Game Mechanics
Parrying
(Also known as "Blocking" or "Teching" in Japan) A defense mechanic that removes all blockstun and leaves the opponent open for a counterattack. The Parry can also be done in the air.
As a general rule:
- Against High/Mid attacks: Tap Forward
- Against Low attacks: Tap Down
- Against Air attacks: Tap Forward
- While in Mid-Air: Tap Forward
However some moves can be parried with either. The most notable airborne attack that can be blocked and parried low is Necro's Drill Kick.
Frame Data Input Window for Parries:
- When inputting a parry attempt against a ground attack, high and low parries have a 10 frame input window as long as the directional input is released quickly. If forward or down direction is held, this input window is reduced to 6 frames. Also, you cannot input another parry (cooldown period) for the next 23 frames.
- When inputting a parry against an incoming aerial attack while you are grounded, your parry has a 5 frame input window whether or not you held the direction. However, the cooldown period is only 18 frames long. Note that this ONLY applies to forward (high) parry input; low-parrying an aerial attack counts as if you were parrying a grounded low attack.
- When inputting a parry in mid-air, your parry has a 7 frame input window (6 if held), and has a cooldown of 20 frames. However, if you land within 10f of your parry attempt window, this becomes extended upon landing as if you had initially inputted a standing parry.
Frame Data for Frozen State during Parries:
When an attack is parried, the parrier and the object being parried are frozen for 16 frames. Note that the object may actually be a projectile, in which case the projectile would be frozen and not the character who threw it. During these 16 frames, the parrier can cancel into block and parry, and can tech throws (note that since you cannot initiate a throw during this freeze, you can only tech after the throw connects).
In addition to these initial 16 frames, the attacker is frozen for additional frames, depending on the attack type:
- Light Attack: +4 frames
- Medium Attack: +3 frames
- Heavy Attack: +2 frames
- Special/Super Art: +0 frames (Note: This applies to all attacks during "install state" Super Arts such as Yun's Gen'ei Jin or Twelve's X.C.O.P.Y)
This means that if your light or medium attack is parried and you attempt to cancel into a Super Art or invincible attack, your opponent can use a throw (3f startup) immediately after their parry before you are able to do anything. However, if they parry into a Super Art, their super flash will remove the innate +4/+3/+2/+0 advantage, allowing you to cancel into a super of your own.
(Some projectile attacks do not seem to freeze when parried because they are actually several individual attacks that approach you at the same time, rather than one multi-hit attack as is the case with Akuma's Red Fireball for example. Oro's EX Yagyou Dama and Akuma's KKZ act in this way, even though they seem like one big projectile.)
If a parry is successful, your character will automatically parry any other attack that hits you within the next 2 frames.
The game ignores your inputs during the freeze for air parries. However, you can buffer inputs during the freeze for ground parries. Landing a parry will reset your special input queue, and the game will only accept the first button input during parry freeze.
If a jumping attack is parried, the attacker is reset to a neutral state upon recovery of the attack if it recovers before he lands. This means he is once again free to attack or parry, and even block low upon landing (trip guard). If it does not recover before he lands, he will be stuck in a small recovery upon landing. Furthermore, while backwards and forwards jumps retain the same momentum after a parry, a neutral jump gains a slight amount of forward momentum AND changes the jump type to forward jump. This is significant if your character has a jumping heavy attack that changes significantly between neutral and forward jump (typically jumping Heavy Punch).
In situations where you are being juggled and then reset with a normal attack, Super Arts are still able to hit you, but can be parried in mid-air before you reach the ground. If you do so, your parry resets the juggle count (and thus resets all scaling), so if you fail to parry every hit before landing, you may end up taking far more damage than if you did not attempt to parry.
You cannot parry 1 frame before the end of YOUR attack's recovery.
- Red parry windows for all moves: 3 for normal moves, 2 for specials/supers.
Throw
A close-ranged grappling maneuver. Throws can be also be Teched (avoided) by pressing the throw command when your opponent reaches for a throw. Holding a direction while doing the command launches the opponent in that direction.
- LP+LK
- (B/F + LP+LK)
Every character's normal throw has 3 frames of startup, 1 active grabbing frame, and 21 frames of recovery if it misses for a total of 24 frames.
A normal throw can be teched by inputting LP+LK during the 5 frames on and after it connects. The game is very liberal with throw option selects; there are very few instances where you can't combine a throw tech with what you're attempting, and you can get around many limitations you run into with kara throw type inputs.
You cannot tech throws that connected while you had an action animating, or if you had a parry active on the same frame the throw connected.
3rd Strike has a small bug related to teching with standing throws. If an opponent's throw connects on the 2nd or 3rd frame of your own throw, a throw tech will occur, but will fail if it connects on the 1st frame. In practice, this means there's a small deadzone when teching with standing throws: 2 valid frames from your own throw starting first, 1 invalid frame from the bug, and then 5 valid frames on and after the opponent's throw connects. Double tapping tech can not circumvent this.
Defenders gain 6 frames of throw protection after exiting blockstun, exiting hitstun, waking up after a knockdown, or landing after an air reset. You cannot be thrown during blockstun. You usually can't be thrown out of hitstun, but there are two notable exceptions.
Some moves (Alex's back HP, Oro's HCB + P) are a special type of grab called a hitgrab, which can be blocked and comboed into just like a normal. Some moves cause a back-turned state (for example: Alex's Flash Chop, Akuma's far standing Heavy Kick, Necro's Tornado Hook) that allow combos into traditional command grabs.
Prejump immediately lifts your throwbox off the ground, allowing you to avoid all grounded throws. However, you're still vulnerable to air throws, such as Akuma's demon flip throw, Alex's SA3, Chun/Oro/Ibuki's j.LP+LK, etc.
Universal Overhead
A quick overhead attack that hits crouching opponents.
- MP+MK
They're universally airborne on frame 5, hit on frame 16, have 8-10 active frames and last 30 frames total. Low attacks will miss your character when the UOH is performed. Frame advantages depend on how late in the active frames the move connects. They range from -5/0/+1 on block/hit/crouch to 0/+7/+8 or better, depending on the character. There are tradeoffs between reactability and frame advantage, keep this in mind when using the move.
Stamina
Stamina (or defense) is the term used for explain how much health or life a character have. The health bars are all the same lenght, but this doesn't mean that every character can take the same amount of damage. Every character have different stamina values (defense ratings). Remember, the more stamina a character have, the more damage they can take. Here's the ranking, from the higher to the lower in terms of stamina (numbers are a very close aproximation of the damage they can take, and are when their health bar are empty, but they aren't KO yet)
- 1. 1300 - Gill
- 2. 1285 - Urien
- 3. 1200 - Alex / Ryu / Ken / Dudley
- 4. 1120 - Sean / Oro / Elena / Necro
- 5. 1035 - Ibuki
- 6. 1020 - Yun / Yang
Stun
Under the health bar, there is a black little bar. This is the "Stun Bar". When you take a hit, this bar will fill at different rates, and depend on what attack you've been hit, some attacks will fill the bar a lot, others not so much, and even others don't will fit it at all. When the bar is full, you're stunned or dizzy, and you cannot move in a short period of time. Like with stamina, not all the characters have the same lenght in the Stun Bar. There are 3 types of Stun Bars, the long (72), the normal (64) and the short (52). With the long Stun Bar you will not be dizzy easily, while the short one means "be careful". Here's a list of what Stun Bar the characters have:
- Long Stun Bar (72) - Gill / Alex / Dudley / Oro
- Normal Stun Bar (64) - Ryu / Ken / Sean / Elena / Necro / Yun / Yang / Ibuki
- Short Stun Bar (52) -
Like any other Capcom game, a direction or button (not including start) reduces dizzy time by one frame per input. With a programmable pad, you can shave down stun time to 1/7th of the figures given below.
Depending on the last attack that you ate before the stars/birdies/angels/reapers appear, the game will randomly choose one out of 4 numbers. This number is the number of frames you would be dizzy without mashing.
- Normal move - 90 or 110 or 130 or 150 frames
- Normal throw - 120 or 140 or 160 or 180 frames
- Special hit - 150 or 170 or 190 or 210 frames
- Special throw - 120 or 160 or 200 or 240 frames
- Super hit - 120 or 160 or 200 or 240 frames
- Super throw - 150 or 190 or 230 or 270 frames
UOH's and taunts aren't mentioned, but I'd assume they count as special moves.
Dash
Tapping forward or backward twice in quick succession will perform a dash. This allows a character to cover a larger distance in a short period of time. You cannot block or tech throws until the final recovery frame of the dash animation, so it is riskier than walking.
Dashes have different speeds and movement distances. The speed (duration) is measured in frames, while the distance is measured in pixels. A strong dash is one that covers a greater distance in a lower period of time.
Note: if two values are given, the number in parentheses represents the recovery before the character can walk or dash again. For Ken only, it means the recovery before he can jump, walk, or dash. This has no effect on the character's ability to attack or defend after the dash recovery.
The following table lists the speed and distance of all forward and back dashes in the game for comparison:
| Character | Forward Dash (frames) |
F. Dash Distance (pixels) |
Back Dash (frames) |
B. Dash Distance (pixels) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex | 17 | 123 | 21 | 107 |
| Dudley | 18 | 111 | 19 | 95 |
| Elena | 13 (16) | 106 | 25 | 112 |
| Ibuki | 19 | 148 | 35 | 164 |
| Ken | 12 (16) | 95 | 15 | 54 |
| Necro | 22 | 132 | 20 | 123 |
| Oro | 17 | 122 | 13 | 87 |
| Ryu | 13 (17) | 95 | 15 | 47 |
| Sean | 13 (17) | 112 | 15 | 54 |
| Yang | 23 (27) | 133 | 29 (31) | 174 |
| Yun | 23 (27) | 144 | 29 (31) | 202 |
Additional Notes:
Oro: During forward dash, upper body hurtbox disappears on frames 1-16.
Some characters are airborne during a portion of their backdash. These are:
- Alex (6-10f)
- Ibuki (4-29f, throw invuln 2-30f)
- Necro (6-12f)
Super Jump
Similar to a regular jump, except that it carries you further, and has more prejump frames.
- Tap D,U
Wake Up and Quick Stand
When falling to the ground, your character enters in a "Wake Up" state, and they will wake up at the character standard speed. However, you have the option to perform a "Quick Stand". A "Quick Stand" will make your character roll backwards into a standing position, and you will wake up faster than the character normal wake up. Extremely useful in avoiding wakeup games after you are knocked down, where you must guess in order to defend properly against an opponent's attack (i.e. high, low, throw). Do not quick stand in the corner, because your opponent may be able to dash through the roll and cross you up, making it extremely confusing to defend properly.
Note: You cannot quick stand after being knocked down by a super.
- To perform a quick stand tap D as soon as your character hits the ground
Every character wakes up at different speeds, this is also for "Quick Stand". All the information below are in frames, a higher number of frames means a slow wakeup, and a small number of frames, a faster wakeup.
| Character | Normal Wakeup (Frames) |
Quick Stand (Frames) |
|---|---|---|
| Alex | 67 | 49 |
| Dudley | 55 | 45 |
| Elena | 64 | 50 |
| Ibuki | 68 | 53 |
| Ken | 75 | 48 |
| Necro | 59 | 53 |
| Oro | 71 | 52 |
| Ryu | 77 | 50 |
| Sean | 77 | 50 |
| Yang | 57 | 41 |
| Yun | 60 | 41 |
Crouching Hit Advantage
When getting hit while crouching, the attacking player gains a few advantages as opposed to getting hit while standing:
- The attack that hits the crouching opponent and any attacks that combo from the attack deal 1.25x normal damage (excluding grabs and command grabs). This damage buff continues until the combo ends, or the opponent is hit with a force stand attack or is juggled.
- Many moves gain more frame advantage when they hit crouching opponents:
a) lights gain no frame advantage b) mediums gain +1 frame advantage c) heavies gain +2 frame advantage d) specials gain +2 frame advantage
Like with the damage increase, this extra frame advantage continues with every hit of the combo you get on the crouching opponent, until the combo ends, the opponent is juggled, or is hit with a force stand move.
This crouching hit state is sometimes present on certain moves, such as Dudley's ducking upper. When interrupted or punished in their crouching frames, these moves are treated just as any other crouch hit in the game.
