SS2 Wan-Fu Strategy Guide v1.25 [Insert Ascii Graphics Here] This guide and its future updates can be found at: brawl.mindlink.net /pub/ss2/guides/wanfu.guide.hsu ftp.netcom.com /pub/vi/vidgames/faqs/ss2wanfu.txt cencongopher.concordia.ca /pub/JustTheFAQs/VideoGames/FAQs/ss2wanfu.txt The guide is also available on the following web pages: http://www.student.uq.oz.au/~s330463/ss2.html http://styx.ios.com/~damone/ss2page.html Please send any comments/suggestions/corrections to Kenneth Hsu at e3321942@student.uq.edu.au This guide is STRICTLY PUBLIC DOMAIN - i.e. it's FREE and anyone should not profit from selling any part of this guide to anyone. If anyone uses part of this guide in another publication - please acknowledge your source of information! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS * Revision History * Credits/Acknowledgement * Wan-Fu in SS2 * General Information + Move List * Ending For Wan-Fu * General Strategies (CPU/Human) * Combos * Notes on fighting specific CPU Characters -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revision History v0.5 - Adapted from the 'Misc. Ramblings on Wan-Fu' post to r.g.v.a. and other Wan-Fu posts to r.g.v.a. v1.0 - Added Table of Contents, Combo section, Rev. History and Credits. With most sections of the guide rewritten from people's suggestions and corrections. v1.2 - Well, straight after I posted v1.0, I have discovered little bits here and there which either wasn't covered or not sufficiently described. Here is a list of minor changes/revision: (1) Correction to how to execute the Thunder Bomb/Power Special corner trap. (2) 'General CPU Strategies' section now renamed 'General Strategies (CPU/Human) since it now contains many useful strategies which are applicable for playing against human challengers. (3) Use of air CDs against CPU. (4) Minor updates on strategies against: * Cham Cham (when to use Power Special) * Charlotte * Earthquake (what to do at the start of every round) * Hanzo (what to do at the start of every round) * Kuroko (general strategy) * Kyoshiro * Sieger v1.21 - Minor correction to 2 of the combos in the combos section. v1.25 - Another minor correction to the combos section Updates on specific character strategies: * Mizuki * Haohmaru * Sieger Also how to do 'run-in-and-then-Confucious-Swipe' is included in the General CPU section now. This is actually quite reliable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits/Acknowledgement: Damone or - For general comments and allowing this guide to be accessed on his web page. Andy Eddy - For allowing this guide to be kept at his video games FAQ archive. Scott Fujitomo - For the exhaustive testing, ideas/strategies/introduction of the guide and many other things... Thanks Scott! Dave Kirsch - For keeping this guide at his fighting game archive. roach - Strategies on how to beat CPU Haohmaru, Mizuki and Sieger. Michael T. Pureka - Enlightenment of the usefulness of Wan-Fu's crouching AB and New Confucious Thunder Bomb. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wan-Fu in SS2 All the battles King Wan Fu has fought in SS1 has obviously helped him to shape up and get rid of those wobbly fat he has accumulated. In addition, Wan-Fu has got rid of old weapon and chose instead to wield a stone pillar as his weapon (weight-training on the spot I guess ^_^). As a result, in SS2 Wan-Fu is big and muscle-bound. It looks like all the exercises have paid off.... All the changes the programmers have done to Wan-Fu in SS2 has made most the gameplay/tactics of SS1 Wan-Fu useless. In fact, Wan-Fu has been altered to such a degree that he should be regarded as a 'new' character in SS2. In SS1, Wan-Fu was the turtle king. He was great for defensive play and reacting to opponents' attacks. People used to crouch there all day and waint for opponent to make mistakes (crouching B for air defense, standing AB when opponent is vulnerable on the ground). SS1 Wan-Fu has a very one-dimensional play. But now in SS2, Wan-Fu has a variety of attacks and special moves, all of which enables him to be used in offensive play (especially in human-to-human challenges). All of his weapon attacks are completely different with the exception of the standing far AB slash (this now has a longer starting delay but shorter recovery time, and does less damage) and Confucious Slash is quicker to pull off than its SS1 equivalent, and does slightly more damage. The New Confucious Thunder Bomb in SS2 is less useful now since Wan-Fu always jumps UP to toss the pillar instead of in SS1 where it's possible to jump forward to toss the Thunder bomb. And the fact that the pillar now bounces after the explosion means that it is harder for Wan-Fu to retrieve his weapon after throwing it. The new special moves are pretty useful, Confucious Swipe is very useful for reactional counter strikes and air counters, the Power Special is extremely important for Wan-Fu now since he jumps forward to throw the pillar. And the Benpatsu attack charges up the power meter so it is sort of useful in this way... The kicks are somewhat the same as with SS1 though. Wan-Fu has also got a series of very useful air attacks (air B, AB for long ranged air attacks and air A, D, CD for high priority air attacks). So as long as you know when to use which one, SS2 Wan-Fu can be devastating in the air against both air and ground opponents. All in all, Wan-Fu is now very versatile and can be great for both offensive and defensive plays. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- General Information + Move List (Taken from the SS2 TAPFAQ) Demon King of the Continents WAN FU "Look at our great Chinese power!" "Weak, weak, too weak! You have brought shame on our kinsmen. Go to hell!" One day, a disfigured prophet appeared before the Chinese warlord. "Your dream of a unified empire is before you, King Wan Fu." With these words, the king swooned. "The Egg of Achilles," muttered the monarch and sped off on his next journey to find the resources to unify China. Misc. Info: In 1788, the period SSII seems to take place, the Qing dynasty ruled all of China, including Xian. There existed no nobility whatsoever; bureaucrats ran parts of the country under the emperor. As a result, Wan Fu could not have been king of Xian, or any other part of China. However, as Musashi has been related to a great piece of literature, so too, can a Chinese by the name of Sun Wu (Sun-Tzu). Sun Wu was a chinese military genius who wrote "The Art of War", which is a strategic book of psychological analysis, which business men of today also use to better their skills. Sun Wu may be the historic reference to Wan Fu. Fighting Stage: CHINA -- XIAN ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Confucious Thunder Bomb | Jumps into the air, hurling weapon towards (Shin Kikou Bakutenhoh) | the ground, creating a huge explosion upon | / O- + Slash | impact, hitting for fire damage. O O ! | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Confucious Slash | Leaps into the air, pillar raised, (Kikou Senpuu Geki) | striking for fire damage. -O | \ + Slash | O O ! | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exploding Confucious | Begins banging head against pillar, which (Benpatsu) | decreases energy but boosts POW, to help | / O- + CD | perform POWER SPECIAL more quickly. Also O O ! | hit opponents if they are close. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Confucious Swipe | Spins three times with column extended, (Kikou Dai Bokusatsu) | striking for multiple hits of fire damage. | \ -O + Slash | O O ! | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wall Smash | Throws opponent against wall to hit for when close, | damage. -O + B (without weapon) | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Body Slam | Grabs opponent and slams into ground for when close, | damage. -O + AB (without weapon) | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bashing | Leaps onto opponent, and hits with when close, -O + B or AB ! | weapon for multiple strikes of damage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knee Drop | Grabs opponent and perform an atomic when close, -O + D or CD | drop onto knee for damage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leap | Leaps into the air, and sits opponent, when close, | hitting for damage. -O + CD (without weapon) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Super Deformed Transformation O- -O \ | / O- -O + D O O O ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taunts: 1. AC: Pretends to perform AB attack, then yells "HA!" 2. BD: Twirls pillar and spits to the side. 3. AC(weaponless): Spins arm and yells "HA HA!" 4. BD(weaponless): Same as 3. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- POWER SPECIAL: Wrath of God Blowout | Creates a gigantic Thunder Bomb which (Shin Kikou Dai Bakuten) | creates an upward explosion, hitting -O O- / | \ -O + B | for fire and breaking damage. O O O ! | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ending For Wan-Fu: After clobbering Mizuki, Wan Fu is in the well-known forest scene. Arms crossed, and laughing, he stands there. And stands there. And keeps on standing there. He stops smiling after a while, and continues to stand. And stand. And stand some more. He then looks at YOU, the player, and shoots us a look of anger. He then says, "What! What is it? OH, I SEE. YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO EXPECTS TO SEE SOME NICE ENDINGS, AREN'T YOU?!? I HATE THAT, I'LL SHOW YOU!!" He then grabs the pillar, and sticks one hand out towards you, as in his close up photo. He leaps far up from the menacing pose, and hurls his fiery pillar right at you, resulting in an explosive energy blast. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- General Strategies (CPU/Human) - in general, use crouching A and C, and standing C to keep opponent away (and also keep yourself in 'position' so you don't crawl back). You need to be aware that close crouching A is different from the far crouching A and has a very small range. Therefore when your opponent is quite close to you where it's hard to tell whether a close or far crouching A will come out, use crouching C instead as if the close crouching A comes out it will miss and CPU will nearly always rush in to throw you so be prepared to counter-throw. Standing C has a slightly better range than crouching C and you might want to use this - it is especially useful against CPU Wan-Fu. The two crouching attacks mentioned above (especially the crouching C) also makes CPU jumps more (either forward or straight up). When this happens, use Wan-Fu's myriads of air counters to hit them out of the air. - A good choice for the air counter is obviously the Confucious Slash. This move is very fast - you even will have time to walk under and then Confucious Slash someone out of the air if you are fast! The only thing is that it still doesn't do very much damage. But heck, I'd rather be sure of hitting someone out of the air! - With jump-in attacks, air CD (butt drop) is probably the best. Make sure you hit CD as soon as you jump into air since the move takes a while to get out. Air D is also good and it's also quicker. When jumping in with this attack it is actually better to try and overjump a little so you end up landing on top or just behind your opponent. Since this move crosses up it will still hit. If opponent gets hit by the air CD follow it with a combo listed in the combo section for good damage. Air B/AB is also pretty good because it has more horizontal range and if you hit out early it will take out all of the jumping air counters your opponents try on you. Air A is also useful if opponent is on the ground since the move is fast and will stay out for the whole duration while you are in the air and has very high priority (hitting zone is near the bottom of the pillar). - To use the air CD effectively against the CPU, everytime after you have knocked down the CPU, run in close, and as CPU is about to get up, jump over them and execute the air CD which will cross hit them. Many CPU characters will get hit by this, then follow up with a crouching CD. Also, at the start of a round, jumping straight in with an air CD will also hit many CPU and set up for a combo... - As a general rule of thumb, after jumping in with Wan-Fu, if CPU blocks your air attack, be careful of CPU moving in to throw you after you land. Wan-Fu is slow and so your chance of being thrown is a lot higher. I don't know how many times I have been thrown this way :( Anyway, if CPU blocks your jump-in attack, do a crouching C kick after you land, and then a crouching A or a crouching D kick. This will usually push you far away enough to avoid being thrown. - Be careful when using standing/crouching close B attacks against opponents on the ground!!! The attacks are so SLOW! If your standing or crouching close B hits, MAKE SURE that you interrupt it with a special move (see Combos section) because the hit opponent will recover quicker than your attack! Against air opponents, close standing/crouching B can also be used as anti-air counter attacks - but you have to get the timing right since it is slow. Walking under and standing/crouching B slash air opponent is also possible, and if you can manage to hit them just as they land you can combo them for good damge too - but again the timing is tricky. If opponent jumps in on you but is outside your Confucious Slash range, a well timed standing/crouching far B slash can also be used to hit them before they land. But again you can just use B Confucious Swipe... - To retaliate any blocked or missed special moves which has a lag after it, use either standing far AB or crouching far AB. If opponent is within range use the crouching far AB instead of standing far AB because this is the most damaging move for Wan-Fu (usually can do about 35% of damage). If opponent is too close and the standing or crouching close AB comes out and hits, make sure you interrupt a special move after it (see combos section) to get more damage. Also execute this attack after blocking a relatively close projectile/pet attack within the range of the standing/crouching far AB (e.g. Cham Cham's boomerang, Kyoshiro's fans, Genjuro's Card, Nakoruru's Mamahaha etc). Also use this to tick off blocked damage if opponent is unarmed for two ticks of damamge (note, if the unarmed CPU gets in too close, switch to crouching far B slash or jump-straight-up air B. - Crouching AB is actually a very good move, it is a not-too-slow, REAL HIGH DAMAGE move (most damaging for Wan-Fu as mentioned before). It has good range too. Catches people off guard in the same manner Ukyo's crouch AB does (although it is slower and not as long-ranged as Ukyo's crouching AB, Wan-Fu's crouching AB is good because it block-reflects.) The move 'stays out' for a moment and has been known to hit Ukyo out of his AI attack (Ukyo runs into the extended pillar). - A note of warning on using standing/crouching far AB to retaliate blocked attacks as described above when you are trapped against the wall. When you are trapped against the wall, an opponent's attack cannot push you back further. So the distance between you and your opponent after you block say a portal drop in a corner is not far enough for the standing far AB to come out, a standing/crouching close AB will come out instead which will miss the opponent totally and put you in grave situations (not to mention that the close versions of the AB are slow as hell!). In this case run forward and throw or move/run forward and then combo your opponent (see Combos section) will be best. - Another gripe about the crouching close AB is that it's a two-hit move whereby even if the first one hits, the second hit can be blocked. Also that the standing close AB does not block reflect!! So if the standing close AB hits or gets blocked, make sure you combo it into a Confucious Swipe to push your opponent further to reduce chance of retaliation. If the first hit of crouching close AB hits, combo it into a Confucious Slash/Swipe before the second hit comes out for more damage. - Apart from the Confucious Slash, you should also learn to use the Confucious Swipe as an air counter. The reason being that this attack is usually more damamging than the Confucious Slash (sometimes it does nearly twice as much damage). It has slightly better horizontal range too. Use the B Confucious Swipe since Wan-Fu swings the column higher for the B one. So if opponent jumps in from a bit further away, use Confucious Swipe. If opponent is quite close when jumping in, use Confucious Slash. If opponent overjumps, move forward a bit until joystick direction changes and then execute the Confucious Slash. This pretty much covers all the air attack counters for Wan-Fu.... Oh actually you can also try using jumping straight up B/AB and jumping forward/back B/AB as air counter but this is not as effective since Wan-Fu's jumping arc is low and these air pillar attacks are also slow. Also note that jumping back AB is a different attack from jumping forward/upward AB. - Contrary to what I said before, it is possible to run-in and then do a Confucious Swipe pretty easily. The way to do it is: -o -o (run), / | \ -o + slash o o o OR: -o -o (run), -o / | \ -o + slash o o o The first method is more reliable and can be done very quickly (this is because pulling back on the joystick will make Wan-Fu go into a 'stopping' frame first. Using the first method, Wan-Fu goes straight into crouching block position and then the Confucious Swipe comes out after you complete the rest of the joystick movement + button press). - However, Running in and Confucious Swipe is not that useful against the CPU in general - CPU doesn't get tricked into doing a slash when you run in usually, and the CPU characters that does (e.g. Haohmaru) all have extremly long slash ranges which makes this hard to do. And if it is blocked you are sure to eat an AB from say Haohmaru. Make sure you do the A Confucious Swipe too. This strategy however should be good against Human opponents since humans are more prone to panic and will probably try to slash you as you run in - then just A Confucious Swipe when you are just about to enter their respective weapon ranges! Mix this up with run-in and air CD, run-in and throw, run-in and standing far CD etc to really confuse your human opponents!!! - Against the CPU, sometimes doing the Confucious Swipe as the CPU gets into range after crouch-blocking for a while will get the CPU quite nicely. This is because the CPU is programmed to attack when you let go of the joystick to attack I guess... - Another use for Wan-Fu's jumping-straight-up B is that against many CPU characters (e.g. Hanzo), you can just keep on jumping straight up and down whenever they move into range and then do the air B when you are coming down. Be careful as CPU on higher level will either roll forward to dodge this, but you can always throw them first when you land from your straight-up jump. CPU characters (notably CPU Nakoruru, Hanzo/Galford) will jump forward and air AB you out of the sky sometimes - but this shouldn't happen too many times. Otherwise CPU will usually attempt some stupid slash and get hit by your air B. - When throwing someone in the corner, avoid using the B/AB throws (with weapon) since this throw usually leaves you trapped in the corner. Use the D/CD one instead. If you used B/AB throw, immediately jump out of the corner once it's finished. Also, B/AB throw with weapon takes a LONG time to complete, so if time is running short and you want instant damage from your throws, use D/CD one instead. - New Confucious Thunder Bomb isn't really that great. I have not used it at all really except to tick off the last 1-2 ticks of damamge left in the opponent. But it is better to either run-in and do a Confucious Slash (takes 2-3 ticks of blocked damage), or do an AB Confucious Swipe (will take up to 3 ticks of blocked damage, but it depends on how close you are to your opponent - should usually only count on two ticks). The only other good use of the New Confucious Thunder Bomb is to hit Kyoshiro and Earthquake out of their power specials, and also to retaliate Snowfall Slash (Ukyo) or Hasso Happa (Jubei) as soon as you are pushed out of the range of the attack (use the B New Confucious Thunder Bomb). Another possible use is against slow projectile throwers (e.g. Haohmaru, Kyoshiro) - when you see them start their projectile move, quickly do the New Confucious Thunder Bomb so that it hits them and is slightly in front of your opponent. This way it cancels the projectile and will also hit your opponent! Hard to time though.... - Use of the Power Special: Some CPU characters will always manage to avoid this by rolling forward/backward (e.g. Charlotte) but others will nearly always get hit by it (e.g. Haohmaru, Genjuro, Wan-Fu). The ideal positioning is that the pillar comes down slightly in front of your opponent while you sail over your opponent. Then after the pillar explodes on the ground, it will bounce slightly forward for you to pick it up (you will need to move a little bit). IF opponent is low on energy and is trapped against the wall, execute this will make opponent take up to 4-5 ticks of blocked damage. Usually this will only inflict 3 ticks of blocked damage if opponent is not against the wall. Another use is to execute this far away, so that when you land you land in front of your CPU opponent. Most CPU opponent will still be in blocking mode (even though the pillar is nowhere near them). Then when you land you should attempt a throw on them. If you have executed the power special too close to your opponent (so that both the pillar and you land behind the CPU opponent), you should upon landing immediately walk backwards toward your opponent (and your pillar). Many times the CPU will attempt to attack you and will be hit at the same time by the explosion still going on. If they don't, you can quickly pick up the column. Also use the power special on an opponent getting up. - If you are good at spacing your attacks, it is also possible to space a