Robotic (cheap) Sarah Playing Style to get through Kumite

Here is a guide that may or may not improve your gameplay against human opponents but works against Kumite Opponents so you can get your costumes, items, spheres....blah blah blah. Would help you newbies a lot. Season players hoping to deck your Sarah with regalia may apply /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

3 Standard Operatiing Procedures

1. Opening move
DC! DC! DC! Follow up with any DC follow-up combo to inflict damage. 95% of the time, the CPU Kumite opponents fall for an opening DC. When you are at the ankle high water stage, you are in luck! Apply DC > df+P,K > PPPx for maximum damage. Using the one ending with the rising knee is desirable. They will hit the wall so will be unable to TR or QR. POUNCE!

2. u+K+G or f+K+G and b+P+G
When it hits light to mid weights on MC, follow on with DC > b+K > d+K+G. On mC and heavies, b+K > d+K+G. When blocked, d+P and throw. b+P+G comes to mind. You should have pushed them near the ring edge after the DC opener. You may force an RO for a quick victory. Besides, buffer in a pounce when Sarah is finishes the b+P+G throw. 90% of Kumite opponents do not get up in time. It makes the b+P+G throw the most effective against Kumite opponents for damage. When b+P+G is used too often, Kumite opponents will start escaping, apply P+G. You don't get a pounce though

3. Continuous df+P,Ks
Cheap but effective. Just keep doing it until they RO or mix in a P,d+K. If it staggers, f+P,K and combo with b+K, d+K+G. If the punch-side kick fails to connect, df+P,K ad nauseum.....

Against Lions
Higher level Lions like the 2-handed swipe for a back exposure to do the TT low kick. Once you block the swipe, do a Round Kick. Follow on with your combos. Even if he evades, the Round Kick will catch him. There are many occasions Lions will favor low attacks. Spot these to use the round kicks.

Against Leis
Play the machi waiting game. Play Lei a little to know when you can safely plunge in for an attack. Forget throwing. A quick kickflilp is great. Evade! Evade! Evade! If in an open ring, his incessant comboing will lead him straight out. I know people have most problems with Lei. You have to be patient.

Against Wolfs and Jeffrys
Make sure you peck them hard. Your punches are faster. Apply df+P,K of death. Jeffry is very vulnerable after his Starfleet Maneuvers to any kind of throw. Practice your Fallen Angel here /versus/images/icons/smile.gif uh, don't forget the boot to the head.

Against Akiras and Aois
Akiras can reverse you but for some strange reason, they don't reverse the df+P,K of death. Ditto for Aois. Opening DC does not work very well for Akiras for some reason. The df+P,K will not hit. So go for b+K > d+K+G.

Against the Chans
Chans like to go for big moves. If you TR, you can get caught in the sweep of the PPPx combos. Duck for throws and DC. Again, you can try the chop-kick of death. Hell, you can apply it to everyone for all I care /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

Against Jackys
Your brother may give you the most problems. Don't think his back turned means an easy kill. His got mucho stuff with his back turned. As usual, apply the SOP on him if you feel cheap.

Against Sarahs
Kumite Sarahs try very hard in FL attacks. Most often trying to land the awesome FL throws. This might seem stupid but it is wise advice. Even against human Sarahs. Duck when Sarah is in the FL mode. Her mid level moves in FL are rather weak apart from the kickflip. Again, you can apply the SOP. Forget landing your own FL throws. DC a Kumite Sarah in FL mode always! She is not defending, she can only P or df+P to exit. A DC will duck any of these. Don't try PPPx combos. Kumite Sarahs like the d+K,P+G throws for effective interrupt.

Against Kages
High level Kages are Jumonji crazy. Back away if you have space and DC. They tend to be roll crazy as well. When in doubt, u+K+G. But do not do a f+K+G to a Kage rolling away. Sarah makes a step before hopping. You will eat his sweep after the roll. You may pursue with f+P,K if you dare.

Against Shuns and Vanessas
Apply SOP. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif


Dural
I'll get back to you some other time on this.

Finally a note of warning. These methods do not necessarily improve gameplay against humans. You have been warned!

 

The sad part is that this is all true. Actually, at about 5th-7th Dan, they start blocking the DC opener sometimes. This is when you whip out the b+K+G... not as good for RO, but at least it's got DC-level priority. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif Aoi in particular will reverse plenty of jabs, flamingo kicks, etc. but not the chop of doom.

 

the other trick posted a while ago: get into flamingo stance and just do K .. K ... K ... K... K ... slays 'em all.

 

Good stuff Genie. I agree with all of this, but I have a couple of different twists on how I'm going thru kumite.

