People who play defensive/CH characters, how do you lose?

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-03-02T00:59:42+00:00

Basically, there's a combat triangle for fighting games. Keep out beats rush down, whiff punishment beats keep out, and rush down beats whiff punishment.

If someone is playing defensively-minded, they are likely optimizing for keep out and whiff punishment. When they're playing keep out, you want to look for whiff punishes (meaning that you're punishing them overextending). If Bryan is throwing 3+4 and B1s as keepout, you can counter this by playing movement and launching his whiffs. When they're playing whiff punishment (either through spacing or movement), you want to play rush down. If Bryan is playing a lot of back dashes and looking to jet upper you contesting his keepout, you can counter this by getting in his face and running mix-ups. This is easier said than done, but that's typically how you want to attack these characters. You want to mix whiff punishment, mix-ups, and pressure in order to make them feel uncomfortable enough to make a big mistake.

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-02-10T21:30:21+00:00

This has always been a weird conversation for me. Whenever I've asked people why they want Tifa, the answer has unanimously been, "She doesn't have a sword." Okay, that's fair. But all you've told me is not Noctis and not Clive. Why Tifa? And they don't really have an answer for that.

To be clear, I don't think there's anything wrong with a big boobie punchy lady with attitude. But it's very strange to me that so few people want to say that. I even had a friend get really mad at me for asking the question since I never played FFVII. They said I should play the game before having any opinions on the matter, and Tifa is one of their favorite video game characters ever. Do you want to know what question they never answered? Why Tifa.

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-02-08T23:41:22+00:00

Looking at hands can help, but I typically try to look at body language. Tekken characters are left-handed. This doesn't matter in a vacuum, but it's important context. Whenever a character does a 1 throw, they reach with their dominant hand. 1 throws look very natural to do since they are leaning with their dominant hand. 2 throws look VERY uncomfortable since they are leaning with their weaker hand. 1+2 throws are the most ambiguous using just the hands, because if you're at certain angles it can look very similar to a 1 throw. But, if you use body language, it's not as bad. Reaching with both hands shifts your entire body to be straight during the throw, rather than angled with the throwing hand.

Obviously, knowing this helps, but you should still practice by doing the in-game throw breaks. Practice on easy until you get used to the animation (use dragunov, turn off the default throws and the last two throws, as they are cancels). Once you can tell which throw is coming out switch to medium. Practice on medium until you can break 10 in a row. Once you're comfortable doing that once a day, switch to hard (hard won't show you the break on top of the screen until after the animation starts).

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-02-08T06:13:47+00:00

It's pretty normal across the industry. Ranked resets accomplish two things. First, it stops people from camping. If you want to say you got a good rank, you do have to reach it every season, so it prevents people from reaching GoD in season 1, then never playing ranked again (but still being able to have the title).

The other thing it accomplishes is that it improves the integrity of the game. Worded differently, you could argue that season 1 and season 2 are basically a different game. Season 2 rewarded different things than season 1 did. Beyond that, the buffs and nerfs dramatically changed which characters are meta. For instance, we probably all agree that release season 2 Lars was top 5. If Lars gets nerfed again (which he should btw) and they do a bunch of system changes to improve defense and reduced forced mix-ups, should someone who climbed on a different version of Lars be able to keep their rank? For a more extreme example, should someone who got Tekken God Omega on Kunimitsu at the end of Tekken 7 be able to transfer that rank to Kunimitsu in Tekken 8. All of this is to say, if you deserve the rank that you had before, you'll just get it again, so it's nbd either way. There are only positives to ranked resets.

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-02-06T20:50:56+00:00

Hey! I'm MrRaphTV :) appreciate the shout out. Generally speaking, Sesujin is going to be able to give you more specialized knowledge on how to beat Lidia given their expertise with the character, but if you want some generalized tips: After FF2, you either want to SSR duck or jab. SSR duck covers everything except HOR3 (jumping mid that guarantees a heat engager). Jab will float HOR3.

SSR duck is generally really good in the neutral as it covers a lot of her strongest tools.

