001. STREET FIGHTER 4 - BALROG - INTRO & STRATEGY

NORMAL MOVES | SPECIAL MOVES | COMBOS | MATCH UP NOTES & VIDEOS

OVERVIEW

• Amazing normal moves that give him a great ground game, allowing him to punish jumpers and pressure opponents to the "ropes".

• EX Dash Punches have armor allowing him to absorb a hit and close the distance on his opponents.

• Although Balrog has multiple ways to deal out damage and connect his ultra, his straightforward style and few imxups overall make him very linear to play and fight against.

RESOURCES

1UP.COM MY CHEATS BALROG SUPER GUIDE

SHORYUKEN.COM BALROG FORUM

SHORYUKEN.COM BALROG FRAME DATA

002. STREET FIGHTER 4 - BALROG - NORMAL MOVES

JAB (LIGHT) PUNCH

• Balrog's crouching light punch is one of the best normal moves in the game due to its speed and frame advantage on block or hit. This makes comboing and creating air-tight block strings easier than it is with most other characters. His jumping light punch looks almost identical to his jumping fierce punch. Use this to confuse opponents that are blocking, and throw them after they block the light punch.

STRONG (MEDIUM) PUNCH

• Balrog's standing close medium punch can act as an anti-air, but don't rely on it. For the most part, medium punch's usefulness is when Balrog crouches. Use it to set up one of Balrog's dash punches (if you have charge, it will combo into a dash punch), or after a succesful overhead punch and link it to a headbutt.

FIERCE (HARD) PUNCH

• Crouching hard punch is Balrog's go-to anti-air move. It has very little risk and stops most jump in attacks. Balrog's jumping fierce also has a lot of range and active frames. If you feel pressured, just jump back and use this baby. Sometimes overly-aggressive attackers will rush into his fist. This move can also punish certain whiffed moves like Zangief's lariat from the right distance.
  

SHORT (LIGHT) KICK

• Typically, crouching light kick is the move that every special comes after. For most player's, it's generally prefered to use crouching light kick to link into specials because most of Balrog's specials are performed with punches, freeing up space to use whichever level of punch is required (jab, strong, fierce). Also, because crouching light kick is a low, sometimes it will catch opponent's who are blocking high (Balrog lacks a multiple low setups, therefore opponent's can block high for the most part).

FORWARD (MEDIUM) KICK

• This is a low that Balrog can combo from (use crouching light kick after it), and it might catch opponents off-guard if you whiff a move in the air and immediately go for this low. This can also be used as a meaty normal to continue the pressure. 

ROUNDHOUSE (HARD) KICK

• Crouching hard kick is one of the best sweeps in the game due to its speed and range. If you are within distance of your opponent, and you are both waiting for the other to do something, throw this out randomly. It catches a lot of players if used randomly in a footsie battle. Jumping hard kick is also a good pressure tool. It hits at an angle that allows Balrog to jump early and hit early. Use it after three crouching light punches, jump and hard kick and continue the pressure. Force your opponent to crack with this tool.

003. STREET FIGHTER 4 - BALROG - SPECIAL MOVES

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DASH STRAIGHT

CHARGE BACK, FORWARD + PUNCH

• Light Punch version is safe from max range.
• Use a focus attack dash cancel and throw the opponent for added pressure.

DASH UPPER

CHARGE BACK, FORWARD + KICK

• The ex version is comboable afterwards.
• Whiff the ex version (less recovery) and throw unsuspecting opponents.

DASH LOWER STRAIGHT

CHARGE BACK, DOWN FORWARD + PUNCH

• Use this after a block string to catch opponent's who think it's safe to move. This comes out slower than a dash straight punch.

DASH LOWER SMASH

CHARGE BACK, DOWN FORWARD + KICK

• For the most part, use this only to break people who are keen on focus attacking your dash punches. It pushes your opponent towards the corner a considerable amount, too.

DASH SWING BLOW

CHARGE BACK, DOWN FORWARD + HOLD PUNCH

• Overhead attack.

BUFFALO HEADBUTT

CHARGE DOWN, UP + PUNCH

• Passes through projectiles.

