Balrog (Boxer) vs. Character Strategies: Street Fighter 4
Last updated on April 6, 2009
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Vs. Blanka
Your Light Running Punch will punish a blocked Blanka ball, which severely limits how often he can use this move.
But if you attempt to Headbutt Blanka in a combo and he's crouching, you'll miss. As such you should stick mostly to Running Punches in your combos, unless he's standing.
Crouching Light Punch is a Blanka stopper. It will stuff several of his moves and prevent a lot of his cheese tactics and it will help set up some of your combos.
Much of your offense and defense will likely be keyed off of Crouching Light Punch and most Blanka players will learn to hate this move.
Vs. Chun Li
If Chun Li whiffs with her EX-Spinning Bird Kick, you can knock her out of it with your Standing Hard Punch or Ultra if you're fast. Sometimes your Standing Hard Punch will trade, but this will always be in your favor.
Vs. Dhalsim
A great Dhalsim player can consistently create space in this match with his limbs, fireballs and teleports, so you absolutely have to make the most of the opportunities you see. Look for openings and be smart about when you attack because you may not get very many chances.
Patience is of the utmost importance because if you're too aggressive and don't approach things in the right way, you'll play right into Dhalsim's hands.
You'll need EX meter to break through Dhalsim's limbs and once you get inside do not let up on him. Force him to teleport away, but until he does don't give him a moment to breathe.
This can be a really tough match for Balrog especially against gifted Dhalsim players, but it's one you can win if you're patient enough and your execution skills are excellent.
Vs. Guile
You're going to be dealing with a lot of Sonic Booms and anti air situations in this match. From long distance simply jump over his projectiles or use your Headbutt or Turn Punches. He should be out of range to do much about it. From mid range or closer, use your EX-Running Punches when it makes sense to do so.
These are not difficult for a good Guile player to counter, so you have to time your EX attacks so you blow through his moves, and he cannot block and/or counter.
If he tries to jump at you, use your Standing Medium Punch to anti air him. Crouching Hard Kick works well to counter his foot games when you're around sweep distance. It's a fast move and safe, but if you trade against Guile's Crouching Hard Kick, you will lose out on damage, so you have to be somewhat careful how often you throw this out there.
Vs. Rufus
Rufus players tend to play this match aggressively with a lot of jump ins and Dive Kicks, so your anti airs will end up being very important.
Standing Medium Punch works well against normal jump ins and some times his Dive Kick, but Jumping Hard Punch tends to be your best bet overall.
This should knock Rufus back and take off a nice amount of damage. Getting a bit of breathing room will let you get into your offense and these anti airs will make Chubby a little more careful when he's coming after you.
Vs. Sagat
Use EX-Running Uppercuts to blow through Tiger Shots and follow up with a Crouching Light Punch, Crouching Light Kick then into a Headbutt and juggle with your Ultra.
While it may seem counter-productive to use an EX-Running Uppercut against Sagat's Low Tiger Shots, this will still hit him as he's recovering as long as his Tiger Shot is a little ways out from him. In other words, you should land it if you execute your move on reaction to his Fireball. And taking off a hefty chunk of Sagat's life for throwing out a projectile will make him much more careful with these.
Doing your EX-Running Uppercut too early or too late will give him time to block or counter though, so timing is paramount, and you still have to be wary of the occasional EX-Tiger Shot.
Once you get inside, pester Sagat with a lot of high and low attacks. Crouching Hard Kick and Running Overhead and Low Punches work well, along with Crouching Light Punch combos.
Vs. Vega (Claw)
Your Turnaround Punch will heavily offset Vega's Wall Dive. It offers a few frames of invulnerability which you can use to go through Vega's Wall Dive. Once you do, you'll either end up hitting him with your fist or skating safely away from his reach. Once you get your timing down, most Vega players will stop attempting so many Wall Dives.
If you can't seem to gain any ground on him with your Turnaround Punch, try using Jumping Medium Punch instead. This has a upward angle and it works pretty well for knocking Claw out of the air.
Whenever possible push Vega into a corner position and then just stay on him. He doesn't have many ways he can counter your moves when his back is against the wall.
Vega's best bet is to get away from you and use his superior ranged attacks, so don't give him much breathing room.
Vs. Zangief
Your EX-Running Uppercut is excellent against Gief's Lariat. You should absorb the first hit of his Lariat, hit him and then be able to go right into a combo. Following up with Crouching Light Punch, Linking into Crouching Light Kick, Canceling into your Headbutt and juggling with your Ultra after wards is a great tactic.
This is big damage against Gief and he'll soon have to be much more careful with his Lariat against the Boxer — at least when you have EX meter. Balrog's other EX-Running Punches are hit and miss against the Lariat. Sometimes you'll absorb the first hit and get through, sometimes you won't, so you're best off sticking with the EX-Running Uppercut.
Standing Light Punch is also a good normal in this match. It's fast, has high priority and deceptively long range. At longest range you can hit with this, you'll be outside the spot where Gief's Light Punch Spinning Piledriver can grab you. Plus Zangief cannot crouch under it.
Contributions to this guide by Corner-Trap, FoxIsQuick and MOD.
Posted by Balrog on April 6, 2009 at 8:57 a.m. #1
This a great addition to the site. I'd like to add that Balrogs standing HP is good against Zangief. He has a habit of walking straight into it. But don't do it over and over because he'll Lariat. Just when he's walking mindlessly towards you, hit him with the right cross and back off again.
Posted by anon on April 6, 2009 at 12:20 p.m. #2
Zangeif matches aren't very tough if he's a grappler, since your moves have higher priority when he is close, and you can just combo him every time he comes in.
If Zangeif is getting into the habit of lariatting in front of you, you can do 1 of 2 things:
1. If he is on top of you at the end of the move, you can time your c.lp to combo him.
2. If he you block, and then moves away from you, a s.hp or c.hk will hit him at the end of his move.
DO NOT try to hit Zangeif in the middle of a lariat unless it's a rush upper. No other move of yours will knock him out of it.
Posted by 0357 on April 7, 2009 at 8:41 a.m. #3
Thanks for the additional tips on fighting Gief. Sounds helpful.
Posted by SpiderLos on May 1, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. #4
hey im having trouble linking the dashing straight punch or headbutt with an ultra or super, anyone can help me?
Posted by Ognipode on May 2, 2009 at 6:32 p.m. #5
For the dashing straight punch into Super, you need to basically do your charge, then press forward and punch to do the dashing straight, but then immediately do another back, forward punch. If you time the last forward+punch action so that it happens as your dashing straight connects, your super should start. I find that it works best at short range, and with light punch. (Only works for Super)
For the headbutt into Super/Ultra, you need to charge down and backwards at the same time, then to do the headbutt, you must go from the back-down position into a back-up position, so that you still maintain your backwards charge. Once you have hit your opponent into the air you do the motions for the super, but its crucial that you wait until Balrog is back down on the floor before you do your Ultra/Super, or he WILL not initiate the move.
Do it too late and you will miss. VERY IMPORTANT: You need to hold in the kick button during Balrogs ultra/super so that he uppercuts, if you do not hold it in you will not catch the opponent in the air. You can alternate between uppercuts and straight by holding or releasing the kick button. There is some good info about it in the Balrog page on this site, so go read up on it as well.
Hope this helps.
Posted by Ognipode ZA on May 2, 2009 at 6:37 p.m. #6
Im having terrible issues playing against Zangiefs at the moment. Many players are spamming the lariat and its really difficult to get in, I see that the running upper is supposed to work well, but i get caught out so often when i try do my low light punches so that i can combo. Any more tips would be appreciated, the more the merrier.
I am playing from South Africa, so I always have a bit of a control lag, so Im unable to be as quick as most people when it comes to reaction time so I am looking for something solid that doesnt require lightning reflexes, especially when I am very up close to Gief. I tend to always stand up into it... I see in a video that the low light kick seems to work without you getting hit in the head? Does this work well?
Posted by Latiat counter. on May 8, 2009 at 4:31 a.m. #7
I've found that an effective way to deal with lariat is to jump back - fierce punch, it normally hits him clean, and you can bait it out of him, after a knockdown.
Posted by njepp on May 8, 2009 at 4:24 p.m. #8
Balrogs standing Medium Punch can hit the arms of a lariat clean. I use it a few times to make sure the Gief stops spamming lariat.
Posted by emilio on August 19, 2009 at 6:13 p.m. #9
If Gief does lariat at right distance i c.HP or Headbutt but you gotta hit him with the tip of your headbutt same for c.HP at the tip.Dash Straights can be punished by his pile driver if it hits or gets blocked.If you do dash straight punch him,make sure to ex focus back dash after you hit him or if he blocks.If you block a green hand or ex green hand you have little time to c.lp into combo.My safest combos on gief would be c.lp,c.mp,dash low punch or head butt,basically end your combos by knocking him down.you can also do 4 jabs to push him back from grabbing you.:)Only tip for Dhalsim is to jump lk over fireballs,it can stop Dhalsims kicks if he trys to kick you back with them.:)
Posted by tidestick on August 20, 2009 at 9:49 a.m. #10
wheres the rest of the people at just those characters
Posted by Ashmeista (thats my ps3 user name) on September 17, 2009 at 3:35 a.m. #11
If Zangief is at long distance, normal dash low straights work well for me. also Turn and punch seems to punish lariat whenever i use it, which takes alot of damgae off gief. Try holding the 3 kicks (R2) and use dash low straight and whenever he messes up or lariats let go of the 3 kicks.
If in doubt use guile. Sonic boom, if he jumps, you jump HK him or flash kick. C.HK works well whilst always charging flash kick. Im not experienced with guile but beat gief with him 8 times out of 10
Posted by SuperV on October 23, 2009 at 8:48 a.m. #12
You cant do any type of dash punches against sagat because his tiger knee beats every single one.
Posted by KINGROG on October 29, 2009 at 2:31 a.m. #13
after u knock geif down hurry and get close to him as soon as he gets up jump back with a feirce punch u stomp most of his wake up grabs
Posted by Commander Gun on November 3, 2009 at 2:18 p.m. #14
I have a bit of a problem with Chun Li's cross kick (a special move, don't know what name it is). Normally when people cross me up, i just headbutt at the right time, but her move always beats my headbutt. Any suggestions?
Posted by Balrog on December 14, 2009 at 11:35 a.m. #15
Any tips on Balrog vs. Balrog? This is actually my most frustrating matchup.
Posted by SuperV on January 11, 2010 at 2:38 p.m. #16
This Balrog character notes guide is bad. It should be noted that if chun li has super or ultra balrog can be punished with those if he does any of his rush punches. Chun lis standing fierce beats all of balrogs jump ins.
Against sagat balrog shouldnt use too many rush punches because sagats tiger knee beats everyone.
Posted by II Enix II on February 26, 2010 at 4:22 p.m. #17
Make sure when playing Sagat you use your EX upper ONLY on reaction or you'll definitely eat a TK, also you can't OH into c. lk against him. Make sure you keep in close and use your mixups well, it can be bad match for Rog.
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