Samurai Shodown V Special/Ukyo Tachibana
Introduction
Blue-haired Iaido master and poster boy for tuberculosis awareness.
Ukyo is one of the best characters in the game. Pretty much any gameplan can be accommodated for with his toolkit -- if he can do it, he does it incredibly well. Mixups, runaway, turtling, anti-airing, punishing, you name it. He takes extra damage, meaning he can suffer for a mistake, but he will run circles around most opponents if given the opportunity.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
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Data
- Damage taken: 120%
- Rage duration: 20 seconds
- Amount to rage: 45
- Walk speed: 544
- Backwalk speed: 384
- Dash speed: 1792
- Jump duration: 59 frames
- Width: 16
- Throw range: 12
Normals
Far Slashes
5A:
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5B:
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5AB:
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2A:
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2B:
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2AB:
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Near Slashes
n.5A:
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n.5B:
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n.5AB:
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n.2A:
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n.2B:
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n.2AB:
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Overheads
5BC:
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u.5BC:
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Kicks
5C:
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6C:
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2C:
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3C:
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Jumping
j.A:
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j.B:
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j.8AB:
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j.7/9AB:
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j.C:
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Dashing
66A:
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66B:
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66AB:
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66C:
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Unarmed
u.5S:
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u.2S:
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ju.S:
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u.66S:
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Pursuits
Pursuit - 2BC
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Heavy Pursuit - 8BC
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System
Deflect - 216D:
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Weapon Pickup - 5A:
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Taunt Disarm - Start Start Start:
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Specials
Tsubame Gaeshi - j.1236S:
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Hiken Sasameyuki - 214S:
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'Hi'ken Sasameyuki - 214C: (can be used unarmed)
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Zanzou Fumikomi Giri - 236S:
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Tsubame Rokuren - 236CD - WFT:
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Combos
Normal
- (n.5B or n.2B) ...
- ... xx 236B/236AB 2BC
- Standard corner carry. 236B does slightly more damage but carries a shorter distance. Frequently drops if you're hitting them from behind. Pursuit is corner only.
- ... xx 236A 8BC
- In case you're worried they'll explode. This is also the more consistent option on backhit. 8BC is a tighter link than 2BC in the above combo and is also corner only.
- ... xx 214A
- Reset to neutral. Can leave you open even on hit sometimes.
- ... xx 236CD
- If you absolutely must use WFT this is the only situation that it'll work in.
- 2C tk.1236A/B
- 2C is low, Tsubame Gaeshi is high. The motion for the IoH should be done right around when Ukyo recovers from the kick in order to time the link correctly.
- There is a caveat with this combo, being that whether or not it works can depend on your spacing. If your opponent's hurtbox shrinks low enough during hitstun, it can result in the combo not working at all, or only working when you aren't at direct point blank range. For the most part, you aren't going to be pressing 2C in their face so the latter category probably won't affect you very much.
- Invalid on: Rimururu, Basara.
- Valid when spaced on: Nakoruru, Shizumaru, Genuro, Kazuki, Sogetsu, Enja, Suija, Yoshitora, Yunfei, Mina.
- (66AB/66C/6C/3C) 2BC
- You'll likely use these normals quite a lot, so get used to converting them to a pursuit wherever you can.
Backhit only
- 2AB tk.1236A/B
- Situational? Yeah. Fast and hurts a ton? Yeah. At least the link is pretty lenient.
- 2AB 5B xx 236B
- Tougher and harder-hitting 2AB combo. The link is a lot tighter, but this does close to half a lifebar. Stick to the above version for more consistency.
- n.2B xx 214C 5B xx 236B
- Swag combo. The apple is only there to make linking into 5B easier, but the combo is still possible (albeit way less consistent) without it.
- n.5B/n.2B xx 214CD
- Not that you'll be in the situation to land this very much, but hey.
Time slow
- j.AB j.AB j.AB ...
- Used to hearing about this one yet? Your jump is pretty floaty though, so you might do better waiting for them to fall into Issen range.
- (j.9B or 2C) BCD
- 50/50 with instant overhead j.B and 2C. Both lead to Issen. 2C is harder to explode on reaction but hoping they won't is risky. You can string together multiple 2C reps if you expect they'll block high for the ioh. Jump in with j.C before this mixup for an extra layer for them to block.
- j.1236AB BCD
- This one hurts a lot and cannot be exploded. Primarily used if you bait a big enough whiff while popping time slow. Use Tsubame before landing (don't tiger knee it), wait a little while for them to fall just around head height before using Issen. Lots of meditation and a full sword gauge for the Tsubame Gaeshi will lead to this easily shaving off ~75% of a lifebar.
Strategies
General
Ukyo is ideally played as an irritating hit and run character that can choose to mix up when he lands a knockdown. To this end he will harass with quick long range normals, dance in and out of the opponent's range, and smack them for overextending. This makes him potent for both offensive and defensive play, thanks particularly to his incredibly good grounded movement. His forward run has numerous attacks he can mix up and whiff punish with to boot.
If he has the life lead, there's nothing stopping him from just running away and sitting on it. If the opponent has few options to effectively open you up, you can effectively wall them out with normals and punish them for overextending. This becomes very useful when the timer is running out.
But there are a few very pertinent things to be concerned about with Ukyo. He takes a lot of damage thanks to his defense value. Despite his great reach, if a character can outrange him with a quick long range attack, such as Haohmaru 5AB, he needs to be on point with his choices so he doesn't get blown up. Similarly he cannot get too trigger-happy with his buttons against a foe that represents deflects, because all of his best ranged pokes can be deflected and you will get hurt for it.
Almost any mixup Ukyo does is going to be heavily punishable, so if the opponent can block the basic 2C/Tsubame sequence or if they guess your 66B right, you are going to get hurt. Ukyo requires a great balance of careful play and effective risk-taking in order to play well, but the rewards for a correct guess can be huge as almost any knockdown he gets will feed into his pressure or let him run away.
2C Mixups/Pressure
Making the opponent block or get hit by a 2C opens them up to all sorts of possible mixups if you want to commit, including as okizeme. He can obviously do 2C tk.1236A/B for the classic setup, 2C 66B to cross up, 2C 6C to low knockdown, 2C 66CD to throw, etc. He can pretty safely keep pressing 2C to change up the timing, so getting out can be pretty tough if Ukyo's confident in his mixup.
However, don't abuse these options if your opponent is good at fuzzy guarding or has a decent invulnerable move. Getting blocked means you're going to eat a juicy punish, so as they show they can block correctly, your mixup becomes less braindead and requires you put more thought into which of his various options you use. Also note that Tsubame Gaeshi will go right over a 2D, and a poorly executed TK will result in it whiffing over some crouching opponents. Be confident in your execution when doing this mixup or else.
Poking
- 5B - The big button itself. If you don't know what best to use, you can choose this with relative impunity. Just be sure the opponent doesn't have a read on you.
- 2B - Not as catch-all as his other normals, but you can keep them from jumping by representing this. Know your range so this actually comes out.
- 2A - The quicker shorter range version of 5B. If they're too close for comfort, use this. It's especially great for catching desperate approaches.
- 2C - His best mash option up close. On hit or block you can mix up pretty effectively. Or just push them out of reach so you can go back to using slashes.
- 3C - A super active option you can stick out to beat buttons and make approaching difficult. Doesn't lead to the best oki but you can make room if this hits.
- 6C - Very quick decent range low option that leads to a pursuit and oki opportunities. Fairly safe when spaced.
- 236A - Unsafe counterpoke gimmick, but hard to react to and punish if used sparingly. Best used at around 5B distance; even better as a recoil cancel. Do not abuse this.
- 214S - Not too bad to wall them out with, actually. Does little damage but attempts to punish are tough to time correctly. Use sparingly if at all.
Punishing
- n.5B/n.2B xx 236S - Your fastest slash option that also does decent corner carry. See combos for version differences on 236S
- 6C - A low commitment punish if you act too late for anything else. Easily sets up further pressure.
- 5AB - 13f of pain. Great reach, startup, damage. Expect to die if this is blocked. Only use it for larger punishes.
- n.5AB - Hugely unsafe but not as much as 5AB. Being multihit means this can be exploded and does middling damage.
- 2AB - Alternative to 5AB. Similar damage/startup but slightly weaker. Still worth representing.
- 66AB - Buffer this during blockstun to reliably get it out faster. Great range, can punish from absurd distances even with minimum distance traveled.
- 66CD - With a run speed like that, why not?
