So i suck as Steve

[ChubbyChubsWithoutChub]

I'm pretty average player, but i found season 3 Steve pretty pretty bad. They nerfed his d/f 2, and add unusable move. If all my " fancy " stuff doesn't work, i usually resort to 1212 + grabs spam. Are there any Steve mains that are good at opening turtles ( people who just block a lot )? Because so far i'm getting my face smashed.

[SEATEK The_LEFTY]

Stance throw and his lows are actually viable from peekaboo or flicker when combined with safe pokes and close range neutral play. Then b+1 and other counterhit tools when they get spazzy...

[North Korean Backdash]

Steve's still strong but the thing is he rewards really fundamental play with little pokes here and there to set up his CH game (b1, d/f2) etc. because that's going to be your main source of damage.

He's a great tournament character but not that great online character when you take into account how many people play. You will need to observe your opponent's tendencies so without knowing that and having at least some knowledge of a given matchup you're gonna have a hard time with online unga because Steve's online unga is a bit less viable overall (still probably doable).

I'd suggest learning doing stuff like iPKB d1 (f3+4 then d1 as fast as you can) as you main low as it's +2 on hit allowing you some leeway when it comes to PKB pressure. Try harassing them with some PKB d1s and then try PKB d/1,2 which will screw out most (if not all) hopkicks in the game for a combo. It's a stupid flowchart but you can use it from time to time. After that, just try to read your opponent. Remember that you can bait out a reaction even with just standing in PKB close to your opponent doing nothing. That's the whole point. Similar stuff can be done with FLK, you don't have to cancel out of it immediately.

Other than that, you have to remember that you can cancel many of your moves into dck and then use PKB stuff from that. Against passive opponents you can even do df/1 into dck and d/b into crouch into FC d/f1 which will give you PKB d1 and leave you in their face in PKB. You can do d/f1 into dck, then d/b into ws1 which is both delayable and hit confirmable into full Wildman (w/s1,2). Or you can follow up with extDCK f2 for guaranteed damage if they don't duck or even fish for ws2 CH (ws2 is itself cancellable into dck).

Do some iWR2. It's +9, you can do whatever you want from there. Empty iWR2 is also good to learn your opponent's reactions.You can even try d/b3,2 from that but be careful.

Learn to chain duck cancels and use that into block to bait a reaction out of your opponent, just be careful about random hopkicks (proper online Tekken). They might do something punishable, giving you free damage. If they won't budge, cancel the last dck into crouch and then PKB d1 or go with extDCK f2. Experiment and try stuff out.

Those jab strings you mentioned are actually a good way to harass your opponent but remember 1,2,1,2 has to be cancelled into dck and then standing block to be safe. 1,2,1,d1 is online stuff, do it if you want. Or b1,d2, finishing/not finishing strings etc. you know the drill.

Your main goal is to use movement and small pokes to bait your opponent into attacking. Once you've successfully done that, it's time for empty dash blocks, timing b1s, d/f2s or iFLK 2s as those will be your main CH tools. If your opponent gets really mashy afterwards just try to backdash, step and punish with Sonic Fang.

All in all, rely on small pokes and movement to stress out turtles and set them up for your game. Play fundamentally and vary your timing, don't be afraid not to press for a while. That's the basic drill but it's a bit harder than it seems.

Trust me, it's not that Steve's pretty bad. Quite the contrary, it's just that most players aren't good enough to play him the way he shines the most. That's why some tournament people make it seems so effortless, they have what it takes.

[ChubbyChubsWithoutChub]

Originally posted by Amatsubu:

Steve's still strong but the thing is he rewards really fundamental play with little pokes here and there to set up his CH game (b1, d/f2) etc. because that's going to be your main source of damage.

He's a great tournament character but not that great online character when you take into account how many people play. You will need to observe your opponent's tendencies so without knowing that and having at least some knowledge of a given matchup you're gonna have a hard time with online unga because Steve's online unga is a bit less viable overall (still probably doable).

I'd suggest learning doing stuff like iPKB d1 (f3+4 then d1 as fast as you can) as you main low as it's +2 on block allowing you some leeway when it comes to PKB pressure. Try harassing them with some PKB d1s and then try PKB d/1,2 which will screw out most (if not all) hopkicks in the game for a combo. It's a stupid flowchart but you can use it from time to time. After that, just try to read your opponent. Remember that you can bait out a reaction even with just standing in PKB close to your opponent doing nothing. That's the whole point. Similar stuff can be done with FLK, you don't have to cancel out of it immediately.

Other than that, you have to remember that you can cancel many of your moves into dck and then use PKB stuff from that. Against passive opponents you can even do df/1 into dck and d/b into crouch into FC d/f1 which will give you PKB d1 and leave you in their face in PKB. You can do d/f1 into dck, then d/b into w/s1 which is both delayable and hit confirmable into full Wildman (w/s1,2). Or you can follow up with extDCK f2 for guaranteed damage if they don't duck or even fish for w/s2 CH (w/s2 is itself cancellable into dck).

Do some iWR2. It's +9, you can do whatever you want from there. Empty iWR2 is also good to learn your opponent's reactions.You can even try d/b3,2 from that but be careful.

Learn to chain duck cancels and use that into block to bait a reaction out of your opponent, just be careful about random hopkicks (proper online Tekken). They might do something punishable, giving you free damage. If they won't budge, cancel the last dck into crouch and then PKB d1 or go with extDCK f2. Experiment and try stuff out.

Those jab strings you mentioned are actually a good way to harass your opponent but remember 1,2,1,2 has to be cancelled into dck and then standing block to be safe. 1,2,1,d1 is online stuff, do it if you want. Or b1,d2, finishing/not finishing strings etc. you know the drill.

Your main goal is to use movement and small pokes to bait your opponent into attacking. Once you've successfully done that, it's time for empty dash blocks, timing b1s, df/2s or iFLK 2s as those will be your main CH tools. If your opponent gets really mashy afterwards just try to backdash, step and punish with Sonic Fang.

All in all, rely on small pokes and movement to stress out turtles and set them up for your game. Play fundamentally and vary your timing, don't be afraid not to press for a while. That's the basic drill but it's a bit harder than it seems.

Trust me, it's not that Steve's pretty bad. Quite the contrary, it's just that most players aren't good enough to play him the way he shines the most. That's why some tournament people make it seems so effortless, they have what it takes.

Thanks a lot for some solid info there. Had to take a day to process some of it, and put it to use in practise. My man.

[HighLanderPony]

Catch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH8w3mLAFfw