Power Special such that the pillar hits the opponent on the back (i.e. the pillar crosses up) and therefore your opponent will need to block the other way. - Another use of the Power Special is to firstly corner trap your opponent so that he/she is close to the wall. Then you execute the Power special so that both you and the pillar will fall down directly on top of your opponent in the corner (Wan-Fu will actually end up on the other side of his opponent). And then when you land you should either immediately trip them with a crouching C/CD kick because opponent will be blocking high since the pillar needs to be blocked high upon initial impact - so if you use crouching CD, your opponent will be tripped down, or if you use crouching C, your opponent will get hit by both your crouching C and the Power Special!) or position yourself right next to your opponent and then throw them straight AFTER the explosion has finished. You can NOT throw your opponent while the explosion is still ticking off damage (at least I can't), but after blocking the explosion, the opponents' block stun should still be long enough for you to throw them first. This trick can also work on opponents not trapped in the corner - but very good placement of the pillar is required where you need to make sure that the Power Special lands slightly behind them so that they'll get trapped in the mega-blast long enough. And also upon landing you will need to run back towards the pillar to trip/throw. This Power Special trap will work on both human and CPU. Practise it and tick the #!%$#@! out of your opponent! - Another use for the A New Confucious Thunder Bomb (it's also possible with B/AB New Confucious Thunder Bomb but it's less effective) is that you can also use it in the same way as the Power Special against a corner-trapped opponent. Since Wan-Fu jumps straight-up to toss the pillar and land slightly forward from the original position where he first jumped to execute the thunder bomb, if your opponent is corner trapped and you are in close combat with them (i.e you are also close to the wall), you can then throw the A Thunder bomb so that it lands on top of them, while you land slightly closer to your opponent. Then you can do the same trick as with the Power Special trap (throw or trip your opponent) and get back the pillar afterwards. But this is not as safe since the Thunder bombs don't create an explosion which lasts as long as the Power Special and the pillar also bounces afterwards so that you cannot get it back straight away after landing.... If you are doing this, make sure you can pull it off or otherwise the pillar will be in the corner with your opponent right on top of it, so make sure you succeed (the same goes for the Power Special trick as well)! - There are other disadvantages of using the normal thunder bomb instead of the Power Special. Firstly, if you manage to successfully do the trap using a crouching CD kick after throwing the bomb, you usually won't be able to get your pillar back since you don't land in between your opponent and the wall and therefore after knocking them down your pillar will still be trapped in the corner.... Secondly, opponents don't take damage from both your crouching kicks and the explosion for some reason (but they do if you use the Power Special/trip with crouching kicks trap). So only do the trip when you are sure they will die from it (or if you are confident that your unarmed fighting skill is good - otherwise after landing, do the weaponless B/CD throw after explosion ends. Wan-Fu will switch position with the opponent after the throw. You can then pick up the pillar. - In the light of discovering this nifty little corner trap for Wan-Fu, Here's a description of how Wan-Fu throws his pillars when he does the A/B/AB Confucious Thunder Bomb: * A Thunder Bomb: Wan-Fu jumps low and slightly forward and throws the pillar diagonally down in front of him. * B Thunder Bomb: Wan-Fu jumps straight up (high) and throws pillar diagonally down at top of the jump (which lands some distance away). * AB Thunder Bomb: Wan-Fu jumps high and forward and throws the pillar towards the end of the jump. It lands very far away from where he started, and takes a LONG time to do. This move doesn't cross over, even if your opponent is right in the corner and you're right next to the opponent :(. * Power Special Thunder Bomb: Jumps over his opponent and throws pillar straight down on the opponent (if spaced right), this usually crosses over. - The Benpatsu Attack: Hmm this move charges your POW meter but drains your health also. However you also hit your opponent when you are banging your head against the pillar! This move actually does damage if it hits your opponent. And be used as an air counter (it even counters Cham Cham's jumping scratch!). So if you have lots of life to spare, want your POW meter charged (since some CPU characters will nearly always fall for it), or want an alternative air counter which also drains your life, you can use it I guess ^_^.... - If Wan-Fu runs in and do a standing attack with out stopping, the close versions of his attack will come out. I.e. standing close A/B/AB/C/D/CD will result if you run in and attack with A/B/AB/C/D/CD without stopping first. - The interruptable moves for Wan-Fu are: (1) Slashes: standing close B/AB, crouching close B/AB, standing far B, crouching far B slashes. These can be interrupted when Wan-Fu hits or misses with these slashes. (2) Kicks: crouching CD kick (this can be interrupted when Wan-Fu hits or misses with it) or his crouching D kick (only if Wan-Fu misses with it) into a special move. Interrupting a crouching CD kick when it hits will be useless since your opponent would have been tripped and any move after that won't hit. However, cancelling both crouching D and CD kicks when they miss (or if croucing CD is blocked) will be advantageous since if they miss, opponents will be able to retaliate with an AB usually since Wan-Fu has very slow recovery time after these kicks, so interrupt these kicks will help you to counter any retaliation your opponent tries at you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Combos: 1) Standing/crouching close B/AB into AB Confucious Slash. (Note: this is a good damge 3-hit combo. Does about the same damage as a crouching far AB slash.) 2) Standing/crouching close B/AB into A or AB Confucious Swipe. (Note: avoid using B Confucious Swipe since it has less horizontal range than the A/AB Confucious Swipe. Also does pretty good damge - about the same as combo 1) 3) Air A/C, standing close B into AB Confucious Slash/Swipe. (Note: Air A/C will not usually combo unless you hit in the very last possible moment before landing into standing close B. But this is included here because CPU seems to fall for it quite a bit...) 4) Air CD, standing close B into Confucious Slash/Swipe. (Note: This combo will only work IF AND ONLY IF you manage to hit your opponent with the air CD as close as you can without cross attack and also if your opponent is crouched when your air CD hits. Or otherwise Wan-Fu's close B will not come out quick enough to hit.) 5) Air AB/CD, crouching CD. (Note: * air AB must hit really late. * air CD, crouching CD is the most reliable Wan-Fu combo.) 6) Air AB/CD, standing close CD. (Note: air AB must hit really late) 8) Air B/D/AB/CD, standing far CD. 8) Air B/AB/D/CD, Confucious slash/swipe (except for B Confucious Swipe). (Note: with air B/AB, must make sure you hit very close for it to combo into Confucious Slash/Swipe) 9) Air B (late), standing/crouching far B or standing/crouching D. 10) Air CD (must not cross up with this), crouching/standing far AB. (Note: You must make sure the air CD doesn't hit too up close. Or otherwise the close versions of the AB might come out instead! The first hit of close crouching AB will combo but the following hit won't. The standing close AB will not combo at all. This also happens when you crosses up with your air CD. If the close version of standing close AB comes out, quickly interrupted the missed close AB into a Confucious Swipe - usually this will still combo (thankfully). If the close crouching AB comes out, do the same if the first hit misses, or if the first hit hits, interrupt after the first hit into a Confucious swipe also. If opponent is knocked too far after air CD, do the standing far AB might be good for added damage. And air CD, crouching far AB is the most *damaging* combo for Wan-Fu which is also relatively reliable.) If you have any more Wan-Fu combos - please contact me so I can include it here! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specific CPU Characters Strategies A quick skim through all the CPU characters against a human Wan-Fu: 1) Cham Cham: Very easy - CPU simply jumps too much. One or two crouching A or C will make CPU Cham jump. Be careful when she gets too close. The Confucious Slash out-prioritize the jumping scratch also so if you see it coming just Confucious Slash her out of the jumping scratch otherwise block and then retaliate with a standing far AB (execute immediately after blocking will ensure a hit before Cham Cham lands). Don't even bother throwing the thunder bomb/Power Special, CPU Cham Cham will always jumping-scratch you out of the move even before you have time to throw the pillar out! But DO use the Power Special when you have just knocked CPU Cham on the ground. Then you execute the Power Special so that the pillar will reach CPU Cham Cham just after she gets up! CPU will still try to jumping scratch but as soon as she jumps she's toast! 2) Charlotte: ARRRGHH!!! CPU does it again with its quick A pokes with the Epee(tm). Wait until CPU Charlotte moves into your crouching far A range and hit her (surprisingly this is slightly faster than her pokes). She will also usually jump in response to this then counter her out of air (must be quick though since her jump is so quick and low). If you knock her down, position yourself close to her and as CPU is getting up, jump over Charlotte and do the air CD, this will usually hit her (then it's combo time!). If she blocks, after landing quickly do a crouching C kick. Avoid jumping in on her while she is on the ground (without overjumping slightly) , CPU has many way to hit you out in the air (Power Gradation, standing CD kick, standing AB etc. - and CPU uses them ALL!) This battle is usually very close for me.... The most dreaded CPU character for human Wan-Fu IMHO. Also don't use Power Special - she will simply roll forward the minute she sees you jump up... and you will probably not have your weapon for the rest of the round :( Also, don't miss with your crouching C kick while you are in CPU Charlotte's crouching far AB range!!! 