POSITIONS
The position, or state, of your character will change the options available to you. The most common positions are
standing and
crouching. Less common is a classification of character positions with relation to the feet positions of each fighter:
closed stance and
open stance
STANDING
The default position, technically denoted while the directional input is neutral. Characters can be standing while guarding or not guarding.
Standing is sometimes used to also describe the state of the opponent's attack. For example, Kasumi's
is a standing attack, whereas her
is a crouching attack. The distinction matters in the sense that crouching attacks go under high attacks.
CROUCHING
When a character is crouching, high attacks and high throws will automatically whiff or be evaded. There are multiple ways to crouch from the standing position: neutral crouching, defensive crouching, and crouch dashing. As noted above, crouching can also be used to describe the state of an attack.
Neutral Crouching
The simplest way to crouch from standing position is by holding
,
, or
. The
notation will typically perform a Free Step towards the camera, but it can lead to a crouching position if buffered during Recovery Buffering or Guard Buffering. This method of crouching requires 5 frames for a character to be transitioned from Standing to Crouching position. Thus, at certain frame disadvantages (for example, at -3 frames), you will be unable to avoid an opponent's High throw by simply crouching.
Defensive Crouching
You will be able to avoid standard high attacks in non-guaranteed punishment situations by holding
plus
,
, or
. However, this method to crouch from standing position is still unable to avoid high throws at large disadvantage situations. Entering Defensive Crouching position by using
is the most common way to enter from Neutral Standing position.
BACK TURNED
STANCES
Closed Stance
Open Stance
Effect on Critical Stun
FIGHTING STANCES
