What the hell happened in this thread? Jesus. I don't usually go on rants, but this deserves it since I used to think F-Ryougi was garbage too.
She definitely has a strong air zoning game, but against some specific characters with no-greenbox air moves, she finds it almost impossible to win.
It sounds to me like you're saying that air zoning is the only tool that F-Ryougi has, and that when she comes up against a character that outranges her, there's nothing she can do. No. F-Ryougi has plenty of tools. Sure, her j.B zoning is great, but she still has things to use in matchups where she's outranged. Look at 5b, 2b, and 22a. 5b is such a ridiculous anti-air. As soon as you get your opponent trying to challenge your j.b you can anti-air 5b them or dash under them and 5b with her awesome dash. 2b has some RANGE and is really fast. 2b, 2c, 3c, rekkas is such a great way to get in. 22a is a super fast projectile with massive frame advantage that also helps her get in when she's outranged.
Shielding isn't a huge deal for F-ryougi, but its moon dependent. If H-Moon shields and you have enough experience/reactionspeed, you can mid parry on reaction for free damage. The same applies to F-moon, if they do their shield counter, else its character dependent. C-Moon is character dependent.
Okay, where the hell did this idea come from? I've been hearing this for a while in relation to H-moon bunker/shield and it's complete bullshit. Show me one player that can actually consistently counter on reaction to getting shielded,
especially with F-Ryougi. F has so little time to link her normals together. You pretty much have to press the next button as soon as you've pressed the last. I MIGHT buy this for H-Ryougi normals against F-moon shield counter if you've got great reaction speed and you're really looking for it. But I really don't think this is something you can do without prediction.
EX guard ruins her and anyone who is remotely competent will be doing it. You cannot afford to rely on guard crush. The rekkas especially are mindless to guard crush since they are always mid/mid/mid (the overheard option sucks and the low ender is unsafe on block unless RC'd). For this same reason they are mindless to shield if you try to charge or stagger any. You can always try to mix up the rekka types but the low ender is unsafe on block so it's really too risky.
Well, you're half right. Guard crush isn't really an option unless you're fighting a meterless H-moon. But EX guard does not ruin F-Ryougi. See below for pressure options.
Her complete lack of reversal game means you HAVE to master all of the game's defensive options (bunker, EX guard, shield) and you will probably still do little more than delay your loss against a solid rushdown char like warc. Her best reversal in my experience is TK 236C, which is a pathetically bad choice due to the jump startup.
Well, yeah. You have a point here. She has no reversals. But she has F-moon shield, which is great. If you're looking for a quick getaway, 214c seems to work sometimes, but yeah patience and knowing when to bunker/shield/block is pretty important for any Ryougi. At least she has an anti-A armor 2a with crazy range for poking the holes, right?
She has an extremely solid neutral game, controls space amazingly, does decent damage and surely I don't need to talk about the arc drive. But she has one core problem that completely destroys her at mid-level play, and that is that her rushdown is not scary. Most of her overhead options are unsafe, predictable, or both. The charged 5C is the only thing you have that will still work past scrub level, and many players will still own you for it there. She only truly gets any kind of scary mixup game when in HEAT, and for that reason I never press advantage after knockdown, preferring to escape and charge meter. F Ryougi is basically a shitty unfinished gimmick character that has no reason to scare anyone without MAX/HEAT, and many characters can really hurt her ability to charge meter after doing j.236B. This is my opinion after taking her to several casuals and tournaments over the past year and playing against many people, including a mid-level japanese player and other top players in the UK/EU. I'm probably going to drop her.
Ugh. F-Ryougi's pressure is just as good as say... F-Ries. Rekkas are F-Ryougi's main pressure tool, right? 236a, 236[a], 2a reset. Safe, easy auto-stagger pressure. If you do this every time, OF COURSE YOU'RE GOING TO GET SHIELDED. It's the only way to beat it besides DP! So when they start shielding, you don't charge the 2nd hit, or you wait a half a second on the 2a, or you end them like normal with 236a because you have such ridiculous range that being at neutral isn't such a bad thing in the first place. And you also even have 22a for a free dash-in because of crazy frame advantage. Normal string, 22a, dash up 5a, 5a, 5b, 4c, rekkas. Safe way to get in an overhead that leads to more pressure or combo into oki if it hits. All that isn't even taking into account her normal stagger pressure or IH gimmicks. Oh and her airdash j.b at just the right height is a nice double-overhead, too. If you cancel into j.c after the first hit you'll land without it coming out and can go into 2b to keep people guessing.
F-Ryougi has plenty of tools.
And don't be so obsessed with ending your combos with j.236b and charge. F-Ryougi is the only style that can hit with her 2b after airthrow on oki without moving forward, so if you're playing against a character with great air options screw the charge and go for the oki.
The #1 reason above all else is that there is no joy to playing her. When you win, it's purely because your opponent didn't know how to play against her. Once he does, it is nigh-impossible to win unless you are playing a specific matchup where she has complete air dominance.
Well if you play all j.b zoning and durr-hurr rekka pressure into 236b rekka ender air combo style all the time... then yeah she's the most boring, predictable character in the game. Personally, my favorite part about playing her is the oki after a simple combo like 2a, 5b, 2b, 2c, 3c, 236a, 236[a], 214a (have to reverse). You get decent damage plus sandoori or a TK j.236b which-way.
So she has decent, solid pressure that will scrub-out anyone that doesn't know how to shield. She has combos into oki setups. She has good-damage combos in the corner that I find really fun. She has a great arc drive. And most importantly she has air zoning that simply shuts down a lot of characters completely.
I'd say she's pretty damn good.
