I main Thunder & Fulgore, and ever since S2 this character has always been my Kryptonite. And now with S3, even more so!
Once her block strings starts it seems to go on forever, and I never know when it’s my turn to attack. I think there’s an opening before her clever girl and sometimes I can DP her out of it and into a hard KD. Which therein lies my next issue.
Okay… it’s my turn to attack. With Fulgore it’s a lot easier as I just go into his teleport shenanigans, but Thunder… whew. She has this move where she runs back on wakeup, allowing a follow up if she wants… and I can’t consistently punish it.
It’s like I have to hard commit to Triple Axe or Ankle slicer and risk getting shadow DP’d, or whatever her recapture move is called?
I’m not complaining about the character, just seeking tips/advice on how to handle her – Thunder in specific really. I used to just play patient and let her come to me. But now with her fire mortars… yeah… that doesn’t work anymore.
Also, if anyone’s able to go a set or two and teach me a few things, that’d be great as well.
I feel like everyone has their “Aww… Sh*t!” character when they pop up on the VS screen. Riptor is that character for me
Well, if she’s hitting you with combos, you can always break on the auto-doubles, linkers, manuals, any opener ender combos, or any combo that doesn’t have a break-opportunity of 3 hits or more.
Yeap, set ups are really annoying when you don’t use the characters. I usually go to the lab and check the speed of her movements (I check the negative stuff). Then I record them and see how I can punish her moves with my character. That’s to have the base. After that I go online ranked and come across the “set ups” . Get owned by them -___- Back to the lab time! u.u
I don’t have the Riptor’s players skills but I try to record the setup and study how to get out of it. That’s what I can tell you. I’m sorry, I do struggle against her too.
Maybe is better if you can stop her from putting you into the setup but sooner or later it will happen. I’ve faced guys that only play dash + grab/ HP . backx2 + HK in wake up…and jump with fire fire fire, then when they have bar they go for damage. So annoying! but I was getting better in the MU.
I learned to punish jumping HP, the flip, learned to react to certain mixups but she still confuses me with some movements (predator stance ones with advanced set ups)
In S3, Thunder’s light DP was actually made invincible, so you can mash that out in-between Riptor’s frame traps at pretty much any point- preferably after you block shoulder charge. From there, she’s in predator stance and can’t block. Same thing with any strength of Fulgore’s DP. If Riptors are getting too tail flip-happy, just start mashing jab. It’ll beat every single tail flip option she has, crossup or non-crossup. It’s especially easy to react to in S3, since it’s so slow now. Her shadow Clever Girl is her only invincible reversal. The normal versions are just upper body invulnerable. Jumping around and crossing her up can throw her off her game, since her anti-airs are so situational, and her best one requires meter. As a Riptor main, I can tell you firsthand how frustrating it is to set up my flame carpet just to have people jump or backdash out of it. Now, I either have to chase my opponent down again, or have to suddenly be on the defensive. Don’t depend on jumping out of it too much, though. A good Riptor will meaty standing HK to catch jumps and backdashes- but only if they set it up with the Tail Flip ender -> Flame Carpet. That is literally the only use flame carpet has in the oki department.
Shadow counters are your friend. If they use the 3-hit predator moves, it’s very easy to catch, but if they are doing other things, you will have to pay attention.
Yeah, except one problem. Sometimes I can’t react fast enough to determine which side it’ll land on. When that happens, it’s just best for me to DP her out of it
You’re telling me I can simply jump out of the flame carpet on wakeup? Won’t my backdash still get caught if it doesn’t go far enough? Also, does it matter if I’m blocking high or low against it? I’ll be headed into the lab tonight to work on some stuff, but this is a great launch point.
Also if she wakes up with her – running backward, tail flip move – is that move only high invulnerable as well. Is it crushed by low attacks?
Oh that’s tail flip, not clever girl. Clever girl is the one where she bites you out of the air and slams you down to the ground. Yeah for tail flip it’s best to DP her if you’re not confident enough with blocking it.
Yes. The flame carpet will not hit you during pre-jump frames. You can just hold up and be completely fine. Don’t depend on that too much, though, or Riptor players will catch on and meaty you accordingly. If you’re close enough to the edge of the flame carpet, you can easily just backdash. It is a mid attack, so it does not matter if you block high or low. Oh, and that run back HK move that everyone seems to think is soooo awesome? You can actually meaty most medium or light normals at close range and still have enough time to block it. From there, it’s whatever punish you want.
Riptor can put a lot of pressure on her opponent, but she cannot take the pressure herself. If she does catch you in a combo you can break it by watching the streath hits
Light Punch Claw swipe
Light kick: kicking
Med punch: headbutt
Med kick: bite
Hard punch: flame
Hard kick: Tail attack
If you keep an eye on theswe, you’ll be able to break them but be careful, some will expect it and try to counter break.
I agree, riptor can’t stand pressure… unless she has meter. Also, riptor can easily avoid wakeup jumping pressure with the run back-HP. Also, her meter reversal gets destroyed by autocorrect. When defending against a riptor, shadow counters are your friend. Most riptors will force a counter but situation otherwise.
As a Fulgore and a Riptor main I got some good advice for you: Keep her at bay for the most part. Riptor may be vicious but you need to be paitent with her. If she rushes you down block for a bit and then attack her on recovery. One more thing to keep in mind is if you wanna dominate against her make sure you keep her cornerd because she is no good at being cornered herself.
If you manage to have her cornered and knocked her down beware she may have a wake up attack coming.
Another option I like to do is shoot a fireball and then teleport not behind, but in the middle. People who know how to grab me out of teleports get hit with it.
This ticks off my brother @Justathereptile every time…and it’s HILARIOUS!
Riptor never lets me do that. It’s either full screen fireballs/flame carpet gauntlet, or in my face pressure and mixups until she gets a knockdown, then it’s flame carpet and breath city.
If I keep backing up I’m in the corner in no time where all of that stuff works even better against me.
