Ryu Strategies and Matchups

[Ranevski]

Since most strategies and tricks are matchup-dependent, it makes sense to group the two together. Discuss anything useful in actual matches here, from specific tactics, to character-dependent move counters, to overall gameplans. The more specific you get, the better. It would be greatly appreciated if you took the time to test out everything you plan on saying in training mode to make sure that it works and to provide some numbers for stuff like damage and dizzy amount.

Other than that, try not to piss anyone off or start any flame wars.

[kcxj]

Some strategy I learned at Evo (forgive me if everybody else knows this stuff already):

It's my opinion that C-Ryu is best played for the dizzy or guard crush. Whenever the opponent hesitates for fear of a counter hit, he's giving you an opportunity for a hop kick. ALWAYS take the hop kick opportunity. It gets you back in and the guard damage will really start building up. Also remember that by continually pressuring the opponent, his dizzy meter will never have a chance to recover either.

Keep in mind you're never going to get the opponent to block any hop kicks (and consequently keep a successful offensive flow), if the opponent is always hitting a button. You set up those hop kicks by getting the opponent to stop mashing first. How?

One way:
Consistently go for a sweep or a far s.HP after d.LP. You're betting that once the opponent realizes everytime he hits a button after the d.LP, he's going to get counter hit, and he'll start blocking a lot more as a result. NOW is the best time to start going for hop kicks.

[chester27]

nice strat but how about if ever you fought a poker like sagat or cammy how can you beat them?

[kcxj]

nice strat but how about if ever you fought a poker like sagat or cammy how can you beat them?
Poke them back. Ryu has one of the best pokes in the entire game with his Hadouken and RC'd Hadoukens. When you think either Cammy or Sagat is going to do something to try and get around you doing just that one move (drill for Cammy, roll for Sagat), use your d.MP to counter them.

When they have super though, there's nothing you can do. That's why I don't use Ryu anymore. He has to run like a bitch... :rofl:

Don't take my word for it though, as I'm not exactly the best player around. Choiboy and Calipower are the only really, really good shoto players I've ever seen outside of the Japanese. Unfortunately, I've never seen either of them ever post once in the strategy section of this forum.

[chester27]

Poke them back. Ryu has one of the best pokes in the entire game with his Hadouken and RC'd Hadoukens. When you think either Cammy or Sagat is going to do something to try and get around you doing just that one move (drill for Cammy, roll for Sagat), use your d.MP to counter them.

When they have super though, there's nothing you can do. That's why I don't use Ryu anymore. He has to run like a bitch... :rofl:

Don't take my word for it though, as I'm not exactly the best player around. Choiboy and Calipower are the only really, really good shoto players I've ever seen outside of the Japanese. Unfortunately, I've never seen either of them ever post once in the strategy section of this forum.


That is why I don't use Ryu too. Ken became my alternate character, since I also use A- groove i dont have problems on poking someone and making RC Thanks dude Ryu really sucks!!!

[wepeel]

Blanka is a bad matchup too. He has many tools to disguise his patterns (multiple hops, random normals), which makes it hard to try to air-block that RC Blanka Ball...in this matchup, it's basically me (C-Ryu) testing out my opponent's RC consistency by throwing out lots of hadoukens...well not really, but you get the picture...

The good part about this is that Blanka will be confident, meaning more chances for him to screw up. Gotta be patient with this one...wait a lot with Ryu, and try to get him in the corner so his ball attacks won't be as dominating...try sweep xx hadouken, and WAIT to see what he does...must be patient...it's a good payoff later on, cuz you'll be able to get more throws once your lockdown strategy gets better...OH, i think a lvl3 shinkuu hadouken can punish a blocked Blanka Ball if you blocked it standing...don't be afraid to use your meter...

[chester27]

the problem with ryu is he doesn't have any poking abilities. Pokers versus Ryu players needs to be more patience inorder to win, but they have the 60/40 chance on winning versus pokers IMO.

[kcxj]

the problem with ryu is he doesn't have any poking abilities. Pokers versus Ryu players needs to be more patience inorder to win, but they have the 60/40 chance on winning versus pokers IMO.
Ryu's poking game is really, really nasty. Where you at Evo this year? The Japanese and a few of the Cali players had some of the strongest Ryus ever. I don't know how they were doing it, but every few seconds... hadouken! hadouken! whiff some jabs, hadouken! It was actually hard trying to get in on them. It's all screen positioning probably, but damn, they were making that move look cheap.

[chester27]

Ryu's poking game is really, really nasty. Where you at Evo this year? The Japanese and a few of the Cali players had some of the strongest Ryus ever. I don't know how they were doing it, but every few seconds... hadouken! hadouken! whiff some jabs, hadouken! It was actually hard trying to get in on them. It's all screen positioning probably, but damn, they were making that move look cheap.

Actually, I live in the Philippines I tried downloading some of the fights in evo but I found only two right now. Do you know any website about evo? So I can study the fights of ryu.

[kcxj]

Get Direct Connect and go on the "goforbroke" hub. Look for old video files of John Choi (from around 2002-2003) or Japanese player Dan. They have the hands down best C-Ryu's I've ever seen. There are some old videos from the Acho website of Japanese player Nakanishi as well. His style is different though. He plays as if he's using Rolento and runs away for the ENTIRE match like a little girl. He gets his wins though, so I can't argue with that. :bgrin:

[chester27]

thanks dude. I download some of ryu's fights they make ryu like midget sagat, using FP as a poking which is cool. But I didn't see him plays a Rolento becuase his always cornered all the time. After I saw some vids Ryu has 50/50 chance to win in poker characters.

[Neo Odin]

I do this little trick, but bitch slap me if everyone knows this already. :clap:

Cross up mk, c.lp, crouching or standing Fp, QCB+LK, then Fk throw.
If they try to poke you DP or custom that shit, or you could even do c.lpx2 then dash and throw. This works whether they are crouching or standing, or if the combo connects or not, but the lk hurricane will not connect. You will get more damage with the throw at the end then you will with a FP hadouken (1100), with the Fk throw (2100). Just a little trick nothing special.

PS: Oh yeah and I dont think Ryu sucks in my opinion (well maybe a little, but his dash is fast as fuck), I find him quite nice to use in A-groove. His customs take like 8200+ corner to corner, and in the corner its like 8300+ or so, hes not as boring to me in A, just my opinion though.

Fight On:nunchuck:

[GalzPanic]

Ryu's poking game is really, really nasty. Where you at Evo this year? The Japanese and a few of the Cali players had some of the strongest Ryus ever. I don't know how they were doing it, but every few seconds... hadouken! hadouken! whiff some jabs, hadouken! It was actually hard trying to get in on them. It's all screen positioning probably, but damn, they were making that move look cheap.

Yeah I seen that stuff too. It's like they have this feel for the game that not many other people understand. I think it's all about having a sense for when the opponent will give up waiting on the fireball. So then u throw one!

[BigJoe]

Ok, Im a street fighter noob; just started to get interested in Street fighter after I realize that KOF is too scrubish for my taste.

I just wanna know what is the differents between ryu and ken besides the super moves[shoryuken and hadouken]. Is ryu's pokes really better than ken? Why? they seem all the same to me. Thanks hope you guys dont mind answering this noobish question.

[Shin Ace]

Same basic moves, different specials AND supers.
Ken has his hcf + k set of moves, while ryu only has a command kick(hop kick). Ken also has command roll, and a really good meaty roundhouse. I obviously prefer ken. Not to mention his supers do more damage.

[kcxj]

Ryu's entire gameplan revolves around breaking your opponent's guard meter with the fast and powerful far s.HP (advancing with f+MK when need be) so you can land d.MK xx Shin Shoryuken. When the opponent wants to attack you, a major part of Ryu's defense is to zone (ie. maintain a certain range... usually just a pixel outside of the opponent's longest normal move) and counter poke them with qcf+HP whenever they do anything.

