Strategy

Long Range

First things first, F.A.N.G.’s poison effect is applied by any hitting special or Critical Art, and also by his V-Skill and V-Trigger. It applies 500 frames of a damage-over-time effect: 1 stamina damage every 10 frames, or 50 damage across just over eight seconds. Giving this effect time to work (not to mention taking shots at reapplying it) is F.A.N.G.’s main incentive to sit far away, peppering his foes with HP/MP Nishikyu and Nishodoku.

From long range out to full screen distance, HP Nishikyu is great for peppering long-range challengers. Use MP Nishikyu as a change-up to interdict attempted movement in the space between the characters. Depending on your opponent’s actions at long range, you may be able to repeat Nishikyu tosses back-to-back, easily building charge for the next projectile rep while the previous ones are in transit. If you suspect that your opponent will do something extra-aggressive to suddenly close in from full screen (like Rashid’s running dash, a double-dash from Nash or M. Bison, or a Dhalsim frontal Yoga Teleport, as a few examples), that’s when it becomes useful to set up HK Ryobenda whenever you have the chance. HK Ryobenda means they have to blast through with a two-hit projectile, pass through with a move that’s projectile-invulnerable, or try to jump in over the poison mine. But by the time they can jump in, you’d have plenty of time to charge and fire LP Nishikyu preemptively. Getting LP Nishikyu out behind HK Ryobenda gives you a temporary poison shield behind which F.A.N.G. can reposition and see whether you need to prioritize setting Ryobenda back up, or if you can go for a few rounds of Nishikyu harassment first.

If your Nishikyu/Ryobenda rain adequately restricts your opponent’s movement, you can mix in Nishodoku when time permits. This gives your enemy one more thing to worry about because you can repeatedly hurl Nishikyu over the path of Nishodoku, preventing them from jumping over and basically guaranteeing that they take the poison. Getting poison onto the enemy with stray long-range Nishikyu and Nishodoku projectiles can only amplify the effectiveness of a solid zoning strategy, since poisoned foes often get increasingly frustrated chasing F.A.N.G. down as their stamina slowly bleeds away. If you’re having success applying and maintaining poison with Nishikyu, there’s no reason to press an advantage. Run away and keep peppering them and coaxing them into stray projectile hits, punishable errors, and overly aggressive, telegraphed jump-ins that you can anti-air.

When zoning from afar, get used to continually returning to a or charge immediately after executing charge specials. F.A.N.G.’s charge times are so short that you can easily perform consecutive charge moves, like performing another Nishikyu the instant the previous ones disappear, firing Nishikyu right after laying down Ryobenda, and laying down Ryobenda into an immediate Nishikyu toss. The same charge prepares you to fire Nishikyu at a faraway target, lay down Ryobenda to block projectiles and provide temporary ground cover, or lash out with Sotoja to preemptively stuff ground specials and movement.

Against many characters, F.A.N.G. has all the long-range initiative. Against other projectile characters, though, he can find himself forced into reactive positions. Nishodoku doesn’t actually control lateral space, and Nishikyu was never meant to. Someone like Ryu dedicated to firing Hadokens as fast as possible will quickly overpower F.A.N.G. in a ranged firefight. Luckily, F.A.N.G. has several tools to at least stalemate a long-range attacker. Senpukuga crouch allows F.A.N.G. to dodge under incoming projectiles on reaction. Sotoja can slap them aside, as can LK Ryobenda. You can quickly place MK Ryobenda in the path of single-hit projectiles. Finally, all versions of Nikankyaku pass through incoming projectiles, so fireball throwers must be wary of F.A.N.G.’s ability to gain ground against their zoning efforts.

Whether moving in against a fireball thrower who outclasses your ranged game or transitioning to close-range offense when you detect passivity or an opponent with poor defensive habits, you can always transition to offense with Nikankyaku. From full screen, HK Nikankyaku puts F.A.N.G. in position for the tip of standing and crouching . Any closer as a starting point, and you’re into close-range offense. These command dashes are slower than forward dashes, but they’re faster than forward jumps, while traveling farther than either. Combined with the ability to pass through enemies for ground cross-up tactics, you can think of these as being like a slower, variable version of rolls from the Capcom vs. SNK series.

The enemy is unlikely to attack from the air from far away, since your long-distance Nishikyu assaults usually make that a total non-starter. But if you’re going more toe-to-toe against an enemy and not depending on Nishikyu zoning, or if you just haven’t posted up from a given location yet and they’re already leaping in from long range somehow (like with some Vega, M. Bison, and Rashid attacks), then you can rely on the second hit of standing (which is active on Frame 7 of the move) for a far-reaching, reliable anti-air. F.A.N.G.’s extended leg has a vulnerable hurtbox, but only as high up as where his pants meet his ankle wrappings and as far out as his toes. His hitbox is slightly taller and farther forward-reaching than his fully extended heel. This is a great ratio, and this move is a terrific anti-air against anything that doesn’t reach far enough forward to hit F.A.N.G.’s arm and head.

Mid Range

Closer in, once F.A.N.G. is in range for the opponent’s longest-reaching jump-ins and pokes, you’ll have to discard HP Nishikyu. Here, LP Nishikyu is good to put a wall into the air before F.A.N.G, and MP Nishikyu is good to assault opponents directly. The LP version is more appropriate after you’ve laid down HK or EX Ryobenda, while MP Nishikyu can provide a little cover if you want to move closer (whether by just moving forward after MP Nishikyu recovers, or by canceling the end of it into Nikankyaku).

While long range provides you the luxury of a little time to react if someone tries to rush in against projectile zoning, mid range doesn’t give you that space cushion. Someone who makes a good read against your Nishodoku or Nishikyu startup may just dash forward, while someone reacting late might pass through Nishikyu with a move like Karin’s EX Sappo dash or Laura’s EX Bolt Charge (or even another F.A.N.G.’s Nikankyaku). If you’re worried about your opponent’s aggressive movement, try to keep either MK or HK Ryobenda out before you use mid-range Nishikyu. MK Ryobenda’s poison mine doesn’t last as long as the HK version’s (one second vs. 1.66 seconds), but it takes four fewer frames to place. That small difference is huge when trying to set up space-controlling mines at the edge of your enemy’s attack range. When you don’t feel imminently threatened, though, opt for the HK version for the lengthier ground projectile. If you really want to exert some temporary control, you can spend a stock on EX Ryobenda, which activates almost as fast as the LK version and sets out an extremely long-lasting mine that can absorb two incoming projectile hits. This is good at mid range to simultaneously control ground movement and set up a shield against powerful fireballs like Ryu’s EX Hadoken. It can also temporarily stalemate a fighter like Laura, looking to get inside with her V-Skill movement and multi-hitting Thunder Clap projectile.

The closer in that F.A.N.G. is, the more relevant it becomes that the recovery on any poison cloud-laying version of Ryobenda is suspectible to counter-hits, like whiffed Shoryukens. If your opponents get a read on your Ryobenda setup habits, they may make a bold play to dodge the Ryobenda and strike your recovery. At least it’s very awkward for them to hit F.A.N.G. with anything approaching ideal punishers (outside of something like Dhalsim tiger-knee teleporting just over F.A.N.G.’s head as he finishes setting up Ryobenda, or Rashid predictively leaping clean over with his V-Skill long jump). Still, opponents may boldly walk far forward and jump clean over the poison mine as F.A.N.G. steps back, or they may use a projectile-invincible attack to blast through and hit his recovery. Try to “refresh” your Ryobenda mines when the enemy is briefly occupied with something else, like about to block falling Nishikyu balls, or trying to leap over a Nishodoku poison skill. If the enemy is within jump-in/dash-in distance in the neutral game and seems eager to attack, it may be best to momentarily shut down your barrage of specials from mid to long range, just waiting to see what offensive play the enemy has in store.

