AMA - For any and all Ryu mains!

[Hydrodesolation]

Question - Do you know how many frames of landing lag True Shoryuken has compared to Up-B Shoryuken?

 

[HoodedAltair]

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

I've been in contact with Trela for a bit. He told me he was stealing the 20SF tag haha (Though not mine to begin with, heard it from somewhere). I haven't talked much tech with Trela in a bit but I know he watches my videos and probably is looking to incorporate some .

 

[HoodedAltair]

Question - Do you know how many frames of landing lag True Shoryuken has compared to Up-B Shoryuken?

Comparatively? Afraid not. I tested frames for input shory landing lag to be 11 frames. I'd imagine regular shory would be about 20-25 frames.

 

[KleptoGoat]

Watching your crazy rising focus attacks have converted me to lunacy. How long did it take for you to get used to having A set to jump? Do you use A jump on other characters as well?

What would you recommend a novice Ryu to take into the lab? I have my true shoryu confirms in muscle memory as well as up tilt chains, but what is the next step?

Big fan by the way, looking forward to more content from you!

 

[culexus・wau]

Is trump > bair guaranteed on any characters or am I just ****ing up the buffering

 

[Hydrodesolation]

Another question (hope you don't mind) - What has more shieldstun - Focus Attack Level 1 or Level 2?

 

[HoodedAltair]

Watching your crazy rising focus attacks have converted me to lunacy. How long did it take for you to get used to having A set to jump? Do you use A jump on other characters as well?

What would you recommend a novice Ryu to take into the lab? I have my true shoryu confirms in muscle memory as well as up tilt chains, but what is the next step?

Big fan by the way, looking forward to more content from you!

Sorry for replying so late!

It doesn't real take me long to get used to any button change....maybe 2-3 days top. You'll get the same result with trigger jump and you won't be so weird for it lol. And yeah I just use A as jump universally now

I recommend you work on whatever you feel like. There's a lot of depth in the character and more so in the game. If your movement can be better, practice it. If you're not handling certain match ups well, practice them. If you want to get better at edge guarding, find your limitations with certain moves and practice them. So yeah, the sky's the limit.

 

[HoodedAltair]

Is trump > bair guaranteed on any characters or am I just ****ing up the buffering

It is guaranteed on I believe all. You need to trump the opponent as soon as they grab the ledge for maximum frame advantage. If you trump an opponent who's been on the ledge for over a second already then it won't even be close to guaranteed.

 

[HoodedAltair]

Another question (hope you don't mind) - What has more shieldstun - Focus Attack Level 1 or Level 2?

oooo haven't done testing for that myself but since FA1 does more damage, I would assume more shield stun? It's an interesting question

 

[Hydrodesolation]

Thanks for the reply!

 

[HoodedAltair]

Thanks for the reply!

Sorry it was so late lol

 

[IAmSlowking]

Does weak up tilt hit confirm sh nair?
I can't seem to get it on time and when I do it's mostly because my opponent didn't react fast enough
Is it character specific or am I just too slow?

 

[culexus・wau]

It is guaranteed on I believe all. You need to trump the opponent as soon as they grab the ledge for maximum frame advantage. If you trump an opponent who's been on the ledge for over a second already then it won't even be close to guaranteed.

> got a reply at 6:23 Am

*_*

On topic though, do we have any specific setups for getting the first hit of uair jab lock on platforms? I've gotten it from time to time and finally been able to react to it with a meaningful confirm.

Probably gonna try to full hop focus if I can react to it next time but it's too awkward for me to setup in the lab so I only think it works in theory

 

[HoodedAltair]

Does weak up tilt hit confirm sh nair?
I can't seem to get it on time and when I do it's mostly because my opponent didn't react fast enough
Is it character specific or am I just too slow?

It's very.....in depth. First and foremost it comes down to character. If someone has a frame 3 move or faster, they'll be able to challenge you and escape. However, I mean attack in this sense. In my experience only frame 2 air dodges can escape not frame 3 (there's 18 frame 2 air dodges).

