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...I've shown up to this party late

Fedora_Ninja said:
It's great to see you're improving!

I know it sounds dumb, but I was so awful with fundamentals like blocking and hitting buttons too often that it stopped my progression completely. I was at a point where I was hopeless outside of a beginner lobby. This past week, I learned nothing new. Instead, I just worked on these things. Matches do last a lot longer, and I am able to get out of pressure and punish sometimes.



1. Hit confirm. After you throw out a c.lp/c.lk, go straight to c.mk. This gives you enough time to recognize whether or not you caught them in a block string, or you got a clean hit (AKA hit confirming). If you got a clean hit, go straight to c.hp and do combo.

I'm hearing this enough that I have it first on my list of things to work on next. I have not considered the crouching light attacks (for reasons stated in the most recent video). So it's probably back to the training room for this so I can start on this. I am still unlearning bad habits.

I noticed that you go straight to s.mp after j.mp, and that just never combos. So you lose your advantage. c.lp is guaranteed to combo after j.mp, so use that instead.

Yeah...another bad habit (using the MP button too often). It's been a long process to go straight to using other buttons to mix up attacks. Last night I tried j.MP > c.LK > c.HP and I DID IT. The opponent went for the high block and I caught him off guard!

Yes, I was that excited.

2. Mortuary drop resets are fine when your opponent least expects them

I just use this less often. That was a great piece of advice and I get screwed less often.

For right now, I'm going to leave note #3 out, and return to it next week. Hopefully, I will be able to least go over it and be able to understand it in a way I can apply it. I'm probably overcomplicating this, but I need to do things differently.

I haven't had you do rejump combos yet, so just use that as a general concept.

I see those combos, and have attempted them....and it's a bunch of NOPE. Those are a ways down the road.

Thank you so much for randomly popping in and taking so much time with your posts and videos. It may not seem like it, but I pick through every posts, comment, video, and advice I find and receive.
 
IM PICKING UP A SECOND CHARACTER! ITS OFFICIAL! THE TRAINING BEGINS NOW

I'm taking the easy way and learning Fukua. Because I can. It will be interesting to see how fast I can pick her up, and how I will feel about Valentine after learning Fukua. As much as I love all solo Valentine play, it's time to add another layer to my game
 
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I'm not wasting any time. If I want to even consider using a team for next week's Get GR8, I know that I need to put in as much time as possible. So, to start out, I'll give the 'Trials' mode a crack and learn my first Fukua combo from there. It is Trial #1. And already I'm finding it challenging. I'm sure there are easier ones, but I want to see what you can do with what the game itself has to offer. I was so excited about the Trials mode when I first heard about, so let's use it.

Even just playing Fukua's story mode, it feels like I'm playing a completely different game. Thankfully, @joshb911 plays her a lot and made a guide for her. Along with my usual group of people I play with (who I THINK at least know Fukua fairly well), maybe I can break through and finally get a second character down.
 
That combo will trigger IPS, I think you added in an extra j.HP at the start so if you remove that it should be fine. I'd also swap that first MP with an MK since MK moves you forward so your HP won't whiff at longer ranges.
 
Lex said:
That combo will trigger IPS, I think you added in an extra j.HP at the start so if you remove that it should be fine. I'd also swap that first MP with an MK since MK moves you forward so your HP won't whiff at longer ranges.

I just woke up, and yep...added an extra j.HP. Thanks for catching that. And I was noticing that I am sometimes whiffing that first HP. Hopefully after a couple hours I can get this combo down once.
 
@Skodial Hello! for the notation you might want to do s.mk in the first chain. s.mk moves you forward for your confirms.

Try this combo

c.lk s.mk s.hp
j.hk
s.mk,s.hp
j.mk, j.hk
s.lp s.lp, c.mk c.hp 236hk(h drill) XX Drill super 236KK

its simple and effective and doesn't have the pesky link after j.hp, j.hk
 
Cadenza said:
@Skodial Hello! for the notation you might want to do s.mk in the first chain. s.mk moves you forward for your confirms.

Try this combo

c.lk s.mk s.hp
j.hk
s.mk,s.hp
j.mk, j.hk
s.lp s.lp, c.mk c.hp 236hk(h drill) XX Drill super 236KK

its simple and effective and doesn't have the pesky link after j.hp, j.hk

You were the third person to point this out. Thanks so much for doing so. It would have taken me a month to discover that. Compared to the Valentine combos that I currently use, I guess you could call this easier. After a couple hours in the training room, I pulled this combo off 4 times.

