Strategies

Due to Akuma's naturally disadvantageous life and stun bars, high level Akuma play consists of seamless, unpredictable, safe offense and few mistakes. Should your opponent unleash their offense on you, you can lose a lot of life quickly. Obviously it is also very important to have a strong defense because of how much damage Akuma takes. Learn to block low and tech throws, and use Akuma's wakeup options wisely.

Overview

Punish after Parrying:

Air Parry:

- Air Hadouken

- Tatsumaki, land, SRK (very precise)

- Tatsumaki, land SA1/3.

-, (air reset, not very useful)

Normal Parry:

- Raging Demon (requires fast reflexes)

- s.hp xx tatsumaki, SRK.

- s. xx SA1/2/3

- s.hp xx SRK xx SA1/2

- CORNER: s.hp xx tatsumaki, SRK, SA1

Low Parry:

- c. xx SA1/2/3

- c., c., c. xx SA1 (works only on some characters)

- CORNER: c., tatsumaki, xx shoryuken xx Sa1

Wake-Up Moves:

- Demon flip

- Teleport

- Hurricane

- srk xx sa1

- srk

- The best by far: Block!

Blockstrings

- after knockdown- c., c., c., c. (into fireball/flip/tatsu)

- after flip - s., s.

- cl , cr. x demon flip

- cl , cr x demon flip dive kick

- cr, , cl x demon flip dive kick

- cr., s.hp, x demon flip kick

Raging Demon Set-ups

- Kara Demon: Twds +,,, down forward, ,! (if done right, then the raging demon will come out before the first hit of)

- : i actually tried this a couple of time and it seems pretty useful.

- Cl. , (walk up) cr. rh kara demon.

- Cl., Kara Demon

- Cr. , Kara Demon (while pressing , press twice and hold another button--hp or will do fine--to keep the jabs from coming out.

- Divekick (does not matter which or if the divekick even connects), pause then Kara Demon.

- Dash up (kara) Demon. (quickly press the jabs while dashing)

- UOH Rh. Kara demon

- Cr. , st. cl., Kara Demon

- If you do a fireball late enough, nothin will come out (of you time it just right, Gouki will still say "gou zanku") just like Demon Flip Kick. You can use this to jump in on an opponent, do a fake fireball, buffer the jabs and then do a Kara Demon.

- Parry into demon (you have to be fast)

- Raging demon on wakeup (if your opponent won't back off)

Kara-Techniques

Kara Demon - f ,,, down-forward, ,

Kara Throw - f ,

Kara UOH - Hold forward while doing UOH.

Zoning

Mixups

Demon Flip Mixups!:

The demon flip really gives you lots of options. The kick should be your main tool, since its the safest. With this, you can late cancel to try to combo, early cancel to stuff potential counters, or go for the cross up. If you are close enough, you have the throw option, which works really well against tall characters. To keep the kicks unexpected, you have either the slide kick, or an empty demon flip, which I generally follow up with a throw, or I sometimes just go straight into another demon flip. Anyway, lets talk about setups.

fp juggle into demon flip

This is either an air tatsu juggle into fp, or bnb ending in fp instead of srk. This attack string can really put pressure on the opponent, and is a good tool against characters without uppercuts. You won't ever be in range for the throw with this one.

just a standing normal into demon flip

You see JR use these a lot. This is your primary way of connecting the throw, which I use nearly as much as the kick, sometimes more than the kick depending on the opponent.

meaty demon flip

I don't use this often, but its a good setup because you stand a better chance against uppercuts, and have really great combo potential.

air fb, land, demon flip

This is a setup I've been experimenting with against makoto mainly. You don't have to worry so much about a dash under or anything.

Ok, so you're in the flip...now what?

Like I said, the kick is your main option, so lets talk about that. Its tempting to always late cancel the flip so you can combo. The first thing you learn in Mixup 101 is always doing one thing in a situation = death, so you have to early cancel this thing too. Once people start getting knocked by the early cancel, they wont be so tempted to try to AA you everytime, or parry, and an early cancel kick can lead to RD setups or kara throws or more flips. Its a good sign if they just start blocking the kicks, because you are getting close to locking them down, and you have them unprepared for throws. The blocked kicks should be followed up pretty much the same way as an early cancel kick. Either land, normal > demon flip, kara throws, or if you can, an RD. I also like going for the f+mp overhead after blocked or early canceled kicks.

You also have the cross up kick. I'm just starting to use this thing, but its really great because its ambigous. What sucks though is you really need to know what situations it will cross people up on. Most of the time, a cl. > flip, and early cancel the kick will lead to a crossup. If anyone can give some insight on crossups with demon flips that would be great.

Unlike the dive kick, after a parried flip kick, you land at the same speed, so you should be able to go right into demon. Other than that, don't get parried. I also will throw out rh and tatsus after parried flip kicks from time to time.

Time to start using the throw. Not much to know here, except make sure you are putting yourself in range for this. You really need to be right on top of them. So you are either do c. > flip, cl. > flip, cl.fp > flip. Just know your ranges because whiffing this thing is a free combo for your opponent On characters like Q, if you go for a psuedo meaty flip, and just go for the throw right away, there is relatively nothing they can do to counter it.

The slide kick really allows the normal kicks and throws to work well. I follow up my fp juggles with this one a lot! Although, once you get this thing blocked or parried, its time to hold off on it for a while, because you have pretty bad recovery on this one. I very rarely dont land this one, but you do need to be very careful with it.

Lastly, there is the empty flips, and like I said, you should mostly go for kara throws, because if someone didn't try to AA you, they are probably blocking.

Don't really ever use this punch. No real reason. Bad recovery. It sucks.

Hope this is useful I don't want to sound like an expert, because I'm not. I'm still learning the demon flip, but I think its not discussed enough here.

How to Counter different reactions to Demon Flips

Opponent is AAing you out - Early flip kick Opponent is standing blocking - Slide kick, empty flip throw, flip throw Opponent is crouching blocking - Flip punch, empty flip throw, flip throw Opponent is parrying - Vary flip strengths/kick timing (super late cancel works well), empty flip throw, flip throw Opponent trying to go under flip - Early flip kick

Additional Notes

Personal Action: Attack up, Stun Damage up for the next non-throw attack/combo.

A Review by Chaosofdante

Introduction

When playing Akuma the basic goal is to use his superior zoning ability in order to control your opponent’s options, and at the same time, minimizing the risk of getting hit yourself.

It is very important to note (if you haven't noticed already) that Akuma has THE WORST defense rating of the characters in 3S. He is also tied with Remy for having the smallest stun bar of all of the characters 3S.

You should also note that Akuma's supers are all the same length, and that he has no EX moves. All this was done to counter balance his incredible offense and mix-up. Many people are turned away from Akuma because they see him as being too inconsistent due to his stamina, but I hope to reassure you that by making smart decisions during the match, Akuma has no holes at all in his game.

Beginning the Offense

Akuma has the basic Shoto mix-ups that allow him to confuse and knock down his opponent repeatedly. If you're not sure on what these mix ups are (tick throw, high/low, Kara throwing, etc.) please consult the Ryu section for examples.

For offense purposes, you want to use Akuma's air fireballs as a safe window to get in on opponents and begin guessing games. When using an air fireball on someone who is standing always, and I mean ALWAYS option select parry before throwing the fireball. Akuma cannot attack after the fireball has been thrown so you want to do it as late as possible. This ensures that if you throw an air fireball at a standing opponent, they can't counter hit you even if they parry. In this way Akuma becomes very safe after a late air fireball even if it's parried, you only need to watch out for things like reversal Shippus or Hugo/Alex SA1 as moves with 1-2 frame start up will still be able to get you. The option select parry is purely there to protect you from any early anti air attempts. If the parry is successful you can do a meaty fierce in the air and link a standing fierce into either short, or roundhouse Tatsu depending on if they are standing or crouching (short Tatsu whiffs on almost everyone crouching).

Another offensive option from mid range in order to get close is to cancel hit or blocked low forwards into Akuma's daemon flip. Akuma has a fairly good mix-up game from this that can work well as long as it's not used more than a few times in a match, if you become predictable with it, your opponent may be able to punish you. The input for this is (F > D > > and any kick (//)). The kick pressed determines the distance of Akuma’s flips. Use the short kick to keep the pressure on with dive kicks, and use the other two for his throw.

Once Akuma scores a knockdown he becomes extremely dangerous. He can hit confirm his close standing forward into his B&B juggle. He can also confirm marginal damage starting low without a super with this combo (c. > c. x RH Tatsu. If in the corner, cancel into Tatsu and juggle with an extremely early Shoryuken. This can additionally be canceled off the first hit into Messatsu go Hadou if you have built enough meter). If you have super, Akuma is usually better off starting low with c. > c. x Super.

A note on Akuma's B&B juggles. If you hit a close standing do not immediately cancel into Messatsu go Hadou, instead, cancel into Tatsu if your opponent is not crouching when hit. Akuma's s. reset into Messatsu go Hadou is much better. Despite the fact it can be parried, Akuma will recover well before his opponent has finished parrying all 6 hits, and can dash in and attack to screw up their timing. This almost always does more damage than his link (additional things to consider; it is wise to link the close standing forward into Messatsu go Hadou only if they are crouching or if it will win you the round).

