PowerOfLegend
Noob
I just wrote this up in response to a question on reddit, and thought it might make sense to post it here for people who come looking for how to start with these two. We've got a lot of good info on Lackey around here, but not so much on Vicious.
I'm by no means a top player, but this will definitely help someone get started. I'd love any feedback you guys want to give and I'm happy to edit the post to include any additions or updates.
Here are the BnBs (these are optimized for having bigger timing windows that make them easy to hit online or off. You can definitely get a few more percentage points out if you're willing to deal with tighter execution windows, but these are easy to hit and do the job):
F2 4 xxBF4 - 30%, low starter. This is also my go-to when I hit them with an NJP. Use the F2 to catch them out of the air and go from there.
B232+4 xxRun F2 4 xxBF4 - 33%, overhead starter. This one's got a slower startup, so it works best when you've trained them to block low (by using lots of low pokes and your F2 BnB). Also good for when the opponent is getting up after a knockdown. I'm pretty sure 2nd or 3rd hit is a low, so you'll sometimes see people block the first hit and get launched anyway.
B32+4 - not sure on the damage, this one's a low to overhead string with a hard knockdown. Great pressure, especially after a knockdown. Hard to block both hits unless they know the matchup and are on point.
D1 xxDBF1 - if your low poke with the D1 is blocked, you can cancel the blocked hit into the command grab as a tick throw.
NJP - this reaches 3/4 of the screen, so it can hit them when they're not expecting it. It's pretty unsafe unless you're far enough that they can't reach and it's a character who doesn't have a fast slide or charge (people like Reptile, Subzero, and Kano can punish it, for example), but most people don't see it coming, and it catches a lot ducking blockers. It feels faster to me than the B2 starter, but that may be all in my head. Another good one once you've got your opponent trained to block low.
In the corner, I like B232+4, NJP, then repeat D1 until they hit the ground or B232+4, F2, F2 to throw them back into the corner. It's easy to start one of your BnBs without thinking about it and accidentally throw them out of the corner, but you want to keep them there to keep up the pressure. Even F2, F2 for not much damage is better than throwing them out of it in a full combo.
Your pressure strings are 11, B12 (or B121), and the aforementioned B32+4. You can cancel either of the first two into BF4 if they hit. If your opponent is blocking low, you can add the third 1 to the 11 string for an overhead with a hard knockdown. Your best pokes are D1, D3, and D4 - D3 is the fastest, but has a very short range. D4 reaches much farther and on block it pushes them to exactly the distance you want your opponent to be with F/T, but it's slower, so you want to use it from farther out. D1 is a good compromise between range and speed. And if Ferra's not on your back at the moment, you get the Lackey variation's D1, which is godlike - it's 5 frames and reaches almost halfway across the screen.
The various Ferra throws are great for footsies and dealing with zoners. Any projectile Ferra hits while she's in the air disappears immediately. If you can't eat it for some reason and have to trade (usually if you're too far away to use BF4 and have to go with the high or low), usually they take more damage than you do, so it's a good trade. Things to watch out for in zoning: 1) BF4 only goes about 3/4 of the screen, so don't throw her if it's going to whiff - you're a sitting duck while you wait for her to run back and your opponent isn't in hitstun or blockstun, so they're free to punish you. 2) If you take damage while Ferra is in the air on your DB2 throws, she'll fall to the ground and won't damage your opponent (your BF2 bowl girl doesn't have this problem - if you bowl her, she's going to hit).
You don't really need a lot of meter in your combos. F/T's best uses of meter are armored wakeups (EX BF3 and EX DBF1) and combo breakers. If you find yourself with full meter, you've already won 1 round, and your opponent is down to half of their life, you can use F2, 4 xxX-ray for 50%, but it's not worth burning all the meter unless it's going to give you the win. That's the optimized damage X ray combo - adding more hits or using the B232+4 starter drops the damage to like 43%.
Your basic game plan is about controlling spacing. The best place for the opponent to be is a few steps away, close enough that you can reach them with things like B4, B3, NJP, and your other long reach normals, but far enough away that they can't reach you. As mentioned above, your D4 puts them almost exactly where you want them for most characters (watch out for people like Dvorah, who can reach just as far as you can). If they're farther away than that, you usually win the zoning game because you have options (DB2 high, BF4 mid, and BF2 low) and they all do better damage than most projectiles. You can also get in to where you want to be because all the Ferra throws result in a knockdown. If you know it's going to hit, throw her and run in behind her. Because F/T's normals are slower than a lot of the characters, being really close can kill you, especially against faster characters like Liu Kang, Cassie, Sonya, etc. You only want to be that close when you're putting the screws to them with corner pressure.
Finally, to watch some high level F/T play, search youtube for match videos of Biohazard (I think he only uses Vicious) and Grrr (who uses Vicious and Lackey). They're both good tournament players who main F/T.
I'm by no means a top player, but this will definitely help someone get started. I'd love any feedback you guys want to give and I'm happy to edit the post to include any additions or updates.
Here are the BnBs (these are optimized for having bigger timing windows that make them easy to hit online or off. You can definitely get a few more percentage points out if you're willing to deal with tighter execution windows, but these are easy to hit and do the job):
F2 4 xxBF4 - 30%, low starter. This is also my go-to when I hit them with an NJP. Use the F2 to catch them out of the air and go from there.
B232+4 xxRun F2 4 xxBF4 - 33%, overhead starter. This one's got a slower startup, so it works best when you've trained them to block low (by using lots of low pokes and your F2 BnB). Also good for when the opponent is getting up after a knockdown. I'm pretty sure 2nd or 3rd hit is a low, so you'll sometimes see people block the first hit and get launched anyway.
B32+4 - not sure on the damage, this one's a low to overhead string with a hard knockdown. Great pressure, especially after a knockdown. Hard to block both hits unless they know the matchup and are on point.
D1 xxDBF1 - if your low poke with the D1 is blocked, you can cancel the blocked hit into the command grab as a tick throw.
NJP - this reaches 3/4 of the screen, so it can hit them when they're not expecting it. It's pretty unsafe unless you're far enough that they can't reach and it's a character who doesn't have a fast slide or charge (people like Reptile, Subzero, and Kano can punish it, for example), but most people don't see it coming, and it catches a lot ducking blockers. It feels faster to me than the B2 starter, but that may be all in my head. Another good one once you've got your opponent trained to block low.
In the corner, I like B232+4, NJP, then repeat D1 until they hit the ground or B232+4, F2, F2 to throw them back into the corner. It's easy to start one of your BnBs without thinking about it and accidentally throw them out of the corner, but you want to keep them there to keep up the pressure. Even F2, F2 for not much damage is better than throwing them out of it in a full combo.
Your pressure strings are 11, B12 (or B121), and the aforementioned B32+4. You can cancel either of the first two into BF4 if they hit. If your opponent is blocking low, you can add the third 1 to the 11 string for an overhead with a hard knockdown. Your best pokes are D1, D3, and D4 - D3 is the fastest, but has a very short range. D4 reaches much farther and on block it pushes them to exactly the distance you want your opponent to be with F/T, but it's slower, so you want to use it from farther out. D1 is a good compromise between range and speed. And if Ferra's not on your back at the moment, you get the Lackey variation's D1, which is godlike - it's 5 frames and reaches almost halfway across the screen.
The various Ferra throws are great for footsies and dealing with zoners. Any projectile Ferra hits while she's in the air disappears immediately. If you can't eat it for some reason and have to trade (usually if you're too far away to use BF4 and have to go with the high or low), usually they take more damage than you do, so it's a good trade. Things to watch out for in zoning: 1) BF4 only goes about 3/4 of the screen, so don't throw her if it's going to whiff - you're a sitting duck while you wait for her to run back and your opponent isn't in hitstun or blockstun, so they're free to punish you. 2) If you take damage while Ferra is in the air on your DB2 throws, she'll fall to the ground and won't damage your opponent (your BF2 bowl girl doesn't have this problem - if you bowl her, she's going to hit).
You don't really need a lot of meter in your combos. F/T's best uses of meter are armored wakeups (EX BF3 and EX DBF1) and combo breakers. If you find yourself with full meter, you've already won 1 round, and your opponent is down to half of their life, you can use F2, 4 xxX-ray for 50%, but it's not worth burning all the meter unless it's going to give you the win. That's the optimized damage X ray combo - adding more hits or using the B232+4 starter drops the damage to like 43%.
Your basic game plan is about controlling spacing. The best place for the opponent to be is a few steps away, close enough that you can reach them with things like B4, B3, NJP, and your other long reach normals, but far enough away that they can't reach you. As mentioned above, your D4 puts them almost exactly where you want them for most characters (watch out for people like Dvorah, who can reach just as far as you can). If they're farther away than that, you usually win the zoning game because you have options (DB2 high, BF4 mid, and BF2 low) and they all do better damage than most projectiles. You can also get in to where you want to be because all the Ferra throws result in a knockdown. If you know it's going to hit, throw her and run in behind her. Because F/T's normals are slower than a lot of the characters, being really close can kill you, especially against faster characters like Liu Kang, Cassie, Sonya, etc. You only want to be that close when you're putting the screws to them with corner pressure.
Finally, to watch some high level F/T play, search youtube for match videos of Biohazard (I think he only uses Vicious) and Grrr (who uses Vicious and Lackey). They're both good tournament players who main F/T.
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I only won like 3 as well.
