SC4 IN-depth Taki Study

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ChaCha

[10] Knight
Hello folks, this is a pretty important study done by Halister. He gave me permission paste this here, and thus I shall.

enjoy:

SC4 Taki study
By Halister


So I finally got the chance to play Taki in SC4, but only briefly but here are my impressions about things and the start of a new study. It will be completed much more indepth when I finally get the game.

First off, the game does feel a bit slower with the game play, which can be good or bad. The breaking armor when you're playing is kind of distracting at times and can sometimes disrupt the flow of how the match feels.

Maybe I was really tired when playing, but it feels like teching rolling and getting up off the ground is more difficult and you are more vulnerable to Oki. Your character just seems larger and all sorts of stuff will hit you when you're on the ground. Stepping feels very difficult at times as well. I don't know yet.

There are a lot of stuns in the game and so that may make getting up and moving more difficult cause you get caught up in all sorts of stuns when you get hit. It will take time getting used to the stuns and when you can move again afterwards.



OK, now onto Taki and show she has changed in SC4.

-Taki does have her share of new moves and I will try to mark them as new when I go move by move. I will say that the new PO stuff is fun and can be effective so far. The new pokes can be useful as well cause they have more range than her normal pokes. Which IMHO have had their ranges decreased.

-Play style wise, I've noticed that Taki's pokes and moves that transition into PO do a LOT less damage. Actually as things go, her damage is less from what I've seen. I've had to hit people a LOT to beat them. However, as I said, her pokes do a lot less damage. Things like 66B:A also do less damage, but I'll go over that in the moves section. Taki is more reliant on her big damage and stuns as well as throws to do good damage.

-Taki IMHO is a lot more PO based now. They actually gave her good stuff in PO to use and now she has options to deal with everything when in PO. There is a lot of potential for making people freeze up and there is the potential to do lots of damage from PO. Her PO moves are much safer now and the new stuff is safe as well from what I can see. The new PO tools look kinda cool too, but they are effective if you know or can predict what the opponent is going to do.

-PO 8WR is again a very good evasion tool. You can't block out of it with EXC like you could in SC2, but it still dodges well and her PO options from it are still formidable.

-Taki is now much more a proactive character now. You really can't just react and minor counter stuff and hope to win because Taki just won't do enough damage. You will need to see how they react to moves and how to best counter that cause if you do read them correctly, you can do a LOT of damage.

-Taki's Oki game has changed too with the decreased range of her ninja bombs. She still has variety with the bombs but they don't do much damage if they hit on the ground. The air throw doesn't do quite as much damage as before as well, which is unfortunate. With the decreased range of 2B, Taki has to use other tools for the ground hit after knockdowns. I've had some success wtih poison dart, but it's hard to get a guaranteed follow up for that now. Needless to say, more testing will need to be done in this area cause I still need to mess around with the new moves to see what will be effective Oki at this point.

-Windroll is now a stance on its own. There are many more moves out of windroll forward and backwards, including a windroll throw and some good RO moves from WR. Unfortunately the WRS moves have been removed and so WRS isn't quite as useful anymore. Though I don't recall if you can still go into PO from WRS, if so then it might have some use. WRS is still a good evasive tool, but I don't know about good it will for punshing people.

-As a general note, Taki's moves don't seem to knock people down anymore. You really have to work to knock people down as her Kicks don't knock down as well anymore, especially the kicks in a string. Her low kicks now aren't very good anymore. We're going to have to find a better tool for hitting low. With the new PO stuff, 4A is looking better and better the more I play the game.

-What I really need to spend time with is CH WS K. My favorite move and what should be a staple in Taki play. I need to find a good, reliable follow up for that move. I have some ideas, but didn't have a chance to really test them out when I got to play.

Seriously though, the more I think about it, the less damage it seems that she does, which does kinda irk me a little. Oh well, new game, we'll see what comes of it.
 
Let's start then shall we?
I'll just start going through moves and stances and start discussing my findings and feelings about those moves. I'll make sure to update this periodically as stuff comes out so that this info isn't out of date.

Possession:

The biggest changes to Possession are the new shifts out of it which provide both evasive abilities as well as the ability to do big damage and avoid retaliation when you shift into PO.

-PO 66 - POR - this is possession rush, you need to do 66 for the rush now unfortunately. Hitting G during the rush does not seem to cancel it for PORC so we've lost that. I did notice that POR can be canceled by hitting 4, but did not have the chance to test that out. You might be able to guard after hitting 4 but I don't know. You still have access to PO moves during POR, including the other shifts.

-PO 2_8 - PO8WR - this is now back to where it was in SC2. The evasive abilities are better than in SC3 and you can go into it earlier in your PO shift. You can still do all your PO moves from PO8WR.

-PO 214 - POM - I'm going to call this PO Mist until I can get ahold of the game again and find out what the official name is. What Taki does is teleport upwards and right back down and remains in PO after she lands. I don't 100% know what this will avoid, but my guess is that it will avoid all those 2As that I hate dealing with. As she lands back in PO you can still do any of your PO moves, including POM again. You of course can do this during POR or PO8WR. I'll test this out more to discover what it can avoid, but with the properties of PO 236, this move will have uses in keeping people from running under you.

-PO 236 - POD - This will be called PO Drop until I can get the real name. What taki will do is teleport upwards, a lot like POM but instead of coming right back down, she will float in the air for a little while and land a little slower. She does have POD A as well as POD B from this shift. I don't know if she can go back into PO from this or not, but I don't think she can as of yet. The usefulness of this is that she actually gose a bit higher and stays there longer than with POM and has good strong moves from this shift. This ia able to avoid the retaliatory strikes of most characters because she is so high in the air and then punish them. This will take quite a bit of testing, but seems promising in terms of usefuilness and damage potential.

Both POD and POM seem to start up very quickly after she goes into PO and so can be very effective for evasion even after a blocked string.

-POD A - Taki will hover in the air as with POD and shen she comes down she will do a low strike with both Rekki and Mekki for a 2 hit low. The hits are very safe on block but not advantage. If both hits do connect you get a free 1A (don't know if you get more). If only one hit connects, they are in an odd crumple/leg stun and you get a CH free for your next attack. I have been able to get KKK in so there should be potential for other moves and bigger damage if just one of the 2 hits connects.

-POD B - Taki will hover a little in the air and come down with a mid with bother her swords. This will hit grounded people and is also very safe on block. It does leave her in full crouch and recovers WS. I think it also puts the enemy in FC as well, but I'm not 100% sure on that. If it hits, it puts them into a crumple stun where you can continue with the damage. The canned combo that the game gives you is as follows: POD B, WS BB, 1A, but I'm sure there is better out there. I'll post what I've found in the combo section.

-PO A - This is a quick 2 hit slash with rekki and mekki which I think is as fast as the old Mekki i7 attack from PO. From what I've seen it is high, high and does more damage than the old PO A did. You can't go into PO from it. It also give an odd spin stun when it hits on CH (don't remember if it does that on normal hit). I'll have to test more to see if there are differences from reg hit and CH and if you get more advantage or any advantage at all. The move seems to be safe on blcok.

-PO B - same as the SC2 PO B, Safe on block and will slam down on hit. It is NOT a GB anymore. It does not appear to allow the opponent to bounce up immediately if you hit them in the air with it anymore. It does some sort slam to the ground if they are in the air and I don't know if there is more potential damage after that. I don't think you can get a poison dart after it hits either. They seem to be able to tech up fairly fast.

-PO 7_8_9 K - the backflip cartwheel kick that she's had since SC1. I didn't mess around with this much, but it seems the same. Don't know if it's punishable or not, but it still seems to go over lows and special lows like it used to.

-PO K - this is a new move that she has which sems to have serious potential. With the fear of crouching with PO B, this new PO K can be very dangerous. Taki will do a forward snap pick from PO. It's not super fast, but seems fast enough to catch people if they delay a bit. From AB PO on hit, it seems brutally nasty. If they block this move, Taki is like -2 if not better and has the potential to continue her attack. The only issue is that it pushes away a bit and so you might not be able to reach with your normal pokes, BUT with her new moves and the tech crouch properties from some moves, you can start forcing a guessing game. Your A will beat their Bs, but if they try to A you, you can use a TC move and her TC moves will push her back into PO and so with AB so you can go back into PO for more PO goodness. If PO K hits, they get put into an odd stand stun where they can shake out of it if they are very fast. However if they don't struggle out in time, you can do just about anything you want while they are stunned (including 2 hit ninja cannon). There are some big damage combos that I was able to discover and will go over them in the combo section. If they do prove that they can shake out, you can go into WR or other mixups (ie. ninja cannon). Let's just say that shaking out is difficult when you don't expect it, especially with all the other effective moves Taki has from PO.

-PO B+K - the backflip that goes back into PO which was very difficult to use in SC3. She still has the throw from this move which is high, so they can crouch the throw, if you somehow end up backturned to them in PO (more to come on this because the actually happens to be good setups for this and it appears one of the way for Taki to do good damage).