TURN AROUND PUNCH (TAP)

HOLD THREE PUNCHES OR KICKS

• Passes through projectiles.
• The trick to using TAP is to hold the bottom six kick buttons with the lower part of your hand and curling your fingers to play with the punch buttons. Release the tap by raising the lower part of your hand from the buttons then (arcade stick).

SUPER

CRAZY BUFFALO

CHARGE BACK, TOWARDS, BACK, TOWARDS + PUNCH

ULTRA

VIOLENT BUFFALO

CHARGE BACK, TOWARDS, BACK, TOWARDS + THREE PUNCHES

004. STREET FIGHTER 4 - BALROG - COMBOS

MASTER GUIDE COMBOS

• cr.lp x3, cancel into lp dash straight
• cr.lp x2, cancel into ex dash upper, cr.lp, cr.lk, cancel into hp buffalo headbutt
• focus attack (opponent collapse), dash cancel into cr.mk, cr.lk, cancel into hp buffalo headbutt
• close standing lp x2, far standing lp x2, cr.hk
• hp buffalo headbutt, super or ultra
• lp dash swing blow, cr.lk, cancel into lp dash straight, cancel to super
• jump in hk, far standing hk, cr.lk, cancel into ex dash upper, cr.lp x2, hp buffalo headbutt/super/ultra

005. STREET FIGHTER 4 - BALROG - MATCH UPS

Choose a character to view match up notes and videos.

VS.VS.VS.VS.VS.

VS.VS.VS.VS.VS. 

VS.VS.VS.VS.VS.

VS.VS.VS.VS.VS.

VS.VS.VS.VS.VS.

ABEL | AKUMA | BALROG | BLANKA | C. VIPER | CAMMY | CHUN-LI | DAN | DHALSIM | FEI-LONG |  E.HONDA | EL FUERTE | GEN | GOUKEN | GUILE | KEN | M. BISON | ROSE | RUFUS | RYU | SAGAT | SAKURA |  SETH | VEGA | ZANGIEF

vs. Dictator (Bison)

• Any scissor kick that isn't light kick can be punished with a crouching light punch and therefore a combo.
• Using TAP twice can sometimes hit a Dictator who is too happy to retaliate with scissor kick. To do this trick, hold down all the buttons with your entire hand. Release the top half of your hand (the punch buttons) to do the first TAP, then release the lower half of your hand (the kick buttons) to do the second TAP.
• If Bison does wake up teleport on you, bait it my jumping in on his wakeup and then release TAP when he teleports.
• If a Bison is abusing devil's reverse to build meter, tag him with an ex upper at the right time. 
• If you have the lead, turtle. This matchup requires momentum, so don't force it. If you dash straight in with anything, Bison's easiest answer is to ex psycho crucher you. Do not charge in on him, but walk him into the corner and get a lead. Once he regains momentum, sit back and wait for another opportunity to take the flow.

vs. Blanka

• Blanka's horizontal ball loses to Balrog's dash punch. Simply block it and retaliate with a dash punch.
  
• Balrog's swing punch, crouching light kick to headbutt does not connect unless it's a counter hit. Just use swing punch, crouching medium punch to dash punch.
• Ex headbutt loses to Blanka's electricity. Don't bother using it. Instead, if you expect a Blanka to use electricity, step back and sweep him.
• Blanka's electricity takes time to startup. On his wakeup, jab him to prevent his electricity, then throw him.
  
• If you block Blanka's ultra, you can retaliate with your entire ultra (on the ground). The timing is strict however, and if you feel you can't do it, just do the ultra and juggle him in the air.
  

vs. Abel

• Abel lacks a consistent anti-air. Feel free to pressure him from the air and mix it up with tick throws.
• If you expect Abel to do a tick throw, hold up and when he whiffs the throw, come down with a neutral jumping fierce, crouching medium punch to dash punch or any variation of a combo from jumping fierce.
• On Abel's wakeup, mix it up with throws (to beat his roll), jumps (to beat his throw), and jabs (in case he blocks) to gain the upperhand.

vs. Ryu

• Never use an ex dash punch from across the screen. Good Ryus are looking for this and will punish hard. The same goes with using TAP. Use either an ex dash punch or TAP when you expect a fireball from about mid screen.
• Dash back on wakeup to bait a shoryuken and sweep.
• Balrog's jumping fierce has good range. If you predict a fireball, sometimes you can tag Ryu with it and combo from there or sweep with crouching roundhouse.
• If the Ryu player is buffering his crouching medium kick into shoryuken (he's doing this, so if you dash punch, the buffered medium kick will automatically link to a shoryuken and break your armor), then space your dash punch so you hit him after he whiffs or before.

vs. Ken

• Ken has slower recovery on his fireball, so predict when he does a fireball and jump fierce as a way to get in.
• Ken's forward medium kick can be punished by a properly spaced crouching roundhouse.
• Ken's crouching medium kick can be beaten by standing roundhouse.

vs. Chun Li

• When Chun Li is blocking your block strings, be careful of mixing it up with ex swing blow. Any mixup with a dash punch that gives space can be countered by Chun Li's ex lightning legs.
• Chun Li's crouching roundhouse extends her hit box. Use crouching roundhouse as a punish.
• The best strategy against Chun Li, is a careful one that puts her slowly into the corner. Her fireball can't zone as well as Ryu's, so a walk and block strategy is best. Once Chun Li is in the corner, a lot of her spacing tricks and baits are gone.
• If you knock Chun Li down, ocassionally jump in and do nothing. Time it so you bait an ex spinning bird kick and block it. Retaliate with a sweep.

vs. Dhalsim

• Dhalsim's standing fierce beats any headbutt attempt (in fact, any low stuffs out Balrog's headbutt. Only ex headbutt goes through lows).
• Getting in on Dhalsim requires a combination of knowing when to use ex dash punches, using ex headbutt after a TAP, good air spacing, and strong corner control.
• Once you get Dhalsim in the corner, do your best never to let him out. If he teleports behind you, be ready to retaliate with a headbutt, standing light punch (if you barely saw it), or a crouching fierce.
• The most important part in this matchup is knowing how to stick to Dhalsim. Once you knock him down, never let Dhalsim go anywhere but back into the corner.

vs. Zangief

• Use dash punches sparingly. In fact, avoid using them at all. This matchup has evolved into a match where Balrog players test their knowledge of their normal game.
• Standing light punch, jump back fierce, crouching fierce, crouching roundhouse (Balrog extends his hit box when he throws this out, so be properly space, or you will get hit by the lariat), and jumping roundhouse are all normal moves that beat lariat as well as space well against Zangief. Crouching roundhouse, however, is the main tool that keeps Zangief away.
• If a Zangief is spamming lariat to gain meter, don't dash punch. Walk up slowly and space yourself so a jumping fierce will hit him if he tries again. You can, however, use ex dash upper to beat his lariat and combo into an ultra if you'd like (ex dash punch, cr. lp, cr. lk, headbutt, ultra).
• Fight for your ground. If either character gets into the corner, the character outside of the corner gains a huge advantage. However, if you feel pressured and have enough space behind you, feel free to jump back and fierce. It beats Gief's ex greenhand attempts and most jump attacks.

vs. Balrog (Boxer)

• Standing light punch beats all of Balrog's dash punches (if space correctly).
• Balrog cannot do this combo unless on counter hit: swing blow, crouching light kick, headbutt. The headbutt whiffs because of Balrog's hit box.
• Generally, the match goes in favor of the one who turtles because standing light punch is such a good spacing tool against Balrog's own moves.
• Finding out when to move from "standard" Balrog play to unorthodox play is what will win you the match.
• Unorthodox play includes using an ex heabutt after TAP, whiffing swing blow on wakeup and throwing, meaty crouching medium kick to beat headbutt, and etcetera.

vs. Rose

• Against Rose, knock her down and always continue the pressure. She has no reliable anti-air, so fill free to jump in as long as she doesn't have ultra meter.
• Rose can, however, retaliate on wakeup with ex soup spiral (it gives her invincibility frames). This is up to your judgement if the Rose you play is the type to use it on wakeup.
• If Rose has ultra meter and you knocked her down, just use meaty crouching light punches. They recover fast enough that if she does ultra on wakeup, it won't hit you.
• If you are at the end of the screen and Rose is playing keep away, don't rush in, especially if she has ultra meter. Just walk her into the corner.