2. u+K+G or f+K+G and b+P+G

I tend to poke with f+K+G from a distance now. The CPU rarely interrupts it and if it's blocked then you pretty much can guarantee a MC dragon cannon float.

Against Wolf I quite often win with
opening db+K, b+K, u+K, bb, f+K+G(blocked), db+K, b+K, u+K, bb, f+K+G(blocked), repeat

Instead of using low punches after a blocked f+K+G against the kumite opponents that can avoid the dragon cannon, I prefer the P+K sabaki into flamingo. But I agree that after an opening MC DC float, a low punch --> triple knee throw would ring out many opponents. In the breakable wall stages I finish my wall combos with PPPKnee to break the wall so that later rounds are easier to win with a ring out.

3. Continuous df+P,Ks
P+K, df+P,K, P+K, df+P,K, P+K, df+P,K, repeat
also works. I use this to ring out a lot.

Low floats:
If you knock down with u+K+G, f+K+G, uf+K(G) or f+PK then use the following:
vs. the girls: b+K, u+K
vs. Lion, Shun, Lau, Kage, Lei: b+K, f+K+G (I really like this combo)
vs. Jacky, Akira, Wolf, Jeff: b+K, d+K+G (be warned high level Jeff will tech roll to avoid the sweep)

I get lazy sometimes and use elbow-knee too often... I'd like to practice triple throw escape or double throw escape guard, but the CPU mostly counters with strike attacks that are guaranteed against the elbow-knee anyway...

Lion: good stuff. I end up blocking the TT low kick mostly.

Lei: Yep, machi is the key. Back away and wait for him to miss. I use the P+K sabaki more against him and Vanessa to eat thru their attacks.

Akira: I keep eating the pull-in-throw-bodycheck variation combos. I've got to learn to block those correctly. Also, I need to learn to interrupt his charge attack. Both of these situations are very good practice in terms of learning how to react properly vs. human opponents when they use them. Otherwise Akira sux because he is nearly a heavyweight and you have to work harder to kill him. Aoi is dead meat once you know the big DC float combos. She's also way to easy to ring out/wall combo.

Lau: Yep, I end up throwing him more than the others, or using minor counter elbow-knee --> b+K --> f+K+G combos.

Jacky: I tend to go a bit machi too. Learn the attack levels of his combos and block accordingly then minor counter. Also good practice vs. scrub level opposition.

Sarah: High/low punch immediately after blocking a flamingo starter. Also the P+K sabaki hits thru almost everything except a kickflip too.

Kage: I use f+K+G after I see roll away. Wait until the sweep has started and then attack. You'll get the minor counter every time. I don't really have much difficulty with Kage at all in Kumite... human players are much, much stronger.

Dural: Machi again. Learn what attacks are throw counterable. Dodge and she will ring herself out with a little assistance--very similar to Lei. She has a PPK combo that looks like Sarah's, but the kick is much heavier and causes a longer block stun. She is NOT throw counterable after this combo.

 

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

I tend to poke with f+K+G from a distance now. The CPU rarely interrupts it and if it's blocked then you pretty much can guarantee a MC dragon cannon float.

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Yes that is what I meant. After a DC float I back off for a f+K+G as they rise, with kick or not. Once blocked, d+P (MC) and b+P+G. Like you, I pepper it with a DC when I feel like it. Kumite opponents commit to attacks after a blocked f+K+G.

Thanks for the advice against Dural. Still can't defeat her in Kumite. All those moves really push you very far. Get killed by RO usually.

 

I wrote:
>> 3. Continuous df+P,Ks
P+K, df+P,K, P+K, df+P,K, P+K, df+P,K, repeat
also works. I use this to ring out a lot.

I'm surprised no one caught this mistake... I realized that I had screwed up on the drive back home from work. The above isn't a repeatable sequence because tapping P+K in flamingo stance is a different move--the low punch inashi. I do use P+K --> df+P,K a lot in kumite though to ring out opponents, and if I need the extra distance I add on a PPP combo or do another df+P,K as Genie advocates.

I'm no expert against Dural either, the only times I've beaten her is when I fight her like I fight the high level Lei Fei's, or maybe Lau's too. Learn her canned attack strings and counter appropriately at the end. It's a tough fight because you can't get the big damage float combos on her. Mix up the throws and hope she doesn't escape them. I start dodging when my back is a couple of dash lengths from the edge. If she's doing a long combo, usually a lunging knee to the back is enough to knock her out of the ring.

 

eerp.

I posted this in the Kumite forum under another thread, but it looks like it might be of some use here. Sorry if you know it all already!