So once that's out of the way and you're working wagainst a character without a frame 3 option (someone like ROB), you have them in an utilt. At this point, make sure they're in mid percent and then go from the Utilt to Nair. If they're too low of a percent, they can jump out or maybe DI to ground and shield....to high of a percent and there's no nair followup. Without an option to escape, they will get hit by the Nair. However, you need them to be right in front of you if you want to nair chain. If someone DI's behind you, the nair will hit them back. This is frankly impossible for bigger characters who get hit regardless....and fast fall characters you can see their DI while utilt locking but with someone like Lucas, it can be difficult to tell if they'll DI behind you or not. I'm still working on options to counter it if they do...atm full hop Nair (straight jump) to Dair does the trick.

And that's it really. It mostly comes down to their frame 3 option or not....on most characters you create basically a 50/50. Take someone like luigi with a frame 3 nair. If he uses the nair then I'll do utilt to FA1/2....my focus is frame 1 so it will eat the Nair hit and I'll get a meaty punish on his landing. After I convince him to stop using his only frame 3 escape, then I can nair chain instead.

Someone like Marth with an up b invincible frame 1 in the air, the same concept. Do I bait the dolphin slash and shield or go for the nair chain. Same premise with DK frame 3 Up B and so forth. The setups got some depth but it is reliable if you keep track of things. Hope this helps

 

[HoodedAltair]

> got a reply at 6:23 Am

*_*

On topic though, do we have any specific setups for getting the first hit of uair jab lock on platforms? I've gotten it from time to time and finally been able to react to it with a meaningful confirm.

Probably gonna try to full hop focus if I can react to it next time but it's too awkward for me to setup in the lab so I only think it works in theory

I'm not sure if I'd prefer Uair jab lock in any situation over Nair. I've landed it like once accidentally. I guess it may have some application because I think it locks much longer than nair but I'm not sure when it stops. I wouldn't worry about it now. Nair and Hadoken locks will treat you just fine

 

[Spammalanche]

This is a pretty noobish question, but outside of Shoryu inputs and shoryu confirms, what do you think are the essential things that every Ryu player should have drilled into muscle memory? He's got so many combos, but what's the bread and butter stuff?

Also when do I start the input for shaku-hover? I can never get it down (I'm either too high in the air or I land just as the shaku comes out).

 

[2fast]

Glad to see you offering tips to up and coming Ryu players! This character is criminally underplayed even though I feel ryu is certainly a contender for one of the top 3 characters in the game.

I started messing with ryu a bit and I'm definitely a very defensive ryu. I've been using up-b OOS a lot even a low percents as it seems insanely good OOS but my question is should I steer clear of using up-b OOS to keep my shoryu fresh?? And if I'm using normal shoryu a lot does that also stale my true shoryu??

 

[HoodedAltair]

This is a pretty noobish question, but outside of Shoryu inputs and shoryu confirms, what do you think are the essential things that every Ryu player should have drilled into muscle memory? He's got so many combos, but what's the bread and butter stuff?

Also when do I start the input for shaku-hover? I can never get it down (I'm either too high in the air or I land just as the shaku comes out).

It is pretty essential to have nair chains in your arsenal. Catching someone in the air and carrying them offstage to dair is too good to passup. Landing or Rising Hard Fair to another Fair or Uair is an essential bread and butter for goof damage at early percents. I'd argue for many essentials from focus attack but really just have a good understanding of the move as well as FADC.

Start the input for shaku hover near the peak of the short hop. Just try to develop your own timing for it. I start inputting it early but then rotate the circle input slowly.

 

[HoodedAltair]

Glad to see you offering tips to up and coming Ryu players! This character is criminally underplayed even though I feel ryu is certainly a contender for one of the top 3 characters in the game.

I started messing with ryu a bit and I'm definitely a very defensive ryu. I've been using up-b OOS a lot even a low percents as it seems insanely good OOS but my question is should I steer clear of using up-b OOS to keep my shoryu fresh?? And if I'm using normal shoryu a lot does that also stale my true shoryu??

Shory and true shory stale the same way. Staling on shory really doesn't matter too much anyway since they die almost just as early. But if it matters to you, then stick to the grab and aerial punishes oos or some fast tilt combos. Hope it helps!

