My Day 1 Sarah against a very good Phase 4 Player. I would appreciate to get some critique from very good Sarah Players.
There are a few things I can tell you. Whether or not you take them to heart is up to you I suppose:
1.) The most obvious is to learn her move-set and memorize the strengths of certain moves. I know I'm preaching to the choir on this aspect, but there are some moves that you can use that are pretty effective. Her
is a good one when you are moderately spaced between your opponent. Not only does it catch people a lot, but puts you straight into her flamingo stance. Also, her
,
,
and
punches are the quickest moves that she has to my knowledge (I'm not very familiar with her frame data, just going by experience instead). She has other attacks that are really useful, but you should get used to her first.
2.) With Sarah, her defensive game is pretty lacking. She doesn't really have any tools she can use that will get her out of pressure situations. I don't follow this strictly because I like having my own way of fighting with her, but when using Sarah you should stay on the offensive and keep constant pressure on the opponent, since that's the strongest part of her game.
3.) Facing against fast strikers like the Kasumis, Christie, Gen Fu and other quick pokers, you need to play a little more patiently. For other fighters it's generally safe to keep the pressure going when the opponent is blocking, but against fast pokers and strikers, they can sneak in attacks before you can get your 2nd string to connect.
A good thing to note is that on block most fighters are unsafe against Sarah when she goes into her flamingo stance (it might all depend on how you get into flamingo, but I'm not 100% sure), so if you were to use her
for example while the opponent blocks, Sarah is positive on frames. Not all of her attacks into the flamingo stance moves apply to that, but generally you are safe. Like I said, I don't really look at frame data for characters, but in this case I've read about the properties of her flamingo stance on block a few times.
*Note* Be careful when using certain moves in flamingo. Many people like holding high when they see her in the stance because her
,
, and
moves while in flamingo are really fast.
especially, as I'm pretty sure that's the quickest one. Also, a lot of Sarah users like to use
and many players are aware of that one, so use them all in moderation.
4.) Once you get used to her enough, you should start utilizing her cancels and fake-outs. Finishing strings with Sarah often leave her vulnerable during recovery, but when you use her cancels she can quickly start a new string and begin her real pressure game. You can also use these to play mind games with people. Her forward slide, backward slide, step, move cancels, step cancels and her
(which puts you into flamingo without attacking) are all excellent ways to trick people and force them to do things and make mistakes. This part takes practice and you just get better with it over time. Executing these actions are not difficult, but stringing them together for an effective pressure game can be. I say can be, but that's because it depends on what you want to do.
5.) If you find yourself in her flamingo stance when the opponent is blocking and you think you're vulnerable, use her
while in flamingo to avoid all attacks. This back-flip move avoids everything, including throws. You can only get hit during the first few frames of activation and the last bit of frames of the move's animation. There's a pretty large window of invincibility with that move, so it's usually safe.
Also, her
or
while in flamingo is a great side-stepping tool for avoiding attacks as well.
6.) Use her parries more.
Backward slide (after Forward Slide
): This parries high and mid punches only, but is really great against people who are trying to throw in pokes to interrupt her pressure. Using her various attacks from backslide are pretty strong. Since she already puts them into a stun-like situation when parrying, you have great room for stun set-ups. For now until you get used to her more, trying using some attack strings that can lead into a forward slide and backward slide instead of activating them by themselves. An example for fast strikers like Kasumi, P4 and Christie would be:
is a good way to stop those players from trying to sneak in quick punches. She has more strings that lead into the forward slide too.
Hide Side Kick (
): Parries mid kicks and mid punches only.
Fake (
while in flamingo): Parries low punches only.
Those are the parries that I can think of off the top of my head at the moment. I'll add any more that I missed later, but I'm almost 100% positive that's all she has in that department.
It's kind of hard to critique your Sarah thoroughly when you said that it's your day 1 Sarah; I can give you advanced tips and whatnot, but they are going to be all but useless until you start getting used to her more. So until you start getting a good feel for her, those are the only things I can tip you on for now. Hopefully this helped you some. Drop me a message sometime or ask me here if you have more questions about Sarah. I'll be happy to help.