Notable moves:
-far s.HK (perfect far anti-air for when they try to get in by jumping)
-qcf+HP (it's faster on the release AND recovery than Ken's same move)
-far s.HP (does a lot of guard crush and is safe on the block)
-f+MK (is safe on the block and allows you to attack after... the guard crush can really build up with this move)
-d.LP (+7 frame advantage... I base entire game around making the opponent block or get hit by this move. It's what sets up almost all of Ryu's up close offense. d.LP, throw; d.LP, d.MK xx qcf+HP; etc...)

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Ken's gameplan is mainly based around getting a knockdown so he can use his extremely powerful cross-up j.MK attack. After any kind of cross-up, the opponent is drawn TOWARDS you, rather than pushed back like after a usual jump-in. From there it's a matter of making the opponent guess by mixing up the kick throw with low shorts xx combo.

Notable moves:
-f+HK (The range is a little less than you think it would be, but it's still quite far... This is a very important advancing tool. You usually want the opponent to block this so you can start your up close offense.)
-far s.HK (This move is laggy, but it's Ken's fastest and farthest reaching normal attack. Stand outside the max range of Blanka's d.HP. Have Blanka do d.HP, then press far s.HK with Ken when you see it whiff. Now you know how to use this move.)
-j.MK (You want to time this attack so you're perfectly over the center line of your opponent's character sprite whenever you press the button. They literally have to guess which way to block if you do it correctly.)
-d.LP (see Ryu)
-hcf+LK (Used for combos or to poke on the ground. Ryu doesn't have this move.)

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Ken can easily punish a Blanka ball by blocking high and then using f+HK. Ryu cannot punish outside of a super. This gives Ken a HUGE advantage over Ryu in my opinion. Ken has the superior range (although a slower qcf+P move, which is kind of annoying) and the highly useful hcf+LK move which makes him the stronger character out of the two.

[LZJ]

the best shoto is sagat. i thought everybody knew this already. anyways start playing tekken5. use kazuya. hes like ryu just not invincible.

[kcxj]

I never realized this for some reason, but Shinshoryuken sets you up for a guaranteed, really deep super jump MK.
Non-scrub setups (midscreen):
-d.MK xx shinsho
-d.HP xx shinsho (cancel as early as possible)
-anti-air shinsho

Now wait a second, then super jump forward with MK. Finish with your strongest non-super combo. I recommend j.MK, d.LP, d.HP xx HP Hadouken.

d.LK, d.HP also works if you're afraid of a random parry.

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In the corner at point blank range, d.LK, d.LK xx level 2 shinkuu hadou, dp+LP, level 1 shinkuu tatsumaki works. It does 400 more damage than the common corner combo, however the dp+LP makes the timing is extremely tight AND the opponent will be kicked out of the corner instead of remaining there so there's pretty much no point in ever using dp+LP over qcb+LK.

[Ben Lee]

if you can avoid it dont put ryu vs. blanka that knows how to RC bad choice use vega

[The V]

A little something I accidently found out that might be useful.

Ryu far s.HK can beat and trade with Sakura's s.HK. I think whats going on is Ryu s.HK hits early (3-4 frames start up?) so when done simultaneously with Sakura's s.HK which has longer start up, it beats it clean, but if timed a bit late it trades.

s.HK can beat clean Ken's F + HK.

I wonder if it can beat similar horizontal kicks like Yuri s.HK, Yama s.HK, Haohmaru s.MP and the like?

[Nick T.]

if you can avoid it dont put ryu vs. blanka that knows how to RC bad choice use vega
Nah how about we don't use Vega. Thats a bad matchup too in the risk/reward department.

With Ryu vs. Blanka you need to build up to lvl 2. The lvl 2 covers so many things in the matchup that give Ryu problems.

