Cyclops vs. sentinel - Strategy discussion

[Dan Hibiki]

<span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>All things mentioned by Dan Hibiki in this section have been extensively tested in practice mode. Dan has also tested some strategies against human players, and in those situations appropriate notes will be found by those strategies.</span>

Sentinel, while powerful, has several massive weaknesses that are easily exploited by any of the other characters in fights. Sentinel's obvious strengths are his incredible strength, his massive supermove that covers the screen, and his powerful air game with successful and relatively safe air attacks. In addition Sentinel has very good range on his attacks as attributed to his size.

Sentinel's weaknesses are his size, relatively low dash speed, very slow attack speed, and incredibly attack hit stun and recovery from sweep attacks. He is big, and just about anything you throw out will hit the big guy. His dash speed is slow, which limits Sentinel's ability to avoid close-range skirmishes, which is not his optimal range in this version of the game. His attack speed is VERY slow, making him quite interruptible and very hard to build up good offensive pressure. Finally, Sentinel's recovery times are absolutely horrid, making it very easy to execute guaranteed combos on him.

Cyclops is far more of a match for Sentinel in this game. Moves that are good to ruin any decent Sentinel player are quick in and out close-range skirmishes. A series of weak punches are definitely guaranteed against him, and if you can execute it fast enough, you can go from a fierce punch into a FP version of the Gene Splicer of great damage when up-close. Use practice mode to get a hang of Sentinel's recovery times from attacks; watch his recovery animation, and when it ends the guaranteed combo time ends.

A good combo starter of Cyclops is his down + FK, a.k.a. his low sweep. Sentinel has to lift himself off of the ground with his jets, which takes a lot of time. Sentinel's sweep recovery is not invincible, so go ballistic once it starts. His down + FK has so much guaranteed stuff off of it, it is just insane.

Here are some good combos for Cyclops users against Sentinel:

FP [f, d, df+FP] - guaranteed
d+FK d+FK [d, db, b+FK] - guaranteed
d+FK d+FK [f, df, d+FP] - guaranteed

Create your own combo with this stun information.

DISCUSS!

And... all that with NOTHING to say about the incredibly difficult time you can have jumping over the opponent with Sentinel??

Sentinel's inability to cover much distance in super and regular jumps is by far his biggest weakness. If it wern't for that.. you could make a quick sentinel beam, then super jump over the opponent (much like the Cyclops Optic blast/super jump or Ryu Hadoken/super jump techniques of hit-and-run). Sentinel is BY FAR, the hardest character to break a corner rape when you're getting nailed by ANYBODY.

As Dan has pointed out... speed isn't very much with the big oaf (as far as hard hits are concerned). For moves such as duck+MP, or LP's and LK's (which almost no Sentinel user will ever use) are executed suprisingly quickly, but are ineffective in breaking corner rapes, due to them not stalling the opponent long enough.

But... Sentinel is a GREAT long distance fighter. Sentinel beam, rocket punch, and the infamous Sentinel Force are all great ways to keep your opponent at bay. An experienced Sentinel player willl wait for their opponent to start jumping around and then hit the Sentinel Forces like crazy... :biggrin:

On Cyclops' side, he has both distance and close range attackes to his advantage. Optic Blasts that can go from ducking strait ahead, to right over your head... and even Gene Splice's to top it off?? Cyclone kicks and more Gene Splice's for close range attackes? He's one of the best fighters in the game... if only ######s would lay off the dam optic blast.

Cyclops also has the advange of a triple jump on his side (if you hit it fast enough), which obviously makes him easier to avoid corner rapes...

The downside... some of his moves take far too long to pull off. Such as Optic Sweep. Though you'll hardly ever get hit doing it... waste two of them and an experienced player won't let you get off a third. On the other hand, the down forward HP Optic Blast is fast enough to not allow ANY character to block after being hit, and takes enough life that only a few will pass by half your life and rack up the hits.

Who's better one on one??

Well, it depends on who/how you're playing. An experience Cyclops player will make sure not to let the sentinel player keep his distance, and will inevitably trap him in a corner with Cyclone Kicks, Gene Splices, and when the Sentinel user tries to "jump over him", the HP Optic Blasts... :biggrin:

However, the Sentinel user will attempt to keep the Cyclops user at bay with many, MANY Sentinel Beams, Rocket Punches, and of course... Sentinel Forces the instant Cyclops leaves the ground. Which is where many Cyclops players will mess up and use their triple jump to aviod the other projectiles.. but will be KILLED by the Sentinel Force.

Overall?? Well, I'd have to say the Cyclops player... if they know what they're doing and know how the Sentinel's capabilities.. then they'll go for a close range tactic and have fairly easy battle (depending on the who's using the Sentinel).

[QUIET_KILLER]

Wow well put 2000warrior I couldn't have said it no where as near nice like that.I have to amdit after just recently learning how to use wolverine.I noticed its too easy for the low clearance supermutant.He can easily do his moves on that sentinel and cyclops with out barely breaking a sweat.If that new special for wolvy is added then I feel sorry for alot of sentinel and cyclops users.Not also will it add to the torture it will also make it easier for wolvy to help combo them to death.I haven't and will not say something wit ryu.Every one knows that sentinel and cyclops are punching bags.If ryu jumps they might have a chance.For skillzed pros :vampv: :biggrin: those sentinels and cyclops will always be tall punching bags.Unless you are a exception to the rule your just another suicidal or murdered victim off your own selection of 1 of these slow characters.I think the new chronicle could or will help this situation a lil mo.I hope I gave nothing away if so My apologizes aight..Ahem beware these characters can be used for the evil or defensive powers off cheapness sometimes.

[hadoken king]

[color=purpleost_uid13]Sent is a cheap [bost_uid13]BITCH[/bost_uid13] and so is cyclops. Cyclops being cheap with his opticblast coming out ultra fast and sent being cheap with his one hit kill missile attack.

Both of them would suck if it wasn't for the bug's of the game that helps them to win.

Mostly no^0bs and people who are desperate to win use sent or cyclops.

They both suck this is a useless topic..[/colorost_uid13]

[Dan Hibiki]

All characters can be used cheaply or skillfully. You have yet to fight a user who is actually good with Sentinel or Cyclops.

[machine1]

god that is too much crap to read!

[Kingryu1]

then why post here then. lain:

yes dan. i agree with you. cyclops can kik sentinals ass any day. e.g:

if sentinal used his sentinal force, all cyclops would have to do is do a medium optic last, adn then the sentinal force would go straight into the air and miss you. easy defence.

if sentinal did a HP beam, asince it is slow coming out, cyclops could quickly do a low opitc blast and cancel out his sentinal beam.

if sentinal jump forwards to cyclops, since cyclops is quick and sentinal is a slow jumper, cyclops could do a high optic blast to knock sentianl backwards.

so in other words. cyclops owns sentinal. (in most cases)

[princevegetam]

i have never lost to a sentinel player before, the only time i've lost is a result of the one hit kill bug by sentinel force.

[Dan Hibiki]

C'mon! Post in here! Discuss some strategy! Everything in this forum is about complaining and talking about the game in general! Let's get some definitive strategy discussions going to start things up!

[quoteost_uid0="machine1"]god that is too much crap to read![/quote]
that's what i was about to say.

back to the topic: i don't know any of their combos but i'm sure that cyclops will win. and note that "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."