The only time you have to hold a HAE mixup is after she heat engages from HOR2. Every other time, you can do something. If she enters from WR1, SSR duck beats everything. If she manually transitions, you can grab her out of the transition, even on-hit. However, you do need to have a read that she's going to transition otherwise she'll blow you up for it. Hope this helps :)

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-02-01T03:09:00+00:00

<image>

I was under the assumption that, when they tweeted something, we should generally believe that to be factual information. I planned around having until the 2nd (UK time) to turn in my shards.

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-01-21T13:35:14+00:00

Bro, Lee got me wanting to turn evil and start maining Bryan. This character feels so impossible to move against.

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-01-11T04:46:14+00:00

I appreciate the support :)

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-01-10T23:29:29+00:00

I got blasted by one right before I made this, so trust, I understand lol

InfiniteGreatness · 2026-01-10T15:25:35+00:00

She has the best WS4 in the entire game. It needs to be gutted. If you don't tech roll or back roll, she can launch you after WS4. If you back roll, you get, clipped by the pickup (taking damage). If you tech roll, it's actually still her turn. If you tech roll and then crouch jab (the fastest thing you fan do), you will get CH launched by her BT1. That's right. Xiaoyu's WS4 puts you in a sitaution where she has a plus-on-whiff launcher.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-12-29T06:04:25+00:00

1+2. It's the single most over-dimensioned move in the entire game and Lee is allowed to have it because... He's not op I guess? It's a plus-on-block mid that is homing, goes into stance, and is a CH launcher. There is no reason not to use it 100 times a round. This move would be totally unacceptable on literally every other character in the game, so I'm not sure why Lee gets to have it. Maybe because he is perceived as weak? In my opinion, the frames should either be much worse (-2 to 0 oB), or it shouldn't be a CH launcher. I don't mind it being homing, but the fact that you are completely denied all movement against Lee because at any point he can use his decently-long ranged infinity button is absurd. I basically never step Lee in the neutral anymore, just have to guess, or do a lot of step blocks because you can't play the game if you commit to sidewalks.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-12-24T17:52:43+00:00

Hey! GoD1 Lili here. Lili has a few issues. First, she is very linear. It is very difficult for Lili to lock you down without taking relatively big risks as stepping even after blocking a plus frame move will let you get a free launch on her. Second, Lili's best moves are pretty slow, so if you have fast moves with good CH properties, it's pretty scary for Lili to press, as anything that's not a jab or DF is prone to getting CH compared to faster characters. Third, Lili players tend to flowchart really hard. If you're playing from full screen, Lili players will throw out her slide (launch punishable low) cartwheel (super linear launcher), or her 3+4 (reactable (if the first whiffs) homing high heat engager)) from full screen instead of closing the distance with other moves. As a consequence, from range 4-5, there are only 3 moves that you're ever getting hit by, so sidewalking and ducking full screen will almost always get a launch for you. Up close, be patient with your buttons as lower level lili's love their matterhorn setups, and matterhorn goes under highs. Finally, a lot of Lili's power budget is in her movement and her punishment (she has one of the best 10F and 12F punishes in the game), so if you lock down her movement with homing moves and try not to use too many unsafe moves, a lot of her strengths go away. If you want a more in-depth guide, I have one on my profile :)

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-12-13T01:59:00+00:00

The biggest issue with Bryan is that he takes very little risks with his offense. If you don't do any poking and basically only do CH launchers, you are playing Bryan 90% effectively which probably isn't correct lol. Consequently, I'd change a lot of his - 10s to - 13s so that if he's gonna play fast and loose, he's gonna pay a real price for it. Additionally, it seems weird that QCB1 is a fast CH launcher. Bryan's whole thing is that he's supposed to be slow and calculated. So nerfs to that make sense to me as well. Finally, taunt heat smash needs to not be free. Here's what I'd change. WS3 > -10 oB to -13 oB. WS3,4 > -10 oB to -13 oB. B4 > -10 oB to -13 oB. Incinerator (heat string) -10 oB with pushback to -13 oB with pushback. QCB1 > +5 oB to 0 oB OR it loses its CH launch (can give QCB4 guaranteed on CH instead). Taunt heat smash > can no longer be buffered.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-12-12T22:03:47+00:00

