u/EmperorPartyStar

Mix unlocked.

Now I can cancel out of ~5H/S and go for grabs, or just start another 5H string, or fS>5S into high low mix. This probably seems really basic to most players but it took me a lot of Training time and then a lot of matches before I actually got comfortable with DC. Just celebrating a small milestone.

Also, 214-Dash-5 K is a way to just dash cancel directly into the overhead, but I haven’t gotten the hang of that yet.

Any tips for improving my corner pressure are welcome, and much appreciated.

Ngl, they could’ve pulled the plug and I wouldn’t even have been mad. I figured out while grinding out Unika’s best arcade ending that if you hit gun dipper near the wall, the 5H meaty is like auto timed. It’s like an Oki loop until the wall breaks. I thought maybe it only really works on bots, and took it to ranked. Im new so maybe this isn’t as good as I think it is. Do other characters have stuff like this I just haven’t seen yet?

As she says at the end, “Training complete. I think I’m getting better.”

I’ve been playing ranked with her recently and really focusing on improving my fundamentals, and she’s so rewarding. As you introduce new concepts in, you actively get positive reinforcement and feel play evolve. Like recently I just learned I can get 5HH~6H off a RRC and immediately starting Roman canceling more, whereas I had largely ignored the mechanics before. I’ve been watching clips of better Unika players and her combo game is actually really flashy, and I was immediately incentivized to try more.

Before I thought she was carried but the timing on her specials/gatling timings are actually tighter than I thought, and have been really fun to get my hands on.

I actually like her more than my previous main (Jam) and the character I tried to main and gave up on (Dizzy)

Tl;Dr: I was thinking the character was autopilot but she’s actually just great for learning almost every aspect of the game, and I highly recommend her to new players like me.

Above is game 3 so we were both adapted to each other. Still working on my jump habit. It really pops up whenever I get impatient.

I’ve been steadily working through a new player checklist and incorporating stuff into my game. I know a lot of it is still really rough. I know a lot of this is going to seem super obvious to anyone that’s played a lot of traditional fighters, but Strive is my first so a lot of the learning curve for me has been figuring out how to strategize under pressure.

1: Anti-airing— I know 6P is the go-to option but so far I’ve been mostly going with 5H because it’s easier just to forget the P button exists until Abare.

2: Neutral RPS: [Explained really well in this video here](https://youtu.be/JTQB0AuLskE?si=hBQClJfD4BiEDNah) I’ve been using 2K and 2D preemptively while blocking a good bit. I also try to control space with IAD jH or just jD~6H, and establish myself. Also cS>fS>5S>Gun Dipper seems pretty solid and safe to go for in neutral. My mixup combo is like 2S~2S>en4K (Scissors) I’ve been trying to dash block and shimmy (feigning grabs) to get whiff punishes. (Paper) If I have meter I’ll usually try to capitalize with Gun Dipper into RRC. Usually if I land it I can go into 5HH>en6H or dash grab if they’re near the corner. Also seems pretty consistent to land the 5HH after enhanced gun dipper without cancel. (Let’s Rock)

Motion inputs: I’ve gotten 1000% percent better at motion inputs since switching off keyboard to fight stick. (Mayflash f300, yeah the cheap one lol) I had a really hard time with quarter and half circles before, and DP motions felt impossible. Now I get the first two like 90% of the time, and DP like 70-ish% but it’s getting better.

3: IADs which I misunderstood for the longest time, have become like my most aggressive option but also my worst habit. I initially thought IADs were like wave dashes and really close to the ground. Turns out I got into using them pretty intuitively after assigning a dash button.

4: Roman Canceling— I can actually do it now. I basically stopped assigning burst to its own button because the default input is fairly intuitive. Not so much for me with RC, and I’d almost always accidentally input a punch when I tried to do the 3 button input, so now it has its own button next to dash. I’ve gotten pretty good at timing RRC off gun dipper and using the dash PRC for cross ups. in the video above muscle memory kinda got the the best of me, and I went for a cross up for no real reason and almost dropped the combo altogether.

5: Defense— I’ve gotten okay at switching between crouch and standing block. YRC I haven’t really gotten the hang of. I probably use burst earlier than I should most of the time, but I’m biased toward using it early r1 because I figure it’ll be back by late r2/early r3 that way and there’s less risk of going a whole round without it. Haven’t teched a throw in my life. I’m kinda still bad at Abare but occasionally get my 2P/6Ps in. 5H is my go-to stop sign if I have any breathing room at all.

So far I’d say the experience has been pretty good and Unika is probably the best, most intuitive beginner character I’ve tried. (Sorry, Jam)

Any advice on what I should be working on next or just generally improve is welcome.

*If I had to assess myself so far as newly minted silver players:*

Neutral: 4/10, still working on my jump habit. Getting better at blocking and playing patient.

Combos: idk like 2/10, I only got the hang of RC recently and I only know like 2 things to do out of it. I think my record rn is a 9-piece.

Punish: 4/10, I rely on basic bnbs so the damage could be way better. I don’t know when to take my turn back a lot of the time unless it’s super obvious they whiffed something.

Any advice on pushing those to 5s is more than welcome. I’m not super delusional about my level of progress so far.

This is my first trial game in ranked. I did not go into practice mode with her. I did not look at her command list. I didn’t do any research whatsoever.

The only inputs I figured out were stun dipper and the overhead (thank daddy Kiske) and the big laser which kinda became my neutral. This I-No was legit out playing r1 and got totally robbed by a 4-piece combo I didn’t mean to do.

On the plus side: she’s a perfect pick up and play character for beginners. And just because I was able to gorilla my way into a 7/10 trial record doesn’t mean her skill ceiling isn’t high.

The floor is just literally “Can you Quarter Circle for the slightly better moves? “

Instead of the attack pushing me back, he like flew right past me when he did his overdrive.

Me and this Elphelt run into each other in bronze a good bit and, as of this game, we’re tied at 7-7. These sets are so back-and-forth and fun, and it made me appreciate how sick the game can be even at this level.

Also I finally started incorporating RC into my kit. I’ve been using the dash input for cross ups which is probably a huge waste of meter but like… it looks really cool.

I got every achievement except the one for unlocking all the achievements. Is there a way to fix this or am I just cooked?