Pokes

[maeda]

What's the best? What can you stick out reliably?

I find myself using

s. HK

jump-> LK (immediately)

c. HP

c. LK x2

Is there anything specifically good in the air?

[ohsuplol]

I use s. HK alot.

For an air poke, j. MK has the most vertical reach(iirc).

[-=KOH=-]

I wrote a little guide on all is fighting was gonna post it here but, I'll just copy paste when needed.


Noteworthy Normals:
Sakura has some great normals, they are pretty much her only tools for getting in on an opponent.

Standing HK:
Her best poke, great for footsies.
Goes over a large amount of crouching normals.
Beats out a ton of other normals.
High priority.
Slow startup.
Use it preemptively.

Close Standing HP:
Great normal, comes out very fast.
High priority.
Cancels into all of her special moves.
Best starter for her bnb combos.

Standing MK:
Fast close range poke, goes over some crouching MK.
Good for footsies and getting in for a grab.
Great Priority beats out a lot of moves.

Forward+MK:
Decent overhead, slow startup, can be kara'd into grab.
Good for a meaty attack on someone without a good reversal.
Early anti-air?

Crouching HP:
Her best anti-air tool, use it on anyone jumping in, it's almost always a safe bet.
Starts a bread and butter.
Great for poke strings.
High priority, comes out fast.
Probably her best normal.

Crouching MK:
Good for chaining into Hadouken.
Can be canceled into super.
Can be canceled into all of her special moves.

Jumping LK:
Weak damage, crosses up.

[SiYkO]

On blocking opponents, I use a lot of c.lk -> c.lp -> c.mp. You have to be very close, but you can hit confirm this into your combo of choice - often i'll do qcb+lk -> s.lk xx ex tatsu. It's a lot of damage off a hit confirm.

If he blocks the first string, you still have a ton of options. You can try to c.mk into a combo, or c.hp (hard to get anything to combo off this at this range, but it will stuff any safe answer they have). You can also start throw / overhead shenanigans, or even do a lk or ex tatsu anyways, and hope it hits. I think lk tatsu is disadvantage on block (but safe), and I'm almost positive ex tatsu is advantage on block - another great opportunity for c.mk.

c.hp is very godly... you can shut down most any jumpin and force them to stay on the ground. s.hk at mid-close range to shut down their fireball antics or whatever, although it's very risky trying to do it out of the blue, it's best used right after an exchange while they are trying to respond right away.

Throws end up being a big part of sakura's game because you can make them afraid to block and afraid to respond to your poke strings.

I'm really enjoying Sakura.

[maeda]

thanks for the replies.

I'm loving sakura if I can control the flow of the match because her pokes go into huge damage combos (c. LK->c.LK->LK Tatsu->c.HP->EX Tatsu-> Otoshi?), but i'm finding a my defense(ie ZONE) is sorely lacking.

Throwing out random pokes and jumping in seems to get you killed a lot in this game. :confused:

[ZeroMH]

When people are outside jump-in range, I like to start charging up a hadoken. They usually think the shot's coming right away and it's safe for them to jump over it and into my territory, but because of the charge delay they end up landing on the hado instead. It's good for when people are getting up from a fall, too.