Her weakness is her incredibly large hitbox which is easy to abuse. Characters with longer range normals such as Jago,Orchid, rash etc can really abuse this. All in all if i were to put riptor on a list shed be between 7 and 10. She’s definitely good this season. Possibly the game’s most underrated character. But not quite top 5.
I’d personally consider her heavy headbutt meaty the best in game. It’s armored so it’ll stuff out pretty much anything. She can also just cancel to make it safe against a dp or simply not attack to bait out a shadow counter. It’s really a guess what riptor is going to do after this
Throw bait with jump HP is also a thing, and I’m not sure how much success you have with anti-airing it but it is something I just throw out without bothering to get the read.
But also, Riptor is probably a better frame trapper than Jago, so she can delay any of these mixups.
Press MK a bunch of times, then headbutt back in, predator LK, and do it all over again. If you’re not comfortable being +1 a bunch of times then replace close MK with (cr)LK or something. Riptor is absolutely better at getting days and days of frame traps than Jago, and I say this as someone who plays both characters.
She can link clMK into itself, she can link various presure normals together on counterhit, run forward HP converts into option-selected auto-doubles/linkers at close range and shadow linker at any range, and run forward HK, whilst not the most robust slide-like move, is a safe low off of a run which staggers. I don’t know, I think she does pretty well here.
Eh, you might have a point. It can be meatied by moves that most/all characters should have access to that cover wakeup buttons/throw that are active on frame 5 as well, but I’m not sure if that’s a theoryfighter thing or if it’s practical for most characters to shut a meterless Riptor down after every knockdown. I certainly get away with run back HK more often than I maybe deserve to.
Just FYI, and for simplicity. That’s called a scorpion.
I guess I’m just used to characters without DP’s - one meaty is as good as another if your character can’t DP their way to freedom. You are correct that the post grab mix-up is a guess, but I dunno, most of those options are shadow counterable, and some of them are strictly punishable on block.
It is, but I don’t see it as being any stronger than the same throw/neutral jump mix-up that the rest of the cast has. I think it’s actually weaker, in that the best response (shadow counter) leads to full combo, as opposed to just the straight AA that most of the cast gets punished with in this instance.
I won’t argue the finer points of Riptor’s frame traps, as I don’t play the character and haven’t seen these used. I’m willing to concede that she might actually be very good at this, even though I personally haven’t really seen her played in this manner. I maintain that her frame trap buttons are still very close range though, which to my mind limits them quite a bit in neutral.
Re: runback+HK, I think it’s actually a very serviceable reversal. It’s really strong against Hisako - one of the cornerstone setups in my offense now actually came from this MU, because I couldn’t apply pressure any standard way and had to think of a brand-new option to deal with Riptor’s runback tail.
Lol. I read it when you posted it to Fenris @GeneralScrebor. Thanks though 
Well it’s shadow counterable if she uses the flame carpet. But she actually doesn’t need the flame carpet for this against most of the cast. The only characters this won’t work on are omen and mira due to mist/shadow form and sadira due to web cling. But she has options to stuff those out regardless lol
It’s pretty fast, she doesn’t have a very floaty jump. I’d consider it a credible overhead, especially with all the other options Riptor has within that range. The shadow counter response is legitimate, but it requires meter, sometimes the second or third hit of jump HP doesn’t land, and she can also opt for jump HK instead and not have to deal with the shadow counter.
The throw bait is particularly potent for Riptor because of her throw range: she can headbutt in, predator LK, then press MK four (four!!) times and still connect a throw afterwards. If you’re familiar with Jago’s pitiful throw range (after even one meaty clMK in your opponent’s face you still need to walk in a little to get your throw to connect), you know how big of a difference this is for me.
See, whenever I put in some lab time with Jago, I look for these pressure strings that look something like
clMK, clMK, crMK xx laser sword, …
which picks up an easy confirm into laser sword if any one of those buttons counterhits. But then I go into a match and get someone to block a double roundhouse or something, and I’m only in range for a crMK or an MP or something. 
With Riptor, I just get my opponent to block a shoulder charge, and then I can press buttons for days before I’m far enough out to worry about anything whiffing, then I just shoulder charge back in.
How do you cancel that? I mean, you said you can cancel back forward + HP?
Heavy headbutt. Not back hp
And just do predator stance cancel afterwards.
First of all, @SonicDolphin117 this is the most level-headed salty loss post I’ve ever seen. You lay out a logical case that the character is strong and ask for help in dealing with it. Would that everyone was this rash!
I agree with everyone on here that Riptor is strong, and I personally have quite a bit of trouble dealing with some of the good Riptor players out there. There’s a few guys who I have seen more than once, like @SLHiImKeith (who might have something to say on this topic) that I can barely touch. But, I have trouble dealing with a lot of the good players out there. I think one of your issues is there really aren’t a lot of great Riptor players so you likely don’t have the kind of matchup experience you need to really get a handle on the character.
I think people have highlighted the lack of a meterless invincible reversal (which isn’t everything, but as @infilament likes to point out, having one means a character is likely to be very strong). People have not pointed out that Riptor has some of the easiest autodoubles in the game to break. Probably not a factor for you, @SonicDolphin117, but it does matter in lots of matches.
I know it’s cliché, but you really might want to think about putting some serious time in playing as Riptor and figure out how people beat you when you are in Riptor’s shoes. You’re a really good player, so I don’t know how much on paper advice you’re going to be able to take from us. Otherwise, I think the lesson here is that KI remains a well balanced game, with pretty damn flat tiers. You don’t have to be top 5 to be a strong, viable character that, in the right hands, can wreck even good players online or at tournaments.
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lmao
That’s not cliché at all. In fact, I made a thread on these forums telling people to do just that. I’ll have to think about it though.
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her weaknesses are simple:
-Horrible wakeup: clever girl is a good anti-air but only if the opponent is in reach of the attack it goes so forward that it can miss if you just outright jump. Only good wake up is shadow tail-flip but if you just block that and your good.
-Not good with pressure: Riptor being cornered is the worst thing for her. Because she’s such a offence heavy character she has poor defenses and counter.
-Riptor’s tail flip: it use to be really good but it’s a bit slower and more predictable now so unless you’re not expecting it you should can easily block it and punish her for it.
Those are a few good examples of weaknesses I can come up with. If you wanna beat Riptor you simply shouldn’t give her a chance.
As a note, shadow tail flip isn’t invincible, like, at all. Waking up with it will get you stuffed every time against an opponent that knows how to meaty.
indeed but if you don’t feel like taking the risk you can just let the struggling Riptor player hanf themselves. I do that to my bro @Justathereptile all the time : D
Well, yeah, but my point is just that he shouldn’t be waking up with shadow tail flip anyway. You don’t have to bait it, because it isn’t invincible and you can just punch her in the face for trying to do it on wakeup. 
Why do shadow tail flip when she has an actual invincible move (shadow clever girl)? Or can do back run + HK? The reason you want to block against Riptor on her wakeup is because she might use one of these moves, not shadow tail flip.
I think her defense is pretty good, actually.
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