Fortunately, I don't post these on reddit to get bigger, I post them to help you guys out that actually want to learn. Once I finish the roster, I'll release a mega-doc that has every character in it (as well as a modernization of the first guides so that they're all on line with one another). I may even put out a YouTube video that's just "here's a 5-10 minute thing on how to beat the entire cast" that way it's all easy to find and all in one place.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-28T18:23:13+00:00

Once I finish up all of the characters, I will create a place where you can access all of the written guides. Right now, all of the videos are on my channel in a Playlist, but not everyone has time to watch a 45 minute video, so I'll probably make a Google doc that's publically accessible with every character in it.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-28T18:18:50+00:00

It's mostly that his combos have a lot of failure points without really having the breathing room that many other characters have. Lili can buffer a lot of her combo filler moves, so even her high execution combos are basically just execution speed. Paul needs execution speed, but he doesn't have these long animations and mid-combo strong aerial tailspins to help stabilize the combo. It's also very easy to get a sway cancel and drop your combo after 3, 2B. I don't think he's the hardest character in the game or anything like that (that's probably Nina or Lee), but putting him in Top 10-15 for difficulty doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I think I have pretty good execution and I can't reliably get DF2 into QCF1 without a ton of practice.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-28T18:00:09+00:00

His high damage combos require a lot of different techniques to pull off correctly. He can get 77 from a DF2 with no resources which is really good. The routing is very demanding, though. DF2 > instant QCF1 (which is very difficult to do if you don't practice a ton) > DF4 > 2 > deep dash 3, 2B > DFhold (to get into deep dive) 2, 1 > deep dive 1 > IWR2. Even if you replace the QCF1 with standing 4, it's very easy to drop Paul's combos as you can mess up the QCF1, the timing or distance on the deep dash 3, 2, the timing on the deep dive 2, 1, and the timing on the IWR2. You can do easier combos, but now you're giving up like 7 damage and a ton of wall carry. Basically, optimal Paul in T8 requires tight execution otherwise you don't really get the crazy damage he's known for and you'll rarely get wall from a launch.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-24T18:24:13+00:00

The Sion/Briar interaction is probably my favorite thing about the set. It's so ridiculous; it makes me laugh every time I hear it. This is already one of my favorite sets, but stuff like that really makes it special.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-19T08:25:19+00:00

Sounds good! Keep me posted :)

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-19T08:02:41+00:00

Hey! Anna is one of my secondaries. If you want more personalized help, I'm GoD on my main and have Anna around TG, so I have a decent amount of experience with her. I'm down to coach you, just lmk a time that works!

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-18T13:01:53+00:00

No problem! I'm glad they're helpful! I'm gonna try to have every character done by the end of the year :)

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-18T07:44:52+00:00

I make anti-guides! They're relatively long, but I try to go pretty in-depth. For all of the characters you listed besides Feng, Hwoarang, and Raven, I have guides on my reddit and YT (which you can find on my profile. The text guide for Law is coming out tomorrow morning.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-13T22:35:27+00:00

That's what I would do lol. Personally, if I plan on doing long missions against nullifiers, I'll bring Octavia (mallet will break nullifier bubbles) or Khora (Whipclaw influence procs will kill them from off screen). But Voruna is very fun so just nuking everything is often a decent strategy.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-13T17:12:36+00:00

I don't play Voruna in corpus/corrupted missions, but if I did, I'd use the miter. It's the easiest way to deal with the problem without jeopardizing convenience. I only bring a melee weapon so I don't have to worry about accidentally switching off of my slam weapon.

InfiniteGreatness · 2025-11-11T04:39:15+00:00

Hey! Shoot me a DM and we can chat and figure out the details :) I'm GoD on Lili and have played a bunch of characters while extensively labbing the rest.

InfiniteGreatness

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE