I’ve been free to Thunder since before I can remember but holy crap S3 thunder is the worst…like how do I stop him from instantly getting in with full screen DP/dropkick?
and no I’m not trolling with this post, I really need help…Thunder is just Looney Tunes to me this season. Not talking about Arbiter specifically but just how to deal with the matchup in general.
I have trouble against players who know how to use his sammamish too, particularly when it crosses up with the heavy variant. Personally, I think they should nerf the overall range on that or prevent it from crossing up on block. Then again, I’ll be the 1st to admit that I need more experience in this matchup - S3 has made his playstyle so different from past seasons and, IMO, tougher to beat. He was my 1st main back in S1, but now I struggle to do a lot of his new setups myself on a consistent basis - I simply don’t recognize him anymore…
Now, let’s talk about why you’re hiding the name of your opponent, hmmm?
Well you don’t really need to stop him from doing the full screen kick. If you block it he’s unsafe so I say let him do it. You didn’t really lose the match in that video that badly. You just got caught in a counter breaker which he simply went for because of all the break attempts you were throwing out near the end.
The name of the game is very simple. STAY THE ■■■■ AWAY FROM HIM. It’s pretty much all you can really do. Once he gets in, it’s over. As a Thunder main I will admit that I get very antsy when I’m unable to get in, and as a result of anxiety I dp out of desperation. I’m just admitting a bad habit here, but truth be told, there is no Thunder player that likes to play the distance waiting game. Bait those dp shenanigans. All of them are extremely unsafe on block. Play keep away, make him anxious, then knock his ■■■■■■■ head off when he does something stupid. The dp dive kicks induce the incentive to force Thunder players to use it senselessly or hopefully in desperate situations. When you think about it, there is no real reason to use dp dive kick other than to anti-air the opposition & push them back into the corner where Thunder is most dangerous. If it’s used anytime other than that, it’s extremely risky.
BTW… Those daigo parrys are so awesome 
Probably out of respect for their privacy. Makes sense to me.
As for the topic… yeah, I think Thunder is very strong this season. He is definitely firmly planted in my top 5, and I don’t know too many people who think he isn’t far away from top 5.
Light DP being invincible has really, really changed this character. Now he doesn’t have to spend meter on wakeup, so he has tons of meter available for all sorts of crazy neutral and damage options, like shadow COTE and DP stomp cashouts. And if you try to bait his DP, he will do something wacky like wakeup shadow/regular COTE, or instinct forward dash (which is fully invincible from frame 1), or even medium/heavy DP and then some followup as either a mixup or a pure escape. Light DP has really turned him from a thoughtful meter management character with moments of DP craziness into someone who just has all the stuff at all the times.
I think to beat this character you just have to outguess him on wakeup. You have to knock him down and make the correct read on which of his wakeup options you’ll predict, and just go with the read. As for zoning, at least all his DP followups are mega unsafe (-15 or -20 or worse), so you get a full DP punish if you block it or one of them whiffs. I also think you have to be pretty proactive about breaking stomps, because the damage gets out of hand really quickly.
I don’t have a ton of advice you probably haven’t already thought about though, sadly.
I’m being completely serious when I say Kim might be your best choice for this MU. You can out footsie him in neutral and parry skyfalls pretty easy.
Maybe, but once he has meter, the threat of shadow cote conditionates a lot Kim’s range.
You need to play a character that forces Thunder to use his high risk footsie options. He is going to beat you in the oki and mixup game. Accept that you can’t win a game on his Home Turf. Beat him were he sucks- footsies.
Maya, Sabrewulf, Orchid- because even long distance ankle cutters on block he has to Hold Dat.
Thunders footsies are really “meh”. Fastest medium gets high crushed. Best heavy has slow startup and leaves him open to jumps, also s.HKs range not super great for a heavy and he gets no good checks off a plain s.HP.
As for his reversal- If you can’t get a HKD and don’t want to risk losing momentum to a reversal, just position yourself at optimal footsie distance and let the game naturally give you your turn back. Let him get up and hang himself.
I do this in the Jago-Wulf matchup when I don’t want to risk eating Jago’s 17% Haymaker. “Fine, get up. It’s going to be my turn anyway. My buttons are just better in the neutral and you are going to have to block B+s.HP regardless.”
I also have issues with the Thunder match up. While Sadira can certainly pester him, Shammanish is incredibly effective at keeping her out of the air.
Her best options is to bait overheads and use Shadow Recluse (if she has meter) or bait Shammanish and counter.
It’s a crazy tough match up for her… period.
I still don’t see how a free crossup, hit, and combo setup from skyfall following a successfully blocked m./h.sammamish is fair - I blocked it successfully and still get punished? I thought that was Riptor’s schtick… Skyfall comes down fast too - thus far, I’ve been unable to reverse my block even though I know it’s coming. Did they make this better in S3, 'cause I don’t recall it being this good. 
Didn’t they take away maya’s dagger throw on her DP’s on block? Yet they kept thunder’s followups on block.
Thunder’s followups are all very unsafe. Were maya’s daggers? I’m still new.
No, if you blocked Maya’s daggers after DP, she was safe.
Also, Thunder can’t do followups after the invincible light DP (he can after invincible shadow though).
Are the followups moves considered specials or command normals?
IIRC command normal so Spinal can’t use Power Devour on it.
Ahh that’s right, that’s how you can know. OK…hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
Spinal can power devour all the followups.
So they’re specials…well that’s a shame.
