I got curious the other day on King's Neomax, and wanted to run a little experiment. We all know it's a poor move to throw out in the open, or add to combos (save after an HD combo ending in EX Surprise Rose), but the fact that it's got 0-1 frame startup means she potentially has an instantaneous punish to unsafe blockstrings. So I'm going to try running this move as a counter to moves that are used in blockstrings and are relatively safe, but should be punishable by this to see where and if it can be used. Here's what I gathered from yesterday against Kim:
Claw Iori:
- Blockstring ending in qcb+C/AC: 13 hits up close (s.C starter), 14 if started far (d.B, d.A, f+A). Gets 15 if he uses d.Bx2, d.A, f+A!
- Blocked df+C: 12-13 hits. Probably not reliable but not punishable with EX Surprise Rose.
- qcb+D: 13-15 hits depending on distance after the move (best if blocked further). Can't imagine him using this when he also has the EX version (neutral on block), but if he advances with this it can be punished.
- Blocked air b+B: 12-13 hits. Punishable but hard to block and punish, not really worth it.
Kim:
- cr.Bx2, st.B (st.B -6) - Pretty reliably gets 15 hits.
- cr.Bx2 (cr.B +0), Gets 15 hits most of the time, max distance second cr.B sometimes resulted in only 13 hits. Need to check if this can be done between a second cr.B and a st.B, probably just easier to watch for a st.B.
- far D, cr.B, st.B - Pretty reliably gets 15 hits.
Granted this may only be useful as a game-finisher, but every little bit helps, right?
Also as you might guess, this loses effectiveness if King has an opponent cornered, as you don't get all the bubbles.