Element released another one of his crazy Sadira combo videos. This really shows you what she can do.
The only one that I have used (in one variation or the other) is the combo that starts around 1:51. These take a LOT of practice though. I generally spend between 20 to 30 min a day learning a combo. (When I had more time I would spend an hour a day in practice).
Am extremely impressive combo video! Much of that is (for now) beyond my skill, but it’s still very cool to watch.
I have no fear of the Training Room, and I actually enjoy spending time simply working on combos. I’ve done that a lot with the Mortal Kombat franchise, for example. I can spend hours in there just working on stuff.
Here is a few matches I’ve completed over the last few weeks.
@WebNRagnarok Thanks very much for putting this compilation together!
Watching your matches, it seems to me that I do overall have a good understanding of Sadira’s mechanics and their application, but of course there’s many things I need to improve on:
And of course, my overall execution needs refinement in general.
For Tusk, it looks like you need a lot of patience when fighting him. When he flashes, can you explain that mechanic to me? Is it a reflect?
For Glacius, the player you fought seems to play very differently from the ones I usually play. He didn’t seem to want to play the zoning game at all with you, and seemed to want to be in close with you.
When Tusk flashes he is using a Deflect. To my understanding, deflect will deflect everything. It’s a very nasty move, however as with all things Tusk, you can bait it with empty jumps ins and throws, of which is what I do a lot when fighting a good Tusk.
When I fight a really good Glacius, they will only use the zoning strategy until I stop falling for their gags. I’ve played a number of top Glay players such as Pie Daffy (I don’t think he plays any more), Roosterdrill, and Waterhorse. Generally they will switch tactics to take me out quickly, because once I get Instinct, I will smoother them. As a Sadira main, you really want to be next to Glay as it is difficult for him to keep her off of him once she is there. His DP is rather easy to bait and as he stays grounded during it, you can simply jump over it to hit his back.
If Glay keeps hitting me with jumping HK every time I jump… I’ll simply run up to him and use Recluse (Light or Heavy version). Any time he reaches out to you, his hurt box does as well.
Hey all,
So one thing I love about the bi-weekly casuals that I host is that a few of the participants are much better players than I, and this makes for fantastic learning and practice opportunities.
I have a few additional match up questions that I’m hoping you all can advise me on:
Kilgore. I don’t usually have trouble with this match up, but I was getting walloped pretty good yesterday. One thing I found is after being thrown, Kilgore can fire his Chainguns low and this hits you while you’re on-the-ground. Afterwards I went to the dojo and tried, and it appears this is unblockable, and it actually launches for a small combo. Am I correct that once this loop starts, your only option would be to properly Break the combo since you’re being hit on-the-ground?
My Kilgore opponent, who again I usually do very well against, started pinning me in the corner for the first time yesterday and I actually didn’t know how to react or to get myself out of said corner. I know Sadira’s wake up options are weak and Shadow Web Cling is generally her best option outside of simple blocking. Any tips for getting out of corner pressure?
Gargos. I have very little match up experience versus this character, and I faced a random in an Exhibition match yesterday. Every time I tried to take to the air, I would get Portal Punched down. Am I correct that in this match up, Sadira needs to play more of a ground game?
General tips against General RAAM? I’m assuming play keep away and capitalize on mistakes? He’s pretty scary, though I tend to have issues against grapplers in any fighting game.
Thanks!
You generally want to stick to the ground when approaching Gargos. His portal punch zoning has a very linear rhythm to it that allows you one dash forward (or hit on a minion with a light button) between every blocked punch. Be patient and eventually you’ll back him into the corner and force him to take risks.
Unfortunately, Sadira doesn’t have any tools to contest this and always has to approach the hard way. The only way she has any real chance of winning is keeping him pinned down once she finally does get in, but that in itself is difficult given how slippery he can be on defense.
The OTG chaingun is both unblockable and unbreakable (since it’s a projectile), so you need to break the post-gun juggle stuff that comes after. Kilgore has some legit unbreakable cashouts from it though, so whether or not you even get the chance is up to your opponent.
