The Basics
Master 360 motion buffering and standing 360's. Tick grabs are good, but running LP Spinning Pile Drivers are better! (Obviously in SNK groove. I prefer K.)
If you have trouble with standing 360's, you can do the Hooligan Combination motion (hcf,u/f + P). Also, hcf,u + P or hcf,u/b + P tends to work more consistently for me.
The up motion has to be done VERY quickly, though I think it's easier to execute with the small-jumping grooves (P S N K) since the startup frames for jumping in these grooves are about 2 frames greater. Basically, you have more time to do a 360 special before the computer registers it as a jump.
Advanced Strategy
--Zenfire 13:03, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
Dealing with keep-away tactics
Zangief can have more trouble against long range keep-away tactics than rushdown.
C.HP
Against pokes that outrange C.HP you can attempt to preemptively stick C.HP out and it can beat the startup frames of the attack because of the large number of hitting/active frames. The down side of this is that it's a very laggy move and is vulnerable to rolls and jumps.
Lariat
Another option is to beat their attack with kick lariat, which has lower body invincibility on startup. The down side of this is that you need to time it just right because only the startup is invincible and doing it too early will result in it getting beat or trading. Worst case scenario: it misses completely and you get punished with super.
Jumping HP
This move has a lot of horizontal range and if you space it right it becomes not only hard to beat with normals, it also becomes a guessing game where their AA can whiff entirely if you don't stick anything out. The down sides to this are that it's a jumping attack which is a commitment, so it's AA'able. It's important to figure out at what range for this (both forward jump and neutral jump).
Groove specific: RC's
RC Lariat gives the advantage of more invincibility than the regular version. A significant addition to the arsenal is RC Running Grab. It will go through everything and throw for a nice bit of damage, the benefit of this in the long run is that once they're scared/aware of it they won't stick out moves as much at the risk of getting grabbed, and as a result they'll block more, run away more and jump more.
Groove specific: Parry/JD
Parries and JD's are obviously different, but the one thing they have in common is they allow you to decrease the number of frames of blockstun. Parry guarantees more, like a sweep for the knockdown. But since SPD has so much range you can grab people using either of these from pretty far away. Both of them allow you to jump over long range pokes and allow for a backup plan in case you didn't jump over something laggy. Besides being a backup, it's also just an alternative way to get in. Down side is pretty obvious, it's hard to do/time right, and if you don't succeed you get hit (parry) or lose guard bar (JD) and you need to walk up again.
Defending against rushdown
Reversal 360
The SPD is instant which means that it can beat things when there are 0 frames or more in between the attacks. By this I mean that, since throws beat attacks, anywhere in a blocked string of attacks if the next hit does not connect WITHIN the blockstun of the previous attack, the SPD can interrupt and grab the opponent. JD's help immensly in this. The down side of this is that if something you defended leaves the opponent at 0 or more frames of advantage, they can jump (instantly OTG) out of the SPD and punish on the way down.
Lariat
The kick version of the lariat as discussed before beats ground moves. This can be used in situations where you're unsure whether the opponent will jump or attack again. It will beat or trade with attacks and still manage to hit people that try to jump away expecting an SPD. The down side of this is still the same: if you miss or it's blocked, it's easily punishable.
Stopping runaway
Once you corner someone trying to get away from you, either because you're raged, because they're ahead or because they're building meter, then you can slowly walk them into the corner while still keeping an eye out for sneak attacks. At this point to avoid risking you getting close they'll jump over you or try to knock you down before trying to get out. Here follow some options that if you guessed right will keep them cornered or punish them for trying to get out. The complement of these is actual ground based moves, which become viable again when they stop trying to run away.
Neutral jump U+HP
This headbutt does a lot of stun damage. Getting hit by it twice means being dizzy for everyone in the game. You can stop them jumping over you to the other side using this move as an air-to-air attack. You'll have to time it well obviously, but there's a double reward for landing it: damage/stun + they're still cornered. If you guess wrong jumping straight up still avoids things such as RC Psycho Crusher and even allows to you punish certain RC's that don't go far.
Fake-out jumps
Though this is partly basic strategy, jumping toward your opponent with an early attack can setup a command throw on landing, in this scenario you have the additional benefit of stopping people that jump at/over you. And again, since it's a jump it has some evasive properties. The down-side is the same as with all jumping attacks.
Aerial Slam
Though people will automatically jump less when they know you have a lv3 super, they might still flinch once cornered, so it is worth buffering the motion when you expect a jump. The first downside of this is that since you're buffering the motion your on the ground and not blocking leaving you vulnerable. The range for this depends on your opponent's jump arc, which is something else you need to think about.
