Balrog = Black Jesus?

balrog
#1

Maybe not. But I call him that. After thousands of matches and dozens of characters, I tried 'Rog 2 weeks ago (for the first time) and something immediately clicked. I find myself taking down opponents of much higher skill levels than I ever used to be able to contend with, and I just feel very comfortable with his playstyle. Plus, he’s one of the scarier characters in the game, and I fucking love it. :cool:

I’ve finally found my character. I know there’s hard work ahead to get good, and I’m willing to go through the process (learning matchups, fine-tuning my links, etc) to become competitive. ** My question to you guys is: ** At high level play, are there any habits you have, that you wish you hadn’t formed early on? And what should I focus my time in training on? I already win a good amount of the time (like I said, I am still in the beginner circles) with the few combinations/links I use, but good advice now could pay dividends in the future.

I tend to use pressure chains (crouching jabs, Jab Striaight Dash, standing Fierce at range) to get my opponent in a position to make a mistake, then punish them. I am also realizing how awesome a meaty jumping roundhouse is to use on certain wakeup opponents.

What do you guys think?

#2

Congrats, you realize what everyone else has. Balrog is an easy mode character at the beginning but the more you play him the more you realize he lacks the tools to be truly competitive. =(

Bad habits?
TO MUCH HEADBUTTING

#3

:amazed: Someone actually replied!

Yeah… but isn’t that debatable? I think he’s got some great tools. And if you have the mindset of only playing characters who have a good chance at huge tournaments, what are you left with, 4 characters?

I may never win a tournament, but I’m glad I found a character, finally, who has a playstyle that suits me. That’s good enough for me. :slight_smile:

Headbutting? I hear you. It’s highly punishable.

#4

Lol, Balrog is definitely competitive at high level. I just think he generally attracts lazy players because of how easy he is to play. It’s the same phenomenon we saw with Sagats in the US (not to say Sagat is easy to play, people played him because of his tier status).

#5

I find Balrog effective at low to mid level play but not so much at high level play. This is why I’m having a character identity crisis right now, I actually made a thread about it:

http://shoryuken.com/f251/balrog-epiphany-245740/

Although I’m not trying to discourage you from playing him though.

#6

I fucking love this thread

#7

I’m not saying don’t play Balrog, he is a really good character…just not the top tier beast he is assumed to be.
Also don’t fall into the trap of thinking of the best because you score easy wins now, hes god tier low to mid like cornertrap said, but higher level of play exploits his weaknesses.

For the record, I know this and I still play Rog, he’s a solid character still./

#8

some bad habits i got is

  • getting fustrated by people who cross up on me so i tend to try and do “something” on wakeup then get punished for it
  • guess headbutting
  • abuse overhead too much and always use it with EX =\

Rog is a great character and he can be competetive at high level of play as jwong proved but i guess that applies to all characters.

Since boxers dont kick, there is no cross up guessing game makes it a straight forward to play against. I guess what everyone is doing is looking at what he doesnt have, look at what he does have, you could win on his normals alone if you play smart.

#9

I disagree. He didn’t attract me because he’s easy to play… and I believe Ken and Ryu are easier to flowchart and spamplay at low levels to mid levels. And truthfully, I rarely run into Balrogs online. And I’m still in the lower tiers with him (around 1400 PP right now).

#10

I ran into the same thing with Guy. He was my previous main, the character I spent hours in training-mode everyday trying to make “work” at mid-level play. I really found that it was just his playstyle that didn’t click with me. I tried hard to make it work (hours in training mode a day, at times), but I truly believe 'Rog is for me. Black Jesus FTW.

#11

I do alot of those things. :blush: I find myself headbutting to counter crossups (we both miss each other and neither gets hit, but it prevents people from spamming it).

#12

No, ya dumb fucka.

#13

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha… shit is too funny.

#14

A lot of characters can punish a counter cross up headbutt. Even intermediate players will safejump it. FADC backdash works better, blocking works the best. If they’re crossing you up constantly without knocking you down (a cross up into block string into another cross up) just jump back fierce that bitch

#15

Ive also noticed that i used to never use focus unless it was for soaking projectiles since rogs focus isnt very useful but lately ive been playing cody a bit and he has a great focus. Ive started to unconciously use focus with rog when getting crossed up and ill crumple them then they eat a meaty combo or raw ultra.

Im not sure if many rog players who dont play other characters found the same bad habit as me, even though his focus sucks, dont forget its in your arsenal.

#16

I use Rog’s FA quite often. Balrog is a great character but he does have his limitations. As far as calling him Black Jesus though… I think thats retarded.

#17

I’ll try that. Get alot of people who try that cross up blockstring over and over, gotta put a stop to that.

#18

Vega is the spanish jesus.

#19

The best way to do that is good footsies so you don’t get knocked down period. But I feel EX Rush is a way better option for beating crossovers.

#20

standing roundhouse is better then standing fierce cause roundhouse comes out quicker. even tho fierce has longer range its slower. id stick to roundhouse.

hmmm habits i have are doing a jumping attack 2 cr jabs then standing roundhouse hoping to frametrap someone whos using the os tech but not everyone uses it or even knows what it is. but now i do 2 cr jabs take a step back cr strong xx jab dash straight