Spammed Blanka Ball:
Block high then do lvl 2 Shinku

Slide:
Block low then do lvl 2 Shinku

When you build up to lvl 2, you can start to rush in a little more. Do st. fierce because it hit's Blanka is he crouches. This is good because it does alot of guard damage, which you'll need, to land a super.

To get more openings you can try..

cr. short, cr. jab, cr. forward, fireball. Then the next time, do cr. jab, cr. forward, fake qcf motion then wait. If nothing happens, then st. fierce or dash in cr. short x3, super.

I honestly don't like using Ryu's supers though. Reason being that two crossup combos equal the same damage as a lvl 2 cancel. So it seems like a waste to me.

[kcxj]

Yo, Ryu level 2 super fireball canceled into Hurricane kick does a lot of damage. It's not that easy getting a cross-up combo whenever you want either, as Ryu's best setup for a cross-up j.MK is usually only after a knockdown. He gets guard break or counter hit d.LK a lot more often than cross-up j.MK in my opinion. Use that super meter. It's the best thing Ryu has going for him.

[Nick T.]

Yo, Ryu level 2 super fireball canceled into Hurricane kick does a lot of damage. It's not that easy getting a cross-up combo whenever you want either, as Ryu's best setup for a cross-up j.MK is usually only after a knockdown. He gets guard break or counter hit d.LK a lot more often than cross-up j.MK in my opinion. Use that super meter. It's the best thing Ryu has going for him.True, but I like using him as basic as possible to feel out the opponent. If the time calls for when I can use the meter, i'll use it. I just don't like using it with him because there are plenty of other characters that could get much better use out of it.

[Yoshi_Kimachi]

Since I never use Ryu, what would you reccomend me to do against K-gief and K-Rugal? This is actually for a friend, and he's actually pretty darn good with Ryu, especially in 3s. I could probably find this out later, and I've already thought of some things, but I can't right now, so... yeah, any help would be appreciated. Just want to see if my strategies would work, so just tell me what I would do if I were Ryu vs. those two.

Oh yeah, this is C/S Ryu by the way. Thanks in advance.

[kcxj]

K-gief is beastly. Do not underestimate him no matter what, since just one of his hits equals about two of yours damage wise. If he gets knockdown momentum going on you, you're going to to lose half your life while you might get a quarter of his when it's the other way around.

Don't jump at Zangief first and foremost. Even with a far jump-in, anti-air JD, jab SPD is too powerful. You want to bait him with your whiffed light attacks and d.MP instead. Poke with a hadouken when Gief appears hesitant, but remember you're taking quite a moderate risk whenever you do so. I would mostly runaway and look for Gief to jump at me so I can anti-air him with my far s.HK.

You'd better runaway whenever Geif is raged. Even when you have a knockdown, I learned the hard way that going for low shorts or something as he gets up is the most foolish idea ever. Stick with far s.HK, far s.HP, d.MK, and whiffed light attacks for baiting. Stay PATIENT most importantly.

*To those who know me, I don't intend on losing to any groove Zangief ever again... lol

[Yoshi_Kimachi]

What about Dashing/running in and crouching Roundhouse? And yeah, I'm the one using gief, he's getting mad about it. I'd be mad too, he's too darn good, but he's not unbeatable, especially not by a shoto.

[kcxj]

Running in crouching roundhouse is good when you want to run into Zangief's d.HP.

It's tough to check Zangief low with Ryu's crouching roundhouse in my opinion because of the way Zangief is played. When was the last time you saw a Zangief player try to do anything other than move forward? The best time to go low with a max ranged sweep is almost always when you suspect your opponent wants to come out of low block and walk back to create some space (thus leaving himself open to low hits).

Unless Ryu's sweep beats Zangief's far s.HP, because I know for sure it doesn't beat d.HP or far s.MK (and Gief also needs to be using his far s.HP in the first place), I don't see a reason to ever press crouching roundhouse with Ryu unless you're sweeping out an already extended limb (ie. you should never press d.HK first if you have Ryu against Zangief).