Gargos MU is terrible for Sadira, and generally you’ll just need to walk your way in. His H portal punch will tag you airborne, and his jump+HK will similarly cover a huge portion of the screen and keep you forced out if you’re trying to jump your way in. If you block a portal punch you get a guaranteed dash forward, so use that and just plain walking to make your way in. Also bear in mind that his st.HK blows up projectiles and puts a pure vertical hitbox above his head, so anything you’re doing over him needs to have some meaty pressure or threat. If Gargos sees Sadira coming in and has a few frames for the startup, st.HK will blow up near anything she tries.
Against a good Raam, your best option is probably to play a different character. This fight is also horrible for Sadira, as Raam has some great AA options in his down+HP, high kryll shield and full kryll shield (which absorb projectiles and are hella active). If you want to stick to the fight, then you’ll need to bait out kryll shields enough to get him to stop doing them, and basically never, ever get hit if you can help it. Raam does way more damage and his vortex is just better against Sadira than hers is again him. I think this is one of the worst fights in the game 
I rather face a decent Raam anyday than Thunder. Sadira versus Thunder is by far the worse MU in the entire game. The only MU I think is slightly worse is Kim Wu versus Aganos, but not by much.
@Juxtapose13 I agree with everything that @STORM179 has said. I walk or short hop my way to Gargos. I can sometimes tiger knee Web Cling from the ground, but most of the time you are just crawling towards him. Gargos is quite beatable, but you have to play a different game than KI to do so.
With respect to Raam. A good Raam will always be nasty. The only benefit you have is you can easily out run him. I have to play really dirty in this match up. I do a lot of safe jumps and grabs for throw mix ups and sniping with LT WB. However, as @STORM179 said, once he touches you, its pretty much game over. I’ve been learning Mira just because of this. She is one of Raam’s counter picks and a good one at that.
Nicky was talking about Gargos, Raam, and Kilgore actually in one of his streams, stating (what I’ve always felt) that while KI is rather balanced, some characters aren’t balanced very well, but that is a discussion for another thread.
Thanks as always for the feedback all.
Yeah, my buddy who plays Kilgore also plays General RAAM, and after a bit he figured out he could simply knock me out of the air with ease. So unless I can bait him to whiff something, jumping in on RAAM typically just hurts. And once he does grab me; gah, the damage!
For a secondary character, I’ve been toying with Arbiter since I’ve been on a Halo kick overall, and while he’s fun, I find his lack of mobility hurts me. I was doing really well with Orchid three-ish months ago, and I’m thinking of going back to her as a secondary.
ShotgunInsanity joined my bi-weekly casuals once, and he played as Thunder. I had no idea what to do and just died 
. Having said that, he’s way above my skill level so I figured that would have happened no matter who he played with.
I’d have no issue with a general balance discussion. I’m not the kind of person who blames balance for my losses anyway, even if some match ups are harder. Just like in an RTS, there is always options and solutions, you just need to find them and execute them properly. You might have to work harder than your opponent, but nothing in life that’s asymmetrical is 100% equal.
When are your Bi-Weekly casuals? It might be fun to jump in and play… 
For the Gargos match-up, learning his defensive gimmicks when he’s cornered and what your character can do to counter them is a key aspect to beating him consistently. Once he has his instinct available you’ll want to start using throws and standing heavies on his wakeup to beat the armor when he pops it, and always be prepared to counter his Reckoning (the portal dive) reversal.
With good timing Sadira can backdash and punish the reversal, trade with Fang, or anti-air it with Recluse. Simply blocking it will let him cancel into instinct, and being point-blank with an advantaged, armored Gargos is not a good time.
The next one is this Sunday at 3:00 pm eastern.
Follow me on Xbox LIVE and I can send you an invite when we go live.
Most of us are playing on PC, so we start a Party and use text chat; no mics. One of our guys participates by using his phone for the Party Chat I think as he is on console.
I play on PC as well as Xbox. I should be around. I’m CST. So it would be 2pm for me. 
Splendid!
Please follow me on Xbox LIVE. My Gamertag, of course, is Juxtapose13.
I already added you as a friend.