3) Earthquake: Relatively easy. As you know, at the start of the round CPU Earthquake will nearly always do some stupid slashes on the ground. Therefore at the start of every round, you should either jump straight up - you will avoid his ground slashes and can air B/AB him as you fall down, or you can jump forward and as soon as you leave the ground, do the air CD - air CD will hit him and you should them follow up with a crouching AB for nearly 40% damage combo! Note if you jump forward at the start of the round, you MUST do the air CD immediately after you leave the ground. If you don't, Earthquake's quick ground A slash will hit you seen Wan-Fu's jumping speed is slow. But if you do the air CD as soon as you jump, you can avoid this because Wan-Fu does a flip in the air when he does the air CD which will move him higher in the air and thus avoid the air slashes. Other than that, just air counter when he jumps, and retaliate all his portal drops and other attacks. Confucious Slash/Swipe out-prioritize Earthquake's Fat Chainsaw so you don't even need to block. Be careful when trying a power special against CPU, CPU will nearly always do a portal drop when you do this. But it is ok - just block the portal drop, retaliate (throw or any attack which will knock Earthquake down) and then walk backward to get your pillar after knocking Earthquake down. If your POW meter is charged and you have Earthquake cornered against the wall, do the Power Special so that pillar lands in the corner (and so do you) so that when CPU Earthquake portal drops, he will reappear and land directly into the POW special!!! 4) Galford: Moderately hard. Keep him at bay with crouching A and C and hope that he jumps.... Counter Portal drops etc with standing AB. At the start of the round, jump in straight away with an air CD, for some reason CPU Galford will nearly always either sends the dog or do some stupid ground attacks at the start of the round - so this will give you a free combo after the air CD hits. 5) Gen-An: Relatively easy. Again Gen-An jumps too much so just counter him out of the air. Confucious Slash out-prioritize Gen-An's Butcher Thrust and Second Skin so use it to hit him out of these too. If he gets too close, keep him away with crouching A and Cs. 6) Genjuro: Moderately hard. Be careful of him running in and throwing you. Jumping straight up and air B on the way down works moderately well. Again keep him away with the quicker attacks. Use Power Special - CPU usually gets hit by it. Standing AB after blocking close range cards projectiles. Standing/Crouching far AB after blocking the sliding slashes (if he ends up far) or combo him (if he ends up close). CPU Genjuro also jumps a fair bit, but usually when he is very close to you (i.e. he will usually overjump you) walk under and air counter with a Confucious Slash (or standing A/B) if this happens. 7) Haohmaru: Moderately hard. Jumping vertically up and CPU Haohmaru will usually do a crouching CD slide or standing/crouching AB slash in response to this (sometimes he also Kogetsuzans but only rarely). If he does the first two normal moves listed above, do an air B when you come down. (This will usually dizzy him after you've done this twice). However, don't do the above when CPU's POW meter is fully charged! CPU will usually get hit by your Power Special. After blocking a Haohmaru standing far AB, immediately run forward towards CPU - CPU will recover in time to do a slash on you. But the catch is that CPU Haohmaru will use another standing far AB or standing far B about 70% of the time, so roll forward after running in to avoid Haohmaru's second standing AB/B and then throw him (this works against CPU Haohmaru like wonders... and CPU will do this no matter whom you choose) Make sure you don't do any whiffed attacks (even A and Cs) because CPU has a habit of standing AB you when you miss and so you can get hit even if you miss a crouching A or C.... 8) Hanzo: Relatively easy. Use your jump-up-down Bs. CPU Hanzo will either get hit by it, block it, do a portal drop (I don't know why but he does it quite a bit), or roll forward. Counter as said above in the general section. Counter the aerial shuriken with a standing AB after blocking it, or you can counter by throwing a thunder bomb of your own at the place where Hanzo will land after throwing the shuriken. At the start of every round, CPU Hanzo has a tendency of rolling in. Therefore, if you jump forward and do an air CD at the start of every round, you will hit CPU Hanzo after he comes out of the the roll every time. Then you should combo him. 9) Jubei: Usually easy. Keep him away with crouching C and A. Sooner or later CPU will do his Mikkau Rattoh move. Just block it and then crouching far AB or move in and combo him as he comes down from the uppercut. Can be a bit of trouble if CPU does NOT do this move though. But usually if you pester the CPU with enough of your crouching C/A it will do it. Power Special should only be used with caution. Hasso Happa can be retaliated with either a crouching AB or a B New Confucious Thunder Bomb or a Power Special. 