Thunderbolt!

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
#1

Now, I know this move is craptacular and nobody uses it except for newbies who haven’t fully realized the consequences of using such a move and missing OR those who are very stubborn like myself that love to land this attack. The only times I’ve seen people use this attack seem to be at the start of a round just for kicks but yeah, we all know what happens because it’s so easy to read. So, exactly how do you use such a move?

The most reliable way I’ve managed to land it on someone is after . . . Rolling Thunder. It’s not such a wise tactic but I often use the ex version for chip to finish someone off but you have to learn very quick how much you do because I’ve lost a match or two by not realizing how much it really did. Now, the useful way of using thunderbolt after U1 is either switching between short and forward version. Short goes in front while forward goes behind which has tagged quite a few people. Thunderbolt is also FADC . . able so it can be used in a safer manner but it is very expensive. In fact, some moves can hit you even if you FADC out of it like ultra’s which really suck.

Some of you might have already seen thunderbolt working on Blanka’s ultra 2. Ex works from mid screen to full screen distance even if Blanka uses anti-air version. Are there are any more uses for this strange move?

#2

I saw a video of someone getting out of Breathless with Thunderbolt when they didn’t have Ultra 1 charged up.

#3

It’s useless most of the time, I used yesterday trying to get a chip damage victory, but it hit instead of getting blocked and whiffed after like 3 hits, and those hits weren’t enough to kill a balrog with like 5% hp…

But there are some uses for it:

on reflex you can punish dhalsim yoga fire
you can use on blanka ultra 2
you can escape from breathless a backdash of range (tho you won’t recover on time from a punish, just escape) works if abel just holds the ultra, but if he throws it right away hk ssb is better

taking that out its useless, it won’t pursue, it will whiff even when it hits, bad move…

#4

Thunderbolt is god like.
Good Chip damage ( lol 200 damage if they dont block) and a good escape vs meaty grounded attacks or when cornered.

Dudley has no useless move.

Games only been out for about 5 months.

#5

Yeah, I’ve only seen thunderbolt used for two purposes:

  1. Chip Damage

  2. If the opponent is in the corner, you can use it as a cross-up, or not, to make them guess.

#6

Dont spread false information, thunderbolt is not godlike is a shitty useless move that should be used once in every 50 matches for chip/crossup purpose and even then it still sucks (just like ssb if you whonder)

#7

You’re only saying that because Marn says the same thing about ssb and thunderbolt.
When the situation arrives, you’ll use it.
It’s the kind of move you only fall for once every tourney.

lol @ “shitty useless move” What’s next? Dan being a better character than Sakura? k
Games only been out for 5 months. Just wait

#8

Well, I think it may be a bit premature to call it “Godlike”, i do agree that it’s not completely useless.

It’s true that the game has only been out for a few months, and we have still only discovered a small piece of what each new character is capable of

#9

Let’s define useless:

Yep, pretty much sums it up.

If it’s only use it to catch people off guard, then it’s useless. I can Ex MGB you from full screen to catch you off guard, but that doesn’t mean it’s not stupid/pointless to do. The same logic can be applied for thunderbolt.

#10

its a decent enough move. just be prepared to focus out of it if you miss completely lol

#11

Can get hit out of it going up, and hit out of it striking down. Only ever use the ex version randomly just cause it comes out quicker and hits harder, but the only time it works, like people have said, is when the other person isn’t expecting it. Pretty much means i throw it out once every ranked match cause the scrubby ken can’t comprehend what’s happening =P

Will never use it in a tourney though…

#12

lk. SSB is a pretty good mixup during your frametrap/blockstring if your opponent is mashing through your standing rh xx lk. duck > grab attempts. Gets them scared to press buttons and allows you to punish certain crouch techs.

The only good use for thunderbolt is for punishing yoga fire. Actually just tried this in a match and it didn’t even work too great.

#13

how do you punish yoga fire with it? and why only yoga fire why not other fireballs? i can never do it on reaction, do you have to be charging before they do yoga fire?

#14

I didn’t pull it off at all. Should be possible given the frame data.

#15

Setting up the thunderbolt in the corner is a no go I find because I think your opponent can block it the same way regardless. I’m not 100% sure but I’ll have to try it out tomorrow. Are there any other setups that position you in such a way you can land a thunderbolt in an ambiguous way? Maybe after a crouching roundhouse or something who knows. Be interesting to see where this leads us.

#16

I kind of like using it lately thanks to it being a decently reliable cross up. I particularly like using against Rog players that are turtling. However, I still generally consider it a terrible move. I think the hitbox is too narrow, so judging the distance to crossup on the fly can be difficult and you can whiff it entirely when you are practically on top of them. Also, I hate that you can land the move, but if you don’t land all the hits, you don’t get the knockdown and can be punished badly.

I feel like if they changed the hitbox on the last hit, which looks pretty explosive to me, to a much bigger hitbox, then it would be an amazing move. Something akin to Viper’s Seismo’s or Bison’s U2. (obviously the ultra’s explosion is massive, I’m not saying it should be that huge.)

I also kind of like FADCing it to bait out certain punishable moves. But that is still not that great an option.

#17

I always thought you had to make contact at least in order to focus out of it. Maybe I should go check that out. Could be fun to dash up to them and overhead or something. Does anyone know of any other uses? I had a match where I threw out a short version and my opponent ended up jumping at me later than they wanted to and ate a air counter. Maybe it has its uses to throw off certain people’s timing who knows.

#18

Oakay, after some minor research there’s two easy ways to set up a mixup thunderbolt. After a jab jet upper you can do a forward thunderbolt. The other way is use a crouching roundhouse, short or medium distance special dash to straight punch. You’ll have to use a roundhouse version of the thunderbolt if you want to tag them from the other side. Neato! Can’t wait to use these on suckers mwaha_^)

#19

I. never use this. The risks involved just aren’t worth it.

#20

I’ve come across different attitudes in Street Fighter. Certain people play to win while others just love to goof around. It’s a spectrum but I think this move is currently for people who like to be flashy. Definitely not for the calculating player but I think there’s some benefit in knowing how to throw here it here and there.