Voldo Q&A / General Discussion

Practice his combos. The one that'll give you the most trouble starting off is his 666B, 66B, 666B. You can also practice 666B, 66B BE, 66B BE. Get familiar with taking risks by using moves that have tech crouching properties when you are at a slight disadvantage. For instance, WR (K), BS 2A+B. Or 1(K), BS 2A+B. Voldo's step isn't very good compared to the rest of the cast, but that is because a lot of his attacks have very nice super-tech crouching properties to them.
 
Is there a specific timing to getting a CR throw to connect after A+B/WR BB (without 1] after CR which makes it obvious)? It's easy to get on Nightmare and Astaroth but I just sail over everyone else. I know it's possible because it's been done to me in a mirror.
 
Temjiin said:
Is there a specific timing to getting a CR throw to connect after A+B/WR BB (without 1] after CR which makes it obvious)? It's easy to get on Nightmare and Astaroth but I just sail over everyone else. I know it's possible because it's been done to me in a mirror.
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It's just a wakeup thing. If you input CR 1 A+G it should land on any opponent. But it's still extremely easy to see and dodge.
 
I feel like I've mastered Voldo in every possible way I can. Except one thing..... I see some Voldos continually throwing out MCHT A+B G's over and over. I'd love to learn this as an extra mix-up, but can't get the timing right (especially online). Any advice for this please? Thank you
 
I'm not certain but I think there's a trick where you can just mash A+B+G and it'll come out 100%.
 
Mr.MeatHook said:
Whiff punisher?
Rushdown?
Turtle?
Evasive?
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Whiff punishment is a decently strong suit for Voldo to play... 666B combos, A+B3, 66A+B, 44B combo, 3BB, FC 3A+B, 2BB/2(B). In blind stance, 8WR B combos, BS 236B, BS 2A+B.

Rushdown is a tricky one. Even legless, braindead babies can step on Voldo so you do this at your own risk. Gauge your opponent.

Turtling? 22A great shit; decently ranged, anti-step, tech-crouching mid that's safe on block, and on hit puts you at +6 and your opponent is in back-turn.. This also sidesteps so have fun with that. 3A, also decently ranged, also anti-step (+10 on CH), also tech-crouches. It's slightly faster than 22A but it's -16 on block so the Greeks will fuck you for it. 22B will kill verticals and launch for a combo... It transitions to blind stance and is only -8 on block, which is the same block frame data as WR [K], BS 236B/BS WR B, 4BA, so the blind stance options you have after those moves still follow... but it's extremely linear. In blind stance, 4A is a nice, safe anti-step mid that's safe on block and +10 on hit. BS 2A+B has some step-catch but it isn't fantastic. Nightmare's 88_22B gets around this very well for instance, so it might not work.

Evasion? 1[K]/BS 4K has some great tech crouch on it, are safe and give combos on hit. Standard blind stance follow-ups on block as well. 1K with no blind stance transition combos to 666B and has some fucking crazy ring out distance, but I believe it can be air controlled to at least some extent so it might not be entirely reliable. BS 236 A/BS iWR A is a mere -6 on block, has good tech crouch, kills step and on CH you get an easy hit confirm into a combo. BS 4B tech jumps and combos on CH. Normal stance 4K is a very underused move that has the relatively unique distinction of tech-crouching and tech jumping, and is safe, and lets you wake up in blind stance. 4A+K will get you away from some stuff. 2A+K is fairly alright, you'll avoid some linear shit and can hold the command into a landfish transition. I believe 88_22A+B is supposed to be good for something, but I mostly get raped for using it. Neutral A+K is pretty much ass all around, but against characters that use a lot of slow, single hit attacks that are slow to recover, it has it's moments. Astaroth's 44[A] and 22B, for instance. It also rains shit on Yoshimitsu's teleports. But it is mostly useless. 6A+K, I've never bothered using myself and I don't think I've ever seen it used by someone else... so that's probably indicative of something.

Mr.MeatHook said:
How should Voldo be played? Very interested in this step to Edge Mastery.

I am aware his main games are mindgames and mixups, along with being unpredictable due to his combinations of character unfamiliarity, many stances and erratic movement being able to confuse an opponent.

This, along with his fairly short range and apparent linearity, leads me to believe he should be played rushing down the opponent with so many different moves and mixups they have no idea what to do about it, but I want to hear from the actual practitioners of the Blind Guardian Style on this matter..
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Voldo isn't an aggressive character. He doesn't have the Misturugi "LOL YOU CAN'T STEP MY VERTICALS FOR SOME REASON" effect or anything like that... You need to be aware of how LUDICROUSLY linear he is at all times otherwise you'll find yourself getting embarrassed even by dumbshits who are just nonsensically walking in circles, because seriously, this character has basically zero tracking. But his anti-step moves are really anti-step. I like to wait around a lot and poke at my opponent (22A controls the space around you very well), frustrate them, punish their whiffs. Voldo's strength is in his anti-rushdown. You've gotta be smart, but thanks to all his evasive nonsense, he's never really at too much of a disadvantage. You can snake under and around a very large amount of moves, occasionally on reaction, mostly via good reads.

It's all about playing smart. You have to get your opponent to be hesitant to step (22A, 3A, 33A, BS 4A, BS 44A, BS iWR A, et cetera... 4A from normal stance is underused as well. It's a high, so it has that weakness, but it's a stepkiller with a blind stance transition that's only -2 on block, +8 on hit and breaks guard... so hardly all bad), and they need to fear whiffing as well, which with all your options isn't that hard. Voldo's rush tactics are kind of gimmicky, so don't be adverse to just backing off occasionally to dance around and let your opponent come to you. Your myriad of tech crouching options (and from time to time 4_2A+K) will be a boon to you here to give your opponent hell with trying to pin you down.

What you're really playing for here is the knockdown. Waking up against Voldo is a zero-sum game played exclusively in Hell. In normal stance, you've got A+B3 oki train, you can transition to Mantis Crawl and do your shit there, you've also got this after any combo you end with a+bG, etc. In blind stance... the horror is obvious. BS 236 B can't be rolled away from in any direction, as a general rule. I think at a certain range, a back roll will avoid it, but BS 2A+B will catch that shit, I'm pretty sure. So they start stand blocking right off after knockdowns, they then eat BS 2A+B, which starts the whole thing over again. Or they get up blocking low in which case they eat a combo and the whole thing starts over again. If they block BS 236B, you get the standard subsequent mix-up. Sure if they block BS 2A+B, you die, and you're guessing as much as they are (for the most part, at least the guessing is more in your favor here), but it's still vicious as shit.

Also, since playing Voldo is mostly based on pissing your opponent off, either intentionally or consequently, you really need to learn to love your 2A and 2K. A lot.

Oh, and something that I personally don't see a lot of people don't mention, since Voldo is mainly known for his mid/low game, is that his gauge damage is measured by the metric fuckton. It's not as good as Nightmare or Astaroth, but he makes up for it by being generally safer, harder to JG and the ability to put more attacks out faster. And after a guard crush, you've got some pretty good high damage follow-ups to it. In normal stance, it's generally 666B, 66B, 666B and it's metered variations, and access to a quick and clean forward RO in 3BB after the crush. In blind stance, it's BS 8WR B, 666B, 66B, 666B (unless you're me and can't do the combo because you fail at life), or BS 4B, 66A+B, A+B3, A+B, or (depending on what you break with) BS 236A/BS iWR A into CE if you feel like spending meter... at 134 damage, that's pretty sweet shit. You also have access to another clean forward RO with BS 8KA.

AND YET ONE MORE THING: To emphasize the more reactionary than aggressive style of play that Voldo benefits from, check out the meter. He builds it really fast and has only two real uses for it: GI and padding damage. As for the damage padding, you don't risk blowing your meter for nothing since in most situations where you can use it for this, it comes later in the combos so you can decide if you want to use it. You don't have to open with a meter commitment. So it's mostly for GIs. And he gets pretty decent GI rewards. Though you must note that Voldo cannot GI lows in blind stance because derp.

Of course, I'm fairly new to Voldo so all of that could've just been bullshit that sounded good to me. Who knows? Not me. Other players here are probably better qualified.
 
My opinion: Voldo is a versatile character that can fit around most peoples play styles. He has strong mix ups, decent whiff punishment, and godly punishment if you can JG. Just experiment around with him till you become comfortable playing as him.
 
@Nine-L: This is very well written and a great tutorial to Voldo. I feel it explains him exactly. I would love to have your approval to make this into its own thread.
 
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