How to avoid getting hit by Focus Attacks.
I find myself getting hit by focus attacks a lot. Either my opponent uses it as an anti-air or the start charging and when ever i go to move they let go and I get hit. What should I be doing?
Responses (5 total)
understand your opponents intentions for using the focus attack. some people use it just to make u stagger so they can combo you some people use it very fast just to trick you into doing something stupid some people hold it for a long time cuz they really wanna hurt you with it or they might just switch it up on you depending on how the fights going my advice is to understand what to look for when a focus attack is coming and feel it out I know for me when I see a focus coming I either FADC (focus attack dash cancel) just to psych them out or ill grab them out of it or even do an ex move or a light punch/kick combo to knock them out of it. its something lots of experience will help you out in here’s something to help you practice set up a training session and program the cpu to do different types of focus attacks remember times where u were tricked into getting hit by them and make the cpu copy them the more you get used to seeing them in action the more you'll be ready to PUNISH!
Whats best is not to wait for them to release and either get scared and jump while they release or get hit by level 3.
Its really safe to Focus attack and Dash cancel backwards, you can hold it or immediately dash back but...
If your in the corner however, you have no where to dash back to.
You still have many options: if they're close just grab or lp lp or crouching lk 2x if u have a fast kicker will knock them out. If they're far but still in focus attack range, your best option is to use a fast armor breaker or even a move that hits twice: ex fireball, ex tatsu, light armor breaker, uppercuts,
you could even ultra or super them if they're being to obvious.
Sagat and adon have normals that hit twice like standing HK, which work very well too... i know from getting hit by them lol.
If its an anti air do a no hit jump (empty) jump and grab/armor breaker, but if you already hit attack ur gonna have to (which wont always work) block, do an instant attack such as shoryuken, or continue ur combo with a lp/lk of cource.
Jonathan DoeJoe Dublin has a good idea by the training option, and also "feel out" your opponent's intentions.
If you get Focus Attack as an anti-air, just dash back, he'll wiff the attack and you can follow for a punish. Works maybe 90% of the time.. get in the lab and train yourself to see focus attacks on the fly, if you have a really good friend have him practice with you.
To further emphasize empty jumping and knowing your range on jumps is also important. Often times a focus attack is used when you're jumping in you might attack and as soon as it hits you land and it's already level two and you're crumpled. Also be wary at some levels of play the players are better able to mix in their focus attacks on their ground game, for instance Fei Long happens to have one of the best focus attacks as it has a step foward which means in some cases it can punish a badly ranged normal attack (due to the fact that even a level one focus can crumple if it's a counter.) The best thing you can do against someone with a great focus attack game is not be predictable, mix in empty jumps, armor breaking moves, and also to get a good focus game yourself.
