SFV: V-Skill 2 - Akuma

[@nadavrot]

I love how you provide us with use-cases, as well as potential downfalls, for each new V-Skill. Keep up the great work!

[@idon896]

Is it just me or does this kinda... suck? At least it looks super cool.

[@ShinStriderHiryu]

Compared to his vs1... its completely useless Vt1 gives parry, a counter, juggle and a better combo extending, even helps akuma to get out of the corner However those glowing effects are sick

[@Aggrofool]

I mean, suck is relative, Ryu would kill to have this VS2

[@AuntBibby]

Jen Soon Ng pshh, Ryu murders plenty of people. Zangief would “like beautiful women of marriageable age” for a meter-building projectile nullifier he could cancel into a red fireball!!!

[@nybethobdilord6912]

Fyi this is literally Akuma's Third Strike Taunt.

[@idon896]

@@nybethobdilord6912 I know. Not just his taunt but one of his supers that shot the red fireball, which I'm assuming is why he can do that from this.

[@MrKastle09]

I feel like this is a case of vs1 being too good rather then vs2 being really bad

[@RisingJericho]

It seems alright, but the susceptibility to jump-ins and supers seems really poorly thought-out on Capcom's part

[@Oathkeeperclash]

idk it seems like you can flip it on its head and use it as a mindgame to bait jump ins during the clutch not saying i don't agree vs1 is pretty fuckin good.

[@blackmanta2527]

But it still looks cool 👌

[@ShadowknightEX]

Maybe it could be buffed to also be able to cancel into A shoryuken

[@BodhiF]

just seems like something you swag on people with

[@Intrenxic_Dark]

They need to buff it in my opinion. You should be able to get another special other than red fireball. Let him DP or Demon Flip out of it and it'll be somewhat solid. As it stands now, I don't see how any serious Akuma player would pick two over one.

[@HadesHatredEdge]

It comes off as a gimmick to me honestly. The charge mechanic has been done in FGs before. They are useless unless the character can cancel into them at the cost of oki(Order-Sol in Guilty Gear). King of Fighters had the ability to charge to gain meter. It was dropped later on and then brought back in KoF 98 where EVERYONE discarded it.

[@mathewmadcap]

@@HadesHatredEdge you can cancel into this at the cost of oki (and damage). G has similar mechanic with his presidential meter

[@MansMan42069]

Imagine if you could cancel this into Ashura Senku.

[@alvindeary2860]

or demon haha

[@invincibleloonie]

That’s not a bad idea. I’d like to see what it could do if you had the option to basically have a forward or backward dash that was invincible in some way. Maybe you could use it to keep running away and building meter, or dashing under the opponent’s jump in.

[@MansMan42069]

@@invincibleloonie You could probably cancel into a short teleport to get a side switching DP or tatsu, something that made combos into VS1's kick followup so good.

[@fissilewhistle]

Damn, that’s a really cool idea. Now I’m mad that it isn’t possible.

[@elim9054]

Looks great for building V-meter when you eat a jump-in combo or super

[@ShinkuGouki]

The fireball now hits twice.

[@ericluna1766]

You can cancel into EX red fireball too Cancelling into a just-frame red fireball adds 1 hit to the projectile and causes a limited juggle state. Ex red fireball will hit FIVE times when this is done successfully

[@mathewmadcap]

You should be able to cancel out of the charge to any special, like dp for aa. Building meter instead of oki is interesting... I could see how this could be used for a VT specialist build of sorts. But it should be more powerful to compete with vs1.

[@DEClimax]

this VS2 just feels unfinished to me, there are interesting ideas in it but in practice I find it incredibly difficult to use without being punished, outside of combos. kind of hoping moves like this and chun VS2 are reexamined come february to serve their function more effectively.

[@aaronn.5164]

I feel it is dependant upon the opponent. The fireball speed increase and range is pretty good.

[@GreatDefensor]

I think i see a common trend amongst the new vskills. Akuma: Nullifies fireballs Guile/Laura: Has an air fireball, forcing a more offensive approach and jumps over fireballs. Ed/Menat/Lucia: Outright goes through or over fireballs. Urien/Abigail: Projectiles that have a ton of hits. Birdie/Zeku: Gains a projectile that goes over the opponent. Gill: Gets a parry which outright nullifies them. Rashid: Gains additional movement in the air, making jumping over fireballs much easier. Blanka/Necalli: Gains a move that goes under fireballs. Am I missing anything here?

[@armondo4446]

Cody got a dodge that allows him to evade and punish fireballs. Only thing is, most of the vskills at the start of the game were designed to counter projectiles anyway. Its not news

[@Intrenxic_Dark]

Karin's V-skill 2 is better at nullifying fireballs than her first one.

[@GreatDefensor]

aRmOnDo Plays I think Capcom even further wants to push for everyone to have an easier way to get around fireballs as opposed to taking in gray/chip life with lackluster (Ken and Kage without his vt2) or very risky (Urien, Laura, and Juri) moves to counter them outside of asking to being anti-aired.

