I don't understand how to play Ken

[harpmk2]

Ken is my main since SFII, but I don't seem to get him in V. He has few good normals and I find hard to maintain pressure considering how easy is to out-poke and punish him. I have to rely on my opponent making mistakes to land good combos. I'm having the most trouble with Karins and Bisons and I'm stuck on Ultra Bronze since Friday. Any tips?

[RykerrK]

He's kinda slow and his attacks seem to whiff more than Ryus this time around, and he has none of Ryu's all-rounder skills, like parrying.

Even his ex moves annoy me; they don't seem to take priority very well (His Hurricaine Kick EX especially bothers me). Other than his Ex DP, of coursse, that's beast. The shota characters are kinda reduced to spamming fireballs and waiting for punish opportunities this time around, mostly, from what I can tell, and Ken especially is much more Cross-over reliant if you're looking to break through turtles, though I'd expect that to stop working the higher you get. I still pick him over Ryu because it makes fighting Ryu Casual Mode that much more funny. I would have paid $100 for a Beard Mode Ken for PC...

This is coming from a Super Bronze Just Barely player, but that's what I'm observing. I'm also smashing my face into a wall trying to learn Nash, so feel free to let another Ken main chime in.

[Pedrohzs]

Ken has been sucking since SFIV...

Its either Ryu or Akuma for shotos lately...

[Everyday Civilian]

Cross ups aren't that bad with Ken. It's how ambiguous you want to make that cross up appear to your opponent which makes breaking turtles more interesting.

You'll need to understand his footsies and frametraps to get a feel for him. He doesn't have the best footsies you would commonly think of using in this iteration for the time being so you will have to gain an understanding of his other tools to close the gap between you and your opponent.

[Sp00kyFox]

if you notice the opponent ist turtling too much, you need to throw more and start using his overhead moves. kens vskill is obviously useful for that to run towards your opponent and mix it up by throwing, attacking with the vskill or stopping and pressure with a (overhead) normal.

[harpmk2]

Originally posted by RykerrK:

He's kinda slow and his attacks seem to whiff more than Ryus this time around, and he has none of Ryu's all-rounder skills, like parrying.

Even his ex moves annoy me; they don't seem to take priority very well (His Hurricaine Kick EX especially bothers me). Other than his Ex DP, of coursse, that's beast. The shota characters are kinda reduced to spamming fireballs and waiting for punish opportunities this time around, mostly, from what I can tell, and Ken especially is much more Cross-over reliant if you're looking to break through turtles, though I'd expect that to stop working the higher you get. I still pick him over Ryu because it makes fighting Ryu Casual Mode that much more funny. I would have paid $100 for a Beard Mode Ken for PC...

This is coming from a Super Bronze Just Barely player, but that's what I'm observing. I'm also smashing my face into a wall trying to learn Nash, so feel free to let another Ken main chime in.

With all the new tools, zoning with fireballs is really unsafe, specially against characters like Birdie. I feel that Ken doesn't have many offensive options other than his V-Skill, but it's not enough to make his mixups unpredictable. I usually take pride on my mixup skills, but I'm not really getting this.

Originally posted by Pedrohzs:

Ken has been sucking since SFIV...

Its either Ryu or Akuma for shotos lately...

I liked him more in SFIV, at least his normals were decent. Step kick was godlike, and cr. mk was a decent poke. Still no near good as SFIII Ken.

Originally posted by Obscure Sight:

Cross ups aren't that bad with Ken. It's how ambiguous you want to make that cross up appear to your opponent which makes breaking turtles more interesting.

You'll need to understand his footsies and frametraps to get a feel for him. He doesn't have the best footsies you would commonly think of using in this iteration for the time being so you will have to gain an understanding of his other tools to close the gap between you and your opponent.

Yeah, crossups are my best bets right now, but I can't rely only on them. V-Skill works kinda ok, but it gets easier to read once you learn all the possible outcomes. Also, it's kinda easy to punish his V-Skill if you have fast reactions, at least that was what I get fighting other Kens.

Originally posted by Sp00kyFox:

if you notive the opponent ist turtling too much, you need to throw more and start using his overhead moves. kens vskill is obviously useful for that to run towards your opponent and mix it up by throwing, attacking with the vskill or stopping and pressure with a (overhead) normal.

His overhead is quite risky, being as slow as it is. I don't even try to use the heavy overhead kick, takes years to come out. As I said, I'm good at mixups, but I feel Ken is not helping much.

I watched a few hours of gameplay by Momochi and I'm not really impressed. He mostly exploits mistakes by his opponents to get ahead and obviously his reactions are very impressive, but without being that good, I'm failing to see how Ken can be useful.
I'm not salty at all and I'm not trying to say he is useless, I genuinely want to get good with him but I don't know how.

[Jamsauce]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNQd0Te2QXU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9Eo9NTqWD0

[MusclePig]

Originally posted by harpmk2:

Ken is my main since SFII, but I don't seem to get him in V. He has few good normals and I find hard to maintain pressure considering how easy is to out-poke and punish him. I have to rely on my opponent making mistakes to land good combos. I'm having the most trouble with Karins and Bisons and I'm stuck on Ultra Bronze since Friday. Any tips?

Well, if you wanna play him like everyone else be DAMNED SURE YOU SHORYUKEN ON EVERY WAKEUP!

[drawknives]

The first thing you need to do is discharge and forget the 'shoto' mentality.
There is simply no such thing anymore.
Each character is different enough in their own right.
If you want a guide on how to approach Ken, look no further than Momochi.

[Talk2S@mson]

I suggest you get better familiarized with the neutral movement. Ken players right now are cashing in on the shimmy to catch HP crush counters confirms into combos. And a lot of their success come from consistently going into hit confirms into strong short combos. And as many have said above, be for familiar with his buttons and frame traps. It works great putting pressure in the corner. And get better positioning EX tatsu because even if it sorta misses as long as it gets you in front you can potentially catch your opponents pressing buttons.

If you have the mentality of playing Ken like USF4 in SFV, you will have to shake that off. I'm watching Winter Brawl X replays and holy crap Ken players have enough material to comb over from Julio and Brentt. If you watch WNF replays as well Chris Tatarian is a good source as well.

[Sp00kyFox]

Originally posted by harpmk2:

His overhead is quite risky, being as slow as it is. I don't even try to use the heavy overhead kick, takes years to come out. As I said, I'm good at mixups, but I feel Ken is not helping much.

which reminds me, fainting his heavy overhead kick could be useful for opening your opponent up by giving you another opportunity for a throw. I really think throw mixups are the key for ken, otherwise your opponent just blocks all day and in the midrange ken isn't too great. he needs to do his ♥♥♥♥ right upfront, which corresponds to his vskill.

[Talk2S@mson]

Originally posted by Sp00kyFox:

Originally posted by harpmk2:

His overhead is quite risky, being as slow as it is. I don't even try to use the heavy overhead kick, takes years to come out. As I said, I'm good at mixups, but I feel Ken is not helping much.

which reminds me, fainting his heavy overhead kick could be useful for opening your opponent up by giving you another opportunity for a throw. I really think throw mixups are the key for ken, otherwise your opponent just blocks all day and in the midrange ken isn't too great. he needs to do his ♥♥♥♥ right upfront, which corresponds to his vskill.

And that is the thing. I see many Kens favor throws often too.

[Sp00kyFox]

Originally posted by ColtClover:

And that is the thing. I see many Kens favor throws often too.

well it makes sense. since crush counters are so dangerous and reversals are risky people tend to block on wakeup in SF5. OF COURSE one should also go for frametraps and meatys and not only throws.