Capcom vs SNK 2/Zangief

Introduction

Health (at Ratio 2)
15600	Extremely High
Stun
80	High
Dash Length
17 Frames	Long
Dash Type
Hop	Corpse Hop=Yes, Proj. Hop=Yes*
Run Speed
5.6	Extremely Slow
Roll Distance
140 pixels	Far
Roll Duration
29f	Long
Wakeup Speed compared to Ryu
2f	Slow

Story

Zangief, nicknamed The Red Cyclone, is a massive man and a Russian hero. In the days of Street Fighter: Alpha, Zangief was the hero of the Soviet Union. The President of Russia and leader of the Soviet Union offered him full financial support to travel the world, beating opponents and boasting of Soviet might. Zangief does this flawlessly, getting into fights with legends like Ken and winning. Once his mission is over, The President sends him to fight Shadaloo forces, who are slowly making their way into Russia. Along the way, Zangief finds two new friends in E. Honda and R. Mika. While it is unknown if they destroyed the Psycho Power Driver or not, Zangief still fights for his Soviet Russian pride to this day.

Gameplay

Zangief is the classic grappler. The character that the whole archetype is modeled after. Big body, huge damage, slow movement, and big buttons make Zangief what he is. While CvS2 is home to a few grapplers, Zangief stays the most true to the archetype. He hits hard with big normals and fast grabs, and can get hit plenty of times before it starts to hurt. Opponents have to be scared of a good Zangief, as he has amazing ability to punish just about anything, and he can control neutral shockingly well with big buttons and Lariats.

Zangief hurts in a lot of places however. Likely the biggest one is his lacking mobility. While SNK Grooves give him runs and hops to aid this, he has a very slow run still, and he doesn't get to lose his slow walkspeed. His lack of movement hurts a lot, as his best mixups and damage potential only exist when he's very close. To hurt this more, his main command grab sends them flying away, basically resetting to neutral. So the move you want to land most requires you to struggle with Zangief's biggest problem, and when you do land it, it resets you into that same situation.

In all, Zangief is on the lower half of the mid tier characters. While he has great damage and great ability to punish, he has to constantly fight against the top tier CvS2 characters, who are all beastly in neutral. Zangief has to outplay opponents at a lot of turns, but if he does, he is a monster.

Groove Selection

Zangief's best Groove is definitely K-Groove. It gives you everything you need for a successful grappler playstyle in this game: a good defensive option in JD which often leads into a sweep or even SPD, Rage which juices his already high damage to new levels, and the threat of a level 3 360 in Rage. Zangief's high health also allows him to take a lot more hits and have Rage even more often than other K-Groove characters. K-Zangief pokes add up, SPDs do great damage even if they do reset to neutral, and his strike/throw mix becomes very threatening.

A-Groove and N-Groove are a little behind K-Groove. A-Zangief gives up any mobility buffs, and has a pretty bad dash. In exchange, he gets access to a solid Custom Combo in the corner, and the powerful mechanic of activation makes his throws stronger by mere threat alone. He also has rolls and Alpha Counters to aid his weaker neutral and defense. N-Groove is the opposite. N-Zangief has a great mix of tools for many situations, having the higher mobility of K-Groove and the rolls of A-Groove. He also gets access to roll, which once again gets him out of some tight spots. He sacrifices this by not having the threat of a level 3 720 without a Max Mode activation, and less overall meter altogether. P-Zangief is a very difficult P-Groove character, but parries can be very rewarding for Zangief who can usually get a sweep or SPD, similar to JD. He also can get parries into 720, which is hard to do, especially since P-Groove rarely has meter. It is very rewarding however. P-Zangief lives and dies by how well you parry, just like most P-Groove characters.

C-Zangief sacrifices a lot in comparison, and gets very little in return. Since both of his supers are grabs, he can't really do any level 2 combos, making the main attraction of C-Groove worthless for him. The main attraction of C-Zangief is air blocking and more consistent meter, he makes an alright point. S-Zangief is hard to consider worthwhile, since even though his health does let him have infinite level 1's more safely than other characters, this really doesn't benefit him much. Having to charge for meter really hurts Zangief as well, in general S-Zangief has very little in the way of strengths.