-PO A+B - Exorcism - still UB, still crouches on start up and still good if they aren't paying attention. Though with PO8WR being faster and her POM stuff, there may be more use for this in the future as the game progresses on, but don't count on it. Doesn't look like you get the free 1A afterwards anymore.
 
Windroll

In SC4, they have tried to make Windroll more of a part of Taki's offensive, however, I'm not 100% sure how effective all this will be.

-B+K - Windroll (WR) - Taki will roll forward and is considered tech crouch when rolling. From WR, you can do the following.

**neutral_4 B+K - Windroll back (WRB) Taki will roll backwards after rolling forwards. Same properties, different directions.

**2_8 B+K - Windroll side (WRS) Taki will roll to the sides and slightly forward. She has good side and crouch evasion with WRS.

**Important to note that while WRB, WR and WRS have different moves, you can continue to windroll from each one. You can WRS into WRS, or you can WRS into WRB, or WRB into WR, or any combination. You can WRS continually as many times as you want. The only caviat I've discovered are that from WR and WRB, you can only go in the opposite direction (ie. you can't WRB twice in a row or WR forward twice in a row). This rule does not apply to WRS.

-2_8 B+K - Windroll side - unforunately I've not discovered any moves that can be done from WRS which is quite a bummer considering how good of an evasive move it is. I don't remember 100% though if you can go into PO from WRS - that would make it a lot better.

-WR A - this is the old 66A from SC3 - the twirling fans blades. Still ROs well, but it seem like the first hit is high and the second is mid. This is a good mixup from the other WR moves that she has and is good for RO. Unknown about the safety on block.

-WR A+G - yes, there is a windroll throw now. She actually has options that will force her opponent to possibly crouch when she WRs at them. The two throws looks a little different but are in the same vein as the PO throws from SC2.

-WR B+G - same as WR A+G but now they have to guess which throw you used. The both move Taki a fair ways back and so the Oki game is limited but it seems that you can WR right at them again after the throws for some mixups. This will need more testing.

-WR B - The upper cut seems to have more of a role in this game because of her other WR moves, especially WR throws forcing them to crouch. WR BBB and WR BKB are both around.

**WR BBB - as it has always been. The dive will make this move slightly more safe than if you just did the WR BB or WR B. The stab and bounce back may help out, but I'm not 100% sold on that. If they get hit by the first 2 hits, the can get up and block the third.

**WR BKB - if they get hit by the WR B, all the hits connect for very good damage. But if they block the first hit, you're very vulnerable when you land.

-WR K - this is a new move that's kinda odd. This hit is high but what Taki does is kind of do a kick stand and thrust her feet forward at the opponent's head. The move does have good RO potential, but is high. She does recover well, and I don't know what the frame situation is after the move. I do know that the move is safe though. Not sure about the utility, but may be good if the she is + frames. It also seems to jump over lows and special lows which is good and will go under highs which will prolong the tech crouch period of WR.

-WRB A - this move it the old 11A from SC2 but after a WR B. It's low high but the high is guaranteed if the low hits. It seems to have quite a bit of range which is nice. I didn't mess around much with this and don't know the frame situation.

-WRB B - If you were curious where her old 3B when, here it is. She will roll backwards and do her 3B. This actually has a lot of range. If you WR and then WRB, the launcher will still hit the enemy if they stand still. The launcher will always launch high for a combo, but not high enough for the air throw. As with the other moves, safety is still being questioned, but with the range it might be pretty safe.

-WRB K - this is the same as in SC3 where she will kangaroo kick upwards. It is mid and will launch, but I still haven't found a way to use this because she kicks up backwards after the WRB and unless the opponent is behind you, there is no way for this to connect. It doesn't look like you can WRB from stalker, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to incorporate this in any way. However it looks like you can air throw after the kick. Safety is unknown at this time.


Stalker

-A+K - stalker (STK) - this is where Taki will jump high in the air toward her opponent. It appears that Stalker with just A+K will leave her facing the enemy no matter if she jumps over or behind them. I will have to test more.

-4A+K - stalker - this version seems to leave Taki backturned afterwards.

-STK A - Taki will jump and turn around and do a mid slash. Most effective when she jumps over them. I haven't not tested the range of this a lot and doesn' t know how effective. Safety is unknown as well, but it seems to cause a stun when it hits.

-STK B - Taki will dive down at them with a mid which lets her float a little longer in the air and will do good damage. I did this once when going through the move list. I'll test in more detail in the future.

-STK K - Taki will land with 2 mid kicks which don't do an impressive amount of damage but seem to be very safe on block and fair advantage on hit. Again, didn't test it out much.
 
8/6/08 update

Ok, after finally getting the game and having the chance to play people and to really test stuff out for myself, I’ve discovered that Taki can still be a beast with all her stuns as well as some interesting mixups, resets and tech catches that I’ve discovered.

I have also come up with some prelim. frame data for Taki. It might not be 100% accurate (esp with some of the PO moves) but it should help people plan how to play with her and what she can do and when she is vulnerable.

The move descriptions that I posted earlier still hold, but I’ll add some frame data info as well as more info on the moves as I go on here.


As for what I said earlier about Taki being more of a proactive character who can’t rely on minor counters, that is not 100% true anymore. Taki now has the fastest A in the game and is able to punish moves that no other character can. With her having the fastest A, it also means that you can use AB to punish people on minor counter after many moves and will allow you to immediately take control of the match because of the various AB options.

The fast A also means that certain tech traps won’t work on you anymore because her A will out prioritize may moves and setups. This also means that as a Taki player you will have to learn when you can punish people because it will be very important to her game. You will also do well to learn what moves you can punish on HIT. Yes, there will be many more moves where even after you get hit, you can punish them for even hitting you.

Ok, here’s a breakdown of her basic moves and their relative speeds. This will be used for much of her frame calculations and will be useful for knowing how fast certain moves are when you want to test or when you are playing.


i9: 2bA
i10: A
i13: K/FC 2A/22K
i14: 2A/3K
i15: B/1K/1B/A6/WSK/FC 2K
i16: A+G_B+G/6B/3B/2B/FC 2B
i17: 6K/4K/WS A/33A/66K
i18: 2K/WS B/33B
i19: 6A/66A/66B
i20: 44A
i21: 4A/9K/33K
i22: 22B/11K
i23: 3A/K2
i24: 1A
i25: 44B
i26: 4B


First thing you will notice is that her A is a whopping i9 now. This is scary fast considering how the game in the past had many moves that were -9 and thus safe from fast As and thus abusable at times. Taki can now punish all those moves with her A. That in itself should make you happy and them scared because if they are in range of you, they had better not use anything that’s punishable. The second thing that’s important is that her 3K is now i12 and thus a much better mid than B as a punisher. All those 2K traps that people liked to use in the past, where they would do 2K or some other low (ie. X’s 3A) that gave mild advantage and then something like a WS move that wasn’t the best, but would beat your B because of the mild advantage or neutral on the low can now be stuffed with 3K because of the faster 3K speed and the revamped lows that give less advantage now.

When I was first testing frames I thought that everything was made more punishable and that they added a frame or recovery to every one of Taki’s moves. In retrospect, they didn’t change the data on all her moves, they just changed the frames on her A which I was using to punish things. I was stubbornly insistent that her A was 10 frames, but it appears that they made it 9 frames and a lot more awesome.
 
OK, let’s go into a few staples that I feel are very important to cover when talking about Taki play and then at the same time talk about strategy and options from each of those and what I’ve found to be useful and good in each of those situations. I will also discuss some of the combos that I like to use and some of the setups and traps I’ve discovered. Do what you will of them. If you have other ideas or combos, please feel to tell me in the response thread so we can discuss them. Your ideas will help me and the Taki community further revamp and retool our play.

My goal is to make you all better Taki players than I am.


-A cancels – Taki has many moves that can cancel into the fast Mekkimaru slash. For the most part those IMHO were useful but not overly useful in the past. The reason was that even if it hit, the move was -1 and so another fast A would beat you if you tried to A after the slash hit and you would clash with other slower As. Now with her standing A being i9, it means that you will clash with the other fast characters and actually beat the slower As. The irony of the move is that on block it is safe to everyone BUT Taki herself. She can actually punish her Mekki slash with A. I will say that the follow ups after the slash hit are still a bit worrisome in that they can 2A you out of most options (man I REALLY miss WL A now) but you can be prepared for that with a jumping attack or the like. I’ve also noticed that after the Mekki cancel hits, if on of the pixies like X tries to AA you, and you AA, you will clash, but your second A comes out faster and so you will actually win that exchange. If they do try to 2A, your 3K will actually beat most and will trade with only the fastest 2As out there after the mekki hits. They will quickly discover that after that slash hits, you are in more than enough of a position to jump down their throats again.

