Everyone knows how to sidestep- move out of the way of those big verticals, or that BB spam, and hit the opponent while they’re open. But do you know how to backstep? The backstep is a powerful tool that enables an instant shift in momentum, a creation of chance from nothingness. Utilizing it properly will put you that much closer to achieving your true strength.
What’s backstep?
A backstep is a movement technique that… moves you backwards. Just tap 4. (Don’t hold 4- that’s backwalking, 8WR backwards, which is horrible. Just tap 4. Don’t double tap it, either, just one singular tap.)
What this does (the general purpose, anyway) is it moves you out of killzone range (remember that?) so you can’t be hit. If you can time a backstep well to step out of the way right when your enemy is about to attack, they will whiff and then they are at your mercy.
Backstep is not cancelable by guard for at least 20 frames. However, you can cancel backstep with an attack or with Guard Impact (not a lot of people know about that one. If you used this technique, maybe you could backstep-GI-JG? Who knows…)
What do I do with this?
You can use backstep to gain some breathing room if you need time to think; you can use it for ring positioning. The main purpose of backstep is to create whiffs so you can attack the opponent. In a weird way, it is a defensive tool and an offensive tool all at once.
You can backstep at disadvantage, not just at neutral in the open. Get an attack blocked, whiff, or get hit, then try backstepping. If the opponent uses a short-range attack, he’ll probably whiff. You know what that means!
Backstep is intimately related to frames and spacing. Too much disadvantage, and you can’t backstep. Too close, and you can’t backstep. You have to be careful with this because if you are hit while backstepping you take a full-damage counter-hit, but when you use it right, it’s really very effective.
If you can sidestep properly, you can backstep properly. People usually know how to apply sidestepping, but not backstepping. Add it to your arsenal- watch that win rate go right up.
(KrayzieCD taught me how to backstep in 20 matches. That is to say, he beat me mercilessly 20 times straight, using backstep whiff punish like it was going out of style. I couldn’t touch him, he was throwing me around like a cheap toy. I learned how to backstep after analyzing the replay footage afterwards.)
Let It Fly
When you’re using backstep, you might notice sometimes that the opponent whiffs a 2A or something very quick. You react to this and input your move, and it gets blocked. Eh, didn’t he whiff? I’m supposed to hit him!
With fast-recovery moves like this, you can’t react to the whiff. You have to input it on faith.
(Or anticipation- guessing that your opponent is going to attack, and then backstep whiff punish. That works too.)
One of the tactics that I spam repeatedly is backstep 3B. I don’t even look when I’m doing it. If the opponent whiffs, they get hit. If the opponent doesn’t whiff, they might end up hesitating. A lot of the time they step in to attack and get hit anyway. It’s a very powerful move.
The non-confirmed automatic backstep technique can be used with lots of characters. Like:
Mitsurugi’s infamous 4B (backstep and whiff punish all in one command!)
His backstep A+B (I like this the most. Fiyah!)
Nightmare backstep 3B (common technique- 1K hit, backstep 3B. Works like a charm.)
Pyrrha backstep 236B
Cervantes backstep iGDR
Xiba backstep 3BKK
Natsu backstep 66B
And so on and so forth. This is a good way to get damage- just don’t get too predictable with it. (I get too predictable with it…)
Backstep Tiers
Not all backsteps are created equal. I play as Patroklos- he does not really have a great backstep. It works when I need it to, but I can easily get caught backstepping. (This is part of why all he can do is rushdown, and why he isn’t suited for turtling.)
So who does have good backstep, then? A couple of characters come to mind, namely:
Pyrrha
Mitsurugi
Nightmare
In my opinion, they have some of the best backsteps in the game. Good range covered, very fast. You might also notice that they’re the beginner’s characters- punishment, all-around, and "offensive turtling", respectively. These beginner’s characters have good movement. And this is how it should be- if you want to teach beginners how to move, they should have movement that works well. Right?
Backstep a few times with every character in training mode. You might find your character’s backstep is pretty good… Or maybe it’s not.
(Aeon has a great backstep. This is kind of weird, because this sort of makes Aeon a little Nightmare suited for whiff punishing, but he’s not as easy to use. He does have lots of tech crouches though. Also 66A. 66Aeon is the truth.)
