Vampire Savior/Jedah/Matchups
Matchups
Zabel (2-8)
In this matchup you will notice your normals get out prioritized every time. Also that Zabel is fast and vicious. His combos are also very high damaging, and you have a risk of getting unblockable'd every time after one. Your Dark Force isn't as great here because he can Death Voltage your airdashes and it comes out fast enough to counter just about all of your normals. You won't find yourself dashing or airdashing as often as in other matchups because of his Death Voltage as well. He can do it in the air, off a dash, an airdash, and of course standing, so he can pretty much react and do it. IADing back or forward with j.MP takes a lot away from Jedah.
Now to go over some strategies to overcome this matchup. First off, you can't wait around for too long before he starts going on a rampage and rushes you down. Jedah is tall and doesn't like those long jump in strings. You don't have a reliable anti air against them, at all. 2.MK goes too far forward, 5.Lp is too low to use, and the claw move is way too slow to use on reaction. So what you do here is chicken guard and mount an offense when he has to guard.
Also remember that you can chicken with Jedah's airdash, so you can go around the other side and hit him as well. Later on when they see you are jumping and chicken guarding a lot, 5.HP and 2.HP becomes a problem. They will start to empty jump then do those moves which will hit you out of the air. Zabel's 5.hp goes about to the top of the screen so there isn't much you can do about that.
When they do start to empty jump in though, it's time to go to air block strings into 5.LP. Meet him in the air with j.LP, j.MP, j.MK, jHP, land, then 5.LP. From there, start your offense. Your 5.lp will always beat anything he tries to chicken guard with. Just remember to make use of the HP, and 5.LP right away when you land. The matchup breaks down to if you happened to use the right move when your opportunity to mix up arises. From a neutral position, you are very disadvantaged.
Here is a link to an example of the matchup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz4z1twnB40
Sasquatch (3-7)
You can't do a whole lot in this matchup either. But that's Jedah, so you'll be seeing this a lot. A big problem here is Sasquatch's j.LK and j.MK. They outprioritize anything you have in the air, or on the ground unless you hit them with 2.MK from a distance. The only reason why this isn't a 2-8 matchup is because Jedah has a few tools that can hit Sasquatch to start some momentum.
ES ice tower hits a lot of your air moves and there's only one way to airdash around it. And even then, they can delay it and ES tower you out the sky anyway.
Spin scything isn't typical in this matchup, you can get hit out of them very easily, making them useless and not in your favor in a neutral position. If you want to throw one, you'll have to be a good distance away, or cancel it from 2.LK when they are trying to tech or block your strings.
Definitely control your space. Sasquatch has an insane advantage in the corner and this could cost you the game from a good player. Don't be a hero and try and GC him, he can make it whiff with his normals or dash overheads.
Dark Force is very useful, but you need to be careful that he doesn't predict it and j.LK into j.MK you out of it.
Your initial hits to start mixing up are gonna come from 2.MK, and 5.LP. Both have high priority and are used to take him out of jumps or dashes. A patient Sasquatch that knows the matchup, however, is an even bigger problem to deal with, because now he knows not to run into those and can be explosive when he lands a hit.
You can't really jump in or dash in on him, but you're gonna have to take risks at that point. Do your usual thing once you have the chance, and then follow up and don't let up on him.
66.MP is the safest poke you can get against Sasquatch that will put you in an advantage.
The main thing to do in this matchup is to gain momentum and take advantage of it, because that's where you're going to land big damage and hits. Try to contain him when you have him where you want him.
You should also remember to air-chain j.LP, j.MP, j.MK and j.HP to meet Sasquatch in the air, then land and 5.LP to start an offense.
Q-Bee (3-7~4-6)
There are only a few Jedahs and a few Q-bees that can alter the outcome of this match. Whether the match is 3-7 or 4-6 really depends on the player, even in Japan. As far as the matchup goes, it's still leaned towards Q-bee's favor. The bad news is, she hits faster and stronger than you. The good news is, you can still hit her hard.
Sadly, your Dark Force here is nerfed yet again (don't worry it gets better after these 3 match-ups). She can duck your high series combo, and she avoids spin scythes easily. You can use that to your advantage and knick a few hits off of her though.
