I have a so-so record of 172/78 online, with most of my wins coming from Reptile. I consider myself an upper-mid level Reptile and he's definitely my best character and the one I enjoy playing the most, so I want to take him to the next level if possible. Since I know there are a lot of good Reptile players who frequent TYM, I'm going to break down my game, the holes in it, and the strategies I use with him, then ask for advice and priorities of things I can fix.
I play Reptile with a lot of zoning and rushdown when I can, but definitely a lot of forceballs and acid spits in a standard game I play with him (maybe a little similar to TS Sabin's Reptile at PowerUp).
Here are some general strategies I use with him:
Because his dash and normal movement is so bad, I mostly jump or rely on elbow dash for movement. This can be problematic sometimes, if for example I'm too far to use normals, too close to safely use a forceball, but they're within elbow dash range and I'll get blocked and punished if I use it. Ideally I want to be just outside of elbow dash range, so I can rush in behind a slow forceball and apply blockstring pressure. I'm not sure what to do from this position. Sometimes I try mixing it up with a slide, but that is also heavily punishable.
MY JUMP IN PUNCH GAME AND GAME VS. CROSS-UP PUNCH HEAVY STRATEGIES IS VERY BAD. I lose consistently to people who are good at repeatedly crossup jump punching, because although I know I should NJP or Elbow Dash out of it, either the lag, the blockstun, the crossup, or my reflexes are bad enough that I can never seem to do anything but block repeated jump punches until I try something stupid and eat a combo. By far the weakest part of my game.
I find it very difficult to combo from (or land) a jump in punch, and cannot crossup people myself.
From full screen, I generally try to lead with a fast forceball, then follow up with a slow forceball afterwards, alternating between them and throwing in acid spits to break up the rhythm. If they're committing to block or seem to be in a defensive mindset, I dash in behind a slow forceball and perform either a 3,2,1, Acid Hand, a 1,2,2,1, or a throw. 3,2,1, Acid Hand is the one I use the most because it does the most chip damage and has the best range.
I'm trying to work more 1,2,2,1 into my game, but I don't have it committed to reflex the range I should use it at vs. 3,2,1, and I also have problems hit confirming it sometimes. What I TRY to do and seems to work well when I remember it is to hit the 1,2,2 pretty fast and just keep hitting 2 until I can confirm and decide to press either 1 or bb+3.
After an elbow dash, I almost always use a fast forceball, but people get wise to it and start staying on the ground after a while. I don't know what to do in this case. Does Reptile have any good OTG moves? There are some people like Kung Lao whom I don't even want to approach when they're lying down.
I mostly use elbow dash for punishes and movement, but occasionally, if we both block up close but out of throw range, I'll wait for them to twitch and then throw it out. Usually I get good reads (75%), but occasionally I'm hasty, run into a block, and get punished (25%).
If a forceball hits them anywhere near me, I'm pretty consistent on the combos, but if I land a fast forceball from full screen or 3/4 screen (which I should still be able to combo off of if I elbow dash in), I drop that combo a lot of time.
I tend to read and block a lot more teleports than I get hit with (except against Mileena), but even on very open blocks like Ermac's teleport, Kung Lao's dive kick, or Mileena's ball, I often throw out an uppercut on reflex instead of taking full advantage of the opportunity (3,2, fast forceball, 3,2, slow forceball, 3,2,1, slide?).
I would prefer the pressure of ending combos in a slow forceball over the slide, but for some reason I often mess up the bb+1 input after a 3,2,1, so I usually use a slide just to be consistent.
I have both good and bad habits for meter usage: good in that I don't waste meter on a breaker or X-ray if I'm obviously about to lose a round, but bad in that I'll get to full meter and just let it sit there while I wait to use my X-ray. I feel like I'm wasting it, since I could probably use an EX here or there and get 1 or 2 bars back before the end of the round. He has some good EX moves, too, especially EX slow forceball and EX elbow dash (landing 3x EX elbow dash into slide does more damage than 1x X-ray, but the X-ray has some obvious benefits of super armor, etc.). I'd like to consider ways to abuse EX slow forceball/work it into my game.
I love the d+4, Acid Hand poke, but I forget to use it sometimes. I generally start up again when I catch myself, but I think I should use it more consistently.
I'm not good enough to do the 3,2,1, elbow dash whiff, NJP combo consistently.
Sometimes I'll land an EX Acid Hand and juggle them, but I don't know what to do after this juggle.
I get a bit lost when I have a character like Cage or Nightwolf in my face, whose blockstrings all give them + frame advantage while their hits come out faster than mine anyway. If I block, I take chip damage. If I try to interrupt, even with an elbow dash, I either get interrupted first or blocked and punished. And if I jump back to try to create space, I get dashed or shadow kicked.
When I come across someone who can flat-out outzone Reptile from full screen, like Liu Kang, Noob, or Nightwolf, I can have a really rough time getting in.
I'm not really sure when to use his sweep. I get messed up if I try it when someone's in my face, and otherwise I'm not sure why I would use it over the slide which is also low but comes out a lot faster.
There's probably more that I'm forgetting, but these are the main issues with my Reptile. I promise that I'm not as terrible as I make myself sound and that I can improve, but there are so many things to improve that I'm not sure where to start. If there's anything here that really stands out as UNACCEPTABLE or something that I must correct immediately, please let me know, and I'll also be very happy to take general advice from TYM's reptilian cadre.
I know that was a very long read and I'm grateful to those who took the time.
I play Reptile with a lot of zoning and rushdown when I can, but definitely a lot of forceballs and acid spits in a standard game I play with him (maybe a little similar to TS Sabin's Reptile at PowerUp).
Here are some general strategies I use with him:
Because his dash and normal movement is so bad, I mostly jump or rely on elbow dash for movement. This can be problematic sometimes, if for example I'm too far to use normals, too close to safely use a forceball, but they're within elbow dash range and I'll get blocked and punished if I use it. Ideally I want to be just outside of elbow dash range, so I can rush in behind a slow forceball and apply blockstring pressure. I'm not sure what to do from this position. Sometimes I try mixing it up with a slide, but that is also heavily punishable.
MY JUMP IN PUNCH GAME AND GAME VS. CROSS-UP PUNCH HEAVY STRATEGIES IS VERY BAD. I lose consistently to people who are good at repeatedly crossup jump punching, because although I know I should NJP or Elbow Dash out of it, either the lag, the blockstun, the crossup, or my reflexes are bad enough that I can never seem to do anything but block repeated jump punches until I try something stupid and eat a combo. By far the weakest part of my game.
I find it very difficult to combo from (or land) a jump in punch, and cannot crossup people myself.
From full screen, I generally try to lead with a fast forceball, then follow up with a slow forceball afterwards, alternating between them and throwing in acid spits to break up the rhythm. If they're committing to block or seem to be in a defensive mindset, I dash in behind a slow forceball and perform either a 3,2,1, Acid Hand, a 1,2,2,1, or a throw. 3,2,1, Acid Hand is the one I use the most because it does the most chip damage and has the best range.
I'm trying to work more 1,2,2,1 into my game, but I don't have it committed to reflex the range I should use it at vs. 3,2,1, and I also have problems hit confirming it sometimes. What I TRY to do and seems to work well when I remember it is to hit the 1,2,2 pretty fast and just keep hitting 2 until I can confirm and decide to press either 1 or bb+3.
After an elbow dash, I almost always use a fast forceball, but people get wise to it and start staying on the ground after a while. I don't know what to do in this case. Does Reptile have any good OTG moves? There are some people like Kung Lao whom I don't even want to approach when they're lying down.
I mostly use elbow dash for punishes and movement, but occasionally, if we both block up close but out of throw range, I'll wait for them to twitch and then throw it out. Usually I get good reads (75%), but occasionally I'm hasty, run into a block, and get punished (25%).
If a forceball hits them anywhere near me, I'm pretty consistent on the combos, but if I land a fast forceball from full screen or 3/4 screen (which I should still be able to combo off of if I elbow dash in), I drop that combo a lot of time.
I tend to read and block a lot more teleports than I get hit with (except against Mileena), but even on very open blocks like Ermac's teleport, Kung Lao's dive kick, or Mileena's ball, I often throw out an uppercut on reflex instead of taking full advantage of the opportunity (3,2, fast forceball, 3,2, slow forceball, 3,2,1, slide?).
I would prefer the pressure of ending combos in a slow forceball over the slide, but for some reason I often mess up the bb+1 input after a 3,2,1, so I usually use a slide just to be consistent.
I have both good and bad habits for meter usage: good in that I don't waste meter on a breaker or X-ray if I'm obviously about to lose a round, but bad in that I'll get to full meter and just let it sit there while I wait to use my X-ray. I feel like I'm wasting it, since I could probably use an EX here or there and get 1 or 2 bars back before the end of the round. He has some good EX moves, too, especially EX slow forceball and EX elbow dash (landing 3x EX elbow dash into slide does more damage than 1x X-ray, but the X-ray has some obvious benefits of super armor, etc.). I'd like to consider ways to abuse EX slow forceball/work it into my game.
I love the d+4, Acid Hand poke, but I forget to use it sometimes. I generally start up again when I catch myself, but I think I should use it more consistently.
I'm not good enough to do the 3,2,1, elbow dash whiff, NJP combo consistently.
Sometimes I'll land an EX Acid Hand and juggle them, but I don't know what to do after this juggle.
I get a bit lost when I have a character like Cage or Nightwolf in my face, whose blockstrings all give them + frame advantage while their hits come out faster than mine anyway. If I block, I take chip damage. If I try to interrupt, even with an elbow dash, I either get interrupted first or blocked and punished. And if I jump back to try to create space, I get dashed or shadow kicked.
When I come across someone who can flat-out outzone Reptile from full screen, like Liu Kang, Noob, or Nightwolf, I can have a really rough time getting in.
I'm not really sure when to use his sweep. I get messed up if I try it when someone's in my face, and otherwise I'm not sure why I would use it over the slide which is also low but comes out a lot faster.
There's probably more that I'm forgetting, but these are the main issues with my Reptile. I promise that I'm not as terrible as I make myself sound and that I can improve, but there are so many things to improve that I'm not sure where to start. If there's anything here that really stands out as UNACCEPTABLE or something that I must correct immediately, please let me know, and I'll also be very happy to take general advice from TYM's reptilian cadre.
I know that was a very long read and I'm grateful to those who took the time.
