SAGAT - MOVES COMBOS & STRATEGY

SAGAT

CHARACTER INTRO

Sagat, although not impossible to beat, is currently the best character in the game. With so many ways to deal out damage and force his opponents to make moves, he can control the match almost 100% of the time when played correctly.

Sagat's normal moves aren't the absolute best in the game but they do lead to some serious damage when used in combos. His crouching Light Kick starts off most of his bread and butter combos and is a pretty decent poke. His crouching medium kick can be canceled into Low Tiger Shot and Tiger Uppercut which both lead to half life combos when you mix in some Focus Attack Dash Canceling and his Ultra. You can also cancel into MK Tiger Knee from crouching MK to pressure your opponent

His standing light kick reaches far and can be canceled into Tiger Knee and Tiger Shot so it is good for getting a little distance or closing in on your opponent depending on what you want to do.

His crouching Medium Punch isn't bad either in that it beats a lot of moves, can be cancled into low tiger shot and also linked from crouching Light Kick. Finally, his standing Hard Kick is amazing anti-air with very little risk.

As far as his command normals, his towards and Light Kick is a low hit that is used for his Kara-Tiger Knee to gain ground on his opponent. His toward and Hard Punch is an over head which is great for mix ups and to tack on some extra damage while pressuring.

His towards and Hard Kick is probably his best command normal by far because when used as anti air you can follow up with so many moves: Tiger Knee, Ultra or another towards and Hard Kick. After a FADC Tiger Uppercut you can also follow up with towards and Hard Kick.

Speaking of his Tiger Uppercut, this is one of the better special moves in the game. It is great anti air in that even if it trades you can still follow up with towards and Hard Kick into Ultra or Tiger Knee. If you hit deep with it you can FADC into the same sort of combos or a Tiger Knee. You can also follow up a connected EX Tiger Uppercut with his Ultra, although the timing can be a bit tricky.

His Tiger Shot is one of the best projectiles in the game because it can force the opponent to do so much. High Tiger shots are faster than Hadoukens so you will always win fireball fights when timed correctly. His low Tiger Shots can annoy his opponent into jumping which leads to all kinds of damage. His EX Tiger Shot combos out of many moves and knocks down on hit.

His Tiger Knee is what really makes him such a beast though. When you pressure from max range with his Tiger Knee there is not much most of the cast can do about it. As long as you don't wiff or hit with both hits of the Tiger Knee you are virtually safe from any sort of attack. You can use the Tiger Knee in poke strings to keep your opponent locked down so there is very little they can do to respond except make a mistake. HK Tiger Knee can also be used as anti-air.

More than that, his Tiger Knee is an armor breaker so your opponent cannot respond with a Focus Attack without eating a Tiger Knee. The spacing can take some time to see without the use of poke strings but it is well worth it to spend some time to see it. There will be very little the person you are playing against can do against it once you start pressuring effectively.

As mentioned, his Ultra is very versatile, much more than the rest of the casts for the most part and does a lot of damage. Much like M. Bison, if you are playing Street Fighter IV to dominate, Sagat should be one of your top picks.

FULL SAGAT STRATEGY GUIDE AT 1UP.COM MYCHEATS

COMMAND NORMALS

TOWARDS + LIGHT KICK

• Stepping light kick that hits low
• Used for kara special moves
  

TOWARDS + HARD KICK

• Stepping roundhouse kick that hits opponents out of air. (follow up with Tiger Knee or Ultra)

TOWARDS + HARD PUNCH

• Overhead attack.

SPECIAL MOVES

TIGER UPPERCUT
FORWARD, DOWN, DOWN-FORWARD + PUNCH

• Great anti-air.
• If it trades you can combo into: Forward and Roundhouse, Tiger Knee or Ultra.
• You can Focus Attack Dash Cancel into: Forward and Roundhouse Tiger Knee or Ultra.

TIGER KNEE
FORWARD, DOWN, DOWN-FORWARD + KICK

• Light Kick and Medium Kick versions Safe on block from the right distances.
• Good for gaining ground, intercepting pokes, getting out of some cross up situations.
• Many combo possibilities such as after a traded/FADC Tiger Uppercut or anti-air forward + roundhouse.
• Can be used as anti-air in some situations.

TIGER SHOT (HIGH)
QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD + PUNCH

• Faster than the other Shoto fireballs so good in fireball fights.

TIGER SHOT (LOW)
QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD + KICK

• Low fireball, good for zoning.
• EX Version great for stopping dashes.
• Follow up with Ultra after EX version in corner.

SUPER MOVE

TIGER GENOCIDE
QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD X2 + KICK

ULTRA

TIGER DESTRUCTION

QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD X2 + THREE KICKS

Street Fighter 4 'MyCheats Sagat Combo' video

COMBOS

C. LK x2, C. LP xx Tiger Uppercut

Sagat's best close range combo. The first two crouching light kicks will allow you to hit confirm the rest of the combo.

S. LK xx Low Tiger Shot

Great series to use to end your poke strings with. LK comes out quickly and has good range so use this often when you're about a character or two length away from the opponent.

MASTER GUIDE COMBOS

• hp tiger uppercut, FADC into fwd + hk, ultra
• jump in hk, cr.mp, cancel into hp tiger uppercut (can be continued into combo 1)
• cr.mk, cancel into ground tiger shot, Focus Attack Level 2, dash foward after hit, cr.mp, cancel into hk tiger knee
• (corner) cr.lp, cancel into ex ground tiger shot, ultra
• (anti-air)[hp tiger uppercut, fadc] or [hp tiger uppercut trades, fwd + hk], ultra
• cr.lk, cr.mp, cancel into ex tiger uppercut, ultra (only works on: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Blanka, Boxer, Sagat, Dictator, El.Fuerte, Rufus, Akuma)
• cr.lk, mp or hp, super

MATCH UP NOTES

vs. Dictator (Bison)

• S. HK will punish stomps (not EX version) from the right distance.
• Vertical Jump FP is also good for stopping stomp attempts, will trade with EX Headstomp.
• Punish Devil Reverse as Bison lands on other side of the screen with anticipatory low EX Tiger Shot.
• S. HK will trade in many instances with Devil's Reverse.
• Focus Attack Devils Reverse and follow up with combo if you land the crumple.
• Dash back will avoid stomps, punish accordingly if stomp wiffs.
• From close range, use c.lp into Low Tiger Shot to keep Bison off of you.
• Cross up with LK into throw/combo/block string so he will continue to lose his charge.
• Try to stay out of the corner and out of cross up situations in this match up in that you will be at a serious disadvantage.

vs. Blanka

• Punish EX Rolling Attack with low EX Tiger Shot
• S.HK or Tiger Uppercut to stop jump ins
• While he is advancing with out a charge, try to land a Focus Attack on any of his normals. Works well against his slide.
• Block his Ultra low and then high at the apex of the "hop", punish with Ultra, F + RH or Tiger Knee when blocked.

vs. Abel

• Pressure with Tiger Shots to bait rolls. You can throw him out of his roll on the recovery.
• Punish any blocked portion of his Change of Direction with Tiger Uppercut.
• Tiger Uppercut within block strings to land reversal uppercut and counter his throw options.

vs. Ryu

• High Tiger Shots are faster than fireballs so you will always win fireball fights.
• Punish Jump ins with Tiger Uppercut or S. RH. Uppercut will trade in some cases so follow up with F + RH.
• When he has two stocks and Ultra, bait Dragon Punch into FADC but watch for follow up throw.
• FA through fireballs to gain ground. In some cases when you have them lulled into a fireball fight, you can FA through the first fireball, jump over the second and start a jump in combo.

vs. Ken

• Punish Jump ins with S. RH or Tiger Uppercut.
• Ken has a Kara throw which he will use within his c.lp block strings. Watch for the throw tech, but be careful of him mixing up with a c.mk into EX Hurricane kick.
• With full meter he can EX Hurricane Kick over your Tiger Shots. If it hits, he can combo into Ultra so try to bait the EX Hurricane Kick when this time comes. 

vs. Chun Li

• Focus Attack LVL 2 her Hazanshou Flip Kick and follow up with combo.
• Focus Attack her pokes as she pressures you.
• Pressure with Tiger Shots until she has Ultra in that she can Ultra through Tiger Shots from anywhere on the screen.
• C.LP into Low Tiger Shot is good for getting space when she gets too close.

vs. Dhalsim

• Focus Attack or Dash through his limbs.
• Uppercut limbs if he starts to recklessly throw out FP and what not.
• Do not jump in at Sim in most instances in that B + RH and B + MP will stop any jump in attack you have.
• Do not Focus Absorb Yoga Fire in that he can follow up with  FP or MP to negate your Focus.

vs. Zangief

• S. RH will punish virtually everything Zangief has so use this to keep him at bay and punish Lariats and stop Banishing Fist.
• 'Gief can be thrown if you block a Banishing Fist and you can also reversal with an Uppercut.
• Mix up low and high tiger Shots to punish Lariats.
• Try to stay out of the corner and cross up situations if possible in this match up in that you'll be at a serious disadvantage.

vs. Balrog  (Boxer)

• Tiger Knee will stop a lot of Dash Straight nonsense cold. Will crush EX Dash Straight etc so bait this by throwing a lot of tiger shots.
• Do not start off matches with Tiger Shots in that Balrog can Headbutt right through them from the start and punish you.
• Use slow High Tiger Shots to punish Balrog as he tries to pass through them with his Headbutt.
• Watch for throw mix ups after his c.lp.
• Use standing RH and Tiger Uppercut to punish jump ins.

 vs. Rose

• Mix up the speed of your Tiger shots to punish her Soul Reflect.

vs. C. Viper

• Try not to get thrown to stay out of 50/50 mix up situations.
• FADC Burning Kicks.
  

vs. El Fuerte

• FADC and dash backwards to get out of his splash mix up.
• You can duck his grabs out of his Run.
• Tiger Knee to stop running shennanigans.

vs. Akuma

• Do not try to FA Akuma's pokes in that his Standing Roundhouse is two hits and leads to damage combos.
• Vertical jump over 3 hit fireballs to avoid chip damage.
• EX Tiger Shot 3 hit fireballs, FA through last fireball to gain ground.

Comments

[hazbot]

sagat is by far the most over powered charecter on console, played by most just utilising his tiger shot till they get close then knee or punch. nearly impossible to get close to them without taking damage or playing blanka :P

[Zachat]

Is there a glossary for sagat's moves? What's RH for instance?

[alex]

please explain abbreviations

[bloodylance]

i think it means round house

[Seget]

How about the match up against Guile? :-)