- tk.1236A/B - If you fancy yourself as having fast reflexes, buffer this during blockstun (maybe even hitstun). His absolute fastest punish but also one of the riskiest. Very big gamble.
Time Slow vs. Rage
Ukyo's meditation is very strong. He gets a lot of bang for his buck meditating and his time slow is supremely threatening thanks to dangerous mixups that cash out for immense damage with Issen. His damage is already pretty strong without rage as well, so it's not like he really wants to rage. Find spots during slow moments to meditate, usually when the foe is too far to do anything but throw fireballs and try to chip you a bit.
With that in mind if you're in a very scramble-heavy match and you find yourself raging because you didn't have time to meditate don't fret. Ukyo rages for a long time (20 seconds) and his best punishes/mixups all do some seriously beefy damage with extended sword gauge. His bad WFT is tacit encouragement to play out the rage and capitalize hard on his increased damage. Just play your usual Ukyo game and make them hurt a lot for making a mistake.
Matchups
- vs. Basara
- This is strange, but this matchup is actually not easy. Basara has alot of ways to open you up and even turtling attempts can just fail because of how tricky that guy is. Also don't even try to jump, if it's not tiger knee Tsubame and do it only when you're 100% sure it hits - it's just you have slow and floaty jump and Basara excels at dealing with that kind of jump arc. Be careful with his fakeouts, since his clone can do alot of stuff and if you hit the wrong target, pray for best. This matchup is surely the one, which comes with difficulty, and still good advantages - if you more or less got used to his tricks, then the most important thing in this MU is not respecting Basara. When he does mistake - do the 5AB for really big damage, since his defence is bad; if he tries to pull out the puff - try to 66C > 2BC him so you will be able to reset the match to neutral state. By the way, his DP is not that good, you can just roll before it comes so opponent will whiff the move and its good opportunity to feed him another punish. To deal with opponent's tricky mobility, you can roll cancel into 214, since Basara struggles to punish it.
- vs. Gaira
- All you need in this match is knowing, when opponent tries to grab you, so you can avoid it and show him what 8:2 in Ukyo's favour means. Being slow and fat target with mostly close-range normals is automatically good matchup for Ukyo, so if you know what you're doing - Gaira is small threat.
- vs. Genjuro
- This one is almost perfect even matchup, but Ukyo player can have hard time if he can't capitalize at Genjuro's weaknesses. Also opponent has answer for every jump-in attempt - his DP, though if you do empty jump to bait DP and you have cobra reaction - beat it with Tsubame (not 100% reliable). Be wary of his dash-ins and approaches at all: Genjuro can pretty much mix you up or grab, if you're not giving it proper caution, but he still can get punished by your pokes, and if his approach attempt was really bad, feed him hard slash or WFT. And being knockdowned by this guy means that you can get a taste of his cards oki, so this is one more thing you should care about.
- vs. Haohmaru
- Haohmaru can be pain in the ass for unprepared Ukyo player, because of his 5AB and, if you don't know this matchup either, his tornados and DP can be a problem too. Also in that case, if your opponent is smart, most of pressure attempts will be just outranged. The most important thing about why this is 6:4 in Ukyo's favour is that you can just prevent opponent from using 5AB by not making the situations when he can surely hit you. This matchup is pretty similar to Yoshitora in that a well-timed 2C meaty can whiff and recover in time for you to block and punish if he does 623S on his wakeup. 623AB is really fast so it might blow you up for a poorly timed one but has no invincibility. Also be careful with your 236S, Haohmaru can just beat it with his own 236 or 623.
- vs. Jubei
- In some aspects, Jubei as character is basically you but worse. Still, he has some important differences, which you can't ignore, at least his counters - this guy can even deny 2C > tk.Tsubame, if he's good enough. Also this matchup is pretty unique, because Jubei forces you to not just turtle all the match in the corner with his chip damage, so you really must to play around with him and use your brain to not get killed. A reversal 623 will beat your 2C though.
- vs. Rasetsumaru
- Despite having the best WFT and couple of good pokes, this is all Rasetsumaru has, so he's not a big threat for Ukyo, the only thing that you still should be careful, is when opponent has rage and ready to either go for WFT as punish for your mistake (which you obviously shouldn't make when he can do WFT) or he'll press ABC and definitely try to open you up for damage. If you block his super - you have 5AB, AB Tsubame or you can try roll accross him so there'll be opportunity for backhit, though it's not 100% reliable. Also be wary of his shoulder - sometimes it will beat 2C mashing, so your pressure should be less risky.
