Honestly I can’t find a way around Thunder. I have no idea who beats him and I don’t even like counterpicking because I’ll be screwed anyway. That character is impossible to beat with Wulf once he gets his pressure going.Oh! And the Instinct! (well, not that different from Raam, but maybe Raam has to struggle more in other match ups) . I have no idea what to try anymore. His pressure is insane tbh and his grabs totally unreactable (dash grab…OMG) . His damage is high considering his tools. I don’t get it… the character alone is a menace and then you have the player, double menace.
I don’t know what to lab anymore against him.
Any ideas?
I’ve had some trouble with him lately as well. He seems so powerful once he gets in.
Well,the first thing you can do is learn when to back away. Once you have a life lead and if Thunder has meter, you might wanna stay back a little. (If thunder has no meter just keep on the pressure)Pressure him with some fast moves and keep back. Let him come to you.(Try not to put yourself in the corner)
Don’t give the command grab to much thought on wakeup. Block low and react to overhead. If you start freaking out due to being too scared of the grab, them you’ll begin to start getting hit by waaay to much stuff. Rather take the grab than a chance at a 80 percent or more combo. Its fine to try to avoid grab once in awhile or more depending on your opponent but give his other moves priority first.
SHADOW COUNTER TRIPLAXE AND OVERHEAD. Take back your turn as soon as possible. Triplaxe will take some good reactions but it’ll be a great tool against thunder pressure.
Thunder is one tough beast. His damage and surprising mobilty are crazy. Hope you get better in the MU
Thanks. It’s giving me lote of trouble no doubts. I think I have chances to beat him but it’s really hard. I tried ragged edge in neutral but it wasn’t a great idea (lag happened could be a problem, can’t be sure, in lab I was counterattacking better). His cross HP in tricky and has great priority. His normals aren’t bad for annoying Wulf (keeping me from not doing overpower) and anckle slicer just won’t let me use one of my best ranged normals against him.
If I block they’ll grab a lot. But you are right when you say is better than a full combo. But he still gets to pressure me after that and my wake up is kind of bad (well, there are others with bad wake up game xD ).
I’ll play more Okami and take a break before going back to lab and keep on thinking what else to try or calm my mind against that character.
I really want to beat him with my character. I used to believe it was 5-5 but now I think is in Thunder’s favor.
By the way:
1.what do you guys do when he throws you to the other side? (where he can continue the combo)
I’m guessing you mean his back throw right? Just block, honestly.
I play a character that only has a metered invincible reversal, much like Wulf. If i’m playing a long set against a Thunder, i’m fine with trying to block low and react for a overhead attempt. I’ll take a command grab or throw or miss the overhead. But in a longer set, i want to find when and how they want to use Thunder’s flipouts and what they like to do afterwards for mix. If it’s something like ranked, and i have meter available, I’m going to S. Dragon Kick the second Kim is on the ground or parry. Thunder is not going to get a ton off of a juggle if he punishes me in the air.
Well, if he goes for a reset my default reaction is to back dash (espiecally if he has meter). However, it should be better to block in case of meaty reset.
Backdash, hope to get out of a meaty or grab. However, this is only to test the waters. See what he resorts to first. I might get by it first but I can be sure on what he’s willing to do.
This are high risk movements though and I feel it would be just best to block. Much of this is just a frustration with having to deal with his pressure. Stay calm during uncertain movements and be mindful of the options he has such as instinct or shadow
Dude I play alot of thunder(like almost exclusively) there are ways around all his stuff. For example thunder has some nice beefy midrange buttons but they are all negative. This means at mid range just downback and wait till he cancels into triplax or ankle. However this leaves u vulnerable to command grabs if you take it for granted so be aware, this is much of more of a threat at closer ranges but keep your head wulf if played patiently can jab out of most long range command grab shenanigans. Often your best option will be to jump, this will leave you vulnerable to some juggles but avoids cmd grabs and only gets tagged by triplax at longer ranges. Your game plan should be to at some point in this game sweep the thunder. Overpower beats literally all his meterless wake up options. When he gets a bar and you have the knockdown this is a good chance to implement a safe jump setup. Now you will have to practice this a bit but I have faith you can do it. In essence you will do a well timed jumping hk on his wakeup and have enough time to block the inevitable wake up dp and punish. As a wulf player you must often be in thunders no no zone and you will have to learn how to control this space. Unlike thunder though it is never clear when your turn is over if ur smart about your frame traps and tight with your block strings. Thunder is designed to make u panic but it is not easy for him to get started as long as you take the momentum you will likely win the match, Admittedly if he is on you after a knockdown or random flying feet you will have to make a guess but that is the essence of ki. If he did not have some crazy yolo jump in move hed never get in in certain matchups, so be patient block and punish.
You can’t react to alot of Throws in this game actually… so theres nothing to lab there… you’re going to have to figure out your Opponent’s Tendencies… when are they willing to risk going for the Grab.
True, but I can lab the distance in “x situation” and that will help me with the read or at least having in mind what to expect.
One of the things I struggle too is dealing with his floaty jump (that character is made of paper or what??) Got a lot of misstimed eclipses getting punished. Cr.HK Will be my better option.
The only really bad fight for thunder is aganos. Other characters like Kim or orchid can give him fits too but he’s not at a big disadvantage against them. Far as the mu with wulf you’re at a disadvantage since wulf has big trouble with grapplers this season. You have to outfootsie him and just don’t let up. And make good reads when he has meter. I’d also force thunder to shadow counter as well. Him using it on shadow counter is better than him using it on shadow call of earth or dp. Thunders only real weakness is abusing him when he has no meter.
Yeah, I wouldn’t think ragged edge would be particularly good in neutral against Thunder. The character’s neutral is pretty strong, but since Hisako outranges him I usually try to fish with my heavy buttons and bait him into making a mistake (trying to walk forward too much or going for a Sammamish, which is easy to counter). Wulf doesn’t have the range of Hisako, but his buttons are good enough and his walk speed fast enough that he should be able to play footsies with Thunder until he gets meter. I tend to think being patient is good against the character - a lot of his longer range attack options are pretty unsafe actually.
Defensively, I think shadow countering is super critical. You should basically never let a triplax or overhead hit without shadow countering, for instance, and a lot of his frame-trappy button strings are also shadow counterable. Get good at that and you’ll force him to rely more heavily on his command grabs, which are all punishable on whiff. Also, learn to pay very close attention to what buttons/options the Thunder goes for at specific ranges - most Thunders are actually very consistent on which tools they go for at which ranges.
Gotta hold that. Nothing you can do here except be ready to react if he tries to reset you.
My main goal against Thunder after I get hit is to let him get absolutely nothing for free. If you Sammamish me and do HK, I will break it on reaction 95% of the time. If you have me in a juggle state and I think you’re going to flip me out, I will break lights. The character’s mixups after flipout are too dangerous to just let him flip you out for free, and he gets too much damage and setup to almost ever let a breakable skyfall rock. Yeah, Thunder on counterbreak hits like a truck - but he hits like a truck on reset too, and there’s a decent chance that I’m not going to block whatever that reset is, particularly online. Give him no free follow-ups on anything. Make him counterbreak if he wants to put you in a juggle state.
and that will help me with the read or at least having in mind what to expect.