Tips to up your Soul Calibur game? Especially against Mitsurugi.

GroovyValentine

GroovyValentine

[02] Apprentice
So in anticipation of SC VI, I've been playing a lot of SC with my friends again. Lots of SC V, some 2, and the past couple days SC1 on Dreamcast. Very excited for SC VI, going to play that nonstop when that comes out.

I'm posting this here since the general casual SC subforum says it's for stuff not about gameplay. But I am looking for tips that apply to the whole series, though tips in anticipation for 6 specifically are good too.

In general with a character as fast as Mitsurugi for example, who is the main of one friend really good at SC, also Kilik, it can be tough to predict and stop what he's doing. At least without knowing a lot of what you're doing. Tough to tell when you're safe, when you need to quickly duck block, when you can sidestep etc. I have some luck with that against slower more obvious characters though. In general the best defense seems to be a good unpredictable offense to me, so just knowing a few unexpected low moves and good fast damaging combos for characters I guess. But there are also a lot of fundamentals to learn more I figure.

Any good tutorial videos, and also any general tips from SC veterans here? Thanks. Will be playing a lot of SC VI when it comes out, but looking to step my game up between now and then, getting some practice in and learning a thing or two. Especially for fundamentals, stuff that can apply to all characters in the game.
 
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In my experience, while i'm not a pro, by far, I'd like to say i've played enough to know what i'm talking about.

When it comes to Mitsu, he has a lot of options. I personally find that his 2KB is free damage, so try and predict when that is coming. Prediction is usually key for most fights I find, as each character has a certain set of moves they will usually be using. Also, it depends which character you are against. Raph is fairly weak to sidestepping, Mitsu is fairly predictable IMO, Whilst ivy will get beaten by rushdown (in general at least, good players can usually account for these weaknesses.) If you know what the character you are up against is supposed to be doing, you are already in a better position than if you didn't. Knowing is half the battle. Mitsu in particular does not have very many weaknesses though, so try and predict his moves, they are simple and effective, so for your friend who uses him, try and figure out which moves he likes to use and try and think of a good way to stop them. He like 66BB? Side step once you see him running. unless at tournament level, people won't usually punish you ridiculously for one misstep, so you should be fine.

If you are in a block v block situation, throw in some AA attacks, they are fast and aren't punishable on block, so they can be good for trying to catch someone stepping or as a quick counter. If you think your opponent will fall for it do a bait and cancel an attack and go in for a throw could be an interesting tactic. 2k attacks are also amazing as tehy are almost unreactable (at least i'm pretty sure). BB is something a lot of characters can use just as well as AA, but i prefer AA because it isn't steppable. Don't whiff kicks. I haven't really played too much of scii, so i'm not really sure if there is a quickstep, but there definitely is in SCV, and it is amazing for dodging slowish, and/or linear attacks, so a whiff punish is usually guaranteed. Even an AA or BB will rack up after a couple whiff punishes. Sidestepping a whiff will almost always put you in a good position, so a B,A, or even K from a sidestep will usually hit home and hit hard, though i reccomend A and B rather than K, damage wise at least. Essentially stick to trying to get pokes and quick hits rather than combos unless you know you will get them.

As mitsu and X, 44B is a good stepback and will counter hit if you predict or react to something.


Mixups are also important. Stances usually have a lot of options unless you are playing like, aeon or something. I sadly, don't really use mixups much, nor do I really play characters that especially use them, at least not for a long time.

Video wise, there is a basics for SCV that talks about frames and stuffz as well as punishes and launchers. I forget the video name and who it is by, bit @Party Wolf or @Marginal would probably know.

They can probably give better tips than I can anyway. Hope this Helped :sc1xia1:
 
Sounds like you're dealing with a heavy dose of matchup inexperience. Take some time to go through the movelists of the characters you're getting fucked up by and figure out the counterplay you need (exposing bad strings, getting a jist of their ranges, when to step, etc). You can find the complete frame data of SC4 and 5 (with some of 2 and 3) in the wiki section at https://8wayrun.com/wiki/. Just click on the character you want and there should be a link to their frame data for the respective game from there. Understanding frames is really important for getting rid of that kind of matchup inexperience.

EDIT: There's almost certainly more people who would be willing to answer any further questions you have in the 8wayrun discord. https://discordapp.com/invite/yHnVh69
 
I have a similar line of questioning but regarding Siegfried. I find it incredibly difficult to get out of his stance switch up's when knocked on the ground. He does a low sweep to stance to vertical overhead to to stance to low sweep ~repeat. and my character can't seem to get up, move, block, ukemi or do anything I know of against that that works. is there any sound strategy to get around that?
 
So an update, love the game, been playing a ton of it the past two days! And in particular have been playing a lot of it with my friend who's really good at Mitsurugi. Lot of fun, and a lot of good back and forth matches, especially yesterday. Today though he got a streak of 11 wins on me!

Ivy is the character I know the most of, and have often had the most luck with, but can be tough. Fights tend to end up close range. Taki, Sophitia, and Siegfried are the other characters I play enough to know a good ammount of stuff with. (Say more than 10 moves and short combos, and basic feel). But I've tried everybody a little bit. Taki if I'm on a roll is great, but feels like she takes damage easier and has to work harder against Rugi. Siegfried can get lucky, but he knows to block that low third hit on the AAB etc, in general my best luck is when bringing out some weird move he hasn't seen me do recently, like Ivy's twirly unblockable move, or the first few fights where I did the ground portal grab.

So other than just continuing to play a lot and learn more stuff and it's application, which I'll do (and is fun), and the tips in here from last month, any other tips? Are there any other characters that might be good to use against Mitsurugi, or more tips in general to try? Also for Sophitia for example, any tips for her against Mitsurugi?

One thing I notice, when I've lost more like on this 11 streak I tend to end up a bit more defensive, not knowing to block low or high since he's a bit unpredictable, and I sidestep a lot but of course those horizontals can get you. Big rambly post here, but anyways the game rules and this guy Tim is a machine with Mitsurugi, I gotta step up my game once again! Thanks!
 
Mitsu has a lot of tools imo, especially for this game.
All of this is in my experience, so it might not be Supaa-urutora-haipa-mirakuru high level, but here we go.

If he goes to mist crouch block. It'll dodge all the options iirc. 6bb goes to mist, so remember to crouch after those two hits. 1bb hits hard and fast, and is hard to predict. As is 1kb. 1b, A+B is dangerous and is a break. It's a lethal hit too . Idon't have any advice for those three moves other than try to predict them.

Once he goes to relic fall back and 8warun to the side, once you're behind him go to town, and beware his UA, it's quick.

His 4 moves other than 4a are pretty weak, so if he starts to retreat. Do remember that his 4a and 44a can go to must and relic respectively.

For RE make sure to go B if he doesn't have meter, because his RE AAA is strong and can ring out. His B sets you up to eat a critical edge, so I'd he has meter try to predict it.

Mitsu is dangerous as hell in soul charge.
:bA: and :kB: become break attacks. Also his 1a,b gets a third, ba strike that can ring out, so don't go anywhere you could be ringed out from.

Hope this helps.
 
Much thanks! I'll work on looking out for those, will do more Mitsurugi training mode so I'm more familiar with his stuff too.
 
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