10) Kuroko: No idea.... When you pester Kuroko with enough of your crouching A or Cs he will jump in with a early air kick, counter him out of the air then. Other than that, don't really know what to do against him... Also, get into range of your Confucious Swipe, and then do a missed crouching attack (crouching D/CD is probably the best since they can be interrupted) and then if Kuroko reacts to this by starting to throw a projectile - quickly do the Confucious swipe to hit him out. 11) Kyoshiro: Relatively easy. CPU again jumps too much. Countering him out of air and also standing far AB CPU after a close-medium range fan toss and after a lion's tail will ensure easy wins. Can also use a B New Confucious Thunder bomb or a Confucious Swipe straight after you are pushed out of the range by the Lion's Tail (note: These two counters are too slow to get Kyoshiro if he only used the C Lion's Tail). The fire breath can be retaliated with either a crouching far AB or crouching CD. CPU Kyoshiro jumps straight up often in response to your crouching A/C, if you are close, quickly run forward and Confucious Slash him out of the air. 12) Mizuki: Jumping forward with air B to attack works sometimes. If Mizuki teleports, instead of jumping forward (to the place she just disappeared from), jump backward with an air CD. This gets Mizuki sometimes (but if you keep on doing it Mizuki learns and will either block or just appear again at the same spot she disappear from) I usually can not defend myself properly against her since Wan-Fu is so slow and also he crawls back (CPU Mizuki can do any of her slashes when my Wan-Fu do any of his normal moves and hit me out!). So instead I usually go on all offensive! Jump in with air A/B/D/CD etc and if she blocks, land and do a crouching C etc. It's actually safer to jump in with an air B/AB since they have longer range and so you don't need to fear being thrown after landing..... NEVER, and I stress NEVER, do any missed attacks! Also, jump in with an air B/AB, if Mizuki blocks this, after landing you should jump straight up, when you do this, Mizuki will do a standing AB slash, you can counter this easily with your air B (do it early in the air!). Finally, there is one consistent Mizuki weakness... 13) Nakoruru: Moderately hard. Don't let her get close to you!!!! Close range Mamahaha attacks can be retaliated with standing or crouching far AB (but need to be very quick). Keep her away with the usual crouching C/A. If she gets on the bird and Kamui Mutsube off it. Make sure you retaliate with a crouching B/AB into Confucious Swipe/Slash. Alternatively, run in under Nakoruru (still on bird) and Confucious Slash her out. CPU doesn't jump too much so don't let those precious air counters go by without doing anything! Use Power Special with caution. Also don't do the standing AB mindlessly - CPU Nakoruru will always Annu Mutsube you as soon as you start the move... 14) Nicotine: Relatively easy. Just do the usual general tactics (keep away, air counter). Occasional overjump-in attacks with air CD also works great. Close range blocked projectiles/confusion talismans should be retaliated (crouching or standing far AB). CPU gets hit by Power Specials quite a bit too. If Nicotine jumps to attack you, make sure you can get your Confucious Slash out early because the Nicotine's air AB hits below him, and therefore there is a chance that you might trade damage (in Nicotine's favour unfortunately...) 15) Sieger: Relatively easy. Keep him away with the usual attacks and air counter. Retaliate with standing/crouching far AB after blocking Blitz Sieger, Wolf Fangen throw (if Sieger just misses, or if after blocking you are pushed out of the range of the throw, need to be quick), Vulcan Weinen (can only use standing far AB and only works if Sieger cannons you from close range when you are trapped against the wall - usually CPU Sieger won't retaliate after blocking your far AB anyway). Also do a crouching CD kick to retaliate a missed/blocked crouching CD kick from Sieger. Power Special will usually get CPU too. By the above CPU Sieger is quite easy to beat (there can only be one big mean guy in the game you know ^_^) BTW Confucious Slash out-prioritize the Blitz Sieger so you can just upper-cut him as he comes in... Also, jumping straight up in front of CPU Sieger and do an air B as you come down works pretty well also. 16) Ukyo: Moderately hard to very hard. It all depends on how CPU Ukyo is feeling on the day. Use crouching A more for keeping CPU Ukyo away because if CPU decides to do a last-min SSS from the ground as only the CPU knows how when you stick out a crouching move, if you are close enough and use crouching A (far), many times Ukyo won't have time to get the SSS out and will be hit by your crouching A instead. Standing AB can be used to retaliate blocked SSS and also the Snowfall slash (a bit of timing practise is need here though...) Also you can use B New Confucious Thunder Bomb to retaliate Snowfall slash after you are pushed out of range bye it. Again air counter CPU when possible. Jumping in on Ukyo is generally not a good idea. You should only jump when you are very close to him and will hit on top or cross up with the air CD. In this case if Ukyo tries to jump up and AB or do the standing AB or crouching CD he should be hit out of the move (since Wan-Fu will hit the back portion of Ukyo's body). 17) Wan-Fu: Very hard. The keep-CPU-away moves (crouching A/C) doesn't work very well here as CPU Wan-Fu will do his perfect-timing Confucious Swipe. Therefore in this case use standing C kick (it has a long enough range to hit CPU Wan-Fu out of these perfectly-timed Confucious Swipes. Jump-up-down with air B works moderately well. Counter CPU out of air when possible (especially whe CPU jumps forward with the air CD kick). Use Power Special whenever possible. CPU Wan-Fu usually will fall for it. If CPU Wan-Fu runs towards you, throw him as he comes into range or standing C kick him (this usually works but don't do it too much as then CPU will switch to other 'feared' tactics such as a well timed Confucious Slash...) An equally feared CPU opponent (together with CPU Charlotte and sometimes Ukyo...) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of SS2 Wan-Fu Strategy Guide