Whiffing and You: The Guide to Missing the Point

DrakeAldan

DrakeAldan

Follow the rules!
Understanding whiffs and whiffing is an important part of Soul Calibur (and by extension, most fighting games). Having good knowledge on the subject will enable you to capitalize on openings in your opponent's defense, or create them when there is none. But first, let's step back and define exactly what a whiff is.

What's a whiff?

A "whiff" is when any action is taken in-game (usually an attack) that does not affect your opponent. That is to say, it does not hit them or touch them in any way. In the case of an attack, in layman's terms, it completely misses. The name comes from a portrayal of the air pushed around by an attack (i.e. hitting nothing, hitting air).

Whiffing is important, because in general terms, it represents a shift in advantage. If you remember your beginner's lessons, there are three conditions to advantage or disadvantage:

You have advantage when:

- You hit the opponent.
- You block an opponent's attack.
- The opponent misses their attack (they "whiff").

You are at a disadvantage when:

- The opponent hits you.
- Your attack is blocked by the opponent.
- You miss your attack.

Our more savvy players will know that the first two conditions- hitting or blocking- have numbers attached to them, i.e. frames. For example, Mitsurugi's BB is -6 on guard, and +4 on hit.

Some players have taken the time to create lists of only moves that have enough disadvantage for a guaranteed damage possibility.

Like this, or this, or this.

And that's well and good- knowing this sort of thing brings you one step further to mastery.

But we're missing something, aren't we? If we have numbers for hitting, and we have numbers for guarding, why don't we have numbers for whiffing?

For some time, whiffing has been more of an art than a science- mainly because there was no hard data to go along with it. Whiff punishment was done by feeling and experience, and as such, some players were better than others at it.

However-

There is a way to standardize this information now, in Soul Calibur V. When you know this information- instead of creating "block punish lists", you can create "whiff punish lists", further improving your knowledge of guaranteed damage and/or advantaged opportunities. This particular method is all thanks to Just Guard.

Quantifying Whiffs

To "quantify" means to express as a number or measure or quantity. Basically, we are going to be taking moves that whiff, and giving them numbers. If you are big on frame data, you'll know that frames are essential to high-level play because they give you valuable information that enables you to make good decisions at any given point in time. Without any frames, you are left wandering in the dark- without knowing your options, your fate is left to the whims of the gods (or at least- who is the better masher). Numbers- or rather, knowledge- is key to victory, and the same is true when it comes to whiffs.

Quantifying your whiffs comes from a simple principle: moves that are easily punished after JG are generally easily punished on whiff.

Let's take a look at Astaroth, whose full JG frame data has been contributed by noodalls (look this guy up sometime, he is the man).

We'll look at 44A, an often-used move for controlling space (and one that occasionally whiffs).

On JG, 44A is -27. Given that your standard launch-punishable disadvantage is -18, -27 is very, very unsafe. There is a lot of time for you to do whatever you'd like.

This principle holds true on whiff. When Astaroth whiffs 44A, he is wide open. You shouldn't stand there holding guard- you need to run in and hit him! Every single time.

It is the equivalent of blocking a 1A (or similar high-disadvantage low sweep) and then not doing anything. You must identify these moves, identify that they have whiffed, and then punish them, just like you would blocking unsafe moves.

This also works in an inverse manner.

Let's look at Mitsurugi as an example.

Sometimes, especially so if you're playing online- you'll find a player who uses jump A+B. Mitsu flies high into the air and comes back down with a plunging sword attack. Now, given the outrageous animation and long-winded nature of the move, you'd figure that Mitsurugi is wide open to attack. However, some of you might have experienced that when you run in to attack, you end up getting interrupted and counter-hit instead. Why is this? Shouldn't I have the advantage? Isn't it my turn to attack?

Looking at the data, jump A+B is -8 on JG. That is to say, this is almost impossible to punish if you JG the move. Likewise- if Mitsurugi whiffs this move, he is not at as much of a disadvantage as you think he is, especially if you are reacting to his recovery frames when he lands.



Generally, moves that are bad on JG are bad to whiff. On the other hand, moves that are "good" on JG serve well as bait for whiff-punish happy opponents.



Now, you might notice that a good number of moves don't have JG frame data. But this is OK- you don't have to be specific, but you can roughly make your own and get to the same point.

Use the practice mode method of practicing JGs- Movement 1 Stand All Guard, Movement 2 Replay Record. Record the move you want to quantify, and then try out punishers on it. If you're uncomfortable with JG, you can set the computer to Movement 1 JG, Movement 2 Replay Record, and have the computer do the punishing while you use the move you want to quantify.

Check what you can get away with on JG. Does AA hit? BB? What's the upper limit before you can't punish for free anymore?

