The Apprentice General Discussion / Q&A

Since I'm not going to a tournament sunday that I originally thought I would, I'll post some things I've learned recently.

1: Incorporate 22_88B and 7_8_9B into your game. 22_88B is safe on block and leads to 70ish damage on hit with the JF. 7_8_9B jumps of course, is a mid and hits basically everything. They both are among the best anti-soul gauge moves he has.

2: Mix up 6BA+B and 6BBK. Try this: 2B+K:B B 6B A+B B+G. The look on people's face is amazing.

3: Never do 6B3B after a stun. It does less damage than 3B.

4: Always do the 8 input of 3B. You cannot hit confirm it anyway, and 3B is so unsafe that the 8 will save you. After that, you actually have options.
a. Do nothing and drop immediately
b. AABB quickly and hope the last B catches them.
c. A~A~B~B sloooooooooowly... wait for them to whiff something then stop doing inputs and drop, then punish or be at neutral. Either way, you just made a -18 or so move safe.
d. A mix of b and c, just to throw them off.
e. B+K and lightning them
 
Yeah that, sorry. I'm actually typing and browsing on my PS3 so... yeah. I make lots of errors.

No big. . I actually went and spent an hour looking for it. . .

So right now after A+B I think B+K is his second best option. Just a thought and it has more built in set-ups than 3K. . shrug.

Also I'm bringing this out of flash chat and into the open:

FC 8K:A is the shit. and iFC 8K:A is the shizknight.
 
FC 8K:A is good, but I generally only use it after someone force crouches me, I just ducked something with 2G or after 22_88B. I think it's too force intensive and hard to pull off to just throw out there randomly when it's not either guaranteed or I'm already crouching.

However, I still think the best options after A+B are: 3K, throw, 3B. Throws catch step and standblock, 3K catches attacking (except Taki, X and Sets' A and Yoshi's iMCF), and 3B catches duck blocking (except people it whiffs on). B+K would be ok as a replacement for 3K except it's not as fast and doesn't lead to as high damage punishers. And if memory serves me correctly, B+K is a high.
 
However, I still think the best options after A+B are: 3K, throw, 3B. Throws catch step and standblock, 3K catches attacking (except Taki, X and Sets' A and Yoshi's iMCF), and 3B catches duck blocking (except people it whiffs on). B+K would be ok as a replacement for 3K except it's not as fast and doesn't lead to as high damage punishers. And if memory serves me correctly, B+K is a high.

Well how fast do you have his B+K?I'm thinking it is i13, since it's also his only move that connects after the 1A stun beside K.
 
You're right, B+K is i13. But it's still a high, which means it doesn't work against people who 2A or simply duck and block. 3B is far too slow to punish anyone who tries to evade by ducking post A+B, so I'd prefer a mid like 3K.

Here's my modified review of 6B3B:
It has 2 uses - CH 6B3B8 into whatever, does about 5 more damage than 3B.
CH B+K B 6B3B8 AA A+B ~ 236B does 91 damage.

Besides those two uses, 6B3B either isn't guaranteed, or does less damage than 3B. For example, after any type of stun (CH 3K, 33K, 66A+BB, 4A), you're better off using another alternative like simply 3B or 3K 3B. Also, after 1A B+K B and 2B+K:B B, 6B3B is not guaranteed.

Thus, combined with B+K's speed, I can see both being used - just probably not after A+B.
 
Don't know if my timing is just off or something, but it seems that 2B+K:B into 6B3B is blockable on the 3B part, thus rendering this as a launcher combo useless. However, could this possibly work on counter hit?
 
BT A+K,A+B into 44K tech traps for relaunch. If they sleep, you'll just hit them with 44K... Or you could mix it up with iFC8K:A to reset.

66B+K into 3B will tech catch everything except one of the side techs (left I think). Backwards tech will relaunch while side tech only hits them grounded. 66B+K is pretty amazing on wakeup IMO. Hits grounded (not at close range though), and leaves the opponent in FC. You can bait whiffed WS moves all day by SS'ing after it gets blocked, which equals free 3B launch. A+B will also interrupt anything short of the fastest WS attacks most characters have, which are the ones that can be SS'ed for free. So mixing up A+B and SS post-block is really effective at continuing your offense. And you can use it out of running to mix it up with the slide or 2B+K:B... string. Too bad it is linear...

Also 8GK is faster than 8K at i17. Pretty good for a safe mid that has push-back and knocks down. If it actually tech jumped early (or at all?) it would be amazing.
 
is there a safe way to land 66B? its a huge disadvantage on block and you stomped on.

its range is not all that great...but if there's some way of landing it without being too obvious then please post it.
thank you. ^_^
 
There might be, but I've found that 3B and 22B are both better than 66B and 33B in any and all situations I can think of.
 
66B is guaranteed in certain scenarios where 22B and 3B are not. For example, after blocking Mitsu's 66B,B. You can also run at people to bait a duck (for fear of slide attack), and then mix them up with this launcher. It really isn't that bad on block, especially considering you can get 70+ dmg off of hitting it (66B, 6B,A+B, (6B,A+B), iFC8K:A, 2B_tech traps). Many characters won't even get something from blocking Apprentice's 66B, if I remember correctly. Plus it adds force gauge back to Apprentice. Oh yea, and it tech crouches pretty well too if you're amazing at predicting highs/throws. Crazy linear though, just like 22B and the majority of his moveset... *sigh*
 
"You can also run at people to bait a duck (for fear of slide attack)"
Yeah, if there is online lag delay...otherwise I'm doubting even that would be effective. I dont know anyone who fears slide attacks and wont duck on reaction, or worse.
 
Props to you if you can duck Apprentice's slide on reaction. It was mistake to just assume everyone has shitty reaction time like me and has to guess between the slide and a mid.
 
the best mixup for 66b is a throw, (unless fighting another apprentice because of A+B grab break) its much less obvious then a slide kick(pretty much a guessing game), plus it does more damage than a slide kick
 
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