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Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves/Defense
Block Types
Blocking
Blocking prevents your character from taking damage from normal attacks and will greatly reduce damage when blocking special attacks. Blocking is performed by holding back or down-back when your opponent is attacking. There are two types of blocking: stand blocking and crouch blocking. Stand blocking will block attacks that hit "High" or "Mid", but will not block attacks that hit "Low". Crouch blocking will block attacks that hit "Mid" or "Low", but will not block attacks that hit "High". Because almost every High-hitting attack can be reacted to while most Mid and Low attacks cannot, crouch blocking should be treated as your default method of blocking unless your opponent is in the air, where all jumping normal attacks hit High, or if they use a High-hitting move. Attacks cannot be blocked in the air. Blocking will not defend against throws.
Blocking attacks will increase your REV Gauge based on the strength of your opponent's attack. This is to discourage overly defensive play; eventually, blocking too many attacks will put you in Overheat, which will cause blocking to reduce the Guard Gauge below your health bar. If the Guard Gauge is emptied, your character will be Guard Crushed and will be left wide open to your opponent's attack. Keep this in mind when defending with a high REV Gauge.
If an attack has a follow-up that does not give you a chance to act in between, then blocking the first hit will make your character automatically block the follow-up hit even when not holding back or down-back provided there is no gap in between the hits. This can be useful for timing a Hyper Defense or reversal.
Blocking Stats
- Receives chip damage as 1/6 of the regular damage (including S.P.G.) from specials and supers, rounded down
- Receives REV Gauge increase as 1/10 of the regular damage, unaffected by SPG status
- Guard damage during overheat doesn't directly correlate with damage, but REV blows and supers deal very high guard damage
REV Guard
Pressing the REV button while standing still or crouching (either 5REV or 2REV) will make your character perform REV Guard. REV Guard is a shield that nullifies chip damage and pushes the opponent back further than a normal block when their attacks connect with it, with the tradeoff being that the REV Gauge will increase more on a successful REV Guard than on a successful block. Your character will continue to REV Guard for as long as the REV button is held down, and you can activate or deactivate REV Guard while already blocking attacks. Like with every other REV action, you cannot use REV Guard while in Overheat.
REV Guard is a useful mechanic for dealing with your opponent's offense, as their standard pressure sequences can be disrupted due to the increased pushback. For example, a Terry blockstring of c.C > 6C feint into f.C will have f.C whiff if both hits of c.C > 6C were REV Guarded, allowing you to whiff punish. Most character's REV Blows will be pushed back substantially by a REV Guard, allowing you to give yourself more breathing room. REV Guard can also be used to counter cross-ups or other left/right mixup attempts, as REV Guard will automatically block in whichever direction an attack is coming from.
REV Guard Stats
- Increases the amount of REV Gauge increase on block by 65%, rounded down
- Increased pushback.
Just Defense
By inputting a block within eight frames before your opponent's attack connects, you will instead get Just Defense. A successful Just Defense (JD for short) is indicated by a blue shield briefly forming around your character and a sound effect. Multi-hitting attacks require you to repeatedly tap back or down-back in rhythm with your opponent's attack to get multiple Just Defends. You can normal block after a Just Defend. Just Defend cannot be used while you are already blocking an attack.
Just Defense is superior to normal blocking as you will take no chip damage from specials or super moves, the REV Gauge will decrease by a small amount, you will recover a small amount of health, and you will be able to Guard Cancel using a special move, a super move, or a REV Blow. Additionally, your opponent will be pushed back less compared to a normal block or REV Guard, allowing for punishes that might normally not be possible. Unlike normal blocking, Just Defense can also be performed during regular jumps (but not hops), allowing you to block things such as anti-air attempts and projectiles.
Just Defend Stats
- Reduces the REV Gauge increase on block to 0
- Reduces REV Gauge % by (attack damage / 30), ignoring SPG buff
- Reduces pushback
- Can air block
- Restores 5 health per JD, regardless of attack damage
Guard Cancel
By inputting a special move, REV Art, super move, or REV Blow during a successful Just Defend, your character will perform a Guard Cancel, thus canceling their blocking state into that attack. This is useful for punishing predictable offense from your opponent and getting out of usually disadvantageous situations on block. The window to input a Guard Cancel, while somewhat more lenient in City of the Wolves compared to its predecessor, is tight due to Just Defense itself being very brief; an easier way to Guard Cancel is to start inputting the intended special, incorporate a backwards input during that input, and then finish the input to Guard Cancel.
A Zero Frame Super is triggered by Guard Cancelling into an Ignition Gear, Redline Gear, or Hidden Gear. Contrary to the name, doing this reduces the super move's startup frames to 1, which almost eliminates chances for your opponent to recover in time to block. Additionally, the super's damage will have a slight amount of scaling applied to it. While difficult to pull off without buffering the input or without the slight slowdown of Hyper Defense, Zero Frame Supers have the potential to completely turn the tide of a match and can make your opponent second guess their offense.
Guard Cancelling will increase the REV Gauge by a certain amount. This increase is affected by the player's S.P.G. state, with Flux Ratio and Final Ratio reducing the amount.
Guard Cancel Stats
Wakeup Recovery
When your character is knocked to the floor by an opponent's attack, such as after a special move or a sweep, you have multiple options for getting up.
Normal Recovery
Doing nothing after a knockdown will result in your character getting up in place automatically after a small period of time. Normal Recovery also prevents your character from being thrown as soon as they get up thanks to a generous amount of throw invincibility, though you will still have to block your opponent's attacks that are timed to hit you as soon as you get up, and an opponent can delay their throw attempts to try and throw you anyway, though the throw invincibility will allow you to jump, backdash, or attack beforehand to counter them.
Forward Roll
When your character is knocked to the ground, pressing forward and a Punch button (6A or 6C) will have your character perform a forward roll along the ground. The distance as well as how long the recovery animation will be depend on which Punch button was pressed; a Light Punch roll will travel a short distance and recover sooner while a Heavy Punch roll will travel farther but take slightly longer to recover. Though this wakeup option is good for getting yourself out of a bad position (like the corner), be aware that there is no throw invincibility unlike the normal recovery, allowing an opponent to make a throw attempt as soon as you get up.
Backwards Roll
When your character is knocked to the ground, pressing backwards and a Punch button (4A or 4C) will have your character perform a backward roll along the ground. Otherwise behaves similarly to the Forwards Roll, including the lack of throw invincibility.
Be aware that wakeup rolling is impossible in certain situations. Knockdowns that were caused by throws, REV Arts, or super moves cannot be wakeup rolled in either direction; these are informally referred to as hard knockdowns. Only the normal recovery will be possible in these situations.
Recovery Stats
- Regular recovery
- Certain moves will force this situation to occur
- Forward tech (short)
- reduces recovery by 22fs
- Forward tech (far)
- reduces recovery by 16fs
- Back tech (short)
- reduces recovery by 22fs
- Back tech (far)
- reduces recovery by 16fs
Advanced Techniques
Hyper Defense
Hyper Defense (HD for short) is a more advanced form of Just Defense that can be used even while you are already blocking an attack, something that is normally not possible with Just Defense. When blocking a sequence of attacks that have no gap in between, press forward or down-forward just before your opponent's attack connects to get a Hyper Defense. The timing for Hyper Defense is a lot stricter than Just Defense; failed attempts will result in your character getting hit by the attack you were trying to HD. You cannot perform another Hyper Defense while Hyper Defending. Pressing backwards while Hyper Defending a multi-hitting attack that still has hits left in it will get you a Just Defense; otherwise, you will transition into a normal block.
Hyper Defense carries all of the same benefits as Just Defense in addition to being able to use it while blocking gapless attack sequences and causing a brief slowdown effect when successful, which creates a bigger window to input a Guard Cancel, including zero-frame supers. Because Hyper Defense requires a forward input instead of a backwards input, this can make certain Guard Cancels that require forward inputs (such as DPs or 236236 input supers) easier to pull off. Common use cases for Hyper Defense include countering common gapless, plus on block REV Accel sequences such as Hotaru's 214AC > 236AC or Rock's 214AC > 236AC as well as common multi-hit special moves like Billy's 236AC ~ 4P. Though the timing is very strict, practicing Hyper Defense can increase your defensive options in certain matchups significantly.
Wakeup Guard Cancel/Throw Backdash OS
This is a wakeup option select* that lets you punish most meaty attempts and punish throw attempts with one input. In these examples, you input 214REV, and then press A+B+C. The REV input must be done on the same input as the backwards direction. If done correctly, you will wakeup Just Defend a meaty and then Guard Cancel with your character's 214AC special move. If the opponent tried to throw you as soon as the normal recovery throw invincibility window runs off, you will either backdash the throw or tech it depending on your timing. If the opponent does nothing, you will get a backdash, which will result in an air reset and not a full combo if the opponent did a delayed attack. The key is to make sure the 4REV input is done in time with the opponent's meaty attack and to slightly delay or piano the A+B+C input after 214REV, as inputting 214REV and A+B+C at exactly the same time will have 214AC take priority, which will still punish meaties with a wakeup Guard Cancel but get thrown out of the startup.
The Guard Cancel does not have to be a 214AC special move; it can actually be any special move provided that the input ends in 4REV to JD the meaty or backdash a throw and A+B is included to tech a throw if the backdash doesn't work. For example, a character with a Punch DP like Rock can use that by inputting 6234REV, A+B+C, or a character with a Kick DP like Terry can do 6234REV, A+B+D. 214AC is simply the easiest input to use this with. Some character's 214AC moves aren't fast enough to punish faster meaties or they might not have a 214AC special move at all, so learning to do this with other special moves can be rewarding. Experiment with your character to see how they can best take advantage of this option select.
This option select can be countered by using multi-hitting meaties. Cancels into things like a DP break or a counter special move can call out this option select, though this can be beaten by Guard Cancelling into a move that is faster than their meaty string or is invincible. A jumping or hopping normal that is done close to the ground or a safejump will also deal with this option select, as they will trigger the Just Defense but land in time to block the Guard Cancel.
- Credit to SQuirrel147 for discovering the OS and Shin Yakub for countering it.
In this example, Terry is able to counter Rock's attempt to meaty with c.D > 6D+REV with EX Burn Knuckle by inputting 214REV, A+B+C on his wakeup. This same input also allows him to backdash a delayed throw attempt and get a Wild Punish.
Here, Rock is able to counter the option select by canceling c.D into 623C ~ AB. Here, Terry is able to turn the tables by using 623BD instead of 214AC, which is has upper body invincibility and can thusly hit Rock out of his c.D > 623C ~ AB cancel. A jumping attack that is close to the ground will beat both 214AC and 623BD, though Terry can still use REV Accel to cancel into something like 214BD or 236AC to take his turn back.
