Question Preferring steel or lead - moving in and out with DS

[Duck Nation]

I've come to notice a weak spot in my game is trying to cross DS's weak range if I feel I need to - DS, of course, is strong up close mixing people up, and strong from very far away harassing and punishing movement with guns, but in mid-screen he can get into a lot of trouble, since guns become very punishable and he doesn't have quite the sauce on his normals that some other characters do. I try to avoid moving around willy nilly if I can and try to let people come to me, but sometimes it proves unavoidable. I don't particularly like my current solutions, which are basically to either dash in and hope for the best, or leap around wildly smashing j3. Finding a more intelligent way to deal with it would be lovely, but I'm not having a ton of success. Am I missing something obvious, or is this just going to be something of a trouble spot? How are you guys handling this?

 

[Mikman360]

I've always felt midscreen may be a blind spot for DS. F3 is a pretty good option here. The reward is pretty good. On hit, you get a full strong combo, and a lot of pressure on block. It's his longest reaching physical move (minus Sword Flip).

Control your air space with Sword Flip. Just make sure not to throw it out on a opponent capable of blocking. That thing is MAD punishable on block. On hit, Sword Flip will give you a soft knockdown (if you AA with it), and you can close the space with dashes. This is for opponents jumping in on you of course.

Ji3 is still a good option, just don't be silly with it.

 

[Duck Nation]

Everything I've been doing then, basically. Guess it's just a question of being careful and lucky.

 

[ryublaze]

The only thing I can think of is instant air gun.

 

[Vagrant]

Most of the time I armor a f3 just when they're outside its max range.

 

[Red Reaper]

While his back walk isn't that good. His foward walk is so you kan klose the gap and play footsies. B3 and F3 are also options as people pointed out. You kan also back dash to create space and give the opponent the illusion that you're running away (or you kould run away.. lol).