Killer Instinct Academy

I usually won’t appear online unless I’m open to getting invites for games and whatnot - so if my wife is gaming or I’m labbing/working on videos and so forth (or working on my second job from home), I’ll keep my status offline. That being said the xbox is in my living room and hard to avoid so I’ll see messages I get, etc.

Ah that makes sense. I subbed to your YouTube channel aswell looking forward to see what kind of tech you come up with. I’ll keep all that in mind though.

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Nice - thank you very much! :smiley:

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I could still use more people to play with myself! I’ve really only had to chance to game with one person here thus far, and we were kinda even overall, but I wouldn’t mind more experience! ( more less more match ups to build up my shadow w/o having to grind on rank! )

I’m available.

Feel free to ask around in the GGs thread - it’s sort of morphed into an enormous matchmaking thread over time :smiley:

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I think I just don’t understand her game plan in general. Huge slow normals, a rekka, counters, teleports and two command grabs is a lot to deal with, and there’s meter management on top of that. The “big picture” is still really unclear to me.

You make the opponent scared of everything and you do stuff…you will be safe because the opponent is scared.

Thanks to all for the Hisako advice. My buddy was giving me some trouble but I switched to Jago who I’m starting to feel like I’m better with than Spinal. Did what you guys were saying like that neutral jumps, throw mix ups ect and I ended up beating him about 47 games, he beat me about 6. :slight_smile:

The new flip out combos help alot too. Got some crazy resets off them. The mind games you can play with your opponent open up so many set ups and bait for counter breakers.

Hisako lives and dies off of reading or failing to read her opponent. As Sasuke mentioned, making the opponent afraid to act is definitely the crux of her plan - she’s got an answer or a way around just about everything in the game. She has GREAT footsies and can get a bit of mileage off of stray pokes (which, in KI, can most often be converted into combo damage). Not all of her normals are slow - you’d be surprised how reliable Cr.MK is for a confirm/punish. When she’s rushing down she’s very mix-up heavy.

@Infilament does a great job discussing her general game plan in his guide - Hisako: The Complete KI Guide

I think I understand how to rush down with her. I’ve been having fun with On Ryo Zan’s built in mixup and wacky air stuff. cr.HK is fun to throw in there too, I love a good sweep. I’ll try cr.MK, it’ll be good to have a close range button.

As for getting better reads, I guess I’ll just play the game more. It feels super satisfying to trip someone up with a counter, but it’s so scary to mess it up and get stuck in the animation, or guess high-low-throw wrong.

What’s the best way to counter her teleport? Grab doesn’t seem to work all that well. I’ve been more or less jumping backwards and crossing her up when I see her go under.

Spinal can contest aerial attacks with his jumping punches using lp or mp if you want to stuff someone out of their move or hp as a general air to air) but IMO Hisako has better aerials than Spinal. Anti airs or skeleporting behind to get out of the way is often the best solution.

And thanks Marble :slight_smile:

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Pacing is important - and in S3, it’s become extremely important as the only way to regen wrath is by standing still or dragging your ghostly ■■■■ slowly along the floor. So make sure to take a half-second to chill and get that wrath meter back. Knockdowns and opponents fleeing in terror are always great opportunities to recharge.

Now of course this isn’t an issue in instinct - go freakin’ bananas, you can wrath cancel like crazy into Descent or Vengeance.

It’s great up close, but it’s got a decent range on it for being as fast as it is (and hitting low no less)! Take her into practice mode and check out the hitbox.

Yeah - counters are a big risk. They’re like -1,046,306 on block or so (slight embellishment there… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: ). I’d start out using them in easy and obvious scenarios (anti-air on a telegraphed jump-in; stopping a predictably timed normal or block string; telegraphed attack on your wakeup, etc) and as you play more and more Hisako you’ll find yourself sneaking counters into pretty clutch scenarios.

Feel free to add me on XBL for games and shop talk :smiley:

I main Riptor right now, with Kim Wu as a backup, I am more than happy to throw my hat in the ring for any Riptor training I may offer. thanks

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That’s a good tip thanks I will try that next time I play against her! What do you suggest against her teleport?

Block or jump is going to be the right answer about 80% of the time. If I end up teleporting close to you I’ll usually try to hit or throw you. If I expect that you’ll try to hit me or jump I’ll usually just block, counter or anti-air after teleport. I could be wrong but I feel as though I’ve been hit out of teleport prior to cancelable frames - so that’s something to consider if she telegraphs the teleport or you otherwise notice it soon enough.

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It may have changed in s3 but previously you were invulnerable when you came back up before you could cancel into anything (so the first vulnerable frame when reappearing was the first cancellable frame, so cancelling into influence would keep you throw invulnerable, shadow orz keeps you projectile invulnerable, etc). This might have changed in s3 but I honestly doubt it.

As for what to do: no idea, when I played a Hisako I generally tried jumping over and caught a cr.hp for my troubles. I have not tried finding a permanent solution yet.

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Yeah - probably just error on my part.

Yeah if she has the read on your jump, things can get ugly - especially now with flip-out and a jump-cancelable AA Rekka.

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