~B
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Ainvar’s (Ainvar1@rochester.rr.com) Anti-Julia/Michelle Chang FAQ
Edited by Siroccoh (siroccoh@lanset.com)
Version 1.0909103 (does anyone seriously use version #’s?)
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- Table of Contents -
I. Editor's Note
II. Introduction
III. General Tactics Neccessary for Combating the Changs
IV. Chang Special Arts' Flaws
V. Conclusion
VI. Thanks and Copyright
- Editor's Note -
Ainvar has given me (Siroccoh) written permission to edit this FAQ for him. As such, you may
notice some differences between this FAQ and the one that was originally posted on Tekken
Zaibatsu's BBS. After reading the original FAQ on the BBS, I was very impressed that Ainvar
went to all of the trouble of making such a technical FAQ, and wasn't planning on publishing
it on some FAQ-related websites. Mind that Ainvar told me that this thing didn't take him too
long to write up, but I felt obligated to format it for him, so more people than the one's
that visit the Tekken Zaibatsu BBS can read his ideas. The only altercations that I have made
to this thing so far are to correct the grammatical mistakes that were in the original post
and formatting it into a .txt file. Also, I added a few decorative touches to it, along with
adding my two cents to any little thing that Ainvar wrote down. These comments will have stars
(*) around them. Also I felt that this statement, which was originally placed somewhere in the
middle of the post should be put here for the sake of knowing what exactly this FAQ entails:
This Faq is fer all you monkeys that keep begging to know how to fight the Chang’s, without being
creative enough to figure it out yourself.
By no means is this to be the all or end-all of counter Chang tactics. This is a simple FAQ,
and as I will be going to as much detail as possible, I’m sure I will leave out multiple things.
As such, I encourage people to send me feedback at the following address:
Ainvar1@rochester.rr.com
Anyway, without further crap from me, on to the strategy.
- Introduction -
1. This FAQ will hopefully give people a general idea as to how to fight against the Changs.
2. For ease of use in creation of this FAQ, I will be using Kuma to exemplify all these tactics,
as believe it or not, Kuma is fun, and good against the Changs.
3. For ease of use for me (the writer) I will just be using Julia’s move list. All of these
tactics work against both Changs, and if I feel the demand is ripe for it, I'll add a Michelle
Chang specific section.
4. The FAQ will use the following format: Outline of each Julia art, followed by how to counter
the art.
5. I will probably not address every single move that the Changs use. I will be shooting more
for the most overused canned combos of the Changs. If anyone thinks I'm missing anything,
email me at: Ainvar1@rochester.rr.com
- General Tactics Necessary for Combating the Changs -
1. Learn to parry. It’s that simple. Learn to recognize the difference between her d/f+1, 4,
and her d/f+1,1 arts. ALWAYS parry the Changs whenever they use a low attack in their canned
combos. ESPECIALLY her 4,4,4 type strings. Get your parrying proficiency *to the level where
you can* parry a good 80%-90% of the time.
2. Don’t get caught up in your own custom strings. Julia *as well as Michelle* as such is a
counter character, and better then anyone else *in this category*, she will counter you at EVERY
SINGLE opening during custom strings. In short, keep them short and sweet.
3. In general, most likely you will be slowly pricking away the Changs' life, *if you want to
successfully combat the Changs*. Going for large chunks of damage all at once through the use
of anything other then a good air juggle will surely get you CH’d and juggled.
4. Especially with Kuma, attempt to keep pressure on Julia with continued use of his f+1. Not
only is the range on this move incredible, and can keep Julia out of close range, but its very
annoying to the Julia player *especially due to the fact that it only takes 8 frames of animation
to execute*. Also, if you ever CH Julia, you have a guaranteed f+1,1,1 combo that should knock
out half her life bar. *A good example of a f+1~1,1 juggle follow-up with Kuma is f+1, f+1,
f+1+2.*
- Chang Special Arts' Flaws -
1. 1,1,1 (G-Clef Cannon)
With Kuma, if a Julia player ever decides to finish the whole G-Clef Cannon on a NON-CH, the best
follow up is f+1. In essence, yer just gonna ping *a little bit of* Julia’s life away. By doing
so, you not only frustrate the hell out of her, but you remove any chances of getting a CH on you.
The f+1 is guaranteed after the G-Clef Cannon, and to go fer more would be simply suicide. The
general idea is to make Julia realize that her G-Clef Cannon string is useless, as you will do yer
damn best to make sure you don’t get CH’d. And by simply pinging her a little bit each time she
uses it, hopefully she’ll be less likely to continue using it. (Yeah, fer most Julia *player*s
it's not likely they will hesitate with using this move, but at least you can slowly ping her life
away *in the process*)
Note: Characters such as Heihachi and Devil, have guaranteed juggle starters after the G-Clef
Cannon. Simply use their Twin Pistons (d/f+1,2) and use whichever *follow-up* juggle you desire.
If Julia decides to not continue the G-Clef Cannon, and decides to stop at the second hit,
throwing out a f+1 probably won’t get you hurt too badly. The idea is to keep the pressure on
Julia from a distance with Kuma. Keep the little woman at bay, which will hopefully force her to
attempt her other strings, which fer the most part are much easier to CH, and/or parry her out of
them.
2. 1,1,4,(3) (G-Clef Cannon to Bow and Arrow Kick)
First things first. *This a move that intelligent Julia users will never completely follow-
through with (meaning using the 3 at the end of the string)*. It leaves her very open to an easy
juggle with Kuma. (Starting with either d/f+2 or u/f+4)
If you are hesitant to use parries, then it is best to simply block the low-attacking 4. However,
strings like these are the downfall of Julia. Not taking the advantage, and not parrying any of
her low attacks for an easy d/f+2 will slowly lead to a peck war, which is usually in Julia’s
favor. In essence, Julia can only use the Mad Axes *(QCB
leave themselves open to CH. Thus, when a Julia realizes she can’t CH her opponent, she’ll
attempt to finish them off with low strings such as this one. This is where Kuma MUST take the
advantage, by parrying at every opportunity that he gets and slowly tacking on more damage. After
a parry, it is not recommended to use Kuma’s u/f+4 though. More often than not, he will simply
miss the hopkick, removing any advantage you gained by parrying her attack.
Thus, by removing Julia’s ability to attack low (as she has very few attacks that can hit low that
are not easily parried) you force her to work more on her CH game. By removing her CH game, you
remove most of Julia’s power. (But as this author will happily admit, removing her CH game
requires tenacious patience, by keeping yourself from getting caught up in your own custom strings
*and attack patterns*)
3. d/f+1,1 (Club Fist to Flash Uppercut)
On the bright side, if Julia hits Kuma with this string, she cannot juggle Kuma. (I do believe
however, that if Julia buffers a tag in to this, he does get juggled. *This is true*. Screwy
little game we play. As with her G-Clef Cannon, simply counter this technique with a f+1. Just
slowly ping off her life, *and you'll attain victory*.
4. d/f+1,4,3 (Club fist to Bow and Arrow Kick)
Incredibly important, LEARN TO REALIZE THE DIFFERENCES between this attack and her d/f+1,1. It
will save you tons of heartache as you wont get hit by an accidental duck, or by staying standing.
(Depending if she goes fer the Bow and Arrow Kick or her Flash Uppercut.)
Once you have realized the differences between these two attacks, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS PARRY the
Bow and Arrow Kick. Simply follow up with a d/f+2 for guaranteed damage. If you feel like
blocking the 4 however, you do lose the initiative, but you don’t take the chances of a missed
parry *which happens surprisingly often on crappy joysticks with bad diagonals*. (But hell, if
you play that defensively against Julia, do you really expect to win?)
5. 1,2,(~1_,3_,4) (G-Clef to Gut Punch, or a Low or High Kick)
After Julia’s 1,2 punch, duck. This is one of the few times where it is much more advisable to
block instead of parry. The simple reason being, if you get hit by that high kick, Julia will
juggle you for a long nasty nasty time. (Especially against Kuma, I think the record against me
is something like 11 elbows. Hey, I never said I was smart or perfect. :)) If you simply duck,
and she does continue the string with the low or high attack, yer guaranteed a WS+1, no matter
what she does. If she doesn’t continue with the kicks, you lost nothing by ducking, as she
cannot follow up with anything that can hit you before you can stand up.
6. f,f+1 (Party Crasher AKA: The Infamous ELBOW)
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Julia simply do an Elbow, followed by d+1 into her Bow and
Arrow Kick. Or seen Julia do like two elbows in a row followed by another attack. (This is
especially seen with Michelle’s elbow, as it has a much faster recovery time than Julia's) Simply
put, THIS HAS TO STOP. The ONLY reason Julia is able to abuse her Elbow is due to the lack of
understanding in the Tekken playing population as a whole for this move. I’ll make this very very
very very very VERY VERY VERY SIMPLE *(that sure was a lot of verys, no?)*. If Julia does
ANYTHING OTHER THEN JUST STAND THERE after an Elbow, YOU SHOULD CH THE CRAP OUT OF HER. A Kuma
f+1,1,1 IS GUARANTEED IF SHE JUST DOES AS MUCH AS a d+1.
For example, Julia uses the commonly used string as follows:
f,f+1, d+1, d/f+4,3
Quite simply, Kuma can CH Julia immediately after her Elbow. He gets a nice f+1,1,1 juggle that
will knock out half her life. Julia must stand still in order to block anything after this.
It’s that simple.
7. f,f+1,4 (Party Crasher (Elbow) to Skyscraper Kick)
Like the above, Kuma has a guaranteed f+1,1,1 between the elbow and the kick. HOWEVER, UNlike
the above, Kuma must delay attempting to do the f+1,1,1 by a split second. Fer some reason, the
Skyscraper Kick will duck under Kuma’s initial f+1, making kuma get a real nasty juggle. (Sigh,
once again, 11 or some-odd Elbows were tacked on me more then once *after messing this up*) So
basically, as rarely as you will encounter this attack, always be prepared for it, and be ready
to CH it.
8. 4,4(,4_,d+4_,1) (It's Her Infamous 4,4-type Attacks)
Ok folks, this is where parrying REALLY comes in to play. Either if you have to practice on the
computer or whatever, ALWAYS PARRY THE SECOND 4. Be able to parry it 80-90% of the time. Learn
to parry it even if you get hit by the first 4. (Yes, you can parry the low kick if you get hit
by the high kick) This goes in to the whole taking the initiative thing. Don’t ever EVER let
Julia think she is safe to use any of her low attacks. Frankly, they all come out slow, and
SHOULD ALWAYS BE PUNISHED. PARRY PARRY PARRY PARRY PARRY. *Did he remind you to PARRY?*
9. d,d/f+1,2 (Flash Punch to Flash Elbow)
Frequently, Julia players love to delay the Elbow, in hopes of getting a CH Stun with the Elbow.
The only real thing you can use to counter this move however, is to just sit there. Don’t let
Julia take the initiative by getting this CH on you. You should not get CH by this move. The
initial Flash Punch of this string always notifies you of the forthcoming elbow. Therefore, I
highly reccommend that you simply block the whole string. However, with time, I'll work out a
solution and see if it’s possible to CH this string with Kuma’s f+1,1,1 if the delay *on the
Flash Elbow* is long enough. At the time of this writing, I believe that is unadvisable, because
if it’s possible, the timing must be perfect (I’m not even sure it's even possible) and if you
get CH by the elbow, say goodbye to the round.
- Conclusion -
1. I’m sure I left out a few things. I’m sure there are typing errors *(not any more ^_^)*.
But what I’m definitely sure of, is that Julia IS beatable. She is NOT overpowered. She IS NOT
unbeatable. (However, the Mishimas are, least until I can finally figure out a way to beat good
Mishimas consistently with Kuma, I WILL DO IT.)
2. To reiterate, keep the pressure on the Changs with constant use of Kuma’s f+1. You will be
surprised at how effective that is, and as long as you don’t become repetitive, it really works
well to offset Julia’s CH game.
3. Parry. Parry. And then Parry again. *Never be afraid to Low Parry.* Never let a parry go
unpunished.
4. Don’t attack with abandon. I don’t know how many times I've repeated this in this little FAQ.
The Changs LOVE people that just follow their own custom strings. They are easy to CH, and this
is the basic reason why everyone believes the Changs to be so overpowered.
- Thanks and Copyright -
Special Thanks goes to all the Sacramento peeps that I play Tekken with. You guys were great in
discovering these anti-Julia things.
This document is Copyright 2000 Joshua Pryor. Please feel free to distribute this FAQ throughout
the 'net, as long as my name is left on this document and it stays in the original format. Also,
this FAQ isn't for sale in any way, form, or shape, but rather should be free to all of the people
who want to see it. Basically, don't f%@k with any of it and/or go around saying this is yours.
