Raphael Video Discussion

You've improved a fair amount, dude. Using Prep, continuous pressure, and auto-GIs with little emphasis on spacing and poking.

Holy shit... Did you... Listen to me?!?!? :O
 
Well, if you read back on some of my comments you'll see that I believe every match has to be a mix of spacing and agressive pressure, with more emphasis on one or the other depending on the opponent and/or the circunstances

But yes, I have been messing with his aGI moves a lot more lately.
 
Muy bien amigo!! You sure did get better Delloso. Be sure to keep that 6BB going which can punish almost all of Zwei's moves (except EIN). Don't leave any of his moves unpunished. Try to get around his EIN strings more (your options are ducking, stepping, or interrupting...depends on the situation).

As for Siegfried, good job whiff punishing. Nice use of 4B (a step into a 4B shuts down most options from his 3B stance entrance btw).

Overall I loved you use of dat 6K.
 
Thanks guys. it's strange though, because it's been a while since I played this game. I don't understand how that made me get better.
 
Because you are not bogged down with "What must I do" / "What's the best option" and instead get a fresh perspective on your moves and their uses.

Continuous play causes a narrower and narrower movelist and actions become monotonous. ie "This is my best game and I will continue it." As opposed to "How can I improve my gameplay?"

If you just play all the time, you gradually start falling back on moves that seem to have the largest success rate, rather than thinking about something completely new.
 
So has anyone actually got some advice to shoot my way? Don't think I'm above such things o_0

I think when it comes to online I go for a different method than if I run a set with someone. As you can see in the Cervantes game, I was fighting Pink Floyd for a while (and another online pal,) so I was playing a slightly safer, odder game.

In Ranked, I just try and invent "sets" to use. Pre-scripted rotations, some gimmicky by virtue;all by nature, to try and score entire rounds with little interruption. I usually throw one in per game in ranked.

The "classique" is 44A+B 66B+K Run up - Slight Pause 66A+B BT B 44A+B 66B+K

This nets one round using some pretty primal mind games that an adequate or lower player can fall for once with pretty high results.

I also play a more aggresive wall game with this little "Round winner:"

Near a wall - 66B Prep - Pause - SE - Pause - 66B stun ends - SE B 1B 3A 2A 22B 3A 3A - At this point you unload a CE combo ender with 3B BBB, or if you can't spend meter can 2A for a 663K 22B B+G 66A+G mix-up. I usually go for 88 grab for a right grab reverse ring-out if I see it.

Ranked can also lead to other things you might not normally try due to the fact that even as an A rank, an opponent does not know exactly what to expect. At least one SE B 66A+B BT B 44A+B attempt is a must, doubly so if there is a wall or ring out behind you.

Please don't judge me on braindead rotations, I just call them "strings" and be done with it ^_^ If anyone gets savvy I can catch on and mix-up. Win, win!
 
my only contribution is that the higher rank I fight against, the more happy they are to roll around on the ground after 66A+B BT B rather than try to get up (thus limiting 44A+B chances).
 
What exactly do you want to know?
What can I improve on?

WuHT, I usually cancel the UB, or just G 6BB instead of BT B. You can 6BB BE too, but the last hit requires shenanigans.

You can also skip the BT B to give your opponent tech. You can then G 44A+BG Prep K BE to catch it.
 
Well, I've tried some fancy "strings"before for huge damage, and they fail 90% of the time, even if iI set my opponent up to get hit. I can count in less than half a hand the amount of times someone got up after 66A+B BT B. From my experience, it's much more profitable to get the huge guaranteed damage in a wall situation for example, then get greedy with multiple mixups for greater dmg but can fail at any time. Against more seasoned players, I feel I can't afford to miss opportunities like that.

But do whatever works for you.
 
Yeah, I do. Have you got some tips for me though? No one has actually ever given me tips based on my videos. So, unless I'm the world's best Raph, I must have some more damage and evasion I can squeeze in during my play.

Either way, I don't just want to be the best. I just want to be better than I was yesterday.

These videos are a little old, but all that's really improved these days is that I use AE attacks more, and JG single hit moves more.
 
I really feel like you could benefit from more pokes like 1A and 2K. I didn't see you try these once, I don't think you give your opponents enough incentive to duck. More frequent throw attempts would also help at this, it's one of raph's best ways to kill step and at the same time it'd make you land more of your powerful mids as the match goes on. 11K is also a excellent oki move, and once you get your opponents afraid to stay on the ground or roll, you can start using 33K BE as they expect you to 11K and immediately block low. Very good damage, it's his best mixup in my opinion.
 
I poke when I need to open up my opponent. In which case I will 2A 2B 2K WC2B 6K etc. I just didn't need to open up my opponents much in those matches.

