Sabaki

The term sabaki refers to a unique type of attack in Virtua Fighter 4 that can automatically parry or deflect your opponent's attacks. On the surface, sabaki attacks look like any other, but when performed at the correct time against a certain attack, the sabaki will cleanly win in the exchange. You will know when the sabaki was successful by seeing your opponent's attack being knocked away with an accompanying sound effect, commonly described as a DJ scratching sound.

The following chart is taken from the Virtua Fighter 4 Perfect Guide. It describes the sabaki attack properties for the characters who have them. Sabaki Class lists the classes of attacks that the sabaki will work against, and Sabaki Timing describes the timing where the sabaki is effective: Early means early in the sabaki's animation, and so on.

Character	Command	Sabaki Class	Sabaki Timing
Akira		HP, HE, LP	Early to Mid
Aoi		HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, MK	Early to Mid
		HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, MK	Early to Late
		SK	Early to Late
Kage		HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, MK	Late
		LP, LK, SW	Mid to Late
		HP, HK	Mid to Late
	(jumonji stance)	HP, HE, HK, MP, EL	Early
Lei		HP, HE, MP, EL	Early to Late
	(evade stance)	HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, MK, SK, KN	Early to Mid
	(evade stance)	HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, MK, SK, KN	Mid
	(tiger stance)	HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, MK, SK, KN	Mid
	(tiger stance)	LP, LK, SW	Mid
Lion		HP, HK, MK, SK, KN	Mid
Pai		HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, MK, KN	Early to Mid
Sarah		HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, MK	Late
Vanessa	(defensive style)	HP, HE, HK, MP, EL, KN	Early to Mid
	(defensive style) (muay thai style)	LP, LK, SW	Early to Mid

Just as a footnote, sabaki attacks are commonly confused with other special attacks, so just to clear the matter up once and for all, sabaki's are not:

• Inashi : Inashi is a term that describes an attack parry/deflection. The inashi itself does not inflict any damage, whereas sabaki attacks do. However, some inashi have built-in canned followups which can inflict damage.
• Reversal : Reversals are similar to Inashi except that when they're successful, there is an automatic followup or return attack.

So, think of sabaki attacks as any other normal attack with a built-in parry during it's execution.