Sie Kensou Match Up Thread

[SwitchPlaya]

This thread will be dedicated to how to deal with characters with Kensou. In order to make it easier explained what character you are having trouble with before writing down your issues and solutions you should title what the match up is. you don't have to do this if you don't want to it will just make it easier to look out for specific characters.

eg.

(Kensou vs ???)
[text Here]

[milesw]

All I know is Kensou has to be free vs CHIN when knocked down

-Bait his rolling back fist if he tries to get past your fireballs since this is his only option vs zoners
A blocked backfist is a free neomax(depending on a/c version I believe)

-do not try jumping attacks on his wake-up since he can wake up counter on reaction

-cr.b/st.b is a oki tool against chin once knocked down. Since he cannot counter lows.

his only wake up options would be block, reversal(requires meter to do so), counter

on his wake up mix up between lows, throw/command throw super.

Something along the lines of...

Knockdown>
whiff a jumping attack>cr.b>etc

whiff a jumping attack>throw/C.T.

[dmick1981]

Right now im having trouble fighting kyo, takuma and shen. Dose anybody have any suggestions

[SwitchPlaya]

what the trouble with the most with each character?

[dmick1981]

Well as far as kyo goes im having a hard time punishing his  qcf + lk. What punishes that because kyo just spams those all day when it dosent look safe on block.

[Diavle]

Well as far as kyo goes im having a hard time punishing his  qcf + lk. What punishes that because kyo just spams those all day when it dosent look safe on block.

Kyo's qcf+K is generally pretty safe on block but:

-You can rdp+K him in between the first and second kicks
- You can roll in between his first and  second kicks
- You can normal throw him after the second kick (he can break the throw but will still get pushed back)
- And if you have meter then just do the qcf hcb+P super after the second kick. Its a 1 frame grab.
- You can also guard cancel roll and punish

Go to practice and record the Kyo dummy into doing the move over and over, then go nuts experimenting on punishes.

[dmick1981]

Thanks man. Dose anyone have any idea how to fight clark

[Franchyze22]

Anyone got some tips on fighting Kim, maybe some punishes or something, he just seems to be mr. safe to me.

[Sharnt]

There is only one safe special move with Kim, air qcb.D at the lowest heigh possible which lets him at +1

Just put a Kim bot and try to punish with rdp.B/rdp.BD/qcf.P his moves.

Some moves can be hard to punish at certain ranges, but they never are safe.

[jinxhand]

Against Clark, make sure you actually hit qcf+B/D, 'cause if not, then he can just do his b,f+P and combo accordingly... You're gonna have to constantly maintain space, like sweeping distance and more, especially with s.D, c.D, and those fireballs... Just don't get too "Predictabo" because one roll past his fireball, and you're gonna get thrown, or eat a combo (hopefully Clark doesn't have enough to cancel into his EX super)... Don't attempt to beat out his grab with a super either, it's pointless... If you can anticipate it, jump to qcb+A/C, or pray you recover quick enough for a backflip to cancel that into something else...

[dmick1981]

Thanks bro yeah clark is a pain in the ass to fight against. Any advice for the matchups against Takuma and Shen

[Saitsuofleaves]

When Shen has no meter, get in on him and pressure him to death especially using Chokyuudan pressure.  Use your low pokes to deal with possible far C annoyances but don't get overly predictable unless you want him to get a free hop in.  When he DOES get Drive or Meter, be very wary about your FB pressure.  One wrong move and he will drill you with heavy damage. 

You could also just sit back a bit and let Shen make the mistakes.  He's not terribly safe on most of his strings.  Free punishes are always good and without full HD meter, you'll almost never have to block low since he can't do jack shit with his lows without HD Mode.

The main deal is this.  On a Point vs. Point match (where Kensou should be more often than not), Kensou will beat Shen.  Once Shen gets meter it becomes problematic, so preferably you don't have Kensou in a slot where it would put you at a disadvantage.  If you're Point vs. SG/Anchor Shen, then at the least, your Kensou did the job of getting the early lead and you can go a bit harder to maintain it if not win the match.    If Kensou's lower on the list though, the matchup becomes harder to the point where it's Anchor vs. Anchor, you might be in a slight bit of trouble.  If you don't normally put Kensou at point, make a habit of doing it if Shen's on the other team.

[choysauce]

The Ralf matchup seems pretty tough with kensou

the major problem i'm seeming to have is that ralf's normals are super beefy and active so my pokes run into them or i just get beat usually. and its super hard to react to his sh.D, it's like a near instant overhead.

i always have to wait and punish ralf for bad rush punches, but how often will a competent ralf do those for me to block?

would his qcf+B/D punish ralf's divepunch?

[jinxhand]

Ralf's not too bad, if you can consistently change the pace and the space of your projectiles...

EX fireball goes through Ralf's qcb+P, except the EX one I believe... If you do your EX fireball before he gets his EX qcb+P out, it will hit-- just know his EX qcb+P has a delay to it...

You can't do too much rushing without following behind a fireball, so just make sure that you have one out, and try to inch in as best as you can.

j.B cross up helps, too...

Try not to do anything that gives him a free b~f+P, because that can lead to some DC combos...

his only real long range pokes are s.D, c.D, c.C, and s.C... Ralf can't rely on c.C too much, except for close punishes... I believe he can go into HD mode from that, so be careful with the rushdown...

For those that are gutsy enough to do backdash into air qcf+P, you can trade or possibly beat with rdp+K...

You can run up behind fireball, use c.D and cancel into backflip, and immediately cancel to fast fireball if they don't jump... Ralf is gonna want to control the ground and make you jump. But just like Chess, you have to make the opponent play your game-- in this case, make Ralf jump...

Situations like the one mentioned above can train him to think he has an opportunity to capitalize on a whiff... If the fireball is fast, it will hit if he tries to be slick and jump... If you've already trained him to roll, you should use the A projectile... If he somehow manages to telegraph and qcb+A, then you can continue to rush, or if you're gutsy, qcf+B/D; but there's a risk if Ralf recovered from his move already... The trick with that is to go into qcf+B/D immediately after the fireball, but that's if you know he's gonna go qcb+P...

Ultimately, it's not too hard to face Ralf. You just have to read him a little more, and then train him to do what you want for the right setup...

Oh yeah, qcf+B/D should punish the dive punch, depending on how high he did the move, which affects where he lands in the end... If it was close enough, just dash in and combo instead...

Lastly, if you've got your opponent to roll past your fireball setups, try something like either s.D or c.D into backflip and cancel backflip into dp+P... This can be risky, but again you have to ready your opponent to determine whether or not this is an option... At the very least, option select so you can break throws...

[dmick1981]

Man i dont seem to have an answer for takuma. Hes got that stupid awesome ambiguous crossup D. He beats me in the fireball game. I cant seem to punish b-f b/d. Whats the deal with beatin this chump lol