And once again, how do you guys learn all of this frame data. how do you read it? is there a link on this site that gives the info.
Alright here is a thread, which is alright useful :
http://8wayrun.com/threads/frame-data-and-you-a-laymans-guide.2800/
Theory and concept of frames :
In short, you can access the raw frame data from the wiki (which i assume you already know) but i'll link anyways for someother lurker:
http://8wayrun.com/wiki/raphael-frame-data-sc4/for example
The concept of frames is strictly on a no-whiff policy, as its mostly used to determine 1) which moves are punishable
2) which moves to punish if blocking an opponent's move 3) are you advantage or disadvantage if moves hit and how many frames.
All this boils down to is, if both players react as fast as possible to someone getting hit or blocking, which move would win in terms of sheer speed.
Application:
The impact number is basically how fast a move will hit an opponent from the moment your character is available to perform an action (not when you inputted the move).
The +/- frames on block basically means how many relative frames you are ahead/behind of your opponent. Why it is relative is that both the attacker and the defender recover from the "impact" of the hit/block at different speeds, so it only matters relatively how much faster/slower you do so.
There are different +/- frame values for moves on block, hit and counterhit, which means that generally you should input a defensive tactic if your previous attack was guarded. On the flip side, you should have the initiative to attack again should you prior attack hit successfully.