It might be too late but I'll try a more general answer.
[Short version: if you attack after a successful block and they manage to hit you again, it's because your attack was too slow, or it was a high and their attack goes under highs, or it was a vertical and they avoided it by side stepping, or it was beaten by a GI like Patroklos' or Pyrrha's A+B.]
At the beginning of a match, you can quickly tell what kind of person you're facing.
As soon as you block an attack or a string, you can notice if they continue their attack, simply block, or sidestep. It's up to you to adjust your game in function of what they do.
- If they keep attacking, they are most likely not very good. Playing with frames should be easy enough, just block something, attack with AA or BB, and if you hit, you gain frame advantage, so attack again. If you hit them again, attack again. And again. Until they block something. If you knock them on the ground, attack them because you will probably hit them again.
- If they sidestep and attack after you blocked, you immediately learn that they like to sidestep. It means that you should frequently (but not always) use horizontal attacks after blocking their safe moves.
- If they block, you learn that they respect frames but whether they like to sidestep or not remains to be seen.
[
And now I will bore you to death with some theory.]
Most moves give negative frames on block, so you almost always have the advantage after you have blocked something. There are exceptions, but you can learn about those exceptions by playing and watching your replays.
After blocking, you have different options and you don't need to be fancy.
- AA to beat fast attacks and beat sidestep. It's also a reliable punish tool against attacks that are barely unsafe. It loses against crouchers.
- BB to still beat most attacks and beat crouchers. It loses against sidesteppers and sometimes won't punish what's punishable by AA.
- 2A is a very boring move but it can be golden in a few situations where you want to interrupt your opponent's attacks.
These are two excellent attacks, especially for studying the other player's habits.
2A is another option if you expect them to keep attacking. It's quick and goes under highs. The range is bad, damage is bad, and it's boring as hell. But it's a
Some other options after a block:
- A low poke (Usually 1K) to get some damage and see how they react. You can follow up with something like 2A to interrupt most attacks or respect the frames and block.
- A mid poke that deals respectable guard damage and is safe. It loses against almost everything but it's perfect if they respectfully guard after their blocked poke, or if they crouch because they expect a throw or something...
- An ordinary string of some kind in hope of forcing them in a mixup situation. Again it's only good if they are blocking, unless they do something like crouch or sidestep and your first attack tracks sidesteppers.
- A throw for higher risk higher reward. It can be broken, which is fine. It can be crouched, which is absolutely NOT fine, and it can simply work, which gives you plenty of free damage and maybe some wakeup pressure. It's your most dangerous option and it should be used sparingly.
All these options are worth more than AA and BB, but you can't afford to be too predictable with them. When in doubt, use AA or BB.
Sometimes you just need to. It's the exception, not the rule. You learn about those exceptions by playing, watching your replays, and replicating those situations in training mode with the record function.
You should almost always keep blocking after you blocked a guard crush attack. (Those attacks with blue electricity.)
You of course have more options, like a slow 1A that deals good damage or an unsafe mid that deals heavy damage or launches... But that depends on your opponent. And if your opponent can deal with all of that, you need more solid basics to fall back to.
You should NOT side-step after you blocked something... usually. You should sidestep after YOUR attack was blocked. Unless they're doing something like spamming the same vertical move that gives them advantage on block... in which case you should side step and punish that shit with a combo.
Sidestepping is also okay most of the time when you are distanced, because most long range attacks are vertical.
Sidestepping is also fine when you're blocking a string and you know that a sidesteppable move is coming, but you'd better be certain.
Hope it helps you ...or anyone.
If it doesn't and you play on xbox, I would be interested in watching a replay.
