Capcom vs SNK 2/Rugal/Matchups

From SuperCombo Wiki

Matchups

Capcom Characters
Akuma Balrog (Boxer) Blanka Cammy Chun-Li Dan Dhalsim Eagle
E.Honda Guile Ken Kyosuke M.Bison (Dictator) Maki Morrigan Rolento
Ryu Sagat Sakura Vega (Claw) Yun Zangief
SNK Characters
Athena Benimaru Chang Geese Haohmaru Hibiki Iori Joe
Kim King Kyo Mai Nakoruru Raiden Rock Rugal
Ryo Todo Yamazaki Terry Vice Yuri

Capcom Characters

Akuma


Balrog (Boxer)


Blanka Bad matchup for Rugal, but I'd say only 3/7. Which isn't so bad compared to his really bad matchups.

Non-RC Blanka turns this into a 6/4 matchup in your favor, but seeing as those are ridiculously rare...well, you know.

The main problems of this matchup is Blanka's air and defensive superiority over Rugal. He can get in on you easily, but it's actually very hard to get in on Blanka, who's PHD of running away is only second to Rolento.

Optimal Play-style: zone- close to close/mid range

You want to keep Blanka close, as his pokes aren't much of a threat to you, however, his normal/super jump hk is. Force him to a distance where you can antiair him really early or where he's forced to use j mk. Rugal is one of the only characters who prefer dealing with that broken crossup over the broken hk.

Anti-airing Blanka

The reason the j hk gives you so much trouble is because it will beat your st mp clean if you press it at the normal time (believe me, I use Blanka, I rape Rugals with him). Because of Blanka's fast jump, it's hard to use the far st hk, which will trade even most of the time anyways. His j hp doesn't have good horizontal reach, and if he's using j hk he's at a decently far distance, meaning your only viable means of antiairing a j hk is jump forward hp. Not generally the greatest idea ever. If he ever gets in that range for j hk (believe me, he will, no matter how good you are), you're gonna have to risk throwing AA RC lp repus. Unless you're P. Parry solves all problems, as always.

The j mk is much easier to deal with. On top jump ins st mp. Cross ups, crouch, wait, cl st hk/hp/early mp after he crosses you. Very easy.

Low jump rule applies to Blanka, c mp every low jump to death.

vs blocked ball

The second thing you need to learn vs Blanka is to hit that blocked ball every time. DO NOT reversal level 3 it. Because of the low hitbox you actually have to wait a few frames first so he catchs Blanka near the ground.

However, if they're doing balls that are blocked, they're usually doing it because they see you don't have a level 3, and believe that you can't punish them. Especially when you block low. They're in for a rude awakening.

If blocked standing, a reversal c hp will do.

Blocked crouching you need to reversal walk forward a pixel or 2 and IMMEDIATELY c hp. I've seen Rugals with run try to reversal run and c hp. Personally, I think walking is just easier. It's tighter frames yeah, but reversal walking is braindead easy, meaning you only need to justframe df+hp right after you see Rugal move his feet, which should be easy, especially if you've played Tekken games or Virtua Fighter. Reversal run is an awkward 1 framer with no visual cues, and you gotta quickly do df+hp anyways, lest Blanka recovers. Whatever you do, DO NOT whiff a c hp because you didn't walk forward yet or didn't run cuz you double tapped early (that happens a lot, which is why I prefer reversal walking). That poke may be decently safe on a block, but it's no Sagat c hp that you can just spam all day and not care if it hits or not.

DO NOT attempt to punish a blocked Direct Lightning UNLESS you standblock and reversal level 3 to punish it. You may wanna just take the block damage, as it does require extremities to punish, and you do not get the CH bonus on the big hits. Definitely do it if it'll finish him off. But do remember the risks of having a no meter Rugal in a bad matchup. Use it or not, the fact that it's there will make the matchup easier for you cuz it'll force the other guy to be more conservative.

vs RC electricity

The bane of 90% of the characters in the game. Rugal is no exception. Even non-RC elec is problematic for ground Rugal (dark smash beats it clean). At certain ranges, c mp and c hk beat it clean. But kinda hard to set that up when 1. you can't move backwards 2. they're in your face.

