Question Bane's Strategy

[Eminent]

I know this might be a little early but I don't really know what I'm doing with Bane. I've never played a character like this before in a fighting game.

When I get in close I find myself going for d1 a lot and the unblockable throw (which gets beat out by opponents faster attacks). I don't know when to use (or not use) Venom. If anybody has found any success with Bane can you give me advice on:
1) How to get in
2) What to do once you're in
3) Venom management

If anybody can help me with this I'd really appreciate it. I know it's day 1 but right now I feel like I'm floundering

 

[Qwark28]

D1 ~ double punch is your go to pressure option, once they respect that you can do other things like D1 B23 combo starter

if you say your command grabs beaten by faster attacks why not sure venom to armour it?
his fullscreen dash is unpunishable by many chars and receives armour after venom

 

[SUPARNOVAX]

Venom is something you want to use to finish your combos a bit higher and it's something you want to preload before using Bane's specials since it armors them.

 

[HungryforPasta]

ya after seeing players play the game at a semi competent level last night
it seems one of the most valuable tools that a character can have in this game is a special with armor or invincibility of some kind to use to interrupt strings cancelled into specials

take superman's 22 xx super breath for example

crap is safe on block and easily abusable against most of the cast.
Solomon Grundy has an armored running bear grab that can blow right through it for free!
That's huge!!!

It's a special that will shut up a great deal of crap and will force the opponent to use a little more of their brain cells when pressuring you

Considering that bane can get armor on of his specials with normals and seeing as Bane's running command grab is faster than grundies, it's a tool that will eventually evolve to become something pretty special.

Both as an interrupter and as pressure to blow through mashed normals on wake up.



I still think Bane is going to get assed out pretty hard though in lots of matches regardless...

 

[HungryforPasta]

His main fuckin problem at this point I think is that the asshole ALWAYS puts himself at mid to full screen and is virtually never at a beefy frame advantage to ever get any pressure going...

His shoulder slam/Ex leaves him at pitiful frame advantage so I don't feel adequately rewarded for making reads and punishing stuff...
If his pay off was better than I'd place Bane in much higher regard

but maybe i'm missing something... it's too early to tell
but playing Bane with the expectations of a regular grappler is Rage inducing
without a doubt he either sucks or is meant to be played completely differently, the problem is figuring it out...

 

[AA25Mamba]

The getting in part is proving difficult to me. I know the body slam jump move has a large hitbox and can create some cross ups. Other than that, I'm not sure. My other ideas are the double punch or lucho punch.

 

[shad0ki11er 27]

His main fuckin problem at this point I think is that the asshole ALWAYS puts himself at mid to full screen and is virtually never at a beefy frame advantage to ever get any pressure going...

His shoulder slam/Ex leaves him at pitiful frame advantage so I don't feel adequately rewarded for making reads and punishing stuff...
If his pay off was better than I'd place Bane in much higher regard

but maybe i'm missing something... it's too early to tell
but playing Bane with the expectations of a regular grappler is Rage inducing
without a doubt he either sucks or is meant to be played completely differently, the problem is figuring it out...

not all of his combos put them that far it depends how you are ending his combos

 

[SUPARNOVAX]

Bane has a handful of good ways to end his combos from what I've played with:

There are 2-3 enders for D,b+L (air grab) that toss people across the stage. This is useful for bringing them back toward the wall.
B,f+M (double punch) with meter burn ender is a great wall carry to keep pressure.
Backbreaker D,b,f+A with meter burn... if you're not facing the wall you can hold back and it will yank them behind Bane toward the wall after the backbreaker animation.

And a lot of times the strings starting with Light will whiff because they're ducking which is the stupidest design ever especially since you hit them already and the attack is supposed to give you enough hit stun.

 

[Limelights]

Be careful with the venom usage, unless you're completely dominating your opponent you will take massive damage after the venom wears off if you used three stacks. It sounds obvious, sure we all know how the trait works, but try to resort to multiple venom usages if you need to overcome a deficit. If you're behind and you finally got your opponent in a corner, then I would pop the Venom and try to dish out as much as possible before it wears off.

As far as the execution in online matches goes, everyone has the same problem when they pick up a new character. Just pick one starter into your combo and use only a few special moves. Once your mind can react to the situation and you get the muscle memory going you can add more to your arsenal as you see fit. For example when I picked up Bane I only did either d1, jid3 into b2,1 or 1,2,3 (as starters) and double punch. Sure you will lose matches, but it's the best way to progress.

