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Blocking

JamesMcCloud

JamesMcCloud

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Okay. This is a serious problem in the fighting games I'm learning (P4U and SG). I'm still learning to block, but the AI has trouble proving offense, at least in SG. When I DO have a chance to block, I find myself asking "What do I do???" while they attack. It freaks me out a bit, because I know I have to be on point. If I screw up once, I'm completely open. Freaks me out.

So I guess this is a stupid question in general, but what can i do to get better at blocking and get over my blocking anxiety??
 
Well, I'm by no means a pro but I've felt how you've felt and I think it is just inexperience and low self-confidence. When you freak out, you can't think or play to win. I believe you should practice online with others at your level or watch some SG videos on youtube (I've also learned a little how to determine what the opponent will do by CLOSELY watching them-) as I've heard the AI doesn't teach you anything useful regarding human opponents.
 
Play against people who have an offence to get better at blocking.
Remember that a lotttt of SG blocks are prediction rather than reaction.
 
Look up worldjem's videos on YT. They've helped me alot about learning to block and reversals. PBGCs are still a bit tough for me to pull off and risky, but the payoff is big and once the timing is down can be invaluable. Practice on a training dummy using multi-hit moves. Record adding in an assist call to simulate a hi-low mixup and experiment with guarding and pushblocking. Other than that, just play online. You're gonna get your face smashed in a few times, but hell, we all did. (I still do)
 
Yeah, the SG AI is kinda more on the defensive side. I'll keep practicing, it just feels like when I block I think "SHITSHITSHIT HOW DO I FOLLOW THIS UP AFTER". Once I get my laptop later this month, I'll start playing online.
 
A good place to start is doing the tutorial in SG that goes over blocking mix-ups. There's also a tutorial on pushblocking.

There's also worldjem's guide to defense.

In fighting games, it's fine if your defense got broken. It's impossible to block everything. Just take note of how they got that first hit. Did they go high, low, or was it a grab? Did they do a cross-up or was it an overhead? Were you caught hitting buttons when they were on frame advantage?

Defense is based on character and player knowledge. For example, Double doesn't have any overhead attacks, so the only time you should block high in that match-up is when she's in the air. However, her command dash, flesh step, can run right behind you and cross you up. So her options are either a low, a throw, or a cross-up with an assist or cat heads.

Player knowledge comes to play since humans tend to do things in patterns. Once you recognize your opponents attack patterns, stop and think what you can do to prevent getting opened up. Say a Squigly player keeps spamming j.hp. Since the Squigly player stays in the air, there's no reason to block low. You should also try find an anti-air move that shuts down that type of offense.

You gain this knowledge by playing people.

tldr; in-game tutorials, worldjem has a detailed guide, and play people to recognize situations where you should block high/low/crossup
 
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