Online you have to see unsafe moves in their startup animation in order to react fast enough to punish them. So maybe offline I'll have an easier time. But more likely I'll buffer everything too early...
I'm starting to mistrust TAS B as sidestep whiff punishment, it just takes too long to do without having a buffer window. The pullout seems impossible from the side or back as well, so max is 50 damage which is easily dominated by 33K or 3B into TAS B. As a ranged whiff punish, TAS B is still king.
Also in the process of testing the TAS pullout I noticed two interesting things:
It's very difficult to immediately TAS after any step. It's probably just from not starting the motion from neutral hand position that I'm used to. Definitely something to practice.
The other thing is unrelated, but I just now noticed you can't guard or step out of her sidestep immediately, but you can attack immediately. If you hit the up or down input very briefly and hit guard, she won't guard until the step is finished. Attacking, however, cancels the step wherever she is. To get a faster guard canceled step it looks like kG is the fastest way. Maybe a fastest 44aB:G but that's a bit much. Back steps and step-ins can still be canceled with guard or attacks, though. I doubt this is character specific but that might make TAS B extra slow after a sidestep because it looks like she waits for the sidestep to end before doing the angel step movement.
I already knew about this next one but if you attack in the middle of your sidestep with a directional move in the same direction as a sidestep, you'll do the 8WR version of that move. So stepping in the 2 direction and inputting 3B before the step ends will give you 33B. Stepping the 8 direction instead allows access to every move. You can also hit a direction (6, for example), then hit and hold the direction (6) and then move it to any direction to get any 8WR move (65,63214K for 44K, a nice step in kick if done properly).
Other moves I use on occasion using this technique:
65, 63214A for a smooth step-in 44A. Like a slower, safer, stronger 66A. Better tracking too, I think. Sounds like a weird way to input it but it's much smoother and feels more natural on a stick than 65, 44A. The 5 represents returning to neutral for the quick step to trigger and a short delay to allow the step to get close to finishing.
65, 63214K for a smooth step-in 44K. TAS B or a step-in BB could replace this most of the time, but 44K gives you a nice -6 and small pushback to work with, and starts some gimmicky tech traps on CH. It only really has its use when facing deadly aGIs that can be beaten with mid kicks. Also notice Sophie's lack of options to work with when chasing down some backstep-happy players. On one hand, you have TAS B and 66A, but if they block it you're right in their face at -10 and -12 respectively, which is not the best position to be in. On the other, you have step-in BB which is as safe as 44K but with less reward on CH.
8,9B or 2,3B for a fast 33B whiff punish. I usually do this on accident from trying to whiff punish with 33B but I'm surprised it's landed every time. 76 damage with a the TAS B followup or big reverse RO. An asset to have for seesaw matches. But it makes me think I could be whiff punishing with 66B or 2, 36B since 33B is a frame slower and it's landing no problem. And 66B b2
B:B236B is easier on a side hit (that's the impractical but strongest followup).
65, 6321A for a step-in 11A. Idk, 44 and especially 11 motions just bother me because of the slight backstep you get unless you buffer it during guard.
45, 4789 6A or 6B+K. ...Mindgames?
Let me know what you guys think of these tools.