 

[HungryforPasta]

Sure you will lose matches, but it's the best way to progress.

Bravo, that's a philosophy/mind set that lots of players would do well to look into...
Learning a character or a whole game is something that takes ALOT of time and if one is too bent on NOT LOSING while at the same time trying to learn stuff, 9 times out of 10 you're just gonna over stress yourself...

I agree with this guy here

Make a list of things to master to engrain on yourself and us online matches as a tool to help crystalize something in your play ONE THING AT A TIME and take your time and be patient with yourself... Fuck points and fuck winning for now, learn your character and do what's right for you to improve, winning will come later

 

[Limelights]

Thank you. Despite what I preach I still get worked up over losses more than the average person, haha.

 

[-Deadman-]

I wanted so bad to be good with Bane. I've been talking him up since he was spoiled.
I'm no stranger to uphill battles (Gen in Vanilla sf4, Kano in mk9, Ogre/RogerJr in TTT2) but this is rediculous.

I'm either getting zoned out and/or kited, or getting completely pitbulled in the corner.
Dash blocking just gets me tagged with bullets/arrows/etc.
And I can't just venom up and bullrush against a player with at least 3 braincells in their head.
DoctrineDark's recent video was inspiring and all, but how can we combo if we can't close the gap?
I understand the armor on [v3] F2 but most characters have access to multi-hit zoning both meterless and for a bar

We need some video examples of how to put these practices into motion, because I for one don't have the patience for this character,
and that makes me sad, since I've been one of the biggest supporters of the character before the game dropped.

 

[Limelights]

I wanted so bad to be good with Bane. I've been talking him up since he was spoiled.
I'm no stranger to uphill battles (Gen in Vanilla sf4, Kano in mk9, Ogre/RogerJr in TTT2) but this is rediculous.

I'm either getting zoned out and/or kited, or getting completely pitbulled in the corner.
Dash blocking just gets me tagged with bullets/arrows/etc.
And I can't just venom up and bullrush against a player with at least 3 braincells in their head.
DoctrineDark's recent video was inspiring and all, but how can we combo if we can't close the gap?
I understand the armor on [v3] F2 but most characters have access to multi-hit zoning both meterless and for a bar

We need some video examples of how to put these practices into motion, because I for one don't have the patience for this character,
and that makes me sad, since I've been one of the biggest supporters of the character before the game dropped.

I understand your frustration. There's a lack of Bane players in general so there hasn't been any groundbreaking tech so far. We'll see something though just give it a little time, the game hasn't been out a week. One thing that frustrates me is that almost all of his specials knock the opponent away. exbf2 is a great combo ender but the opponent ends half the screen away.

 

[PND_Mustard]

Bane's EX charge is awesome when level 3'd, super loving this character right now, crouching heavy into enhanced command grab when you have venom up is dirty. anyone know what his most viable wakeup attack is?

 

[RYX]

I understand your frustration. There's a lack of Bane players in general so there hasn't been any groundbreaking tech so far. We'll see something though just give it a little time, the game hasn't been out a week. One thing that frustrates me is that almost all of his specials knock the opponent away. exbf2 is a great combo ender but the opponent ends half the screen away.

I guess my tech wasn't groundbreaking. ;_;

-Deadman- Walk to close the gap a bit, then dash up and THEN pummel them. You can Venom mid-dash and use an armored double punch to check them. It really is a matter of just getting in and then you're in,because Bane is a rushdown monster. Learning how to abuse Venom for the armor and damage is key to playing him. You can try jumping some projectiles too, you risk being hit on the way down but it works.

Use Venom to cover your gaps. After strings check them with double punch. On hit you get a guaranteed throw(use forward) or more pressure. Venom Uppercut grants a free c.grab follow up so it's pretty decent to end combos with but Double Punch is safer. After AA grabs, the one that leaves you closest, just Venom up and c.grab their wake-up. Either the grab hits them or you take the hit and full combo punish them. If you want to go for kill shots then stack Venom and keep the pressure on them with mix-ups and armor. If they respect the double punch after block strings, you can either grab(c.grab is also an option), mix it up with D1~Double Punch, or do another string.

For the AA grabs that throw them full screen, just dash up and use the armored c.grab. They're great for throwing people into the wall, so if you have good positional awareness remember this.

I think that's all. If you get a heavy life lead just turtle until Venom comes back and do whatever you please.