Strengths

Weaknesses

High health and stun lets him take a lot more hits than the average character His pokes do as much as some characters punishes, especially 2HP, double especially with Rage A strong 1 frame command throw that allows him to interrupt strings, reversal throw, and punish with huge damage Decent mixup, with his command grabs, a crossup, and a few good meaties

One of the slowest characters, making neutral a chore, especially against the top tiers like Sagat or Cammy Only very threatening when he is close to you His signature move, the SPD, resets him to fullscreen or nearly fullscreen and forces him to struggle to win neutral again to be threatening Very big, making him the target of a lot of overheads and shorthop mixups Can't crouch under commonly crouchable moves like certain fireballs, making him block a lot more often

Normal Moves

Zangief has no close normal versions, so there are only far, crouching, and jumping listed.

5LP

Far Jab
Far Light Punch
5LP / Far LP

First Hitbox

Second Hitbox

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	500	5	SP/SU	Mid	High	3	4	13	20	0	0	None
A chop above Zangief's head. Mainly used as a fast anti-air, and isn't a bad one at all, but Lariat does a bit better to get them out of the air. It is faster than Lariat however, so you may want this instead when you anti-air late.

5MP

Far Strong
Far Medium Punch
5MP / Far MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1100	11	SU	Mid	High	7	2	13	22	+5	+5	None
A slow but decent reach chop. Despite the super cancel, neither of Zangief's supers actually combo from this. Instead, this is mostly useful as a poke. The +5 allows it to link into certain things, even moreso on counterhit, but this rarely leads to much reward besides damage.

5HP

Far Fierce
Far Heavy Punch
5HP / Far HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1600	16	None	Mid	High	11	6	23	40	-3	-3	None
A massive punch. Does very high damage for a single hit, with Rage it does even more. One of your better normals to punish with, if the opponent whiffs something big or is mashing make them sit still with this. 2HP is a bit better at the same job, but does less overall damage.

5LK

Far Short
Far Light Kick
5LK / Far LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	400	4	SP/SU	Mid	Mid	3	6	14	23	-5	-5	None
A fast low kick. Very solid normal for poking, stuffing approaches, tick throwing with SPD, cancelling into Lariats, etc. Not a standing low, but does everything else you would want it to really.

5MK

Far Forward
Far Medium Kick
5MK / Far MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1100	11	SU	Mid	High	7	16	15	38	-5	-5	None
A kick aimed at the opponents torso. Useful standing poke like 5MP, but is negative on hit and block instead making it impossible for Zangief to continue pressure or link after.

5HK

Far Roundhouse
Far Heavy Kick
5HK / Far HK

First Hitbox

Second Hitbox

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1500/1300	15/13	SU	Mid	High	6	9	28	43	-13	-13	None
An odd looking flip kick. Can be a neat anti-air and does decent damage for it too, but slow startup and strange animation make it hard to use as one. Overall not a normal you'll use often.

Crouching Normals

2LP

Crouch Jab
Crouching Light Punch
2LP / cr.LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	300	3	RF/SP/SU	Mid	Mid	3	4	8	15	+5	+5	None
A very solid 2LP with good reach. Useful for mashing or pressure, and has some small links on counterhit for increased damage. Useful for tick throws as well, and if people start mashing out of them, just do another 2LP to counterhit it.

2MP

Crouch Strong
Crouching Medium Punch
2MP / cr.MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1000	10	None	Mid	High	6	12	11	37	-1	-1	None
A one handed crouching uppercut. Another decent anti-air alongside 5LP and Lariat. Not very useful for anything else however, as Zangief has better and more rewarding grounded buttons. Notably large blindspot in front of Zangief, so make sure you use this against jumps that are farther away to avoid it whiffing.

2HP

Crouch Fierce
Crouching Heavy Punch
2HP / cr.HP

Who needs neutral anyway?

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1400	14	None	Mid	High	11	12	16	37	-2	-2	None
Like 5HP, but low to the ground. Has a few notable advantages over 5HP, namely the lower crouching hitbox. It also has a higher active frame count to catch people, and less overall total frames. For this, it pays with being 200 less damage. Regardless, you'll usually use this more anyhow, since the benefits outweigh the slightly lower damage and it still does ridiculous damage regardless of that.

2LK

Crouch Short
Crouching Light Kick
2LK / cr.LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	400	4	SP/SU	Low	Low	4	5	15	24	-5	-5	None
While 2LK is usually a characters main low mixup, Zangief would rather do his sweep command normal than this. It has a lot of weaknesses, the most obvious being that its -5 meaning that you can't get any links or pressure afterwards. Zangief has a big weakness in his lack of a solid knockdown special, so even if you could hitconfirm with this, there wouldn't be much use. If you want something like empty hop low, stick to the 1HK command normal before using this.

2MK

Crouch Forward
Crouching Medium Kick
2MK / cr.MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1000	10	None	Low	Low	8	12	14	34	-4	-4	None
A low kick far outwards. Not a bad poke, as it's fairly safe, but not much reward either. 2HK has the same range and gives a knockdown, although this is notably safer. If you want a whiff punish, go to 2HK, and if you want a poke, stick to 5MP/2HP.

2HK

Crouch Roundhouse
Crouching Heavy Kick
2HK / cr.HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1300	13	None	Low	Low	9	10	24	33	-DWN	-8	None
A standard far reaching sweep. Not as laggy as most other sweeps, which is important since this is one of Zangief's only strike-based knockdowns. Useful to punish things, either on whiff or block, or to catch someone low trying to walk or backdash away from Zangief.

Jumping Normals

jLP

Jump Jab
Jumping Light Punch
j.LP / 8LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	700	7	None	High	High	4/5	22	0	26/27	Varies	Varies	None
A long reaching chop. Better reach than the average j.LP makes it a more consistent air-to-air, and Zangief likes having a good one. Good to interrupt people jumping at you or the startup of air specials like divekicks. On a neutral jump, has one frame less startup.

jMP

Jump Strong
Jumping Medium Punch
j.MP / 8MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	1100	11	None	High	High	6	4	0	10	Varies	Varies	None
Another chop attack. Not much purpose, can be an air-to-air but is a bit slow.

jHP

Jump Fierce
Jumping Heavy Punch
j.HP / 8HP

Neutral Jump

Diagonal Jump

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1600	16	None	High	High	10	8	0	18	Varies	Varies	None
Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
/+	1400	14	None	High	High	10	6	0	16	Varies	Varies	None
Massive damage jump normals. The diagonal version is what you'll use most as a jump-in, due to the high reach and damage. The neutral jump version is one of the highest damage jump normals in the game, and if you ever get a stun with Zangief, you can just do a simple nj.HP, 1HK combo for great damage and a knockdown in 2 hits.

jLK

Jump Short
Jumping Light Kick
j.LK / 8LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	600	6	None	High	High	6	22	0	28	Varies	Varies	None
A kick with similar purpose to j.LP. In comparison to that, it has a frame more startup but 100 less damage. It gets longer range, but neither this or j.LP are your ranged air-to-airs, so stick to j.LP usually.

jMK

Jump Forward
Jumping Medium Kick
j.MK / 8MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	1000	10	None	High	High	8	10/12	0	18/20	Varies	Varies	None
A big kick. Similar to j.MP, not much use. Zangief has better jump-ins and better air-to-airs, stick to using those.

jHK

Jump Roundhouse
Jumping Heavy Kick
j.HK / 8HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	1400	14	None	High	High	8	6	0	14	Varies	Varies	None
A dropkick with similar range to j.HP. Because of the similarities, you'll usually stick to j.HP as a jump in for it's lower hitbox and j.HK as an air-to-air for it's faster startup and higher hitbox.

Command Normals

Long Kick

Long Kick
1MK/1HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1100	11	SP/SU	Low	Low	5	4	17	26	-1	-1	None
Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1500	15	SU	Low	Low	7	4	19	31	-DWN	+1	None
Zangief kicks out with a kick that looks identical to 2LK. The MK version is a great normal for up-close pokes and ending blockstrings, and can combo into a Banishing Flat, which is your main counterhit route off of 2LP. The HK version is much more interesting, as it's basically just an upgraded version of his already great sweep. Hard knockdown, +1 on block, and a fast 7 frame startup makes it a stellar normal. However, it does have the notable weakness of having much less range than a normal 2HK. You will usually do 1HK after a jump in to guarantee a knockdown and damage, or as a punish on laggy moves.

Headbutt

Headbutt
j.8MP/j.8HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
In Air, +	1200	18	None	High	High	4	12	0	16	Varies	Varies	None
Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
In Air, +	1500	40	None	High	High	4	6	0	10	Varies	Varies	None
Zangief headbutts the air above him. The MP version is a nice rising anti-air in some situations, especially vs floatier jumps. The real meat is the HP version, which is harder to land but does a massive 40 stun. Two will stun low and mid stun characters, three will stun anyone. While it can be hard to use this, if you know they want to jump, you can punish that using this and make them regret it.

Flying Body Attack

Flying Body Attack
Body Splash
j.2HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
In Air, +	1300	13	None	High	High	5	22	0	27	Varies	Varies	None
Zangief spreads his body out wide and slams down on the opponent. Amazing normal to use on a knockdown, as it'll very ambiguously cross up the opponent. Not as high damage as a j.HP and has little range beyond Zangief's body, so you won't use it as your main jump-in.

Double Knee Drop

Double Knee Drop
Knee Drop
j.2LK/j.2MK

Short Version

Forward Version

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
In Air, +	600	6	None	High	High	7	22	0	29	Varies	Varoes	None
Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
In Air, +	1000	10	None	High	High	7	22	0	29	Varies	Varoes	None
Zangief drops down on the opponent with his knees. These alter his jump arc, making him a bit floatier, and have high active frames making them amazing at stuffing out normal anti-airs. The ability to alter his jump also makes anti-airing these harder in general. If you're getting sniped out of the air a lot by normal anti-airs like 2HP's, try using these.

Throws

Pile Driver

Pile Driver/Brain Buster
Punch Throw
Near Opponent, 4/6HP

Pile Driver

Brain Buster

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close /+	2100	0	None	Grab	Grab	3	1	13	17	-DWN	Grab	None
Zangief's punch throw is unique, as the forward version and backward version are listed as seperate moves despite being basically identical. Neither version gives him great oki, but they do much more damage than the average punch throw and don't sacrifice the 3 frame startup for it. Still, an SPD will do better damage and punish more things, and these give just as bad of a knockdown if not worse. If you need a throw, stick to SPD.

Kamitsuki

Kamitsuki
Kick Throw, Bite
Near Opponent, 4/6K

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close /+	1000+200x2~17	0	None	Grab	Grab	5	1	13	19	-DWN	Grab	None
Zangief grabs his opponent and starts biting them on the face. Yeah. Not the greatest throw, as it's slower than both Punch Throws and SPD, and since it can be mashed out of it doesn't do as much damage as you would like. It does have one benefit, being that Zangief gets a solid knockdown from it, but it isn't worth the other costs.

Special Moves

Double Lariat

Double Lariat
Lariat
3P

Upper Body Invuln

Early Hitbox and Mid Invuln

Spinning Hitbox

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
	1300, 1500~1000	13, 15~10	None	Mid	High	4	2(4)9(3)7(4)8(5)10(5)7	11	79	-DWN	Varies	4 (Upper), 67 (Middle Body)
Zangief's classic punch lariat. Very consistent anti-air when timed correctly, and since the hurtbox in the center of his body disappears, he can go through fireballs with tihs. Smart Lariat usage makes it incredibly hard to hit Zangief with a fireball, and he can usually approach through them since this can be guided with 4 or 6 during the active frames. If you whiff this, you'll likely be punished. The strange damage values and on-block values are because each hit has different data, this is hard to predict and is basically random, but every hit is punishable so it doesn't matter much.

Quick Double Lariat

Quick Double Lariat
Quick Lariat
3K

Lower and Mid Invuln

Lower Invuln

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
	1200, 1300~1100	12, 13~11	None	Mid	High	4	2(4)8(3)7(4)6	14	52	-DWN	-24	4 (Upper/Lower), 34 (Lower)
Essentially the same as Lariat, but about 2/3rds of the duration. Does lower damage to compensate for this, but is still your preferred ender in combos where you know it'll hit. Can also be nice as an anti-poke tool, similar to Ken's LP Shoryuken, and is hard to really punish in neutral despite the long animation. Invulnerable on his feet instead of his middle body, so not an anti-fireball tool like 3P Lariat.

Banishing Flat

Banishing Flat
Green Hand
623P

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1400	14	None	Mid	High	14	8	19	31	-3	-3	None (Delete Proj. Frame 15~23)
+	1500	15	None	Mid	High	15	10	18	43	-4	-4	None (Delete Proj. Frame 16~26)
+	1600	16	None	Mid	High	16	12	19	47	-7	-7	None (Delete Proj. Frame 17~29)
Zangief turns around and slaps the air with green energy surrounding his hand. A unique and good move that can end combos in a standing mixup, delete projectiles, and get Zangief close. The jab version is a good combo ender, and Zangief can mix up between a few options after. He can do another 623LP, he can walk forward slightly and command grab, he can jump, he can block, etc. The MP and HP versions are better for deleting projectiles and approaching.

Spinning Pile Driver

Spinning Pile Driver
SPD
360P

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	2000	0	None	Grab	Grab	0	1	48	49	-DWN	Grab	None
+	2300	0	None	Grab	Grab	0	1	46	47	-DWN	Grab	None
+	2700	0	None	Grab	Grab	0	1	44	45	-DWN	Grab	None
Zangief's signature damaging command grab. Despite what you may think at first, this isn't used as a mixup tool. Though it is his fastest grab, it gives him a very bad knockdown, ending his aggression. Instead this is used as a reversal and punish. It starts instantly, meaning if they can be grabbed at all they will be. This allows it to beat out strikes, punish a lot of things that were likely meant to be safe, and make opponents restructure their pressure. Smart use of this makes Zangief a lot more of a walking tank. Since Zangief is often in K-Groove, he can easily access this after almost any JD for a great punish, making him much scarier. The LP version does the least damage but has the most range, while the HP version is the inverse. Unless you know the punish, stick to the LP version to ensure it reaches.

Atomic Suplex

Atomic Suplex
Proximity 360
Near Opponent, 360K

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close +	2200	0	None	Grab	Grab	1	1	0 (Can't Whiff)	2	-DWN	Grab	None
Close +	2500	0	None	Grab	Grab	1	1	0 (Can't Whiff)	2	-DWN	Grab	None
Close +	2900	0	None	Grab	Grab	1	1	0 (Can't Whiff)	2	-DWN	Grab	None
Zangief's close range proximity throw. If they aren't in range or aren't immediately grabbable, Flying Power Bomb comes out instead of this. This is your main throw for mixups, as while it has slightly less range than a jab SPD, it does more damage and gives a more workable knockdown for you to continue your mixup. Has 1 frame of startup, so it isn't instant, but that doesn't matter as much since this makes it a bit better to tick throw with. Be careful of the range, as you really don't want Flying Power Bomb to come out.

Flying Power Bomb

Flying Power Bomb
Running Bear Grab
360K

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1900	0	None	Grab	Grab	15	25	50	90	-DWN	Grab	None
+	2000	0	None	Grab	Grab	15	26	52	53	-DWN	Grab	None
+	2100	0	None	Grab	Grab	15	33	54	102	-DWN	Grab	None
Zangief slowly walks forward and tries to grab the opponent. DO NOT USE THIS MOVE!!!! This essentially exists only as an input failure for Atomic Suplex, and has no real upsides over either of his command grabs. It has slow startup, obvious and slow movement, almost a full second of whifflag, and does the least damage of his command grabs. Unless your opponent is asleep and you want to hit them with something funny and BM, avoid this at all times.

Super Moves

Final Atomic Buster

Final Atomic Buster
FAB, 720
720P

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	3500	0	None	Grab	Grab	4:0	1	48	53	-DWN	Grab	8 (Full)
+	5000	0	None	Grab	Grab	4:0	1	48	53	-DWN	Grab	14 (Full)
+	7000	0	None	Grab	Grab	4:0	1	48	53	-DWN	Grab	22 (Full)
A massively damaging and satisfying command grab. Very useful mixup and reversal tool. After the superflash, it starts immediately, meaning if they do anything that isn't throw invulnerable they will get grabbed. The threat of this forces them to move more, which opens them up to catching jumps with a j.HP, j.8HP, Lariat, etc. It also acts as a huge damage punish in similar spots to SPD, making it hard to run real offense on a Zangief player with good punish timings. The threat of this skyrockets in K-Groove because of JD. When Zangief is Raged, he has access to the level 3 version of this for MASSIVE damage. One JD can lead to this as a punish. The input makes it hard to utilize, and you usually have to hide it behind something like a dash, jump, JD, Max Mode activation, or a normal as a tick throw.

Aerial Russian Slam

Aerial Russian Slam
Anti-Air Super
23623K

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	2200	0	None	Grab	Grab	4:5	25	33	67	-DWN	Grab	8 (Full)
+	3600	0	None	Grab	Grab	4:5	25	33	67	-DWN	Grab	14 (Full)
+	5200	0	None	Grab	Grab	4:5	25	33	67	-DWN	Grab	22 (Full)
A leaping anti-air command grab. Not the most consistent anti-air, but if you read the jump, this will punish it for good damage. Especially the level 3 version, which can lead to the basic mixup between this and his 720. If they don't jump, 720 will grab them, and if they do, this will hit them. Still, usually it's better to save the meter/Rage for a level 3 720, since that super is a lot scarier. This is also a combo ender in A-Groove for his Custom Combos.

The Basics

Master 360 motion buffering and standing 360's. Tick grabs are good, but running LP Spinning Pile Drivers are better! (Obviously in SNK groove. I prefer K.)

If you have trouble with standing 360's, you can do the Hooligan Combination motion (hcf,u/f + P). Also, hcf,u + P or hcf,u/b + P tends to work more consistently for me.

The up motion has to be done VERY quickly, though I think it's easier to execute with the small-jumping grooves (P S N K) since the startup frames for jumping in these grooves are about 2 frames greater. Basically, you have more time to do a 360 special before the computer registers it as a jump.

Advanced Strategy

--Zenfire 13:03, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Dealing with keep-away tactics

Zangief can have more trouble against long range keep-away tactics than rushdown.

C.HP

Against pokes that outrange C.HP you can attempt to preemptively stick C.HP out and it can beat the startup frames of the attack because of the large number of hitting/active frames. The down side of this is that it's a very laggy move and is vulnerable to rolls and jumps.

Lariat

Another option is to beat their attack with kick lariat, which has lower body invincibility on startup. The down side of this is that you need to time it just right because only the startup is invincible and doing it too early will result in it getting beat or trading. Worst case scenario: it misses completely and you get punished with super.

Jumping HP

This move has a lot of horizontal range and if you space it right it becomes not only hard to beat with normals, it also becomes a guessing game where their AA can whiff entirely if you don't stick anything out. The down sides to this are that it's a jumping attack which is a commitment, so it's AA'able. It's important to figure out at what range for this (both forward jump and neutral jump).

Groove specific: RC's

RC Lariat gives the advantage of more invincibility than the regular version. A significant addition to the arsenal is RC Running Grab. It will go through everything and throw for a nice bit of damage, the benefit of this in the long run is that once they're scared/aware of it they won't stick out moves as much at the risk of getting grabbed, and as a result they'll block more, run away more and jump more.

Groove specific: Parry/JD

Parries and JD's are obviously different, but the one thing they have in common is they allow you to decrease the number of frames of blockstun. Parry guarantees more, like a sweep for the knockdown. But since SPD has so much range you can grab people using either of these from pretty far away. Both of them allow you to jump over long range pokes and allow for a backup plan in case you didn't jump over something laggy. Besides being a backup, it's also just an alternative way to get in. Down side is pretty obvious, it's hard to do/time right, and if you don't succeed you get hit (parry) or lose guard bar (JD) and you need to walk up again.

Defending against rushdown

Reversal 360

The SPD is instant which means that it can beat things when there are 0 frames or more in between the attacks. By this I mean that, since throws beat attacks, anywhere in a blocked string of attacks if the next hit does not connect WITHIN the blockstun of the previous attack, the SPD can interrupt and grab the opponent. JD's help immensly in this. The down side of this is that if something you defended leaves the opponent at 0 or more frames of advantage, they can jump (instantly OTG) out of the SPD and punish on the way down.

Lariat

The kick version of the lariat as discussed before beats ground moves. This can be used in situations where you're unsure whether the opponent will jump or attack again. It will beat or trade with attacks and still manage to hit people that try to jump away expecting an SPD. The down side of this is still the same: if you miss or it's blocked, it's easily punishable.

Stopping runaway

Once you corner someone trying to get away from you, either because you're raged, because they're ahead or because they're building meter, then you can slowly walk them into the corner while still keeping an eye out for sneak attacks. At this point to avoid risking you getting close they'll jump over you or try to knock you down before trying to get out. Here follow some options that if you guessed right will keep them cornered or punish them for trying to get out. The complement of these is actual ground based moves, which become viable again when they stop trying to run away.

Neutral jump U+HP

This headbutt does a lot of stun damage. Getting hit by it twice means being dizzy for everyone in the game. You can stop them jumping over you to the other side using this move as an air-to-air attack. You'll have to time it well obviously, but there's a double reward for landing it: damage/stun + they're still cornered. If you guess wrong jumping straight up still avoids things such as RC Psycho Crusher and even allows to you punish certain RC's that don't go far.

Fake-out jumps

Though this is partly basic strategy, jumping toward your opponent with an early attack can setup a command throw on landing, in this scenario you have the additional benefit of stopping people that jump at/over you. And again, since it's a jump it has some evasive properties. The down-side is the same as with all jumping attacks.

Aerial Slam

Though people will automatically jump less when they know you have a lv3 super, they might still flinch once cornered, so it is worth buffering the motion when you expect a jump. The first downside of this is that since you're buffering the motion your on the ground and not blocking leaving you vulnerable. The range for this depends on your opponent's jump arc, which is something else you need to think about.

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