Taking her to the next level: Zafina (part 1)

It's been awhile since I purely blogged. This a pure gamer blog so be forewarned I will be using Tekken terminology and gaming terminology like meaty, hit confirming and what not.

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging is because I have been so caught up playing T6 on my XBox 360 and working on the combos videos which are all coming together.

One thing I have noticed whilst working on my Zafina combo video is how she is designed. My personal understanding of Zaffy (as me and my friends affectionately call her)is she is best played as a counter hit hunting/ poke intensive character.

She has alot of moves that support this theory. She has b+1+2 which is a long distance low poke. Db+2 is a good meaty mid poke that gives her slight advantage as well. She can also use df+3 and then 4 which acts as a natural combo, good for punishing long distance whiffs and un-safe moves. However the player needs to hit confirm the first hit before going for either follow up because both of her follow ups can be option selected out of (i.e you can duck the high and block the low if you block the first hit).

Another good move that works wonders on people who don't know the match-up is 2,1,3. A high, mid and the low string that grounds opponents and leaves Zaf in Mantis (one of her stances). Once people get familiar with it, 2,1 by itself is a good poke string and if the 1 hits on counter hit which usually happens people try to interupt the slow low, she gets a juggle.

This leads us to one of Zaffy's more important tatics, counter hit hunting. 3 of Zafina's better moves require counter hits to make the 2nd hit guranteed. B+4,4 is one of them. B+4,4 is launch punishable on block, it however does alot of damage (51 on CH) and can also wall splat if done up close to a wall for a very damaging wall combo. The beauty of b+4 is on counter hit you get a Zaffy specific hit spark (purple) which is a indicator to end the move or not finish it at all.
A move very similar to this is Tarantula 4,3. It is punishable on block but the 4 has a hit spark if you hit it on CH and you can then finish the move to get a proper combo.
The final move is d+4,3. D+4,3 is safe, however it is low,high so anyone aware of the move should be ducking the last hit. On counter hit through, the move become natural. You do not get a hit spark if the move hits on counter through, you get a change in animation (opp is hopping and holding there knee/shin) so you need to be extra alert to spot and finish this one. The reward is well worth it through.
Db+4,2 is similar to d+4,3 in that you need to counter hit confirm before ending the move but db+4 is unsafe, the db+4,2 is launch punishable AND you get no special animation if it hits on counter, so use it at your own peril.

This first part address, Zaf's pokes and counter hit hunting both essential parts of her game. The next part will address okizemi and high damage juggles. I will also be updating this post with pictures.

pP

Starstrukk

It's a brand new month, the shortest month but a new month never less. So without anymore fanfare, I bring you the new music for this month. I actually had all these songs in mind before the start of the month which is pretty rare for me. I knew however that these will be my songs for February for sure.

Steaming by Sarah McLachlan- I love Sarah, she was actually part of January mix as well, I recently got her Greatest Hits cd and whilst I listened to it, I came to realize how much I love this song. Steaming from her 2nd lp 'Solace' is probably my favorite song from that album. It's a combination of the deep lyrics and awesome dual chorus which ALWAYS get me.

Tik Tok by Kesha- A relatively new artist, on first listen I was perplexed by this song but just like another song (you might know it, it's called 'Just Dance') this song grew on me and now I find myself singing it to myself all the time. This song is definitely coming to a combo video/ AVision very soon. I mean "fight till we see the sunlight" on a stage in T6 called 'Temple Grounds' where background actually changes from night to day, tell me that isn't cool!

Starstrukk by 3OH!3 feat Katy Perry- 3OH!3 is back with their crazy sense of humor and sick beats. These guys have been on my music hit list before and with Starstrukk they not only make a reappearance but also get a blog named after them. Also crazy is I am not a big fan of Katy Perry but she fits really well on this song.

Well, enjoy!

pP