My suggestion? Eat the block damage, press st mk -> super them back because you know they're pressing a low right after. Occassionally they might hop in or jump in, in which case your st mk will hit a hopper or sometimes come back in before they can whiff punish you from the air (depends on them mostly). If you don't think they're going low, just press st mk alone. If you somehow know they're gonna jump, obviously, press st hk.

In desperate times, reversal RC godpress isn't a bad idea if they're trying to wake up RC elec you. Because of the laggy startup, it'll wear down their RC frames nicely. They may also have stopped pressing P and stop electricity altogether.

Otherwise (which is most cases), roll away or RC lp repu to stop wakeup RC elec. Or, more preferably, just take the block damage and do the above.

The Poking Game

You're gonna have to block and just watch what kind of pokes the Blanka you're playing is using first.

Any low is, obviously, open ground for low crush. This includes the ever annoying slide. Depending on range, from closest to farthest, it may mean a free c hk, st mk -> super, c hp, or nothing at all. But if they're at the range for a maximum range slide, you didn't space them properly to begin with.

His c hp is the least of your worries actually. You're c mp and st lp stuff it clean, so if they're ending poke strings with it, press c mp (and super, if it'll kill him). st lp is better to stuff random far c hp attempts because it's 2 frames meatier (6 over c mp's 4), and of course, is much safer.

His st lp and st mp are the most problematic. The relatively crappy frames of his st lp makes it less problematic. You can just RC something in between or press c lk or something. The st mp, like many characters, there really isn't anything Rugal can do about it. Except...

Spacing Sweet Spot

One of the reasons this matchup is so hard is because your sweet spacing spot is extremely tight, and Blanka is so good at moving around. The perfect distances are as follows:

Point blank <-> your crossup/low jump hk range Inside his c hp range but out of st mp <-> inside c hp, out of c hk range

Generally, you want to stay in that first one and keep the pressure on. If they start RC elec AAing, you'll need to dive punch past them to avoid it or switch to dash/run rushing. His defensive position is very awkward, but it makes perfect sense thinking about it. When Blanka is in that second range, he pretty much has 2 options, c hp or jump in with mk. Both of which Rugal can deal with easily. The c hk can also be dealt with, though not as easily. If you ever find yourself in a bad position (you can't reach with your faster pokes but he can reach you with st mp and c mk, etc), dash backwards. His j hk, as bad news as it is for you, you have options to at least reset positioning from that. If he st mps you, you're at his mercy for whatever he's gonna do next (usually c hp or c hk). Granted, you're not exactly gonna die from it, but Blanka GCs pretty fast and you shouldn't blocking things unneccessarily like that. The last thing Rugal wants is to be pressured by a bad matchup.

Smart Super Usage

Let's start with P groove. P should hit the super the first chance you get. Simple, cuz parry seriously fucks up Blanka. Especially when you have a 1500 sweep and a 2300 godpress, and 3500 combo into godpress (on Blanka's slower pokes, Rugal WILL have time to reversal dash in CH c mk -> godpress, though, this is by no means easy). So P can keep the pressure with or without meter.

Every other groove really needs to make that meter count, so you shouldn't be looking to hit c lk -> super as much as say, cl st mk -> godpress. First of all, a level 3 will stop them from doing those annoying random balls. It'll make them much more passive at close range, essentially limiting his own options, making him easier to predict.

Of course, this doesn't mean to not use the super. What you wanna do is chip them away with normals first to soften them up. After you use up the level 3, you'll probably notice that they'll play far more aggressive. So use it when it'll finish them off or put them near death. ALWAYS do the 10k, because that'll most likely put them near death anyways, and also because it's probably the reason you're using Rugal.

Anyways, after they're cornered, this matchup becomes much easier without Blanka being able to back KK hop safely in his j hk/slide range.

Generally, with Rugal's huge damage normals and super, stuff them 2 or 3 times with just the proper normal (c hp stuffage excluded, do that all day to harrass them). On the 4th or 5th offense, it's usually good enough to super (off low crushes, usually, or blocked ball if they're being kinda suicidal). This is because most likely, you're not gonna stuff them more than 3 times (unless they're retarded...), so any more is really a gift that's inviting you to super them which you should accept.

After stopping their options and creating passivity, you can push in more of an offense and throw them a bit, do some low jump hk, maybe even GC into 10k, but the point is after they stop pressing buttons, you can work your normal offensive game, and hence, should be looking to hit c lk -> super now, after milking all the damage you can out of the sheer pressure of having the level 3.

This ridiculous sounding tactic only works specific to Blanka, as Rugal doesn't have the luxury of having any counter -> super options to other characters' main games.


Cammy


Chun-Li


Dan


Dhalsim


Eagle


E. Honda


Guile


Ken


Kyosuke


M. Bison (Dictator)


Maki


Morrigan


Rolento


Ryu


Sagat One of Rugal's best top tier matchups. Which, isn't much to celebrate about, because this is a 5/5 matchup.

Optimal Style: pokes o' plenty

Oddly, Sagat is one character you will have a very hard time getting in for Rugal's point blank games. That's fine, because Rugal miraculously has an answer for almost every poke. In fact, you wanna play footsies with Sagat. Up close his 2 frame +5 st lps cause problems for you.

whiff punishing

With some good reflexes, almost all of Sagat's poke, if any ever whiffs, is a free normal for Rugal. For hps, use c hp. For lows, st mk their foot before it goes back in. It isn't practical to whiff punish st lks, but you can do something better...

vs st lk

If the Sagat ever presses st lk, it'll be for 2 reasons. You got in very close and he's uncomfortable being in range for your c lks and he's trying to push you away, or as a random poke at nigh max range. The first case you can't do anything about, but it's pretty harmless anyways. The second case should be predictable generally, and you should press st hk before impact. Rugal will raise his front foot, remove the hitbox for that leg, and smack Sagat for a whopping 1500+CH bonus. Even if you miscalculate and he kicks your back leg, you're only taking like 400 damage. One or two of these will get him to stop press st lk to poke.

vs c lk/mk

Typical lows. st mk -> super that shit.

vs c hp

The dreaded c hp is very unfeared by Rugal. c mp timed right stuffs it completely, but generally, I'd rather press c hp. c mp if you mispredict or time it early you're getting whiff punished. c hp, the first hit stuffs Sagat's c hp, if Sagat doesn't press hp or presses it late, the 2nd hit will either poke him away or CH him.

vs st hp

Sagat's counter to your c hp. I hate this move. No matter when he presses it, it'll stuff your c hp clean. Even when it's going back in (#%$#&%$@%$&#!!!!). Because of this, whiff punishing it is risky. However, Sagat moves his front foot forward, which puts you in the perfect position to duck the fierce and c hk him for 1500+CH. I still prefer whiff punish as that's more guaranteed, and reacting to hit a normal while it's still out is hard. But if you can react that fast, c hk is much better.

vs st mk

The only poke Rugal has a hard time answering. If you followed my groove suggestions, you'll either have RC or parry. RC hp repus are always a good choice, and parry solves all problems. I believe c mp does stuff his kick clean, but with its awkward hit frames and c hp's unmeaty 3 hitting frames, it's also a bit risky. Forunately, it's a relatively harmless poke.

st hk vs Sagat

If Sagat is ever wiggling at a distance, st hk is the best choice. If he presses st lk he's done. If he presses st hp, you'll either stuff him or trade. st mk will get stuffed or beat you clean. c hp always beats you clean though. Also stops runners.

vs crouching Sagat

If he's crouching, c hp would be the better choice, or st mk if you think he's gonna go low. If you have low jump, lj coffin kick is SICK on Sagat. Also remember that if he's in range, lj hk is instant overhead.

anti-airing Sagat

If his j hk is going to your head, c hp to duck it and stab his foot. Otherwise, st hk as early as possible.

His cross up is slightly problematic, you'll need to either stand and use your height to prevent him from crossing you up and st mp him, or if he's crossing up a little farther, it's better to duck and let him cross you, then st hk to trade with his j lk. Theoretically, you can also wait and c mp, but personally, I did not find sucess with that.

Tiger Raid punish

Tiger Raid leaves Sagat at -4. Your c lk comes out in 3. You have 1 frame to do it, and then you have 2 choices.

c lk -> godpress -> C-combo
c lk x3 -> st lk -> gigatech pressure

Critical on N and K Sagats that love to do random empty jump tiger raids.

Dealing with high tiger shots

I saw Namameso do this. He would predict a high tiger shot and c hp Sagat's hand from 2/3 screen distance away. A very interesting counter. Will certainly stop Sagat from throwing them.

Otherwise, you'll just have to crouch it til it passes and inch in slowly.

Dark Smash uses

Dark Smash (dive punch) will beat/trade a tiger uppercut not done as late as possible. Also, it can be used to bait a tiger cannon. This is one of those rare times you want to use the mp and hp versions to throw off their timing. Whiff some lp ones at a safe distance/situation first to condition them. Might cost you to eat a tiger uppercut or 2 before you set it up, but if you manage to make it work, you'll look like a genius (except you're not, cuz it's my tactic =P). Traded it'll be about even. The point of this is to 1. bait tiger cannon and waste his meter or 2. they're near the corner and you use it to setup the 10k 3. the Sagat isn't exactly in the international top 30 and gets intimidated and hence, stops DPing properly.

Weak K spoiled Sagats will probably JD it, which means free c lks and 10k damage for you.

Evening the score

It's no uncommon that the Rugal will find himself with less health than Sagat. Fortunately, turning the tables with Rugal is incredibly easy.

A Sagat far j hk is the easiest jump in in the game to anti air with RC godpress. And as you well know, that's a free 10k.

Sagat's reliance on tight links and predictable guard strings is also very inviting to RC in between. Don't RC godpress inbetween lks though, wait for the c hp. Otherwise the Sagat might just whiff the lk and block your grab, leaving you in deep trouble.

c mp -> super to stuff and heavily punish his predicted c hp.

A little bit closer, c mk -> super can be used to punish whiffed st hp.

st mk is open season for RC godpress.

In P, parry solves all problems, gives you free godpresses left and right, and lj hk -> super is incredibly effective on Sagat.

Don't forget Rugal's general tricks (meaty RC reflector, close st mk/lk games, empty jump c lks, etc.).


Sakura


Vega (Claw)


Yun


Zangief


SNK Characters

Athena


Benimaru


Chang


Geese


Haohmaru


Hibiki


Iori


Joe


Kim


King


Kyo


Mai


Nakoruru


Raiden


Rock


Rugal


Ryo


Todo


Yamazaki


Terry


Vice


Yuri



CvS2 Wiki Navigation

General
Controls
Notation
HUD
Glossary
System
Roll Cancel
Combo
CvS2 Versions
Netplay/ Training
FAQ
Grooves
Groove Overview
Groove Subsystems
C-Groove
A-Groove
P-Groove
S-Groove
N-Groove
K-Groove
Capcom Characters
Akuma (Gouki)
Balrog (Boxer)
Blanka
Cammy
Chun-Li
Dan
Dhalsim
Eagle
E.Honda
Guile
Ken
Kyosuke
Maki
M. Bison (Dictator)
Morrigan
Rolento
Ryu
Sagat
Sakura
Vega (Claw)
Yun
Zangief
SNK Characters
Athena
Benimaru
Chang
Geese
Haohmaru
Hibiki
Iori
Joe
Kim
King
Kyo
Mai
Nakoruru
Raiden
Rock
Rugal
Ryo
Terry
Todo
Vice
Yamazaki
Yuri
Boss Characters
Shin Akuma
Ultimate Rugal
Evil Ryu
Orochi Iori