Maxima (Console)

[Reiki.Kito]

Guard point is active before the move comes out. You'll notice most of Maxima's moves have very long start up so it's a useful tool because it gives a few extra frames to goof off with in timing. You have to time it so your start-up frames collide with the opponent's active frames. That's basically how it works.

For example, st.C is 5 frames start-up. You'd time your move so that it absorbs the hit of the opponent's move.
You can look at the wiki thread where I posted how to use the guardpoints to your advantage. What I need to perfect is cancelling guard point on command. If I do that, it'll be a great improvement.

[Diavle]

Guard point is active before the move comes out. You'll notice most of Maxima's moves have very long start up so it's a useful tool because it gives a few extra frames to goof off with in timing. You have to time it so your start-up frames collide with the opponent's active frames. That's basically how it works.

For example, st.C is 5 frames start-up. You'd time your move so that it absorbs the hit of the opponent's move.
You can look at the wiki thread where I posted how to use the guardpoints to your advantage. What I need to perfect is cancelling guard point on command. If I do that, it'll be a great improvement.

Thanks man,  I'll read up and practice some more.

[arstal]

How are you guys dealing with lameout?  This is the real problem I'm having with Maxima, who I generally use on point.

[Reiki.Kito]

You just want to slowly advance and block. Once you're within about 9 or so steps from them, all you need is a good knockdown. You can score it with a C vapor cannon, which will guard point a fireball and hit your opponent. You can hop in and do qcb+AC (EX Air Vapor cannon) to force your way in while also protecting you with guardpoint.

[Raynex]

What are my options against early jump-ins like Clark/Ralf's j.CD or Iori's early j.C. Moves that have a big hitbox and hit near the peak of my opponents jump are hard to AA. Reacting to a hop is hard enough, but using Maxima's slow normals to GP them is ridiculous. I get rushed way too easily because of this. At a recent tournament in my city, I got so overwhelmed in GFs I switched out to Kim/Vice.


edit: Here's a video of the Grand Finals sets. More links on the side as well. A&C's First Tournament 2012 - KOFXIII Grand Finals - Samir vs [YRSF]Raynex Set 1

Against Clark for example, I couldn't beat his j.CD so I could try to block the first one and st.A/st.C if he jumped again. Problem is, I'm already falling victim to his mix-up attempt. If I block the first j.CD he could instead B SAB afterwards and catch me pressing anti-hop buttons.

I'm also getting beat air-to-air ALOT. It feels like j.CD is too slow alot of the time...I'm not sure

[Reiki.Kito]

Will watch the video. I'll let you know what I think below. Also, check out the Match-up thread and tell me what you think.

EDIT:

So the first match, I'm seeing you get OCVed by Clark, but this is because of some things you're doing that you're doing in every character. For one, you're not respecting Clark's space. You have King, who could easily zone Clark, but you're running in. With Maxima, you really can't do that because most of your moves wind up not respecting his space.

Another thing, I think the big thing here, his roll setup confused you. He rolled in on you and did his B command grab a lot. He'd roll and do machine gun punch too. What I'd suggest, if you have meter, is to neutral hop. If you feel like you're going to get grabbed, neutral hopping stops him for free. You can even do j.D and smack him for a full combo. He really LEANED into that crap. I know how you feel; I have to deal with it a lot against CharREX. If he stops doing the B grab and goes for a normal combo, you can also wake up and do a command grab. He did not seem sloppy with his rolls, but you can feel it out if he's going to be behind you.

So finally: How to deal with early jump CD

The active frames on the move are long and they're vertical. You're likely not going to beat it air to air. If he's going to try to keep you in, with any character, I'd throw out a move that's in invincible on start-up or something I know will trade. For one, Maxima's st.A is five frames and will likely trade with Clark if you throw it out. It's a great deterrent for hops. If he's jumping really high, but you're certain he's not going to cross-up, I'd throw out a df+C. It costs you nothing, you'll get counter hit, and probably break even. If you think he's going to do it. If you have meter, you can use DP+BD. You could do the regular Double Vapor Cannon. If you're feeling you can time it just right, you can neutral jump and do EX Air Vapor Cannon. High in the air, you'll land way before he does and be able to time an EX Maxima Press for a pretty nice corner combo.

Let me touch on more about the df+C. If he's really jumping high, I wouldn't do it. You'll likely miss. However, if you think he's going to hop and do it, like time it real deep? I'd do it and follow it up with DP+B. Put your dummy in practice mode, as Clark, and hop at Maxima for a meaty CD. As Maxima, do df+C and the dp+B. You'll notice you'll counter hit him. You can follow it up with dp+B. Now he's knocked down. Staying outside his grab range, go for a meaty sweep. You can try to set the dummy to do his B grab or D grab, but what will likely happen is you'll hit him as he wakes up. If he blocks, you scored 233 damage. If he didn't, he's knocked down again and you did 300 damage to 333 damage to him. This is very serious punishment. You want to make him scared of YOUR hop space now.