I know that sounds horrendous, but after going solo Val for 200 hours in my first fighting game, I call this a small victory. Now, to use Fukua against the CPU to figure out how to actually use her (OH GAWD HOW DO I USE HER????? WHAT HAVE I SUBJECTED MYSELF TO?!?!?)
 
Skodial said:
You were the third person to point this out. Thanks so much for doing so. It would have taken me a month to discover that. Compared to the Valentine combos that I currently use, I guess you could call this easier. After a couple hours in the training room, I pulled this combo off 4 times.

I know that sounds horrendous, but after going solo Val for 200 hours in my first fighting game, I call this a small victory. Now, to use Fukua against the CPU to figure out how to actually use her (OH GAWD HOW DO I USE HER????? WHAT HAVE I SUBJECTED MYSELF TO?!?!?)
just add me on steam or go on discord and i will help you out asap. i will even do online training mode and show you what she has to offer.
 
Cadenza said:
just add me on steam or go on discord and i will help you out asap. i will even do online training mode and show you what she has to offer.

I will shoot you a friend request on Steam, and I am part of the SG Discord.
I will give you fair warning: I'm awful at this, and not exactly a fast learner...but I love the game and community, and have the drive to learn this.

Warning over
 
This is probably a really dumb question (I seem to love asking them to...)

Is there a secret or a type of rhythm to using Fukua? I may just be having an issue of switching from so much Valentine play, but I can barely do anything with her. Now I know I just picked her up. I'm not necessarily talking about nailing combos, but even simple chains and just getting in to attack is giving me trouble.

But, thankfully, another SG player is more then will to lend out a helping hand. Hopefully, this week I can be less of a potato with her
 
I like how I answer my own questions the next day. I should really stop panicking (THE GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO GET US)

The big secret is just time. Overall, I'm adapting fairly well. JoshB was a huge help introducing me to her, and the rest is slowly coming together. It will still take weeks to get competitive with her, but I'm off to a much better start with learning the second character.

I should ask a question...

I have been told that you can pull off BFF in between the two stages of Peacock's Argus Agony. Is this true?
 
Skodial said:
I have been told that you can pull off BFF in between the two stages of Peacock's Argus Agony. Is this true?
Yeah, there's a gap between the beam and the lasers where you can super jump out or do a character specific punish (unless it is point blank, then all characters can just jab). Fukua can do BFF and Val can punish it as well depending on the distance.
 
EKG has a lot of invul frames. Can punish from midscreen on reaction to the superflash or after the first volley.
And with fukua and 2 bars you can dhc into BFF for a full combo.
I think Val could also block the first volley, hold up and then H bypass? Need to test it, but at work.
 
So I found myself in the middle of Penumbra's live stream today (another one of the regulars I see that I highly respect). Despite being in such company, I pulled off 3 match wins that I feel proud of. @joshb911 reminded me where I was at just one month ago.

Where was I at a month ago? The first matches in the beginner bracket at Get GR8. And now I find my in the middle of lobbies holding my own against the same people I thought I would always be chasing, with a Valentine that doesn't die easily and a Fukua that knows all her tricks.
 
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So...now that I realize that having a team (any lineup appears to suffice as long as you know the characters fairly well) is the way to go in SG, I am finding out that there are 'right' and 'wrong' ways to use a team. Calling out assists a lot doesn't seem to work. I've watched many people get hammered for that. And just waiting for one character to be low on health or knocked out to call in your other characters doesn't seem to be much better. Doing this ignores all those awesome team mechanics I've read so much about. But there are some things that I do know about my team. Get ready for dis knowledge drop, yo.

I prefer Valentine when I'm up against a Peacock, Big Band, Filia, and Eliza

Fukua is helping me a lot against Beowulf, Painwheel, another Fukua, and Cerabella.

...and that's all I have learned for now. That's a start. At least I am understanding matchups better. I still need to learn how to make Valentine and Fukua work together as one team, instead of being just two characters. I'll be missing this week's Get GR8, but I have a lot of free time over the next couple weeks to read more and watch a ton of matches to learn about team...something something?
 
Btw, if one of your characters has low health and you'd rather spend a couple of bars than tag to the other one then you can DHC to the other character then here are a few options:

To switch to Fukua you should be using her fireball DHC (this is unsafe at point blank but most people don't know the punish so you'll get away with it unless facing a good opponent) which does a nice amount of chip and gives a combo if you do it with your opponent in the corner. You could alternatively use BFF but unless you think it'll hit you'd be better off using fireball for switching out as fireball does good chip and goes full screen.
To switch to Val your only safe DHC is to mid/full-screen scalpels. This does good chip but is very easy to punish at point blank due to its lengthy recovery.

