I’ve been asking various Sakos about their approach to resets, and I noticed a lot of them said they almost always drop the combo on a Light ORZ linker, because of how close it leaves you to the opponent.
However, I was curious what else was good to reset on, since dropping the combo on the same thing every time gives the opponent a warning. First, I evaluated the frame advantage based on what you drop your combo on. Here are the results:
Auto Doubles: +2/+3/+5 (winding up ADs has no effect)
ORZ Linker: +1/+3/+5
Influence Linker: -2/+1/+6
Second, I considered distance (I tested with Orchid as the training dummy, but I have worries this could be character-dependent). Thankfully, no matter what you drop the combo on, you will always be in range for a cr.MK or a TK air ORZ. However, Influence is very sensitive to what you end the combo on.
Light ADs and Light ORZ linkers are the only two things that will put you in range for a Light Influence reset and are not so frame advantaged that you will whiff a Light Influence if you do it on the first frame.
Otherwise, Medium Influence is your most useful, since nothing is frame advantaged enough to make it whiff, EXCEPT after a few outlying things that will put you outside of Influence range entirely: Medium ADs (especially wind-up) and Medium Influence linker. If you drop after these, you must use cr.MK or a TK.
Thanks for reading! Stay angry and keep 'em guessing.
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You can still do influence resets with both medium and heavy AD’s actually, just need to do it with heavy influence. I tend to use kick AD’s in these instances, as I feel they drag the opponent in a bit closer.
As a general rule, you can reset with the same strength normal as the autodouble leading into the combo drop. If I drop on HK doubles for instance, I’ll often choose to reset with HK as well - it will stuff any jump attempt, and is also the max damage option here. If you want to cover a few more bases, cr.MP after medium or heavy AD’s is a great reset option as it will catch both jumpouts and backdashes (the latter due to the high active frames on cr.MP).
HK is also a great reset option out of normal throw. The advantage on throw means you can simply mash it out of your throw, and if the opponent tries to break the manual or jump they’ll get tagged.
EDIT: changed errant references of cr.MK to cr.MP. That’s the super active normal.
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Oh good, I thought I was going crazy when you said cr.MK would always catch backdash. I’ve managed to get M ADs and M Influence linker outside of range for H Influence reset, but I’ll try that some more. I didn’t even consider HK. I assume you get the close version.
Yeah, you get the close version. I don’t personally recommend resetting off of influence linker - the spacing on that one is really dodgy, and the timing is weird as well.
Your medium AD’s should never leave you outside the range of a heavy influence. Try using kick AD’s instead of punches and you should never be unable to connect for a reset.
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