If you expect foes to move in aggressively on the ground, Nirenko can come into play as a movement-check from almost half the playing field. This is better in matchups where your opponent doesn’t have a fireball, since Nirenko lacks any kind of anti-projectile properties. Against fireball characters, Sotoja specials can function as far-reaching pokes that happen to destroy any fireballs they hit, though Sotoja comes with some caveats. Sotoja can be very punishable if guarded, especially if you get blocked from closer up with the portion of it that knocks down (the first two active frames of normal versions). If blocked very late from the edge of its range during the last few active frames, it’s generally safe from reprisal and serves as a check against the enemy’s ground movement, but it doesn’t knock them down. MP Sotoja is a mix of the LP version’s speed and the HP version’s range, while having better advantage than either on hit or block. Therefore, this version leaves F.A.N.G. in the best frame situation whenever you’re poking with the tip of the second hit as a mid-range deterrent. If at any point you want to spend the gauge, EX Sotoja is better in every way, hitting faster and farther, doing more damage, being much safer blocked, and knocking down no matter what frame you hit with. But EX Gauge is valuable, so you shouldn’t throw out things like mid-range EX Sotoja speculatively unless you’re really sure you’ll hit something, like a ground dash or the ends of a mid-range fireball character’s hands as they try to release a projectile. The problem with both Nirenko and Sotoja as mid-range pokes is that they occupy a fair amount of time, making them vulnerable to jumps.

There’s lots of reading and predicting at play: if you’re worried about a foe’s rush under Nishikyu, you might briefly stop with projectiles and wait and react, or occupy space with Nirenko/Sotoja. If they neutral jump, they can punish your special pokes; if you’d just kept throwing Nishikyu in the first place instead of hesitating, their neutral jump would’ve just gotten them poisoned. Keeping your opponent worried about a Nishikyu barrage that gets them poisoned when they go for chancy jump-ins goes a long way toward making F.A.N.G.’s laggier ground moves safe.

F.A.N.G. has great anti-air normals, so if an enemy attacks with forward jump-ins, you should be able to bop them and take back initiative. Against jumps and airborne attacks coming in from farther out, use standing , as explained in the Long Range section. Against jump-ins that will hit closer to F.A.N.G, approaching his center, use crouching or crouching . Crouching forward’s first two active frames (frames 7 and 8 after initiating the move) arc above and in front of F.A.N.G.’s crouching hurtbox, which is great against jumps closer in on top of F.A.N.G. (They’re also special-cancelable, allowing you to anti-air with crouching canceled into Ryobenda or Nikankyaku for instant defense/offense.) And crouching is an incredible two-hit anti-air (hitting on frames 9-10 and 17-19) for anything coming down from just above F.A.N.G. The first hit is even cancelable, opening the door to Combo 9. The choice between crouching or crouching as an anti-air comes down to speed and safety; both have great hitboxes that extend skyward above F.A.N.G.’s vulnerable parts, but crouching fierce’s hurtbox extends farther upward, and it hits two frames slower. Crouching is for when you’re anti-airing with comfortable timing, while crouching is for when the enemy isn’t giving you quite so much time. If you get an early read on someone jumping in, you can change it up by jumping forward with early as anti-air, which hits up-forward from F.A.N.G. with good air-to-air priority.

If you want to be more aggressive, whether that just suits your playstyle or the moment calls for it (such as against a hesitant or passive adversary), F.A.N.G. has a few offensive-minded options from mid range. From a range at about half the screen and closer, if an edgy engagement is warranted, MK Nikankyaku will put F.A.N.G. into close range in front, while HK Nikankyaku will pass through to the other side. Done in anticipation through a predictable mid-range fireball, this can put F.A.N.G. in position for a close-range throw or combo. You can also start this by doing LP Nishikyu and canceling into MK or HK Nikankyaku from this range. Doing Nikankyaku “naked” in the neutral game against a watchful foe will likely get you punished, though, so you’ll usually have to take a more measured path in.

