Starting out with Goh #5- Ringouts

Note: This post is the fifth of seven written by Midi and translated by Modelah.

Midi's VF5FS Beginner's Blog post

1. How complete beginners can win! (part 1)
2. How complete beginners can win! (part 2)
3. Sabaki moves
4. Sideturned
5. Ringouts
6. Goh vs. Goh
7. The Wall Game

5. Ringouts
Some of the stages in this game don't have walls, and if a player leaves the ring they will lose the round. Players unfamiliar to VF may consider this an unfair and cowardly way to win. It's not! VF is a 3D fighter by nature, and you have to be able to postion yourself during the round as a result. Ringouts are a legit tactic, you should be using your position in the arena to your advantage. Whenever you have a chance to ring someone out, you shouldn't think twice about going for it!

I personally think Goh has quite a good ringout game. He has a number of combos that carry quite well so I think he's well-equipped for ringouts.

Recommended moves for ringouts
- This will knock down on normal hit and works against standing and crouching opponents. This works quite well from mid distances too, but is throw-punishable on guard. Some characters can throw you behind them and ring you out if you're not careful, so be sure to always input a throw escape when attempting this move.

Combo:
, dash, , - This takes practice to get the timing down.​

- Unfortunately it's a high attack but it knocks down on hit so you can go for a combo. It doesn't have as good carry as , but it's speedy and relatively safe.

Combo:
, ,
Applications:
1. When your knee is guarded and you think the opponent will try to throw you, use a combo to try and ring them out.
2. When your is guarded, throw a again. This will beat throw attempts of course, and is useful against opponents who hestitate before attacking. This is a 14f attack, you should also use it when you guard or evade something slow, and then go for a ringout. Very cool!
​

- Carries well on counter hit or on a crouching opponent.

Combo:
( CH or crouch hit), , ​

A note about hit checking that counter hit; it's quite hard so hit the follow-up if you think your counter hit.

- Use this if you think the opponent will try to evade, and for oki pressure after a knockdown. This will beat evades and most attacks if you have enough advantage. A great move.

Combo:
, , ​

and - These strings can simply push the opponent out of the ring if you're close enough to the edge.

1. - The last hit knocks down, and you can even go for a ringout on half-fenced stages. On guard you'll be at -13f though, so be careful with it.
2. - If the opponent is wary about the of the above string they'll either guard or try to evade, so if they do, use this string to grab them. If you're close enough to the edge the opponent can ring themselves out even if they escape the throw.​

When near the ring's edge, you may start to notice the opponent start guarding more to avoid getting hit. In those situations, try these:

(max charge against opponent's guard), , , - A fully charged will stagger a guarding opponent. From there, is mostly guaranteed and the following combo can be used for a ringout. If the opponent doesn't guard, a fully charged will crumple the opponent so following with , will still give you a chance to ring them out. Note that in this case, will not connect.

Offensive Move (OM; /), (against opponent's side guard), , - Goh's guard breaking headbutt isn't used much, but when used against a guarding opponent from the side becomes guaranteed ( is also guaranteed, which against most of the cast leads to a bit more damage than @Combolammas). Combo as above to ring them out. Be careful, OM will lose to any kind of striking attack. Pressure them with attacks and when you see them locking up, try this.

If your opponent starts crouching to avoid the above guardbreak after your OM, hit them with . If they try to abare from sideturned, try to counter hit them with .

Ringouts Q and A with Midi
Q.　In 2 player matches can I choose which stage to fight on?
A.　Sure, that's no problem. At tournament levels the stage selection is often random, make sure you're prepared for any stage type.

Q.　How should I defend against ring out attempts?
A.　That's a tough question to answer, there's so many things good opponents can do when they go for a ringout, it can also depend on what character they're using.

Q.　I keep losing by damned ringouts all the time!
A.　I sympathize! Analyse what happened in those situations, then maybe you can see if any changes are needed in your playstyle.

Q.　Is Goh stronger on stages with walls or without them?
A.　Actually, I used to prefer stages without walls, and only realised Goh's wall game potential recently!

Q. Could you give us some wall combos, please?　
A. I'm going to make a post about that soon!

Q. I'm having a hard time doing that OM headbutt guard break against a sideturned opponent, and even when I can do it, I can't hit .
A. You can buffer the input for the guard break, so try that to get it to execute faster. Trying to make sure it hits your opponents guard when they're sideturned is a very difficult thing to do, of course it depends if they're guarding in the first place!

Q. How am I supposed to ring out Taka?
A. and combos won't carry Taka well at all so they're not good for ringouts against Taka. Use Goh's knee and combos instead.

Goh's ringout video! (Japanese)


And that's all, folks. The moves above carry slightly differently, and have different risks to consider, so get used to how they work and at what distance you should try to use them from. When applying pressure to your opponent you can get that ringout win, but if your moves get evaded you can suddenly find yourself in a lot of trouble. Whenever you have a comfortable lead over your opponent staying away from the ring's edge is a smart move. Pushing for a ringout win and getting ringed out yourself is not! Also, once you get used to evading and OM to improve your position you'll find a new ways to put the screws on your opponents.

From the author
Ringouts. A concept unique to VF that it's players are very familiar with. You won't find it in Tekken or any 2D fighting game. At first you might think it's unfair but it adds another dimension to the game, and adjusting your strategy according to whether or not you can try to ring your opponent out is a lot of fun! It's great to win by ringout, and painful to lose by one.

I'm going to do a section on Goh's wall game soon, stay tuned!

Midi

Additional posts- These follow the main post (edited)
No. 158
What are some ways to crush wakeup kicks? The only one I know is against low wakeup kicks to knock down the opponent, and then a down throw.

-Raku​

No. 163
About crushing wakeup kicks, though it's possible, timing a mid attack's active frames against them is very difficult. The best moves for trying are and , though.

I recommend baiting your opponet to try a wakeup kick and then stepping out of range, then punishing the whiff with a ranged move like or .

-Midi​