Miguel is a close range rushdown, he pressures with plus frames, fast strings that usually end on ch launcher and crazy damage. But he needs to get up close and personal cause, despite having good movement, his range is shit.

Nina is easily the most aggressive fighter who wants to be in their face as much as possible.

Feng Wei is a little less aggressive and a little more counter-punchy.

Steve Fox has probably the best pressure game and is extremely counter-punchy, but he's best played a little more patient than the other two.

Hwoarang easilyjust non stop pressure

definetly Guv and Hei

Nina

Jesus Christ😅

If you're almost dead, would you really be able to use most of these tips to make a comeback? The answer is obviously No.

1st You need to be aware of what type of Rushdown character are you facing: -Single hit(Dragunov) -String heavy(Hwoarang)

The proper way to do it is to block and observe...but what are you looking for?

-How they start their pressure(Ex->WR2:Drag/d3,4:Hwoa) -Highs/Lows -Chaining strings

-Pressure starters: You won't be able to always stop the move they use to start pressure(you should actively try tho...think of ways to beat the move, like sidestepping WR2 or backdash d3,4). You should pay close attention to the follow up move, that's the move that you'll have an easier time beating, simply because you know which move it's coming and the timing is always the same...for example: After WR2, if the Drag player uses d2, you know that next time you block WR2, you should low parry(most people won't change their timing, that's upper rank stuff).

-High/Low: Figuring out when a high/low is coming means that you can "safely" duck and punish them(low parry, launch, WS4, etc...) Again just stand block and pay attention

-Chaining Strings This depends on the type of Rushdown character you're facing. Single hit is easier to spot, they use a powerful lockdown (very plus on block moves that prevent sidestepping) move before going for jabs or safer pokes...You need to figure out if they constantly go for these pressure tools or if they go for the safer route

You can actually mash vs people abusing the pressure tools, these moves are very slow and risky, so use a CH move.

Otherwise block the safer move, use your movement or take your turn, they will probably continue pressing moves.

The string heavy types are much easier to beat but this require more from the defensive player 😅

Usually they get to continue their pressure due to a +on block high or a low move...both options go into stance(Hwoa goes into Flamingo) or movement option.(Nina sidesteps)

This is your chance...DON'T MASH, MOVE

All you have to do here is figure out when they go into stance/movement and you sidewalk(you will probably get clipped if you sidestep)...Btw remember Sidewalk strings, Sidestep single hits

Practice your backturn combos...you'll get plenty of those against this type.

Dick Jab, powercrush, evasive moves (like paul's shoulder)

Learn what moves are punishable and block a lot.

Guard crush eats attacks and steals turns learn and use it against greedy players

Block, and take advantage of their greed. No characters I face are thirstier than devil Jin, dragunov, Reina, and Steve. They can't help themselves and get desperate to get their rush down combos going. Bait them in.

Go to combo tutorial?? It will give you some simple bnb's which help get the gist of how the character plays until you want to learn the advance mechanics of them (I.e. flight movement) and it teaches you how how to play. You can then look up better bnb's of whatever character you like on YouTube that go over basic and advanced stuff. If you like carpal tunnel characters, they are going to be from easiest to hardest Magento, Zero, Morrigan, and C.Viper. so I wouldnt play the last 2 until you are comfortable first.

L M H S

Super jump

air M M H S

Play Dante, zero and x-23 and just slam your face on the controller

Experiment with each hit and if the enemy fails to recover on any of them then it's a combo.

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I added a few combos. If you haven’t already could you put in an option to replace a move?

sol 2k CH > cS def works wonders

idk about gio combos but what's the name of that cool ass mod that gives you the cyan particles

Sol (Anywhere from Midscreen to Corner) CH 2K > 2D > 236KK > 66FRC j.K, land c.S > d.l CL 41236H WB, c.S/2K > CL HVV WS, land 632146H/j.D/2H WB

Sol (Anywhere from Roundstart to Corner) CH 2K > 2D > 236KK >22FRC land CL 43216H, c.S/2K CL HVV WS, land 632146H/j.D/2H

edit: notation

POV: the punish for trying to press against Gio in neutral

Slayer CH AA 5.p > pilebunker loops in the corner

If you want a quick general recommendation: you should at least do whatever is considered the "staple" combo for a launcher. Optimizing beyond that will be up to you and will probably work on a case-by-case basis.

Also, one big aspect of combo optimization is adjusting your combos for stage position and axis, but that's too much to get into and really just comes with experience and experimentation.

If you want a more in-depth answer, read on.

It depends on the specific combo. You gotta weigh the difference in damage and wall carry versus the executional difference. If a combo does 15% more damage but you only land it 50% of the time, you're gonna be getting less total damage over a long period than you would be doing the "worse" combo that you don't drop. But if there's a higher damage combo you know you could get consistent on with practice, than it would of course be better to do that combo. If you feel like spending the time practicing it, that is.

If the case is that there's a better combo than isn't even difficult but you just don't have the muscle memory for, I would recommend getting it down. You'll have to spend some practice sessions doing it and some matches dropping it at first, but it'll be better in the long run and will eventually feel just as natural as whatever you're doing now.

I'd also say that, in general, optimal wall carry makes more of a difference than optimal damage. Being able to get a wallsplat versus not getting it is big. For Bryan that usually means doing b+2,1,4 instead of b+4 as your screw move (e.g. u/f+4 > d/b+2 > 2 > b+2,1,4 > S! > b+3~f,2,1).

As for damage, for some specific launchers it's gonna be a notable difference and for some it's not. And how much that extra damage matters is gonna be up to you. Everyone's gonna have a different number where the damage becomes worth the effort for them. Is 7 damage worth it? What about 9? There's also the scenario to consider where one combo will kill and another will not. In that case, any damage difference could be a game changer.

Let's look at CH ff+4, for example. You say you do b+3 right away. I'm assuming that means you just do

> CH ff+4 > S! >b+3~f,4,1,2

If so, that's 63 damage and very little wall carry. If you do a little more with that immediate b+3, something like

> CH ff+4 > S! > b+3fCC > f+1 > b+3fCC > f+1 > b+3~f,2,1

, then that's 70 damage and much better wall carry. Is wall carry and one jab worth of damage much difference for a bit more practice and execution?

What about if we do a decent staple:

> CH ff+4 > S! > 1+2,1 > 2 > b+3~f,4,1,2

That's easy, does 77 damage (a 22% increase from your original), and has good wall carry. That is worth it, in my opinion. Add in one extra jab

> CH ff+4 > S! > 1+2,1 > 2 > dash > 1 > b+3~f,2,1

and you get only one more damage (78), but more wall carry for a slight increase in difficulty (the dash isn't that strict here). So you've got some versatility in this route.

If we up the difficulty to what used to be the staple

> CH ff+4 > S! > qcf+3,4 > dash > 1 > b+3~f,4,1,2

you get 80 damage. That's more than 77 or 78, but just barely. And you don't have the option of throwing in an extra jab for more wall carry. With it also being harder, that's damage optimization that I would generally say is not worth it.

What about going for max damage? Against males only, you can do

> CH ff+4 > S! > qcf+2,1 > b+3~f,(delay)3 > d/b+2 > ff+2

That does 84 damage, but with no wall carry potential. It's something you'd only want to use in open-ground scenarios where the wall won't come into play. That's 6 or 7 more damage (one jab) than the staple. Again, whether that's worth it or not depends on you. You gotta decide how much you value that bit of damage and weight it against your execution ability. If you're on an infinite stage and don't drop it, then more damage is more damage. If they've got 83 health, then that's really gonna matter.

There are MAX damage high execution combos that even pros don’t do all the time and then there are BnB combos that are good damage, and consistent. The BnB’s are what you need to be doing, not Max damage ones which require high execution and much easier to drop. Your combo after CH FF4 isn’t good at all, after CH44 you can either go for ws34 microdash jab to b3 which is not super difficult but it does take some execution or you can do the second best BnB which sacrifices couple points of damage but is easy execution is ch ff4 then 1+2, 1 route. There are even stronger combos than the ws34 route but like I said, even pros don’t use max damage combos because even they know they can drop them as well and every point of damage counts at high levels.

Doing some funky max damage combos isn't that important, having consistency over potential damage is better almost always. You can ofc keep practicing the harder combos in training mode and start using them in real games when you are feeling comfortable with them, but that probably shouldn't be a priority.

One important thing regarding combos though is learning how to adjust your combos in a way that you'll always get a clean wall splat if possible. That way you'll always get the bonus wall damage and wall oki positioning. If you do can that already then that's great, but if not I suggest working on that over execution heavy max damage routes.

This is my take but I think Optimal Combos [or rather max damage since remember carry and oki are factors] are like the last thing you should focus on. A comfortable to do and universal as possible bnb that does okay damage will always be preferable.

It seems to be the case in tournaments as well. I play a bit of Claudio and even at TWT level people like Shadow20z still rock the launch f3 ff4 b3 f2 b42 combo, basically his day one bnb. The reason? It is nearly impossible to drop and does okay damage and you get starburst at the end. You could do b3 loops, you could do launch into an instant ff4, you could do a post screw 1,2 iWR2. But you don't because they are all finnicky and dropping a combo because you were being fancy is infinitely worse than doing simple combos to lock in the damage.

In saying that there are times people do the fancier ones, especially off a clean launch where they are ready for it and have a life lead. At that time the fancy combo is often more of a statement than anything. Yeah, the extra 5 or sometimes 10 damage might be the gamechanger but probably not. It's just that people really do react to eating a really fancy looking combo, it can definitely lower their spirits.

I'll try combos like 30 times and average the damage for staple vs max. Most of the time staple results in the highest average damage. And that's under ideal circumstances.

The thing is it's all well and good knowing what comps could and do work but it's irrelevant if you can't get them.

The best way to win is to use what you get given as effectively as possible

It's really hard to nail down bread and butter combos for your character since combos are very freeform in this game based on weight, DI, percentage, and reads. Each move chains into other moves in different situations. Learning a new character in a competitive fighting game is always going to be an investment, especially a platform fighter where moves don't confirm as reliably into others.

Drag down wiki explains your character basic functions and advanced frame data, but if you want to learn combos and advanced tech, you must join you character's discord server, I don't have the links, but if you use the search bar on this subreddit you should be able to find it, good luck!

The wiki actually has some notes for this for a couple of the characters, but it's pretty incomplete -- looks like it's on the roadmap though, the rivals team is going to be expanding on that starting on June 1 https://dragdown.wiki/wiki/Dragdown:Roadmap/RoA2#Character_Project

Your best bet for that is just going to be watching some tournament play for your character.

Combos are so variable in a game like this that I don't think anyone found it worth it to spend time making a written combo guide.

When looking for moves to keep you should look for ones that have 2 or 3 substats that you want for that character.

You want to focus on a moveset that can be used by multiple variants of that character. So find as many variants that want the same moveset and substats.

Then level up the moves to level 12 or 15 before rerolling to better stats.

To figure out what moves you want to use. First you might want to look at the characteristics of the move: I use Cat Scratch Fever on Ms Fortune because it applies Death Mark on hit (including blocked hits). I don't really care about it's combo potential or it's damage in this instance, I just care about the Death Mark. So now that I've decided I want this move on my Ms Fortune, I will then go to the Training Room and try and find ways to use it in a combo and build my moveset from there.

Once I'm done theorizing my moveset and leveled it up enough, I'd then take it to a high streak prize fight and try it in practice to look for any flaws in my moveset and tweak it from there.

It's totally fine to listen to and copy other people's movesets but it has to feel fun for you. I play Squigly way different to how most people play her. I tend to play Squigly with a low combo count whereas she's normally a high combo count character because that's what's fun for me.

watch on YouTube, research on google and play alot, when i started this game for the first 4 months i was playing around 11-15hrs a day. grind is real. but don't forget to research and learn the game mechanics. that really helps. and last a fall ENJOY the game. Peace!

I watch YouTube to get combo videos per each character, it's pretty efficient instead of just trying random moves in the practice range

Also make sure you use the specific special moves/block buster with utility, some characters have very specific taunts/utility... for example black dahlia has easy access to deadeye if you don't have prestige, parasol and squiggly have an immunity taunt, etc