Part 2     Part 3

This is the first of a 3-part series on effectively applying offensive pressure quickly in a real match. The first two parts start a bit slow, but I promise once you’ve read each part and put all the information together, it will seem almost enlightening, yet simple. For that please stick with it and good luck!

Have you ever had that opponent whose blocking game was a completely different level than your mix-ups or pressure? I’m sure we’ve all been there, there is that one person you just can’t “open up” with any kind of offensive pressure. It’s incredibly frustrating because you start to feel helpless and start going for more desperate offensive maneuvers which end up with you taking more risks and getting yourself killed faster. Well recently I’ve been playing the new Guilty Gear Xrd, and because that style of game is a whole different beast than traditional 2d fighters, Ive been doing a great deal of research.

The fine folks over on Novriltataki put together a pretty wonderful intro series called “Air Dash Academy” which I’ve been looking at with great appreciation [If you’re ever thinking of getting into Guilty Gear I wholeheartedly recommend giving it a watch, It’s very well done. I’ll put a video at the bottom of this post] Anywho, they came to the subject of chain routes. In typical air-dashing games the idea is instead of thinking of your moves as individual actions, think about them as building blocks for kinds of strings to accomplish what you want in offensive pressure situations. Here let me say that again, in case that flew over your head.

Instead of thinking of your moves as individual actions, think about them as building blocks for strings to accomplish what you want in offensive pressure situations.

Let that sink in, because I had to when I understood it. This is an idea in air dashing-based fighting games, but there is no reason why the concept can’t be used in games like Street Fighter.  So exactly how is this applicable you might ask? Stay tuned next time for exactly how you can accomplish this. In the meantime, if you’re interested in Guilty Gear or Air Dash Academy, check out the video below!