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After playing like... 1000000000000000 games of Kumite with Sarah, I finally reached High King. Ok, so it was about 700-800 or so. Anyway, here's what my vs-cpu style evolved into.

Start of round, d/b+k, d/f+p,k, u+k. f+k+g (opponent almost always tries to throw), d+p, then throw of your choice.

Usually I throw with b,f+p+g, then dash back once, u/b+k+g their rising attack, another combo. If you use b,f+p+g too much, they will start to escape, soon as they do, quickly d+p again, and b+p+g (or f,d/b+p+g).

This works on like, 99% of everyone in Kumite. Against those Akiras, start with same setup, sometimes the d/b+k wont MC at the opening, so just d/b+k, f+p,k. Same f+k+g, d+p, b,f+p+g throw setup. Then u+k Akiras low rising attack (he always goes low), b+k, u+k. If you can't get your pattern going, f+p, sidestep to his outside, sidethrow. Works very well.

Against Jacky's and Sarahs, same setup, dashback after b,f+p+g throw, d/b+k their rising donkey kick.

Everyone else is pretty much standard.

One pattern that also works 99% of the time (once per match), is interrupt their attack with p,d+k, then quickly do another p,d+k, then either d/f+p,k, or f+p,k (the elbow knee works a bit less often). This sequence works on every opponent one time per match. I dunno why hehe.

I hit 121 wins when I finally gave up. Fought Slicer (Sarah) and was going easy on her, and she beat me, stole my bunny ears LOL!. So I played again and got up to about 15 before I saw her again and took them back.

Lemme know if any of ya' have any questions.

ben

 

Yes it would help us newbies if not for excessive, abbreviated 'Virtua jargon.' Frankly, I'm unable to infer exactly what you mean with "DC," "MC," "TT," or "SOP." I'll not attempt to guess…

 

or u could actually go grab a faq on this site n read about all those virtua jargon.

 

I'm sorry, SOP is not VF jargon. Harks back to my yearly military service. SOP is Standard Operating Procedure /versus/images/icons/smile.gif It is the first three mentioned pointers in my first post.

 

I've noticed that usually Genie and I don't start using abbreviations until we've already mentioned the move/technique we're referring to in our posts.

DC is dragon cannon. Sarah's db+K

MC is major counter or interrupt. You get a 50% bonus in damage and the floats are higher, making combos easier.

TT is turn toward, as in you had your back exposed to your opponent and the TT attack made you turn toward him. Also, we use TA for turn away/around. You'll see it's usually easily understood when in context.

For Sarah, you'll also see FSD used, which is full spin dive u+K or uf+K.

Also, as far as military acronyms go, there's SNAFU, which has confused people in the past.
Situation normal, all f*cked up.

I also like "tits up," which is something I've read naval pilots use when they refer to a jet crashing. Pretty relevent to VF females... yoiks!

 

OK back to Borg Sarah playing!

I did mention that the b+P+G is not desirable once the Kumite opponents start escaping. Well, you can use it still depending on the situation. Use their weapons back against them /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

At or near ring edge of an open ring. I would still go ahead to use the b+P+G. Ring edge as in at the perimeter tiles (those of different color). If you connect with the throw, OK they flop over and RO. If they escape, they don't just push Sarah away, they push themselves away and out of the ring /versus/images/icons/laugh.gif

For a closed ring, it still doesn't harm to use the throw, they will be pushing themselves nearer to the wall. Great time to practise applying pressure. A simple punch will drive them to the wall for those often needed staggers.

Chalk one up for Sarah strategy /versus/images/icons/smile.gif May never know, all these Kumite playing can actually help you apply your character's strength in VS playing.

 

It's definitely helping me practice and maximize float combos. If you want to be efficient, know what combos work on which characters.

 

Yeah... after a couple hundred times whiffing DC combos you get to know the possibilities for everyone /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif That's where I learned Lau is definitely lighter than Jacky... f+PK, b+K, f+K+G works on him but you need to use the FL d+K+G for Jacky.

 

In the course of Kumite I have discovered combos to hit and get me out of intricate situations. Walls and ring edges make anyone break out into cold sweat. The further away you are the better. So instead of DC > df+P,K > u+K staple when my back is at the ring edge. I do DC > df+P,K > P,G >u or uf+K, P. Just for the newbies out there, it is DC followed by chopkick then a P to exit Sarah from FL and execute the FSD and Moonsault (MS). The FSD will hit very late. If they TR, the MS will launch Sarah away to safety. I have used this to end some other launchers like the knee. Even this can be used with her rising knee-landing knee. It clears you out of the situation.

 

Never thought of that one... usually I just db+K, df+PK, Pd+K and walk myself out of danger /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif