Any tips on how to master Smoke’s BF3 cancel from 2 hit strings? PS controller

[Space_Captain_J]

I’ve been practicing the BF3 cancel from strings for 6 hours and haven’t landed it once into 3,2.

What’s the catch here ?
I feel like this cancel window is way too strict especially for a bnb starter, harder than Jax’s Quad grab KB from MK11. Is there any reason they made this so strict?

meanwhile most characters don’t have a bnb starter this tight

 

[John Grizzly]

I've only played Smoke while doing his combo trials, but I was able to clear them fairly easily, including the one that uses his cancel.

Basically, don't think of the cancel input as something you do after his B,F3 - think of it as all one input together. So basically, as soon as you're hitting 3, instantly hit Back. Once you get that part down, the timing on the 3,2 after isn't too bad. If you're not seeing the cancel, you're basically just doing the input on the Back portion too slow.

Hope this helps.

 

[Juggs]

Yeah the timing is definitely a bit strict, you have to be precise with it. You essentially have to do the cancel the moment the bf3 animation starts. Which means the timing is technically different based on if you’re doing it raw vs what strings you do it out of. I started practicing with online input delay enabled, and thought the cancels would be next to impossible, but ironically they were actually easier to do for me for some reason.

Anyway, once you get the timing down, it’s still something you’re going to have to practice a ton. The more and more you practice it, the easier it’s gonna get. You definitely don’t want to be thinking about execution in a match, it should be muscle memory so that you can focus on thinking about the match.

 

[shotgunsurgery]

While true with a naked bf3, that doesn't work for me when canceling from a string into a bf3. What I find works best is to wait for the bf3 animation to start before I input the cancel. Also, learning the audio cues for the different setup strings really helped. I think it depends how early you commit to it after inputting the string, but I tend to yolo it, so...

Edit: that was in response to "as soon as you're hitting 3, instantly hit Back" but Juggs posted 2 frames earlier than me.

 

[Space_Captain_J]

While true with a naked bf3, that doesn't work for me when canceling from a string into a bf3. What I find works best is to wait for the bf3 animation to start before I input the cancel. Also, learning the audio cues for the different setup strings really helped. I think it depends how early you commit to it after inputting the string, but I tend to yolo it, so...

Edit: that was in response to "as soon as you're hitting 3, instantly hit Back" but Juggs posted 2 frames earlier than me.

Been practicing and I can do it somewhat consistently now. Thank you

 

[Juggs]

I found a good way to practice it is to set the AI to block all, and just practice doing strings into the cancel. It has helped me a lot. But I also have offline input delay on. Which you’d think would mess you up when you play offline, but for me, it helps. It’s like in DBZ when they throw off their training clothes that weigh a ton, lol.

Anyway, here’s me practicing the cancels on block as I said. I try to mix up which string I use in succession so I’m not just doing the same timing over and over.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1705188545458057429

 

[Cobainevermind87]

One important thing to keep in mind here is that the timing of the cancel is different depending on which string you're cancelling into bf3 from. If you're cancelling after a f12, the cancel window comes much earlier than if you were cancelling from f32. There is no universal window

 

[shotgunsurgery]

One important thing to keep in mind here is that the timing of the cancel is different depending on which string you're cancelling into bf3 from. If you're cancelling after a f12, the cancel window comes much earlier than if you were cancelling from f32. There is no universal window

Yeah, good point. I've been practicing cancelling into it from just F3 (to mix things up and because there's a gap in F3, 2) and the timing is BRUTAL.

 

[Cobainevermind87]

Yeah, good point. I've been practicing cancelling into it from just F3 (to mix things up and because there's a gap in F3, 2) and the timing is BRUTAL.

Yes that one requires an instant cancel

 

[Krankk]

Different strings lead to different results. For example I don't think that you get anything after 212 into Smoke Port Cancel. F32 Port Cancel works with 32 afterwards. But it's harder than F12 into cancel into 32 which seems to be the easiest way. B2 into Port Cancel is also easy compared to F32, but requires faster inputs because the Port comes out faster obviously.

The hardest part is connecting the 32 afterwards in general, but that's really just spamming it after a successful cancel. It doesn't require any timing whatsoever.

What I'm more concerned about is the insane damage scaling which results in lower combo damage. For example, 32 into 32 into 112 does 33% damage. F12 into Port Cancel into 32 into 32 into 112 does 32% damage. So you actually do less damage for way harder inputs. But obviously you don't always get to land 32 in neutral so there is that.

 

[Vslayer]

Alright I figured it out, problem is people aren't explaining it right because they might not realize you're doing this, but if you're buffering the cancel during the string because you input it too quick it won't work. You cannot buffer the cancel during the string you're trying to cancel out of, you absolutely have to wait until you see him turn to smoke, then you hit that back block. The 'timing' is different for every string refers to that, because the special will come out quicker on some strings, for example, F21 is quicker than F32. But once you know what to look out for, me it's the visual queue, then you'll get it everytime.

Hope that helps.

 

[Krankk]

F21 is quicker than F32.

It's not just quicker but it's also easier to link the 32 afterwards. Same with B2 and F12 (which is the one I like doing the most, because it seems to be the most consistent one. It's as if the quicker / shorter the starting string is, the more room it gives you with the 32 after the cancel. Might be just my imagination though.

And call me crazy, but it really becomes a "feeling" of when to cancel instead of waiting for him to port and then reacting to that. No one is going to cancel on reaction. It's about lining those up and the feel carries over from one string to another.

And once again, people really need to pay attention what they do after the cancel, because if your opponent messed up to a point where you can land a raw 32 and start the combo with that, you'll end up doing WAAAY more damage. As I said before: 32,32,112 does more damage than F12, Port Cancel, 32, 32, 112.

Edit: And I'm really new and fresh to fighting games. Have been following them for a long time but this is the first time I'm trying to learn execution and combos. And if I can land +50 Smoke Combos and Smoke Port Cancels, then everyone can. Because I'm a literal idiot.

 

[Vslayer]

It's not just about the feeling, there are very obvious visual and audio queues to react to it for the learning process part. Understanding what to do on block vs on hit is a whole other story. But simply for getting the cancel to come out, I think understanding you can't buffer and using the visual and audio queues is critical to learning it.

 

[Juggs]

Alright I figured it out, problem is people aren't explaining it right because they might not realize you're doing this, but if you're buffering the cancel during the string because you input it too quick it won't work. You cannot buffer the cancel during the string you're trying to cancel out of, you absolutely have to wait until you see him turn to smoke, then you hit that back block. The 'timing' is different for every string refers to that, because the special will come out quicker on some strings, for example, F21 is quicker than F32. But once you know what to look out for, me it's the visual queue, then you'll get it everytime.

Hope that helps.

I’ve explained this exact thing multiple times, lol. Like in post #3 in this thread. Also explained it in other threads I believe.

 

[Kindred]

With practice I ended up landing but I keep inadvertently using meter when I cancel...anybody else have this problem?

 

[Vslayer]

I’ve explained this exact thing multiple times, lol. Like in post #3 in this thread. Also explained it in other threads I believe.

oh woops lmfao my bad, dunno why it never clicked in my brain until I did it.

 

[Vslayer]

With practice I ended up landing but I keep inadvertently using meter when I cancel...anybody else have this problem?

Sounds like you're pressing the cancel too quick

 

[Kindred]

Sounds like you're pressing the cancel too quick

Yea my timing is off. Giving away bar as if I have an infinite meter lol