[@invincibleloonie]

This was always a thing, really. Nash and Bison were all about nulling fireballs early on. If anything, a lot of new V-Skills are meant to be used in non-fireball matchups, like Balrog’s.

[@BritishTeaFGC]

Kolin gets a command grab that freezes stun. Ibuki can throw down makibishi to control space or even extend combos in certain situations

[@salj.5459]

Every day we get closer and closer to Third Strike

[@YouLookLikeAMfUhhhhh]

Yet another throwaway VS2 that capcom put little to no thought into regarding how it'll be picked over the VS1

[@christianrc6485]

Its literally his alpha 3 taunt, cool

[@jk844100]

The vs2 fireball also builds v-meter on hit and block.

[@iswipergosnipin8656]

This seems like it would be more useful if you could still whiff cancel fireballs with VT1

[@EBPygmy]

NO

[@awesomaaa]

Its also an anti air that sets them on fire

[@Llesor]

Hey Baf, going back to this cause I'm pretty sure the vs has a just frame timing (right after the purple effect on Akuma's feet dissipates) that makes the fireball be 2 hits and stronger. I don't know if it's super relevant but thought I'd mention it nonetheless.

[@Bafael]

That didn't exist when I made this video, it was added in a later patch and I talk about it in the patch notes video for that patch. Unfortunately I can't retroactively add it to this video. :(

[@Llesor]

@@Bafael Oh, I see, I had no idea it wasn't there from the beginning, my bad. SFV's info is all over the place now it's hard to keep up lol Thanks for the reply!

[@colbybotelho9288]

I don't know how useful it is, but it looks cool at least

[@invincibleloonie]

It would be crazy, but what if you could DP from it. Sure it wouldn’t be safe but turning a fireball war into a potential second VT would be evil. As it is, it’s fun but harder to utilize against aggressive opponents

[@whirl3690]

I honestly think being able to DP from it wouldn't be overpowered. You can use Kiai to negate a fireball, and if you think the opponent will throw another one, throw one of your own. If you think they're going to jump in, refrain from using a fireball and then Shoryuken. If you predict they're going to jump in but they throw a fireball, you might not have enough time to throw one of your own after waiting for the jump-in. If you predict they're going to throw another fireball but they jump in, the opponent gets a free combo.

[@ivan9960]

if they buff his 2 bar vtrigger maybe he can use this vskill to build a playstyle around building vmeter and vtrigger like ibuki that would be interesting, but seems like its not happening

[@sshuckle]

Good vid. I just wanna point out you can't actually fireball cancel if you charge for a little over half a single v gauge bar

[@NeoBoneGirl]

While this v skill isn’t really that bad if you think about it in a vacuum, the problem is that Akuma was definitely designed around being able to use his v skill a bunch, making any replacement have to be EXTREMELY well thought out or be pretty redundant, both of which this is not

[@Phoenix_KDE]

Looking forward to the vid on Cody

[@alvindeary2860]

on a side note vskill 2 does more damage on corner than vskill 1

[@doumanseiman2645]

yeah, some cool combos in corner too (and some are hard to pull off). Problem is that you give up too much for them. Plus, you give up oki and corner carry for vs2...which kinda contradicts itself :/

[@alvindeary2860]

Douman Seiman yes i gave up this v skill finally hahaha which combos are hard?

[@doumanseiman2645]

@@alvindeary2860 top of my head against big hurtbox character like gief, lp.shaku > b.hp> timing vs2. Then maybe activate trigger by cancelling the vs2 shaku. Or maybe just activate directly at the vs2 hit, jugle with another vs2 > time shake cancel into something. That kinda stuff. I dont have them in mind cause I really digged a lot day one but did not touch vs2 since then.

[@alvindeary2860]

Douman Seiman a yes the shaku combos for vs2 are awkward

[@zackdoom]

Massive upward hitbox is interestig

[@antonsundin2974]

This v skill is not very good in the fireball war as its easily jumped or supered as pointed out. But whats makes this even worse is that a lot of characters can choose to do an ex fireball and get a free knockdown if they see Akuma nullifying a fireball with vskill 2 on reaction. Akumas only option is to prevent this is to preemptively cancel into an ex red fireball, which is not a good way to use ex bar. So in reality all you get from this v skill 2 is a slightly better corner combos as you can do st mk xx v skill 2 xx red fireball > DP instead of the regular st mk xx light redfireball > dp. But giving up all the things you get with vskill 1 to get a slightly better corner combo is not even close to being worth it. Demon flip combos midscreen, side switch combos, punish slow moves, punish fireballs and demon cancels to name some of the things you can do with v skill 1.

[@WormyJester8]

That's his taunt from SF3, isn't it?

[@TurnOntheBrightLights.]

Yes.

[@BlueLightningSky]

It's good that it's usable in combos but it feels like it's specifically designed to build v meter and you're supposed to be charging it when you have the opportunity so you can quickly go into vtrigger. But I don't think SFV is a game where sacrificing pressure for resources is acceptable.

[@BritishTeaFGC]

Ibuki sometimes needs to sacrifice pressure to build resources but she does pretty well

[@fissilewhistle]

G does that all the time and he’s looking to be among the best characters in the game.

[@BlueLightningSky]

@@BritishTeaFGC it's not really that big a deal for her. The games are short and you start with enough where this really isn't an issue.

[@fissilewhistle]

A really cool V-Skill, but not a very practical one. If it was faster all-around and could be cancelled into other specials, it could be worth looking into.

[@HadesHatredEdge]

I know I'm not the only one. But in SFIV Akuma had a taunt that emitted red aura. The first idea I had was to mind fuck the opponent with the taunt and Shakunetsu(red fireball). Here we are Capcom. Giving me access to that idea. Not a bad gimmick at all.

[@Bloodlyshiva]

It's Shin Gouki's taunt.

[@SuperMandibleclaw]

He has super charge!?

[@stilmaho]

There is literally no reason to pick this over VS1. I thought it could be good in Guile and Ryu match up because you could force them to approach but Ryu can just use HK tatsu and Guile can just use his new VS to punish you. And among other zoners, Dhalsim can use teleport for a huge juggle and Menat can just use a button like HP or HK. Also, you didn't mention but red fireball after the VS doesn't build CA meter which makes it even worse. Also also, the meter fill on hold is too slow to have any practical use in a real match.

[@froireier]

As a previous MUGEN player, his charge seems to be a nerfed version of those charge characters that share the same move. Longer recovery but well, it charges VS meter rather than EX charge which is what charge characters do.

[@00STGI]

Even though it kinda sucks, it looks super sick

[@nakaza8251]

Akuma ＝ devil

[@ShinStriderHiryu]

They should fire everyone in the balance team seriously

[@LastEmperor1314]

Not saying that it's perfect but you'll be hard to top Akuma v-skill 1. It can parry, side switch and make demon setups. What can really top that without being overpowered?

[@dyldragon1]

If I could choose a single thing to give Akuma as a V Skill 2, I'd choose his Focus Attack from 4.

[@fissilewhistle]

Terry N They could have toned down V-Skill I and given some of properties to V-Skill II.

[@brolockaye3601]

It looks freaking awesome, but thats about it lol

[@benstubbins]

Cool looking but weak. Bad for building meter because you're defenceless. And combos lose out on either damage, oki, or meter build compared to vs1 depending on what route you take. No reason to pick this over vs1 in any situation.

[@HAL_-sg1up]

It's really a cool idea for the VT2, but poorly implemented by Capcom, I would really to have something like this kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4CZkpyejpp6nqM, obviously not so overpowered, but be able to have new combo routes I would even like if this has more execution involved, but right now it's completely useless and it will remain that way.

[@foxdie895]

this vskill feels pretty underwhelming tbh. it doesn't necessarily give him anything that he doesn't already have as part of his normal toolkit... for now it just feels like it's a way to play the character differently if you're absolutely bored from demon setups and having a ridiculous uppercut.

[@Bafael]

I'd say having a way to build v-meter really rapidly in neutral is something his normal toolkit doesn't have lmao, I do agree it's worse than VS1 but IMO they're not really similar at all other than you can combo into both of them.

[@foxdie895]

@@Bafael you're right about the speed at which he can build v meter for sure, but i think vs1 might be better on paper since it can still build a bit of v meter and even punish jump ins. it gets way harder to find the opportunity to safely use his vs2 at neutral at higher level, but that's just my experience with it so far :P

[@Bafael]

@@foxdie895 yeah I agree on all counts. For the record vs2 has stronger corner combos than vs1 but since it's weaker midscreen and since the strongest combo starters for vs2 are more rare (grounded b+hp), vs1 is much more practical

[@doumanseiman2645]

As an akuma main I can tell you that this vskill is complete trash with the current frame data. Give it better frame data, and then it will become a possible matchup dependant vskill. Give it better frame data AND possibilite to cancel into something else that can cover a jump in or at least make your opponent think twice....then it will become a good matchup dependant vskill. Otherwise, trash. Good idea, has potential with a significant buff, but trash right now. Ps : you aint winning no fireball war with that in SFV.

[@TeaPea102938]

It's good that this sucks, akuma def doesn't need more good options

[@gianlucabaccino]

It should be faster, like you press the button and instantly starts filling the bar, also you let go the buttons and instantly you cand do whatever you want, because is a good idea poorly executed, is too slow, high risk and low reward.

[@ZzigZaG00NIN]

:o

[@andrewcouser8918]

Baf, start reading some boring shit with your soothing voice to put me to sleep.

[@Loflit]

Just bad

[@AceHatake]

Useless