Most simply, F.A.N.G. can walk forward into the edge of poke range. Aside from unique attack Nirenko, crouching is his farthest-reaching normal move, followed closely by standing . These three far-reaching attacks don’t have exceptional hitbox-to-hurtbox ratios, but they do have exceptional reach. Like all sweeps, crouching is horrifically unsafe when blocked, but it is still necessary to use sometimes: sweeps are an instant counter to opponents who walk or dash too freely nearby, since someone moving can’t be blocking low. F.A.N.G.’s sweep is also his farthest-reaching whiff punisher in footsie battles, and it causes a Crush Counter knockdown on counter-hit. This gives you the best possible situation to set up an ambiguous cross-up jumping , as opponents wake up with normal sluggish speed. You shouldn’t be sweeping frivolously but it’s worth remembering. Standing is a much safer baseline. It issues a mid-range double-slap, the first hit of which is special-cancelable. This poke slaps at Frame 7 and again at Frame 14 while leaving F.A.N.G. at -3 when guarded. Used from the edge of its range, this is a generally safe disadvantage. When walking forward to poke with standing , you won’t have any charge ready to cancel the first hit into an attack special, but you can cancel it into Nikankyaku. This is a very risky way to shift to close-range offense quickly, canceling into LK or MK Nikankyaku to stay on the same side, or using the HK version to cross over to your enemy’s back.

From slightly closer in, standing and crouching are also useful as poking tools. Both attacks have attack hitboxes that extend slightly ahead of F.A.N.G.’s vulnerable arm, increasing priority if you space it correctly. If you happen to have a charge stored (reasonable after a jump-in, a previous poke, Nikankyaku, a forward dash, etc.), either one can combo into Sotoja in a two-in-one cancel (HP Sotoja from standing , LP Sotoja from crouching ). Either one leaves F.A.N.G. at -2 disadvantage when blocked. It’s not an awful situation, but knowledgeable foes will take back tempo with three-frame or four-frame attacks. Still, it’s OK to just leave these pokes uncanceled because you can actually be worse off canceling to a special that’s scouted and punished. Standing is F.A.N.G.’s Crush Counter and hits in eight frames, so it can overpower your opponent’s mid-range medium and light pokes, along with sniping their dashes, leading to potentially decent damage with V-Gauge gain as a bonus. If you find yourself landing a couple Crush Counters early, go ahead and burn a V-Reversal soon if it’ll give you an escape or combo shot, since you’ll still get enough V-Gauge for V-Trigger before the round is over. Crush Counter standing can lead to a combo whether you poked with standing by itself or with standing LK Nikankyaku (see Grounded Counter-Hits in the Combos section for details). Using standing grants F.A.N.G. the best frame situation for Nikankyaku antics (though, again, beware that certain types of players will probably quickly stop you from trying slip-through command dash tricks unless they’re heavily distracted).

When walking up and poking with the tip of standing , and with standing and crouching , keep standing , standing /, and crouching in mind as lower-commitment edge-of-range poke options.

Standing isn’t just great long-range anti-air: it’s also a great mid-range poke, taking up lots of space in front of F.A.N.G. and preemptively shooting down forward jumps (though it will whiff against crouching characters). Standing is a quick five-frame counterpoint that acts as kind of a fake low crush, beating out many low-profile attacks and short-range pokes with a hitbox that extends slightly past F.A.N.G.’s leg hurtbox and heel, while leaving F.A.N.G. at +4 on hit and +2 on guard. Standing also leads to +4 on hit and +2 on guard, but hits faster (a four-frame startup, tied with crouching for F.A.N.G.’s fastest attack) with less range. Standing also hits the upper body instead of low to the ground, making it better for situations where you want to also cover against a sudden airborne attack, like Birdie’s Bull Revenger or Cammy’s Hooligan Combination.

When in doubt, crouching is a sort of all-purpose close to mid-range poke. The first two frames have hitboxes extending upward above and ahead of F.A.N.G.’s head at close range (mostly anti-air oriented, though they will hit flush targets and are the only special-cancelable frames), and the next three frames have hitboxes extending without a hurtbox forward onto his foot, with the final active frame reaching as far as crouching . Crouching forward’s chopping trajectory makes it a great warding move, a low-damage but reliable anti-air, or a meaty, and it leaves F.A.N.G. no worse than +2 when guarded.

When using these attacks, which you typically won’t cancel from, start charging / as soon as you poke so you can special-cancel your next attack if needed. Each of these leaves F.A.N.G. with positive frames on block, giving you the leg up for an immediate (somewhat sluggish) mid-range frame trap with crouching or standing .

While seeking to move forward, F.A.N.G.’s jump is an option, depending on your enemy’s habits and reactions. He has the farthest-traveling jump in the game, though it’s also floatier than usual. So, for example, jumping over fireballs predictively becomes basically a guess (or, charitably, a “hard read”); Nikankyaku is much faster for passing through fireballs. Still, a forward jump is often appealing if you think your opponent isn’t looking for it or has weak anti-air abilities, since you get a quick ticket to close range. Also, F.A.N.G.’s floating jump and auto-turning air give you tools to go for cross-ups from mid-range jump-in distances beyond the reach of most characters.

Close Range

You’ll end up in close-quarters combat from several ways (most readily, if your opponent is rushing you down and forcing it on you). But this could also occur if you sense passivity in the opponent and vary your Nishikyu game by Nikankyaku-dashing in, or jumping in from mid range. You’ll also score a heavily advantaged close-range situation if you back-throw a foe. Up close, F.A.N.G.’s game is solid but rigid. Your objective is going to be to push or knock your enemy far away, preferably with poison on them.

When moving in, use F.A.N.G.’s long, floaty jump for frontal /jump-ins and cross-ups. His jump’s ultimate destination can be confusing if you vary when you press your jump-in attack. Whenever you do jump in aggressively, if you read that your opponent will probably block your jump-in/cross-up and then instinctively switch to crouching block (which is what pretty much everyone does), then just land and jump out again with immediate jumping for an overhead hit. Strictly speaking, F.A.N.G. lacks a command overhead attack, but in practice, “instant” jumping is exactly that.

As another counter to guarding up close (like after Nikankyaku, simply dashing in, or a going for a deep jump-in /or cross-up that you expect to be blocked), you can use forward throw. This doesn’t inflict poison, but it immediately gains you a big position advantage, putting F.A.N.G. back at long range. On the other hand, back throw swaps sides and scores you a knockdown up close, keeping the close-range situation going (and perhaps getting F.A.N.G. out of a corner). Point-blank, his standing and pokes give you the most frame advantage to go for tick-throws into a forward or back throw, while representing combo openers.

When you want to fish for solid hits instead of an overhead trick or throw attempt, there are a few openers depending on what you need. F.A.N.G.’s failsafe poke up close is standing , which strikes in four frames and leaves him at +2 guarded. On hit, it allows for links into standing .

Crouching is also equally fast in four frames, but it’s slightly less beneficial guarded (at +1) and doesn’t lead to combos, except on counter-hit. This may occur if you stick out crouching into a small gap in your opponent’s offense where they might step forward and start a normal throw attempt, or if you poke with crouching immediately after having standing blocked or moving in with Nikankyaku. The lower-profile aspect of crouching can be helpful in situations where F.A.N.G.’s height during standing is a problem.

Crouching hits one frame slower (with a five-frame startup) while also leaving F.A.N.G. at +1 blocked. Like crouching , it can lead to link combos on counter-hit (though at one frame faster, crouching will win way more of these battles, especially with the counter-hit priority system). Its main usefulness is simply in forcing the opponent to block low. F.A.N.G. doesn’t have tons of low threats, so it’ll be necessary to at least show crouching and his long sweep to the opponent sometimes.