I don't poke for damage, I poke for effect.
 
But nothing has an effect without fear of damage. For instance, the match there against Cervantes, for a while Cerv is using 1K and other cheap stuff , and it's hurting. He's saying "I don't have to do anything but this to win." Since they demand an overcommitment to actually block them, instead, they increase the pace of the match , they ask if you know how to open up the opponent despite the pokes, to raise the stakes and obsolete them, or alternately, to poke with more solid defense (which is an MU thing).

Your pokes as Raph are a question if you're feeling out an unknown opponent, sure, but an 'effect' they will have is only if the pokes have an actual clock to 0 life. Not only can the opponent answer the raise in different ways, at different times, he can simply choose not to play, waiting for a good chance , if he has that time.

And Raph's "pokes" are 2K and a bunch of Highs. 11Bs input makes it hard not to telegraph, and poking is where his steppability comes in - i.e., no overcommitment occurs. The entire psychology of the proposal is different and it makes it not actually poking. This kept me from figuring out what poking even is, it's so different when Raph does it. Having written this though, I think I'm seeing something. ... man I want to try this right away.
 
11Bs input makes it hard not to telegraph
While I prefer 11K over 11B, both can be performed during a run-in by sliding to 1B/1K after the 66, i.e. 66321K. Removes the tell-tale quickstep and also opens up run-in 11K as one of his best stepkillers and mixup tools. Inputting moves in this way does make them slightly slower than a direct quickstep input (cf. SE B → 33K BE combo with SE B → 663K BE) but it's a very important trick for Raphael. The slight loss of speed and lateral evasion is more than made up for by the improvement to whiff punishing ability with moves like 33K BE and 22B and Raphael's run-up mixups in general (run-up throw/11K to make them duck, run-up 33K BE to make them pay for it).
 
Hey, I love 11K, but it's there so they eat mids.

I just think 2K sucks in general. I mean, not even a TC? Tracking can suck my balls, I usually guess what side they step to anyway. I guess that sounds a bit strong, I like the move somewhat, but my poking comes in mix-ups. I wont JUST 2K, I'll 2K followed by a (random move,) 2A followed by another poke based on block/hit/CH.

I just think my Raphael would actually suffer from more pokes seeing as my fighting theory is on maximizing damage. Anytime I landed a 2K, I could have done something more effective.

I do like 441BB, but keep in mind that doing just 1 hit is unsafe enough to even make me avoid not finishing the string. Finishing the string is a free JG to someone who blocked the first hit though (and doesn't suck.)

In terms of SE B 33K - I usually just hold 3 after SE B hits, and then tap K. Seriously never miss the connection on any decent connection match. Impossible to miss offline. This method is also how I "string" together when fighting, and allows for less predictability. It just requires a tight knowledge of Raph's animations.

I can be ready to block an opponent Raph's 11K before the move even starts it's animation due to how predictable it is. At the very least, people need to mix-up their 11/77 33/99 inputs, or not keep 11K for just knockdowns.
 
While I prefer 11K over 11B, both can be performed during a run-in by sliding to 1B/1K after the 66, i.e. 66321K. Removes the tell-tale quickstep and also opens up run-in 11K as one of his best stepkillers and mixup tools.
Run up throw is terrible. Raph's t-rex arms don't even work in Canada. I know 33K is the shit, but it can't be the only thing you do. With that, you can't space the 661BB or that would be telegraphing it, that's what I meant. ... still, I didn't seriously attempt 11B before like that, so I guess I have to now.

Dashup 11K is another animal. It doesn't work on paper. How can you make it bread and butter of anything against someone who DGAF about your lows?
 
I just think 2K sucks in general. I mean, not even a TC? Tracking can suck my balls, I usually guess what side they step to anyway. I guess that sounds a bit strong, I like the move somewhat, but my poking comes in mix-ups. I wont JUST 2K, I'll 2K followed by a (random move,) 2A followed by another poke based on block/hit/CH..

2K has more range than most 2Ks and with tracking, the -2 is more than justified. I actually like that 2K doesn't have TC because it reduces the risk of falling victim to Astaroth's mid grabs (unless 2K is blocked of course). This is why 2K is a good anti-astaroth move.

I've always loved using 2K to get past an opponent's defense and seeing what they do after getting kicked in the ankles. I may attempt a counter attack or sometimes do nothing. 2K is good bait.

Run up throw is terrible. Raph's t-rex arms don't even work in Canada.

Lol it seems Raph players are still used to Raph's awesome SC4 grabbing range. At least his standard grabbing range is better than many other characters. Try 66A+G. It much more range than his regular grabs.
 
Why is this SA full of people that argue about a character in a game they don't play?
 
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