Having considered the factors that should be considered before you commit to a particular tactic on wake-up, let's now look at some of the more commonly overused and underused options in beginner play.
Commonly overused tactics on wake-up
Commonly underused tactics on wake-up
Commonly overused tactics on wake-up
- Parrying
- Shoryuken
In a lot of ways, the thought process behind this is similar to parrying - it's a quick way to go from defense to offense if it works. However, it's even more high-risk, high-reward than parrying, since an unsuccessful shoryuken will almost always result in a big damage punish.
Part of the reason this is so high risk is because it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking there's only one or two ways of getting around a wake-up shoryuken, which are to block or parry. However, this is very simplistic, and in reality there are plenty of other options:
1. Backdash (some characters) - also good since it counters a wake-up tech throw
2. Properly spaced jump-ins - if you time it right, you will be right over their head when they attempt to uppercut, so it won't autocorrect and you'll either hit them out of it, or it'll just whiff
3. Meaties/high priority normals - these can simply stuff or trade with wake-up shoryuken
The point is, although shoryuken seems like a very effective option to force your opponent to play cautiously after a knockdown, they still have options that are offensive in nature and will beat shoryuken. And when it fails, it fails in the biggest way possible, resulting in you taking a ton of damage. The key is the preserve the element of surprise - hold it in reserve until your opponent lets his guard down, then unleash it at the key moment to turn things in your favor. - Super
This is character-specific of course - there's no point in doing wake-up SAIII with Yun, for example. This is especially common with easily pressured characters that don't have many wake-up options - Makoto SAI is the first one that comes to my mind. Again this is similar to shoryuken, except it's an even worse idea since you don't gain much over a wake-up shoryuken, and you're gambling an entire meter (as opposed to none, or just an EX worth if you need to EX shoryuken, with Dudley for example). If you fail, you not only take a huge chunk of damage, but you're also out a meter, which is especially painful with one meter stock supers like Makoto SAI.
There are other things which also make wake-up super generally a bad idea:
- Your opponent is more likely to play conservatively if they see you have meter (and a viable super for wake-up).
- The super flash gives away what you're planning on doing, so unless they throw something out before the super flash, you automatically lose in that situation. If your opponent tries to throw you a frame or two after wake-up uppercut, they eat the uppercut, because there's nothing to give away what you're doing; if the same thing happens with wake-up super, they obviously won't do anything.
On characters with good uppercuts (shotos, Dudley's EX uppercut), there is almost no reason to ever pick wake-up super over uppercut (and even that should be used somewhat sparingly). On characters like Makoto, you really don't want to wake-up super unless you're 100% convinced they'll do something that can be punished by it, and even then it's usually a better idea to throw in a cr. LK first, so that you don't telegraph the super, and they have to commit to blocking low in order to block the whole thing.
As I discussed some time ago in the post on parrying, parrying always has a significant element of risk to it. Not only does it involve guessing - which means potentially guessing wrong, and taking a huge chunk of damage - but the risk attached to it is the highest when you're getting up after a knockdown. Say you get knocked down midscreen - you have very little control over spacing, no scope for a setup which leads to a predictable response; your mindset should be defensive. In the corner, things are even worse since you have no control over spacing, and the chances of getting a bad result by cold guessing on a parry are the absolute highest in this scenario.
Despite this, it's common for beginners to parry more in this situation. The psychology behind it is understandable - nobody enjoys being stuck in a defensive position, at the mercy of their opponent's rushdown, so they take the most drastic option to turn things around - but it's also a quick way to lose again a strong opponent. Parries should be reserved for situations where you have a really good reason for doing so - you've picked up on a pattern in their rushdown, or it's the beginning of a round against a no-meter Chun and the risk is worth it, etc. Otherwise, be content to block, and wait for an opportunity to reset the situation to a more neutral one.
Commonly underused tactics on wake-up
- Blocking
- Jumping
On the surface, jumping might appear to be a risky proposition. After it, there's no real offensive element to it - you could throw out a jump normal on the way up, but chances are they'll recover around the time or before you land, putting you more or less where you started. All the same, it's surprisingly effective for a number of reasons:
2a. It avoids throws and command grabs entirely. Most characters are off the ground in 3 frames (some in 4, a couple in 5), which means you can even wait a moment before jumping since you have a little more throw invincibility when you get up initially.
