Qwark28
Joker waiting room
Footsies is essentialy how you space yourself and the decisions you make while doing so.
The most basic part of footsies is walking, depending on where you're walking to you force your opponent and yourself in different situations.
the factor of Risk/Reward plays a huge part in footsies, many times I see people going to things that aren't worth the risk, here's an example.
scorpion vs cage, scorpion has no meter while cage has one bar, they're both at 20% hp.
considering a B2/F4 spear attempt could kill scorpion while a safer mixup will simply leave scorpion at 0/-4 on block after which scorpion can poke his way out pressure, the safer option is the best.
here's another one, scorpion vs cage, scorpion at the same hp, cage at 1%.
Extremely risky for Cage= jump, stay grounded.
Extremely risky for Scorpion= hellfire, jump
therefore the less risky choice for scorpion is to stay grounded and wait for cage to jump or otherwise hit him with a normal
Less situational example, player a vs player b, A with 20% hp B with 80% hp
player A should not waste meter because there is little chance to make it through. meter is life in this game, if it's waste on nothing then the next round will be extremely difficult, it's not worth the risk, in fact, if forced to be chipped to death player A should take all the hits to deny his opponent chip damage meter and take it for himself.
there another rule I live by when it comes to pokes, why poke first during pressure if I wanna beat someone elses? When I suspect that someone's gong to poke, instead of risk putting myself at - I crouch block and counter.
Spacing is important because it dictates the options you both have.
Liu kang's b312 is a great string, if someone tries to D1 and is slightly late liu kang can do a very short backdash into another b312 to force the D1 to whiff and punish it for full combo, the same thing happens with scorpions 111 pressure, scorpion usually punishes attempts to do anything after 111 by doing takedown, however, if one were to go for a riskier option, 111 on block sets up the perfect distance for a max range B2 which may actually go unpunished.
the both players abuse good spacing to smartly net combos.
The most basic part of footsies is walking, depending on where you're walking to you force your opponent and yourself in different situations.
the factor of Risk/Reward plays a huge part in footsies, many times I see people going to things that aren't worth the risk, here's an example.
RISK/REWARD
scorpion vs cage, scorpion has no meter while cage has one bar, they're both at 20% hp.
considering a B2/F4 spear attempt could kill scorpion while a safer mixup will simply leave scorpion at 0/-4 on block after which scorpion can poke his way out pressure, the safer option is the best.
here's another one, scorpion vs cage, scorpion at the same hp, cage at 1%.
Extremely risky for Cage= jump, stay grounded.
Extremely risky for Scorpion= hellfire, jump
therefore the less risky choice for scorpion is to stay grounded and wait for cage to jump or otherwise hit him with a normal
Less situational example, player a vs player b, A with 20% hp B with 80% hp
player A should not waste meter because there is little chance to make it through. meter is life in this game, if it's waste on nothing then the next round will be extremely difficult, it's not worth the risk, in fact, if forced to be chipped to death player A should take all the hits to deny his opponent chip damage meter and take it for himself.
there another rule I live by when it comes to pokes, why poke first during pressure if I wanna beat someone elses? When I suspect that someone's gong to poke, instead of risk putting myself at - I crouch block and counter.
SPACING
Spacing is important because it dictates the options you both have.
Liu kang's b312 is a great string, if someone tries to D1 and is slightly late liu kang can do a very short backdash into another b312 to force the D1 to whiff and punish it for full combo, the same thing happens with scorpions 111 pressure, scorpion usually punishes attempts to do anything after 111 by doing takedown, however, if one were to go for a riskier option, 111 on block sets up the perfect distance for a max range B2 which may actually go unpunished.
the both players abuse good spacing to smartly net combos.
A character has bad footsies
What does that mean? That means a character has no advancing strings or special moves than can manipulate someone into playing in a particular distance, these characters usually have no moves that are fast, safe or cover enough range to be considered useful.
A character with good footsies= Ermac
A character with bad footsies= Scorpion
Why has ermac good footsies? His push can force people into being cautious when approaching, when they move they must be careful of getting pushed back fullscreen, he also has an air blast that catches pokes and most normals while granting a free JIP to blockstring, that means people can't be careless when poking, approaching, throwing out strings, he has a perfect normal to compliment that move, F2, pushback, enough advantage to get an airblast out to check the opponent, it compliments his footsies.
Scorpion on the other hand doesn't have anything fast enough to force someone back or do anything more than bother him compared to what others can do, every option of his is risky, even the safe ones, jumpable, - on block with little reward, he has to expose himself more than the others to get the same or even less damage.
These footsie oriented moves, like jaxs dash punch, pose a threat within a range and must be respected, even if these moves are punishable, they still are still a constant threat in a determined space which forces people into looking out to avoid and punish them, perhaps putting them in a favourable for the user position, an example is someone approaching Ermac, if they come close enough they the risk of being thrown out fullscreen with 11% less HP, Ermac can use this hesitation to throw his opponent back fullscreen, a throw that has the range and spaces the victim well enough to compliment the push, the massacre with some of these moves begins in the corner where the moves are hard to punish for some characters therefore these moves can constantly check them for almost free.
WALKING
Walking back and forth is very important because it dictates whether you are in range to throw out a move that will get you closer or farther away from your opponent, an example with LK
Bad footsies= throwing out F12 and having it whiff right in front of the opponent when even finishing the string would whiff
Good footsies= spacing out F12 as to force your opponent to block it and get in
High lvl footsies= forcing your opponent to block F12 even as they're stepping back to avoid and perhaps whiff punish it anticipating the attempt to outspace you
It also lets you read your opponent, why keep going backwards with a zoner? the motion of walking forward is heavily linked to offensive movement, you can use that to make your opponent react defensively and walk back creating space for you and even letting you lower the timer before you hit the corner, throw out more moves or specials, build more meter, as well as, most importantly, know what to expect from the movement you see and adapt to punish your opponent.
But why walk? Doesn't a dash cover a larger distance faster?
dashing is fine but walking is better, you move at your own pace while when you dash the matchup probably requires rushed movement and decision making, walking doesn't commit you to not being able to block as you move but is also good to fish for reactions.
I probably forgot some things but I hope it lvls up those who are interested in footsies.
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