Another juggle that people often over look and deem as "too hard" to be practical, is his reset into Kongou Kokuretsu Zan . This is his BEST combo. It does an insane amount of damage and is inescapable after the first hit of the combo connects. This reset cannot be parried and this super usually does more damage than a daemon. An important thing to do is to activate the jab as early as possible, as it often determines whether or not there is enough time to link the super. In my opinion, this combo really only needs to be practiced for about a week before it becomes second nature.

If you don’t have meter, Akuma’s best option is usually to juggle with a semi late fierce Shoryuken. You can also try to reset them with a standing fierce, and cancel that into his forward daemon flip and continue the pressure. If you have already tried canceling into forward daemon flip, try cancelling the fierce into the short daemon flip and just let it finish into the sweep. Akuma is usually safe after this sweep, and from the right range, that set-up puts you in the right place to block a counter attack from most characters, again, watch out for supers with quick start ups before executing this attack.

Another one of Akuma’s great strengths that absolutely needs to be mastered is his Asura Senkuu or his teleport. This move completely ruins the game plans of characters like Denjin-Ryu (Use it to go through meaty Denjins), Urien (Escape Aegis unblockables), and Hugo. It can also be used as a way to run away from Genei-jin, although when doing this you must be extremely careful. Reversal teleport is mandatory for high level Akuma play, as it allows him one way to get around his terrible stamina.

The last important tactic for an Akuma player to know is also his most infamous: His daemons. Akuma’s raging daemon puts Akuma’s mix up game on the same level as Makoto’s, and almost as good as Dudley’s. It is important to only use this super in much the same way Hugo uses his Gigas breaker super. Only use this super at point blank range or as Kara. If it is not done at point blank range, any scrub will know enough to jump and avoid it. Performed correctly however, if it is done point blank (like all grab supers need to be); they cannot escape by that method. In fact it can help to ignore that the daemon travels any sort of distance at all. Be careful when Kara canceling the daemon though because during those first few frames that gain extra range Akuma is not considered in the daemon animation therefore he will not pass through opponents attacks. Only regular daemons are reliable for there invincibility frames.

Akuma has a few basic ways to land his daemon. These setups are:

Dash-daemon
Dash-Kara daemon
Tick Kara-daemon
Empty cancel daemon flip into Kara daemon

And even

Wake-up daemon.

Dash daemon is performed by buffering two jabs in the dash then simply finishing the command. Kara daemon is the same as his Kara throw (F +) but finishing the command instead. (Props to Jiro/Harmonaz for showing this final daemon set up). This is by far the best use of a daemon I have ever seen.

To perform the Walk UP KARA-DEAMON you simply need to be fast enough to input the raging daemon command within the same time window that you Kara cancel Akuma’s F + for a Kara throw. The input for this is [ > > F > >]. This way Akuma will do his famous Kara throw grunt and move forward then cancelling it into a daemon. Obviously this is extremely hard to do, but there are a few ways you can practice and learn this. I learnt that hitting and F at the same time for the first helps cut time off. Then you need to train your hands to hit > > afterwards. The hardest part I found was getting the tap correct. Remember the timing for the input is really strict but the daemon input itself isn't so much in 3S. Don't worry if you can't do it right away, Harmonaz said it took him 25 min just to learn it in his video, in perspective it took me several hours. Even Japanese players like Jiro and Match don't get it all the time, just watch their matches where they whiff in front of their opponent with max meter, that just goes to show how hard this setup is.

Akuma has a couple of not-so-hot setups for daemons that should be avoided. I sometimes see beginners use these setups, but they aren’t safe. They are his c. blocked canceled into daemon, and his juggle reset, whiff Tatsu while hiding two in the Tatsu then finishing the command at point blank. The reason these setups don’t work is that they are easy to see coming for an experienced player. Most experienced players will jump back when they see these set-ups done by an Akuma with maxed super.

(Lately I have been experimenting with a very good, but extremely difficult daemon setup that, when done correctly, can really add to Akuma’s daemon mix up. It is very possible, although very difficult, to hide two inputs inside the two c. inputs in a blocked version of Akuma’s c. hit confirm. If the c. > c. is blocked, Akuma can then cancel into an immediate Kara daemon if the inputs were done correctly. It must be Kara daemon as the two s push Akuma too far out of point blank range on block. The command for this is to hit c. then immediately hit c. during the short animation and hold then hit c. to get the second , and almost simultaneously negative edge the second by releasing, then cancel into Kara daemon. If done correctly Akuma will release two c.s without releasing a c.. The timing for the button presses is similar to Kara canceling Yun's standing short into dash punch if you have any experience with Yun’s juggles.)