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Guide BodomLaiho Guide to Smoke

rikana

Noob
STAY DOWN. Rikana's guide for Smoke players.

STAY DOWN.

I'm no pro smoke player, but I do understand the character well enough to provide good information.

Q: What are the inputs I should learn for Smoke?
A:
Normals:
1) 3, d1, 2 (use this over 3, 2 because you can combo better with it. 3, 2 will put you at a farther distance when comboing. d1 allows smoke to take a step forward before launching the opponent in the air)
2) b2, 3, db2 (very effective against crouching blockers and gives you a free setup for a combo from smoke bomb)
3) d1, d3 (combo breakers and very good pokes)
4) b4 (one of the fastest sweeps in the game. abuse it; putting your opponent down on the ground is always deadly because you put them in a state where they have to guess what you're going to do)
5)fj/nj 1/2 (to set up for your ground combos)
6) nj/fj 3/4, throw (extremely important that you learn your timing for smoke bomb off the ground)

Specials:
all. abuse what you can.

Teleport: only use it when you're sure your opponent is going to pull out an attack that is already buffered so you can teleport for a free punish - sometimes much me effective than a teleport punch punish because smoke can do 50% meterless combos.. use EX teleport when needed. its quite safe and covers a lot of distance.

Teleport Punch: don't use this often. ONLY use this to get near the opponent whether it hits or not (by not hitting I mean that it hits the air, not a blocking opponent) shake is a much better punish for projectiles. use this to punish buffered attacks they can't get out of and you have no other fast ways of punishing. don't really bother with EX teleport punch. its not really worth it. throw it out from time to time to surprise your opponent. and depending on your opponent, jumping backwards may let your opponent's guard down. interupt your landing and use a teleport punch when you see that he's not guarding.

Shake: abuse this like no tomorrow against projectiles. don't bother teleport punch. use shake. abuse shake. EX shake is good as well up close.

Invisibility: use it from time to time, or when you can, to never really give your attacks away. keep your opponent from guessing whether or not they should punish it. EX will make you completely invisible so they wont know whether youre going for a sweep or going for an overhead. mess around with it; invisibility is very open ended.

Smoke Bombs: abuse it. don't bother with EX. learn your smoke bomb timings and you'll be good.

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Q: Is smoke's Xray worth using since he can do combos that do 50% without using a meter?
A: Yes. Having a full meter will make them think twice about throwing a projectile or even hitting you. With both those options covered, they might get nervous.

The way I see it; don't use his xray off a combo. Use it as a counter/anti-zoning, pressure, or do damage that he can't breaker. Take a look at his meters - does he have 2 bars of meters? If so, use it to finish off your opponent in a combo if you must. If he doesn't, resume with your regular combo. Remember though, air throw and smoke bomb OTG can't be breakered as well so Smoke is quite dangerous once he gets a combo going. I'd rather save the meters for breaker or EX specials.

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Q: Smoke seems so solid. What can't he do?
A: answer kind of applies to many characters but I believe that smoke falls into this category quite heavily - corner pressures. KEEP AWAY FROM CORNERS. All you can do is jump out, teleport (this is when you should use EX teleport), or teleport punch. ONLY teleport punch as a last resort. Its super punishable if blocked. You can always go on the offensive and push your way out but its harder when you have no room behind you to give you a breather. An attack I would recommend is f4. It has very high horizontal knockback and its safe on block.

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Q: So should Smoke corner someone in game?
A: Smoke has a strong mid screen and zoning gaming. Opponents usually don't bother with zoning much because Smoke punishes so hard against projectiles. Keep your opponent in the middle of the stage so you don't risk the chance of being in the corner.

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Q: which EX special should I be using?
A: Look at question 1.

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Q: when should I reset a combo?
A: when you predict breakers. Resetting combos is risky; I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing. Its better to eat a breaker because your opponent will be down 2 meters. And because you're at a distance after a breaker, force him to approach again with smoke bombs.

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Q: Should I uppercut? (d2)
A: You could.. but I would rather air kick to air throw into otg smoke bomb and combo from there.

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Q: Stay down?
A: Stay down.
 

REFan

Team Dont Ever Stop
Great post. Can you give some good block string pressure? like what dials to do or
when to stop a dial and switch to a different for good chip damage?
 