In the corner, that's a little different. If you try to do something like even punch him, your st.A or st.C might whiff and he'll hit you on the way down. If he times it meaty, doing st.D is great. Why? Even if the move his slow, you have guard point. You can CANCEL guard point at any time and nail him with a regular vapor cannon or a D grab if he's too slow to react on the way down.

If you think he's gonna jump over you and if you press a button he'll cross you up, you can do C vapor cannon the other way (qcf+C). What this does is puts him in the corner and guard points his jump in.  Giving you the opportunity to hit him when he lands.

[arstal]

Maybe block and punish on land?  The blockstun on jumps is short enough that you should be able to get a jab out at least.  After that , maybe so for some sort of mixup?

Just a guess on my part.

[Reiki.Kito]

Maybe block and punish on land?  The blockstun on jumps is short enough that you should be able to get a jab out at least.  After that , maybe so for some sort of mixup?

Just a guess on my part.

The problem is that CD moves create longer amounts of blockstun. Granted, Clark can't grab you, but you can't really counter him. Normally, you're right. He could just block it and punish, but jump CD's blockstun makes it difficult.

EDIT:

Was working on HD combos with Maxima today. I know, HD combos with this guy seem unrealistic, but hear me out. Now, usually, you'd do an HD combo like st.D, df+C starter. That's hard to land unless your opponent lost his mind and decided to do a DP or something really unsafe. Some people will do that at the start of the round, but lets assume they respect Maxima and they won't.

You can get an HD combo off his low B. It's his only combo confirming low normal. That's important to note. The way I've been working it out is doing low B, low A, df+BC (HD bypass) or d.B, st.B, st.BC =>. st.B in HD mode cannot be chained together with Vapor Cannon, but EX vapor cannon and EX Maxima press will link.

The problem is I can't always control what happens. Depending on if you slide input the HD mode, you can HD bypass into st.C or st.B immediately. If you do the input at the right time without sliding, you'll just dash forward. Most of the time, I'm slide inputting by mistake, but this is something to note. If you press C before B in the slide input, the C will come out. If you press B before C, B will come out.

For this string, you will hit your opponent with EX Vapor Cannon or EX Maxima press no matter what comes out (Except if you naked dash). At this point, with three bars, you could HD cancel into Neomax for 600+ damage from Maxima press or hit them with the neomax/MC into Neomax after a wall bounce with EX Vapor Cannon.

[Amedø310]

A whiffed max canceled Maxima Laser has otg properties.

[Reiki.Kito]

But why would you whiff max cancel? It's pretty easy to regular Max cancel it.

[Amedø310]

It's just something to know as it can follow up from a regular blowbacks and hcb+K. I think it would be best use as a last round combo ender, if Maxima lands a ground blowback. Particularly, this combo that deals 500 damage:

3 Stocks and HD Mode
CD, (HD activation/ HD Bypass), qcfx2+A/C, (whiff Max Cancel) hcbx2+AC

[Saitsuofleaves]

But why would you whiff max cancel? It's pretty easy to regular Max cancel it.

The same reason why you'd do it for EX Kyo and Kula.

[Reiki.Kito]

So, I'm trying it and this is what happens.

I do CD

-> I activate, do qcf x2 +A and nothing happens
-> I HD Bypass into qcf x2 after CD, whiff, and nothing happens
-> I counterhit with CD, do the super, Max Cancel, and all of that hits for 760 damage.

[Diavle]

It's just something to know as it can follow up from a regular blowbacks and hcb+K. I think it would be best use as a last round combo ender, if Maxima lands a ground blowback. Particularly, this combo that deals 500 damage:

3 Stocks and HD Mode
CD, (HD activation/ HD Bypass), qcfx2+A/C, (whiff Max Cancel) hcbx2+AC

How is this an otg setup if CD isn't a hard knockdown?

[Reiki.Kito]

It's just something to know as it can follow up from a regular blowbacks and hcb+K. I think it would be best use as a last round combo ender, if Maxima lands a ground blowback. Particularly, this combo that deals 500 damage:

3 Stocks and HD Mode
CD, (HD activation/ HD Bypass), qcfx2+A/C, (whiff Max Cancel) hcbx2+AC

How is this an otg setup if CD isn't a hard knockdown?

Actually, this is all very relevant because you can HD bypass his SUPER. Just do qcfx2 +CB. Dude, that's ridiculous. Off of any starter, you can do st.D, df+C (Super Bypass), Neomax. You could do st.C, super bypass, Neomax, that's retarded.