Mekki Cancel
Speed i8 (variable from differing moves)
Hit = -2
Block = -10

-A cancels into PO – these are a bit odd in that they are really good in most cases, but horrible in one particular case. The PO shift from the fast A cancel are actually pretty good if they hit and lead to a lot of the options that are similar to the ones you get if AB PO hits. They can be a little tricky to get off correctly because it seems that the cancel window is a little strict. However, if the fast A cancel is blocked, Taki is at pretty bad disadvantage, worse than with AB PO on block and so your options might be limited if the cancel is blocked. If they happen to duck the cancel, you’re out of luck. I have to say though, people will definitely have to anticipate the fast slash on block (2bA PO) because if you don’t, the disadvantage on the move won’t be as bad.

The good thing about the cancel is that the moves that involve them (WS AA, 6KA, 2BA, 4A+B~A, BT BA) all are NC on a standing character though not exactly the fastest of moves. The exception to that is 2bA which is i8 and can go into PO with very good advantage. This will take a lot of practice because the shift and 214 motion has to be super fast and this move is only 1 frame faster than Taki’s A now and has less range. There will be situations where this can punish and her A won’t but it will require very strict timing. If you have that timing, all the more power to you because you now have an i8 move that goes into PO with advantage. Let’s put it this way, I was practicing for a good 15 minutes with this by blocking Taki’s 2bA and punishing with 2bA into PO. I could get the normal 2bA to punish around 80% of the time, but if I tried to get the PO shift, I would drop to only 15% success because of how you have to buffer the shift from 2bA and still get the timing correct. Most of the time after blocking the 2bA, mine would get blocked itself. This means that it’s really hard to punish the mekki cancel on reaction because of how fast it is and starts to recover.

The one exception to all this mekki madness is her AB 4A+B~A PO. In a sign of wisdom, Namco decided not to make this the same advantage as the other mekki cancels. This is actually disadvantage on hit by a sizable amount and on block you might as well give them a free launcher. I guess it’s a good thing because if that also gave the +5 into PO, CH AB 4A+B~A PO would be 35 damage into PO with good advantage and that would be very broken. On the flipside though, 4A+B~A by itself will give the normal advantage as the other PO shifts from mekki cancel.

Mekki Cancel PO
Speed i8 (variable from differing moves)
Hit = +2
Block = -7

AB 4A+B~A 214 PO
Speed i8 (cancel only)
Hit = -4
Block = -12
 
-AB – I personally feel that this is her best tool and most important staple in her game. Now with her 9 frame A, she much more of a beast with AB. You can easily go into PO or other games on minor counter or if you counter them which is much easier with her fast A. She can more than hold her own against other pixies with her speed now. Anyway, the options are numerous from AB. There’s always AB PO which is good, but now, her AB 4A+B mixups are just as viable.

-Personally I use AB 4A+B when I don’t 100% know that I’m going to hit them. AB 4A+B~A is a NCC and very easy to hit confirm, see above for the information about the mekki cancel and the options afterwards.

The beauty of this is that if AB does hit on CH, you can get the free damage into a relatively good situation framewise after the mekki hit, OR you can do the ninja bomb. If they are not paying attention or if they have started trying to step your PO 236 mixups, you can hit them with the bomb into bomb combos which are nothing to sneeze at anymore. If they block the bomb, no biggie, the move is safe. If they try to jump attack the move, just make sure you have a really itchy A finger because at anytime during the bomb you can cancel into the Mekki slash and that can catch them in the air.

If the AB 4A+B is on block the cancel is safe and so is the bomb you just have to be more careful because you have to choose to either do the cancel or let the bomb go. If they are big fans of 2A, then just do the Mekki cancel really fast and you can sometimes catch them before the 2A and leave yourself with just the recovery from the mekki. However, if you have them trained and scared, just let the bomb go.

If the AB 4A+B is on normal hit, they can’t interrupt the bomb and they will often be expecting the A cancel if you’ve been using that as a NCC. All they can try to do is jump attack or jump the bomb, again, keep a finger on that A button in case they try to jump or have shown you the inkling to jump. You are in a good position either way around.

-AB PO is the other alternative to the AB strings. I usually use this one if I know that I can minor counter someone with her AB. This gives me lots of advantage into PO and opens up all those lovely PO options which have been given Taki.

---PO A is uninterruptable after AB hits and will track steppers and give you advantage after it hits.

---PO B is very difficult to interrupt and most people won’t try after they see the damage you get from the PO 236 mixups and the speed of PO 1. PO B is a wonderful tool for breaking the soul gauge and 6 will crush them for a CF. You will find people starting to eat these and PO As after their meter starts flashing.

---PO K is interruptable after AB PO only by fast As (i10 or around there), all other Bs and Ks will lose to it. Since PO K does give around +2 advantage, you can go right on back in beating on them some more if they block it. If PO K hits, you get PO K games as well afterwards.

---PO 236 – most people will have frozen in place after AB hits because Taki has so many good ways of beating their options and so you can start using the PO 236 A and PO 236B mixup. Both are safe and both can lead into substantial damage. This is the work horse of Taki’s damage and is the scariest thing about PO IMHO.

---PO A+B is also making a return because once you get them freezing about PO, you can catch them by surprise with the UB and make them rethink blocking all the time. Though there is something to be said about more PO B to get them closer to CF.

---PO 214 – the fast teleport has its uses, but more so when moves are blocked instead of on it. It will go over 2As after a blocked AB and will get hit by the 2As if the AB hits. You will be back into PO and your PO from that point will beat out any move they try after the 2A. If they try to block, you get the soul damage from the PO B. If they step, you have to anticipate that because you have to enter either A or B during the PO 214. I will say that this is a also a decent time for PO 7_8_9 K which will jump or beat any of their other options after you jump the 2A/2K. PO 8K is difficult to punish because of spacing but some character have no problem with that. On CH it is safe.
 
-AB PO on block still leaves you with a few options, but it makes this a bit more difficult for you. You have to really suspect that they will be doing a particular retaliation for you to get maximum advantage from PO on AB PO block. I’ll cover what your options can be for any particular retaliation, but you will need to have a good feel for what they might do. This list is under the assumption that they will react and attack immediately. Delay will work out in your advantage which you are in PO.

---PO A – the disadvantage on AB PO block isn’t that bad and PO A will only be beat by fast As around -11 or faster. It will beat kicks and all B attacks and of course step. It will lose to 2A and fast tech crouching moves.

---PO 214 – the fast teleport will jump over 2As and 2Ks after you go into PO. After you jump over their attack, you will have the advantage in PO and from there you can do PO moves with them in full crouch. Your PO B is pretty much uninterruptable if you teleport over their attack. They can block and step, but they won’t be able to beat the PO B (yay free soul damage).

---PO 66 – you can PO rush under AAs, but I just don’t do it because there are times where you will rush and your rush will end with Taki standing up into the second A.

---PO 2_8 – PO side walk will avoid Bs, but you will quickly discover that PO A beats all of those and so they are more likely to do As so the side walk will usually end up getting beat.

---PO A+B – don’t forget that this will go under As and so if they like to AA after you do a blocked AB PO in order to beat your PO A, the UB will go under their AA and nail them. Heck, its fast enough to come out before the third hit of X’s AAB after ducking the first 2 As.

---PO 7_8_9 K – the cartwheel is good against all lows and throws and special lows. If you hit them CH, they won’t be able to punish you because of stun and range, but if it’s just normal hit or blocked, you are very vulnerable.

Note that PO 236 isn’t that bad of an option after AB is blocked, but it is really easy to hit her out of it with Bs and sometimes As and Ks when the AB is blocked. Though, it’s worth trying sometimes as well and you might catch them doing a 2A or something like that with an unintentional mixup. They can still block either option after they do the 2A (therefore it might be wiser to do the PO 236 A in this situation).

AB PO on block isn’t all that much to talk about though you do have options. I don’t use it that often when I know that they can block the AB. The options are weighted against you and you really have to guess what they are going to do but at least there are still ways for you to win in that bad situation.

I generally try to mix up the AB moves as much as possible to make it more confusing for them and so that they will have to keep guessing as to what I’m going to do. Is it going to be the bomb mixups or is it going to be the PO mixups? The options are all safe and they are forced to try to act and so that they don’t get caught in bad PO mixups or such and when they try to attack or try to GI is when you hit them hard with a delayed teleport move or something of the like. The best thing with mixing up the moves is that as they get confused and changed around, they will default to just blocking to make sure they don’t get interrupted and that’s when you can start throwing in the larger PO 236 mixups even sometimes when AB PO is on block. You can start throwing in PO Bs and breaking soul gauge as well.

AB 4A+B
Speed i10
Hit = launch
Block = SAFE

AB 4A+B~A
Speed i10
Hit = -2
Block = -10
NCC

AB 4A+B~A 214PO
Speed i10
Hit -4
Block -12
NCC

AB PO
Speed i10
Hit = +5
Block = -3

While I think that AB is Taki’s staple move, there are other good PO transitions like 1BA which will need mentioning, but I feel that right now is a good time to talk about her PO moves. I will also go over the combos that Taki has from her PO moves.
 
-PO A – this move is definitely an upgrade from the previous PO A IMHO. The 2 hits make it almost impossible to step. It has surprising range and while it dose small amounts of damage, it gives advantage on hit and is SAFE on block, even to Taki. The best part is that it give a HUGE advantage if you happen to get it in the middle of a stun combo. In a stun combo, the move gives you so much advantage that Taki’s throw will beat out her own A. This allows for massive mixups after the PO A hits during a stun (yes, this will happen with enough frequency that you should learn mixups from the spin). Throw vs AB vs 1BA vs 3KK vs A+B, vs 6A+B can make their lives very difficult. This mixup is very good, but if you want a good PO mixup from this…

Even better, but a LOT more difficult is the fact that the spin stun gives you so much advantage that you can get a 2bA in to combo after the spin stun. That 2bA you can cancel into PO for a +5 advantage after a guaranteed stun combo. That’s pretty nasty considering after that long combo you get a free PO advantage mixup afterwards to continue the hurt.

PO A
Speed i9
Hit = +1
Stun hit = +9
Block = -9


-PO B – This move is the core of the Taki soul crush and CF game. 6 of these blocked will break the opponent for a CF and free round win. While not as fast as her other PO moves, this move is mid and does a good chunk of damage when it hits. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any good guaranteed damage after PO B hits. You will get a free wake up game on them, but it really won’t be all that good.

In stun combos, this move will do good guaranteed damage but will leave you with a get up game, which is not always a bad thing, but can be more limited than the other damage and setups you can get.

This move is very safe on block, but since it forces crouch, the next move they will use will most likely be a WS move which in many cases will go under your fast A. For the most part I say you should either just block or step after the PO B is blocked, but if they have been trying larger moves, you can always try A to stuff them before they fully rise or you can try 3K for fast mid punishment.

PO B
Speed i20
Hit = KD
Block = -6-7


-PO K – PO K is definitely new and I’m still a little mixed on how useful it is. It dose have some fair speed and is high but for people who are planning to block it isn’t that much faster than PO B and so you might easily get caught by PO B if you try to duck PO K. The best thing about this move is on hit it gives a retarded amount of stun. The stun can be broken with shaking the stick to the point that even Taki’s AA won’t be guaranteed but that will usually open up a mix up game afterwards because they will have to stop shaking and decide how they want to block certain moves. Throw vs AB vs 1BA vs 3KK vs A+B, vs 6A+B is always a good choice.

If they don’t shake out of the stun, you have just about any guaranteed option that you want and they will all connect as CH if they are not able to shake the stun. The problem is that the stun will damage scale moves quite dramatically, however getting CH on certain moves after the stun will allow you to do reset combos and mixups. I’ll go over these resets and tech traps in the individual moves when I cover them. The stun on PO K does not change, like PO A does during a stun combo. You get the same breakable stun during a long combo as you do if they just get hit by it.

Another good aspect of PO K is that on block it is +3. This means that Taki’s A will beat out any standing high move which may relegate the opponent to become very defensive after PO K is block. The other consideration is that with her 3K being i12, her 3K after PO K is blocked will beat out all but the fastest standing As. It will beat out all lows and 2As and will trade with i10 (xianghua) As, and will only be beat by another Taki’s A. These two facts alone will make is so that they block standing after PO K and will open up her bomb mixups and throws. If they haven’t gotten to the point of blocking after PO K is blocked, just hit them with As and 3Ks until they learn.

PO K
Speed i17
Hit = stun
Block = +3
 
-PO 7_8_9 K – I really don’t have many good things to say about this move. It is mid and has fair speed, but it’s only redeeming quality is that it will beat all throws and all lows and special lows. It is unsafe on hit and even more unsafe on block. The only time it is safe is if it is CH. That’s really suck when you HAVE to get a CH for a move to be safe. On block it’s punishable by LOTs and even on hit, it’s punishable.

This move’s usefulness was difficult to find, but what I discovered is that if you do it while PO in back turn, it hits MID. This will look very similar to PO B+K which is an unbreakable high throw. Most people will train themselves to block low if Taki goes into BT PO, but with PO K hitting behind her well, she actually has a mixup from back turned possession.

On BT hit, the move will force crouch and Taki will stay BT. Her BT B will beat out any option that they try from the back turned stance and that BT B can cancel into Mekki and from there into the Mekki PO which is not a bad option. Taki will also have her BT 2K and BT 2B PO which she can use as well. There is also the option of back turned throw where you can turn around and throw them, but I would caution against using a high move after you force them into crouch. The move is fairly safe on block from the back turned hit and there seems to be a variable amount of time in which it can hit from the back turned position and so that will change how safe the move it. The later it impacts, the safer it is.

If they do crouch, your BT PO 7_8_9K will hit them very late and still force crouch but you will have so much advantage that nothing they try will interrupt you so you effectively have the BT 2B PO, and BT 2K mixup to force there. Getting with this BT and CH won’t give you extra stun like it does when she’s front turned.

There are many times where you can get yourself into a BT PO setup where the opponent is on the ground and all they have to do is just wait on the ground for you because PO B+K will not hit grounded. Fortunately for Taki, her BT PO 7_8_9K WILL hit grounded people. This means that if they want to avoid that grounded hit, they have to stand up or tech up. The problem with that is that PO B+K will catch them with a throw if they try to stand or tech to block the PO 7_8_9K. Not too shabby for a mixup I guess. Ground hit vs unbreakable throw.

Another silly thing to try is that if you get them on a BT crouch hit, you can try BT WR into WR K. This is probably the only situation I can feasibly see working for that move since you have so much advantage if you hit them.

PO 7_8_9K - Front
Speed i12
Hit = -16
Block = -23
CH = -9 (which is not even technically safe against Taki – but it does push out a lot)

PO 7_8_9K – Backturned
Speed imanymorethan12
Hit = Advantage for BT B
Block = -11 (though variable on distance)


-PO B+K – This move will make Taki do a back flip and then go immediately into PO again. While it can be said that this move could be used for retreat into PO, its true use shines when Taki is in BT PO. If this hits from BT PO, Taki will immediately do a throw which is unbreakable. The throw is high and so they can duck it, but if they do duck, the PO 7_8_9K will hit them crouching and give you massive advantage for a mixup. There are really no setups for this where they can’t crouch or shake out of the stun and crouch, but with that being said, there is a mixup for this now so it have a little more viability.

While there is little you can do if they crouch the throw, you can always try to do PO 7_8_9 right afterwards and try to get Taki to go over any low they may try and if you get lucky, they might hit you in the air for less damage.

PO B+K
Speed ididn’ttest
Hit = Throw
Block = Unblockable


-PO 66 – Possession rush has a much more limited role in this game. It does still crouch under lows and will move her forward quickly. The problem is that it does require a double input and will require you to do 4G to cancel out of it earlier than the end of the move. I’ve discovered that if you are not careful, your POR will end with Taki standing up into the second hit of AA. This is actually useful if you knock someone down with a PO string or a shift to PO from a juggle because it lets you move in for more pressure.

You can buffer PO 236 from POR but it is not easy and will require you to input the 236 very early after the 66. You almost have to do it as PO 66236. You can’t do PO 214 from POR because it will cancel your POR to a neutral stance. That being said, you can cancel POR into moves that require either 4_1_7 which means that you can do POR with a buffer into 1BA or whatnot (Not a big fan of those options except for 1BA, though 4A+B doesn’t sound too bad). You can not buffer PO 8WR from POR.


-PO 8WR – I haven’t had a lot of time to test this out and so I can’t speak totally for its usefulness. You can PO 8WR and do PO moves from it but she usually waits until she’s at the end of the 8WR before doing the move. You can buffer POR from PO 8WR but you have to do the input early during the 8WR. If you want to buffer PO 236 you have to do it near the end of the PO 8WR motion or else it will not come out.

Not 100% sure but PO 8WR into PO 236B might be helpful in getting around people who like to step and I can imagine that PO 8WR into PO 236A would be a beast at tracking. As with POR, you can’t buffer PO 214 from this or else it just makes her cancel back.
 
-PO 214 – This PO teleport is a quick teleport upwards and back down which was designed to avoid 2As and quick lows after a blocked PO string. This works very well with AB PO and BA PO, and will even work with 1BA PO, but for some reason this will not work with BB PO, which makes me to believe that BB PO is the worst PO transition in the game. Anyway around, this move will shift you back into PO after you land and from there if they did do a 2A or fast low, you will have advantage to do whatever you like. PO B is always a good choice because they will either eat it or be forced to block it for soul damage. If they have a high likelihood of stepping, PO A will track of course.

Of course it’s silly, but this can be done into itself easily.

As another note, Taki will also avoid throws during this PO teleport.


-PO 236 – I’ve started using this as the staple of my PO game when I get PO strings in on hit. From this teleport, you have either the A which is low or the B which is mid. Both do good damage and both are safe on block. Better yet, both have slightly different timings and so it becomes very difficult to GI both of them with one motion, though they are close enough that it’s hard to fuzzy guard them both. If you hit with your PO string and they try to retaliate, the PO 236 teleport generally leaves you in the air long enough to avoid their attack and then land on them with the move. If you don’t do either move, Taki just lands and is very vulnerable.

One concern with the PO 236 moves is that the opponent can run under you if they expect this and hit you from behind when you land. To counter this, you will need to use PO K or B as they are running towards you in anticipation. If they decide to step of course you use PO A, though PO A is also good if they run towards you. Even better would be using AB 4A+B as they run toward you for the free launcher.


-PO 236A – This is a 2 hit low attack which will knock down if both hits, but even better, if only one hit hits, they get caught in a leg stun where you get a free combo. This move has less ranger than PO 236B, but it does track step much better and as things go, if you do catch them during a step, you will get the single hit and stun as well as the free combo. The move is very safe on hit and I have not found anything that can punish it so far on block. It doesn’t do as much soul damage as the PO 236B but it’s a great option of blockers and steppers as well as people who try to GI your PO 236B.

I will say that there are some great setups and good damage after the move hits.

PO 236A
Speed = isomething
Hit = KD for 2 hits
Hit = Leg stun for 1 hit
Block = -8-9


-PO 236B – This move is very good for both damage as well as soul damage. It also hits mid and forces crouch on block and is safe on block as well. Taki will also end up in crouch after doing this move which leads to some very interesting combos. This is the move I try to hit people with because it sets up all the other mixups with spin stuns as well as possible free PO K mix ups. I think either 5-6 of these will also break for CF.

The problem with this move is that it is very linear and can be walked around or stepped but if you mix it up well with PO 236A, it is very hard for them to keep stepping when they start getting hit with PO 236A (which has some nastiness after it hits). PO 236B is the more damaging of the two for PO 236 moves and is my personal favorite, but PO A and PO 236A will be the moves you use to keep people from stepping and to force them to crouch so that you can use PO 236B to hit them hard when they GI incorrectly or when the crouch in anticipation for PO 236A.

PO 236B
Speed = isomething
Hit = knock down stun
Block = -9-10


-PO A+B – The UB has its uses in the game as well. If you have applied a very good amount of pressure, there is a very good chance that the opponent will freeze when you start this up and they will get nailed for big damage. Unfortunately, the 1A follow up doesn’t seem to be guaranteed anymore except against a wall. Though against a wall I would personally try a ninja cannon or ninja bomb mixup so that they tech up into a launcher.

The other use for this move is that if they like to whore AA after your PO strings are blocked, you can use the UB to go under the AA and punish them hard. This use for the move is definitely one for when they become predictable and you want to make them think twice about hammering on their A button. Once they have reservations about hammering AA when your PO string is blocked, you have more options and breathing room after the strings are blocked.

PO A+B
Speed = ienoughtobeuseful
Hit = KD
Block = unblockable
 
Now that we have the PO stuff established let’s look at some of the other new tools that Taki got in SC4.

-1BA – This is a new Mid, High string that actually has a lot of goodness built in. The move is as fast as her standing B and she takes a very large step forward. This move easily has about 50% more range than her standing B. It should also be noted that it has a LOT of vertical reach, so much so that she can hit Lizardman easily out of lizard stance with it. If the first hit connects, the second one is guaranteed to connect as well, this goes for if they are standing or if they are crouching (it will pick them up).

The move on its own isn’t actually that good because it leaves you at disadvantage on block and on hit. If they do block the first hit, they can crouch the second on reaction, leaving Taki open for punishment.

Another added bonus to this move is that after the 1B, you can actually delay the A. If the A attack catches someone as CH or stepping, it will cause a crumple stun which they can’t shake out of. After the crumple there are a few options for free damage – 1A, k2, A+B as well as some of the PO options which are actually better, but it makes you commit to PO before you know if the A will catch as a step or CH.

1BA
Speed i15
Hit = -6
Block = -13

-1BA PO – while the frame data on 1BA alone looks pretty dismal, the move more than redeems itself when you go into PO from it. Even on block Taki has a HUGE amount of advantage and on hit Taki has so much advantage that her PO A should be free but the designers made it so that you couldn’t do that unfortunately. All the information regarding hit and block are the same as what’s posted for just BA except that you might be a little better off if the duck the second hit because while you are going into PO, you go into it a lot faster. Unfortunately Taki’s fastest PO move is a high and they had to crouch the A so they will most likely WS you.

The thoughts and strategy regarding 1BA into PO are very similar to those of AB PO except for the fact that she has about much advantage going into PO on block as AB as on hit (not as much but close). Actually on block, she has as much advantage as Mekki cancel into PO is on hit. I’ll list the most important changes to her PO moves from 1BA on block and hit below.

---PO A – The best part about PO A now is that it’s uninterruptable after 1BA PO on block. This includes 2A and even Taki’s A. This gives you the ability to stuff anything and everything that they try after 1BA PO is blocked. This alone should be what you use to train people not to attack after 1BA PO is blocked. From there other options open up. I will say though that PO A should be guaranteed after the string hits with all the advantage but it’s not and I think that’s for the best.

---PO 236 – The teleport mixup is actually viable after 1BA on block because of the advantage. On hit the mixup is even scarier because they really don’t have much time to react but for the most part, I shift my focus to the teleport mixup when the string is blocked and use different tools when the string hits.

---PO K – After 1BA is blocked, PO K is only interrupted by moves that are at least i13 and those will trade and the trade will be in your favor because they will be stunned and you’ll take a B hit. On 1BA PO hit, PO K is uninterruptable leading to either advantage on block or stun on hit.

---PO B – After you’ve trained them to not attack after 1BA PO hits, you have the opportunity to laying down the soul hurt on them with PO B. If the string hits, the only thing that can interrupt your PO B is an i10 or faster A. All moves slower than that lose out to the PO B. On string block is where you can start using PO B as well because if you’ve used plenty of uninterruptable PO A, they will be relegated to blocking and when you can start throwing in PO B for soul damage.

---PO A+B – throw this in there every so often to keep them honest about blocking. What ends up happening is that if you do this every once in a while, they will start attacking after you go into PO and then you can start getting the PO 236 stuff going as well as CH PO B after 1BA PO hits or even PO K. I will say that the PO 236 mixups offer the best damage if they are starting to try attacking back because both moves will do a lot of damage even if they hit normally

---PO moves after the A catches them CH into the knockdown stun are a lot better than just the normal standing moves. You just have to buffer the PO input early as you delay the A from 1BA. PO A will lead to the spin stun you get +8 frames from, PO B is guaranteed and a good chunk of damage because there hasn’t been time to damage scale, and PO K is guaranteed into stun. PO 236 mixup is a bad idea in this situation because they can easily tech backwards and be out of range.

1BA PO
Speed i15
Hit = +8
Block = +2

-3bK – I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about this move because I feel it doesn’t have a very good PO shift to it and is very unsafe to boot. It’s slower than her standard B but has good range and will tech crouch As during some of the start up. The problem is that it doesn’t have good advantage going into PO and so don’t have the same ability to pressure and use her more dangerous mixups after you go into PO from this. Now I don’t use the move often and if they don’t know how bad this move is, you will be able to pressure, but if they do know, you’re going to be in trouble. Heck, even if they don’t know and just start hammering on AA, they will discover that Taki can’t do much about it when they do that.

This move without the PO shift is disadvantage on hit and block. With the PO shift, it’s got just minor advantage on hit and still disadvantage on block. If you look at the AB PO on block information and tactics, just move those ideas to 3bK PO on hit and block. The only caveat is that it will really push people out when it hits or is blocked and so it’s actually hard to get a good PO mixup on them because of the push out.

3bK
Speed i16
Hit = -8
Block = -15

3bK PO
Speed i16
Hit = +3
Block = -5
 
-22_88A – This move is a leaping high attack but before the attack comes out, Taki take a large crouching sidestep which does very well in avoiding highs and verts. If it is blocked, Taki is safe, even from Taki, and it leaves you facing them in a crouching WS position. Your next move will be WS if you mash on a button, but you can easily stand up fast and do standing moves as well. On hit, it leaves Taki BT for BT mixups.

After it hits, BT A+B is uninterruptable and can lead into a lot of damage if they try to interrupt you. However, because of the long active window to this move, you may discover that depending on how early or late you hit them with the move, they may or may not be able to interrupt your BT A+B. For the most part though, they won’t be able to. With BT A+B being uninterruptable, that will open up for the rest of Taki’s BT game, including BT 2K, BT 2B PO, and PT BA PO. BT 2K will probably be a good choice because they won’t be able to crouch out of fear for the BT A+B which can lead to good damage.

If 22A is a CH, they will have a crumple, inescapable stun and Taki will be left BT. ALL of her BT moves which are mid or low are guaranteed in this situation. Yes, that does include BT A+B, but that does require some very strict timing. You can do the launcher for the guaranteed damage or you can get the BT 2A (for WS mixups), BT 2K, or BT 2B PO for PO mixups. My personal suggestion is to just take the large damage you get from BT A+B. Don’t use BT BA because the A will whiff over their head.

22_88A
Speed ishrug
Hit = BT A+B uninterruptable
Block = -11 (safe against highs)
CH = Crumple Stun


-WS K – This move used to be my favorite move out of all of Taki’s tools. However, they have continually weakened the ways in which I like to set this up from making 1K crappy to making POR bad and the loss of EXC in SC2. While it is harder to get the CH from this attack, it is still her fastest WS move and is a beast if you get it as CH. It is safe on block from everyone except Taki and is neutral on hit. The purpose of this move is to fish for CH to get the combo and setups afterwards.

WS K
Speed i15
Hit = 0
Block = -10


-WS AAA – WS AAA is pretty much the same as it has been except that it will not send them flying for possible RO. The last hit is still guaranteed on CH and will cause a crumple stun. I haven’t really tested what can be used as a follow up setup, but I don’t think it will be very much.

WS A is still very good as things go regarding frame data and for use with pressure. It’s very safe on block, almost neutral to be specific and on hit it does give good + frames. This is good for those people who are expecting the second A to come out and hesitate for just a second. You can get a good mixup when that happens. If WS A hits, then you still get a good mixup.

WS AA is good because both hits are guaranteed on a standing character (like one who likes to 8WR and step), but if they are crouching, the second hit will whiff over their heads. The second hit is a mekki cancel, but can’t be delayed. The second hit can shift into PO for the Mekki level of PO advantage/disadvantage, but for the most part, play it as if they’ve just blocked a Mekki cancel. The good thing though is that if they play it that way, you always have the trump of throwing in WS AAA to catch them trying to punish you.

WS A
Speed i17
Hit = +6
CH = +6
Block = -2

WS AA
Speed i17
Hit = -2
CH = -2
Block = -10

WS AA PO
Speed i17
Hit = +2
CH = +2
Block = -7

WS AAA
Speed i17
Hit = KD
CH = KD
Block = -15 (something like that)
 
-WS BB – I haven’t had a real chance to test this move out, but what I do know is that it’s a NC and during a stun, it will give a toe hop stun which will guarantee a free 1A. Other than that, I’ll post more if I discover more.


-66A – this is the leaping slash that A+B in SC3 and 22bA in SC2. Taki will fly forward and hit people with a mid horizontal slash that will crumple stun them on hit. This actually pretty good for catching people who step from a distance, but the recovery on the move is pretty poor for Taki standards that there are no guaranteed follow ups to this move. With that being said, the move isn’t the safest, but it actually pretty good for moving forward and catching steppers. It’s got decent speed as well.

66A
Speed i19
Hit = crumple
Block = -15


-A6 – this move used to be my personal joke when it came to Taki moves because she always had better options for RO and such. However, in SC4 they made the move much more consistent in that it is very hard to just get a single hit and it has become very consistent with getting 2 hits against a croucher. The range has also been improved as well which is a good thing. This move is one of my favorites to use in a juggle now because it will slam them into the ground for free hits. This move is also one of Taki’s best RO moves not. It’s not safe but it can’t be punished by anything big.

There is also a just frame for this move that will make the opponent crumple down instead of fly backwards. Which some might think that this takes away from the utility of the move, the reason why the crumple is there is because with the JF, the move becomes significantly faster. The JF timing is such that you press 6 right as the A connects with the opponent. Yes, that will make this move i9 and hence why this move will not RO from the JF. An i9 move that can RO is just crazy good. The recovery on the move is the same. Also note that after the JF hits, they can tech up immediately so there are no setups or guaranteed hits

During a stun, this move will cause the opponent to crumple, JF included. It will not send them flying unfortunately but it does give you a wake up. If they tech the wrong direction, you’re A+B will launch them up for another combo. 1A is free after the A6 during a stun (JF or regular)



*NEW (8/6/08)* - Just discovered from DJWheat that A6 DOES cancel into WR. This allows for free WR B hits during a ninja bomb combo as well as during the BT A+B combos. Better yet, it allows you to use A6 a lot more freely when pressuring because you can also cancel into WRS as well as WR. Both of which will avoid highs, but WRS will also avoid the mids that can punish after A6. For the most part, WR will go under their highs after A6 is blocked and you can do a WR mixup from there, if they wait on it, they can hit you for free during WR. For the most part after a blocked A6, WRS seems to be the best option for avoiding punishment and to possibly continue the pressure.

If you hit with A6 WR, you get a free tech trap. If they tech any direction besides to their right you can WR BKB them for a ton of damage. WR BBB will also work but as always I’ve had issues with the side tracking at time. If they start teching, just use either WRS or WR delay for WS mixups or WR delay throw to catch them if they tech to the right after A6 hits. WRS after A6 hits doesn’t seem to work as well.

You can also WR after the A6 JF and do the same setup but for some reason they can roll to either side now to avoid the tech trap. A6 during a stun will cause them to crumple and if you cancel into WR, you get a WR B for free as well which if do a slight delayed timing you might get extra damage as the game starts to register them as getting up or rolling.

A6
Speed i15
Hit = KD
Block = -14

A6 JF
Speed = i10
Hit = Crumple
Block = -14

A6 WR
Speed = i15 or i10 if JF


-44K – This is a move where Taki will jump into the air and kick down on the opponent. I’ve never been a fan until recently where I’ve discovered a really nasty tech trap with this move. The move can also be done 44KK where Taki will do a second kick and flip over them. I personally don’t ever use the second kick because you can get a whole lot more damage from just one kick. This move isn’t particularly fast, but it does have a nice stun when you hit with it and it has good range and will hit grounded. It can even go into PO BT if you do the 214 input with just the single kick.

On block this move is horrible and you will be eating guaranteed damage all over the place. The PO shift won’t save you from any of that damage.

On hit is where this move shines. If you can get your opponent to commit to a long range low, you can use this to jump it and punish them with a nice stun. Otherwise, you will have to use this move in setups.

The stun it provides is very hard to shake out of and block effectively. I have been able to block i12 moves after shaking, but that’s only when I knew the move was going to hit me. If I didn’t know it was coming I would have a very difficult time shaking out of the stun.

If they don’t shake out, you can get a free iWS K in for CH and then combo, but for the most part people will be able to shake out of that hit. What will be much harder for them to shake out of is if you go straight into 1BA which is i13. That is very difficult to shake and if they fail to shake out, you get the 1BA as a stun hit and so you can go into PO for PO stun hits. If you are not comfortable with that, you can always just take the AB PO which I’ve never been able to shake out of and do a PO mixup or AB 4A+B~A which is guaranteed because of the stun. Another option is to do the A6 JF which will do good damage and crumple them. 3KK is also very hard to struggle out of. My first thought is to just use 1BA PO for the standard stun combo into mixups and damage but if they do shake out of that, I’ll go with AB into AB mixups.

44K
Speed iquestionmark
Hit = Stun (recoverable)
Block = -17


-44B – This is Taki’s version of the step back, duck and then lunge forward move. She doesn’t go very far back, but it’s usually enough to get people to miss but when she does go back, she will tech crouch very well. This move will RO people and is fairly safe on block, being punished by only the fastest As. The beauty of this move is that it’s one of Taki’s most useful RO moves, but along with that, the move does a ton of soul damage. 6 hits and it will soul crush for a CF. That fact makes this move very dangerous when the opponent is against the edge. Just randomly throwing this move when they are against the edge will force them to block it or get rung out. Throwing ABs and PO As will keep them from stepping or walking away from the edge and then using 44B from there will force them to block it until they are flashing red or they take the hit and get rung out. Either way, it’s good for Taki.

I tend to like using this move after a CH AAB because you can hit confirm the AAB on CH and then the 44B is very hard to retaliate against.

44B
Speed i25
Hit = KD
Block = -12
 
-6B – this move will move Taki forward very quickly with a mid attack. I find that now that 66B has lost much of its range and uber damage, 6B is a very good substitute because it has good range, is totally safe on block and gives good advantage on hit. Standing Advantage is more useful in this game for Taki than knocking someone down because of the speed of Taki’s attacks in SC4.

What’s interesting about this move is that is seems to impact a frame faster if they opponent is using a move that moves them forward. However for the most part, it is very fast and will move you in safely and quickly so that you can pressure. Use it, love it.

6B
Speed i16-17 (range dependent)
Hit = +5
Block = -5


-6KA – I’m going to list this move as 6KA because there’s very little reason to do just 6K without the A. 6K is one of those moves which is at disadvantage on hit or block and it used to bait them to attack so that the delayed A will catch them. The A is the standard Mekki cancel with the normal advantage and disadvantage as well as PO shift. 6KA is a NC though if you don’t delay the A. If they are crouching and you do 6KA, the A will whiff over their head. That’s all I’m going to say about this move. I don’t use it often but I know some people do.

6K
Speed = i16
Hit = -6
Block = -16

6KA
Speed i7, i16
Hit = -2
Block = -10

6KA PO
Speed i16
Hit = +2
Block = -7


-22KA – This is the move where Taki will sidestep slightly and do a sideways flip kick that hits twice and then she will lunge forward with her A. If the A hits, the opponent will be knocked backwards and to the side slightly and has the chance to RO them. Unfortunately the RO range is a lot shorter than it was in the past iterations of soul caliber. The 22K by itself has some interesting properties in that it is moderately fast, but will tech crouch early in the animation and if you are doing it from side step, you will be moving to the side as well then this move starts up.

This move is not particularly good unless it counter hits them because with that the A is guaranteed. The 22K is punishable by itself and so it the A part of the string. The saving grace for this move is that the 22K can be canceled into WRS or WR which will make it a lot harder to punish with As or Bs (especially with WRS cancel). If you do get the CH, you can likely hit confirm the A for the free hit, but it’s actually better to cancel into WR after a 22K CH because you get very good WR setups afterwards.

22K
Speed i13 (TC and step)
Hit = -7
CH = KD
Block = -18

22KA
Speed = i13
Hit = KD
CH = KD
Block = -18

22K 2_8B+K
Speed = i13
WRS

22K B+K
Speed i13
WR
 
-2bA – unfortunately the 2B has lost a lot of its range in SC4 which is changes my favorite ground hit. You can cancel the A anytime during the animation of the 2B and so if you do it correctly you can get it to NC on someone with both hits.

Incidentally, having the B come out it NOT why you want to use this move. This move when done as a 1 frame shift will allow Taki to almost instantly pull out her Mekki cancel. This actually let’s Taki punish things that even her i9 A can’t because this will actually be i8. You can throw this in for free in some interesting situations which I will detail in the combo section.

Even better is the fact that you can go into PO after the A hits and get the PO advantage from an i8 move. Usually people are used to seeing PO after a 2 hit string, but if you just throw out 2bA PO they will usually get caught flat footed because they were expecting such a fast move to go into PO and from there they won’t have the reactions to retaliate. That will give you mental frame advantage where you can possibly use her stronger PO moves even if the 2bA PO is blocked. Then of course if the 2bA PO hits, you get the +5 into PO and can mix them however you like.

For those of you having difficulty with the shift, the most consistent way I’ve discovered to do it is to hold 2 for just a fraction longer and then just roll to 4. Don’t release the 2 input and you should have an easier time doing the shift.

2bA
Speed = i9 (variable)
Hit = -2
Block = -10

2bA PO
Speed i9
Hit = +2
Block = -7


-3KKK – Wow, sure took me a while to get to this move didn’t it? 3K is one of those less used moves in the past because it wasn’t much better than BB. However, now that BB has much less range and 1BA has issues if they crouch the second hit, 3KK has come back into favor. 3KK is actually faster than her B and 1B and has very good advantage into WR when the 3KK hits. 3KKK can also RO if they take the last hit and I generally throw out that last hit every so often when they block 3KK because it will catch them as they try to attack back. I generally don’t use a single 3K because there’s no utility in it. All her mixups come after the second K.

If you have good reflexes you can actually hit confirm the 3KK to go into WR or not. This is important because 3KK WR has some good mixups on hit, but it will get you punished if you do the WR on block. On block 3KK is only -12 and so you only get punished weakly unless you risk the third K.

On stun hit the second K will knock them to the ground and to the third K will totally whiff them. While that may seem annoying, you can cancel into WR and WR B will be guaranteed after they get knocked down after the second hit. If they try to tech after getting knocked down after the stun 3KK, they will take extra damage from the WR B but they will not get launched.

Now if 3KK hits and you go into WR, this is where you can start using those new WR mixups to good effect. By mixups, I mean throw vs huge uppercut combo. If the 3KK WR hits, they can’t interrupt your WR B and so if they try to attack you get the WR BBB or WR BKB attack for a lot of damage. If they crouch in anticipation for the throws, you still get the big damage. If they start blocking in that situation, you can do the WR A+G_B+G throw mixups. What’s very interesting about the PO throws is that with the advantage of 3KK WR on hit, they have to be very proactive in trying to interrupt her throws because they will come out very fast as well. Interestingly enough, both her A+G and B+G throws seem to have smaller than normal break windows which will increase the pressure on them to crouch after 3KK hits.

As a side note, if you do WR B and they block it, you will need to consider two different issues with the WR B mixups.
WR BBB has very good damage and if it hits, the second hit will slam them into the ground, guaranteeing the last hit for a ton of damage unless they JF tech from the slam. If they do the tech, they can get up and block the last hit and you lose out on a bit of damage. Now if the WR BBB is blocked, they can step around before the last hit comes down and can punish you from behind. If you only do WR BB, then you are much safer if you are blocked, but you don’t do nearly as much damage.
WR BKB doesn’t do as much damage as WR BBB, but if it hits, it always does the full damage. The problem is that if they block the WR BKB only WR BK will come out and you will land in front of them with a lot of recovery and they will be able to punish you easily. One side note is that if you do WR BKB with their back to the wall and they get hit, you will RO yourself.
The choice it up to you which route you want to take.

3K
Speed i14
Hit = -2
Block = -8

3KK
Speed i14
Hit = -2
Block = -12

3KKK
Speed i14
Hit = KD
Block = -17

3KK WR
Speed i12
Hit = WR with big advantage
Block = WR with no advantage

3KK stun hit
Speed i12
Hit = KD with free WR B


-A+B, 4A+BB, 6A+B – the ninja bombs. There’s really not much more for me to say except that they are all safe on block and the UB one doesn’t have the range or tracking it had in SC3.
 
Combos and Setups

Here are some of the Combos and Setups that I like to use when playing. I will discuss some of them in more depth but for the most part, one combo will be for easy, one for damage, and one for setups.

NC and NCC Combos: (not comprehensive but what I like using)

-AB

-AB PO

-CH AB4A+B~A

-AA

-CH AAB

-1BA

-1BA PO

-3bK

-3bK PO

-3KK

-3KK WR

-WS AA (non crouchers)

-CH WS AAA

-WS BB (yes, it’s NC now)

-6KA (non crouchers)

-2BA (non crouchers)

-22K

-CH 22KA

-A6

-A6 JF

-4A+BB

-PO A

-PO 236A (2 hits)

-WR BBB

-WR BKB

-STK K
 
Combos – guaranteed damage and setups, I’ll * the ones I like most.
Just remember that you can’t have 2 of the same stun in the same combo even if they don’t shake (can’t continuously hit them with PO K or have repeat CH WS Ks in a combo)

A+B
-A+B, A+K, B+G
-A+B, 41236B (yes this still works, tech to your right, I think, to escape)
-A+B, A6, 1A (good guaranteed damage)
*-A+B, A6, 44K (if done with the correct timing, they will be slammed face down to the ground, if they don’t move, the 44K will hit them on the ground. If they do try to tech, the 44K will catch them as they try to tech up and give you the stun and free combo – they probably won’t shake out much because they won’t expect it – if you miss the timing, the will be able to get up and punish you)
For A+B it’s all a matter of learning the timing for the A6. If you can get the correct timing for the slam and tech trap, then do the tech trap every time. If not, watch how they hit the ground. If they are face up, do 1A for the damage. If they get slammed down correctly, do the 44K tech trap. This setup is very dirty, but it’s also very hard to do consistently.
-A+B, A6, 44K PO, PO B+K (if they don’t struggle out and crouch, they will get throw for good damage since this combo resets because of the tech trap)
-A+B, A6, 44K PO, PO 7_8_9K (for those who can shake out and crouch – take the BT mixup afterwards)
***New 8/6/08***
*-A+B, A6 WR, WR B (this does much better damage than the 1A afterwards and moves your forward. This also has the change of doing extra damage as they try to get but or tech and will count as a rolling hit instead of a grounded hit. You can also do either WR BB or BK or BBB but they can easily tech out of the WR BBB)

4A+BB
*-4A+BB, A+K, B+G
-4A+BB, G (turn around), A6 (1A doesn’t seem to hit consistently enough in this situation)
I generally stick to the air throw from this bomb – the stalker back air throw does more damage than the forward one.
***New 8/6/08***
*-4A+BB, G (turn around) A6 WR, WR B (better than back air throw)

6A+B
*-6A+B, A+K, B+G
-6A+B, 66, A6, 1A (this is very hard to do and not very consistent)
I generally stick to the air throw in this situation, especially I tend to have their back to the ring edge and the throw will RO them.
***New 8/6/08***
*-6A+B, 66, A6 WR, WR B (better than air throw)

CH WS K
-CH WS K, 1A
-CH WS K, iWS BB
-CH WS K, 44K PO, PO B+K (setup)
-CH WS K, 44K PO, PO 7_8_9K (setup)
-CH WS K, 1BA PO, PO A (spin stun setup)
-CH WS K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA
-CH WS K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA PO (PO setup)
-CH WS K, 1BA PO, PO B
*-CH WS K, 1BA PO, PO K (PO K setup – see PO K section)
Do note that 3bK doesn’t track well for post CH WS K
I almost exclusively use the last combo on that list.
The long combo that involves the PO A spin stun is very inconsistent because of range.

