i have been looking already and noticed the term hit confirm. what is that? From wht it sound like, it sound like the fighter has to hit the other fighter before the next move can be perform am i right?
Hit confirming is a term we use to describe whether or not you should continue a combo past its initial starters(sometimes called pokes or testers)based on whether your opponent is blocking or being hit. Knowing your characters frame data and which strings are safe or unsafe is vital to being able to properly hit confirm. Knowing which of your strings are advantage or disadvantage on block is also essential. Let me define these terms as well
Safe - When a move is "safe" it means that your opponent after blocking your attack cannot punish you with any of his attacks before you will be able to block. When it comes to hit confirming the strings that are safe on block are often some of the best ones to use because if your opponent blocks them you will always be able to block any counter attack they try to hit you with in return.
Conversly, if a move or string is unsafe it means your opponent can punish you with at least something in his arsenal before you are able to block. Some moves for instance may be generally safe but may be punishable by fast super moves(see Superman lol) or other special attacks you wouldnt normally have to worry about. Some strings can also be just downright unsafe always and against everyone and everything. Its important to find out which moves you have that are safe and unsafe. Generally speaking safe attacks are better than unsafe attacks and you usually want to start your offense with safe attacks as you test your opponents defense. If you hit them you can visually confirm this and continue with the rest of the combo.
Advantage - This word is directly tied into knowing your characters frame data. Fighting games today typically run at 60 frames per second. What that means is that for every second of real time 60 frames of animation happen in game. Each move your character has takes a certain amount of frames to come out(we call this start up), a certain amount of frames where the move is active, and a certain amount of frames for the move to recover(recovery is the amount of time after a moves active frames have ended but before you are able to perform any other move, including blocking, with your character)
Moves also cause a certain amount of what is called "Hit stun" or "block stun" to your opponent. Either type of stun basically yields the same effect to your opponent which is that they are not in control of theyre character until the stun is over.
The amount of block stun a move generates directly translates to whether the move is advantage of disadvantage on block. Its actually very simple even though Im sure im making this sound way to complicated(my apologies for that, if I could say it simpler, I would lol)
Put simply, if a moves block stun is greater than the moves recovery it is advantage on block. If the moves block stun is less than the moves recovery it is disadvantage on block.
Alot of people confuse advantage/disadvantage and safe/unsafe. They arent nessecarily the same thing. For instance a move can be disadvantage on block, but still be safe on block. However a move can never be advantage on block but be unsafe. Finding out which of your moves are advantage on block is essential because even if blocked they leave you at plus frames, thus making it easier for you to continue your offense. Pure rushdown characters such as Nightwing lets say, often have alot of moves that are advantage(sometimes called "plus" on block). In fact Im not sure if Nightwing players even need to know what the word "disadvantage" means lol
Not all moves are hit confirmable and not all of them are the same level of difficulty to hit confirm. Generally the longer the string, the easier it is to hit confirm because the more hits it in the string the easier it is for you to see if the opening attack or two has hit or been blocked. Also its important to know what your confirming in a block string.
Il use Green Lanterns 2,2,3 (or medium,medium,hard) string as an example. 2,2,3 is safe on block so I have no problem just throwing it out there because I cannot be punished for it(as long as it doesnt whiff of course) because it is only minus 1 on block(So the move is disadvantage, but only by 1 frame so it is still safe on block because there are no 1 frame moves in the game,(not even Supermans Super lol)
Now when I attack my opponent Im watching what he does, specifically Im watching the first two attacks 2,2. By seeing whether he blocks or gets hit by 2,2 I have enough time to "hit confirm" during the final hit of the string, the 3. Your brain needs a certain amount of time to process what youve seen and make a decision, thats why its always good to leave yourself a move to give you that time to hit confirm. So when I throw out 2,2,3 I am only making my hit confirm decision based on whether he blocks or gets hit by 2,2. The third hit of the string is used to make my decision based on whether he blocked or was hit by 2,2.
So if he gets hit by 2,2,3 i can continue the combo into Lanterns might, meter burn, full combo blah blah and so forth. If he blocks 2,2,3 I can cancel into Green Lanterns minigun instead and push my opponent away from me, while still being relatively safe.
Now occasionally something like this will happen, your opponent will block 2,2 but get hit by the last hit, for whatever reason they just let go of block. Very few players could hit confirm something like this. So you couldnt be expected to know to go into a full combo based on only the last hit of the string(at least I cant react that fast, maybe Diago could, but I cant lol) So you end up not getting to go into a full combo even though the last hit of the string hit him. Yea that sucks, but at least you were practicing good hit confirming and in the long run that will serve you much better than the one lost combo you missed out on for being a safe hit confirmer.
Also be sure to check out all the move lists and frame data your character has. Its all listed in game in the pause menu under "move list" Be aware however that some of the frame data in the game is wrong. Not alot but some. It is mostly on some multihitting moves.
good luck.
it did help though
