Additional Topic: Forward Dread Kick Cancel into Crumpling Level 2 Focus Attack (AKA How to Put More Punch In Your Kicks . . . Literally)
Watching USF4 matches, you will see a lot of Dee Jay Players canceling the first hit of a medium sobat kick into an instant follow-up dash and extended linked combo (typically ending in the form of a special attack or some form of knockdown). However, many of Dee Jay’s heavier and flashier combo options come from foregoing the instant dash version of this cancel and instead letting the Focus Attack reach Level 2 before releasing and dashing Forward (allowing you to combo into your heavier attack buttons such as a low Fierce since Level 2 crumples the opponent right in front of you).
The challenge with this version of the focused Sobat combo is that it is much more strict than that of the instant dash version given that you need to reach that sweet spot of fully powering to Level 2 of the Focus but also then releasing it early enough that the Focus hit cannot be blocked, thereby increasing your combo count by one and leading to the desired Focus crumple.
I will admit, at first, I struggled to land this technique reliably until I made note of a number of important properties of the combo . . . as well as some useful game hacks. Specifically, here is what you need to know to land this focus crumple properly 100 per cent of the time:
1) As mentioned elsewhere in this journal, the timing for this cancel is based on the time from when the Dread Kick/Sobat actually connects, not from the moment you start the Dread Kick. This means that the moment when you release the Focus Attack for a Level 2 crumple will feel earlier when you do a Dread Kick combo close to an opponent than when you are farther away. In fact, they are both the same timing, but because it takes longer for the comboed Dread Kick to connect when you start it farther from the opponent, the follow-up Focus will feel longer in that situation (unless you consciously train yourself to only start the Focus exactly when the Dread connects).
2) The easiest way to consistently nail the Focal Crumple from your cancel is to listen to the audio cue that is made immediately after starting a Focus Cancel (it sounds almost like a “sifting” noise, like sand escaping from a bag). Note that the time to release a Focus Attack for the Level 2 Crumple is not at the end of this sifting audio cue but a slight moment before it. In other words, just before this audio cue finishes, release your Focus and then immediately do a dash forward into any combo of your choosing on the falling opponent.
NOTE: Once again, this is another example of a muscle memory exercise that is hard to explain on paper and will only start to make sense after you have practiced it in training for a bit. After you get the timing from the audio cue down, however, you will be able to land this cancel into Focus Crumple pretty much all the time, even when playing the game online. A great way to start doing more damage at two bars rather than always having to wait for the four-bar assault. Try it out.
LATE 2022 UPDATE: It turns out there is another way to get the proper Level 2 Focus crumple, and a much easier one at that. When Dee Jay reaches Level 2, his animation actually blinks yellow for a brief second. The time to release Focus is slightly after the start of this yellow animation. I would like to take credit for this new trick but, truth is, someone else mentioned it as a comment under a YouTube video (which I can no longer find, of course). Now that I am aware of it, I can't believe I never noticed it before. In any case, credit goes to that individual and not to me, who instead chose to overcomplicate the matter. Nevertheless, both methods work so you now have two reliable ways to consistently get that awesome crumple set up.
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