How To Tech Punish like a Pro.

[Sp00ky]

Tech Punishing is a mid level technique that helps you control your opponent's actions (to a degree) by causing them to fear ground teching. It prevents people from mindlessly teching out of the corner, allowing your rushdown patterns to run much longer. Once you've taught your opponent that teching your common setups is bad, you can go into new wakeup setups/patterns that are only an option on opponents who do not tech. You can also try to tempt them into a tech using techiques such as double OTGs while waiting for the tech to inflict much more damage than the double otg would have netted.


What is tech punishing?
Whenever you ground tech, there is a very small recovery window upon completing your tech and standing on your feet. During this window you cannot block/attack/perform any action. This can be exploited by landing any sort of meaty attack so that it hits them immediately upon completion of their tech for free damage.

Even if you 'miss' the window, you can often still punish their tech anyway. Forcing an opponent who just teched to block pins them down for your rushdown. Also you may not be able to hit them in time, but it is extremely hard to escape a throw just after teching.

Examples and setups

Miyako: Airthrow in the corner after bnb. If they tech neutral or back you can dash in and 2A or quickly throw. If they tech forward you can 2A them during the window where they cannot block. If they do not tech you can dash in for an otg String.

Aoko: Ground throw. Neutral or back tech can be defeated by dashing and landing a meaty 2C or just throwing them again. Forward tech can be defeated by merely waiting in place and 2Bing them when they land from their tech.

Chaos: Ground throw near the corner. If they air tech, you can jump back and j.C to force them to stay in the corner. Any ground tech can be punished by 2A. Not teching allows you to set up a meaty A snake pattern for rushdown. You can also just 5B them for not teching and land an easy invalid j.C loop.

Hisui: The infamous j.BB loop near the corner. This has several options for when the opponent does or does not tech and is an example of how tech punishing adds many options to your characters game that could not exist otherwise.

Kohaku: j.C near the corner in BNBs. Any tech option can be defeated with 2C. Not teching allows an easy OTG string. Teching the OTG string allows her 2C xx combo. Not teching the OTG string gives her a chance to set up meaty EX cactus.

Any character: The otg/double otg setup. Whenever your opponent does not tech and you go for an otg string, they have an opportunity to tech right after. This is punishable the same way you punish other techs. You can also end your first otg string early to see if they are holding for a tech in case you miss your full otg string, wait for them to pop back up, and punish. Once they dont hold a direction, you can start an otg string, end it early, dash back in, and do another otg string. And then when they expect the double otg, you can do the first part of your otg string, wait for them to pop back up, and punish again. This tech punish mindgame with otgs can be done by almost anyone.

Conclusion

Tech punishing allows you to prey on the opponent's fear for free damage, and at the high level you can use the fear of your tech punishes to set up long rushdown patterns that are actually techable, but the opponent chooses not to tech for fear of your tech punish damage. Master these techniques and it will add to your damage and mindgame.

[AARP|ZTB]

the 'free damage' (otg) is insignificant. I'm more conserned with the shit-load of meter you get for otg'ing (contributes to heat regen later) and the mindgame behind 'giving me the opportunity to tech' (in which you appropriately punish) vs me choosing not to tech and having to deal w/ the next wakeup.

[Sp00ky]

The free damage comes from people being too scared to stay on the floor and teching so that you get a free bnb.

[linalys]

Position dependant, but Miyako also uses 22a/b and 236c for tech punishes.  22b being the best option as it leads to combos and it naturally delaying itself tech timing. 

[ehrik]

A example of a tech punish for Warakia is to J.c coming down after a air grab. You either get a OTG or if they ground tech then they get hit with another air combo. o:

EDIT: luls, I was wrong about this I'll do better next time though >_>;

[Satsujinki]

what's the best way to counter a heavy tech punisher? one of my friends is really good at tech punishing, and i usually start to avoid using tech when fighting him because i take much less damage from the OTG, but then that allows him to punish me later with an arc drive.

i use Nanaya as my main, and usually i would be able to avoid being punished by using his fast fall, but against fast characters like Vakiha and Nanaya himself, i find it very difficult to use it effectively.

[S-Blade]

If they are tech punishing with something that requires a directional movement other than 2 (unfortunately this is very few characters, most will go for the 2c), then you can aim to mixup your techs between forward and neutral/back to cross them up during their moves. It isn't exactly the safest thing to do, but if you absolutely need to tech, then you aren't totally in a hole just yet. Of course, if they're good, they'll see where the tech is going to go so this won't really work at medium and higher levels of play.

Remember, even if you're in the corner, teching back/neutral still serves a purpose even though you don't move: If they fail to punish it, then you've still avoided OTG and/or oki they would have used against you.

[Satsujinki]

well i've become alot more comfortable in avoiding people who can tech punish.

all i have to worry about now is being bounced off of the ground.

when my friend sets up a combo with an OTG he has a good ability in forcing me back into his combo directly after i tech in the air.

i can use ground tech to get out of those kind of combos but it's hard when your coming down fast (even if i do end up mashing it anyway haha.)