Now, here, I'll speak in terms of what I know (i.e. Patroklos)- but I'll provide impact data so that you can get a general idea of the situation.

If I, playing Patroklos, can JG a move and punish with 236B (i15), I will assume that I can reasonably whiff punish with 3B (i18).

If I can JG and punish with 3B (i18) I will assume that I can reasonably whiff punish with 66B (i21).

If I can JG, but all I can punish with is AA or CE (i12, or i13) I probably won't be able to reach the opponent to punish him. I consider this regular old advantage, and usually opt to run in and apply a simple mixup (BB/1K in my case, throws work well too. At EVO, RTD punished me quite a few times for whiffing by running in and throwing me.)

If I can JG, but I can't get any sort of guaranteed punish, it's highly likely that I'll be walking into a trap if I attempt to whiff punish the move.



Do your own testing, and be realistic about your whiff punishers. Just because the frame data says that you can punish a whiff hard, you must remember that whiff punishing is intimately related to spacing and reaction time. You may not be close enough to punish as hard as you'd like, or you may not recognized a whiffed move fast enough to successfully punish it. Of course, this goes back to the age-old dilemma of block punishment- going for high damage or reliability- in which case, this is your choice to make. Regardless, knowing that you do have this choice is enough.

Now what?

So now that you know how to quantify whiffs and bring them into the mortal realm, what do you use to punish? Block punishing, while related to whiff punishing, is a somewhat different beast, as often times with whiff punishing there is no blockstun and characters are not close together. A move used for punishing a move on block may not work for whiff punishing the same move.
Let's take this time to talk about the moves themselves- the actual whiff punishers.

What is a whiff punisher?

If you go into your character's respective Soul Arena and ask, "What are our whiff punishers?" you will usually get one or two answers from people, generally what they use when they think of a whiff from day-to-day play. Of course, this is not set in stone- you can actually find and identify whiff punishers by yourself.

Whiff punishers are defined by four factors:

Speed
Range
Power

Having strength in any one of these categories can make for a good whiff punisher. Of course, having all three if possible is pretty nice, too.
Let's look at a few examples.

generic AA/BB - high speed, low range, low power

generic 3B - low speed, high range, high power

Xiba 3kB - high speed, low range, high power

Raphael 6BB - high speed, high range, low power

Pyrrha 236B - high speed, high range, high power

Hilde CE - high speed, high range, high power

Anything at all can make for a good whiff punisher- not just moves that are obviously for that purpose. Mitsurugi and Pyrrha's BBs make for fine whiff punishers, considering their speed and how much space they cover. It's possible to punish whiffs with throws or lows (though this is going more into mixup territory than real punishment). Even though a move may have short range or slow speed, it shouldn't be underestimated for whiff punishing. Like the aforementioned Xiba 3kB- it doesn't necessarily look like a "whiff punisher", and it has a short effective range, feeling more like a block punisher for -16 moves. However, play Legendary Souls sometime if you haven't- Kilik is adept at magically whiff punishing with 3kB. It's a very effective technique, despite not being very obvious to see.

Now, if you're reading carefully, you might have noticed I said there were four factors but only listed three. That's because the fourth factor is risk- or, as known in these circles, safety.

Safety when it comes to whiff punishing, just like block punishing, is theoretically irrelevant if the moves are being used correctly. Since they will always hit and never be blocked, it is not necessary for a whiff punisher to be safe. However, safety regards the human element- user error. If you are prone to making mistakes or reacting late, it might be better to use a move for whiff punishing that is not as damaging but is less risky if you happen to make a mistake.

In Closing

I hope you've come away with this with a deeper understanding of whiffing and whiff punishment. Knowing deeply the circumstances involving whiffing is a major puzzle piece in getting to the mystical "tournament level". Whiffing is not always a bad thing- just like frame traps or well-placed abare, intentional whiffs can be used to draw out your opponent.

A common mistake (and one that is hard to break, even for me) is to freeze completely and guard upon whiffing. Instead of assuming that you have disadvantaged yourself, treat the situation as if you have used a move (not necessarily an unsafe one) and it was blocked- you do not always need to guard at disadvantage. Use your newfound perception and act accordingly.

Knowledge is the key to victory. Study your basics well, and continue to break them down to their smallest parts. In this way, you can clearly see the true path- and by association, easily show others the light as well.
 

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Good read. I keep seeing the word "abare" used around here, in a way different context than I'm used to seeing it. When I came from BlazBlue, "abare" referred to a move's potential combo damage or combo versatility. What's it mean here?
 
