The Problem with Astaroth...

[Herr von Unterfranken]

...he's too damn slow. Sure, he's powerful, but so is Nightmare and Siegfried and those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ are fast as lightning compared to my axe wielding monstrosity.
I'm looking for some suggestions on how to deal with decent and good players that get into your face and do their thing. Against Sophitia, Raphael, Groh and Taki it gets real silly real quick when even (as I had believed until that point) my fastest moves don't even connect after they finished their moveset. Even Reverse Edge, which I had believed would be the antidote against fast characters in your face, is consistently getting sidestepped by these admittedly good players. I keep on telling myself I'm missing something here but after watching some replays from the top 3 Astaroth players - doesn't seem like it. The moves they use are very similar to mine and there's nothing there to latch on to aside from better blocking reactions and knowing/anticipating your opponent.
There is an abundance of good characters in this game with a plethora of options that are valid because they are fast and connect (I've seen them in action). But with my big fella I don't see that same amount - at all. A lot of moves just don't seem viable because way too slow in a game where fast doesn't mean your range is limited. So not even anticipating helps that much for certain moves.

I really like Astaroth since SC 1 and people obviously have quite a lot of success with him (as do I against certain playstyles), so I'd love some pointers. Just wish he were slightly faster.

[Mike]

I play Astaroth and I honestly just feel you need more character knowledge when playing as him because his moves are so slow. I'm no pro by any means but you just have to respect some characters block strings more than with other characters. For example against rushdown/mixup characters like Groh and Talim you have to keep them in check by using either a 5K (neutral kick) or a 2K (down Kick) in between their stances or strings if you don't Astaroth will get ate up by these type of characters.

I also feel that when playing right with the use of his command grabs Astaroth can be quite scary, because once your in their face and you have them scared to press buttons you can start going for his command grab mixups. If they guess wrong they lose about 25-40% health especially when in soul charge.

Of course these are just tips I have picked up from playing him. The more I lab against a character and figuring out when they are vulnerable against the more scarier I can see it will be playing against him.

Also as a side topic has anyone every gotten Astaroth's Lethal Hit (6A+B) to activate after getting a ringout? I ring out all of the time but I can never get that lethal hit to work.

[Suntorias]

My friend mains Astaroth, and I kind of have to agree with your experience. I can often just mash my optimal bnb starters while I'm negative, and it CHs.

Most of the time when he gets me he does by getting 1 throw in, then I just can't escape the repeated 50/50s till I die.

[Seven ate you]

4K And K is how you interrupt. Astaroth has huge buttons and he uses them to get in so he half life people with +frames he got with the large buttons and conditioning.

If you want a character who doesn't have the weakness of being slow while having the advantages of a fast character, play nightmare or alternatively siegfried. Although nightmare is better at anti mash.

[Smudge]

I play as Astaroth. He's slow but very OP when you know how to use him. If you're into button mashing then he's the worst for that method. I think his chain of attacks or more timed into other moves or grapples rather than combo's. Plus he's a ranged character. So when they're coming in close with Talim or Maxi ect, don't try to heavy attack lol

[Seven ate you]

Thank you for @ing a super old topic. Asta was actually bad when this was posted and no one actually knew how to interrupt with asta.

[Darth Cervantes]

You can win a round with like 4 hits , I have win with him against better players with a few of the "get out of my face" moves

[HeartlessHealer]

Necro posting. Mods please lock the topic