Dhalsim as a grappler/zoner counterpick

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
#1

In general I feel like it’s a good idea to stick with one main as my only serious character, but my main (Balrog) has significant issues with grapplers and zoners.

My question is, would it make sense to pick up Dhalsim solely as a counterpick to these types of characters?

I’m considering this because it seems like the strategies involved with these specific matchups revolve around only a few moves, thus I’m assuming I wouldn’t need to make as large as of a time investment to fill in those gaps as I would with a different character.

This would only be for serious tournament play, I’d stick to Balrog for most casual matches.

#2

You could, but Sim is hard to learn IMHO.
Sim also has some problem with some grapplers (Abel in primis).
Why don’t you try Guile instead?

#3

You know, the more I think about it Guile makes a lot of sense. He has very similar execution to Balrog and would also provide a much better matchup against Bison and Chun.

#4

Sim goes even with Gief and, IMO (and a few others), loses to Hawk. Don’t even get me started on Elf, Abel, and Makoto.

#5

What? Sim destroys Gief and Hawk.

#6

I think the matches are in Sim’s favor, but the opinions on these match ups are split. “Destroys” however is not true. If Dhalsim makes one or two bad guesses during matches, it could be over.

#7

IMO, Hawk beats Sim because of trades and his 50-50 jump-ins with meter. Trades happen a lot in this MU, and it’s always in Hawk’s favor because of damage/health ratio. A lot of Hawk’s jumping normals will trade or beat Sim’s jumping normals. Condor dive beats anti-air ground normals and ex-condor dive beats yoga blast. What this means is that when Hawk takes to the air, he has the advantage. He can roll his options of either: empty jump; jump and attack trying to trade with air to air (If it whiffs you can gain ground); delayed condor dive to beat far anti-air normals like st.mk and st.hk; ex condor dive to beat projectiles like yoga fire and yoga blast. All the while pushing Sim to the corner.

He can fadc through limbs well. So he doesn’t have to rely on being in the air to get in. Plus when he is in close, he’s even scarier than Gief because of his DP. Hawk really just has to roll the dice, guess right once or twice and then just sit on the life lead. Sim cannot open him up at all.

According to this vid, Japan thinks it’s in Hawk’s favor too. Go to 8:09 [media=youtube]z4fJGU8-gz8[/media]

#8

It seems a paradox with me.

If you see Hawk jumping, just do an instant neutral j.mp, and you will win every T.Hawk options. He cannot do any condor dive, because you will hit him before he can cancel the jump. If he guesses a condor dive and you block, you can do U2 on reaction for free.

#9

The T.Hawk Dhalsim matchup has definitely gotten MUCH easier for Hawk since Super. As of right now it’s really debatable who is the more dominant character in this matchup. I have a good amount of experience in this matchup as a T.Hawk player so I’ll give my two-cents -

T.Hawk: One of the things that works nicely in Hawk’s favor in this matchup is the fact that all trades with Sim’s limbs trades in Hawk’s favor. It takes a lot of effort from a Sim player to kill Hawk because Sim (in most cases) is only able to inflict damage from single hits which does low damage in contrast to Hawk’s high health. On the other hand, all Hawk really needs are a few knockdowns/chances to get in Sim’s face and that’s all Hawk needs to win this matchup. Hawk can end the matchup quickly by capitalizing on a few opportunities while Sim has to play the waiting game and let the match drag on.

Dhalsim: Hawk struggles against many projectile characters and Dhalsim is no exception. Dhalsim can limit Hawk in ways that many other projectile characters can’t. Every Condor Dive including EX are all punishable on block. Because Sim has such great reach he can also limit Hawk’s meter building in ways that no other characters can. The two safest ways for Hawk to build meter is to do a whiffed Condor Spire or Mexican Typhoon. Because Sim is always within reach he can easily poke Hawk on reaction to him doing these moves. If Hawk can’t build the meter it’ll become harder for him to get in on Sim.

So yeah, it’s hard to say. I believe this matchup has the potential to be an even 5/5 but honestly I don’t think Hawk truly and genuinely has enough to have the advantage against Sim. Hawk can end the match quickly with a few opportunities but Sim can keep Hawk out and make it tough for him to get in. I strongly believe this matchup boils down to patience. Whoever can exercise the most patience is the more likely to win.

#10

Hakan owns Sim.