Something that will give you a hard time is being a tall easy target when she's in the air. She can chain j.MP into j.HK and float IAD and mix up a lot of things when she goes to the air. Your best bet against that is to keep in 5.LP and 2.MK distance so that she doesn't gain that opportunity. If you're too close you can dash back, then airdash, or jump back and airdash, or just walk back.
A lot of the time you can meet her in the air by chaining j.MP, j.MK and j.HP, then land and 5.LP.
Q-bee is pretty straight-forward, and if you happen to lose, your opponent isn't exactly a genius. Anyone who can IAD properly can get wins. Realistically, you won't be block all of her hits in the corner, so you will lose chunks of life and you need to guess right in order to get out. Jump out when you think she will IAD again, and 2.MK if you think she will use 5.MP to stop you from jumping.
66.HK will save you a lot since it's easy to cross her up when dashing with that. You can do it a few times and usually she won't have an answer to it.
Bulleta (3-7)
Like in any bad matchup, a lot of things stop you here.
LP missile is a big problem here, as it limits a lot of your air game. When your air game is limited like that, you tend to stay on the ground some more.
Another problem is her dashing around 5.LP. It beats all of your air moves and even when she's turned around, when she 5.LP's it turns her around and anti airs you.
Her useless moves are good against you, but that's only if you're not playing smart. Don't do any full screen airdashes and you shouldn't get hit by that wine bottle fire move, or the gun super.
Her rushdown game is good on you and it's easy to get command grabbed because of your wide box.
She can play both offensively and defensively and have a good advantage. The scarier one is her offense because that's where you take the most damage. The defense compliments this as she can play it when she has a comfortable lead.
Here are some little things you can do to her though. If you're close, you can crouch under her high missile and 2.LK, 2.LK into 2.HP. It's not much damage, but again, it's what you have to settle for.
What you're aiming for here is a blocking jump to get close. When you're around on top of her head, dash around and j.MK, j.HK or j.MK, j.MP. That's how you gain momentum and get close here.
A very good move to use is 2.LK. It stops her dash, goes under high missiles, and just makes her gameplay change a little so you don't have to play her game at all times.
Another good move is 2.MK. While it can anti air, it's good as a low poke too. As you may have noticed, it's the only low poke that anti airs, early anti airs, has decent reach, and hits low. So stick that move out because it's better than doing nothing if she's severely rushing you.
You can ground spin scythe to buy some time and room if you need to, but watch out for ES missiles. Don't throw too many of the air ones, that can get you hit by the gun super.
Bulleta is small and that means she can get crossed by 66.HK easily. When you're in this position, mix it up with uncrouchable command grab, ES claw move, whatever. Just get your damage off while you can.
While there is more to the matchup than this, if Jedah is standing he is forced to block Bulleta's Cool Hunting EX Move and cannot crouch. If you happen to be already crouching when it comes out, you can punish with Jedah's Finale Rosso (Pit) EX Move. However, since the input for that attack is 22.PP, you'll invariably have to return to 5 (neutral, standing) to execute it, getting you hit by her attack. To properly punish, you must whiff a crouching normal such as 2.MP, buffer the 22 input during it, and press KK when you recovery, letting you grab Bulleta and punish the Cool Hunting.
Gallon (3.5-6.5)
This matchup is bad, but you can turn things around quick if given the opportunity. Otherwise, you're really going to have to work hard on this one.
The first thing you will notice is that Gallon out prioritizes you in the air. His combos are very easy, high damaging, and not hard to come around by. It's not very hard for him to close in on you either, which is the last place you want to be against him. It doesn't sound like much, but he can ride those things to victory.
First of all, you want to have a good method of AGing. LK-LP-MP-HP is preferred. This way, if he pauses for tick throw too long, you can 2.LK him, and if he does grab you, you can tech hit in time. If he jumps, you will whiff your 2.LK, but you can recover to block on time and AG again.
The next best thing you can do is Dark Force out of his option selects, but don't get too predictable and don't do it unless you're gonna get damage off of it, because escaping one situation isn't worth a whole bar (in Jedah's case, since meter is hard to come around).
The good news about this matchup is, Gallon takes damage worse than average. Which is great because it takes less mixups to kill, which will prove to be important once you see how hard the matchup is.
Another thing is his relatively poor defense. His GC is very situational, and more often than not useless. The Gallon player will usually resort to chicken guarding, which will will learn to counter in a bit. His anti air options are somewhat lacking, but are still useable against Jedah. Thankfully, you can alter your jump timings with a whiff j.HK.
Here is a technique I learned from Oouchi: j.LK, j.MP, j.MK, j.HP, land, and 5.LP. What this does is stop Gallon's jump spamming, fairly effectively. It takes good timing to land this proper, but it can go in your favor.
Grabbing him is also an effective tactic because he will be trying to block a lot of your stuff, trying not to eat the big damaging combos that Jedah can occassionally pull. Overall, you're going to have to play safe and be patient for your damage. Get good positioning and don't let him sit comfortably.
Bishamon (5-5)
Both characters in this matchup can rush vigorously. I think this is more of a momentum 5-5 type matchup, as opposed to a stalemate 5-5 matchup. You have to be careful about a few things here.
First off he's gonna be coming in charging like a bull. You can try to poke him with 5.MK at your risk, and 5.LP is a decent option with a less risk factor. You can poke with 66. MP, but be careful not to run into a fireball. If he likes to fireball, jump over and j.MP into jHP, then dash jMP, land, and 2.LK, 5.LK, and finish it with a 5.MK (you can do that from full screen, since Jedah's jump arc is so huge).
Also, don't jump when you're too close to him. He can 6.HP you and 66.MP. Also don't airdash into his 5.HP. It goes to the top of the screen and he can dash with it. You can poke him in the air with 66.MP. It beats most of his ground stuff, even when dashing.
Bishamon's rush is really really good, so if you need to you can Dark Force to try and get away. You want to get some damage for your meter though, so don't get GC'd and mix it up well.
There are a lot of tools Jedah can use in this match. One of them is 66.HP. It's really good because Bishamon still takes 2-3 hits while crouching. It isn't the easiest thing to GC either if you use it smart. You can infinite with this, but I highly don't recommend it, instead I advise you to go for the guarenteed damage with 66.HP, 66.MP, land, and 2.LK into 5.MK into 2.HK (if you're too far, trade 2.HK for 2.HP).
If you don't get hit out of your dashes, you can block string by dashing up to his head,j.MK, j.LK and then j.LP, or 66.LK, into j.LP into j.MP, or dash around and j.MK into j.HK. Dashing mixups are important against Bishamon, and you can mix up with your other stuff from there.
Don't forget about ES spin scythe either. You can use that when they get excited and try to hit you out of your strings, then they end up taking hits from the ES spin scythe. The normal ones I don't recommend as much in this matchup. Mainly because of his j.MP, ES fireball, and fast pokes. They usually hit you a lot, but the jumping ones are safe from a distance and could buy you some time.
The main part of this matchup is to mix up your dashing and get in, while keeping him outside where he doesn't have as much threats as an option.
Aulbath (5-5)
This is more of a stalemate 5-5 matchup. Jedah covers the air, Aulbath covers the ground.
They don't meet each other too often in their places. They each have some tools against each other in opposite territory though. Aulbath's j.LP and j.MP have excellent priority and will knock you out of a lot of almost everything. It's not too much of a big deal since it's not that damaging. But it can put you in bad situations which is why it deserves a mention.
To escape the bubble trap, just Dark Force and hold up/back and block at the top corner of the screen. You can chicken guard airdash, or just take the air throw if they're smart enough.
You can use dash back, then airdash and poke with j.MP, j.HP, or j.HK. But you need to be careful for ES sonic waves, or smoke. Aulbath here is trying to look to control space with his dashing game, and good jumping normal priority. So if you see you're getting back into the corner, try and push him out a little with some 2.LK's and 5.MK's. When he gets used to you doing that, jump over to make him start the pressure all over again.
66. MP is a good poke to use, but again, you need to be at a distance and then watch out for his special moves. If you jump over him, you can fake it with j.HK (whiff) and come down with j.MK or j.MP depending on the distance. If he's right below you, j.MK is great. If he's a little further in front, use j.MP.
One more thing: his standing LP. It beats your dashes and has high priority. Play around it and poke him also, and just time your dashes when he isn't expecting it. You do that by using your other safe options then switching to the riskier ones once they think you aren't gonna use it.
This matchup can go so many ways, it's up to you however you wanna play it.
Demitri (4-6~3-7)
I asked Oouchi for his opinion on this matchup. He tells me that his Jedah is 4-6 in this matchup, but for other Jedahs it will be 3-7. He also told me other matchups are like that too, but I mainly agreed with his initial opinion. Air fireball controls a lot of your movement. Even at some points, you can't walk forward safely. Demon Cradle also control a lot of what you do on mixup and affects what you can and cannot do.
The easiest way to counter demon cradle is a delayed 2.MK. It's safe and best used from it's max distance for you to always come out on top. You can also avoid GC's with a far ranged 2.LK xx spin scythe. If you happen to block a drill kick, use 5.MK into 2.HK to punish: don't dash. If you do it right, the 5.MK into 2.HK trip guards and he can't block it.
As for air fireballs, Oouchi told me to avoid one, then jump and LP spin scythe to match his fireball. You can also chicken guard a fireball but that isn't recommended often. You want to start out baiting his GC's and letting him know he can't do it often, and then start to attack with your normal game. It's not the easiest match, and you will be in for a long game. Play safe, smart, and block a lot.
Lei-Lei (5-5)
Lei Lei has a lot of options from a distance. Very good zoning and can kill you once you're in the corner.
Jedah stays in this matchup because he can end the matchup anywhere on the screen. Lei Lei has really poor defensive mechanism against Jedah. She can be hit out of her GC (when invincibility ends), her stamina is one of the lowest in the game, and she doesn't have a really fast anti air to knock Jedah out of dashes.
What she can do to Jedah though, is a big combo. Watch out for air-chains into land, chain combo, sweep xx Tenraiha. That could end the game if you're in the corner.
If you tick a 2LK or something like that, go crazy with mixups. Lei-Lei crouches fairly small, so you can 66HK and cross her up pretty easily.
Since her defense is lacking, you can ES claw her if she tries to jump out (which at times is her best option).
In this matchup, use j.LP, j.MP, j.MK, j.HK into j. HP as an air-chain meet her in the air.
Don't airdash from full screen, because her MP projectile covers a lot of Jedah's movement. Also, don't try and jump in on her withot airdashing around at the peak of your jump: her 2.HK anti-air is very good.
There isn't too much limiting you in this matchup, so do your usual mixup thing and kill her, while maintaining what you know to avoid along with your gameplan.
Felicia (4-6)
In this matchup, Jedah has to really work for his damage. You want to make it so that it's hard for both of you to hit each other, rather than just being hard for you to hit her.
If the Felicia player knows what he's doing, you can get cornered very fast, and that isn't comfortable at all versus Felicia. Her mixup becomes a lot more of a threat in the corner, and you can get 5MK locked.
At the peak of your jump is where her 5LK, 2HP, and 2MP miss, so you can airdash out of the corner (but don't be predictable, or else she will jump back and j. HK you).
The neutral game can be really hard for you as well. She can play the ground game with her anti airs if you try to attack her, and she can also jump in on you at an angle where you can't anti air her at all. The best way to defeat her is to take your hits with small shots and stack up on them.
It's hard to create your own opportunities on Felicia because her game is overall solid and she doesn't have many weak points you can exploit. But, if you opportunities do arise, use them and make them count.
Careful when rushing though, her GC is pretty good and gives her the upper hand. You definitely don't want to get knocked down by Felicia, so just don't do anything too risky that will put you in bad situations.
66MP is, as always, a good poke. Poking with 2LK is also good, since it gives Jedah some options afterwards.
If she's dashing a lot, poke her out with 5LP.
ES spin scythes do really well here. If she jumps in on one of them, she has no air moves so you can always claw, or ES claw her.
If you need some room, you can grab her when the opportunity arises.
You're disadvantaged, but this matchup is surely winnable if you make the least amount of mistakes as possible.
Lilith (4-6)
This matchup is a little even, but leaned towards Lilith's side.
Her air fireballs zoning is very good and limit your movement. Her shiney blade isn't a warm welcome to your dashing and mixups either. Her jumping in can lock you down and put you in bad situations, especially if you're in the corner.
The good news is that it's easy to kill her while playing patiently, and you can keep her out for enough time to do damage. Play this matchup like you would do against Demitri, but here you have a little more freedom.
You can meet her in the air with j. LK, j. MP, j. MP, j. MK, into j. HP, and then land and 5LP. Also, remember to use your GC baits as explained in the Demitri section.
