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Discouraged after going online.

Tonight was my first foray into online after practicing for about a week with Kenshi, and I got absolutely trounced. I didn't know how to block anything, and the few times where I managed to hit the opponent, I choked and couldn't land my full combo.

Any tips on how to improve before I go back online? I can practice combos and not choking, but my main issue is with blocking attacks and knowing when I can start up my own offense.
 

Undeadjim

Green Lantern Corps.
My best advice is if possible find some people around you're level and play together and learn together. This is kinda how I got better with Injustice and the people around me got better as well, you get a better understanding a development of fundamentals playing around your level early on IMO. But if you're from the UK or don't mind some laggy lessons on xbox add me up.

PSN: Undeadjim
Xbox: Undeadjim
 

Ryncage

Noob
I'm on PC.

Is going into single fight a good way to train?
Stop being afraid of losing.

Find a really good player and get your ass beat relentlessly. The only way you get better at blocking is by learning the matchup, and getting whooped on is a faster teacher than labbing and learning every character at a high level on your own.
I personally play against as many "0%" chance to wins as i can for just that reason. Having a bad w/l ratio is also a good thing because people will be less afraid to match with you.

The only time i go into lab is if a certain combo wrecked my shit 24/7 during a match and i want to know the exact data on it (frames, high, mid, low, ext. )

Stop getting so high strung and wigged out online. It aint a big deal. You have to play online to get good online. No two other ways about it. Especially if we are taalkin about laggy matches.
 

chrisisnice

I'm a lover, not a fighter
My best advice is if possible find some people around you're level and play together and learn together. This is kinda how I got better with Injustice and the people around me got better as well, you get a better understanding a development of fundamentals playing around your level early on IMO. But if you're from the UK or don't mind some laggy lessons on xbox add me up.

PSN: Undeadjim
Xbox: Undeadjim
I tend to agree with this. Go for someone around your level or just a little better than you. this way you can practice basics together and have fun.

People always say to play against the best players. I think this is useless initially. There is nothing helpful about getting killed by two or three combos within 10 seconds of the round starting - you learn nothing from that and usually have no idea what is going on / what happened as it is just too quick. It gets disheartening and a little boring. At least when playing with other people at your level, you will learn things like blocking and basic strings etc without getting completely blown up. Having a competitive match is also more fun and you can try your hand at a few characters before settling on your mains. After you are doing ok, THEN play more advanced people where you can utilise what you have learnt in a higher pressure environment. You may get your ass kicked. but you will at lease know why.

Also, don't assume that the character / variation you are good with offline or in practice mode will work online. I play Kobu Tanya offline about 80% of the time, but online I am TERRIBLE and lose pretty much every game. When online I will go Pyro as I play this variation a little better against other people.
 

Redux

Ex Phase
Try and have people on your friends list to play sets with that don't abuse online garbage. In my experience about half of the people online try to abuse shit you would never see elsewhere (on ranked mostly). Player matches is where it's at since you're more likely to get runbacks if you keep hitting that rematch button and you will learn more that way.

Combo timing is odd so you need to play a bit to get used to it. I struggled a bit at first because I would wait to visually see stuff happen on the screen so input your combos from memory as there is delay in inputs.
 

Ryncage

Noob
Chris i have to disagree.
Playing the best players is only benefitial overall. Its less time youll spend slowly climbing your way up in skill, always thinking the last guy you played was as good as it gets.
Having a guy put a character to the best of its abilities up against you allows you to know what tendencies to look out for in that character. You need to not only respect s character in combat but also know how much you need to respect the guy using it. If you arent understanding how a high level player is blowing you up, pick up the character in lab or watch your match replay.

Even if your totally new to foghting games in general, seeing the maximum potential of character is showing you just how good you can get, and what to strive for. As well as how you have to play against it, and what making a mostake actually means for you as a player.

Proper footsies and punishing bad spacing isnt somthing youll figure out play the "slightly better than me" kinda players.

Matches that are very close games are generally the matches i learn the least from.
 

themagiccan2

Apprentice
Watch other people play, preferably tournaments if you don't already. It's not stressful and you can learn how to block by visual learning.
 