If you land a super as Val then you can DHC to BFF to get a combo after it and if it is blocked then you can DHC to either BFF or fireball (depending on range these may or may not be punishable).

Fukua's tag is quite good as it is relatively fast for a tag and can sometimes cross up the opponent (do NOT overuse tags though as if you get it wrong then you will get punished heavily).

You can also alpha counter when your blocking to switch another character in (this isn't that good unless the assist you chose for that character is invincible like H Drill) for 1 bar.

Keep in mind that if you switch one character out to recover some health that if you switch them back in before they've fully recovered all of their red health then they lose that red health.
 

Another great treasure chest of advice and information. Can't wait to dive into this. But before I do, I want to thank you again for all of your help. All the advice you gave a couple weeks ago? I sat down with it, worked it out, worked it out dozens of times over, and have been able to apply to matches fairly consistently. And I've been beginning to win some tough matches that I wouldn't have been able to pull off before. So thank you.
 
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Now that I've had some time to read over the recent post that @Lex put up, I run across something that I've heard a couple times...but have no clue what it is or means. What is an alpha counter? I'm assuming this is a fairly advanced move, as I can't recall hearing this in any recent Get GR8 streams
 
You press tag (MP+MK or HP+HK, if you have a three person team then which combination decides which character comes out) and forward while blocking. Your other character will be switched in and they will do whatever move you set as their assist (e.g. if you choose H drill for Fukua she will come out and immediately do H drill). They cost 1 bar to use and you can also do them while doing triggering a burst (e.g. you are getting comboed, your opponent does a burst bait and you alpha counter, your other character comes out and does their attack, catching the opponent unaware and getting you a combo). Alpha counter isn't the in game name for the move but just like DHCs and supers it is a term from other fighting games (SF Alpha I believe) that people use because it is more recognizable.

Alpha counters have varying degrees of use depending on your characters and their assists. Generally people only do alpha counters into invincible or armoured assists like H drill or H Lock n' Load as otherwise your character will normally get hit (even for invincible or armoured assists, there is 1 frame where they are not invincible). Once your character comes out you can cancel the move just like you could if you did it normally (so if you alpha counter to Val cr.MK then you can cancel into a special or super). If you watch McPeanuts' matches from tournaments, he often alpha counters in his Big Band who catches opponents mid attack with L Beat Extend and he gets a full combo.

Here's a short video demonstrating what it looks like:

I don't think Val or Fukua have any moves that are great for alpha countering so don't worry about it too much.
 
I've performed an alpha counter once, but that was all mashing. Now that I'm more aware of what I press for every input, panic mashing is becoming a more reliable way to counter in tough matches (not the best way, but a way that does work regularly)

*BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME*
Let's get right into it. I'm finally performing in a way that reflects all the time and effort that I've put into SG (i.e. I'm sucking slightly less lol). So, what am I getting to? Well...The Beverly Hillbilly will pick a tournament, and register. It doesn't matter how big or small it is, and I'm not looking for anything to ever come of it. In case you can't tell, I love the game and community so much. So....let's see what I can do.

With this summer coming up, I hope that a local meetup will start happening in the L.A. area. While online matches with friends are fun and super informative, I feel ready to start breaking out. But first, let's see what tournaments will showcase Skullgirls.

Famous last words
 
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I have found a tourney to work towards:. The SoCal Regionals in mid October. 10 minutes after making this decision, I am already panicking. On one hand, I am so excited about this. On the other hand, I can't open up opponents with Fukua yet.

*hardcore training montage commence*
 
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Skodial said:
I have found a tourney to work towards:. The SoCal Regionals in mid October. 10 minutes after making this decision, I am already panicking. On one hand, I am so excited about this. On the other hand, I can't open up opponents with Fukua yet.

*hardcore training montage commence*

Top 8 or bust~
 
oh that move is Beowulf's command grab. just jump it and you'll be fine. It has just about the same range as Cerebella's merry go'rilla grab.

His chairless j.hp is a hit grab so just blocking that will be okay. same deal with his chairless s.hp. Beowulf's cr.mk is a hitgrab only if it otg's you.

so over all your best bet is to use moves that are throw invul or absolute invul. so like Fukua's HK Drill if timed correctly will counter any of Beowulf's grab resets.
 
Ninja said:
oh that move is Beowulf's command grab. just jump it and you'll be fine. It has just about the same range as Cerebella's merry go'rilla grab.

His chairless j.hp is a hit grab so just blocking that will be okay. same deal with his chairless s.hp. Beowulf's cr.mk is a hitgrab only if it otg's you.

so over all your best bet is to use moves that are throw invul or absolute invul. so like Fukua's HK Drill if timed correctly will counter any of Beowulf's grab resets.

