Sagat (The King)

Description:
Stamina: 1,050
Stun: 1,000
Fighting Style: Muay Thai Kickboxing
Fighter Type: Versatile
Strengths: High stamina and damage, good specials and normals
Weaknesses: Slow speed, large size, no MK cross-up

Character Videos:
Video #1: Sagat vs Abel (nanakun3 vs dsbd)
Video #2: Sagat vs Abel (EmblemLord vs HAV)

Offense Strategy:
Sagat is probably one of the hardest characters to get in on. Be patient and work through his projectiles. Duck high Tiger Shots and neutral jump low ones. If he pulls back to continue chucking Tiger Shots at you, slowly work him into the corner. Never try and jump in on him from mid-range, you'll either eat a painful Tiger Uppercut or worse, his forward HK juggle. You need to know the max distance for his LK Tiger Knee, stay just outside that and poke him back. Fwd.MK pokes to fish out for the counter-hit is a good tool here. Sagat is still a defensive beast with many tricks up his sleeve, so be aware of stuff like EX Tiger Knee, kara Tiger Uppercut etc. Capitalise on his slow movement speeds as much as you can.

Defense Strategy:
The Sagats I play with normally will try to pressure you using projectiles from far. These set you up at the mid-range area as you try to close the distance, allowing him to respond with counter pokes and combos. If he lands a throw, a Tiger Knee or forward HK, he pushes you back to the end of the screen to restart the cycle. Knowing this, the strategy here is to be passive aggressive and move in cautiously. Don't rush it and just move in slowly. If he stops his projectiles, move in slowly and respond to his movements. This subtle form of pressure will (hopefully) push him back into the corner. Some more aggressive Sagat's will attack you instead of getting pushed back, this works as well as he'll now be in your best range for your offensive strategy.

Notes:
- Due to Sagat's height, you have to land your jump attacks late or he'll recover before you land the next hit. This makes cross-ups a bit more difficult to time successfully for a combo.
- Watch his meter carefully, when he has 2 bars the likelihood of a Tiger Uppercut FADC is there and you should take steps to bait it out.
- There's a weird bug where if he lands his U1 in the corner, not all the hits will land. There may be some benefits of getting yourself in the corner... maybe to bait out U1 or to reduce damage even if you do get hit.
- The recovery on his forward HK and forward LK is deceptively quick. When you see these whiff you have to react to it very quickly if you intend to punish.
- Sagat's only cross-up is his jumping LK, which has less on block frames and gives him a smaller amount of options on block. Adjust your defensive plans accordingly.