Air has recently updated his strategy blog where he discusses the Ryu - Fei Long matchup. He offers a lot of insight, including why throwing fireballs outside of Ryu's low forward range is a bad idea and how to punish Fei Long players doing EX Chicken Wing on wakeup. Here's a piece.
Far Range: I guess I can say this is the only safe range where you can throw Hadokens without thinking. Meter management is extremely important in this match up especially having full Super meter can be extremely threatening to Fei Long. Whenever you have a chance where you are safe, don’t hesitate to build some meter by throwing fireballs, whiffing jab SRK or doing air tatsu.
Mid Range: Throwing fireball might be risky because it is NOT safe on block because it is punishable by reversal Rekka unless it is max range low forward > fireball. If it’s not max range, it is recommended not to follow a fireball after low forward is blocked. The best thing you can do at this range is to block and punish whiffs and mistakes made by your opponent or sometimes random level 2 focus attack can give you some surprises.
Close Range: Fei Long has a very long safe poke string @ close range, so don’t mash on SRK after you block two low shorts otherwise it’s going to be blocked or whiff by the time Fei Long ends his poke strings. Fei Long also has really good frame traps to mix up with his throw and even his command throw, therefore sometimes instead of throw tech, mashing on low jab can get you out of that bad situation.
Thanks Air. I struggle against Fei allot, but I'm getting there.
I'm a Fei Long main so this helps me alot. Now I know how I can punish Ryu mains when they do hadouken
Still do not understand how fireball is punishable by reversal rekka... ryus fireball recovery is -6 on block and fei longs fastest rekka is only a 7 frame start up # reversal means that the special move was activated on the very first frame. This leaves ryu 1 frame to work with, which means if he holds back he wont get hit... i think what air was trying to say was trying a fire ball in that "unsafe" range is just a get in free card for feilong to continue pressure. This applies to AE also as they did not alter ryus recover frames from a hadoken on block (-6) and fei longs frame start up of his fastest rekka (7 frames)
I wouldn't be suprised to see many ppl dropping Ryu in AE. He has been nerfed repeatedly since Vanilla. With Ken's new buffs and Akuma always being strong, I feel that Ryu is now the weakest of the Main Shotos.
The Nerfed footsies/pokes really hurts his game. But I think the corner Tatsu escape is the worst thing that's happened to him.
Characters like Zangief, Cammy, Makoto, Viper, Fei Long, etc.etc.etc can bring major corner pressure and with no viable escape he's in trouble.
Random/mashed DP isn't a good corner pressure option IMO, lol.
Well I'm glad Ryu lost his corner air-tatsu pussy escape move. Now it takes skill to get out of the corner like everyone else =D.
And his nerfed crouching MK is definitely a good thing. Now people can't throw out these things randomly.
To use Ryu takes a bit of skill now in AE, not so much in super. So people can't really complain if they lose to him considering the 'balance' changes
He lost enough from Vanilla. He was high mid tier in Super. To say it takes no skill to win with him in super is an outrageous statement.
Even Daigo was losing by the end on Super's run. Ryu is the most played character in the game. Every scrub has a strategy for fighting Ryu. It's not like online Gen or Rufus who you see once every hundred fights.
My point? It's hard enough using such an "exposed" character, I don't think Upper Mid was a bad spot for one of the "supposed" strongest fighters in the game.
I agree he was REALLY strong in vanilla, but he's like Lower Mid Tier now! They can stop taking stuff from him anytime!
Whenever I see someone say Ryu takes no skill I know they are a scrub. Let me guess you think doing combos takes skill right? Anyone can do combos.
escape tatsu gone,people have to work with his cMK shakunetsu FADC Ultra...or just a simple HK tatsu.
@bananainsaneface Ryu is a "beginners" character. His moves are simple and he has many options that can extend to big combos that deal big damage. I look at this guide and what I don’t understand on how Ryu players feel they are on the losing end of this matchup. The main problem is that almost all Ryu players play backing up. They give away position from the start of the rnd and spam fireballs. Why give away that position instead of making the other character earn it?
What Ryu player forget is that many of Ryu pokes have amazing priority for example, st.lp, cr.lp, cr.mp. All of these pokes beat Fei's CW and Rekkas and cr.mp with the correct spacing. If ryu players played more of a offensive game instead of always backing up they would swing this match back into there favor (I feel this is a 5-5 anyway). Ryu has a great crossup with his j.mk and air tatsu. Ryu players need to stop fighting with there back in the corner and realize that he has many tools to get him out of trouble and take a rnd back if he is down.
This is the thing.
The most important aspect to concern yourself with in SF is Knowing Your Match-Ups! Follow me?
I play about 6 different characters that I'm very strong with. The confusing characters, the ones ppl do NOT know how to fight are the ones I most easily dominate with.
Ryu simply does not have that advantage. I'm NOT saying Ryu is bad. Not bad by any means. But he's EXPOSED!
Every moron under the sun has a strategy to fight Ryu. Tricking ppl with him does not come easy.
With Ryu it's all about the Meta Game. That's why even though he's your Basic Shoto, at an advanced level winning becomes much more difficult.
Before the Noob cries come in, I'd like to add that I'm a very successful SF player, who had little trouble winning the vast majority of the matches I play.
feilong > ryu
though i may see this as helpful for when i play against ryu as fei