« Understanding Blanka's Lightning Cannonball (Ultra 1) »
FuriousRGD
This Ultra is often misunderstood by both Blanka players and opponents alike. From almost the outset of Street Fighter 4's release, fearsome Blanka player Viscant has been worked to clear up the mystery behind this potentially devastating Ultra. This article is based on posts Viscant has made on Shoryuken on the subject*. If you are a Blanka player, it is a good idea to know how this Ultra works so that you can apply it in your game more effectively. Opponents who play against Blanka can also benefit from knowing its mechanics so that you have an idea how to deal with it.
This article specifically deals with how the Ultra 1 works. Applications, setups, tricks, and other information will be presented elsewhere.
The information in this article is for Super Street Fighter 4, although most of the mechanics of how the Ultra works are accurate for regular Street Fighter 4.
This article is meant for players who are of any level of skill.
If you have anything that you feel should be added to this article or a correction needs to be made, (regarding the situations in this article, further articles are planned for other situations), feel free to hit the comments. If we incorporate it into the article we will add your name to the article as a contributor.
Contributions by: Viscant, Dannyc
ULTRA 1 - LIGHTNING CANNONBALL
CHARGE BACK, TOWARDS, BACK, TOWARDS + THREE PUNCHES
Frame startup: 1+3
Damage: 500 if the four ground hits land. 495 if landed from the ground shock hit (120, 125, 125, 125). 150 damage on chip (30, 30, 30, 30, 30)
SUMMARY OF HOW TO DEFEND: To block this Ultra, block low at first as the Ultra is initiated. As the ball descends onto you, block high. Then block the rest however you wish once it hits the ground (High or Low).
Details:
The first hit of this ultra (1) is an invisible hit that does not show up on the combo meter but can be combo'd into. It has all the properties of a low hit and must be blocked low. It trip guards as well, however the timing of this is very hard to pull off since it is only active for 2 frames. Exact frame data for this is 2(20)46 (for those who want precise numbers).
After the initial low hit, he hops into the air and is completely inactive for 20 frames (2). The part where the ball initially hops upwards has no active hit boxes for 20 frames. Which sucks. As the ball reaches its apex and then descends, however, it becomes active again and is a mid-hit meaning that it must be blocked high (3). If you want to use this Ultra as an anti-air, you need to time things so that the opponent connects when the Ultra is active.
Blanka hits the ground (4) and the remaining ground hits can be blocked high or low as he rolls along the ground (5). After the Ultra, Blanka will then bounce away regardless of hit or block (6). If the Ultra is blocked, he is vulnerable to punish during this recovery. Like a blocked Rolling Attack, the bounce away is slow and is easy to punish for many characters. If the Ultra misses completely, Blanka will simply stop and quickly recover to his feet.
*Information used in this article is based on posts made by Viscant on Shoryuken and is used with his permission.
Reader Comments (15)
Good read but video got taken off by Capcom...
Ahhh. Nooo. It was a great addition to the article too. Thanks. That must have happened very recently. :(
This article would be better if it talked about the ultra's use as an ambiguous crossup. I hate having to guess which way to block and would really benefit from some tips on how to read it.
This one is all about how it works. There will be other articles that deal with the Ultra's setups (including that crossup everybody loves lol).
Im no expert, but when it comes to "reading" that crossup it sometimes comes down to a 50-50. a guess. a coin toss, if the Blanka player puts the ball right down on the top of your head so you can't readily tell which way to block.
If anybody has ideas for stuff they'd love to learn more about in articles like this, tho, shout out in comments or send an email. We're planning on doing lots of these articles on very specific topics so that we can feel free to get into detail.
If we put all this information in the character guide for our upcoming SuperSF4 guide, for instance, the thing would turn into the wall of text from hell so we're doing articles like this to supplement and expand on stuff.
ipw hates blanka CONFIRMED
j/k, great article furious. 8)
Um. I love Blanka lol. Why just this morning I terrorized the ranked match pretty good with my favorite baller. lol.
That last part needs to be corrected. If the Ultra misses, it won't bounce. It'll just stop and Blanka will be on the ground. Only if it's blocked or on hit will the bounce happen.
Also, the recovery is quite fast once Blanka lands on the ground after the bounce, but the bounce is a little slow, so there's some time to punish. Just be sure not to hesitate.
Also, I guess it's good to mention that only moves like Ryu's EX Shoryuken and Fuerte's EX Guacamole Leg Throw can be used as a counter around Picture 3. These moves have invulnerable frames which can get through the insanely huge hitbox of this ultra.
Of course, the Lil Shoto song will help you remember this.
Thanks Dannyc. As said before, I will make a separate article at some point on how to punish this Ultra (there are many ways, oh lord lol) and how to set it up.
I'll make that small correction and add what you said about the bounce, as that is a good point. I'll add your name as a contributor.
"it becomes active again and is a mid-hit meaning that it must be blocked high" <-- you mean it's an overhead not mid?
I think Viscant was just being super technical as to the nature of the hit by the game's system. It acts as an overhead.
Great article Furious. I didn't know how to block Ultra 1 until I heard that Lil' Shoto song. Lol. That was a few months into SF4. But it's a lethal Ultra and it takes so much chip on block. That c.mk link to U1 can be pretty tough to hit also. I have a buddy that uses him regularly. Looking forward to the rest.
As for what Dannyc pointed out in hitting blanka out of his ultra around picture 3. I found out that moves like jab srk also hits him out of it only if the move is done from a distance allowing the srk on the way up as he's descending. It's a risky decision as a wrong timing can lead to eating the ultra or some of it.
Even some ultras beat it on the way down (again, only if he did it from a distance). I know many of us know this from trial and error or experimenting, but I have a feeling some don't.
That's another planned article. I'm going to show the several Ultras that straight up eat Blanka's Ultra for breakfast like Pac Man eats a power pellet! Cammy's Ultra 1 for instance eats it for free, for instance.
SleepyG you are right. You'd be surprised how many ways there are to knock Blanka out of his Ultra 1. Sometimes when I'm fighting another Blanka I just use electricity or an up-ball and knock him right out of it.
@ShowTime
Ok, maybe I'm just being picky, but what I meant is that being a mid-hit has nothing to do with the necessity to block high. So the sentence "it becomes active again and is a mid-hit meaning that it must be blocked high" doesn't make sense. I believe you that it is a mid. But that's not the reason for high guard. OH property is.
@SleepyG Very true. I went against my buddy's Blanka AGAIN. I was Cody and I back dashed in time to be invulnerable. On the descent I went for U1 but I did it too early and just bit it. It was a really heat of the moment kind of thing and I wasn't in the right mindset to think about timing. But it's something you should really train your reactions to do as well as keeping in mind the spacing. When I played Sagat I was able to punish properly with backdash f.RH Ultra. In some situations you'd rather take the risk because you may very well end up getting chipped out. But if you can block through it just be sure to follow up.