Haven't been lurking or posting or playing much but I figured I'd mention something I do that's pretty simple and effective for me.
I use d1 a lot to give me space and when I see it hit or if I feel like my normals are better at that moment in time I go into a 2 which strings into Walking Corpse. The cool thing about this is it grants you a frame trap into a really safe approach.
d1 on hit is +17, stand 2 is 13 frames of startup. I hit people with this almost every time and that's before I looked at frame advantage. Of course if they're jump happy or reversal happy then I am a bit more hesitant but like I said it's a guaranteed frame trap after the d1 on hit. If you think they'll block the stand 2 and jump the WC then learn to cancel on the opposite side and anti air grab or d2 that for a good punish, especially anyone with low air mobility or air normals.
Hope that helps, makes the neutral game more fun for me.
- What are you guys doing off of a non exed WC? I noticed people like to back dash and jump A LOT on me when I approach to get pressure so I've been keeping them in check with a cleaver spin on their wakeup which I believe grants a hard knockdown. Really good for me, you can ex it and make it safe if you really want to be safe but I only do it when I feel like they will be scared of WCC pressure. Not sure if it's guaranteed but it definitely seems to beat jumps and backdashes. Not sure about wakeup moves... guess I'll test it, I'm pretty bored.
EDIT:
WC beats wakeups, Cleaver takes too long to come out. You have enough time to dash up after WC and do it again to beat wakeups but the timing is pretty tight.
Sorry if any of this has been said before and is common knowledge.
EDIT:
Doing all this on Joker's hitbox and jump arc so take that into account.
d1, stand 2 WCC options(when 2 is blocked):
On jump back you can d2 and AA grab them. Definitely recommend d2 since it covers more options and you can get more guaranteed damage.
On neutral jump you get all the same options, d2 and aa air grab work fine. You could probably armor through with f3 or b3 if you really wanted to off this if the jump ins end up beating it. Seems like you can win sometimes and lose others. Seems like AA grab can beat some jump normals. If the opponent doesn't hold up after blocking the stand 2 from Grundy he most likely will lose if he jumps. You gotta do it early with a good jump normal to beat out the d2. Although it will lose to really good jump normals if done instantly the AA grab beats all of them so keep that in mind.
On jump forward you can get a d2 off, its a bit odd looking though. Good air normals will probably stuff this at times, its odd because it has to be a good crossup jump normal. Like Jokers j2. Otherwise it'll miss Grundy because he's crouching before the d2. I think it'd be fine on people with mediocre air normals, even works on jokers j3 and sometimes on j2. If you do it quick and aren't reacting to the jump foward you should be fine though but obviously that's a risk since if they block the d2 it's punishable. I still think it will lose to instant jump normals like Jokers j2 but it's a good option still imo.
On block you can let the WC go through and hit them for the knockdown or ex for a better setup or you can lead into a 112 string it whatever you want. Way too many options to list, cancel the string into whatever you'd like. Go for a grab, a low, a cleaver for jumpers, another WCC, etc.
On reversal, it's a bit trickier. Very matchup dependent. Assuming the persons moves can come out at the right time and direction it might beat WCC or WC. Like for instance, if joker does his flower during the WCC the pushback is good enough where you can't punish but if you let the WC go through it goes through it. Other specials give invincibility so WC will miss, like Jokers teeth(but obviously a joker won't throw out teeth when blocking all this pressure, 99% of the time at least). Jokers super beats it, I can't get the cancel off for whatever reason. Seems like the inputs are disabled during the super startup animation. It freezes the inputs and even when I do the perfect cancel it doesn't cancel for whatever reason so I'd say if someone has a good super and is willing to throw it out look out for this.