 

[2fast]

Shory and true shory stale the same way. Staling on shory really doesn't matter too much anyway since they die almost just as early. But if it matters to you, then stick to the grab and aerial punishes oos or some fast tilt combos. Hope it helps!

Glad to hear it doesnt stale too bad if I do use it defensively. At this rate I may just become a Ryu main.

Thx man, and keep pushin that Ryu meta forward!

 

[SonofCereal]

How do you consistently do nair>footstool> jablock? I can do the nair>footstool easily enough, especially after a fair ~0%, but I either miss my jablock nair, or I'm too late. Any way to get it more consistent?

 

[HoodedAltair]

How do you consistently do nair>footstool> jablock? I can do the nair>footstool easily enough, especially after a fair ~0%, but I either miss my jablock nair, or I'm too late. Any way to get it more consistent?

Make sure you know who you're doing it on. Someone like Wii Fit Trainer will be able to escape in time since she falls to the ground so fast. The fastest way to get the the ground would be footstool -> Fastfall -> Nair -> Fastfall again but I haven't practiced this much as usually only footstool -> fastball -> nair is needed and doing the other way risks a dair to come out. It should be optimal and more consistent though through my testing from months ago. Hope this helps

 

[aryga]

Hey Hooded, I've been going through your replays and want to know about your thoughts on the weak u-tilt strings. At least in this recent WBB#20, I've noticed you try to go for the infinite or at least super long string of just weak u-tilts, but it didn't ever net more than 12%. It seems like more players I play against too know how to smash DI or react correctly against it so that I can't get more damage than that either, so I've been switching into something more like double weak u-tilt into strong u-tilt just to make sure I get that 12% from the strong (into shoryuken after strong u-tilt if they're close enough to get hit by it).

I do the strong u-tilt for damage, though I bet you'd say nair string combos are better after weak u-tilt if you don't intend to go for an infinite u-tilt string. Am I just taking the easy way out and not learning a better follow up? Is it actually possible to infinite characters like Mewtwo or DK? I'm wondering if I hold myself back by not swinging for the fences in these situations, but the easy 12% is nothing to scoff at either. What do you think?

 

[HoodedAltair]

Hey Hooded, I've been going through your replays and want to know about your thoughts on the weak u-tilt strings. At least in this recent WBB#20, I've noticed you try to go for the infinite or at least super long string of just weak u-tilts, but it didn't ever net more than 12%. It seems like more players I play against too know how to smash DI or react correctly against it so that I can't get more damage than that either, so I've been switching into something more like double weak u-tilt into strong u-tilt just to make sure I get that 12% from the strong (into shoryuken after strong u-tilt if they're close enough to get hit by it).

I do the strong u-tilt for damage, though I bet you'd say nair string combos are better after weak u-tilt if you don't intend to go for an infinite u-tilt string. Am I just taking the easy way out and not learning a better follow up? Is it actually possible to infinite characters like Mewtwo or DK? I'm wondering if I hold myself back by not swinging for the fences in these situations, but the easy 12% is nothing to scoff at either. What do you think?

I would say it's very situational and character dependent. Someone like mewtwo can only be locked at super low percent and then me being ballsy as I am would aim for a nair chain combo which would be a little difficult at such a low percent when jump could get him out of the combo....someone like DK it makes more sense since he has an up b frame 3 so I can't true combo to nair from utilt until about 60%. Lower than that and I create a 50/50 of whether he spams up b out of it and I bait that or whether I go for the nair chain and get hit.

You need to know what character you can do what on basically. I think if you're looking for the general rule of thumb, 30% and below, if you land an utilt, do a quick combo. On floaties you probably want utiltx2/3 -> Hutilt -> Shoryuken and on medium weights, fastfallers, and heavies you want utilt -> dtiltx2 -> Hdtiltx1 -> Tatsumaki. I think this is probably best if we're talking about optimal punish.

 

[Delirious]

Is there a way to slow Ryu's fall on the Down Air? I figure it would be holding Left stick up, but it doesn't seem to work well when I try it. Thanks in advance

 

[WD40]

Hey Hooded, in a recent match of yours (I think it was the recent set against Blue), I saw you do like a reverse rising FA which you pretty much immediately cancelled to land a bair. Seemed like a nice mixup of the standard RAR bair.

