Zoidberg747
My blades will find your heart
There has been a lot of talk about some basic FG terms, and it has become apparent that 80% of the people on this site have absolutely no idea what they actually mean. So just to clear things up a little bit, I want to give a quick definition and then give ideas on how you can apply it to your Injustice gameplay.
Footsies
A lot of people like to talk about how there is "no footsies in Injustice" and how certain characters "have no footsies". This is a huge misconception, because there is footsies in EVERY fighting game, with EVERY character. So what exactly are "footsies"? Footsies refer to using safe attacks at mid range to bait reactions and punish those reactions. In a nutshell you are trying to get your opponent to do something that isnt safe, while remaining safe yourself.
How can I use this to improve my game?
Footsies are not something you can learn in training mode. The only way to learn them is to actually play against humans, whether online or offline. That being said, there are some things that might help your footsies that you can do in training mode. First, look at the frame data. You want to find the safest attacks you have with the most range. For example, Superman's F23 not only covers a lot of range, it can also be canceled into breath to be safe. Of course every character is not going to have such a great footsie tool, but that is just how it is. Other examples off the top of my head are Catwoman's b3, Hawkgirl's mace charge, Deathstroke's 3,2,3 string, etc.
But having the tool does not mean you are actually using footsies. So next time you find yourself
in a match, don't be so offensive. Instead of just doing F23 breath over and over, try waiting after you do one. If they try and jump, you can anti air, if they sit there blocking you hit them with another F23, if you backdash you can hit them with another F23. To play footsies you have to play more reactive and less full on offensive. Don't be fooled, EVERYONE in the game can do this, not just superman. I don't have time to list every character in the game, but if you have trouble figuring out something with your character PM either me or any other veterans around here to try and get an idea.
Zoning
There was a thread recently about how zoning is dead. That is, for lack of a better word, stupid. While zoning can involve projectiles, it doesn't necessarily have to. Zoning is controlling the match and being ready for all situations that could occur. It is a pretty broad term, and can apply to a lot of things. Spacing is key to good zoning. You have to know where to properly position yourself so you can counter your opponents effectively. You can use projectiles to zone, but you can also use positioning. If you keep your opponent cornered, you are zoning. If you are at a place where you can effectively anti air, you are zoning. The main thing about zoning is that it is not just chucking projectiles, that is a very very small part of it.
How can I use this to improve my game?
Zoning is a great tool for upping your game. You need to do a little prep first and learn a few things. A good place to start is your characters best AA, best ranged move, safest move, and range of all their specials. It also is a good idea to find combos that carry your opponent farther to the corner. Zoning becomes much easier when your opponent is cornered. However, your opponent does not have to be cornered for you to do this.
Say you know your character does not have a good AA. A lot of characters have this issue, and it has caused frustration for many players. However, you can use this to your advantage. If you see your opponent is about to jump, you can backdash on reaction and punish accordingly. You can also stay just outside of jump in range to bait jump ins and get even more devastating punishes. Same thing with most interactables, you can space out most of them(yes some of them are broke, not the point of this thread). You can also use projectiles to keep them fullscreen, use ranged moves to keep them cornered, or even use interactables to force them to stay out or go to the corner etc. Although some interactables seem braindead and scrubby, you can often times use them to more effectively control the match.
Push Block
People severely underestimate this tool and don't really understand the usefulness of it. So for those who don't know, pushblocking is the act of spending one bar of meter by pressing MB after a successful block, which pushes your opponent about one dash distance away and puts you both in a neutral situation.
How can I use this to improve my game?
There are a number of ways to use this in your gameplay. Push block is a universal, GTFO me tool. The push block is used differently by different characters. For zoning characters, it gives a crucial backdash and more space. From here you can continue to control the match(see what zoning is above).
