How to practice with a new char. EFFECTIVELY

[sLeeK]

So I've decided to pick up cage(I'm tiring to use chars. you never see online) and I am extremely curious on your guys practice routine with a new character. The reason I ask is because the practice mode is so linear it makes me sick.. I remember practicing with reptile and it literally took me a month to get all his bnbs down and be able to do them online. Any input would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

The first thing I always do is try out their chains and see which ones can link into specials. I then start experimenting with kombo strings to see which ones are reliable. I'll probably spend a good 8 to 10 hours just doing kombos in any number of combinations. The only character I actually use is Kano but I've gotten pretty good with a few others in practice (only to get raped online...). That just goes to show that the best way to get good with anyone is to actually put them to the test. Forget your win/loss ratio and just go for it. Spend a few hours practicing a specific aspect of that character's gameplay and then put it to the test in a real match situation. Don't write things off too easily, though. You want to make sure you put a strategy, move, or kombo through a lot of matches before you make a judgement call on it. Hope that helps!

 

[blanked]

I personally start off in training mode with the character guide open going through all the bnbs, seeing what combos give frame advantage and what potential mixups are available for a couple of hours. After that it's just constant practice in matches and watching tournament videos and practice videos. Don't just try and do your bnbs, it's about learning how to use all the elements of the character, especially if you're about to start learning cage. You learn more playing against people than you can ever from a computer. Also, if you're online, drop into some king of the hill games and see if there are people using your character and look at what they do. I also find sparring partners for the characters i'm learning and do mirror matches for hours testing things.

I hope this helps

p.s. if you're EU i'm always up for a match as is Asodimazze and we both main cage

 

[sLeeK]

Awesome replies guys, really appreciate it. I decided to pick up cage after reptile and sub because he looks so freaking fun to use. I plan on spending a good amount of hours working on him. I'll let you guys know how I come along with him and I'll shoot you a FR after I spend some time learning him. Thanks a lot.

 

[Gamin_Guru]

I start off with the basic normals: 1,2,3,4, B/F+1/2/3/4 then I try making my own strings without looking in move list. Then, I try out different quarter and B-F motions to find their specials. Then, I look at the strings in the move list, check their variable speeds, high/lows, which ones can be cancelled into a special, which ones launch etc. From there on I start making my own BnBs. After all that, I refer to TYM's character boards/guides to learn more.