Brad: Ask a Question, Get an Answer

That's the spirit. It's all about practice. But you seem to have some lack of knowledge about dashing and moving around, allow me to clarify some things...

Here's an amazing article of sorts by my VF teacher Chanchai, written for nwvf, but I have permission to post it here for you. Check it out, it's some serious wisdom.

 

What I've learned to do (with help from Dandy J's excellent tutorial) is that whenever you guard, you should also be holding down to protect yourself from potential throws. So think of guarding as pressing two buttons as opposed to one button. Just be careful not to press both buttons at the same time, unless you intend to throw.

 

Yeah, that's what's stumping me. For some reason the buttons feel super sensitive; perhaps it's a side effect of how buffering works in this game, but sometimes I'm pressing one button but getting a two-button input. I suppose it works out for the best, since I've learned to watch my button presses and not mash.

Doing better against Wolf players, crouching jab puts an end to most of his faster attacks. Of course, that leaves you open to overheads and crouch throws. Still can't find a good way of getting in, either. And then there's my woes against Shun, or Eileen, or Kage-Maru, or Lion, or Lei-Fei...dammit, I'm so free.

 

I'm finding Brad's small range of low attacks kind of irritating, usually after being high blocked I go for a low attack but can't do a follow-up.

I'm doing elbows after a block but it mostly gets blocked.

 

is my go to for getting in low, I've found that usually if the first kick hits, you can finish the string and get the knockdown.

is another good one, it can't combo, but it has ludicrous range and does solid damage.

 

Out of curiosity (and the pure laziness of not wanting to read through five pages) does Brad happen to have any moves that cause side crumple?

 

I know his slipping knee ( from slipping) and elbow ( from slipping) crumple on impact, but I'm not sure if it's a side crumple or not.

That reminds me, when's the best time to use slipping? Every time I try to do it mid-string, I get smacked.

 

I usually find the second kick of blocked which forces me to block and they either attempt a throw or do a combo with high and low attacks.

+ usually needs space otherwise they can interrupt you.

 

For low attacks, I usually use . If you get a counter hit with it, it will knock down, and you can follow up with (or a small combo if you're confident that the opponent won't quick roll).

 

Nah, forget it, Brad seems to be good only up to a point. All the good Brads (not many brads online for some reason) I fought were basically using similar tatics to me but with slightly longer combos and a touch more dodging and I've beat all of them at least once and my win/loss is just 50/50.

Players the same level as me, using other characters, can rings as around me. I usually have to wait and chip down their health to win.

I'll try another character.

 

May I ask why you're so concerned with lows?

Your main pressure should be between mids and throws. Lows aren't meant to be that great in VF. Regardless, Brad's lows aren't all that bad. Consider:

- A full circular low. This is particularly scary for opponents when they only have a bit of health left. It tracks in both directions, can't be blocked on reaction, and, of course, is low. Because of the new evade property, every time this connects against an evade the opponent is counter hit and is knocked down.

- This is another good low because of its range, and can't be guarded on reaction. A bonus is that it tracks to Brad's back.

Both of these lows also guarantee a after they create a wall stun.

- This move ducks under highs, tracks to Brad's stomach, and launches on counter hit. This is especially useful against Aoi against her Tenchi stance. Also, being only -15 on guard is almost retarded. Having a good counter hit low is one of Brad's best points, in my opinion.

- You've mentioned that the high follow-up gets blocked. What you should be trying to do is to hit check the first hit. Proceed with the second only on a counter hit.

- A nice, fast low poke that crouches under highs, though it has short range.


There are other lows in Brad's arsenal, but I've covered most of them. I suppose that you either want a good, safe low poke or a tripping low on normal hit. Goh and Jean have nice low pokes if you want to try them. Lion has the best lows in the game overall. He might be your character.

 

While you're rolling, do you have any good advice for mixups on knockdown or to open rounds?

 

Try using Brad's inashi (++) against wakeup or + against wakeup K.

At the start of a round, I'd probably try blocking first to see what the opponent does. I don't think it's wise to throw out a move if you never fought the player before. I suppose a player might have certain tendencies depending on the character. For example, against Lion, they might go for a low attack to open the round.

Any tips for fighting against good Akiras? I keep getting hit out of my attacks, and my moves get blocked after he does a big attack (-15 advantage and up). Maybe I'm just too slow?Here are some vids I've uploaded to help provide some tips:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA58877D4D73A85B5&feature=mh_lolz

Those are only a few matches, but I've had many that I didn't upload and I lost a majority of them.

 

I like using Slipping when the opponent is knocked down sideways, such as after . There's a nice mix-up betweeen using Slipping and a throw after Slipping. I think if you dash forward fast enough after , Slipping will connect against the side if the opponent recovers. I think it's -4 instead of the usual -7 on a side guard.

 

About wakeup strategies with a + you can punish wakeup too, but the timing is tricky. I should look if with the "same timing" it's possible to punish both.

Ducking + is an option that I use too against people who techroll, since + has a short range.

Mmmh nothing specific for a Brad player, evades works great against Akira, time to improve your evades techniques (and I should do the same...).


And by the way, and it's coming from someone who has exactly the same problem... stop using for counter attacking, check your videos, even when you are at a large advantage you do a . In this case, I find that Akira's punishable moves are pretty easy to read.

 

Cos most other characters I fight can easily slip into lows and highs. I use those lows but don't usually land a counter. My highs and mids are blocked forcing me to chip away health. When they are knocked down, I usually stand back now since 1 mistake costs more than a kick.

Also I've started using Goh with Kyu ranked players but finding them more advanced they usually are at that stage. Can you reset your rank?

Edit: One more thing, Brad seems to have the least deceptive moves, so tricking players is much harder. I still think his moves are 'lower priority' than everyone else, even the elbow gets interrputed sometimes.

 

Heh, I am seriously wondering if Testing is just trolling the Brad forum.

Least deceptive moves? You know you have multiple long strings you can stop or stance from at your discretion, right?

We keep trying to explain that despite some good options for lows Brad is really about his delayable mids and throws. But who cares how this character is supposed to be played, you need to learn the basics of VF first.

And btw, Brad's elbow is one of the best in the game and it is just as fast as every other similar elbow class attack. If you got hit elbowing with Brad, the same thing would have happened with any other character. Don't look to your character for flaws when your fundamental gameplay is what needs work.

 

Why the hell would I be trolling something as trivial as this?

Just complaining and findout that Brad may not be for me.

No need to be a dick.

 

I guess you're talking about what happens when you get a counter hit off of .

 

He means moves that cause a crumple on a side counter hit (Violet flash). Brad has for that.