vs. C. Viper

• Against Viper, do your best to take momentum away from her. If you feel pressured or confused about a possible crossup flame kick, just ex upper away.
• Against Viper, crouching light punch is your best weapon. Because it can be blocked standing, it's considered a high move. Thus, flame kick gets stuffed by it and takes away one of her options on wakeup.
• Try to time your ex dash punches so they go through her flame kicks or projectiles and hit her.
• Her projectiles whiff if you use a TAP, so if the Viper is "machine-gunning" her projectiles, hold onto TAP, right after you block it and let go when you think she's going to do it again.
• Headbutts do not go through her projectiles because they are considered low attacks.

vs. El Fuerte

• To avoid his running mixup (on your wakeup), use ex dash punches to get away from splash (and possible punish them) or TAP. You can also dash back or jump straight up.
• Bait El Fuerte's ultra on wakeup by using crouching light punch. In fact, use it on all of his wakeups to continue the pressure.
• Use jump back fierce as a spacing tool if you are worried about his dash shenaningans.
• His slide is positive on block, so if you block the slide, don't do anything. Normally, El Fuerte will hit you with a jab after it for score a counter hit and then combo or use it as a tick throw. More often than not, they go for the tick throw, so be prepared to tech.

vs. Akuma

• Akuma is a good keep away character, and any good Akuma player will use his fireballs as baits. Walk to Akuma and don't fall for his baits. Use ex punches for his air fireballs if you KNOW they will hit.
• TAP is a double-edged sword in this matchup. It allows Balrog to get in, but TAP is the easiest tool to bait against for Akuma. Try not to use this when Akuma has meter. If he doesn't have meter, he can also bait it with a tornado kick. Walk Akuma to the corner and stay just a little behind the timer, so if he teleports out, you get a free sweep or headbutt.
• Play against Akuma like a shoto, but be sure to drastically turtle if he has ultra meter and you are at the end of the screen.

vs. Rufus

• Always rushdown a Rufus with no meter for ex messiah kick. If Rufus does have ex messiah kick, choose your attacks wisely.
• On Rufus's ex messiah kick follow up, use ex headbutt (has to be timed well) to beat his follow up options. This will beat his overheard kick and sweep. If he does the flip kick ender, just throw him or combo from a crouching light punch.
• If a Rufus is dive kick happy and you are being pressured by it, use ex upper to get away.
• Spacing is key. A combination of crouching fierce and jump back fierce will give Rufus a hard time against you. Sparingly use crouching roundhouse because it whiffs on dive kicks.

vs. Sagat

• Sagat's standing roundhouse will beat your ex dash punches. Thus, do not use them unless they will go through a fireball and hit Sagat immediately.
• Jumping fierce punch will sometimes beat or trade with Sagat's standing roundhouse. Spacing matters.
• Use TAP sparingly.
• Sagat's hitbox is weird, so you cannot combo a dash swing blow to crouching light kick or medium punch to headbutt unless he's standing or it's counter hit.
• Use sweep as a spacing tool against Sagat to give him 0 room to move.

vs. Vega

• Vega's walldive attacks can be avoided by the use of TAP. If you are unsure if you might get grabbed, just use TAP. Otherwise, focus attack and absorb the blow, then dash and start a combo.
• Vega's backflip can be beaten easily by TAP or dash punch. Just use it to close the distance and throw him or hit him with a combo.
• Vega has really good poking tools to stop you from many tick throws. If you want to tick throw Vega, use it after one crouching light punch or throw him after you do a jumping fierce or jumping light punch.
• The ideal strategy here is to stick to Vega so he won't have room to use his ultra. Vega also has no reliable anti-airs, so this job should be relatively easy.
• If Vega has ultra, don't let him bait you with his ultra. Walk to him and hit him.

vs. E. Honda

• Honda's headbutt can be punished by a (light punch version) dash punch.
• Because Balrog has a low jump, most jump attacks will get easily punished by Honda's ex headbutt. Your job is to bait these headbutts and make him waste meter. Once he wastes his meter, go all out, get a lead, then turtle.
• Honda's forte is his turtling. Use a lot of tick throws to mess with a Honda and open him up to further pressure.
• Your throw is faster than Honda's oichio, so don't worry about relation from it if you are going for a tick throw.
• If Honda uses his Sumo Smash too often, just dash back and sweep him. If you block the Sumo Smash and are unsure if he hit it at the right angle to be safe, just jab and then throw him.

