vs. Karin

Clobbering Karin

Karin is a solid rushdown character who isn’t quite as tricky as she might seem initially. She can cancel normals into her Sappo command dashes, like Ken or Laura canceling normals into V-Skill movement options, but she is never better on block doing this than -6 (after standing ; she’s also -8 after crouching LK Sappo, one of her Crush Counter fishing options). As when fighting Ken, try to react assertively to these dash tactics on block by hitting her dash recovery with a medium combo starter.

Aside from her Sappo dash, she can also move in with the Ressenha overhead punch, which branches into an anti-standing throw or a knockdown slide. This isn’t a real mix-up because you can block standing against the initial overhead punch, then just block crouching. The flipping throw follow-up will whiff, and the slide follow-up will get blocked and leave Karin punishable. If she opts not to branch away from blocked Ressenha, she’s left at -4 from the HP version and -6 from the LP version. Her ability to use these moves as real mix-ups surfaces when her V-Trigger is activated, allowing her to cancel from her Guren Ken double-punch into any of her other specials.

Karin has excellent ground pokes in standing and crouching and crouching . Her walk speed and poke range allow her to stand at the tip of where these kicks strike and walk back and forth, trying to bait whiffs from you and jump-in/counter-hit chances for her. Standing is her baseline, but to threaten you low, she’ll often poke with crouching canceled into a special. If she uses Mujinkyaku or Tenko and you block it, you can punish her if you’re fast, depending on range and your character. If she cancels into her Orochi shoulder check, she’s safe, but at -2. You should at least force her to block a three-frame or four-frame normal as you take back tempo command.

Her EX Ressenha provides her an invincible reversal, albeit one that’s susceptible to Crush Counter combos on recovery. Be ready with a punish combo if she whiffs this attack.