Another good way to look at whiff punishing is in terms of total frames an action takes to complete. (impact + active + cooldown frames, I believe you can also approximate it by impact + |negative frames on jG| + 5) Although I suggested to jaxel that adding a column for it in the wiki because it would help quantify whiffing and also movements that don't have attacks(like stance transitions for example), there is currently no place to put this data except in a thread, which would look ugly. Anyway the reason why total frames of a move can be useful is that part of catching a whiff is reacting to it. Obviously you can always guess when someone will whiff and start inputting your attack after you see the opponent move, but being able to react to whiffs allows for greater safety when it is possible(less commitment). Also, if the move is very unsafe to jG, then it will tend to be easy to react to. To show where total frames help I'll take a case you brought up, mitsu 8A+B. Although it is very safe to jG, it is still by no means impossible to whiff punish because it is so easy to react to(huge impact frames), you can start a sidestep attack on his way down before his attack would connect with a jG.
 
I'm glad someone shared this special frame knowability for SC V. I hoped to work out a few exact frame values for some attacks myself, but that will have to be someone who owns a working copy.
 
TiZ said:
Good read. I keep seeing the word "abare" used around here, in a way different context than I'm used to seeing it. When I came from BlazBlue, "abare" referred to a move's potential combo damage or combo versatility. What's it mean here?
Click to expand...
I take the word from old Virtua Fighter articles.

"Abare" comes from the Japanese abareru, meaning "to struggle" (think "violent thrashing"). It refers to attacking at disadvantage, or taking seemingly "random" action. Compare to "moral", i.e. a "moral" style of play, where you attack at advantage, defend at disadvantage, playing based on knowledge of techniques and frame data, trying to do the "best" possible maneuvers in any given situation.

I use abare in my play in a couple of different ways. It's all related to the perception of time- frame disadvantage can dissipate if your opponent does not take advantage of it immediately. Essentially, you are taking your opponent's knowledge of "the rules", and punishing him for it. I'll give a few examples.

One of the things I do (that Xeph has called me out for online before) is whiff throws (not purposefully) and then immediately attack with AA. The opponent sees a whiffed throw, and thinks that they are at advantage. However, by the time they see that I have whiffed, I have already recovered. When they step in to attack, I've hit them. Abare.
I wasn't supposed to attack if you look at the situation, but I did, and it worked anyway.

I have a habit of inputting B, 66B. The thing is, I do this on hit or block. On hit, this makes sense, as I am +2 and 66B has enough advantage to catch a backstep. However, on block, this doesn't make sense. I'm -8 but I still manage to catch many players with it. Why?
Good old abare. I attack with a heavy, slow move (i21) from severe (-8) frame disadvantage. However, B is fast (i14) and it has a followup. The hesitation from attempting to read me and the short-ranged nature of my character causes most people to backdash instead of attack- but when they backdash, they backdash late. The -8 vanishes into thin air, and I land my 66B.

Patroklos has 236AB, horizontal mid, tech crouch, very good move. Sometimes I will just throw out 236A. This is -16. I will then attack with AA, 6BBB, or a throw. This works. Why?
Abare- I take advantage of my opponent's hesitation to the possible second hit, which will interrupt any -16 punishment attempts they take towards 236A. The possibility of a second hit serves as a distraction- by the time the opponent realizes what has happened, -16 has vanished. If I have input an attack first, I will probably win.

Sometimes I like to 6BB, 6BB, 6BBB. This is mid-high-mid, NCC. 6BB is -13 on block. However, the opponent knows that there is a third strike, and if they do not duck to escape the second hit of 6BB, the -13 will vanish due to their hesitation. Even though the maneuver is 28 frames long (-13, i15 6B) I score counter-hits sometimes using this method because the opponent thinks they are at advantage, but acts at the wrong time.

Against certain characters I love to attack from the ground. Being grounded is a severely disadvantaged position- most of your attacks come out slower, you can't JG or GI without enough time to stand back up. A common example is against Siegfried- after his throws, players will usually not attack right away, they will move around, or set up a slower, stronger move to attack my guard gauge when I get up. Instead of taking defensive maneuvers, I'll frontal tech right in their faces and 6BBB, scoring a counter-hit.

The same principle applies to using 236B from the ground, something I use often.

I love spamming 2A. Against a wall or corner is the best- I will sit in FC and just spam 2A over and over again. 2A is -6 on block, i13. Theoretically this attack chain can be easily broken. However, the -6 has extremely short blockstun before it takes effect, and what happens is the -6 dissipates extremely quickly. The opponent thinks to themselves "he has to stop sometime, he is at disadvantage!" and moves to attack, but with the wrong timing. I counter-hit them with 2A and now have +8 to work with.

The above example of short blockstun is also what makes Mitsurugi's 1B frame trap into itself. If you've ever watched or played against RTD you'd know that sometimes he will repeat 1B two or three times regardless of whether it has hit or not. 1B is -4 on block, i15. The sequence should be easy to stop- but the -4 vanishes extremely quickly. By the time you have dropped your guard and input a 2A or BB, you've already been hit.

Proper use of "abare" is tricking your opponent.

"All warfare is based on deception."

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Because he thinks that you should "take turns" attacking, you use his "knowledge" of the game against him and purposefully use maneuvers that "don't make sense" in relation to "the rules". Abare works because your opponent understands fundamentals- just not deep fundamentals. You are technically at negative frames- but because your opponent is human, and responds incorrectly to situations at times, or has set responses to advantage or disadvantage, you have "positive" frames.

Abare might not work against somebody who happens to mash. Since they're always attacking at all times, they won't hesitate, and they'll happen to take full advantage of when they get frame advantage (i.e. they don't know when they should stop attacking). To be honest, some of my tactics come from copying this sort of player- their actions don't make sense, but they do occasionally work very effectively.
 
Speaking of which...

Abare represents a human element- the flawed, animalistic portion of our beings. It's this human element that makes the game exciting.

I describe Calibur (and other fighting games) as modern-day blitz chess. I'm in favor of propagating these games (eSports!) because-

It is possible to know roughly the "correct" move in a given situation. But- this changes when put under pressure. Will you react properly? Are you going to be logical after being hit with a half-life combo?
The game tests your skills, but it also tests your limits. Knowing your limits- and then pushing past them- introduces drama and tension to the experience.



Compare to our recent Olympics, where you have probably had to train since you were a child in order to amass the physical prowess to compete- in this arena, all you need to stand toe-to-toe with the "big boys" is a good head on your shoulders. With Calibur in particular, there's no exclusionary barrier- execution is easy, movement is easy, combos are easy. The rest of the game gets out of the way so you can have a pure battle of minds in real-time. Anybody can play this game, which is what makes it special to me (and why I say everybody should be playing this game).
 
Great article! I have noticed ppl hesitating to certain attacks but I didn't know it was called Abare :O
 
Drake, that was an awesome article there that you worked on my good sir. Mad props on this.
 
Another thing to consider when choosing a whiff punish is the input time and thought required, which are closely related.

When you don't have an input buffer during blockstun to hide it, input time matters. By "input time," I mean the time it takes to personally input the move. After your opponent whiffs, your advantage frames are quickly dwindling away, so input time, which can be said to be part of reaction time (observe, orient, decide, act), should be of as much concern, if not more, than small differences in execution frames.

The profound effect input time has on whiff punishing is why so many people limit their whiff punishing to just BB. BB generally has high damage for its fast speed and is safe in case of failure, but its success comes from its next to non-existent input time. All you have to do is return to neutral and press a button! For something like Xiba's 3bK, you have to press a diagonal direction and a slide input, and if you mess up, you can get punished.

It just gets worse as you go up the list of strong punishes. Pyrrha's 236B requires a quarter circle and is unsafe. aPat's Twister requires a quarter circle, a diagonal, and a difficult slide input. They get faster and stronger, but more unsafe and the input time is longer.

Thought required to use a move during a whiff punish can affect your reaction time when whiff punishing as well. If you sidestep, often the best thing to do is an 8WR move in that direction, since all you have to do is press a button. But that's not always your most damaging option. Problem is, you have to make sure you're back in a state where you can do the move you really want to do. For example with Cervantes, to backstep into a 4B BE, you have to cancel the backstep first otherwise you'll do a 44B. If you're stepping up and want to do 33B, you have to an awkward 99B. If you're stepping down and want to do 3B, you have to cancel the step. You'll also have to think more when you weren't expecting a whiff, since now you have to spend time choosing to whiff punish over whatever you were doing before.

All those things add to the thought required and the input time to decide, orient and act on your observation of a whiff. Difference in these elements between different options matters so much more for whiff punishing effectively than anything else. Adjust your behavior toward whiff punishing -- twitch-react to any whiff and you'll be whiff-punishing moves with lower total frames with slower, stronger moves. Putting more effort into reacting as fast as possible makes a huge difference (This is also how you can tell someone is trying hard -- if their whiff punishes are on point).

Great article though. Does Jaxel accept just anybody's articles? I could probably write a few articles on reaction time and perception in Soul Calibur....
 
A couple questions:

What are attacks called that cause whiffs? I mean attacks that have a start up animation that is a back/side-step, or crouch that causes the opponents attack to whiff like Viola's 8A+B or 3B that can get under grabs and highs.

So, attacks that cause whiffs would be ideal to use right? Second would be whiffs caused by just dodging since you can retaliate while the opponent is still in mid-swing? And third would be JG's since a counter-attack can't be started until after a JG connects? A JG has the least amount of time to retaliate of the three doesn't it?
 
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