If you play a character with a good backstep, you can steal a technique from Tekken called “backdash cancel”.
The input is:
4 214 214 214 214 (you can omit the 2 if that’s more comfortable; this is just repeated quarter-circle back motions.)
When done properly you should backstep repeatedly, much faster than if you were tapping 4 alone. Try this out, it might really help with your spacing.
(Here is a pre-patch video of the cancel, which was previously done with G. The 4 214 214 214 method is not as good as this, but it still works well.)
You can see FinalLifeG performing it here. Lookit how smooth he is!
What do you mean I’m not invincible?!
So, you’re backstepping, you’re whiff punishing. You’re having a good time. Suddenly, you try to backstep and- ouch! You got hit with this huge counter-hit! What’s up with that?!
Backstep can be defeated like sidestep. If someone is abusing sidestep, you use an anti-step (horizontal) move. If someone is abusing backstep, you use a ranged move. When you are hit backstepping, you take full counter-hit damage, as if you had one of your attacks interrupted.
Now, most moves in the game can be backstepped out of up close. But some really can’t in most circumstances (Siegfried 3B, Patroklos 66B, Ivy 66A, etc.)
If you’re abusing backstep to get damage, and you start to get punished for it, don’t worry- the move that is being used to catch your backstep does have a weakness.
It may be slow (minimum i20 moves must be used for backstep catch; moves above i20 require advantage to stop backstep)
It may be high (think Mitsurugi B6)
It may be linear (Pyrrha Omega 66B)
It may be unsafe (Tira Jolly 66AA)
Remember, everything has a weakness. You just have to find it.
(Patroklos’ 66B, -2 on block, good guard damage, ridiculous meterless damage plus oki, meter gain. Launch punishable on whiff. People step and punish me all the time.)
Run away! Run away!
Before I “learned” backstep from Krayzie I didn’t even really know it existed or how to use it. The only thing I knew how to do was walk backwards, run forwards, and step.
The game is a lot deeper than this. If you haven’t been using backstep, start trying it out. Watch some videos from the Summer Championship… look carefully.
Among the competitive, backstep is everywhere. If the types you play against don’t use it, and you do… well, what’s going to result is domination- pure and simple.
What’s backstep?
A backstep is a movement technique that… moves you backwards. Just tap 4. (Don’t hold 4- that’s backwalking, 8WR backwards, which is horrible. Just tap 4. Don’t double tap it, either, just one singular tap.)
What this does (the general purpose, anyway) is it moves you out of killzone range (remember that?) so you can’t be hit. If you can time a backstep well to step out of the way right when your enemy is about to attack, they will whiff and then they are at your mercy.
Backstep is not cancelable by guard for at least 20 frames. However, you can cancel backstep with an attack or with Guard Impact (not a lot of people know about that one. If you used this technique, maybe you could backstep-GI-JG? Who knows…)
What do I do with this?
You can use backstep to gain some breathing room if you need time to think; you can use it for ring positioning. The main purpose of backstep is to create whiffs so you can attack the opponent. In a weird way, it is a defensive tool and an offensive tool all at once.
You can backstep at disadvantage, not just at neutral in the open. Get an attack blocked, whiff, or get hit, then try backstepping. If the opponent uses a short-range attack, he’ll probably whiff. You know what that means!
Backstep is intimately related to frames and spacing. Too much disadvantage, and you can’t backstep. Too close, and you can’t backstep. You have to be careful with this because if you are hit while backstepping you take a full-damage counter-hit, but when you use it right, it’s really very effective.
If you can sidestep properly, you can backstep properly. People usually know how to apply sidestepping, but not backstepping. Add it to your arsenal- watch that win rate go right up.
(KrayzieCD taught me how to backstep in 20 matches. That is to say, he beat me mercilessly 20 times straight, using backstep whiff punish like it was going out of style. I couldn’t touch him, he was throwing me around like a cheap toy. I learned how to backstep after analyzing the replay footage afterwards.)
Let It Fly
When you’re using backstep, you might notice sometimes that the opponent whiffs a 2A or something very quick. You react to this and input your move, and it gets blocked. Eh, didn’t he whiff? I’m supposed to hit him!
With fast-recovery moves like this, you can’t react to the whiff. You have to input it on faith.
(Or anticipation- guessing that your opponent is going to attack, and then backstep whiff punish. That works too.)
One of the tactics that I spam repeatedly is backstep 3B. I don’t even look when I’m doing it. If the opponent whiffs, they get hit. If the opponent doesn’t whiff, they might end up hesitating. A lot of the time they step in to attack and get hit anyway. It’s a very powerful move.
The non-confirmed automatic backstep technique can be used with lots of characters. Like:
Mitsurugi’s infamous 4B (backstep and whiff punish all in one command!)
His backstep A+B (I like this the most. Fiyah!)
Nightmare backstep 3B (common technique- 1K hit, backstep 3B. Works like a charm.)
Pyrrha backstep 236B
Cervantes backstep iGDR
Xiba backstep 3BKK
Natsu backstep 66B
And so on and so forth. This is a good way to get damage- just don’t get too predictable with it. (I get too predictable with it…)
Backstep Tiers
Not all backsteps are created equal. I play as Patroklos- he does not really have a great backstep. It works when I need it to, but I can easily get caught backstepping. (This is part of why all he can do is rushdown, and why he isn’t suited for turtling.)
So who does have good backstep, then? A couple of characters come to mind, namely:
Pyrrha
Mitsurugi
Nightmare
In my opinion, they have some of the best backsteps in the game. Good range covered, very fast. You might also notice that they’re the beginner’s characters- punishment, all-around, and "offensive turtling", respectively. These beginner’s characters have good movement. And this is how it should be- if you want to teach beginners how to move, they should have movement that works well. Right?
Backstep a few times with every character in training mode. You might find your character’s backstep is pretty good… Or maybe it’s not.
(Aeon has a great backstep. This is kind of weird, because this sort of makes Aeon a little Nightmare suited for whiff punishing, but he’s not as easy to use. He does have lots of tech crouches though. Also 66A. 66Aeon is the truth.)
If you play a character with a good backstep, you can steal a technique from Tekken called “backdash cancel”.
The input is:
4 214 214 214 214 (you can omit the 2 if that’s more comfortable; this is just repeated quarter-circle back motions.)
When done properly you should backstep repeatedly, much faster than if you were tapping 4 alone. Try this out, it might really help with your spacing.
(Here is a pre-patch video of the cancel, which was previously done with G. The 4 214 214 214 method is not as good as this, but it still works well.)
You can see FinalLifeG performing it here. Lookit how smooth he is!
What do you mean I’m not invincible?!
So, you’re backstepping, you’re whiff punishing. You’re having a good time. Suddenly, you try to backstep and- ouch! You got hit with this huge counter-hit! What’s up with that?!
Backstep can be defeated like sidestep. If someone is abusing sidestep, you use an anti-step (horizontal) move. If someone is abusing backstep, you use a ranged move. When you are hit backstepping, you take full counter-hit damage, as if you had one of your attacks interrupted.
Now, most moves in the game can be backstepped out of up close. But some really can’t in most circumstances (Siegfried 3B, Patroklos 66B, Ivy 66A, etc.)
If you’re abusing backstep to get damage, and you start to get punished for it, don’t worry- the move that is being used to catch your backstep does have a weakness.
It may be slow (minimum i20 moves must be used for backstep catch; moves above i20 require advantage to stop backstep)
It may be high (think Mitsurugi B6)
It may be linear (Pyrrha Omega 66B)
It may be unsafe (Tira Jolly 66AA)
Remember, everything has a weakness. You just have to find it.
(Patroklos’ 66B, -2 on block, good guard damage, ridiculous meterless damage plus oki, meter gain. Launch punishable on whiff. People step and punish me all the time.)
Run away! Run away!
Before I “learned” backstep from Krayzie I didn’t even really know it existed or how to use it. The only thing I knew how to do was walk backwards, run forwards, and step.
The game is a lot deeper than this. If you haven’t been using backstep, start trying it out. Watch some videos from the Summer Championship… look carefully.
Among the competitive, backstep is everywhere. If the types you play against don’t use it, and you do… well, what’s going to result is domination- pure and simple.