- vs. Yoshitora
- This guy can seem pretty dangerous at first: cool mobility, 100x better jump arc than yours (especially with j.AB), strong pressure and mixups etc, but when you understand, how hard is it for him to approach you without eating damage from your pokes (and even 5AB, if it was really bad attempt) or getting his jump-ins denied by Tsubame, then it turns around to your favour. So although this matchup can be unique sometimes, to confirm this 7:3, you should be as always careful with your pressure and precise at outranging/keep-away. By the way, his AB uppercut takes a while to get out but is invincible until the first active frame. If your 2C is early enough you can actually recover before his uppercut's first active frame, then block and punish.
- vs. Zankuro
- Really easy matchup, because you better at all aspects: defense, offense, outranging... but not hard slash. NEVER EVER throw out move that's -20 and above on block randomly, because you can easily eat alot of damage from Zankuro's 5AB. The other thing you should be careful about is his 236C, since it's fast enough to catch you off-guard and punish you out of 5AB range. Except this two problems, Ukyo overwhelms alot Zankuro so you win this easily with 7:3 advantage.
Frame Data
Move | Damage | Startup | Active | Total | Cancel | Weapon Clash |
Hit Adv. |
Backhit Adv. |
Block Adv. |
Guard | Notes |
5A | 6 | 9 | 2 | 25 | 1~2(2) / 9~14(6) | 8(1) | -6 | -6 | -12 | Mid | Weak attack, Deflectable(weak) |
5B | 12 | 8 | 2 | 34 | 11~15(5) | 7(1) | -8 | +0 | -18 | Mid | Medium attack, Deflectable(med) |
5AB | 31 | 13 | 2 | 52 | x | - | -2 | +8 | -34 | Mid | Heavy attack, Deflectable(heavy) |
2A | 5 | 5 | 2 | 20 | 1(1) / 7~11(5) | - | -5 | -5 | -6 | Mid | Weak attack, Deflectable(weak) |
2B | 11 | 8 | 3 | 40 | 1~4(4) | - | -9 | -1 | -18 | Mid | Medium attack, Deflectable(med) |
2AB | 29 | 12 | 1 | 49 | 1~6(6) | - | +0 | +10 | -32 | Mid | Heavy attack, Deflectable(heavy) |
n.5A | 5 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 1~4(4) / 5~13(9) | - | -1 | -1 | -6 | Mid | Weak attack, Deflectable(weak) |
n.5B | 8 | 8 | 1 | 40 | 8~11(4) | 6~7(2) | -14 | -6 | -18 | Mid | Medium attack, Deflectable(med) |
n.5AB | 5, 23 | 12 | 2 | 63 | 1~7(7) | 9~11(3) / 14(1) / 19(1) | -6 | +4 | -26 | Mid | Weak attack, Deflectable(heavy) |
n.2A | 4 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 1~2(2) / 5~12(8) | - | -1 | -1 | -6 | Mid | Weak attack, Deflectable(weak) |
n.2B | 6 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 6~15(10) | - | +1 | +9 | -12 | Mid | Medium attack, Deflectable(med) |
n.2AB | 5, 25 | 14 | 3 | 62 | 1~5(5) | - | -2 | +8 | -21 | Mid | Weak attack, Deflectable(heavy) |
5C | 5 | 8 | 4 | 35 | 1~4(4) | - | -9 | -1 | -22 | Mid | Medium attack |
6C | 7 | 5 | 11 | 34 | 1~2(2) | - | KD | KD | -24 | Low | Knockdown attack |
2C | 2 | 6 | 4 | 11 | x | - | +5 | +5 | +0 | Low | Weak attack |
3C | 6 | 5 | 10 | 28 | x | - | KD | KD | -24 | Mid | Knockdown attack 5-14f throw invincible |