vs. Guile

• This is matchup is all about pressuring Guile into the corner.
• You can focus attack and absorb the first part of his sweep, dash in and throw him. This takes some practice, but it's a useful tool to shut down Guile's options.
• Walk and block Guile into the corner. The chip damage from his sonic booms are very little. If you want to close the distance, it's okay to use a ex dash punch (straight, because it's the fastest that can't whiff) and continue pressure from there.
• Guile's hitbox is strange, so dash swing blow to any combo that leads to a headbutt will whiff unless on counter hit.

vs. Cammy

• Cammy has a hard time against characters that can turtle well. Use this against her.
• For the most part, choose your attacks wisely when going against a Cammy who pressures you heavily with cannon spike. Let her whiff the move and punish appropriately.
• Depending on the height of a cannon drill, Cammy will have a 50/50 option against Balrog. If the Cammy has meter, she will usually go for a cannon spike, so just block. Otherwise, take the throw. Her cannon spike hurts far more than a throw. She will open herself up in her attempts to get in on you.
• Balrog has superior footsies against Cammy. Utilize his ground game well to keep Cammy pressured. Moves like crouching fierce, crouching roundhouse, standing light punch, and crouching light punch are good tools.

vs. Feilong

• Feilong's rekkas are safe on block from certain distances, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't retaliate with a dash punch. Sometimes, you will catch Feilong's off guard with this.
• Balrog's normal moves are great against Feilong. If you close the distance where you are in a battle that's closer than mid range, than feel free to use Balrog's normals all day.
• If Balrog is from mid range, it's usually better to wait for the Feilong player to do something and then retaliate with a dash punch to close distance and continue pressure.
• Feilong's rekkukyaku (aka the chicken wing) can cross Balrog up. It is safe at certain distances.

vs. Gouken

• Gouken is a big target and thus jump attacks become easier to land. If a Gouken is using parries as his main way to counter your jump attacks, just whiff an attack in the air and throw him or empty jump and throw him.
• Use ex dash punches to get through Gouken's non-charged fireballs.
• Gouken lacks a good footsie game, so abuse your normal moves, especially crouching roundhouse.
• If you knock Gouken down, stay on top of him. His lack of a shoryuken and his size make him easy to pressure.
• Once Gouken gains meter, watch out for tick throws. They will leads in to his ultra.

vs. Sakura

• Sakura does not have a reliable anti-air. Feel free to jump and attack her on wakeup all day.
• Sakura's standing roundhouse and crouching roundhouse are slow, so as long as you are the one attacking first you will usually stuff her attacks.
• Sakura's ultra hits low, so a regular headbutt will not stuff it.
• Sakura's fireball isn't a really good spacing tool, and without a reliable anti-air jump attacks are a good option.

vs. Gen

• Out pressure Gen with superior pokes.
• Gen has a deep cross up and low jump, so although headbutt is risky, crouching fierce is still useable.
• You can focus attack, dash and throw Gen's sweep.
• Gen has low a damage output, so stay calm and take momentum when you have it. Otherwise, calm down.

vs. Seth

• Seth's main weakness is his lack of health and damage.
• Seth can keep Balrog away with standing fierce, jump back fierce, and sonic booms. In a sense, gaining distance on Seth is difficult, and most of your distance gaining will come from slow walking and blocking, or predicting a move and countering with a ex dash punch or ex headbutt.
• In a sense, treat Seth like Dhalsim except with better normals and worse HP. Patience, however, is more important than against Dhalsim in this matchup.
• Ideally, you want to gain a lead and turtle really hard once Seth gains meter. His sonic boom chip is weak, so keep avoiding them and kill time.

vs. Dan

• Treat this matchup like you're facing Ken except with a worse fireball (but stronger ultra).
• His ultra can be focus attacked and absorbed.
• Dan's version of the tornado kick breaks armor and has long active frames, so watch out for these.