Ever since I started playing in the arcades, I have been putting less and less time in training mode. On the plus side, I feel that my execution is now less training-room dependent, and I feel more comfortable sitting down to play without warming up these days than ever before.

On the down side, I’ve been completely neglecting my Hakan. I haven’t even gotten his new BnBs down, and there should be no excuse for that.

Now that Shadowloo Showdown is over and I have a lot more free time, I have been using some of the time to brush up on my Hakan.

Some things to practice

Corner setup with Hakan

From SRK:

– The direction the opponent has to block is random. Sometimes, the opponent can block in either direction. So he holds forward, he blocks it, holds backward, he still blocks. Confusing, I know. It’s all to do with the slightest changes in your timing. Other cases, you’ll cross up, but if the opponent guesses right, he gets hit, for big damage. And other times, it just works as a normal cross up. That’s a serious guessing game.

– Beats all standard reversals, lp gets hit, other versions whiff, free punish, etc

– The opponent can backdash. However, he’s vulnerable if he does. So it might be worth going into jabs after the HK.

List of corner setups

HP/EX Rocket: low short as a timing mechanism seems to work pretty well. The key is to execute the low short right as they land and then to catch with your opponent at the very beginning of their get up animation
MP Rocket: I’ve managed to have some success executing 2 standing fwd kicks in quick succession which positions Hakan perfectly for the crossup HK
LP Rocket: Dash fwd twice. Timing’s a bit tricky as it has to be done relatively quickly but it’s not too difficult
Oil Dive: Dash fwd twice. Same as LP Rocket
Flying Oil Spin: Dash fwd twice. Same as LP Rocket
Forward throw: Dash fwd twice. Same as LP Rocket
Oil slide without a follow up: Regular jump, I tend to throw out a quick st. jab for timing purposes
FADCing oil slide without a follow up with a forward dash: low short, same as HP Rocket
FADCing oil slide without a follow up with a back dash: One forward dash

Typical sequence:

HP oil rocket, backdash, HK dive, forward dash x 2, cross up into slide combo, is around 75% of Ryu’s health.

Meaty slide setup:

Slide+ press,backdash, lp slide

Or

Slide+ press, backdash, RH DDT (delay slightly)

Focus attack resets

Sweet Spot Dive (Used to beat Ryu’s MP DP in super, now loses to it. Wonder if I should feel happy or sad about that.)

Dropping the dog

I’ve also taken the time to learn some Taskmaster.

I’m getting kind of sick of using Amaterasu, getting hit once and dying in one combo. Also, not really happy about doing all that training room time to learn weapon switch combos, and hitting all those buttons for a measly mid 500K/low 600k combo. Sure Ammie has a lot of tools, but when I have She-Hulk and Tron on my team, Ammie’s damage just seems really shitty by comparison.

I had been thinking of switching for some time, and Geese showed me a couple of things at CW too.

So I tried some Taskmaster in training room, just hit some buttons and did the basic BnB, and wow! 720K damage.

I also tried doing my basic She-Hulk combo into Ammie DHC, and I get like 790K. (Because the first part of the Super whiffs.) Which isn’t even enough to kill Zero, depressingly enough.

If I do it with Taskmaster, it’s over mid 800k, which allows to me to kill guys like Magneto, Zero etc, which to me seems like a pretty compelling reason for the switch.

After that I decided to learn a Taskmaster DHC combo into She-Hulk, (I couldn’t do it with the basic QCF MH ender). After watching some videos, I added the basic ender from a Stark video, after the standard sj MMH F+H MHS, I jump up, slightly delay the charged QCF H arrows to OTG, and do QCF LH instead. Then I get a full She-Hulk DHC for 900k plus damage.

Which is basically Tron-level damage, and after using Ammie at least, greatly pleases me.

Next step is to learn this BnB:

c. M, s. H, 6+H, j.M, 6+H, j.H(one hit), air 236M (hold for 3 arrows), land, s.M, s.H, 4+H (shield skill), S, sj j. MMH, 6+H, MHS, land, jump, 236H (hold for 3 arrows), 4+H (shield skill), S, sj. S, wait half a sec, 236H (hold for 3 arrows), 236+LH, tiger knee input super (2369 MH)

1 million damage. Yeah…

And up my Taskmaster mobility game.

Should I really drop the dog? On one hand, I really like her; I think she’s a very cool character. And I really like her counters, which I’m only beginning to explore.

The problem for me then is; the counters are really good. But I need to switch to sword for my damage. So I then lose my access to my counters in the thick of the action when I really need it.

So if I switch to Taskmaster, I get more life, better DHCs, and much more damage with much less execution.

The downside is he doesn’t have as many tools and mobility with Ammie, and I lose my standard 900k Tron combo done with the Ammie assist.

Oh well. I have a substitute Tron combo done with She-Hulk assist that does 830k. A bit shittier, but I kind of find since Tron is my last character, generally Ammie ends up dead even before I can start to think of landing a combo with Tron! So I end up doing solo combos most of the time anyway.

We’ll see how it goes. Even if I don’t switch permanently, it’s a lot of fun learning new characters (I tried learning some Dante too, man he has some tools), and it has kind of reinvigorated me for Marvel, even at times making me forget just how salty this game makes me feel.

…Sometimes.