Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Q/Archive

Q's Character Select Portrait

Q's Neutral Stance

Moves List

Normal Punches

Standing punches

Far standing jab: This is a decent semi-poke and situational antiair. It comes out pretty fast and has decent range, but its recovery isn’t as good as it could be and it can be ducked by most characters. It’s most often used to tick into c&db, to keep certain opponents from dashing in, and to antiair empty jumps. It can be parried high and low, even by characters whose down parries make them crouch under the actual jab.

Close standing jab: This comes out and recovers faster than far standing jab and can be canceled into all of Q’s command moves, although it only comboes into ex slaps and super. Its main uses are as a tick and as an antiair against empty jumps and opponents who jump right in front of you. It can be parried high and low.

Neutral standing strong: This move has great range, is safe on block, and actually recovers better if whiffed than you’d think. While it’s mainly used in c&db corner resets and to give Q his second-best karathrowing distance, it can also serve as a poke and antiair, although it’s not too useful as a poke against most characters because it can be ducked by most and stood under by lots. It must be parried high.

Back + strong: This is very useful as a poke and antiair and gives Q his best karathrow range, so it’s used a lot. It makes Q move up a bit, and the punch actually extends over and a little behind Q’s head, so you can hit people who are over and a little behind you. It’s safe on block and has good range, so it’s good for a poke and for making sure the opponent doesn’t jump when you have him cornered. Plus, if you use it as an antiair and time it just right, you can recover in time before you can be hit or thrown. This move also gives Q his best distance for karathrowing, although it throws the opponent behind you unless you have crazy enough timing to only press back for the punch and not for the throw. It must be parried high, although it can be difficult to parry for an opponent jumping right over you because the opponent sometimes has to parry what looks like behind himself.

Neutral standing fierce: This move knocks the opponent down for most of its many active hit frames, but at the very end it works as a reset if the opponent is in the air or as just a regular hit if the opponent is on the ground. It can be used as a poke against tall characters and more rarely as a situational antiair. It’s safe when done from max range, beats most high-level pokes, and has an active hitbox that stays up for a long time, but characters who can duck it can punish it easily. This move can be used to end a c&db or SAII juggle, although there are better options. It has to be parried high.

Back + fierce: This is a good poke and antiair that’s best against opponents who are either tall enough to get hit by it when crouching, like Dudley, Urien, Hugo, Alex, and Q, whose air attacks are susceptible to this move’s weird hitbox, like Twelve, Urien, Makoto, and Dudley, but it’s good against anyone if the opponent is using a high poke or standing up. It’s safe on block, beats out lots of attacks, and is usually even safe if parried by a jumping opponent if it moves Q under the opponent and past his attacks. It’s also very important as a reset in c&db corner juggles. It has to be parried high.

Crouching punches

Crouching jab: This is a quick little ranged poke that’s great for keeping the opponent out and beating slower attacks, so it should be used often. It can be parried both high and low.

Crouching strong: This is a decent poke and antiair that’s safe on block and can recover in time if parried by a jumping opponent when you’re more underneath than in front of him. It can be used up close to tick into karathrow or to preemptively stuff an opponent’s wakeup attack or jump. Its main drawback is that it can be parried high and low, which makes it less useful as a meaty attack since the opponent can’t guess wrong on a parry.

Crouching fierce: This is a good meaty that is safe on block and stuffs or trades with most non-invincible wakeup attacks, although its startup is a little slow. Its range extends above and beyond Q’s fist, so it can also be used to stuff long-range low attacks, but that’s kinda risky because of its long startup and recovery if whiffed. It has to be blocked and parried low.

Jumping punches

Jumping up jab: This comes out almost immediately, has great priority, and lasts the whole jump, so it’s useful as an air-to-air antiair. It must be parried high.

Jumping toward jab: The claw! This move comes out quickly, lasts almost the whole jump, and has great priority. It can be used to beat most air and even antiair attacks, to retaliate with after an air-to-air parry when the opponent is in front of or above you, and to fake an empty jump by attacking at the last second. It has to be parried high.

Jumping strong: This is good against characters that jump higher than you or are tall enough to get hit by it when standing, but it’s rarely used because Q’s other jumping attacks are usually better options. It has to be parried high.

Jumping fierce: This is a great air move that should be used often. It’s good for starting combos and beating or trading with air attacks and antiairs, including some moves like dragon punches and headbutts. It can set up a taunt if it knocks the opponent out of the air and can also serve as a tick into c&db. It must be parried high.

Normal Kicks

Standing kicks

Standing short: This is a nice little poke that comes out and recovers very quickly and is great at keeping the opponent out. It’s also used to tick into karathrow or c&db. It can be parried both high and low.

Far standing forward: This is an excellent poke that should be used often. It beats lots of stuff, has good range, is safe on block, can’t be ducked, and is even a decent meaty attack. It must be parried high.

Close standing forward: This is also a very important move because it’s Q’s only (only.) cancelable ground normal that combos into all his comboable specials and supers. It can also be used as a tick into karathrow and an occasional meaty attack; although it can’t beat many wakeup attacks, using it to combo into super as the opponent is waking up is an important way to get damage and force the opponent to stay still on wakeup. It can only be parried high.

Neutral standing roundhouse: This is safe on block (except against a reversal Chun SA2) and beats just about any non-invincible attack, but if whiffed or parried it’s completely unsafe. It can be used for keep-out and spacing, as a meaty attack if you think the opponent will dash back, and in anticipation of a poke from an opponent who can’t hurt you much if you miss. That said, however, its main use is as a c&db combo finisher. It has to be parried high.

Back + roundhouse: This move is almost great, but just a little too risky. If it touches the opponent early, it has great range and priority, must be blocked low, knocks down on hit, and can be canceled but not comboed into all of Q’s command moves; if it touches the opponent later in its animation, it can be blocked high, doesn’t knock down, and can’t be canceled. There are three uses for this thing. The main use is as a meaty attack; if you do close back + roundhouse xx slaps or dash punch and the opponent doesn’t parry, he’ll either get knocked down by back + roundhouse or take some block damage from the specials. It can also be used to beat low pokes, since the early part of its animation eats up every low move in the game. The third use is as a preemptive antiair, for when you think the opponent might jump back on wakeup and you’re a little distance away. One problem, apart from the fact that it doesn’t combo, is that this move cancels into other moves fairly slowly, meaning that if you do it too close when the opponent is waking up and try to cancel into slaps, you could get thrown; the solution is to take advantage of the move’s range and do it from further away. It also has huge recovery time if uncanceled or whiffed, so make sure that that only happens when it’s successfully used as a preemptive antiair. It can be parried both high and low at any stage of its animation.

Crouching kicks

Crouching short: This is a decent poke that can also work as a meaty attack and a tick into karathrow. Its startup is a little slower than crouching jab and it doesn’t beat as many things, but it does have slightly longer range so it’s better for opponents who are farther out. If done at max range, it can stuff moves like Ibuki’s ex dragon punch. It must be blocked and parried low.

Crouching forward: This is a good poke that does more damage than crouching short but is a little slower to come out. It has good range, beats lots of attacks, and makes a great tick into karathrow. It’s also Q’s best meter-building attack. It has to be blocked and parried low.

Crouching roundhouse: This move knocks down on hit, has good range, and is pure active hit frames at Q’s feet, but if blocked or parried it can be punished by anything. It’s a fairly good poke against some characters, a pretty good situational antiair, and a decent way to capitalize on parries when the opponent is at max range. It’s also useful as a meaty because it beats everything except moves with invincible startup frames, like some supers and dragon punches. This move has to be blocked and parried low.

Jumping kicks

Jumping short: This is much like jumping toward jab in that it comes out as fast, lasts as long, and has as good priority, but because its hitbox is lower it’s better for attacking an airborne opponent who is lower in the air than you are. It’s good at beating air attacks and some antiairs, faking an empty jump, and ticking into karathrow. It must be parried high.

Jumping forward: This is a great move, one of the air moves you should use the most. It has great range, beats lots of stuff, is a useful defensive poke, and is a good spacer. It must be parried high.

Jumping roundhouse: This is another excellent move. It stuffs a lot of things and trades with many of the rest, even some that have invincibility frames because its oddly-shaped hitbox sometimes hits the opponent in an area where he doesn’t have invincibility. It’s Q’s only jumping attack that knocks the opponent down out of the air instead of resetting them and has deceptively good range and hit stun. It can be used to zone the opponent out, whiff a jump-in to throw, and start Q’s most damaging combos, and it also makes a useful tick and meaty attack. If you do it so that it hits as late as possible, like around the level of the opponent’s feet, it can’t be punished if it gets parried. It has to be parried high.

Other Attacks

Neutral throw: This does less damage than the toward or back throw but also does more stun, so if the opponent is just about to get stunned, use this. It leaves the opponent right next to Q, which is good if you don’t need a taunt or want to play close to the opponent. The regular range is longer than many characters’ normal throws, but unless you’re trying to tech a throw or otherwise need a throw to come out as soon as possible, you should use the karathrow (same thing with the toward/back throws).

Toward/back throw: One version throws the opponent a bit ahead of Q and the other a bit behind, but they both do the same damage and stun and both even have the same animation. They do more damage than the neutral throw and leave the opponent farther away, but they also do less stun. Use one of these if you want to do more damage, set up taunts in some situations, or have the opponent some distance away from you. It seems to me that the toward/back throw also has more range than the neutral throw, but unfortunately I can’t find any data to make sure.

Universal overhead: Q’s uoh is slower and floatier than that of most characters, but it also has better range. It’s a decent poke and can be used to link into super if it’s done at max range or as a deep meaty. If you do it as a deep meaty, you can also link into close standing forward, standing short, and crouching jab. You can also use this for tricky ground crossovers when the opponent is waking up. Other than overhead dash punch, this is Q’s only overhead attack, so make sure you use it. It has to be parried high.

Special Moves

Capture and deadly blow (c&db): half circle back, kick. A slow command grab with range longer than Hugo’s Gigas Breaker that sets up very damaging combos. The stronger the kick button used, the longer the range, but longer the startup, and also the farther the opponent will be launched. There’s usually no reason to use any strength other than roundhouse for c&db. Short is used to do short c&db, fierce slaps and forward is used on Remy because some of the juggles don’t work on him otherwise; also short, fierce slaps gives a great taunt opportunity. C&db is very important against certain characters and not so important against others. If you don’t follow up with an attack before the opponent lands on the ground, he cannot quick-stand.

Regular dash punch: charge back, toward, punch. Can be EXed. The harder the punch, the farther the dash goes. The normal version is always safe on block, with the negligible exception of a fierce version done against a reversal Ken SAIII. Strong or jab dash punch can be comboed into with close standing forward and any version dash punch can be canceled into a super (or other stuff, if it’s the ex version) and used to cover ground quickly. Note that some characters, as mentioned below, can duck/walk/dash under it. The ex version bounces the opponent off the wall and back at you, allowing a juggle.

Overhead dash punch: charge back, toward, hold punch. It’s an overhead, obviously, and it hits a little later than the regular version, so it’s a little harder for the opponent to block or parry if he’s crouching or looking to duck, walk under, or parry a regular dash punch. You can link it to SAII if the opponent is crouching and you hit him within SAII’s range. This is a little more useful than the low dash punch because some people low-block or try to parry dash punches, and this’ll throw off their timing. It can come out if you tap punch quickly, so heads up for that. It’s quite punishable on block.

Low dash punch: charge back, toward, kick. Can be EXed. This sweeps the opponent, but it’s unsafe on block and has a little longer startup than the regular dash punch. Opponents usually have no reason not to block low on a dash punch because every character can either block or duck the regular version that way, so going low isn’t useful very often. It’s mainly used to surprise the opponent or beat an expected toward parry. The ex version combos into SAI, but the damage reduction is huge and it’s easier for the opponent to see coming because its startup is slower; it’s mainly used as a chip kill.

High-speed barrage (slaps): quarter circle back, punch. Can be EXed. This is very useful against lots of characters. The jab version hits everyone even when they’re crouching, although Chun can randomly duck the middle hit. Strong slaps is a good poke and is useful if you parry an air attack, fierce slaps is a decent and situational antiair, and both can be used to keep an opponent from jumping on your wakeup or your opponent’s. The slaps can only be punished by Ken SAIII, Chun SAII, Dudley SAIII, Makoto SAI, Q SAII, reversal-timed Necro SAIII, and Remy SAII, which only hits a couple times and can then be parried or blocked. Against characters who can’t punish the slaps, you can use it for poking, antiair, spacing, and chip. EX slaps knocks the opponent down, does great damage, stun, and chip, and is hard to red parry, but it’s easily punished by everyone on block.

Super Arts

I	Critical Combo Attack	D, DF, F, D, DF, F + P	2 stocks
II	Deadly Double Combination	D, DF, F, D, DF, F + P	1 stock
III	Total Destruction	D, DF, F, D, DF, F + P then D, DF, F + P or K	1 stock

Strategies

The best way to learn Q is to watch the tutorial video called Clawstrophobia. It is available on ComboVideos.com.

Taunt

Benefits

Taunting gives Q great benefits. While he normally takes the second-least damage in the game among playable characters, three taunts give him about 40% damage off what he usually takes and the game’s best defense. You only get bonuses for the first three taunts, and the bonuses only last until the end of that round, so to get full benefits you need to taunt three times early each round. Trading a bit of health for a taunt actually lets you take more total hits without dying than if you hadn’t taunted and still had full health; in fact, if you lose a third of your health bar with three taunts, you still have more total damage-taking power than if you had a full health bar and no taunts. That said, you should obviously try to minimize the damage you take when taunting.

Choosing when and where to taunt

When deciding when and where to taunt, take into account not only your health bar but also your positioning and other opportunities and only taunt if it gives you an advantage overall. For example, taunting in Ken’s face isn’t worth it, but if you’re just gonna get hit by a full screen fireball or if you’re up against a meter-less Chun, fine, do it. For another example, if you land ex dash punch to neutral standing roundhouse about 2/3 of the way to one side of the screen, consider that while you could taunt after, leaving you across the screen from your cornered opponent, you could also do a strong or fierce dash punch to get better positioning. Taunting is not always your most advantageous option.

Setups

There are lots of setups for the taunts. In order to find space and time to taunt, you generally have to be a proactive turtle, if that makes sense. You need to either force your opponent away from you by attacking or dictating the pace of the game, or you need to force him to be complicit in being far away from you through conditioning him to let you do so. The most preferable ways to taunt are, obviously, the unpunishable ones. You get one unpunishable taunt after an antiair dash punch or slaps, after any c&db combo that ends in a knockdown, after SAI, and after SAII if you do a follow-up knockdown attack, and you get two unpunishable taunts after SAII if you don’t do a follow-up attack. There are also ways of setting up taunts that guarantee a taunt but don’t guarantee that you won’t be punished. Doing short c&db to fierce slaps or close antiair fierce slaps guarantees two taunts, but every character except Hugo can punish the second one, although most characters can only do it if they have a super bar or ex meter ready. Air-to-air jumping fierce, ex slaps, and just being really far away will get you a taunt against characters who can’t hurt you fast from a distance, although this can always be punished by half the cast when they have super or ex meter ready. Back + roundhouse canceled into a taunt guarantees a taunt, but it’s completely unsafe and you will get punished for it. Doing a back/toward throw gives you enough time to taunt against certain characters, but it’s also totally punishable. Another way to do it is to take advantage of the opponent’s style of play. If he’s a turtle, use your taunts. This is good because you get a taunt but also because the threat of you taunting and getting magical-level defense is enough to make the opponent not want to turtle, and that’s good because Q has a hard time dealing with turtles. You can also condition the opponent to let you taunt by doing something a few times in a row to make him expect one thing and then taunt when he expects it again; for example, do something to make him move backward or attack a few times, and then when he expects you to do it again, use that rhythm to taunt, or do a dash punch on his wakeup after SAI to get him used to blocking, parrying, or attacking on wakeup, and then do two taunts after SAI instead when he’s not expecting it.

Combos

Capture and Deadly Blow Combos

All information in this section is annotated from Clawstrophobia tutorial video and placed here for ease of memorization.

General Capture and Deadly Blow Combos

• HK C&DB -> MP Dashing Punch
• HK C&DB -> EX Dashing Punch -> HK
• LK C&DB -> HP Slaps
• HK C&DB -> LP Overhead Dashing Punch -> LP Dashing Punch X SAII

Character Specific Combos

Ibuki, Oro, Remy & Twins

• HK C&DB -> EX Dashing Punch -> HK (requires unusual timing compared to everyone else)
• MK C&DB -> EX Dashing Punch -> HK (easier variation of above)

Character Specific Corner Combos

Ibuki, Remy & Twins in corner

• HK C&DB -> HP Dashing Punch -> HP

Alex, Oro, Makoto & Q in corner

• HK C&DB -> MP Dashing Punch -> HP

Everyone else in corner

• HK C&DB -> LP Dashing Punch -> HP

External Links

| UltraDavid's How-To Q Thread

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike