Ken is strong because of his ability to confirm SA3 easily and because his SA3 can reversal many moves after block.
Don't dash when in Ken's Cr. MK zone, unless he whiffed a move and you would be able to dash without getting hit by his Cr. MK. If you see that his c.MK whiffed punish it with your Cr. MK x SA1 or 3, or Cr. HK if he's not in range for your Cr. MK.
Ken's ability to hit confirm SA3 is one of things that makes him excellent character. He will do a mix-up of throws and Cl. MP-HP x SA3 hit confirm on your wake-up. There is really no way to get out of this situation safely, you're just gonna have to predict his move. However, if you are in corner try to get out from there as soon as possible. If Ken tries to punish you in air with EX Tatsumaki it's easy to parry it, just learn the timing. When you parry Ken's move remember that he can cancel it into SRK or SA3 and counter punish. Sean can do the same thing (w/meter). Remember that Ken's standing MP is not cancel-able and it is safe to punish after parry.
After Ken's SA3, he can try Super jump for a possible crossover. This is a unpredictable setup, but the way for you to guess will it be crossover or not is to watch him when he lands on ground after SA3. If he walked slightly forward it will probably be crossover, if not, he can't crossover.
Ken's taunt after SA3 in corner gives him perfect timing and range for UOH, SA3. Watch out for that.
Recommended Super: All 3 are good. SA1 and 3 are more effective than SA2 though since those combo off max range Cr. MK but SA2 can bail Sean out when stocked.
Hadou Burst - Consistent damage and to punish some of his moves.
Shoryu Cannon - To anti-air and deal with cross-ups, deal damage, and apply pressure in the corner
Hyper Tornado - To punish his important pokes and damage.
Normals that can be Tackled:
Standing HK
Crouching HK (can be EX Tackled)
Crouching HP
Towards MK
Important Normals:
Standing Forward - Beats out Crouching Forwards while moving Sean forward. Can't be reversal'd by Shippu on block.
Far Fierce - Safe on block until he gets meter.
Hit-Confirm Normals like Cr. MK/MP, Cl. HK, etc.
Essentially this match-up is how well you can out-ken Ken. Wheel Kicks are a bad idea even without meter since he can just SRK you out of them (though sometimes they will trade in your favor) and EX Tornados HAVE to hit or he can just DP you on block or worse. He can dominate Sean in neutral and on wake-up and to top it off, parrying his cancel-able normals like Cl. HP could lead to eating a DP if you tried to retaliate.
At a distance, His main buttons to worry about are:
If he SA3's on block, Red Parry the 2nd and 3rd hit and do J. HP x Cl. HK x Super/EX Tatsu
Ken's punishable moves:
Dealing with EX Hadou:
Sean has a few options to deal with EX Hadou should Ken cancel into it (that require meter mostly). Up close, if he cancels into it from TC, Sean can EX Dragon Smash, Shoryu Cannon or Hyper Tornado. From max distance Cr. MK x EX Hadou (where it will still combo), He can Zenten (on red parry), Shoryu Cannon or Hyper Tornado (but its risky and has to be timed properly).
Should Ken do Target Combo x Normal Hadou and Sean parries, he can do either LP/MP Dragon Smash, Crouching Forward or Sweep.
Always block Ken's Target Combo crouching since it makes it easier to blue parry the first hit of EX Hadou. In fact, you don't even have to blue parry, if you have meter or SA2/3 stocked you can just raw super or EX Dragon Smash and punish him for it.
Punishing his DP's:
If you red parry the HP of his target combo, press back for a split second (to block in case he tries cancelling into DP), then attack (you are in range for Cl. HK).
Once Ken has 1.5 bars of meter, everything Sean does becomes punish-able with SA3. Before then, you can get away with whatever the Ken will let you get away with but once super is in play, smarten up.
If you block an EX Shoryuken, its a free jump-in combo (into DP, EX Tornado or super)
The spacing to stand at in neutral is right outside of Cr. MK range; that way to catch all of his long reaching normals (Cr. MK, Sweep, St. HK) and counter poke punish
Ken has to be careful up close cause you have a Kara back-throw at your disposal just like he does only yours is stronger than his. Don't forget about this tool in the midst of things.
MP Dragon is the DP of choice in this MU; Dashing forward twice gives you the meatiest Cl. HK possible among other possible meaty oki options.
Options post-forward Throw:
- Kara HK UOH
- Cr. MK
- Sweep
Options post-LP Dragon Smash:
(Dash forward, whiff Cl.HK)
- Walk back UOH x St. MK (if crouching) or super
- Cr. MK
- Sweep
Ken Cr. MK can be punished with SA3 in this match-up as long as you're in range for it (a blocked Cr. LK x2 or Cr. MP up close puts you at that maximum range)
Ken's taunt after SA3 in corner gives him perfect timing and range for UOH, SA3. Watch out for that.
Recommended Super: All 3 are good. SA1 and 3 are more effective than SA2 though since those combo off max range Cr. MK but SA2 can bail Sean out when stocked.
