AMA - For any and all Ryu mains!

[HoodedAltair]

So let me introduce myself. I'm Hooded and currently ranked 6th best on Philly PR but have a bloodthirsty drive to dominate my region in months to come. I have a Ryu dedicated channel you can checkout here with the most Ryu information you can fathom. Point is I know my character. Better than anyone in the world and I am confident of that. I'm not trying to brag but rather offer advice to anyone who doesn't have anyway to access certain information. If you have any question, broad or specific, I will answer it to the best of my ability. Want to learn something new? Just ask me the right question. Thank you!

 

[dadoeboi101]

Hi there! I've actually come across your channel before while I was looking around for Ryu tips. In your words, what do you say is Ryu's neutral like? I think he has too many tools for me to decide which ones are the optimal given a situation. I'm not questioning this versatility, but it sure does make him hard to learn! Is he a bait and punish? a zoner? I typically just run in with short hop nairs into jabs or something when i land since the landing lag is deceptively low. Do you practice your combos often to drill them into muscle memory? What do you think is more valuable- hopping onto for glory immediately to just see what his limits are? practicing combos and maneuvering tech with all the fancy FADC stuff? Looking into what kill set ups/kill confirms/50-50's he has?

 

[HoodedAltair]

Hi there! I've actually come across your channel before while I was looking around for Ryu tips. In your words, what do you say is Ryu's neutral like? I think he has too many tools for me to decide which ones are the optimal given a situation. I'm not questioning this versatility, but it sure does make him hard to learn! Is he a bait and punish? a zoner? I typically just run in with short hop nairs into jabs or something when i land since the landing lag is deceptively low. Do you practice your combos often to drill them into muscle memory? What do you think is more valuable- hopping onto for glory immediately to just see what his limits are? practicing combos and maneuvering tech with all the fancy FADC stuff? Looking into what kill set ups/kill confirms/50-50's he has?

Ryu's neutral has a little bit of everything really. In most MUs, he's not even forced to approach and can be played as a walling out characters with Bair/Fair spacing, Shaku's and Hado for keep away, and tilts to stuff grounded approaches. The most optimal way to play him? Really depends on the MU once again. In the sheik MU, Ryu needs to be played smart and calculated, doing quick confirmed combos and not being eager for nair approaches but rather getting in her zone. Whereas in the ZSS MU, he gets a lot of reward off of playing aggressive and in her face but you can always rely on a strong defensive Ryu. Universally, Ryu's neutral is above all else about controlling space and knowing your options at different ranges. Ryu likes to be close and personal most of the time but not jumping in since he commits to aerial movement hard and can be punished. Once you land a hit you need to convert so most of neutral is looking for openings and making each hit count.


YES! Practice your combos. Make sure if you don't have a combo down, you get it down. BnB is a must. Nair chains and chain variants are learned over time though practice never hurts. personally like to drill many FA punishes into muscle memory so I have a wide arsenal of options when I land one.


I personally worked on movement first because that's something I'm fond of and prioritize in my character. I'm not sure how far in you are with the character but most important of what you listed is practicing kill confirms. You may have the shoryuken input down....but do you have it down after dtilt? utilt? dair, utilt lock? roll? soft landing nair? shield drop? The list goes on. No matter how much you may think you know the shory input, you do not because there is an endless list of situations. Practice on that is essential and it will lead to the most wins despite you maybe being worse than your opponent. But really everything kind of comes together. Work on it all. I highly recommend Smash Ladder over For Glory though. Faster improvement there.

 

[dadoeboi101]

Thanks for such a thorough response! I really like how you questioned and listed some of the pre-cursor attacks that I could use to follow up a shoryu with. How do you feel ryu does against characters with disjointed attacks? Referring to just about any sword character (whether they have projectiles or not). For characters that are able to out-camp us (i.e. link, toon link, robin, ness), what is your approach or thought process in the match like?

 

[HoodedAltair]

Thanks for such a thorough response! I really like how you questioned and listed some of the pre-cursor attacks that I could use to follow up a shoryu with. How do you feel ryu does against characters with disjointed attacks? Referring to just about any sword character (whether they have projectiles or not). For characters that are able to out-camp us (i.e. link, toon link, robin, ness), what is your approach or thought process in the match like?