I haven't been able to replicate it in training however. After the dash cancel I'm always too close to the ground to perform a bair. Can you elaborate?

 

[Heracr055]

Hi Hood. Do you have experience with Ryu in Street Fighter? If yes, does that experience with the character/Street Fighter in general really help playing him in Smash 4?
Smash is the only fighting franchise I've played. I'm considering getting SF 5 to gain a better understanding of Ryu and fighting game fundamentals; from there, I want to find what principles carry over to Smash 4.

 

[HoodedAltair]

Is there a way to slow Ryu's fall on the Down Air? I figure it would be holding Left stick up, but it doesn't seem to work well when I try it. Thanks in advance

slow the fall? Try using C-stick with the dair. Using buttons will make you fast fall at the same time if you're not careful. Besides that, the speed you fall is the speed you fall but I think what I said above is your problem .

 

[HoodedAltair]

Hey Hooded, in a recent match of yours (I think it was the recent set against Blue), I saw you do like a reverse rising FA which you pretty much immediately cancelled to land a bair. Seemed like a nice mixup of the standard RAR bair.

I haven't been able to replicate it in training however. After the dash cancel I'm always too close to the ground to perform a bair. Can you elaborate?

I really like FH Rising FA haha. You need to get it very quickly or frame perfectly. You can consistently do it frame perfectly by setting your trigger to jump so you can jump and hold down b at the same time. If not, just be VERY quick

 

[HoodedAltair]

Hi Hood. Do you have experience with Ryu in Street Fighter? If yes, does that experience with the character/Street Fighter in general really help playing him in Smash 4?
Smash is the only fighting franchise I've played. I'm considering getting SF 5 to gain a better understanding of Ryu and fighting game fundamentals; from there, I want to find what principles carry over to Smash 4.

I'm afraid I have no played Street Fighter. I think it most definitely would be very helpful for bringing to Ryu though I don't think you need to make yourself understand SF fundamentals first to play him. I'm still getting a handle on his pokes and whiff punishes which are common in SF play. Up to you really

 

[Four Leaf]

I heard trela and 9b quit ryu. Is that true? I hear trela is on cloud and 9b, bayonetta

 

[WD40]

I heard trela and 9b quit ryu. Is that true? I hear trela is on cloud and 9b, bayonetta

Trela just took a long break, think I saw he might be entering a tournament this weekend. No idea if he still intends to use Ryu. 9B has switched to Bayo, and he is getting far better and more consistent results than he ever did with Ryu.

 

[C0rvus]

What should I be labbing to get started and improve with Ryu? (Other than input specials, SRK has been a struggle but I know it's just something I need to sit in a match and hard drill.)
I am pretty interested in this character, as I feel like I as a player play better when responding to my opponent's pace, and I feel I have a decent understanding of footsies. I want to play to those strengths and body people. I also value non linear game play and being able to press my advantage, especially offstage. Would Ryu be a good fit for me?

 

[Joaco]

In your opinion, which are Ryu's bad matchups and why?

 

[HoodedAltair]

What should I be labbing to get started and improve with Ryu? (Other than input specials, SRK has been a struggle but I know it's just something I need to sit in a match and hard drill.)
I am pretty interested in this character, as I feel like I as a player play better when responding to my opponent's pace, and I feel I have a decent understanding of footsies. I want to play to those strengths and body people. I also value non linear game play and being able to press my advantage, especially offstage. Would Ryu be a good fit for me?

Sorry for the delayed reply. As far as pressing an advantage Ryu is definitely the man arguably having the best punish game behind Bayonetta. Pushing advantages offstage for him I'd say takes some getting used to since it's not so cut and dry as falcon's bait air dodge method but something to still be explored.

When labbing Ryu. Start with the quick combos. Make sure you can do them facing both directions and then practice them maybe after a roll, dropping shield, etc. Besides combos, inputs, and some techs, you won't be able to practice neutral in training mode so play other people for that experience. The more you play there, the more you'll understand pushing your advantage and making good decisions.

 

[HoodedAltair]

In your opinion, which are Ryu's bad matchups and why?

Sorry for the delayed response. Ryu's bad MUs as of now are diddy kong and villager and only by a 55/45 margin or better.

When fighting diddy kong, ryu is much slower on the ground then him allowing for him to run away and take out a banana. With a banana Diddy has a far more advantageous neutral then Ryu and if he confirms on hit or throw away, he'll get another banana. His aggro bursts can be overwhelming and banana's on the ground can disrupt Ryu's nuetral. On the other hand, Ryu can body his recovery, DSmash almost any spaced Fair on his shield for a 16% punish, and get a decent utilt lock to kill him early. It just comes down to who has a better neutral sometimes and diddy's is phenomenal with several thousand mixups. Ryu is not helpless by a long shot so do not give up hope on this being 50/50 because it surely is not out of reach. Ryu needs to have some dedicated reactionary responses to typical diddy mixups (like utilt spam to beat monkey flip, Dsmash to counter fair on shield) and the rest needs to be outplaying him and holding onto the stock.

Villager is a character I do not have much experience with but watching 9B vs Ranai often can get a good basis on how this could be in Ryu's disadvtage. Villager is designed as a character that does not need to approach to get a hitbox out quickly. He is the best wall character in the game and makes it difficult for Ryu to get in. What's good is the priority on Ryu's aerials let him outright beat most of his projectiles such as slingshot and lloid. Landing a kill on villager is troublesome for ryu as to confirm the shoryuken, he'll want to be in close while villager will try to run and evade the confirm.

For both of these MUs, I recommend tiny stages that will not give diddy room to get free bananas or let villager wall you out without losing stage control

There are TONS of even MUs for Ryu that can become bad. I'd allude to Pikachu, Mario, ZSS,and Bayonetta as possible contenders but as of now they remain even to most Ryu mains. Understand that our character is potential top 3 so my MU chart for him reflects that

 

[famedoro]

Hi Hooded, I'm watching a lot of yours and Trela's videos recently (and it's becoming better than porn ) and I noticed that you guys almost never do input shoryuken or input tatsumaki as a recover. I never do it too, but I am just a low player afraid of misclick and die, but do you feel there are situations where the optimal choice to recover is a true shoryuken due super armor? Or messing with gravity is always too risky to try it? By the way, did input tatsu has better frame of sideB or it's just a matter of damage?

 

[HoodedAltair]

Hi Hooded, I'm watching a lot of yours and Trela's videos recently (and it's becoming better than porn ) and I noticed that you guys almost never do input shoryuken or input tatsumaki as a recover. I never do it too, but I am just a low player afraid of misclick and die, but do you feel there are situations where the optimal choice to recover is a true shoryuken due super armor? Or messing with gravity is always too risky to try it? By the way, did input tatsu has better frame of sideB or it's just a matter of damage?

First off, input tatsu only influences damage which in turn influences knockback so the only time I'd use it recovering is if there was a slight chance someone would jump off and get hit the other way but the normal version wouldn't kill.....and that's an extremely rare situation I will probably never find myself in.

Now for shoryuken, you seem to be confused on what it gives you which is frame 1-6 invincibility not super armor. Frame 1-6 is not a very long time so the odds of it helping you are slim. Lets take for intance a MU with sonic where I've considered using it. When you shoryuken and sonic up b's to drop a spring on you, it will always intercept and beat ryu's shoryuken for whatever reason. I tried to use true shoryuken for this MU but having the invincibilty frames be only 1-6, it really does nothing to save you from it. The only time I'd use a true shory to recover at the moment is to escape an aerial pk fire I am stuck in from a ness edge guarding me. There might be more uses in the future so good on you for thinking about it

 

[famedoro]

Thank you for the answer HoodedAltair . We need to change one of the Ryu Guide in this forum because i'm pretty sure that there is said the Shoryuken has superarmor.

 

[-Tornado-]

Question - Are there any set-ups for a Jab-Lock U-Air (1st Hit)? Especially on platforms like Battlefield's?