2b. If you have wake-up options like uppercut or super, your opponent is more likely to play conservatively and either fish for a parry, or just wait a moment before doing anything. This is all the time you need to jump away, or even out of the corner, trading places with them.
2c. When you're airborne, it's generally harder to land big damage. Standard ground combos into supers won't do anything when you're airbone, and low pokes that are even slightly delayed will whiff. Even if you get hit, much of the time it'll just be a normal that will result in you getting reset, which is much better than that normal getting combo'd into a super.
2d. You can always parry in the air, which is somewhat less risky than on the ground since there's no high/low mixups to worry about, and most characters have less options against you when you're in the air than on the ground, which means parries can be a little more easy to predict.
Like every other wake-up option, it has its drawbacks. There is a small 3-5 window where they can hit you for free while you're jumping, and once you commit to a jump your options are fairly limited until you land. All the same, it's still effective if not overused, and especially good against characters who are throw/command grab dependent. - Moves that are airborne quickly (e.g. Akuma demon flip, Urien headbutt, etc.)
As an alternative to jumping, there are some moves that will have you airborne within the first few startup frames, and thus share a lot of the advantages of jumping, such as avoiding throws and letting you get air reset if hit. Some examples include:
- Akuma: DP + K (demon flip)
- Akuma: QCB + K (hurricane kick)
- Chun-Li: far st. HK (hop kick, not the knee)
- Urien: Charge d., u. + P (headbutt)
And here are a couple of videos showing such moves, and how they can be effective. In the first video below, Urien either does headbutt or knee drop on wakeup (looks like knee drop to me, but I could be wrong), and Makoto's set-up for the ex. chop fails since he gets air reset by the cr. LK, and punishes by throwing and dropping Makoto in the corner (occurs at 2:17):
1a. High/low mixups: Very few characters have fast overheads that lead into any serious damage. Every character does have UOH, but in and of itself the damage on UOH is pitiful. Most can combo into super with the right timing and spacing, but that timing and spacing is very specific, and usually requires hitting with the very tail end of UOH, which means you have the most time to react and block it. Against characters like Dudley and Urien (with Aegis out) overheads become a much more serious problem, and naturally blocking by itself is insufficient, but even so they have to burn meter to do it, which provides some longer-term relief in terms of pressure.
1b. Throws/command grabs: The standard LP+LK throw is generally one of the fastest, safest offensive options in the game for most characters, but even it has its drawbacks. The short range means their spacing options are limited (bar exceptions like kara-throws, which are extremely powerful), so you know when to be on the lookout for it. The knockdown is huge, but the damage isn't off the charts, and there's no immediate follow up for more damage. You also have 6 frames of throw invulnerability on wake-up, which is a long enough window to do something else that prevents getting thrown. Getting thrown a few times in a row is annoying, but you develop the instinct and reaction time with experience to generally avoid it from happening too frequently.
Command grabs like Makoto's and Hugos are scarier propositions since they either do insane damage, or have painful follow-ups, but again, the 6 frames of throw invulnerability on wake-up give you time to do something to prevent that from happening. Not to mention you can always jump away, which takes us to our second point:
In the second example below, Akuma simply gets out of the corner for free using demon flip, baiting a Chun-Li far fierce in an attempt to punish him before he lands. It fails, and he pulls off a big punish to finish off the round (occurs at 13:53):
4. Quick roll + Backdash (midscreen)
This doesn't work well with characters who have tech roll slowly or have slow, easy to punish backdashes (i.e. Chun-Li), and obviously doesn't do anything in the corner. However, this is a very effective wake-up tactic midscreen with characters like shotos, Makoto, etc., since the combination of tech rolling and backdashing puts a lot of distance between you and your opponent very quickly. If they knocked you down with a move that recovers slowly - say, shoto low sweep - then the gap may be too large to safely bridge by dashing, which means a lot of the pressure on you is immediately relieved.
In fact, it's fairly common for beginners (and even better players) to fail to consider a backdash, and end up throwing out a long range move that would hit you without a backdash, but just barely whiffs with one (i.e. Chun-Li far st. HP, Ken st. HK, etc.). In these scenarios you can easily punish such moves with big combos, and turn the flow of battle completely. Of course, like anything else it can be punished if your opponent expects it, so don't abuse it. Use it at the right times, and it can get you out of trouble fairly easily, though.
Hopefully you have a better grasp of your wake-up options, and getting knocked down isn't quite as frightening an ordeal as before!