BMartin

Has no idea
I highly recommend watching Sajam's series of character breakdowns. Really helps with understanding what you're up against and what to look out for
 

Rampage254

Ayy Lmao
Don't feel bad about dropping combos online, the netcode tends to be that bad. Online is basically a different game than offline.
 

sling1414

Apprentice
Best advice I can give is to find a character you absolutely love, doesn't matter how good you are with them at the moment, and just keep playing, don't be afraid of losing, you'll get better over time
 

JesterSMX

It's too laggy to poke...
If I'm learning a new character, I play the endless tower to commit what I've practiced in the lab to muscle memory. There's no fear of losing and you learn how your character's move set interacts with other characters. Also watch as many tournaments as possible to see the strategies of top players that then become adopted by the majority of the community.
 

SamZ

Noob
I was in the same boat a few months ago. I'm still not very good, but getting better. Best advice I can give, find some people on here or locally that are willing to help you. Playing random matches in ranked will just be frustrating, and you probably wont learn much. As soon as I started seeking help from good players I started getting better.
 

Enexemander

A Hitbox Pirate - YARRR -
I'll echo what other people have said and say that the best way to train is to find a buddy and grind out matches while talking to each other. It's really helpful when your opponent is willing to share what he's doing and what you can do about it. Like, if you keep getting hit by a string, having a friendly "Hey man, that's an overhead." moves the meta along a lot faster than just losing to it and trying to pick up the pieces of why later.

Aside from that, I would say use practice mode efficiently. Keep the AI moving when you practice combos, and try to do your set ups off a run or dash so you just get more used to a fluid game. I'll pimp this guide every chance I get because it's helped me a lot: http://testyourmight.com/threads/the-absolute-beginners-guide-to-commando-kano.55270/ . After that, just set the AI to "Hard" in practice with any match up you're having trouble with and just play for a while.

I also play on PC and I'm far from great. Feel free to add me and we can grind out some games.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Enexemander
 

DeftMonk

Warrior
You can add me on steam (djdeftmonk), ill be glad to help. The only problem is I am located in Hong Kong so connection might be crap lol. As far as tips I would say this: if some character is wrecking you go into practice and learn his combos (what hits low what hits overhead etc). For instance Liu has a combo starter with a low on the first hit and another with overhead on 3rd hit. So, if someone runs up on you and is about to apply pressure it makes sense to block....you guessed it: low for the first hit and wait to see the string. You might need to stand to prepare for the overhead if its coming. After you get a basic sense of this....go into the classic tower mode and play on hard or above. they will pressure you like mad and make you learn to block and/or pressure back.
edit: to be clear playing other players is the best way to learn because AI is not at all like a human. They dont have much of a thought process or plan just reactions more or less. I just reccomended the towers because you might feel less down about CPU poundin on ya :p
 
I highly recommend watching Sajam's series of character breakdowns. Really helps with understanding what you're up against and what to look out for
Thanks, I'll be sure to watch these videos a lot.

Aside from that, I would say use practice mode efficiently. Keep the AI moving when you practice combos, and try to do your set ups off a run or dash so you just get more used to a fluid game. I'll pimp this guide every chance I get because it's helped me a lot: http://testyourmight.com/threads/the-absolute-beginners-guide-to-commando-kano.55270/ . After that, just set the AI to "Hard" in practice with any match up you're having trouble with and just play for a while.

I also play on PC and I'm far from great. Feel free to add me and we can grind out some games.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Enexemander
That guide is REALLY good. I wish there was a write-up like that for Lao...

Incidentally, is there any guide out there like this, that explains the super-basics for fighting games?

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. Back to the lab/tower for me, I suppose.
 

vcuzzo23

Looking for the MAWWPP Bucket!
Try not to worry about losing. Everyone says it because you have to lose to get better. Playing sets of games in rooms or just player matches is way more beneficial then just playing ranked. You will pick up the match up for that character alot faster. I know I never decline an opponent. Idc if I got a 0 percent chance of winning i still play them for the experience. You will get better for sure, just put in the time in practice and play opponents near or above your level. Stay calm and try to take something from each match you play.
 
I just went online to see, how fast i will lose, and i was proud of hitting my opponent that was, poking me, like i could do on mk9 but i learnt from it.
I preferer playing versus a opponent that will beat for sure, but with a good ping though.
Then I beat someone, be willing to lose, and it's okay.
In anycase, i'm from Europe, if you want to play.