Why do you play with Lion?

This is a british understatement thing, isn't it? Like saying "the weather in Wales is not terrifically pleasant"? I'm asking because IIRC Lion's sweep is the least safe in the game. In fact it is so unsafe its block frames are longer than it's execution frames

Is it good? You bet it is! Knocking down on normal hit and being full-circular bumps it ahead of half the cast. It's more fast but more unsafe than other sweeps.

On a casual level, with a faster execution speed Lion's opponents will have less time to react, block and punish. But then again, with Lion lacking fast mid launchers, an opponent who feels confident about their unstagger skills will block low more often. I won't go as far as saying that it "balances out", but fighting against somebody who punishes correctly Lion's -21 hurts.

You know what's hard to punish? Moves with followups. But a sweep with followups? Surely there's no such nonsense in VF5

...am i doing the understatement thing right? Or is this sarcasm? I keep confusing those two

 

All I'm saying is theres a time to use the sweep and its decent cause it knocks the guy down and then give u oki options, it also goes under highs and takes out ppl who evade.
.
Lets say u do 2p and it hits, brilliant. If it hits they get knocked down, fantastic. If it blocks and theyre a good player, ur fucked and u dont use it again. Say it did hit then perhaps next time 2p hits and this time they duck expecting a sweep. This time u perhaps use 2_6p+k which pushes them back even if they block it, then u instantaneously go for like 3k.

It works if you want to take a pressure/mindgame approach and the opponent is on edge.

I'm not saying I'd necessarily do this now cause I can't remember half the stuff I'd follow it up with but I used to do stuff like this 2 yrs ago and I had decent success with it.

 

Lion can also be launched after a blocked sweep.

 

Technically speaking Marly, you are correct. If the guy is calm and such then he would prob block it. If he's agitated and you have him on the run then it just might work. It's not something I would recommend as a staple of a play style but something I always thought about VF was that randomness could be a very powerful tool. Bust it out every so often and you just might catch your opponent off guard.

 

i almost never overuse it, especially against higher-ranked AI. it's one of those "gotcha" moments. i may try it once or twice in a match, but more often against my brothers, because at certain points in the match they get so mad against Lion that they try to launch him and go into a combo, only to realize that i hit them with the sweep as they try to start something, making them more angry.

i completely agree with Marlyjay though. it's not as effective as i made it sound, especially when the 2P is blocked. i would only suggest using it against someone who you've been confusing the entire match with actual mix-ups and poking.

 

I have a "gotcha moment" when I use Brad. Basically you get your opponent in a clinch. If he doesn't know how to defend against the knees you've won.

Gotcha!

 

yeah i HATE facing a Brad who knows what the hell he's doing LOL

good thing the AI in VF5 for Brad isn't as sneaky and destructive as he can be, or maybe that's just me

 

well thanks for the advice anyway

another thing i'm integrating into my normal means of attack is . it seems to catch my opponents off-guard whenever they try to do a low kick while getting up. if timed right, it should hit them every time.

 

will (i) beat low rising attacks due to its jumping properties (ii) crush mid rising attacks due to its 21 damage. It has 4 active frames so that helps get the timing right

Its followup ALSO does more than 20 damage meaning that (iii) even if the Lion player times his wrong, they can always hit that second and hope for the best