j.A | 5 | 7 | 16 | 30 | 1~3(3) | - | -- | -- | -- | High | Weak attack, Deflectable(weak) |
j.B | 9 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 1~2(2) | - | -- | -- | -- | High | Medium attack, Deflectable(med) |
j8.AB | 26 | 10 | 3 | 33 | 1~5(5) | - | -- | -- | -- | High | Heavy attack, Deflectable(heavy) |
j7/9.AB | 25 | 12 | 5 | 27 | 1~5(5) | - | -- | -- | -- | High | Heavy attack, Deflectable(heavy) |
j.C | 3, 3 | 5 | 5 | 30 | x | - | -- | -- | -- | High | Heavy attack |
ju.C | 3, 3 | 5 | 5 | 30 | x | - | -- | -- | -- | High | Heavy attack |
5BC | 16 | 20 | 2 | 45 | x | - | KD | KD | -19 | High | Medium attack Knockdown attack |
u.5BC | 6 | 31 | 9 | 44 | x | - | KD | KD | -19 | High | Medium attack Knockdown attack |
66A | 5 | 11 | 8 | 33 | 1~3(3) | - | -4 | +4 | -26 | Mid | Medium attack, Deflectable(heavy) |
66B | 12 | 22 | 1 | 66 | x | - | KD | KD | -39 | Mid | Knockdown attack |
66AB | 15 | 4 | 2 | 38 | 1~2(2) | - | KD | KD | -29 | Mid | Knockdown attack 1-13f throw invincible |
66C | 4 | 6 | 12 | 32 | 1~3(3) | - | KD | KD | -21 | Low | Knockdown attack 1-17f throw invincible |
u.5S | 4 | 5 | 1 | 18 | 1(1) | - | -3 | -3 | -8 | Mid | Weak attack |
u.2S | 4 | 6 | 1 | 20 | x | - | -4 | -4 | -9 | Mid | Weak attack |
ju.S | 4 | 9 | 8 | 25 | x | - | -- | -- | -- | High | Medium attack |
u.66S | 4 | 6 | 1 | 24 | 1~2(2) | - | KD | KD | -13 | Mid | Knockdown attack 1-14f throw invincible |
u.66C | 4 | 6 | 12 | 32 | 1~3(3) | - | KD | KD | -21 | Low | Knockdown attack 1-17f throw invincible |
2BC | 6 | 21 | 7 | 68 | x | - | -- | -- | -- | Mid | |
u.2BC | 8 | 7 | 24 | 35 | x | - | -- | -- | -- | Mid | |
8BC | 13 | 40 | 38 | 101 | x | - | -- | -- | -- | Mid | |
u.8BC | 8 | 25 | 18 | 79 | x | - | -- | -- | -- | Mid | |
Tsubame Gaeshi - j.1236A | 18 | 3 | 6 | x | x | - | KD | KD | -41 | High | Medium attack Knockdown attack 16f landing recovery |
Tsubame Gaeshi - j.1236B | 21 | 3 | 6 | x | x | - | KD | KD | -48 | High | Medium attack Knockdown attack 23f landing recovery |
Tsubame Gaeshi - j.1236AB | 2x6, 24 | 10 | 7 | x | x | - | ?? | ?? | -75 | High | Medium attack Knockdown attack 45f landing recovery |
'Hi'ken Sasameyuki - 214C | x | x | x | 17 | x | - | -- | -- | -- | Mid | |
Hiken Sasameyuki - 214A | 5x5 | 19 | 2 | 61 | x | - | -4 | -4 | -17 | Mid | Medium attack |
Hiken Sasameyuki - 214B | 6x8 | 18 | 2 | 76 | x | - | -5 | -5 | -17 | Mid | Medium attack |
Hiken Sasameyuki - 214AB | 7x11 | 22 | 2 | 102 | x | - | -12 | -12 | -25 | Mid | Medium attack 1-12f throw invincible |
Zanzou Fumikomi Giri - 236A | 16 | 15 | 2 | x | x | - | KD | KD | -27 | Mid | Knockdown attack |
Zanzou Fumikomi Giri - 236B | 5, 18 | 15 | 2 | x | x | - | KD | KD | -36 | Mid | Medium attack Knockdown attack |
Zanzou Fumikomi Giri - 236AB | 5, 5, 10 | 15 | 2 | x | x | - | KD | KD | -34 | Mid | Heavy attack Knockdown attack |
Tsubame Rokuren - 236CD | 30 | 19 | 29 | 69 | x | - | KD | KD | -59 | High | Medium attack 14-47f above ground 22f landing recovery |