Strategies
Overview
Ken is a shoto (fireball, uppercut, tatsu) with good tools for any situation. He is particularly strong when playing the neutral game. If the opponent gets frustrated trying to break through Ken's neutral game, he also has a variety of good anti-airs to punish them for jumping. In serious play, Ken will almost always be using SA3, as the variety of hit-confirms and loopable okizeme make his neutral game much scarier.
Neutral
Ken shines in neutral. As you can see from the length of this list, he has a lot of good moves.
Low Jab / 2LP
Option to check the opponent for dashing in or doing tick throws. Low overall duration makes it less likely to be whiff punished than most other options. Leaves Ken +3 any time it touches the opponent. The only mark against it is that it can be parried high or low.
Far Strong / far MP
Great move that beats or whiff-punishes tons of moves. High parry only with plus frames on block. Easy hit-confirm into super. Ken will push this button a lot. It is key to his strong neutral presence in most matchups.
Low Strong / 2MP
Very similar to far MP. Shorter overall duration and better frame advantage, but it can be parried high or low. Due to lower active hitbox, sometimes hits moves that far MP will whiff against, and vice-versa.
Low Fierce / 2HP
Beats a ton of moves, plus it cancels into super, so this is a common buffer. It is itself easily whiff-punished though, so it should be used judiciously.
Far Fierce / far HP
Situational / matchup-specific poke, but extremely good when it works. Large, completely disjoint hitbox and good range, but no cancel options at all.
Low Short / 2LK
1f slower than 2LP, with longer overall duration, and less frame advantage. However, it has longer range, and can only be low parried.
Low Forward / 2MK
Excellent whiff punish due to 6f startup, very far range, and easy super cancel. Generally safe on block at -4. Has a long overall duration, so it is vulnerable to jump-ins and itself getting whiff punished. Extremely difficult to properly hit-confirm.
Stand Roundhouse / 5HK
Far-reaching poke with decent startup and pretty good hitbox. Hits around the same range as 2MK and 2HK, so Ken can use this to discourage the opponent from standing around that range and constantly fishing for low parries.
Low Roundhouse / Sweep / 2HK
Good whiff punish due to fast 6f startup, but is itself vulnerable to being whiff-punished. Very useful when the opponent is out of 2MK range. Can be safe-ish when spaced properly, but it is very negative on block at -14, so it isn't always safe, even at max range.
Dash
Ken has the second fastest dash in the game, at 11f duration.
Basics
Learn how to use low forward because it is pretty safe, and can cancel into EX hadoken (use Ex hadoken cause it is safer that a regular hadoken). It can also cancel into SAIII.
Get a knockdown and do any of these:
- cr. short,cr. short xx Shippu.
- strong->fierce xx Shippu.
note:if you have trouble confirming the Shippu throw in a hadoken to buy some time, it only takes away 1 point of damage. So it wold be strong-> fierce xx hadoken xx Shippu)
- dashback, cr. forward xx Shippu.
- cr. strong -> Shippu.
- far strong -> Shippu.
- cr. short, walk up, throw.
If your beating him badly, chances are he'll do a shoryuken or super on wakeup so just block then punish it.
Best punisher* Close Fierce xx MP Shoryuken XX Shippu.
Kara-Techniques
Kara Shoryuken
Zoning
- cr. MK
Probably the best move to use, decent range, very fast and can also go into SAIII, SRK and EX Hadou (normal as well but EX is safe), use about longish/mid-range
- MP
Decent range, fast move, can link into SAIII
- cr. MP
Very fast, use when fairly close to opponent, can link (recommended) or cancel into SAIII/SRK/EX Hadou
- HK
A bit slow of a move but its definitely a good move when the opponent is far away, has great range
- MK
Basically a replacement HK for when you need that extra speed with the same power, though a bit shorter of a kick, so use when opponent is about mid-range
Mixups
-needs content added
Additional Notes
- Personal Action: Increased damage for all moves except throws, this increase goes away after the next attack (blocked or not) and extends for an entire combo. Ken's personal action can actually hit twice.