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You beat your friend, he's getting mad, and then you come on the internet to say that you'd be mad if you lost to yourself too? Congratulations! :party: :party:

[bison812]

I have a couple of questions, which grove is best suited for ryu. I have seen a lot of videos with the japanese players playing him in N,K groves. I can understand this because of the rush factor and allowing he opportunity to break your opponents guard. I would think N grove is his best grove because of the opportunity of breaking stocks, run, small jumps. My other question is RC with Ryu is there any real time to use RC with him if my most of the time you are rushing your opponent down and zoning.

[Yoshi_Kimachi]

Okay thanks for the help. :pleased:

[cyberninja]

Yeah, I'm also interested in hearing some N-Ryu strats. The most I do to keep a decent momentum is the run-cancelled c.strong's over and over into maybe some throw setups.

[jreinert13]

I've been using Ryu a lot lately. I think he's a strong character with all the tools to survive most matchup's. I'll use him in K, N and C Groove. Maybe this thread will be revived but probably not.

N-Ryu:

*Base his entire offense on landing C.Jab (blocked or hit).
First step is to get a close; preferably a knock down.
His hadoukens have very good recovery and can be used smartly/timely to get in.
Basic shit like Jab Fireball->run->roll/superjump/rc short hurricane/stop can put you in the position you need (all depending on the factors of the match).

Knock down tools:

RC Red fireball - the jab version is amazing. Use this against Blanka (hell even non RC is good). Obviosuly don't abuse this and use it smartly (against Blanka don't do it when they are crouching or walking back..duh).

Anti-Air Dragon - Fierce has the best invincibility so use that against attacks like 45deg Sagat J.RH. Try your best to wiff C.Short into Jab or Strong Dragon for anti-air : these versions give you more options after the knockdown.

Running sweep->wiff short Hurricane/jab fireball(if you can do it)/jab shoryuken - the standand old school style he's had in every game.

RC Hurricane - the short version is great. At a good distance it's pretty safe to wiff and if you time it when your opponent tried to long range poke you it's a knockdown. It's also good to do this on reaction to RC's, specials, air attacks or normals when you know they're coming.

Once you get in you find a way to land C.Jab(blocked) and you have a world of options.
*more on that later....

[wepeel]

Tell me how to beat a Blanka that's below-average/decent in footsies while also having great RC execution. Meaning...lots of Blanka Ball. I use C-Ryu in my fun teams but it's not so fun when repetitive RC Blanka forces me to work double time (and with me usually failing), so I don't have the option of JD.

[jreinert13]

Build meter a lot.

wiff strong, jump back attacks and air hurricanes.
If he's doing Blanka ball for no reason..you can bait them with up/back instant air block and then punish.
Use fireballs and hadoukens wisely (ex. when the walk forward, stand up without moving etc.)
You have all the tools to anti air him everytime: S.Forward, close S.Fierce, D.Fierce, S.Roundhouse, Dragon punches. All angles are covered easily.

If he tries to RC through your poke strings..change them up so his timing is off and he gets counter hit. ex. use close/meaty C.Strong->C.Roundhouse->Fierce Hadouken then alternate that with C.Strong->C.Jab->slight delay->C.Forward/S.Fierce->super(if you want) sometimes.
If Blanka tried to RC through(or even short) C.Strong->C.Roundhouse link and you decided to mix it up with C.Strong->C.Jab link instead you can land the counter hit on the C.Forward and S.Fierce nearly everytime. If you see this/hear this, dont mind wasting a level one or can react to it: combo into super.

Another good trick is after a knockdown, cross up jump without attacking and leaving you a coupl esteps away from Blanka. If he does RC electicity you can punish him with whatever.

[wepeel]

If he tries to RC through your poke strings..change them up so his timing is off and he gets counter hit. ex. use close/meaty C.Strong->C.Roundhouse->Fierce Hadouken then alternate that with C.Strong->C.Jab->slight delay->C.Forward/S.Fierce->super(if you want) sometimes.
If Blanka tried to RC through(or even short) C.Strong->C.Roundhouse link and you decided to mix it up with C.Strong->C.Jab link instead you can land the counter hit on the C.Forward and S.Fierce nearly everytime. If you see this/hear this, dont mind wasting a level one or can react to it: combo into super.


