Ibuki Critique and Training

[T0ast0r]

Hey. I'm trying to learn how to play as Ibuki, but I keep running into problems.

1) I seem to be extremely vulnerable to hadou whores
2) Sweeps tend to get me a bit too much
3) My chains often get punished by the simplest of tactics, ie a point blank hadouken or some shit

Now, I'm wondering, could someone help me out with learning how to play Ibuki, and what to do when? It seems to me like she's not a character meant for rushing or turtling, but rather a sort of evasive one who only strikes an opening. I just need some help, because the practice I do with moves and parrying offline doesn't seem to add up when I'm playing folks online. Thanks for the help if you can.

[ramza]

Try to find OHT, his rushdown Ibuki is suffocating, once he gets the momentum, it's extremely hard to gain back control. Her throw is annoying because it's damn near impossible to quick recover if you didn't see it coming. Follow up her blocked EX Srk's move with an air chain combo, I seemed to always get smacked by that~

[T0ast0r]

I'll try to find him. Another thing though, her throw seems a bit hard to execute. It seems to have a shorter range than others, but I could be wrong. I always try to do it, miss, and end up getting swept or something.

[silent shade]

i guess i can play with you i play her. i can tell you somethings that i know. tho i dont know alot with her lol but i can tell you somethings that i do know

[yellowCOWARD]

Learn her sweep -> standing RH -> mixup game

a few i like:
1)MK srk, dash under, repeat from other side
2)MP reset, walk forward throw
3)MP reset, MK headstomp move, SA1
4)Mp reset, repeat sweep pattern

her best wakeup is EX srk with kick. Can lead to air chains or SA1 if stocked.

Also any chains into HCB+P are good for punishment with no stock.


Hope that helps a little.

[LEVA]

Also do not forget her normal Jabs [standing and crouching]
gives big advantage on block, kind of +5/6 frames which is A LOT, u had to whore this move to block enemy's movement and when they know that u go for a throw+wakeup game. Her dash is a nice ground crossup tool, so use this too when your opponent is on the floor to fuck him up. Ibuki chains do lots of stun and reasonable damage expecially if u connect the final blow with that grab and punch to the stomach [hcb+P if i remember correct].

[DevilJin 01]

Since I'm a big Ibuki player (pretty much my most used character next to Alex) I'll put down some tips as well.

As far as pokes you're going to need standing and crouching MK. s.MK is what is going to set up your big damage and will give you room basically to start rushing in and keep pokes off you. It comes out quickly and has decent priority so it's good to throw out after say a close s.JP or close c.LK to out prioritize their next poke and start a combo. It must be parried high so use it to mix up in the corner. This is going to be like Ken's c.MK for you for the exception that it doesn't hit low. Mainly because it is going to set up for a lot of the damage you perform in the fight. If you're not using s.MK with Ibuki, you might as well not use her at all.

Some good combos off s.MK include s.MK to hcb+HP. This will be the most important combo you use with Ibuki since it does good damage for just a 2 hit combo, knocks the opponent down and away, the hcb+P has good recovery if blocked, and it connects regardless of whether the opponent was standing or crouching. Especially in the corner it's great for starting mix up games on wake up since the opponent can't quick roll off the hcb+HP. You're pretty much free to jump on top of them once they hit the ground.

s.MK to qcb+MK is another good combo. Though this is where things get complicated. Mainly because there's different ways you have to set this up depending on how you hit the opponent with the initial s.MK. If you hit the opponent with this while they are in a standing position and you have bar for EX, go ahead with EX qcb+K as the follow up. Creates knockdown so you can set up for wake up. If you don't have bar either just continue doing the s.MK's to connect the repeated kicks...or if you're close enough go for hcb+P. This can be tricky at first but after a while you'll get the pattern down. It's all a matter of distance and looking at the way the s.MK connects.

If you connect s.MK on the opponent while they are crouching...then you'll more than likely have to change things up. You could just go for hcb+P since that will connect regardless of whether they are standing or crouching but, if you are too far away from them the hcb+P will whiff and you will get likely punished with a sweep, poke or combo. So then you have another option. Now that the opponent is crouching you can create a new combo that most no one utilizes on Live. You probably already know that with Ibuki's qcb+MK on the last hit you can hold down on the stick/dpad to do a sweep attack. The cool thing about all of this is that if you connect s.MK while they are crouching and then combo into the qcb+MK kicks...when you do the last sweep it will actually combo (a total of 4 hits between the s.MK and qcb+MK while holding down) and knock the opponent down! (no matter which character you are fighting against) As a beginning Ibuki player this will take a lot of practice to get down initially though once you learn to look out for whether the opponent was standing or crouching you'll be able to react accordingly.

You can combo into EX qcb+K on SOME crouching opponents. Not all. There are two things you have to consider here. Whether or not the opponent will get hit by the first hit of the EX qcb+K and whether or not they can receive the rest of the hits by hitting them high or low. On characters with extremely small crouch boxes like Oro, Chun Li and Elena, if you combo into EX qcb+K off of s.MK the first hit of the EX will not even touch them. Since you can't make the first hit of the EX hit low, it completely whiffs and you're free to be punished. On characters like Yun, Yang, Makoto etc. you won't be able to hit them with the entire EX unless you start to hold down after the first or second hit (preferably the second in most cases). Then there's the other characters where you don't have to adjust the height at all. Characters like shotos, Dudley Remy, big characters like Q, Alex, Hugo etc.

You can also connect qcf+LK after s.MK. You may wonder what use this would have seeing that it does nothing but dash Ibuki forward. Well, this actually works well since sometimes you may be afraid to throw an attack after s.MK since the opponent may block the s.MK So instead of dishing damage after the connected s.MK you end up right in their face ready to start a rush game. Throwing a s.LP or close s.HK to keep them from jumping in the air works well. Going up and throwing them works wonders too. This application is actually best used when the opponent blocks the s.MK so you can still be in their face even if they block it.

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Let's break it down into simple terms.

What you can connect after s.MK on a standing opponent.

s.MK to hcb+HP (doesn't work if s.MK connects from a distance, but has enough range to connect in a majority of situations, still is your most important combo so don't back down on it when given opportunity)

s.MK to qcb+MK (repeatedly hit K to continue combo for 4 hits, remember to stick to using MK version of qcb+K)

s.MK to EX qcb+K (good shit, does hella stun, nuff said LOL)

s.MK to qcf+LK (just a simple rush tactic, helps you stay in their face, works best if blocked so you can stay in their face and don't have to worry about whiffing or getting a combo blocked).

What you can connect after s.MK on a crouching opponent.

s.MK to hcb+HP (same as above)

s.MK to qcb+MK (now you have the ability to hold down during qcb+MK kicks and combo the last sweep of the special for a 4 hit combo, works on every character).

s.MK to EX qcb+K (character specific, does NOT work on characters with small crouch boxes like Oro, Chun Li etc., Makoto, Yun and Yang will only get hit by first two hits normally so you'll need adjust the last 2 or 3 hits to hit low so it will continue comboing, everyone else you can just let it rip).

s.MK to qcf+LK (same as above).

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c.MK is the other poke I was referring too. It's simply a good poke in that it hits low, has good range, and recovers fast. Use in poke strings like s.MK, c.MK/c.LK, c.LK, c.MK/s.JPx2, c.MK. Mix it up various ways so it doesn't get parried. You can't combo it into anything obviously but the poke itself is strong enough to have you use it a good amount during the fight. Just under s.MK.

s.JP is another good poke/rush tactic. Hits most crouching opponents so characters like shotos are forced to block it even while they are crouching. You get an enorumous frame advantage as mentioned (in Leva's post) on block so use it 2 or 3 times if they block while walking forward and then set up for s.MK when they think they have just enough space to throw a poke or try and throw you. Up close this also goes into Ibuki's many chain combos. Just watch out for Oro, Chun Li and Elena. They can crouch under this poke entirely. Twelve can walk forward under it too.

f+HK is a much overlooked poke for Ibuki. This one can be ducked under easily by most characters except for the big guys...but has extreme priority and covers a lot of range. Also has surprisingly good recovery for such a flashy and damaging normal. If the opponent gets hit by this their stun bar goes up the roof. Use this in the corner to keep the opponent from jumping in the air. Great at taking out standing pokes and random Urien tackles.

df+MK. Same as above as far as the lack of people that use this normal. It's not necessarily as much of a poke as it is just to be used as a way to get in on the opponent. You can't throw this around a lot or you will get it parried. If it's blocked from a distance it's not too bad and if it connects you get good frame advantage. The main deal with this is that it's a high priority low hitting move that goes under a lot of standing normals and goes under whack fireball/super fireball attempts. Use this on wake up to go under Denjin Hadoken if they don't time it right. Just don't get this move blocked while near the opponent or you will get hella punished. If Hugo blocks this up close you get 360'd and that's not good...

[DevilJin 01]

Hey. I'm trying to learn how to play as Ibuki, but I keep running into problems.

1) I seem to be extremely vulnerable to hadou whores
2) Sweeps tend to get me a bit too much
3) My chains often get punished by the simplest of tactics, ie a point blank hadouken or some shit

Now, I'm wondering, could someone help me out with learning how to play Ibuki, and what to do when? It seems to me like she's not a character meant for rushing or turtling, but rather a sort of evasive one who only strikes an opening. I just need some help, because the practice I do with moves and parrying offline doesn't seem to add up when I'm playing folks online. Thanks for the help if you can.

Let's put it this way...if you're not rushing with Ibuki, you'll be dead before you know it. Ibuki is a true rushdown oriented character. To win with her you must be the one dictating the flow of the fight. Thankfully Ibuki has many tools as far as mix up games to utilize in order to do that. The only time you'll want to be defensive with Ibuki is when your opponent is doing the rushing. Other than that you'll want to find a way to get in there and keep the match going in your favor. Cuz once you take too many hits, it's hard for Ibuki to come back. Ibuki's rush game allows her to be in the opponent's face for a long time without getting hit once you learn how to utilize it though. Ibuki just simply doesn't have the poking game to warrant running away or zoning all day with. If she had a real good air to air then yeah, that'd be no issue but...she doesn't so you gotta keep rushin.

[DevilJin 01]

Bumping this incase anyone else wants to learn from it.

[fire2ash]

Thx. I've been trying to use her with no success. I can't get in close enough for any of her chains, and she doesn't have anything that links off down mk :( Ill try and see if advice helps.

[T0ast0r]

Good shit dude, I'm going to practice with my poke and mixup tactics now, rather than playing hit and run.

[rewrew]

Yeah, nice posts DevilJin

[Anemis]

Good stuff DJ, I may even go pick her up myself now.

[DevilJin 01]

Yeah, I think the problem with a lot of people that use Ibuki is that they just don't know which of her normals are best for dealing damage with. They assume most of her game revolves around trying to get close enough to do her LP,MP,HP chains. If you watch Japanese vids it all circles around getting in that s.MK to whatever. The occasional opportunity for a chain does come up once in a while but not enough to use in a majority of situations.

Now I'll list some poke strings/anti-wake up games for Ibuki since Ibuki has so many ways of messing around with a downed opponent. You'll need to use these to mix the opponent up so you can set up for damage. s.MK although a big part of Ibuki's game won't win her the match alone.

Shit to use as poke strings OR just as your opponent is standing up from a knockdown.

c.LK, throw. This is a basic setup that works for a good amount of characters. It works nicely for Ibuki since Ibuki's c.LK doesn't space her out too far from the opponent. Gives her enough room to walk in and throw the opponent afterwards. Works well whether c.LK is blocked or connects.

c.LK, s.MK, to whatever the hell you want. This is good to mix up with the anti wake up above. Mainly because once the opponent thinks you'll do the one above again they'll try and tech the throw and end up getting a s.MK in the face and you can combo it into hcb+HP, qcb+MK (do the low hit at the end if they are crouching) EX qcb+MK...whatever works. Do s.MK to qcf+LK if they block s.MK to stay in their face. Remember if they block hcb+HP the recovery is in your favor so you wont have to worry about getting punished unless it's like SA3 Ken or sumptin.

c.LK, c.LK, c.MK. This one is another good one to mix up with since all the hits hit low. When the opponent has had enough of the first two you can mix this one in to get them when they try to block s.MK high or go for a tech. The c.MK will also give you enough space and frame advantage to keep them from rushing you too easily afterwards.

c.LK, f+HK. This one is good to use when the opponent is in the corner. This will keep them from jumping in the air as they will most likely try to do in the corner. Connecting the f+HK will raise the stun bar a shitload and if it's blocked you won't really have to worry about being punished. If it connects you'll also have the opponent back on the ground if they jumped in the air or a good frame advantage to start another rush if it connects.

s.LP, s.LP, s.MK to whatever. Another good setup. If you get the s.MK to connect combo into whatever the hell you want. If s.MK gets blocked go for qcf+LK to stay in their face. As long as you don't get the s.MK parried you're fine. Just remember that certain characters can crouch under your s.LP so be careful who you use this string against.

f+MK to whatever. This is another good setup on wake up. Ibuki's f+MK is one of the trickiest overheads to block in the game since it comes out quickly and has awesome range for an overhead. Make sure you have a bit of distance between you and the opponent before you do this. I would recommend trying to connect one or two c.LK's before you do this so you won't accidentally jump over the opponent's body on wake up. Some setups you can use after the f+MK include c.MK/c.LK,c.MK and c.LK to qcf+LK. The last one can be used to get right in the opponent's face and start a jab rush game or throw them. If you know how to TK (tiger knee) SA1 (Kasumi Suzaku) then that would be a good follow up after the f+MK or c.LK as well.

Dash crossup to whatever. It's about as simple as it sounds but setting it up is harder than it sounds. Mainly because you'll need to watch for whether the opponent is going to quick roll on wake up before you decide to do this one. You must be careful against shotos cuz they'll be looking to dragon punch you out of this one if you do it too often. As just a compliment to a rush game you'll probably want to do a quick poke string like c.LK/c.LKx2 or a couple jabs before doing the dash to cross them up. This way you'll land right next to them on the other side rathter than a good distance away from them without room to set up anything.

Using this in a poke string requires very specific timing and you must be sure your opponent is clearly in a defensive state of mind before you use this one. If they've been trying to poke you/dragon punch you out of your strings for the past 5 rushes...don't do this. You'll end up getting poked/DP'd on the other side. Stick to using it on wake up instead so you can block an attempted DP. If you do get this mix up to work, use s.MK into whatever or start another poke string or throw them. TK'd SA1 is nice in this situation as well.

Jump in deep LP kunai (qcf+P in the air) to whatever. This is another strong tactic. Mainly because if you connect the kunai deep enough while they're crouching you can combo into s.MK to whatever or start a chain combo. If this gets blocked you'll have the advantage to start a rush game as well. Just make sure you do it as deep as possible. If you activate the kunai too early you will get hella punished on the way down. You'll more than likely only be able to combo afterwards if the opponent is getting up on wake up. Mainly because the opponent needs to be crouching in order for this to combo. Otherwise just set up for another rush game.

Jump in cross up EX kunai to LP,MP,HP chain combo. This is another strong cross up. Not all that great if they're crouching but if they're standing and you get on the other side of the opponent you can mess people up with this one. This is a good alternative to her j.MK as a cross up since it covers a bit more range and stuns the opponent longer. Don't worry about jumping in real deep with this one since the stun from the cross up gives you enough time to start a LP,MP,HP chain combo. If it gets blocked then just set up your rush on the other side. You won't be able to combo s.MK after this so if you do use s.MK expect it to be blocked and follow it up with a qcf+LK to rush.

Jump in deep j.MK OR j.HP, s.LK, s.MK to whatever. This is another nice jump in setup and is a full combo that does some decent damage. After the jump in you can follow up with qcb+MK, EX qcb+MK, hcb+HP, whatever the hell you want. Just know that you'll want the j.MK to connect. j.MK has crap frame advantage on block so don't use this setup too often especially against characters who can punish you easy like Hugo. He'll 360 you outta this one so fast if you don't connect that j.MK extra deep. Go for j.HP against people that can take advantage of a not so deep j.MK.

[eiSH]

In SBO2 I think it was, I saw Shao (I think that's his name?) spam like 3 standing Jabs in a row -I love standing jabs and I'll spam that shit all day if the other guy is just turtling :devil: The way I play Ibuki is to rush like there's no tomorrow using all of her normal chains to build meter to eventually do the ex dp+k move and chain free hits from there that give them like half stun bar :devil: :devil: :devil: Mix-up is fine and I'm learning those slowly, but man, rushing is so fast with Ibuki I'm loving it :tup:

Um, by the way, while spamming standing jabs (and moving forward of course) there's so many things you could do here =) Like dash forward to grab, ex bdp k move xx super, forward roundhouse, forward mk... :drool: I'm so in love with Ibuki at the moment...

Edit: Props to the people who already stated what I wrote =P