Sarah Weaknesses and Potential Work Arounds

Um how do you know this sir? I was talking about how her moves could be 4 vf6. You dont know how her moves will change just like none of use knew that she would get these step moves for VF5FS. They definitely can be acted upon. If enough people give legit faults about a certain character, AM2 will most likely change it.Goh is a good example. In VF5 he was lacking strings i believe. He was harder to use also. ln FS they made him easier. So you never what could happen in the next game.Thats what i was talking about as way to improve her in the next game and also my opinion on whats useful and what isnt.

 

I think at this point you really have done all you can. Let them accept reality and move on to quit/grow with Sarah. Having said that, this is one of the best posts I've read in a great moon's time.

 

Ok, ok, maybe I was being somewhat of a dick, but that wasn't aimed directly at you. It was aimed at the very LARGE amount of noise on this site about how much Sarah sucks and why VF5 is so unbalanced, blah blah blah etc....

I'm sick of hearing it honestly. Akira and Jacky clearly have a wealth of tools/options, but every character has a great chance of winning any given match against any opponent. And that includes Sarah.

Ok agreed. Let's start with the basics.

Sarah's punishment list:

10f = - leads into backturned play. Her BT has some excellent options. - High half circular that leads to 100 point combos. - just like with the follow up for easy combo. - full circular low sweep.

12f = strings. Same damage as the standard follow up, but with the added options of her various P string finishers or FS play. Depending on what your oppoonent does, plan accordingly.

14f = flip kick, clearly not as devastating as her brother's, but still good.
14f = - This string can be finished with a , can be canceled into Flamingo, or can be transitioned into FS. The possibilities here are ridiculous. Ri-damn-diculous....
14f = - same as above but the second P is a mid to catch duckers. Also, this can be finished with K which is a full circular mid. Or it can be cancelled into Flamingo. Again, ridiculous....

16f = - Free launcher, second hit can be delayed if necessary.

17f = - Depending on the character weight or how you landed the launcher (NH? CH?) combos can range from 70 to 100+.

This is a start, yes?

 

Maybe there should be a Sarah Tech thread where every little sneaky underhanded dirty little tricks she has can be listed and analyzed.

 

I was going to call out 2 strings in particular that I'm finding a lot of success with and I'm hoping will help out my fellow Sarahs as well. I find a lot of success incorporating these against people who don't always spam back DM and but who do it enough to warrant changing up your GP a little bit.

1) & ~

The first string (Non-guard cancel) is really nice for a couple of reasons:

The first kick pros & cons
+ Covers your back which is a rarity for Sarah half-circulars
+ 1st part executes in 13 frames, which is fast than at 16 frames as the only other non-FL half-circular that covers your back
+ Has a little step back that will make some attacks whiff against Sarah
- On block, is -4 and BT
- Yet another high

The second kick pros & cons
+ Ex-high which means will catch any low interrupt attack attempts
+ Pushback on block makes it really safe and is only -5 on block
+ Guaranteed if 1st kick connects
+ Really hard to duck on reaction if 1st kick is blocked
+ Half-circular
- If opponent does duck it, you can be free launched, but that is true for most high finishes
- Not the greatest damage in the world and hard to follow up with good pressure but do-able

So you have a decent string, but the FL cancel of the second kick is really powerful because it is surprisingly fast! The animation is really deceiving because it looks like Sarah has to fully turn around to begin FL stuff but actually she doesn't. It's so fast that you can actually get the FL + Sabaki off against any attempt. I'd suggest trying it out and doing ~ -> FL because at least for me, it's opened up a fair amount of people.

2) + ~

While most of us probably use this to punish -14 to -15 standing opponents, it has some really cool pressure applications.

On block, the first two punches will make contact regardless of your opponent's desire to crouch the second punch. This is key because it means that you can throw those two punches out buffered and as long as you make contact, it's going through. This means that even on block, they opponent can't the second punch This is also nice since the second punch is high, so they can't slip underneath it with ducking. Also the guard cancel is really fast (way faster than the + ~) as you can still get the FL + Sabaki off or apply pressure how you see fit.

Hope that helps!

 

I'll just like to point out as well this move near the wall is a game changer. wall bounce into whatever is too sexy.

 

So I've been doing some testing with FL or + and FL or + ~ and I thought I would share some of the results with what I've seen and how it can be used.

Many of us (myself included for a long time) probably overlook this move since its evasion properties are kind of weird (the evasion window is not intuitive given that it needs to be done very close to the active frames of an opponent's attack) and it's a rather slow move in relation to Sarah's other FL moves. However, if we look at the move in total, it has some great properties:

1) Full-circular
2) Ex-high
3) Head crumple on CH
4) Evasion properties (even if finicky)

So we have a move that is good on the properties list but seems not too great. Something doesn't seem right no? I think I've figured out the purpose of this move and how it is designed to be used.

One thing that is common to most Sarah players I have spoken to is how in FL it seems that if your opponent commits to either abare or DM, they have a decent chance of escaping a lot of FL pressure. Well, this move actually covers both those options really well! If you wait to input the command so it is near the active frames of an abare, nearly any fast poke the opponent throws out will be stepped and the probability is high that you will get a nice CH head crumple. In addition, if the opponent DM's and doesn't cancel the failed evade early, you'll also have a high chance of getting a CH. Although not perfect, it's a great option select ("OS") to cover both those options well.

The cancel version or FL or + ~ is also pretty good. If your opponent attacks, you'll evade it and get side position in FL, which is probably the best position you can be in with Sarah. If they DM and you do the step cancel, you'll be at a nice frame advantage to begin your attack! Plus, since they did an evade dash cancel, they won't be able to evade again for a couple of frames, meaning you can go to linear town (HT: Tricky for his lab work on EDC).

It takes some getting used to as more often when in FL, I know I make up my mind regarding the mix-up to throw out and input it as fast as possible. However, if you start using this, I think it's actually a pretty powerful tool since it covers two decent options for the opponent, especially at +3 or worse. I know I've hit a lot of people with it and despite my hit confirms sucking since I've just only started to us it consistently, the results of the amounts of hits I get with it are really good.

One side benefit to the evasion property of this move is that it makes a great tool for turning the table on people who like to step you attempts and then punish with a power move, launcher or side throw (i.e. Akira Body Check, Jacky or Sarah backflip, Shun Donkey Kick, etc.) If you react to the evasion, and input the command, you'll more likely than not, dodge the opponent's attack and be put into a good position. I know I've evaded quite a few Jacky backflips with this and it's a very good feeling.

Hope that helps! Next I'm going to see if there is anything that can be derived from +

 

You can also evade half circular rising attacks with 2/8P+K. If the opponent lands on the ground after a combo with their head facing Sarah's feet, most commonly after a FL 6KK ender or by itself, 2/8P+K will evade. FL 4K beats lows obviously so you're always covered.

Her flipkick also beats mid full circular rising attacks with proper timing. I have a habit of canceling into FL from 4 K+G on opponents wakeup. I get it sometimes. FL 2K+G beats mid rising attacks too. Too risky to use cause of long startup.

Another thing, if your opponent is evading out of FL a lot and you don't want to commit to FL K+G, FL 3P hits to the back. I've noticed that most players evade primarily to Sarah's back. FL 4K and FL 1KK covers the front. At least fro FL 3P you have the option of the mid or K followup and it's safer. Or the FL 3PxG 8K mixup (this is nice, i'm glad I read this thread).

 

I agree with Blackstar in that Sarah is a Yomi character. Thats how I considered her in vanilla as well and was happy with her. However now she has even more tools and certain weaknesses were removed and certain new weaknesses were introduced.

My opinion on weaknesses:

1.

2. Sarah lacks range somewhat. Apart from 66K and 4K+G both of which are pretty slow, she doesn't have anything. She excels at close-mid range, but when opponent is running away, it can be pretty annoying.

3. Minor: Throwing from flamingo, Y U DO IT SEGA?? Sure she has FLA 2K hitthrow which is propably my favorite option against lazy throw escape but it_can_be_evaded. Its not like she doesn't have options, but having the catch throws from standard flamingo would have been so goood.

4. Minor: Not many normal hit launchers. Although having FLA 3K stun also on normal hit was a huge improvement.

In any case, Sarah is definitely tournament viable in my opinion, but like Akira requires you to be on point since she doesn't give rewards free. Have to be able to read your opponent.

ps. Step and slides are garbage, but I don't consider that a weakness since she doesn't need them.

 

I haven't been able to play much of recent (stupid school) but one thing I would encourage all Sarahs to develop is the ability to crush rising attacks with since it covers both mid and low rising attacks. I'm still trying to get better at it when I get the chance, and it is a slow process. I've been working on it for a while and I'll tell you, it's really REALLY nice to have the threat for a couple of reasons.

1) If you mess up, you can ++ follow-up to relative safely with her jump away (position dependent since you don't want to put yourself in a dangerous position)
2) Leads into really good damage combo that leads into fantastic oki setups at the end of combo
3) Most people don't respect Sarah's crush game since few people use it or always use + to only punish low rising attacks, but once you get it down consistently, it is really scary and makes the opponent not so eager to use rising attacks
4) Makes a really powerful complement to meaty setups since the opponent CAN'T evade, therefore forcing them into a true 50/50 where there best option is to block while getting up, going into nice +5 (usually) FL pressure

One other thing I was going to recommend was consider using without it's canned follow-ups. It's only -5 on block so you can use fuzzy guard if they block but more important is the fact that many people know the follow-up is a high and a FL cancel. I've noticed many people use tech crouch abares, crouch block or lows to try to get the edge on when I use that string. Therefore, if you see them doing such things, you can use + to catch a lot of those things and get a nice CH combo. Just something to consider. It's a little slow and linear so it's best used for it's tech jump to go over lows, but it's good to throw in every now and then

Final thing I was messing with was FL ++ to see if there were any cool things that come from it and nope...completely for trolling purposes only, but I will admit that a number of times, people instinctively attacked after I landed (the recovery is really fast) which lead into a successful FL /+ CH for that little bit of trolling splendor.

Congrats to BLACKSTAR for placing so high and once I'm done with school, looking forward to getting back to a more focused training regiment. We need a Sarah champion!

 

Taka vs Sarah is the worst match up in the game and throws in flamingo would have been great. Fairly easy to nerf most of Sarah's favorable FL options out with sabaki's, since she has mostly single limed attacks. Vane can DS 46P+K Sabaki Sarah out of most FL kicks at disadvantage. Her high damage FS worthy combos and setups all come from the two useless stances Slide and Bakcslide.

 

I know this is only 1 match but you just have to adapt your play style v taka




counter and minor counter hits kills taka

(jumps over when at advantage) all connects on counter and minor counter juggles along the floor (last hit techable by taka if player can time it)

and........

 

No, special mids are what force (guarding) opponents to stand from crouching and without dealing any damage. A special high attack will catch a low attack (well some, particularly 2P) during its active frames. FLA used to be special high, but I'm not sure if she has any in Final Showdown.

 

BLACKSTAR, I'm a novice Sarah player, but it's hard for me to imagine a worse match for Sarah than Taka. How many viable launchers does she have for him? 2P+KK doesn't work, FLA P2K!K!K doesn't work, and while it seems that she gets above average damage from 1K, it's a risky move.