WS AA
*-WS AA PO (PO setup)

***New 8/6/08***
A6
-A6 WR, WR BBB_BKB (will catch all people who try to tech, except if they tech to their right)
-A6 WR, WR delay WS_throw (for those who will tech right)

6KA
-6KA PO (PO setup)

2BA
-2BA PO (PO setup)

AA
-CH AAB, 44B (soul damage setup)

AB
-AB4A+B, AB PO (mixups as listed in detailed section)

1BA
-1BA PO (mixups as listed in detailed section)

44K
-44K, 1K (weak sauce)
-44KK (even weaker)
-44K PO, PO B+K (they have to shake and crouch)
-44K PO, PO 7_8_9K (if they do shake and crouch)
-44K, AB4A+B~A (super hard, if not impossible to shake out of)
-44K, AAB, 44B (soul damage setup – shake out almost impossible)
-44K, 3KK WR, WR B (they take more if they try to tech)
*-44K, 1BA PO, PO A (spin stun)
-44K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA
*-44K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA PO (PO setup)
If they don’t shake at all:
-44K, iWS K, 1BA PO, PO A (spin stun)
-44K, iWS K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA
-44K, iWS K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA PO (PO setup)
Grounded opponent
-44K PO, PO B+K (they get up into it if they don’t crouch)
-44K PO, PO 7_8_9K (if they do crouch or stay on the ground)
Remember the setup and tech trap for 44K after ninja bomb? Well if they get caught, you can just keep comboing them until they’ve eaten a ton of damage.
 
22K
-CH 22KA
-CH 22K, 1A (BOO, let’s try for more damage)
-CH 22K WR, WR B (guaranteed if they stay on the ground)
-CH 22K WR, WR BBB (will tech catch if they try to tech up after the CH 22K – there are angle issues and the whole combo won’t work on side teching)
*-CH 22K WR, WR BKB (will tech catch and always work, if they stay on the ground, the don’t get to punish you too hard for the WR BK)

3KKK
-Stun hit 3KK, WR B (guaranteed, they take more if they try to tech)
-3KK WR (WR setup as noted in study)

22_88A
-22_88A (give a BT setup – see the study entry for 22A)
*-CH 22_88A, BT A+B, 33B (ouch, you have to do the BT A+B as soon as possible)
-CH 22_88A, BT A+B, 3bK
-CH 22_88A, BT A+B, 3bK PO, PO 66 (keep yourself close)
-CH 22_88A, BT 2A (WS mixup)
-CH 22_88A, BT 2B PO (PO mixup)
-CH 22_88A, BT 2K (just damage)
*-CH 22_88A, BT A+B, 6A+B (tech trap – you have to mash the 6A+B as fast as possible, and 80% of the time they can’t tech out, but sometimes the angle of the bounce stun lets them get out) -> link the combo to your favorite 6A+B combo
***New 8/6/08***
*-CH 22_88A, BT A+B, A6 WR, WR B (if you slow down the timing a little, you will get the rolling hit for more damage than just the straight combo hit. They are both guaranteed, the rolling hit is like 20 more damage though, making this combo do close to 80 damage)
Also note that all the combos listed here with the BT A+B will work with BT A+B alone.


PO K
*-PO K (shake stun – use mixups afterwards – 66B+G, 66A+G, AB PO, 1BA PO, 3KK WR, A+B, 4A+B, 6A+B and make them guess which one to block after they break the stun)
The next combos will be for if they don’t break the stun or are too slow – they will be registered as CH.
*-PO K, 22K WR (WR tech trap)
-PO K, 3KK
*-PO K, A+B (then your favorite combo – perfect time to try resetting them)
-PO K, 1BA PO
-PO K, 1BA PO, PO B
*-PO K, 1BA PO, PO A (spin stun)
-PO K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA
*-PO K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA PO (PO setup)
-PO K, 6A PO, PO B+K (shake and crouch to avoid)
-PO K, 6A PO, PO 7_8_9K (if they shake and crouch)
For the person who just doesn’t want to struggle:
-PO K, 44K, iWS K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA PO (PO setup)

PO 236B
-PO 236B, WS BB, 1A (canned in the game)
-PO 236B, WS K – see CH WS K section
*-PO 236B, FC A+KK – see CH WS K section (this tracks better on people who are off axis)
Yes, this combo section is just one huge flow chart to other stun moves and combo variations.
Again, for the person who doesn’t want to struggle and wants to keep getting hit.
-PO 236B, FC A+KK, 1BA PO, PO K, 44K, iWS K, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA PO (PO setup) – lots of hits (13), but not much more damage because of the damage scaling.

PO 236A 2Hits
*-PO 236A, 1A
-PO 236A, 44K
-PO 236A, 44K PO, PO B+K (for those who get up standing)
-PO 236A, 44K PO, PO 7_8_9K (for those who get up crouching, or just stay grounded)
*-PO 236A, 6A+B (after PO 236A hits with 2 hits, they can’t tech up. Any button they push will make them stand straight up. It’s a lot like how the poison dart affected people in SC3. The only way to avoid the launch is to just stay on the ground and not hit a single button after PO 236A hits you.) -> your favorite 6A+B combo.

PO 236A 1Hit
-PO 236A, 1BA PO
-PO 236A, 1BA PO, PO B (best damage)
*-PO 236A, 1BA PO, PO A (spin stun)
-PO 236A, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA
-PO 236A, 1BA PO, PO A, 2bA PO (PO setup)
*-PO 236A, 1BA PO, PO K (PO K setup)
***New 8/6/08***
*-PO 236A, A6 WR, WR B (again if you delay the WR and WR B just a little, you can get the ground roll hit if they try to tech up. Either way it still guaranteed but you get 20 more damage if you try to catch them getting up)
 
8/19/08

It looks like you can PO 214 out of PO66 and PO 8WR, but you have to immediately input the 214 motion immediately after the input for the movement. Taki will do the fake teleport at the end of the rush or sidestep.

During a stun, if you do 3KK from the opponent’s left (ie. Taki has to step right), the knock down will lead to a fall stun where WR BBB will lift them into the air and be fully guaranteed for big damage and really good RO potential to Taki’s Left. Might be a good consideration if you happen to PO 8WR to the right and do PO K and hit.

Frame data has been updated to keep in accordance with the other frame data posted. I’ve also updated the speeds on certain moves and updated the advantage and disadvantage on others.

Here’s a list of a few more bits of frame data that you might find interesting.


-AB
Speed i10
Hit = -6
Block = -13


Taki’s B string seems to have lost a lot of range from before. It’s still decent with BB or just a single B, but if you’re looking for a B string into PO, go for BA or 1BA which give better advantage on hit and are much better on block. BB PO on block leaves you a sitting duck for anything they try. The PO 214 won’t even get you out of their 2A. Just remember that if BB is going to connect, so it 1BA so if you’re using it as a mid mixup, use 1BA – same speed and much better PO shift and 1BA is NC on crouchers.

-B
Speed i15
Hit = -3
Block = -6

-BB
Speed i15
Hit = -1
Block = -11

-BB PO
Speed i15
Hit = +3
Block = -8 (ugh)

-BBB
Speed i15
Hit = -5
Block = -16


BA is still usable as a string if they are standing, but the A will go over their heads if you use it to hit a croucher. Again 1BA, is much better for that effect and BA PO is really no better on block than AB PO on block. You can also crouch the A after blocking the B with BA. Use it as you see fit, but 1BA PO has become the PO shift of choice lately.

-BA
Speed = i15
Hit = -5
Block = -13

-BA PO
Speed = i15
Hit = +5
Block = -4


BK series still has uses but is no longer NC like it was in SC3 and the K no longer knocks down unless you get the fully charged K. The charged K still has a lot of advantage to it though. When the K hits, they will get turned to the side and you will have decent advantage in that aspect. Consider using it when they are stunned because BK is still NCC and you can get a nice side turn setup on them. After BK hits and they are side turned, you can 3KK them without fear of retaliation. The K is good on block as well, even when not charged.

-BK
Speed = i15
Hit = +6 (forced side turn)
Block = -5

-B[K]
Speed = i15
Hit = KD
Block = +6-7
 
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