vs. F.A.N.G.

Flogging F.A.N.G

F.A.N.G.’s pestering factor is high, and his space control and poke priority are great, but his damage is low. He can supplement damage with poison, which you’ll take from eating any of his specials or his V-Skill, but this requires that lots of time elapses without F.A.N.G. getting hit. If your character has good offensive capabilities or you favor an aggressive playstyle, you should rush F.A.N.G. down. Avoid giving him a chance to establish an entrenched position, mashing out Nishikyu specials at you while putting up HK/EX Ryobenda walls. If he tries to poke and keep you out with his Sotoja sleeve swipe, punish it with fast, long-reaching pokes (or full combos, if he does it too close).

Although he has lots of projectiles and projectile hitboxes, F.A.N.G.’s lateral space control against other projectile characters is actually bad. His V-Skill poison fireball doesn’t overpower other projectiles, and his arcing, low-damage fireballs don’t interfere with a conventional fireball’s trajectory. He can be put in a position where he’s forced to use his long forward jump, low-profile coward crouch, and forward-slipping Nikankyaku, which you can be aware of and even punish.

F.A.N.G. may end blockstrings in LK Ryobenda to bounce back. If you have a fast, far-reaching attack, this is not safe for him—hit him back. His stronger Ryobenda versions—which plant a temporary ground projectile you’ll want to avoid—are susceptible to counter-hits during their recovery. You can use projectile-invincible attacks to blast through and counter-hit him; you might even get a Crush Counter shot if you read his intent to plant a poison cloud correctly and jump in over it as he puts it down.

When his toxic V-Trigger is active, he can poison you merely by approaching. If he stays close, you won’t be able to knock the effect off while the V-Trigger is going, and you’ll just have to accept the damage over time while trying to fight F.A.N.G. in close. If he’s the type to approach with Dokunomu active, poison you, then back off again, letting the toxins work, then remember that you can only actively remove this if you have some attack that will travel through F.A.N.G.’s poison area-of-effect cloud and strike him, without your character needing to be close. It’s almost inevitable that he deals at least some damage to you during his V-Trigger. Be secure knowing that at least he cannot K.O. with poison. He still needs either a clean hit or Critical Art chip damage.