Maybe I should be more honest: I see Beowulf and know a loss is coming. I can't handle his pressure, his grabs, or some of his attacks that appear to take up the whole screen. Blocking only ends up in being grabbed.

Is there something that I don't know?
 
I did figure out last night that throwing Val's projectiles while on the ground messes with Beowulf. Still having an awful time with my timing, but it's nice to know that I now have something for him.

Still hate Beowulf tho

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Over the weekend, my game was stupid bad. Turns out, there's a reason that isn't my fault! My fightstick is beginning to die. It's in the joystick itself. Sometimes air dashes werent registering. I confirmed this in the training room.

So I bought a real fightstick (I hate calling it that, but that's a topic for a different day)

I've ordered the Hori RAP V5 stick. I know its just a RAP 4 with a different button layout, but I bought it for that layout design. It will be interesting to compare the Mini 4 to the RAP 5

the epic quest....to suck less
 
You really have a hard time with beo's, hillbilly? You kick my ass all the time and I don't really find beowulves very scary. Not in the same way fukua is scary 0.0
 
Same as in here, beta ray bill. Over the last couple weeks I've played you several times. You, ExtroGIO and narrowzi were my first rivals online
And I feel a lot better about losing to you now I know you've been playing this months longer than I =p
 
Beta Ray Bill said:
You kick my ass all the time and I don't really find beowulves very scary.
To be fair, that's not exactly a convincing argument when you're playing a different character against beowulf, and you aren't playing beo against Hillbilly, so you don't exactly see the problems he's dealing with. You also might not be playing against good beowulf players.
 
Beta Ray Bill said:
Same as in here, beta ray bill. Over the last couple weeks I've played you several times. You, ExtroGIO and narrowzi were my first rivals online
And I feel a lot better about losing to you now I know you've been playing this months longer than I =p

Oh ok, I remember now. I'll shoot you a friend request this evening. I'm always open to play a few matches, and wouldn't mind helping in any way I can. My advice is poor at best, but it's time I begin to pass on all the help I've been given. 4 months isn't a long time, but it's long enough that I'm not a complete potato anymore

the epic quest....to suck less
 
Fedora_Ninja said:
To be fair, that's not exactly a convincing argument when you're playing a different character against beowulf, and you aren't playing beo against Hillbilly, so you don't exactly see the problems he's dealing with. You also might not be playing against good beowulf players.
My issue is still consistently zoning Beo and other characters that rush to you to attack or grab (consistency meaning that I goof up on inputs). But I did finally work someone that out in the training room yesterday. With accurate zoning and some well timed assists, Beowulf is manageable

the epic quest....to suck less
 
Fedora_Ninja said:
To be fair, that's not exactly a convincing argument when you're playing a different character against beowulf, and you aren't playing beo against Hillbilly, so you don't exactly see the problems he's dealing with. You also might not be playing against good beowulf players.
Um, Ok? I was just chewing the fat with billy over here, lol my arguments are not so casual in their persuasiveness when I'm being serious.
Skodial said:
Oh ok, I remember now. I'll shoot you a friend request this evening. I'm always open to play a few matches, and wouldn't mind helping in any way I can. My advice is poor at best, but it's time I begin to pass on all the help I've been given. 4 months isn't a long time, but it's long enough that I'm not a complete potato anymore

the epic quest....to suck less
I'll gladly accept any help you can offer, I've already pretty much exhausted all other resources involving threads, reddits, links, and YouTube videos. All that's left now is raw combat, so the more "rivals" I can surround myself with the better. Plus maybe my meteoric levelling up might push you to try even harder to improve ;)
 
I think my cat was mocking my gameplay again last night...but he had a good point:. My reaction time is still awful. I either am doing one of two things:

1. Not anticipating correctly anything that ends up coming.

2. Unable to react to anything that is coming fast enough to avoid the attack, block, or counter.

These are issues that I thought would go away from just plugging in the time, like I would naturally improve with experience. This seemed like a solid plan. 257 hours later, that hasn't happened.

These days, most every person I play with has a lot more experience than me. Most every match is one sided unless they back off to give me a chance to fight. i'm perfectly fine with this. Someone with a lot of experience should easily win, they earned it. And I greatly appreciate it when someone backs off (there are times where I even ask for it. It gives me one or two chances to pull off things I have been practicing since day 1. So now I need to figure out how to improve on this in the game.

Maybe fight the CPU in the training room in slow motion, or is there a better way to practice reaction times?

(Head goes to fightstick, then away from fightstick. Then back to fightstick.)

the epic quest....to suck less
 
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