Turtlers, what are your tactics?

Newbie Saikyo Dojo
#1

Strange enough using the search function didn’t get me an anti-turtlers help topic.
I just wanted to know what you guys do against turtlers. I know there are lots of kinds but let’s say there’s a Ryu/Ken waiting at the end of the level doing light punches and/or blocking while crouching. Of course he’s waiting to do a DP on you.
Perhaps he’s even doing some hadoukens on a safe distance.

Let’s say this takes place while you have half of your life and he got 90%
What dou you guys do? In general or otherwise with characters you main.
Can be in SFIV but also other fighting games. Although I think most turtlers can be found in SFIV these days.

I always like to land an overhead attack but most turtlers are waiting for this to land their dragon punch (etc).
As a Vega player I tried to use :df::mk: or lure them into dp’s.
Without projectiles it’s kinda hard. Well, what’s your advice or personal strategies?

#2

Just use whatever strategy works for you to get in. May it be focusing the fireballs, using your character specific anti projectile move, or simply jumping them. Then once you’re in, just use your pokes and bait the DP. Use stuff like cross-ups on his wakeup and other stuff that will get him out of a flowchart and make him panic a little. Basically you just want to put pressure on him to make him do something drastic, then punish it.

#3

Ok, well here is what I do.

  1. poke the fuck out of him. Most turtles will try to punish that shit, which is almost not possible. So punish that punish attempt. If they continue to block, tick throws are gdlk. Definately gets a knockdown and you can do mix-ups afterwards.

  2. mix-ups- do low attacks, overheads, cross-ups, and grabs to make him crack. Don’t do overheads all the time, because it gets so noticeable after a couple times. When a guy DP’s from wakeup constantly, there is a big gigantic sign that says “FFRRRRAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY” on him, so continue to punish his flowchart ass.

  3. Vega Shit- Wall dives are great for luring in DP’s. Learn how to control them so you can use them to your advantage

#4

Bait out specials and punish accordingly. 99% of turtles are idiots and will try to hit you on any whiffed move from any distance closer than mid screen.

#5

I love rushing down turtlers, getting in then hittin um with block strings and waiting for the inevitable reversal. I would reccomend NOT throwing out your overheads or moves that dont combo when they seem to be reversal mashers, because then youll only get hit. just get in, do a safe combo, then sit and block that uppercut, and punish with a big combo to make them regret that. Of course if they really ARE turtles, and only block, then ill just throw them. If they get wise to teching grabs, thats when you throw your own uppercut instead of a grab. When they go for the tech, theyll get uppercutted. Fadc your dragon punch to add more damage or get away safe in case you guess wrong. this is the basic strategy against bad turtles.

Good turtles, you need to have really solid footsies, and just work on making them slip up. Its the same basic idea in concept, just a lot harder in practice haha.

#6

I’m an admitted turtler :smiley: I turtle with every character in the game. Basically when I lose its usually people who will do very calculated neutral jumps and stuff and I’ll whiff a grab. The better defensive players really won’t be spamming out DP’s, FK’s or anything like that so relying on them to whiff a special doesn’t seem like the best plan. Improve your block strings, don’t get thrown into corners… stuff like that is what messes me up.

Oh and how can i forget… don’t jump!! It took me forever to learn this but one day someone commented on how if i didn’t jump so much with hugo i would win a lot more games… Jumping is one of the worst habits and easiest ways to get fucked up quick.

#7

^^^ Oh yeah, neutral jumps are definantly your friend. Its like a second overhead, that leads to big combos.

Yeah, dont jump, unless its a cross up on their wake up or a neutral jump up close.

#8

Solid block strings is something I seriously lack I guess…
Thanks guys this is really helpful and it gives me some inspiration!:karate:

#9

Turtle yourself

#10

kara throws, tick throws from block strings, use safe moves and good baiting always beats a turtle

#11

It’s not really turtling if they have a 40% life lead on you, that’s just smart play. Especially if they see that you get flustered and charge in.

You’ve got to push them into the corner, if they back up and give up space then you need to take it and keep it. Once they’re in the corner their options for running are limited, try to keep them there.

For Vega he has some awesome pokes to control space and his cosmic heel is great for moving in because people may try to punish it on whiff or if they poke at it, it’ll usually beat them and you’ll get cosmic heel -> HK scarlet terror. That gives you some really nice damage and possibly even an untechable knockdown, I don’t remember.

Also if you haven’t done so check out the footsies handbook, tricking people into making a mistake is essential in a situation like this.