Ok I understand what you're saying with the mixup in guard crush strings. I think it would work better if Blanka didn't have RC and I had run or something. But what I don't understand is how I am supposed to use the 2nd part (c. strong, c.jab, delay, c.forward) to hit him if he's doing RC ball. The worst case is me messing up my delay and him hitting me out of something (like the aforementioned c.forward), or me prolonging the delay, causing me to block the RC ball (probably in a crouched state) and him basically resetting the match with me a pixel down. I can't nail him when I block the RC Ball.

Yes, a few times I have been able to do the airblock trick with the ensuing hurricane kick and once in a while he'll do something stupid like jump, but mostly those are uncommon.

I'll tell you a little something about this guy, though...he doesn't JUST use RC Ball, he also uses the c. fierce and like once every other match, he will slide. He doesn't really know how to use c.short. Funny enough, I've kinda learned how to punish a whiffed c. fierce (like maybe 30% accuracy) and that's how I get my opportunity to risk an offense. I'm just kinda wondering, though...if he ever decided to JUST use RC Ball, I think I would be screwed. But then again this is just casuals.

[jreinert13]

Ok I understand what you're saying with the mixup in guard crush strings. I think it would work better if Blanka didn't have RC and I had run or something. But what I don't understand is how I am supposed to use the 2nd part (c. strong, c.jab, delay, c.forward) to hit him if he's doing RC ball. The worst case is me messing up my delay and him hitting me out of something (like the aforementioned c.forward), or me prolonging the delay, causing me to block the RC ball (probably in a crouched state) and him basically resetting the match with me a pixel down. I can't nail him when I block the RC Ball.

Yes, a few times I have been able to do the airblock trick with the ensuing hurricane kick and once in a while he'll do something stupid like jump, but mostly those are uncommon.

I'll tell you a little something about this guy, though...he doesn't JUST use RC Ball, he also uses the c. fierce and like once every other match, he will slide. He doesn't really know how to use c.short. Funny enough, I've kinda learned how to punish a whiffed c. fierce (like maybe 30% accuracy) and that's how I get my opportunity to risk an offense. I'm just kinda wondering, though...if he ever decided to JUST use RC Ball, I think I would be screwed. But then again this is just casuals.

What I meant is if he RC's through your poke string he HAS to time it. If you leave a frame or two for him to get it off it needs to be a reversal.
So If you do close/meaty C.Strong->C.Roundhouse->Fierce Hadouken as a regular poke string (I use this instead of C.Jab->C.Fierce because it has more options) and then switch it up with C.Strong->C.Jab this will happen:

you will block stun him with C.Strong.
he will try to time the RC for the moment after C.Strong's animation is complete.
you will maintain the block stun with jab. (probably the same moment he is hitting roll)
his remaining button press to complete the RC will not be invincible and will surely get hit but the C.Forward or S.Fierce...he is also no longer holding block if he's trying to blanka ball through you.

What do you use to punish C.Fierce? C.Fierce is your best option if you're not already using that.

C.Strong strings I find to be more effective if you like to play an aggressive Ryu. If you're very defensive (or just are in the case against Blanka) you'll probably prefer the jab strings; which guarantee guard damage and are less risky.

I take all the opportunity I can to be offensive against Blanka for 2 reasons:

1- if you get stuck in a corner you can lose your guard meter very fast. Blanka has many pressuring options against Ryu
2 - if you play aggresively and smart you are sure to force him to do a RC that you set up for a big punish.

[wepeel]

I understand now. The main thing I took away from your post was to vary the time in which my _opponent_ has to do RC Blanka Ball. When he loses his charge, it gives me more opportunities to wear down his guard meter and make him more nervous.

Thanks again man, stuff is easier to understand in practice :sweat: