Abel's Anti-Air Options

Abel doesn't have a anti-air special like Shoryuken to depend on but he has a few go-to moves he can use to handle aerial attacks. Check them out below (all pictures sourced from www.iplaywinner.com).



Crouching Medium Kick
One of his best go to anti-air normal. His lower hit-box allows him to counter most jump-in attacks (with the exception of maybe Dhalsim and Zangief) clean and with relatively lenient timing. Its not very damaging but it gets the job done.






Standing Medium Kick
A more situational anti-air normal, this move is often used to counter longer-range jump-ins. It doesn't have long active frames so you need to be precise when using this move.






Crouching Heavy Punch
This is one of Abel's most punishing anti-air moves as you can follow up with Falling Sky or to Soulless after the juggle, if you hit this right. Aim to land this move at the tip of his elbow to launch the opponent.






Close Standing Heavy Punch
Close up, this move does two hits; one straight forward and the follow-up like a small uppercut. This uppercut can actually beat out a lot of jump-ins (or at least trade) up close and even cross-ups. The punch needs to be done when the opponent is quite close, else you'll screw up and get his long standing heavy punch instead which does nothing as an anti-air.





Diagonal Jump Heavy Kick
The angle is perfect for air-to-air combat; just jump and stick it out there the moment you see them jump. It should beat out most jump-ins.







Diagonal Jump Heavy Punch
Pretty much the same as his jump heavy kick, except that the angle is slightly different. I use the two interchangeably depending on where and when the opponent is in his jump.






EX Falling Sky
The only one you should use as an anti-air special, ever. All non-EX versions will 95% of the time trade and the other 5% cause you to get stuffed. EX Falling Sky is a lot more dependable, does a ton of damage and sets you up for Marseilles Roll setups.

Changes to Abel for 2012 Version

Capcom is 'rebalancing' the game once again come 2012. Not like I'm complaining (I am a little, the Adon changes aren't fun), since Abel looks like he's getting a whole lot of goodies. Check them out below:

Cr.HP is back to how it was in Super.
One of my biggest gripes with Abel in AE was how bad this move became. And this being one of his biggest tools? Welcome back, old friend.

TT Damage up +10: LP 160 MP 180 HP 200
Not really necessary, but any buff for Abel is a good buff.

Breathless : from startup till active, hit invulnerable. (LOL. People will start trolling with U2, again.)
Again not necessary... but DAMN. U2 seemed good before but now this? I like :)

Second Low Hit Stun improved, So when you do 2nd Low FADC, you’ll be at +9 at most. Meaning that, you can do 2nd Low FADC Cr.HP U1.
Not sure what I feel about this.

Updates (21 June 2011)

Been updating the site a bit, still have lots of things to come:

- Did up the World Warriors page, it has pictures now
- Changed the template for the vs match-up pages to be more concise
- Added Oni, Evil Ryu, Yun and Yang in (Yun and Yang still under construction)
- Updated the tournament info for Battle Royale 2

vs Yang



Statistics:
Stamina: 900
Stun: 1,000
Fighting Style: Chinese Kenpo (Mantis style)
Fighter Type: Brawler

vs Yang: 4.5 - 5.5
Pros: Low stamina, low damage
Cons: Fast speeds, good combos, divekick pressure

Movelist:
Raigeki Shuu (Divekick) - Cancels from a jump, main aerial offense.
Senkyuutai - Reversal move, different strengths = different roll distance.
Tourou Zan - Rekka move, FADC-able for mix-ups and combos.
Kaihou - Like Abel's roll, but with worse recovery.
Zenpou Tenshin - Like Fei Long's grab, allows for free combo.
Byakko Soushouda - Very short-range invisible projectile.

Sei'ei Enbu (S) - Creates 2 shadows that hit alongside the original body, used to stack up ridiculous amounts of damage.
Raishin Mahhaken (U1) - Short range but more damaging than U2. Good for FADC combo.
Tenshin Senkyuutai (U2) - Like Senkyutai, goes through fireballs but has no invulnerability against hits. Goes into full animation on 2nd hit.

Preferred Ultra: Breathless
Theory goes that you can catch him off his divekicks with Breathless. Definitely workable on Yang with his higher height limit for divekicks.

Character Videos:
KSK (ABE) vs Nemo (YANG)
Robin01 (ABE) vs Nemo (YANG)
Randy319 (ABE) vs winners118 (YANG)

Strategy:
Yang can put a lot of pressure offensively so don't give him the chance and take the fight to him first. If you're on the defensive, it might be worth it to use that EX meter to roll away. This actually works as he'll be in the air applying divekick pressure most of the time.

Once you get him to ground, apply your usual offensive pressure. He does have a good reversal so watch out and bait it. He has another way to escape with his EX Kaihou especially in corners. The distance isn't all that great so ideally you should stand a bit further away from him and throw him back into the corner of nearby when he does it. Just watch out for this move if he has meter to use.

Flipside:
- Abel does loads of damage but has few defensive options so I want to be on offense most of the time.
- Taking to the air against Abel is very safe as he has few anti-air options that can handle divekick and jumping around means he can't land his TT on me.
- If I'm not on offense, I want to keep him away as much as I can with Byakko and my pokes.

Notes:
- Yang's st.MK launches which he can reset for a mini mix-up.
- Yang can alter the timing for his Tourou Zan or FADC from it, making it a mini mix-up as well. One way to manage this is to use EX TT as the slash will miss or you'll grab him out of his forward dash.
- Yang's U2 is not hit invulnerable, so you could potentially hit him out of it especially with a Wheel Kick. Don't jump against Yang when he has U2 though.

vs Yun


Statistics:
Stamina: 900
Stun: 1,000
Fighting Style: Chinese Kenpo (Crane Style)
Fighting Type: Brawler

vs Yun: 4 - 6
Pros: Low stamina
Cons: Divekick, mostly safe-on-block moves

Movelist:


Preferred Ultra: Breathless

Character Videos:

Strategy:

Flipside:

Notes: