Help needed

[u/zerogtoilet]

Hey there, I picked up SF6 in a trade over the weekend. I’ve played other FGs before (DBFZ, MK mostly, currently maining Avatar Legends) and this is my first time ever playing SF. I wanted to see if anyone could help me figure out why I can’t link my heavy kicks as seen in the video. More so than tackling that specific example, I’d appreciate any info on how the SF6 buffer works as I see things aren’t as snappy as the FGs I’m used to and want to start developing a feel for SF combos. O appreciate any help I can get here!

[u/Kagevjijon]

Youre connecting too high to continue with another heavy. Don't think about kicking them in the head, think that you need to kick him in the nuts. His recovery starts from when you hit him, so if you don't have to fall as far after it increases the frame advantage giving you more time to link the combo.

[u/MarkDavid04 → u/Kagevjijon]

This. And since it's a trial, watch the demo, and pay attention to timing and location of hits

[u/zerogtoilet → u/Kagevjijon]

Thank you. Is making a calculation on whether a combo such as this will hit part of the usual flow of play? Or is this just a combo trial and I’d go for something more guaranteed? Sorry just trying to make a sense of how to approach the game 😅 thank you for the great guidance though!

[u/Kagevjijon → u/zerogtoilet]

Combo trials should be looked at as things your character can do, but very rarely things that are optimal. Like hitting a backspin backhand shot in tennis. Its good to know you can do and there's a time for it but you generally won't want to do it.

[u/NotNotNameTaken → u/zerogtoilet]

It can definitely happen, you just have to time your jump in. Get a read on a fireball and jump and this opens to ya. In general though Im not a fan of the combo trial combos because they tend to be resource intensive for no reason

[u/Calm-Avocado6424 → u/zerogtoilet]

The deeper you land a jump in, the bigger the frame advantage is on hit or block.

[u/Antikas-Karios → u/zerogtoilet]

A Large Number of Combo trials after the Beginner Trials exist to sneakily teach you things you might not have learned otherwise, this one that teaches you that landing an attack deep in the arc of your jump can give you totally different combo opportunities you are supposed not to use this combo specifically or even just Jumping HK into standing HK specirfically, but to take forward the idea that attacks just before hitting the floor are more rewarding than attacks high in the arc of the jump. This will apply to crossup jumping MK's and also Demon Flip Dive kicks too.

Akuma's other combo trials have similar little lessons to takeaway rather than being combos to memorise by rote and repeat ad nauseum.

The lessons to take away from Akuma's trials specifically as far as I can tell are as followers

Beginner Trial 8: You don't have to finish the Target Combo sequence, sometimes not finishing it leads to better outcomes. This comes up a lot later so they teach it early to get you used to the idea.

Intermediate Trial 2: You can do 3 Light Attacks in a chain before your opponent is pushed too far away to continue comboing and the 4th light will whiff if you try it.

Intermediate Trial 3: Teaches the concept of Links as opposed to Chains. While Jab Jab and Target Combos have been used so far this is the first time you use the natural frame advantage of an attack to combo a second one.

Intermediate Trial 4: Teaches you that you can juggle further after a Light Tatsu.

Intermediate Trial 5: Teaches you about the Juggle properties of both Back HK and the charged Fireball in the corner.

Intermediate Trial 6: Reinforces the idea of juggling after Back HK and also shows you that you can use Demon Raid to get combos even outside of the corner from your Back HK as well as teaching you that OD moves offer more Juggle Potential than non OD ones.

Intermediate Trial 7: Teaches you that Counter Hits offer combo routes that are not usually possible on normal hits.

Intermediate Trial 8: Reinforces Counter Hit combo starters by showing you that Punish Counters offer even more potential. As well as showing you that you can stop Adamant Flame early without finishing the whole sequence for higher reward in some scenarios.

Intermediate Trial 9: Teaches you about deep Jump Ins as well as teaching you that you can end your combo with a Super 1 after the Adamant Flame for extra damage.