However rushdown characters can use this too. Say you are rushing in and you get your string blocked. If you know you are safe(-5 or above) you know your opponent is probably going to counter in some way like a poke or fast attack. If you read this and block it you can push block. Now you may be wondering, why would you purposefully set all this up? Push blocking can push your opponent towards the corner. Basically you can use it to setup corner pressure. Additionally, you can use it to get other rushdown characters off of you for obvious reasons.
Every character can use this in certain situations, regardless of playstyle. If you are playing against a Catwoman, Batgirl, KF, or other 50/50 character, push block can be vital. If you block the 50/50 right, these characters are usually safe and can continue the 50/50 in some way. However, push block can force them back out into a neutral situation. While some may say it is easy to get back in, that is the point. You know how they are going to get in(Catwoman b3, KF Slide, etc.) and can now defend against it. I could go on but long story short, push block takes the control away from them and gives it to you.
Okizeme
Okizeme is pressuring or attacking an opponent on the ground or rising off of the ground. The term was created mainly referring to 3D fighters as many of them give the player the ability to actually attack an opponent on the ground(and have them actually hit). Even though you can't do that in 2D fighters, 2D fighters do have their own Oki games, usually involving baiting wakeup attacks and circumventing wakeups in other ways.
How can I use this to improve my game?
The most obvious okizeme in this game is interactables. If you knock them down and throw an interactable it will damage them. This is the only way traditional okizeme applies to Injustice. Other than interactables, you cannot actually damage a grounded opponent. Additionally, players can immediately rise in a blocking state(if you poke someone who blocks low they stand up and block low), and can wakeup attack which negate all oki pressure.
There are a number of ways to circumvent these wakeup attacks and tech rolls. The first is to prevent the opponent from doing these at all by ending your combo leaving them standing(i.e a reset). Examples of this include green lantern's d1 reset, KF's trait grab(I think?
). If you leave the opponent standing you obviously preventing them from waking up. Certain characters also have attacks that you can use on a grounded opponent to stand them back up(otherwise known as an OTG). These are character specific and I do not know any of them honestly.
). If you leave the opponent standing you obviously preventing them from waking up. Certain characters also have attacks that you can use on a grounded opponent to stand them back up(otherwise known as an OTG). These are character specific and I do not know any of them honestly.
If your character does not have any of these, there are some universal ways to deal with wakeups. Firstly, you could just bait the wakeup. Some characters only effective wakeup option is unsafe and can be punished. Although some are safe, which is where armor comes in. If you know your opponent likes to wakeup all the time, you can armor through them. Universally everyone can MB B3/F3. To prevent tech rolls, you need to get a hard knockdown(or a Splat). Universally everyone can do this by hitting a F3 after a B3(or b3 after F3, depends on character). If you want character specific stuff, let me know.
Fuzzy Guarding
This one is kind of hard to explain...so bare with me. Certain attacks in fighters must be blocked two/three different ways in rapid succession. For example, in Injustice Green Arrow has a string that hits overhead, low, overhead, in which you must constantly switch from blocking high to low to high again. One way to do this is called fuzzy guarding, where you simply take the stick from high block, to low block quickly(almost tapping it) and back to high block. The thing about fuzzy guarding is you can make certain moves that would whiff on crouching actually hit you, which is where strategy comes in. if nothing else think of it as switching from low block to high block quickly and easily.
How can I use this to improve my game?
There are some strings/moves in the game that require the use of fuzzy blocking. For example Doomsday's earth shake has to be blocked overhead/low very quickly. To do this you have to block the high and shift your stick low in rapid succession. This makes the move very hard to defend against unless you can fuzzy guard it.
Outside of the few times you absolutely need it, there are a couple of other uses for it. For example, if you fuzzy guard a string you can block a high that would whiff on crouch. A lot of moves have less recovery on whiff than on block. This can make your opponents moves unsafe and open you up for a punish.
Fuzzy guarding is mainly just a way to improve your defense, as it allows you to defend against mixups more easily and can make your opponent unsafe. The only problem is you have to know which way to block the moves, so like I said this takes practice as well as knowledge of what moves hit high/low/overhead/mid.
