THTB
Arez | Booya | Riu48 - Rest Easy, Friends
First, before anything, if anyone can guess the meaning of my thread's title, you get an e-cookie. ;3
Anyway, dunno if all of you have been reading my latest posts concerning Reptile in various threads, but if you have, you already know I have this character in my top 10 again, as well as why I feel so. But to save the search for why I feel so again, I'll leave it to this thread.
My last essay in these forums dealt with my labwork and whatnot. We've established the importance of some of Reptile's options, but I still wasn't sure myself on how to best play Reptile. But now, I think I can say I have a more concrete grasp on it.
The way I see it, Reptile doesn't excel at rushdown, he doesn't excel at keeping opponents out, and he doesn't excel at pure footsies. What he does do that is effective, though, is play a really dangerous yet complex counter-zone game. When I play Reptile, I'm not playing to advance in to pressure, nor am I playing to get projectiles out faster than you. But rather, I'm playing to go against your zoning and counter-zoning attempts, and to put you out of your comfort zone entirely.
All of Reptile's tools perfectly fit this particular mold, and I'll break down entirely how this works. Let's start with spit...basic projectile, travels very fast despite the slow startup, high hitbox, making it difficult to jump, but easy to duck under. Frame data-wise, the projectile isn't that fast on startup, but recovery isn't awful either. What it's great at doing is setting up trades. These trades are vital because it allows Reptile the opportunity to elbow in and put the opponent at risk for a jump-in combo should they commit to a projectile again. This in turn can set up opportunities to sneak in forceballs, which allow Reptile to elbow in and, if close enough, go for short bursts of pressure to build up some meter or deal chunks of damage...or opt to stay out and force out an anti-projectile attack from the opponent while still building meter. And in situations where it's difficult to get his projectiles on screen, he has options still! Slide works vs most projectiles, and elbow on whiff works to inch forward, even without a projectile...and in some cases it punishes the projectile safely. So in a lot of cases, he can still play this counter-zoning game even if you strip him of the major tools. And this all spills over into knockdowns, too, as Reptile has numerous options to make you think twice about what you do while on your ass, whether it's fucking up your inputs or making you think he'll stay back or get in your face.
Now, what makes this strong is Reptile's game becomes 1000x better when he gets the meter he's building by making you uncomfortable doing your thing. At this point, he can do a lot more things a lot more efficiently, and becomes all-around better. So long as Reptile has a bar, you're at the mercy of him having a solution to just about anything you can try. He wants to control a fuckton of space? EX SFB, followed by other projectiles. Need a quick and easy life lead? EX slide to take the projectile and do more damage in the process. Can't whiff elbow? EX spit to push them outta there, or EX elbow to get in with advantage and force the opponent to commit to scouting it.
So yeah, this is good stuff. The main reason I have this philosophy is because I've come to notice, Reptile doesn't get his damage by peppering you with pressure or constantly keeping you out...but when you play like what I wrote, he sets up a lot of damage and builds tons of meter in the process, which gives him access to more options if he isn't at a spot he wants to be. Through methodical play, Reptile is extremely capable of controlling the pace and forcing out big mistakes.
But alas, this all requires good reading skills, as you can't force out situations if you aren't aware of everything. I think this is what pushes Reptile to top 10. There's only a small group of characters Reptile CAN'T apply this all to.
Anyway, dunno if all of you have been reading my latest posts concerning Reptile in various threads, but if you have, you already know I have this character in my top 10 again, as well as why I feel so. But to save the search for why I feel so again, I'll leave it to this thread.
My last essay in these forums dealt with my labwork and whatnot. We've established the importance of some of Reptile's options, but I still wasn't sure myself on how to best play Reptile. But now, I think I can say I have a more concrete grasp on it.
The way I see it, Reptile doesn't excel at rushdown, he doesn't excel at keeping opponents out, and he doesn't excel at pure footsies. What he does do that is effective, though, is play a really dangerous yet complex counter-zone game. When I play Reptile, I'm not playing to advance in to pressure, nor am I playing to get projectiles out faster than you. But rather, I'm playing to go against your zoning and counter-zoning attempts, and to put you out of your comfort zone entirely.
All of Reptile's tools perfectly fit this particular mold, and I'll break down entirely how this works. Let's start with spit...basic projectile, travels very fast despite the slow startup, high hitbox, making it difficult to jump, but easy to duck under. Frame data-wise, the projectile isn't that fast on startup, but recovery isn't awful either. What it's great at doing is setting up trades. These trades are vital because it allows Reptile the opportunity to elbow in and put the opponent at risk for a jump-in combo should they commit to a projectile again. This in turn can set up opportunities to sneak in forceballs, which allow Reptile to elbow in and, if close enough, go for short bursts of pressure to build up some meter or deal chunks of damage...or opt to stay out and force out an anti-projectile attack from the opponent while still building meter. And in situations where it's difficult to get his projectiles on screen, he has options still! Slide works vs most projectiles, and elbow on whiff works to inch forward, even without a projectile...and in some cases it punishes the projectile safely. So in a lot of cases, he can still play this counter-zoning game even if you strip him of the major tools. And this all spills over into knockdowns, too, as Reptile has numerous options to make you think twice about what you do while on your ass, whether it's fucking up your inputs or making you think he'll stay back or get in your face.
Now, what makes this strong is Reptile's game becomes 1000x better when he gets the meter he's building by making you uncomfortable doing your thing. At this point, he can do a lot more things a lot more efficiently, and becomes all-around better. So long as Reptile has a bar, you're at the mercy of him having a solution to just about anything you can try. He wants to control a fuckton of space? EX SFB, followed by other projectiles. Need a quick and easy life lead? EX slide to take the projectile and do more damage in the process. Can't whiff elbow? EX spit to push them outta there, or EX elbow to get in with advantage and force the opponent to commit to scouting it.
So yeah, this is good stuff. The main reason I have this philosophy is because I've come to notice, Reptile doesn't get his damage by peppering you with pressure or constantly keeping you out...but when you play like what I wrote, he sets up a lot of damage and builds tons of meter in the process, which gives him access to more options if he isn't at a spot he wants to be. Through methodical play, Reptile is extremely capable of controlling the pace and forcing out big mistakes.
But alas, this all requires good reading skills, as you can't force out situations if you aren't aware of everything. I think this is what pushes Reptile to top 10. There's only a small group of characters Reptile CAN'T apply this all to.
elbow just for assuming.