The good thing about sword users is they're not very good. Cloud, the best of them all loses to sheild so I try to stay grounded and punish out of shield mostly. In general sword characters can demolish you in the air. It's true of most disjoints vs Ryu. The same goes for Pikachu's or Ness's fair. Both can beat out Ryu's aerials unless he has them lingering out first in their hurtbox. He can deal with sword fighters fine though since his ground game is so good. Playing from shield is key to the MU as well as abusing FA since many sword users fall victim to having one hit moves.


I don't think any of the characters listed generally "out-camp" Ryu. Each one is MU specific for the most part. Toon link and Link lose to shield, robin is slow and can be taken advantage of my closing space, and ness doesn't really have the ability to camp us in any way or rather we can camp him just the same. My thought process is different for each character so there's no one size fits all. Where in the Ness MU I focus on outranging ness with Fair and anti-airing with Hutilt, with Toon link I'll play from shield until i can close space and find an opening. If this doesn't answer your question completely I can elaborate.

 

[kindacute]

I was literally about to message you on smashladder about ryus neutral but your post was mad helpful. I appreciate it homie. I've recentely picked up ryu i have the Light ultilt ---> light dtilt -----> heavy dtilt-----> true tatsu. I can get that down in a match np. Working on my shoryu inputs and tatsu edgeguarding atm. A question I have is it possible to do a true shoryu out of shield. I was attempting it but I kept getting the roll tried negative edging it but that neither.

 

[kindacute]

Oh another thing I have a mario that I'm dropping for ryu. But do you see mario covering any m/u's that ryu has trouble in. And what m/u's would you switch from ryu if any.

 

[Fasterthansoup]

Oh another thing I have a mario that I'm dropping for ryu. But do you see mario covering any m/u's that ryu has trouble in. And what m/u's would you switch from ryu if any.

sorry to answer for him, but pikachu probably.

 

[Ridel]

How does Ryu stack up against zoners for the most part? Specifically heavy zoners like DH or Gunner.

 

[an1bal]

How often do you go for shield breaks, HFtilt in particular? It is so good, but I really think its more of a hard read option than anything, and I dont see it used much in tournament.

Please keep the content coming! maybe something especific to matchups or good stage tips for ryu.

 

[HoodedAltair]

I was literally about to message you on smashladder about ryus neutral but your post was mad helpful. I appreciate it homie. I've recentely picked up ryu i have the Light ultilt ---> light dtilt -----> heavy dtilt-----> true tatsu. I can get that down in a match np. Working on my shoryu inputs and tatsu edgeguarding atm. A question I have is it possible to do a true shoryu out of shield. I was attempting it but I kept getting the roll tried negative edging it but that neither.

True shoryuken appears to be impossible oos. Testing was done in 1/4 speed and it simply won't allow you to do it in the frames you have of jumpsqaut. It will instead input a jump shory if you time it correctly. You can however do a shoryuken from the drop shield frames if you're fast (too fast and you roll, too slow and you move forward after shield drop). You can also use a perfect shield or a hit on shield to do a shoryuken out of it without moving. Besides that, up b oos is a VERY solid option at high percents. If it's the only way to get a shoryuken oos, I'll take it. Any shory is better than no shory

 

[HoodedAltair]

Oh another thing I have a mario that I'm dropping for ryu. But do you see mario covering any m/u's that ryu has trouble in. And what m/u's would you switch from ryu if any.

I'm a firm believer that Ryu doesn't really have "bad MUs". His worst ones are even being sheik, ZSS, DK, Sonic among some others. I think Mario is fine to have kept as a secondary because he's an all around great character so relying on him in MUs you feel uncomfortable in can help. What those MUs are is really up to your discretion. I'm guessing you'd want to use him in some even top tier MUs where you just feel more confident in him.

 

[HoodedAltair]

How does Ryu stack up against zoners for the most part? Specifically heavy zoners like DH or Gunner.

It's very difficult to know against those 2 because no one plays them. Ryu commits to aerial movement so he can be predictable at times but DH doesn't exactly have good escape options and is forced into a confrontation at some point of the stage. Gunner again....is weird and often banned nowadays. We also have little tournament knowledge of the megaman MU so hard to get a clean basis. Once Ryu invades one of their zones though, their donezo with how fast his tilt options are and how much damage he can deal.

That said, I'm super interested in how the megaman MU turns out

 

[HoodedAltair]

How often do you go for shield breaks, HFtilt in particular? It is so good, but I really think its more of a hard read option than anything, and I dont see it used much in tournament.

Please keep the content coming! maybe something especific to matchups or good stage tips for ryu.

Thanks for the vid ideas!

Sheildbreaks can be more commonplace then you'd think but it is difficult to understand high level players shield habits within a 2/3 game set. There's many different situations but here's a general 50/50 gist for most players. At high percent (when shoryuken would kill), if you tilt someones shield they have 2 real options, let go of shield and risk getting hit (this includes rolling which ryu would catch as well as grab which shory would punish) or holding sheild and wait for shory to come out.

I have talked to Venom about this in person where we both said the same thing at the same time about our observations of general player habits
Low level -> Will drop shield most of the time so commit to the shoryuken
High level -> Will hold shield and respect shory so go for Hftilt
Mid level -> 50/50 - understand your opponent and gage how they might respond

Besides the easy tilt to Hftilt setup, there are many more setups to be employed and discovered still such as the following

-Shaku hover → pivot Hftilt
-Crossup Fair → Hftilt
-Crossup Nair → Hftilt
-B-air → b-reverse TSRK
-FA1 DC Forward → utilt1 x2 → TSRK
-FA2 DC Forward → TSRK
-DD1/DD2 → TSRK/Dash Attack
-Late spaced Fair → dtilt1 x2 → tatsu
-huptilt -> FA1
-hdtilt -> FA1
-ldtilt -> huptilt -> TSRK

Recently, I find the best shieldbreaks come in making your opponent think they have a healthy shield. Say if I was to land soft fair on a shield. Their shield is certainly not healthy. A Hftilt, FA, or another soft fair would break it easily so give them space and bait a shield in some way specific to them. Such is the case in this video where I bair James shield and then realize his approaching with shield habit which yields me a Hftilt shield break

So no, sheildbreaks are not just hard reads but rather the most solid way to make up for Ryu's bad grab game. With how many moves Ryu has that can do hefty shield damage, this will definitely be commonplace in the meta even at high level.

 

[kindacute]

You are going to breed a ranked ryu in every region with all this info good **** man. I'm sure we all appreciate the work you are putting in. When using anti airs do you prefer Hutilt over Heavy jab. or the other way around. From what I've seen heavy jab is amazing at a 45 because of the disjointed foot and range.

 

[kindacute]

oh and are yolo shoryus at kill percent Underneath a ledge something you would go for? I figure the reward outweights the risk lol

 

[HoodedAltair]

You are going to breed a ranked ryu in every region with all this info good **** man. I'm sure we all appreciate the work you are putting in. When using anti airs do you prefer Hutilt over Heavy jab. or the other way around. From what I've seen heavy jab is amazing at a 45 because of the disjointed foot and range.

lol no problem man!

I do prefer HUtilt just because you can stay safe on shield with it by the FA option select from it. Jab seems to have better range though and I think it's faster? Yeah Idk how to work that one in yet

oh and are yolo shoryus at kill percent Underneath a ledge something you would go for? I figure the reward outweights the risk lol

Underneath a platfrom? yes! I stole this from Venom not too long ago....it can catch some players off guard. As long as you have that platform to safe you and you're confident they're not looking for it, go for it. It's very difficult to punish with most characters unless you're looking for it

 

[Beanfox]

Hello Hooded! Thanks for all the lab work + research you put into this beautiful character. My questions:

1. Do you implement shoryuken into your combos at lower percents? I've heard that it's not worth the 8% extra damage to stale your shoryuken, but I feel like it's beneficial since your other moves are 8% closer to killing, and the shoryuken kills maybe a few percent later but not 8% later.

2. What's your control scheme? I was considering all things default on the GC controller with:
C-stick: Attack
Z: Jump
R: Grab
Using C-stick diagonal for Nair.

Thanks!

 

[HoodedAltair]

Hello Hooded! Thanks for all the lab work + research you put into this beautiful character. My questions:

1. Do you implement shoryuken into your combos at lower percents? I've heard that it's not worth the 8% extra damage to stale your shoryuken, but I feel like it's beneficial since your other moves are 8% closer to killing, and the shoryuken kills maybe a few percent later but not 8% later.

2. What's your control scheme? I was considering all things default on the GC controller with:
C-stick: Attack
Z: Jump
R: Grab
Using C-stick diagonal for Nair.

Thanks!

I know some that prefer lower percent shoryuken combos for quick damage. I'm impartial to it. Sometimes I do if I'm not confident in the weight/percent of the opponent but in general I wouldn't worry about it staling since there's a lot more moves you'll be throwing out until kill percent. I just think there's always bigger and better combos then quick shory confirms at low percent.

My control scheme is weird. You definitely want c-stick attack. That's a must for utilt locking. I use R shield, Z grab, and I actually have my A set to jump and Y to attack (This is so I can do rising focus attack). However if you don't want to be a lunatic like me, you can set one of your triggers to jump and do rising FA just the same. Also, how consistent is your C-stick diagonal nair? I wouldn't mess with that. I find button attack nair to get the job done easy

 

[Beanfox]

I know some that prefer lower percent shoryuken combos for quick damage. I'm impartial to it. Sometimes I do if I'm not confident in the weight/percent of the opponent but in general I wouldn't worry about it staling since there's a lot more moves you'll be throwing out until kill percent. I just think there's always bigger and better combos then quick shory confirms at low percent.

My control scheme is weird. You definitely want c-stick attack. That's a must for utilt locking. I use R shield, Z grab, and I actually have my A set to jump and Y to attack (This is so I can do rising focus attack). However if you don't want to be a lunatic like me, you can set one of your triggers to jump and do rising FA just the same. Also, how consistent is your C-stick diagonal nair? I wouldn't mess with that. I find button attack nair to get the job done easy

I do the same but with A for attack and Y for jump of course, and L for shield to switch to this other scheme more easily. From the time I practiced diagonal c-stick nair I got it... consistent-ish? It's definitely risky but lets you hold forward and Nair. Idk man no input is too difficult or risky for 20SF haha. Since Ryu doesn't accelerate that much in the air I've been doing A-button Nair too no probs.

 

[Deezxnutz]

At high percents when you hit an Utilt can you visually confirm it and TSRK or do you have to commit to the TSRK after Utilt?

 

[HoodedAltair]

At high percents when you hit an Utilt can you visually confirm it and TSRK or do you have to commit to the TSRK after Utilt?

I asked the same question when I was a boy so you're a smart one. Yes! It is possible to visual que it and not commit unless you see it. This is typically at a higher percent though when hit stun is high. In this case, basic reaction time and choose. You can bring it down just by playing Ryu more! I haven't asked that question in ages so I think my reaction time has gotten better. Then again, sometimes you have to commit if you are expecting a shield drop.

 

[kindacute]

if they block your initial uptilt how do you respond. What I do is 2 light uptilts into strong ftilt to break shield. after that they start dropping shield to roll so i can shoryu them. Is there a better option?

 

[Ridel]

What should Ryu be doing against Bowser Jr? As you know I play both characters a lot but I'm not sure how that MU should play out.

 

[DisidisiD]

I asked the same question when I was a boy so you're a smart one. Yes! It is possible to visual que it and not commit unless you see it. This is typically at a higher percent though when hit stun is high. In this case, basic reaction time and choose. You can bring it down just by playing Ryu more! I haven't asked that question in ages so I think my reaction time has gotten better. Then again, sometimes you have to commit if you are expecting a shield drop.

Also, because of special cancels, there are OS you can do with the light tilts (except ftilt) and specials. For example, with jab->shoryu it is A, shoryuken input, A. On whiff, you do two jabs. On hit, you do jab shoryu. However, you have to be able to buffer the shoryu input very fast other wise this will not work.

You can also do something similar with up b. For utilt->upb it is: up(hold for whole time), then rapidly do A, B, A. On whiff, it is two utilts. On hit, its an utilt->upb. It's possible and much easier but not as useful for killing.

 

[Hyper]

How does tatsu work with projectiles? sometimes my foot/leg clanks with the projectile but the projectile just keeps going.

 

[HoodedAltair]

if they block your initial uptilt how do you respond. What I do is 2 light uptilts into strong ftilt to break shield. after that they start dropping shield to roll so i can shoryu them. Is there a better option?

Nope you pretty much hit it on the head. I mean there's lots of mixups but in that situation those are the best 2.

 

[HoodedAltair]

What should Ryu be doing against Bowser Jr? As you know I play both characters a lot but I'm not sure how that MU should play out.

It's rough for Jr.. Like most MUs, mecha cooper helps neutral significantly. However, Ryu BODIES Jr. in combo. He's a perfect weight and fall speed for everything. Plus his cart taking less knockback. Jr. does have the fair and bair spacing but there's not much he can rely on. Recover high if you can. Ryu will decimate his recovery with a nair lol

 

[HoodedAltair]

How does tatsu work with projectiles? sometimes my foot/leg clanks with the projectile but the projectile just keeps going.

