Using F1 to Bait Out Whiff Punishes

[FoughtDragon01]

This is a repost of a post I already made in General Discussion, but it's been serving me so well against people that poke after blocking F1 that I decided to make it its own thread for anyone interested in this sort of thing.

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So, I decided to build off of the last post I made about Mileena's F1. I really wanted to see if there were workarounds against the characters with pokes that traded with or even beat Mileena's D1 after a blocked F1. I think I found one.

I went through the entire cast again to see if she can backdash out of their fastest pokes after a blocked F1 and then cancel the backdash into either F2 or F4 for the whiff punish. I honestly wasn't expecting it to work, let alone for the results to be so consistent, save for a few outliers. So far, I've found 3 different scenarios based on the speed, range, and recovery of the poke:

• The poke is whiff punishable by both F2 and F4.
• The poke is only whiff punishable by F2.
• The poke cannot be backdashed at all.

So, I put the characters in their respective categories. Bear in mind that while D1 was typically a character's fastest low poke, their D3 and D4 would still be able to catch Mileena's backdash where the D1 would whiff. However, since D3s and D4s are typically slower than 7 frames, if an opponent starts using those to catch the backdash after a blocked F1, they can be beaten out by Mileena's D1, opening up her strike/throw game again.

The cancel out of the backdash does need to be pretty tight for it to work. It's more of a micro-backdash against most of them, so it's definitely something you'd do more preemptively rather than on reaction, but considering how much people love to mash, it's bound to work more than a few times. I'll admit, I don't how useful this'll be in the long run, but it feels like it could be something.

Punishable By F2 & F4:​

Spoiler

• Fujin
• Geras
• Jacqui Briggs
• Jade
• Johnny Cage
• Joker
• Kabal
• Kotal Kahn
• Kung Lao
• Liu Kang
• Mileena
• Rain
• Rambo
• Robocop
• Shang Tsung
• Sheeva
• Skarlet
• Sonya Blade
• Spawn
• Sub-Zero

Only Punishable by F2:
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Spoiler

• Baraka
• Jax (D12 will still hit you)
• Nightwolf
• Noob Saibot
• Raiden
• Shao Kahn

Can't Be Whiffed At All:
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Spoiler

• Baraka (With Baraka Barrage)
• Erron Black
• Kano
• Scorpion

Here's a quick video showcasing what I'm talking about. Against some pokes, you'll have to backdash further, but this should cover the gist: