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Saberwulf Strategy?

dookieagain

Last Bastion of Arcades
I noticed we didn't really have any matchup threads or anything, but I'd really like to discuss how you guys handle the doge since he is both our worst matchup and one of if not the most played characters.

My stuff:

Neutral game:

When he doesn't have meter you can sorta pressure him, but it's best to be patient and try to react.

If they start a run from outside sweep you can react with a Slide and start a combo. If he does overhead or low you can punish with c.lk to whatever you like. If he does the the anti-air claw ender he is at -2, so your options are cr. lk which will beat a button, but lose to shadow Eclipse. Also the hitstun on it is weird which makes timing the cr. lk hard and often leads to you getting counterhit as well if he does it from max range he'll hit your poke since you'll be outside your own cr. lk range. You can backdash, but if he reads that he can ragged edge for full combo or sweep for his hard knockdown mixup. He'll usually follow it with a cr.lp into overhead/low or do the chain combo to confirm into ragged edge, or do cr. lp or cr. mp into claw and repeat. (Not unlike cr. lk lp Ichi pressure) He can also backdash and you can only catch his backdash with heavy slide. If you have a meter you can beat the entire mixup by doing shadow upper firecat. It's 2 frames so depending the distance you did it from it will beat everything except shadow eclipse. Note though if he backdashes and started from max claw range you'll just do 1 hit and soft knockdown.

You can jump sometimes, but not a whole lot since his HP Eclipse and crouching HK can both be done on most jumpins. You can cross him up, but if he's any good he won't be at that range for long. If he jumps with HK watch out, it has a huge downward hitbox and puts him at +a lot. It also beats a lot of stuff air to air, you'll see a lot of wolves use this to get in, or mix it up with throw pressure when you're knocked down. He will often follow the blocked HK with a throw and then mix that up with dash-through. A cr. lp will beat both though so if he is fishing like this just do cr. lp into rekka. Once he has meter do not jump in on him.

Better wolves will be dashing in more than jumping in, remember his dash is almost 1/2 screen but it is vulnerable. You can stick out a s. HP or s. MP into rekka to try and make them think about it, but if you get predictable they'll just jump in onto your slow normal. Always watch for a dash from sweep or closer it will go through you. Also watch for his backdash, it's most common when under pressure but it lasts forever you can hit it with a read, but not on reaction. It goes super far and depending on the distance he starts from you can only catch it with heavy or shadow slide.

Another thing wolves like to do is max range cr. mp into overhead or low. The overhead is slightly slower than the low, but since he can delay either by letting a few frames of run happen it's unrealistic to fuzzy guard. Your best bet is to either block and punish (If you picked right) or to shadow counter. The danger to shadow countering is that he can just do the cr. mp and nothing further which then nets him a full punish.

On knockdown:

Wulf is fairly vulnerable on knockdown to meaty pressure, his only option is backdashing which you can beat with F+HK. (However only if you start the overhead just on his body, from backdash or further out he dodges it because his backdash is so long.) However once he has meter it all changes. He can beat any meaty or even an instinct cat with the huge number of invuln frames on his Ex-Eclipse. It is the ultimate wakeup.

It can be safe-jumped though, so I'm including two safe jump setups. First. . . after a wallsplat you can do a sweep to get a hard knockdown, from sweep you can do either immediate neutral jump deep HK or immediate forward jump deep MK. Secondly you can safejump off a backthrow (BACKTHROW ONLY) after a backthrow do an immediate s. lp then forward jump deep HK. Note even when you bait it he gets two safe ones thanks to instinct, always be ready for the post instinct mixup. Any decent Saber is almost always going to burn the instincts on making eclipse safe.

When you're knocked down:

The nightmare. Block and eat throws. Seriously I have given up trying to tech his throws unless he gets really obvious with them. He can't safejump your Shadow Upper Firecat so use that wisely. Always look at where he is when he starts, especially when you are low health, they often will go for a dash through to Ex-Eclipse and you have to be blocking in advance or lose 21%. Lots of Saber's do this near the end of the match. Other things to look out for are meaties into high low, or neutral jump HK. Remember they can happen on either side and sometimes Wulf will crossup back and forth several times, always start blocking before he finishes. If he has no meter you can always try a reversal DP, but remember the autocorrect in this game is not generous so you have to start it opposite. Better players will meaty you with standing heavy rather than a low to specifically avoid you trying a dp and getting a wrong direction flik flak, the meaty will beat the flik flak. Also I like to save my instinct specifically to use on wakeup so I can have a second to see his mixup. You're going to eat throws, don't get tempted to get tech happy cause he will combo.

Good luck, let me know if you have any better tricks. I think this is a harsh 6-4 leaning maybe 7-3. The only worse match I've played is Sadira v Glacius.
 
The safe jump doesn't actually hit if they spin out after the wall splat sweep. Both hits of the sweep need to connect to ensure the safe jump connects. I haven't tested it yet but do you know if you can end with the hard rekka and then sweep for a juggle to get a safe jump mid screen?
 

JoeKingJay

One Step Closer To Flushing Out Ultratech!
The safe jump doesn't actually hit if they spin out after the wall splat sweep. Both hits of the sweep need to connect to ensure the safe jump connects. I haven't tested it yet but do you know if you can end with the hard rekka and then sweep for a juggle to get a safe jump mid screen?
If you don't mind answering: what kind of strategies do you use against Sabrewulf? I am still having trouble dealing with his cross-up shenanigans.