 

[GodsLonelyman]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but his f2-D covers huge range and is an overhead. Its different than doing the f2, when you do f2d it becomes an overhead and he stumbles forward which makes him cover more ground. You can also cancel ito into any apecial.

 

[deadhuman]

I have been working on a guessing game by getting in close (using charge, never more than 1x venom). Once you are in close, you can make them guess what's next. The charge will knock them down, creating the Bane loop (my name for it):

1) f+2-down. (it's an overhead) If timed correctly, you can smack them with this bad boy right as they get up, slapping them to the ground again.
2) use 1x venom and time your command throw perfectly. If timed correctly, they will have like a frame or 2 to identify what you are doing. If they spam combos upon wake-up, dont worry, you have 1x Venom to armor your throw.
3) b1-1-2 (its a low attack). If they get up and block up you can use this to knock them back down.
4) block their spam, 1-1-3-command throw.

If they are in a corner:

Use the above steps but add this.

1) block their spam, 1-1-3, 1-1-3, Ultra.

You worked hard to get in close, now make them guess, and punish!

 

[TheJaquio]

After AA grabs, the one that leaves you closest, just Venom up and c.grab their wake-up. Either the grab hits them or you take the hit and full combo punish them.

For the AA grabs that throw them full screen, just dash up and use the armored c.grab. They're great for throwing people into the wall, so if you have good positional awareness remember this.

The close AA grab leaves you with the least frame adv out of the four. Sure, you can stuff some wakeups after with armored c.grab, but only if your input is within a few frames (which is difficult with such a stupid special input). However, they can crossup or techroll for a full whiff punish on your c.grab. The AA grabs that send them full screen don't have enough advantage to give you a dash that's guaranteed safe vs some wakeups, either.

I think as time goes on, people will value the venom uppercut more; You get a ton of options on knockdown:

-Guaranteed c.grab that will throw them out of wakeup and jump attempts
-Time to dash in and use normals to stuff/pressure anything that's not an invincible wakeup (which you can armor through with venom specials)
-Leaves you at perfect range and adv for a deep crossup bodysplash
-And on tech roll, you can still dash in for and have priority on normals or armored specials

Plus, as AA the venom uppercut doesn't have quite as much forward range as the AA grab, but it hits crossover jumps which the AA grab doesn't.

 

[SUPARNOVAX]

Already found a setup with EX-uppercut. Flat out corner, you can meaty venom backbreaker and they can't even jump out. Supers don't even fly because this game has shitty rock paper scissors lol

In addition to this, if you mix someone up in the corner with b.M~H, follow up with M,M,H (no cancel, venom) and meaty backbreaker immediately for the grab reset.

I have one more setup for the corner that involves the B,f+L charge attack but it's not consistent. Bane basically runs the guy over but they don't get punted far, and you are close enough for a meaty backbreaker too.

Also, don't dismiss EX-B,f+M (two punch). It's a very excellent wall carry ender. You really do want to corner people a lot with Bane. The additional thing is seeing if you need to venom past any silly stage objects people may want to use in the corners to get you off too.

Realize Bane's not a combo machine and all the triple venom combo videos people are putting up are pretty misleading. Unless you have a proper combo ender for Bane to follow up with on venom, you will 50/50 hit them again or they will knock you out 30-50% combos without effort during venom downtime.

 

[RYX]

I think Bane will be one of the better up-close characters when it comes to straight-up following.

The biggest problem, I feel right now, is getting in. Once he DOES, and you can keep it up, you can corner trap them and it's delicious. But how will we get in without Venom and the inevitable debuffs that follow with it?

 

[SUPARNOVAX]

I think Bane will be one of the better up-close characters when it comes to straight-up following.

The biggest problem, I feel right now, is getting in. Once he DOES, and you can keep it up, you can corner trap them and it's delicious. But how will we get in without Venom and the inevitable debuffs that follow with it?

Still figuring that out now. His dash is up there though. It's like 20frames more or less I think? I just ran through a quick 60fps the first day I got it and counted bout 20-21 frames. I think that is considerably good in a game like this. So just gotta dig up the good zoning characters attacks on block. Bane can definitely dash up and block often and say you get a decent read on something coming in like Sinestro rock or whatever, just rush in and mix him. This brings us to another issue, how many stacks of armor to use for those reads and if there's sufficient wake up options to continue pressuring when the venom is over.

Think I read somewhere that there's no additional frame data in the guide so I guess counting frames is what I'll have to resort to for more stuff.