The move has a kick spinning around Ryu....the hitbox acts the same way the leg does as the leg is the only part of the move with trample. If the leg is rotating and in front of Ryu, he'll go right through the projectile as long as it's horizontal to him. If the leg is behind him, you'll get hit

 

[Hyper]

The move has a kick spinning around Ryu....the hitbox acts the same way the leg does as the leg is the only part of the move with trample. If the leg is rotating and in front of Ryu, he'll go right through the projectile as long as it's horizontal to him. If the leg is behind him, you'll get hit

Yeah so I'm asking why the leg hits projectiles sometimes but they don't go away. Samus full charge shot comes to mind for this.(though you don't want to be tatsuing this but I'm just curious about how Ryu works)
Could it be that the percent clanking comes into play for this?

 

[kindacute]

Yo how do you feel ryu does in doubles? If he is viable in doubles who could you see as his best partner...a villager maybe? And how would you approach a doubles match.

 

[Laken64]

Hello, I've been considering Ryu as another main of mine but the one question I have is how hard is it to input commands on the 3DS circle pad compared to the Wii u controller (I don't have smash for Wii)

 

[HoodedAltair]

Yeah so I'm asking why the leg hits projectiles sometimes but they don't go away. Samus full charge shot comes to mind for this.(though you don't want to be tatsuing this but I'm just curious about how Ryu works)
Could it be that the percent clanking comes into play for this?

Hmmm the projectile clanking but not going away? I don't think I've ever seen that so I do not know why that would occur sorry

 

[HoodedAltair]

Yo how do you feel ryu does in doubles? If he is viable in doubles who could you see as his best partner...a villager maybe? And how would you approach a doubles match.

Ryu is definitely a top tier pick in doubles. He's a good stock tank, can kill, and deal damage which is super ideal. His best counter part would probably be someone else that can rack up damage and grabs that he can confirm shory off of. Sheik, Ness, ZSS, and Falcon come to mind

 

[HoodedAltair]

Hello, I've been considering Ryu as another main of mine but the one question I have is how hard is it to input commands on the 3DS circle pad compared to the Wii u controller (I don't have smash for Wii)

That would not be my playing field. I do not even own Ryu on 3DS. I don't think anyone has complained of it before so it should be relatively the same and I wouldn't be too worried about it

 

[vegeta18]

i know you touched on this a little bit already, but im confident in my tech skill and think i can secondary ryu. His inputs and stuff arent really a problem for me ive been playing fighting games my whole life. I was wondering what do you think of the ryu vs cloud matchup ratio wise? cuz if i pick up a secondary i will need him to cover that mu. Also i know they are super new but do you happen to have any initial thoughts on bayonetta or corrin? because im not sure myself but i could possibly need him to cover those mus as well.

 

[culexus・wau]

sour fair footstool loop vid when?

Tatsu edgeguard highlight roll when? (And in particular, what characters do you feel it's especially helpful against)

Why don't you idle on discord more?

Thoughts on SoCal's Ryus from the Ryu Round Robin? I kinda wished I could participate but I was too late aaa

And finally, how was your day [!?]

 

[HoodedAltair]

i know you touched on this a little bit already, but im confident in my tech skill and think i can secondary ryu. His inputs and stuff arent really a problem for me ive been playing fighting games my whole life. I was wondering what do you think of the ryu vs cloud matchup ratio wise? cuz if i pick up a secondary i will need him to cover that mu. Also i know they are super new but do you happen to have any initial thoughts on bayonetta or corrin? because im not sure myself but i could possibly need him to cover those mus as well.

First off, this character requires tremendous time put into him so using him as a secondary will be difficult. I know for a fact many Ryu's have trouble with Cloud although the MU is in our favor. Just don't jump in the air and use tilts oos to punish landings. Not much insight on corin and Bayonetta yet

 

[Beanfox]

Did you get in contact with Trela before Genesis? I noticed he took up a black gi for many games, which I hadn't seen before then, and I felt like he got a lot more technical. Especially so in the 2GGT tourney where he sported the 20SF tag and attempted a reverse nair->bair

 

[blazinkevin]

What do you do against defensive players? Its especially hard if they like Link who walls me out with long grab range and zairs on top of projectiles.