Hadou Burst - Consistent damage and to punish some of his moves.
Shoryu Cannon - To anti-air and deal with cross-ups, deal damage, and apply pressure in the corner
Hyper Tornado - To punish his important pokes and damage.
Normals that can be Tackled:
Standing HK
Crouching HK (can be EX Tackled)
Crouching HP
Towards MK
Important Normals:
Standing Forward - Beats out Crouching Forwards while moving Sean forward. Can't be reversal'd by Shippu on block.
Far Fierce - Safe on block until he gets meter.
Hit-Confirm Normals like Cr. MK/MP, Cl. HK, etc.
General Knowledge
Essentially this match-up is how well you can out-ken Ken. Wheel Kicks are a bad idea even without meter since he can just SRK you out of them (though sometimes they will trade in your favor) and EX Tornados HAVE to hit or he can just DP you on block or worse. He can dominate Sean in neutral and on wake-up and to top it off, parrying his cancel-able normals like Cl. HP could lead to eating a DP if you tried to retaliate.
At a distance, His main buttons to worry about are:
- Standing Roundhouse
- Crouching Roundhouse
- Crouching Forward
If he SA3's on block, Red Parry the 2nd and 3rd hit and do J. HP x Cl. HK x Super/EX Tatsu
Sean's punishable moves:
- Cl. HP - Punishable with SA3 only.
- Cr. HP - Very slow recovery move, Ken can even punish it with Cr. MK x SA3. It's advised not to use this too often.
- Far HP - Punishable with SA3 only.
- Cr. MK - Punishable with SA3 within a 2 frame window
- Far HK - Punishable on block and you can't cancel it into other moves. Though if done at max range, due to its massive push-back, its un-punishable on block.
- Cr. HK/Towards HK - Depending on what range was Sean's Cr. HK blocked, Ken can punish it with Cr. MK x SA3 or c.HK. When he's not in range for Cr. MK or Cr. HK, Ken can punish it SA3.
- Towards HP - Punishable with SA3 only on hit or block standing.
Ken's punishable moves:
- St. HK - Punishable with SA3 (up close)
- Cr. HP - Can be punished with Cr. MK x SA3
- Far HP - Punishable with SA3 only
- Cr. MK - Punishable but only up close with SA3
- Cr. HK - Depending on range, its punishable by either Cr. MK x SA1 or 3/ Cr. HK
- St. MK - Punishable by LP Dragon Smash (on reversal) and all supers
- Towards MK - Punishable by all supers
Esoteric Knowledge
Dealing with EX Hadou:
Sean has a few options to deal with EX Hadou should Ken cancel into it (that require meter mostly). Up close, if he cancels into it from TC, Sean can EX Dragon Smash, Shoryu Cannon or Hyper Tornado. From max distance Cr. MK x EX Hadou (where it will still combo), He can Zenten (on red parry), Shoryu Cannon or Hyper Tornado (but its risky and has to be timed properly).
Should Ken do Target Combo x Normal Hadou and Sean parries, he can do either LP/MP Dragon Smash, Crouching Forward or Sweep.
Always block Ken's Target Combo crouching since it makes it easier to blue parry the first hit of EX Hadou. In fact, you don't even have to blue parry, if you have meter or SA2/3 stocked you can just raw super or EX Dragon Smash and punish him for it.
Punishing his DP's:
- MP SRK - Forward Blue Parry x 2/ Red Parry x 1 then Jump Forward HP x Cl. MP x HP Dragon Smash
- HP SRK - Down Blue Parry x 3/ Red Parry x 2 then Jump Forward HP x Cl. MP x HP Dragon Smash
- EX SRK - Down Blue Parry x 3/ Red Parry x 2 then Jump Forward HP x Cl. MP x HP Dragon Smash
If you red parry the HP of his target combo, press back for a split second (to block in case he tries cancelling into DP), then attack (you are in range for Cl. HK).
Once Ken has 1.5 bars of meter, everything Sean does becomes punish-able with SA3. Before then, you can get away with whatever the Ken will let you get away with but once super is in play, smarten up.
If you block an EX Shoryuken, its a free jump-in combo (into DP, EX Tornado or super)
The spacing to stand at in neutral is right outside of Cr. MK range; that way to catch all of his long reaching normals (Cr. MK, Sweep, St. HK) and counter poke punish
Ken has to be careful up close cause you have a Kara back-throw at your disposal just like he does only yours is stronger than his. Don't forget about this tool in the midst of things.
MP Dragon is the DP of choice in this MU; Dashing forward twice gives you the meatiest Cl. HK possible among other possible meaty oki options.
Options post-forward Throw:
- Kara HK UOH
- Cr. MK
- Sweep
Options post-LP Dragon Smash:
(Dash forward, whiff Cl.HK)
- Walk back UOH x St. MK (if crouching) or super
- Cr. MK
- Sweep
Ken Cr. MK can be punished with SA3 in this match-up as long as you're in range for it (a blocked Cr. LK x2 or Cr. MP up close puts you at that maximum range)
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