Punishment: Now You’ll Pay!

If you’ve ever been playing the game, and you’re just having… just a lot of trouble. Nothing seems to be working, you can’t penetrate your opponent’s defense, you lose and lose and you don’t know why.

If it’s ever happened to you, well, the million-dollar question is: Are you punishing?

If you are not punishing, you are going to lose! Besides, you want your revenge, don’t you? Don’t let your opponent get away!


Disadvantage and Punishment

If you’ve read the article on advantage and disadvantage, you’ll know that when a player is at disadvantage, they cannot do anything for the duration of the disadvantage. They can’t attack, they can’t move, and they most certainly cannot block.

Well, when there is enough disadvantage for one of your attacks to fit in- you can hit them!

Let me repeat that.

You can hit them for free and there is nothing they can do about it.


This is called “punishment”. That is to say, that the opponent has used a move that put him at severe disadvantage (“unsafe”), and as such, they are open to be punished for making that mistake.

Now, executing proper punishment is a very important skill to have, and that is because- it’s free damage! There’s no risk involved, you see the opportunity, you take it. There’s no mixup, no mindgame, no nothing. You’re open, pow, right in the kisser.

It’s damage, and it’s free. You’ve gotta take it! Don’t worry, it’s not like samples at Costco. Nobody’s watching, so take it all!

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2/25/2013 UPDATE - Here's a supplementary video, explaining how to use practice mode to find and test punishment. I'd recommend you still read the rest of this article, but the video should help in visualizing the process.



Not Just Leather and Latex

Punishment is closely related to frame data. As such, it’s best to have the numbers in front of you when seeing if a move can be punished.

Let’s take for an example, Pyrrha vs. Pyrrha. (We’ll call them P1 and P2).

P2 does 1AA. 1AA is -22 on block.

P1 successfully blocks the low, then stand-guards the mid. Now, P2 is at -22, and likewise, P1 is at +22. P2 is open for punishment. What can P1 do?

P1 can hit with any move that is less than or equal to 22 frames. This means she can hit with AA (i11), BB (i14), 236B4 (also i14), 3B (i17), and even 9K (i22).

As you can see, P1 just got a bunch of options, while P2 is completely at P1’s mercy. (This is why you shouldn’t use unsafe moves recklessly- you’ll dramatically reduce your own options and leave yourself open if you make a mistake.)

Now, the question is, how will P1 make the most out of this opportunity?



Choose Your Weapon

So how do you choose which move you use to punish? That depends on a number of different factors.

First, you have to choose a move with a suitable speed. If you use moves that are too slow, you won’t get a punish at all, so that narrows down your choices a bit.

Second, you have to choose a move with enough reach. If you have a fast enough move but it doesn’t hit, your opponent will recover, and you won’t get your punish.

Third, you have to look at your current state. Are you standing, or are you crouching? If you are crouching, the moves you can use are limited to FC moves, While Rising moves, 236/214 moves, and moves that start with 6, 4, 66, or 44. It’s important to make note of this, because blocking lows means you have to use these moves. Blocking mids that force you into crouch can also restrict your punishing options.

From here things get a little tricky. There are two main schools of thought when it comes to punishment, and they are:

Max Damage

Or

Consistency


Let’s take Pyrrha for an example again. We’ll look at 236B.

236B is -18 on block. -18 is a lot of disadvantage, as a lot of moves can fit in that space (even standard 3B launchers).

If you were to go for max damage, you’d use a 3B here, and lead into a combo. Depending on who you’re playing you’d get some pretty good damage (50-100+).

But!

236B also has very short blockstun. This means that the -18 period almost starts immediately after the move comes out, meaning you don’t have a lot of time to react. In the worst case scenario, if you try for a 3B and you are late, it will get blocked, and you will be punished with a followup 236B! You will get punished for your punish.

The easiest thing to do is to use a move you can use easily, quickly, and without thinking. For most characters, this is a BB. BB doesn’t do half-life, but it does give frame advantage, it does do damage, and chances are you’ll be able to punish with BB every time, compared to using 3B where you might hit it some of the time.


Now, it depends on the camp you’re from, but in my book, winning all battles is more important than winning one battle. Stick to the easy, consistent punish, that you can do every day, on good days, on bad days, on days when you’re sick. Don’t go for max damage unless you are sure that you can do it- otherwise, you are only putting yourself at risk.

Of course, the ideal scenario is being able to output max damage all of the time. If you can do that, then do that and don’t look back. For the rest of us, being sensible and acknowledging one’s limits helps you make do with what you have.



How to Punish

So that’s the theory behind punishment- but what about actually doing it? There isn’t much use in knowing what’s unsafe if you can’t actually get free hits.

In reality, proper punishment requires you to be able to recognize a move, react in time, and choose the proper retaliation. You should choose your retaliation in advance, far before the fight has begun (which is why in some Soul Arenas there are punishment lists for your perusal).

First, you have to recognize that your opponent has used an unsafe move, and that you have blocked it. This comes from matchup study, frame data, training mode, and experience. Every move has a distinctive animation, and it’s up to you to recognize this animation and thus the opportunity that comes along with it.

Second, you need to react. You need to input the move you are going to use as a punish in time. Don’t be late!

When you block an attack, a white flash or hit-spark will appear at the point of contact. This will make a distinctive sound of metal clashing. The light and the sound are your signal to begin inputting your punishment.

Because there are different amounts of blockstun on different moves, the timing can be variable when it comes to punishments, but generally you want to input your punishment as soon as possible. Try setting it up in training mode using the record function, with Movement 1 Stand All Guard, and Movement 2 Replay – Record (whatever number you choose).

You may want to practice your punishment to get a sense of the right timing for punishing certain moves. If you know that a move is punishable, and that there are no spacing issues, but your retaliation keeps getting blocked, just keep trying. Adjust your input time to be earlier or later, and try different timings until you start hitting it consistently.

You have 20 frames, or a 1/3rd of a second until the entire animation ends to input your punishment, so make use of the buffer window. Remember, you are trying to hit your opponent before they recover. Don’t wait until they finish their move- hit them while they’re vulnerable!



Punish No Matter What

Now, normally, when you think of unsafe moves, -16 and up, you think of a big punish, a big chunk of damage.

Taking these big leaps in life is good, but you also need to pay attention to small punishment opportunities as well. If you can fit in a 2A, or a simple K, or a BB, do it.

It’s important not to neglect your punishes- even if it’s just for 10 points of damage.

Why?

When you punish your opponent, what this represents is a shift in momentum. The other guy has been bearing down on you, applying pressure, then you see an opening and you hit him. Now that you have the advantage, you subtly change the situation.

Even if you punish with something that leaves you at disadvantage, most players will react negatively to getting hit. The mere act of punishing, even with something simple, causes “mental damage”. It serves as a way to break your opponent’s rhythm and stop his current train of thought. While he’s confused, you can take the opportunity to start up your own offense, or lead him into a trap.

Every little bit counts! Take what you can get, and at the same time, don’t let your opponent have anything of yours. When you create an imbalance in your favor, you will consistently win.


Pay What You Owe.jpg

In Closing

Anybody can attack. However, a good defense is a skill, and a coveted one at that. A good defense enables you to rapidly shift your momentum and allows your offense to shine- but more importantly, if you have a good defense and can consistently punish your opponent’s mistakes, you may not even need to have an offense in the first place.

Remember, attacking involves risk. Applying mixups involves risk. Moving involves risk.

Punishing does not involve risk (at least if it is applied correctly).

When you are taking less risks than your opponent, and still getting damage, you will easily outpace him just by waiting for his luck to run out.

Punish your opponents to the fullest. You will find that some players will end up destroying themselves, and all you have to do is pick up the pieces.
 
You should only use guaranteed damage when going for punishment. That means stay away from throws or slower mixup attacks. These involve risk; they can be broken or blocked, and the point of punishment is attacking your opponent without taking risks of your own.

These risks are not justified unless you are going to get a big payoff from them. Otherwise, stick to what you can get, and work from there.

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If you haven’t mastered Just Guard by now, you really should. Why?

Just Guard makes safe moves unsafe.

Do the impossible, see the invisible. (And punish the unpunishable.)

Moves like Astaroth’s 66K BE become much less of a threat- and possibly even a hindrance- when you can punish it if it’s used recklessly.

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Whiff punishment and block punishment work off of the same principle. The opponent did something that was unsafe and made a mistake, so you capitalize on it and hit him without taking any risk of your own.

One has numbers and one does not, but it’s important to have both. Just because there are block punishment lists, does not mean you should neglect whiff punishment, or even make your own whiff punishment lists. An unsafe action is an unsafe action, and you need to take advantage of it whenever it appears.

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If you’ve ever looked at a block punishment list, you’ll notice that your punishment responses are… all kind of the same.

In many cases, you’ll be using the exact same move to punish different attacks. Now, this does mean that the lists can be redundant (though you should still have them if you are serious about playing) but a side-effect of this is that you can “feel out” your punishment without having to construct lists or binders if you are in a pinch.

Make a list of moves that are commonly used for punishment, sorted by speed. Taking Mitsurugi as an example:

i14 6B8
i15 BB_1B_B6
i16 236B
i18 3B_B+K
i20 66BB_4KB

Take your list, and memorize it, or have it beside you as you play. If you block something and you think to yourself, “Hm, that looks unsafe.” try the fastest move on the list. If it gets blocked, it’s probably safe. If it hits, you might’ve found something you can punish! The next time you get the opportunity, if you think you still have a lot of time to punish, go for something bigger- the next move down on the list. And so on, and so forth.

In this way, you can learn your punishment as you play. It won’t be as accurate as careful study, but if you’re the impatient type this is how you can work on your punishment while still getting games in.

Of course, if you are going to play your best, you need to individually test every single punishable move out there. Really dig in and “squeeze all the juice out”, get every last bit you can. Free damage is free damage, after all.

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Unsafe moves are usually unsafe for a reason- that is to say, that unsafe moves are usually very strong. If you do not punish these moves, there is no reason for your opponent to hold back- they will abuse these moves over and over again.

A 3AA Nightmare or 2KB Mitsurugi can be hell to fight when you don’t punish. It may even cause you to start saying things are unbalanced, and that the game needs patching…



You need to make them pay for what they’ve done, so that you can even the playing field.
 
Better listen to what he is saying or else...
I will be your opponent sooner than you think. (Just Saying)

4500+ Just Guards and Counting.
 
Better listen to what he is saying or else...
I will be your opponent sooner than you think. (Just Saying)

4500+ Just Guards and Counting.

Not a brag or anything. You better learn from this aswell Vile. JG'ing everything is pointless unless you actually punish your opponent.
 
Awesome stuff as always Drake. I'll add on like usual..

Like Drake said, Moves that rough you up the most can usually be punished hard. These are going to be the most obvious things to look at first. Notoriously Mitsu's 2KB is used to close out the end of matches since it's not affected by the Guts system. So to trash it, you'll find an answer that is in teh form of a guaranteed punish.

There are "less obvious" moves, such as Mitsurugi's 3B that can be punished as well. However, in this case Mitsurugi can turn it into 3B Brave Edge, and it will interrupt your punish and launch you. You have to be realistic in when to punish these kinds of moves.

Likewise, characters have move strings that can be punished after the string is over or if they end the string prematurely. Example being Leixia's 6KK; doing only 6K will put her into crouch making your high punishes useless, however, both variations of the series can be punished if you guess right.

Punishes are not always obvious because you have to get used to the game for a long period of time before your eyes and hands can identify those moves correctly. Shit, when I first started playing the game I was getting hit left and right by the same moves(Sieg's basehold A, anyone?) because I wasn't used to seeing them.. however, now, my eyes can distinguish some of the punishable moves from most of the cast, and most of the gimmicky moves just fine.

There are a lot of moves to punish, however, punishing them all is not practical. Like Drake said, block stun can be incredibly short for some moves. They can recover too quickly, and if you're too slow on the draw and your punish fails, then they can punish you too. Anything below i15 becomes tricky to punish, since the human mind can only maintain so much information at once. If you expect X and the opponent does Y, there is a difference in time that occurs before you can react accordingly. If the opponent does X, you'll react almost instantly.

Finally, a side note about certain buffering commands. Example is Nightmare aGA, denoted at i15 or i16 at tip range. Let's talk about the bullshit that is SCV buffer system for a sec. aGA CAN be buffered within one frame, however, doing it practically would take years of practice because all the moves have different guard stun timing. So using aGA incorrectly would result in Nightmare having a little seizure, which isn't the best of punishes so I hear. Not only that, but what will normally happen is aGA will come out too slow. I tried punishing Cervante's aB with it, and the Cervante's player would just duck the aGa and launch me(this was online, to be fair, but still). It was ridiculous. I hope that aGA can be buffered during guard stun in the next iteration. Anyway, that last paragraph is just to warn people of this little awesome feature, and that not every move is what it seems.
 
When you talk about punishing Mitsurugi's 2KB, you mean on hit, right?
Both. Get your -16 punish on hit, and take half his life on block. It's very important.

However, a good player will NEVER use 2KB without the BE, or other than a round finisher.
Actually, a good player will use 2KB without the BE, in open play... if it's not being punished. 48 damage unbreakable throw. If the other person blocks after being hit, you got away with it. Happens more often than you'd think- it's a very powerful tool when it's not being punished.

2KB~MST can also avoid punishment from some characters and create a "reverse mixup" because some characters cannot shut the transition down within 16 frames. Guess wrong and you eat a CH MST B B+K combo.

RTD was fond of using this on me.
 
When you talk about punishing Mitsurugi's 2KB, you mean on hit, right?

That's negative enough that you can buffer a 3B for some characters after the 2K hits and be mashing it out like a mofo as the B hits for instant punishment. It doesn't have enough pushback to really make much of a difference either, unless you really wanted to punish it with a short range poke you can punish it with practically anything that even looks like a potential punisher on block :)

-16 on hit, -26 on block. Great attack, high risk for him if he doesn't get a CH.
 
Both. Get your -16 punish on hit, and take half his life on block. It's very important.


Actually, a good player will use 2KB without the BE, in open play... if it's not being punished. 48 damage unbreakable throw. If the other person blocks after being hit, you got away with it. Happens more often than you'd think- it's a very powerful tool when it's not being punished.

2KB~MST can also avoid punishment from some characters and create a "reverse mixup" because some characters cannot shut the transition down within 16 frames. Guess wrong and you eat a CH MST B B+K combo.

RTD was fond of using this on me.

Don't forget 2kb being a 48 damage unseeable round ender, too. Doesn't matter if its -16 if it kills them. Also 2K CH B is definitely within the realm of confirmable.
 
Actually there are certain matchup were a smart mitsu could throw it out, namely the ones were the punish is less than 48 dmg. I have certain players who are well aware of being punished for it every time and still go for it because they know the numbers are good enough in their favor.
 
He's right, though. Sometimes it's better to step or duck than it is to just-guard. You can triple your damage in some cases.
I'm the kind of fighter that does everything in a single round(except GI), if I want to JG a few attacks I will, if i want to side step an obvious vertical i will. Sometimes I just stand on my ground rather than risking a sidestep an getting hit by a mid horizontal.
(Im not bragging) (Even thou I gained my right along time ago.)
 
I'm the kind of fighter that does everything in a single round(except GI), if I want to JG a few attacks I will, if i want to side step an obvious vertical i will. Sometimes I just stand on my ground rather than risking a sidestep an getting hit by a mid horizontal.
(Im not bragging) (Even thou I gained my right along time ago.)

Wow Man. Wow
 

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