When you decide to Dark force, try and chicken block first to see if she shiney bladed or not. Or you could go around and j. MK xx ES spin scythe. You will get huge amounts of damage off of her because she has low stamina.
If she likes to jump a lot, and you predict one, 5MP her out of the air for an early anti air. 2MK is a good anti air from a distance, but don't do it if she superjumps on top of you because you could eat a big combo.
Just play some good zoning, pick her apart, take your hits and don't take too much damage from her stuff. It's not too hard to avoid damage against her because she doesn't have high/low mixups: her main mixups are just strings and jumping mixups, and the occassional throw.
The matchup will take a while to win.
Victor (5-5)
Against Victor, you want to avoid the corner at all costs. You need to be able control your space. because in the corner, a good Victor player is vicious.
66HP can zone pretty well, but careful to not get GC'd: a knockdown puts you in a bad position of either being mixed up, or rolling towards the corner. Victor isn't the fastest at cornering, but when he does get the chance, he won't be letting you out soon.
Make use of him being big and use your 66MP, 66HP, j. MP into whiffed j. MK into 5MK (this is very useful), and dashing over and around him with j. MK then j. HK, j. HP, or j. MP.
The hardest thing about this matchup is Victor's stamina, the best in the whole game. It might take a few more opportunities than normal to take him down. It's not too hard since he's so big and your number of options during mixups increases.
If you want to use spin scythes, use the ground LP one, or the air HP one. The idea is to put it low so that he can't cancel it out with his electric moves.
Since Victor is big, you can GC him if you want to, but don't abuse it.
5MP can poke him out of a lot of things and it can early anti air a jump when you expect one. Don't try and anti air him, his j. HP has too much priority. Instead, either chicken guard airdash or just chicken guard with j. MP, then dash up and mix it from there.
Dark Force is ok here, just don't get GC'd and you should be fine.
In general, you want to keep him out while maintaining your space and distance from the corner. If you need to, throw him back into your corner after a spin scythe mixup or dash mixup.
Morrigan (5-5)
Here, Morrigan is at an advantage when up close, and Jedah has the upperhand at about a character distance away. From full screen, the match is neutral.
Morrigan will either be very close or farther than where you want her. This is more of a positioning match if anything and can take a while to get used to.
You can apply the same general tactics against Demitri and Lilith about their GC's.
When you're at a character space away, you can 5LP her out of her dashes and pokes.
Another good normal is 2MK, it serves the same purpose but it is a bit more valuable because you can early anti air her with it too.
In the air, you want to jump around where her DP will whiff hitting you. From that distance you can throw spin scythes.
When using Dark Force, include baiting her shadow blade as a mixup.
She is also small, so you can crossover 66HK easily.
Other alternatives are the usual 2LK xx ES spin scythe, or empty dash into 2MK and 2HK.
If you want to meet her in the air, use j. LP, j. MP, j. MK, j. HO, then land and 5LP.
Since she has some tools like ES shadow blade, and ES soul fist, it will test out your more basic Jedah skills, since you can't resort to your usual mixup dashing and airdashing.
This matchup is like the one vs Demitri, but a little easier, and slightly different because she has a hovering dash.
Play safely, stay in your 'sweet spot' distance, and get your hits and momentum from there.
Anakaris (8-2)
This matchup is so free in so many ways I don't know where to start.
Well, I guess I'll go over the one thing he can do before we proceed to learn how to make him a wrapped cloth punching bag mummy pinyata: the one thing he can do is get lucky with a few mixups, but he shouldn't even really be given that opportunity.
Ok to start off, HP of all kinds out prioritize his moves. 66HP is really good to spam on him, he can't to too much about it.
Another one is MP. On the ground it early anti airs him, in the air it is even better.
You can stop his dashing with 5MK pokes.
Your 5LP can knock him out of his little pyrimid tri jumps.
Another great normal is 2MK as it usually is for other matchups, and even better here.
Pretty much all your normals beat his. Even Jedah's j. HK is good and beats a lot of Anakaris' stuff.
To make matters better for you, he can't shake you off with an AG. So pretty much, you're free to use whatever tools you want to use in this matchup.
Go wild and freestyle. It's all a good tactic here, not many ways you could go wrong.