Your big payoff move is standing . This close-range, double-knee strike leaves F.A.N.G. at +1 on block and affords the chance for standing and crouching links afterward. Its only deficiency is startup, which is fairly slow for a heavy attack at 12 frames. Go for this from heavy advantage, like after a deep jump-in, or when you sense the opponent is passively blocking encounters at first before reacting late. You’re really in someone’s head with F.A.N.G. if you can get going with Nikankyaku dashes into standing on one side or the other.

Standing is also a good fishing move in positive situations, though it doesn’t give you a half hour to confirm the hit like standing does. Most easily, you can apply it in situations where the foe whiffs a move that’s counter-hittable on recovery, like Karin’s EX Ressenha and Chun-Li’s Spinning Bird Kick. If they whiff and F.A.N.G. is close, go directly into a Crush Counter combo. Standing also works as a somewhat slow frame trap move to counter-hit foes from the same situations where standing is good. You can either just poke with standing and follow up on a confirmed Crush Counter, leaving you at -2 if fierce is blocked and giving up tempo, or you can commit to a special cancel regardless. Nishikyu, Sotoja, and Ryobenda can all be punished in blockstrings, depending on the situation, so take care canceling blockstrings up close. Of course, if your opponent isn’t punishing you consistently when you do, feel free to exploit this and mix them in more freely; LK Ryobenda especially can be difficult to punish on block. Standing LK Nikankyaku is a sequence designed strictly to poke and dash in in front (actually fairly risky, depending on your challenger’s reactions), while allowing a link combo on counter-hit (see Grounded Counter-Hits in the Combos section). You’ll have time to verify your foe’s hitstun or guardstun by then, so you can link on hit or go for a throw/standing /instant jump-back mix-up when guarded.

When you’re under pressure up close, rely on crouching or standing when you need quick anti-movement/throw pokes, and use EX Nikankyaku when you simply want to vacate the area immediately. This can be especially tempting when F.A.N.G. is cornered and under pressure, as he escapes clear to the other side of the screen. Just beware that it’s throwable and punishable if your enemy reads your intent and starts backpedaling at the correct moment. You can try to get cute canceling into Senpukuga at the end of the command dash, but it’s unlikely to save you if they scouted you out. At least you’ve got anti-air covered: if a jump-in arrives anywhere above F.A.N.G.’s head, this move will knock it down, and it can even lead to combos when you have charge (see the Anti-Air Combos section). Crouching is also good if you think you need a faster anti-air than crouching . Otherwise, if the incoming attack’s angle is bad for those attacks, you might have to just block, or (if you see the jump coming early) use Nikankyaku to dash under it.

Dokunomu Activated

When you have V-Gauge ready, your close to mid-range offense grows more teeth. Many important attacks can be V-Trigger-canceled, leaving you with advantage on both hit and block, sometimes from either hit of the attack. Either hit of standing and can be V-canceled and linked after, though for Nirenko, standing , and crouching , only the first hit can be V-Trigger-canceled. This opens up an extra avenue for blockstrings/combos every round, if you build to it. It also makes your first poison application of the Dokunomu duration automatic. If you have a stamina lead, you can activate on block and then use your advantage to back off somehow. Dokunomu doesn’t need to gas out your foes the whole time; it just needs to be reapplied.

When F.A.N.G. is far away and you want to reapply, you can accomplish this easily with Nishikyu Nikankyaku. An opponent chasing you down (whether unafraid of poison in the first place or trying to remove it by hitting you somehow) can’t close in without risking easy reapplication anyway.

If you’re behind in stamina (and/or the timer is winding down), then you can’t rely on slow-acting poison and low-damage long-range projectiles to get you back into it. Use Dokunomu to boost a combo or hit-check, then be as aggressive as you can, keeping the cloud near your opponent while hopefully scoring combos and knockdowns of successful hit-checks and throws. This kind of approach will work better if you’ve played more conservatively up until you activate V-Trigger and go for broke.