neat hitconfirm.
 
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People have already said it, blitzer is the way to go. j. hp xx 236K into either 3K or even 2K. They offer different situations based on the position, and experience and experimentation with both will help you much in your neutral. Wolf blitzer is an OP move and it has to be because beowulf doesn't have a ton of other good ways to get in.