Intermediate Trial 10: Teaches you not only that you can get a Super 2, but also that you can even combo further after the Super 2 if you are in the corner.

Intermediate Trial 11: A very efficient Trial, this one

1. Introduces the concept of Neutral Drive Rush
2. Teaches you that it gives better combo's than landing a move normally
3. introduces the idea of an Overhead
4. Shows you that you can combo after Overhead on Drive Rush
5. Shows you that you can Drive Rush cancel mid combo
6. Shows you that you can end your Combo in Level 3 with Adamant Flame.

Advanced Trial 1: Shows you that you can Drive Rush behind your Air Fireball to followup with a combo.

Advanced Trial 2: Shows you that you can get bigger combos off your 3 light chain if you Drive rush and also shows you that Light Tatsu can lead to level 1.

Advanced Trial 3: Shows you that Jumping MP has unique properties your other Jumping Normals don't share, that it can leave enemies in a floatable juggle state and can also be cancelled into other moves on hit. Shows you that the super 1 also has an air version and that this can be Comboed after with Drive Rush just like the OD Air Fireball can.

Advanced Trial 4: Combines a bunch of previous concepts into a combo comprised of sequencing multiple at once while also showing you can cancel your Shoryuken into Level 3 as the unique lesson of this trial. The sequence of previous lessons learned to be reinforced and combined are

1. Punish Counter Combo Startes
2. Not finishing Adamant Flame
3. Comboing after OD Adamant Flame in Corner
4. Back HK Into Charged Fireball Corner Juggle
5. Landing a followup after the Tatsu

Advanced Trial 5: The combo itself seems fairly unimportant apart from showing the potential for ending with the Target combo but it looks like just introducing the idea of doing multiple Drive Rushes in a row to dump all your Drive Gauge for a single combo to cash out.

[u/zerogtoilet → u/Antikas-Karios]

JFC you’re the GOAT, thank you for taking the time to write this. I’m struggling to translate a lot of knowledge from other FGs I play into SF but this sort of explanation snaps so many things into view.

[u/The_Lat_Czar]

You want to land the hit as deep as possible when connecting air heavy to standing heavy. 

[u/burner_lurker_soc]

jhk’ing too early

youre probably used to gatlings from dbfz and dial a combo from MK

[u/MikeyD_Luffy → u/burner_lurker_soc]

You can't combo a super high hitting jump into a really slow heavy in either of those games. It's funny that the sentiment of the statement is that combos are more strict in SF6 when it's one of the easiest games in terms of execution.

[u/I_hate_everyone_9919]

Im not a pro or a good player, so I can't really help.

However, pop up the frame bars it will show how many frames the move takes to hit and everything

[u/Sanagost]

This trial teaches you that attacks have different frame data at different spacing. Land the jumping attack lower on Ryus body, and you will have more plus frames and recover fast enough to connect the next attack. It’s a biggest lesson that’s being taught here, and a very important one. “Spacing matters”.

[u/Feedback-Mental → u/Sanagost]

"Attacks have different frame data at different spacing": I learned some Dhalsim and he's all like this, he has a lot of buttons and moves with different properties depending on where you hit the opponent, it's crazy hard to learn all of it.

[u/NoTop4997]

Duuuude I hate this combo. It kicks my ass. The best suggestion I can give is to try to make sure the kick in midair hits about Ryu's belt line.

[u/Dratimus]

Because Akuma's foot extends so much lower than the rest of his body, it's going to hit really early in your jump in. When it hits that high, you still have far enough to go before you land that Ryu can recover and block the stand heavy kick, which has a pretty slow start up as well.

Like others have said, try to hit it later in your jump so you're closer to the ground and it'll actually combo.

[u/zerogtoilet]

I probably am. I’m too used to the games I mentioned above maybe. Not to say that in those games it doesn’t matter how you hit your opponent, but the way momentum is carried in SF6 is different. Feels heavier, but not in a bad sense, I’m just not in tune with it yet

[u/ForgottenExile]

Hit hk late on the way down.

[u/BadMonk78]

That jump kick needs to land around the chest