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Strategy Rushdown Tactics with Smoke

GamerBlake90

Blue Blurs for Life!
Fellow Smoke players, what good rushdown tactics do you recommend if ever Smoke has to play up-close? I know a few myself, but I want to hear your input so as to possibly build on it. I picked him back up as a main character and am working on finding balance with him. His primary purpose is to be an anti-zoner, but we have to take into account that the opponent might close in on us in which case we'll have problems.

Discuss freely.
 

smokey

EX Ovi should launch
http://testyourmight.com/forum/showthread.php?16413-Smoke-up-close!

I posted in this thread how i personally like to play. Mainly because im not 100% confident i can keep up my pressure for a whole round without it being reversed onto me.

The mindset i am in at the moment with smoke is that i can play from midscreen and full screen well if i am on the defence, but smoke bomb is not really an "offensive" projectile, it needs to be respected but it does no chip damage and is moderately easy to avoid.

Up close is different. I can play offensive up close, but if the tables are turned on me i become a mess and it doesnt end well. So i try to moderate my upclose pressure and abuse my mobility to do everything i can to not be in an up close defensive situation, because smoke really doesnt fare well in that department exept for EX Shake, but that uses meter and is quite easily avoided just by using pokes.

For topics sake:

When i rush down i like to mix poking up with overheads and crossups. D1 and D3 both give great advantage, and D4 has great range (D4's range is pretty ideal for smoke conveniently) Use strings of pokes to keep your advantage, dashing pokes into strings like 214 or 3d12 are good, and B23 is exceptionally easy to confirm into smoke bomb on hit or drift on block, however this can prematurely end pressure if you have to drift out, which isnt always what you should do.

3d12 traps into D1, which strings with D3, which traps with 214. Thats my general block string at the moment, but i try my best to look out for blocked pokes because you dont have as much advantage and can usually get counter poked, in which case i would take that moment to try a b23, especially after a blocked D4 because of the range.

Just play around with different poke and block strings (obviously take the combos if they fail blocking, you arent likely to miss that though because launchers are easy to confirm and follow up) and try your best to play fast up close so you dont get reversed. Obviously respect meter and armoured moves, as well as xrays, so the odd EX shake here and there can be good just as a precaution, especially since it cancels back into pressure or crossups but be liberal as you cant really read an armoured move coming out in the middle of your poke pressure.

What sort of things are you using for rush down currently?
 

GamerBlake90

Blue Blurs for Life!
http://testyourmight.com/forum/showthread.php?16413-Smoke-up-close!

I posted in this thread how i personally like to play. Mainly because im not 100% confident i can keep up my pressure for a whole round without it being reversed onto me.

The mindset i am in at the moment with smoke is that i can play from midscreen and full screen well if i am on the defence, but smoke bomb is not really an "offensive" projectile, it needs to be respected but it does no chip damage and is moderately easy to avoid.

Up close is different. I can play offensive up close, but if the tables are turned on me i become a mess and it doesnt end well. So i try to moderate my upclose pressure and abuse my mobility to do everything i can to not be in an up close defensive situation, because smoke really doesnt fare well in that department exept for EX Shake, but that uses meter and is quite easily avoided just by using pokes.

For topics sake:

When i rush down i like to mix poking up with overheads and crossups. D1 and D3 both give great advantage, and D4 has great range (D4's range is pretty ideal for smoke conveniently) Use strings of pokes to keep your advantage, dashing pokes into strings like 214 or 3d12 are good, and B23 is exceptionally easy to confirm into smoke bomb on hit or drift on block, however this can prematurely end pressure if you have to drift out, which isnt always what you should do.

3d12 traps into D1, which strings with D3, which traps with 214. Thats my general block string at the moment, but i try my best to look out for blocked pokes because you dont have as much advantage and can usually get counter poked, in which case i would take that moment to try a b23, especially after a blocked D4 because of the range.

Just play around with different poke and block strings (obviously take the combos if they fail blocking, you arent likely to miss that though because launchers are easy to confirm and follow up) and try your best to play fast up close so you dont get reversed. Obviously respect meter and armoured moves, as well as xrays, so the odd EX shake here and there can be good just as a precaution, especially since it cancels back into pressure or crossups but be liberal as you cant really read an armoured move coming out in the middle of your poke pressure.

What sort of things are you using for rush down currently?
Pretty much some of what you just shared, except for the bit where you trap with 3 d1 2 into d1 to d3 to 2 1 4. I need to try that out. Thanks for your input!
 
Pretty much some of what you just shared, except for the bit where you trap with 3 d1 2 into d1 to d3 to 2 1 4. I need to try that out. Thanks for your input!
3,d1,2 trapping to d1 is really good. In theory I like to keep the poking pressure going with another d1 instead of a d3. Just remember if they catch on to the trap they will block the d1, and jump the d3 and give you some crossover pressure. They can not jump out of the d1 without getting hit on the way up which you can link to another d1, sb, combo of your choice.
 

smokey

EX Ovi should launch
3,d1,2 trapping to d1 is really good. In theory I like to keep the poking pressure going with another d1 instead of a d3. Just remember if they catch on to the trap they will block the d1, and jump the d3 and give you some crossover pressure. They can not jump out of the d1 without getting hit on the way up which you can link to another d1, sb, combo of your choice.
This is a brilliant yet very different set up to the one i described, this is good for blocked pokes as you don't have the advantage for pressure. It also creates yourself a defensive failsafe with the D1's and makes people block low.

Goes to show how many options you can have just from the poke strings you decide to use, and how many situations they cover! For example in 2 posts here we have 2 different poke strings for different setups (based on opponents habits and abilities):

d1,d3 > Use for advantage on pressure, risk of being jumped/blocked

d1,d1 > use for safety and also failsafe for people who low block, catching jumpers and also conditions to block low (one of smokes top priorities)



Hopefully more setups and situations are added to this thread because there is such a wide range of stuff that gets looked over that really can be vital to playing smoke!
 

GGA Wafflez

the kid
cool lil' thing right 'er.... every1 always uses d1 to end their 3d12... and btw... they can jump out of d1 if you dont hit it on time... just like they can
b23 smoke bomb on block (accept that is every time)... anyway... instead of d1.... use s2 (aa)... basically same idea as d1 to keep pressure and is an assured hit if they are jumping out (then go into w/e combo you use for a standard aa, EX: 2 d1 xx d1 sb etc)... another tip is to b23 sb after d4... keeps you in perfect range
 

GGA Wafflez

the kid
3,d1,2 trapping to d1 is really good. In theory I like to keep the poking pressure going with another d1 instead of a d3. Just remember if they catch on to the trap they will block the d1, and jump the d3 and give you some crossover pressure. They can not jump out of the d1 without getting hit on the way up which you can link to another d1, sb, combo of your choice.
i really only ever use d3 to get out of pressure, like jc, jax, cyrax bull because of the fact that they can jump out of it... instead i use d1 dash d1 and mix in a s2 in case they try to jump out...