[video]http://youtu.be/wSKWxMy1jjw[/video]

Combos (they're also on the video):
1):bp, Smoke Cloud
2):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Smoke Cloud
3):fk, :bp, Smoke Cloud
4)Smoke Cloud, Jump+:fk, Teleport (18%)
5):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Smoke Cloud, Jump+:fk, Grab (28%)
6):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Jump+:fk, (25%)
7):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, :r:r, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp, :en Smoke Cloud, Jump+:fk, Grab (34%, 32% w/o :en)
8):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp (29%)
9):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, :r:r, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Smoke Cloud, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp (31%)
10):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, :r:r, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Smoke Cloud, , Jump+:fk, Grab (32%)
11):fk, :bp, :r:r, :fk, :bp, Smoke Cloud, Jump+:fk, Grab (30%)
12):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Jump+:fk, Grab, Smoke Cloud, Jump+:fk (38%)
13)Jump+:fk, Grab, Smoke Cloud, Jump+:fk, Grab (32%)
14)Jump+:fk, Grab, Smoke Cloud, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Jump+:fk, Grab (39%)
15):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, :r:r, :fk, :bp, Smoke Cloud, :d+:bp (30% more for a flashy uppercut finish)
16):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Jump+:fk, Grab, Smoke Cloud, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Grab (41% missed the Jump+:fk for the 44%, add a 2nd smoke cloud for 46%)
17):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, :r:r, :fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Smoke Cloud, :x (40% cocky finish once again)
18):fk, :d+:fp, :bp, Jump+:fk, Grab, Smoke Cloud, :x (51%)

I know, I know...Check4900 did a much better job, but the point of these are to show you set ups combo variations etc. Mainly what Smoke is capable of and the many combo options. I actually came up with these combos/set ups, etc. before watching combo videos or even looking up anything about the character.

My goal here is to do as little amount of hits as possible while dealing as much damage as possible.


Abusing Smoke:

Abusing of the :fk, :d+:fp, :bp is amazing. It is completely safe (to my knowledge) and it keeps the pressure on your opponent even on wake up.

Abusing of the Smoke Cloud is also safe and it forces ur opponent to wake up with :blk it can also be used as bait by mixing up ur timing on it or if your opponent is jumping out of it it can be :en to catch them as they jump off the ground or before they hit the ground.

Abusing of Teleport is also simply amazing because it knocks down 1 dash away from you and punishes projectiles. The :en version is 3 hits and 3rd hit is an overhead. It is NOT safe on block (obviously). Whiffs on crouch and :en can be interrupted by Crouching attacks.

Abusing of Shake is also encouraged due to the fact that it stops projectile spamming and knocks down right at your feet. The :en version stops normals as well (does not stop lows) which is amazing when being rushed down. Not very safe due to the fact that Lows knock you out of it.

Abusing of Grabs only to get them across the screen and make sure to keep them there. Avoid doing :d + :fp during corner combos, it will knock them out of it (applicable to every character). The Grab also always throws your opponent to the other side unless you command otherwise.

Abusing of the Smoke Away/Towards is also helpful when trying to get out of corner rushdown. :en version is much more safer then normal. Must admit I rarely use it, so I can't be more detailed about this skill.

To be continued...
 
i dont know if you put this combo up but....

jump in 1/2, 3,d+1,2 , jump kick, air throw, smoke cloud, 3, d+1,2, jump kick, air throw, smoke cloud

this is a no meter combo that does 50%+
even if you dont get the smoke cloud in the end it still does 50%+

so you do 2 of these combos and you pretty much win
 
i dont know if you put this combo up but....

jump in 1/2, 3,d+1,2 , jump kick, air throw, smoke cloud, 3, d+1,2, jump kick, air throw, smoke cloud

this is a no meter combo that does 50%+
even if you dont get the smoke cloud in the end it still does 50%+

so you do 2 of these combos and you pretty much win
yeah i did i just didn't add the jump-in or the 2nd smoke cloud at the end.(it's my 41% combo) When i jump-in i do so with :fk or :bk, air-throw (ground throw if :fk/:bk is blocked), smoke cloud, :fk :d+:fp :bp, Jump :fk/:bk, Air-throw, Smoke Cloud (i don't do a second smoke cloud cuz it's hard to time so i just whiff teleport on purpose so get next to them)
 
i dont know if you put this combo up but....

jump in 1/2, 3,d+1,2 , jump kick, air throw, smoke cloud, 3, d+1,2, jump kick, air throw, smoke cloud

this is a no meter combo that does 50%+
even if you dont get the smoke cloud in the end it still does 50%+

so you do 2 of these combos and you pretty much win
without the last smoke cloud, it does 51%, but it will be patched out according to the stream last night.
 
Thanks for the combos! I have a question though:
On some of the last ones I'm having a hard time landing the smoke cloud after the air-grab, is it all supposed to be one-combo or is it more of a strategy? Whats happening is he hits the ground before the smoke cloud can affect him, and when it does hit it registers as a new combo.
 
Thanks for the combos! I have a question though:
On some of the last ones I'm having a hard time landing the smoke cloud after the air-grab, is it all supposed to be one-combo or is it more of a strategy? Whats happening is he hits the ground before the smoke cloud can affect him, and when it does hit it registers as a new combo.
Don't worry about it. Tom Brady confirmed, OTG bomb is being removed from the game. But to answer anyway, more then likely your doing the air throw to high. After the juggle (3,2 or 3,d+1,2 or etc) you jump and grab them on the way down from your jump.