Transcription
The goal of this video series is to give you, the aspiring Ken player, consistent oki options off all of his most common knockdowns and combo routes.
For a good oki setup, we want to achieve the following:
- Beat wakeup throws
- Beat wakeup mashing
- Beat wakeup jumps
- Beat wakeup Drive Impact
And we wanna make sure that it works if they recover backwards or in place. Oki setups are usually constructed out of two parts: the Framekill and the Meaty. The framekill is a move we do in order to adjust our timing so that the next action hits meaty. This is usually a whiffed button, a dash, or a jump. (Some setups don't have a framekill.)
Meaty traditionally means that it hits on the first possible active frame. Now, in some cases, these setups will hit on the first possible “actionable” frame, meaning it will hit on frame 2-3 before the opponent can take an action besides wakeup reversal or wakeup parry, which is actually pretty decent in SF6 because it avoids being perfect parried on wake up.
As a final note, there are way more oki options than the ones that I'm showing here. This is meant to be a jumping off point covering the most useful/stable options that Ken has. For a more comprehensive list, please take a look at my Ken Notes linked in the description below.
So, with all that being said - let's get started.
First off is one of his most useful setups from target combo into enhanced tatsu. This gives you an overhead that can combo straight into 5MP again and leaves you only negative 1 if it’s blocked. This is a big part of what makes Ken’s command run on knockdown scary, and how you can bait reversals later by canceling the run (KK~LK) instead of going for the overhead (KK~MK).
The double dash forward after enhanced tatsu is one of Ken’s most flexible oki choices since it leaves you +5 in their face - basically letting you meaty, throw, backdash, or do whatever you want really. The timing on both of these oki choices can be a little strict at first, so make sure you set your training dummy to mash, jump, or throw on wakeup and get the timing down.
After target combo into enhanced DP, the Drive Rush into 5HP is autotimed, allowing for good oki when going for the more damaging combo ender over Run tatsu. If you’ve already got them close to the corner, this is what you wanna do. This will lose to wakeup parry, however, so be sure to mix up your Drive Rush options with 5HP or drive rush into throw if your opponent likes to parry on wakeup.
Ending your combo with Run Dragonlash (instead of going into the DP like everyone enjoys) gives you the chance to get a safejump with Ken midscreen. This means that when you go for the jLK, if done correctly, you’ll either hit them while they are mashing/jabbing or jumping, and you’ll recover in time to block if they go for a reversal or super. This one is incredibly strong.
Similar to the one off of Run Tatsu that we just learned, but with one less frame, you can only combo into 2LP here. If they recover in place, you can go from there into target combo, but if they recover backwards you’ll want to do a light combo ending in DP because the 5MP will whiff. You are +4 on hit though, so you have time to walk forward and go for a throw, or back up and press 5HP or any other kind of neutral reset situation where you have a bit of advantage.
Okay, so the reason this one is in red is because it's not perfect. It's manually timed. You can still get Drive Rush 5HP here, but you need to delay it by 3-4 frames or so. Because if you do it automatically, where it is autotimed, you're gonna whiff. You can be thrown out of it, you can be mashed out of it, you can be jumped over— all these things. So, this DOES technically work, but you need to put in a manual delay here.
While this combo is the one that most Ken players seem to learn first, once you get the setups down for the others, I only recommend doing this one if you 100 percent need the side switch. It is rare that you're gonna be poking with sweep instead of 2MK, but in the event that you get a regular hit knockdown for sweep, this is your go-to oki.
Forward dash 5HP lets you go into 2MP afterwards, which can then be canceled into M Tatsu, which is your most consistent option without using drive rush here. On block, with it being +1, means you have some flexibility in going for pokes or whiff punishing afterwards or whatever you like to do.
Okay, next up is sweep, but the counter/punish counter versions which have WAY more knockdown frames, letting us do some really cool things. This first one is a little wild but has some interesting uses. If you are close to the opponent, it will side switch, and if you’re further out, you’ll still be +1 on top of them. The only thing that meaties here is 2LP, so trying to throw will end up losing to mashes. It’s also fairly easy to mess up since you have to be frame perfect on the tatsu after sweep ends. BUT this is really cool, and I do encourage the use of it.
Alright, the next setup is a lot easier and really fun to do. This setup lets you Dragonlash, which as we all know is the best thing ever. It will lose to standing jabs but will counterhit almost any crouching normal, throws, and hit jumps out of the sky. On block, you can go into normal Dragonlash pressure, and the best thing is that it's also DI safe. You know how much people love to DI Dragonlash, so you know, it's good stuff. :)
So, I remember somebody sharing on Twitter this like Unga Bunga Oki thing for Luke. Turns out that Ken's got that too! So if you want to look a little crazy, you can just sweep again after sweep and do your 5HP... It... it works. It's actually really good. So, ya know - go be CRAZY.
Forward throw midscreen doesn’t provide a lot of options, but it does consistently let you Drive Rush into 5HP. Just the fact that you’re likely going to be doing more meter damage than you spend to set this up makes it a good choice if you get forward throw instead of back throw by accident. For back throw, by the way, you don’t get anything midscreen. (Sorry folks.)
214MK is an interesting combo ender because it only ever is really used for corner carries off of something strange that you don’t want to drive rush cancel like a 2MP or 2MK.
So, M Tatsu when you need it is really the best option as it combos consistently, has really good corner carry, and provides a lot of knockdown time. Dash x2 is the simplest and most effective choice here, ensuring you get to keep your turn and keep pushing them to the corner where they belong.
And finally, for EX Reversal DP, OD DP, sometimes you just gotta DP out. And when you do, Drive Rush 5HP has your back. Now it's just like the other one off of Dragonlash, HDP. But basically, you have to delay it a bit in order to properly reach the opponent. But when it does, you’ll enjoy the same benefits of 5HP in other drive rush setups; just know that you can whiff this. You can press the button early and not reach the opponent, so ya know, your mileage may vary.