Additional Topic: Putting The Heat On In "Dee Jay Corner" (AKA How to Keep Your Foes Pinned and Cooked For An Eternity)
The most dangerous place any Street Fighter can find themselves in USF4 is arguably the corner. When you are in the corner, you no longer have the option to back up in order to whiff punish your opponent's moves. What's more, their attacks are guaranteed to reach you when you can no longer retreat from them, so you very often end up having to block a ton of moves before you can claw your way out of a corner situation.
Any character who places you in a corner automatically has an advantage, but I believe Dee Jay has a particularly menacing corner game because of the many options he has to keep you there and to potentially inflict massive damage quickly. This situation is so beneficial to Dee Jay's game that I have taken to calling it "Dee Jay Corner", which can be a special kind of hell for those caught in it. Myself, I have had some very bad rounds in USF4 that suddenly got turned around when I repeatedly confused and hit my opponent a large number of times as they did their best to get out of the merciless prison that is the corner. So knowing how to get opponents to the corner is a useful skill to learn. . . as is knowing how to keep them there indefinitely.
And that, really, is what your goal in Dee Jay Corner is. NOT to do large amounts of damage (which will be a spinoff of your strategy, if done properly, but should never be your primary objective). Instead, the sole aim is to get your opponent to the corner often and then keep them there for as much of the round as possible. Even if you are scoring only piecemeal hits here and there while they are in Dee Jay corner, this goal never changes. The reason why is that players tend to get very jittery when they are caught in a corner situation since they know that their options are much more limited when their back is to a wall. Furthermore, the longer they are trapped in that situation, the more antsy and frustrated they tend to get. So almost every player will crack and do something stupid if they are stuck in a corner long enough. And that is what Dee Jay corner pressure is all about.
Dee Jay Corner is particularly bad for opponents because Dee Jay has a number of assets to his corner game that other characters don't have in the same way or to the same extent. Most notably:
a) his projectile has quick release, allowing him to use it as a shield on cornered opponents. It also has great pushback on both block and hit, so it does an excellent job of putting your opponent back in the corner where you want to keep them. Lastly, the Max Out also sets up for a massive hit-confirmable combo that will make the corner even scarier for all but the bravest of foes (see a little later in this post for more on that).
b) Dee Jay's Dread Kicks all push his opponent back into a corner when they connect. Furthermore, the Light Kick Dread sails over most lows, so opponents end up being stripped of even more of their escape options when Dee Jay is the one keeping them in the corner.
c) Dee Jay's Upkicks can effectively keep opponents from jumping out of the corner and put them right back in that disadvantageous corner position again. Highly demoralizing for any player who eats this during an attempt to escape.
d) Dee Jay has a close range link in Low Jab to double-hit Stand Forward that rocks at keeping people on edge while also potentially converting into big damage on a cornered opponent when it connects.
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| Right Idea For Dee Jay Corner But Wrong Ass Move |
Those are just some of the tools Dee Jay has to keep a cornered opponent trapped and keep them susceptible to heavy damage at some point in the round. The question therefore becomes: how to set up a corner situation and then keep them in it once they are there. Which is where our investigation now takes us.
GETTING EM TO THE CORNER . . .
There are a multitude of ways for Dee Jay to drag his opponent to the corner. Here are some of the most common ones:
a) Almost any combo Dee Jay does will bring his opponent closer to the corner, although combos ending in a medium or heavy Sobat (and especially the EX version) will really pummel them hard towards the corner when they hit.
b) Juggling Upkicks will do the same for any opponent who dares try to jump you.
c) Certain moves such as the Max Out and Dee Jay's double hitting medium kick have excellent pushback on block so, while not substantial in this regard, they do their part to bring your opponent nearer to Dee Jay Corner (and optimally, certain doom).
d) Finally, the best way to get an opponent to a corner is by using Dee Jay's back throw. Not easily accomplished on someone who tech throws really well, but anytime you land it, your opponent gets thrown the entire length of the screen. Meaning, from center screen, one back throw and a handful of additional hits will be sufficient to get your opponent to Dee Jay Corner where you want them.
. . . AND THEN KEEPING EM THERE FOREVER
So your opponent is now in the corner. What should you be doing to keep them there? Well, there isn't any one thing you can do to accomplish that task. Rather, you have a whole bunch of tools in your possession that will help in this endeavor (just as there are a few which will actually dilute your ability to monopolize on Dee Jay Corner). Here, in my experience, are the key points to keep in mind:
a) Your goal is not to keep throwing attacks at an opponent constantly in order to break them down. Instead, you want to throw sporadic attacks at ranges which are very difficult for the opponent to counter and will keep them constantly guessing. Just as there is a tendency for a foe to do everything they can to get out of a corner, a lot of players throw everything but the kitchen sink at an opponent in order to keep them in that corner situation. This strategy is not optimal, however, because eventually the opponent will wise up and just reversal you in the middle of your onslaught of moves. Far better to be effectively choosey rather than blindly throwing everything you can think of at the opponent in the hopes something hits (remember that this is one of the hallmark Dee Jay sins from the list I created long, long ago). The objective here is to throw strategic attacks from key ranges (and with unpredictable timings) while also allowing small openings where the opponent can hang themselves . . . but not so much that they gain easy escape routes to your corner pressure.
b) Related to point a), sometimes the best thing to do when an opponent is cornered is . . . NOTHING. Most players tend to expect an attack right away and therefore are primed to do their reversal at the first opportunity to prevent this. In contrast, fewer of them are looking to reversal a few moments after already standing up. So try mixing up your attack timing this way now and again (but DON'T consistently wait a second before attacking, which is just creating a predictable pattern of another kind).
c) A well-timed standing Forward kick will hit many cornered opponents when they are trying to press a button or jump out. In the best case scenario, their move actually pushes them forward so that you get the canceling Forward that leads into massive damage if you know how to set it up (explained in one of my earlier posts right here). Similarly, you can mix this up further by throwing a quick low Jab before the Forward (and sometimes refraining from doing the Forward altogether). The purpose of doing this is that the Jab is quick to come out and recover, making it really difficult to counter easily. You can often throw the Jab as an opponent is rising, giving them the impression that you are attacking and duping them into doing a reversal. With the fast recovery on the Jab, though, the reversal will miss except in the case of the fastest reversals in the game. Also, any opponent who tries to move forward (either by walking or throwing an attack) opens themselves up to the Jab hitting, which you can then link into the Standing Forward and potentially a full combo.
d) Dee Jay's low Strong has a massive hitbox on the front of it, so it can stuff a lot of moves at the right range. Unfortunately, while it is a great whiff punish, it is also highly vulnerable to being whiff punished itself, therefore requiring you to be smart about using it. This goes by the wayside when your opponent is in the corner, however, because the move will always connect with the opponent if you do it at just the right range. Specifically, that range would be just where the tip of the Strong elbow touches the opponent. In fact, when fighting an opponent in the corner, this should be your optimal starting position and the range you always try to return to while aiming to keep an opponent trapped.
e) Occasionally, you can throw out a low Light Kick buffered into a Light Dread. Use this almost like a whiff punish, so that it doesn't connect unless an opponent walks into it. Anytime it does, you then have the option to extend the combo into your Super and Ultra 1 if you have both stocked. You can also try this attack anytime you see the opponent's feet left open (i.e., blocking high), but it is a little more difficult to hit-confirm in that circumstance.
f) A Light Dread on its own is sometimes useful when done from the right range, since it sails over most low attacks an opponent will try. It also breaks Focus as well. The issue with doing the Light Dread on its own is that it pushes you closer to the opponent and leaves you temporarily without charge (not optimal given that the idea is to try and maintain both your charge and your perfect low Strong range, as mentioned above). This doesn't mean you can't use the attack on its own, just not all the time, and with the understanding that you are giving your opponent a slightly better opportunity to get out if it is blocked.
g) Don't forget the abusive power of a well-timed crouch Fierce if you can set up the proper distance for it. Note that, on block or hit, this move has considerable pushback, helping to drive the opponent back into the corner if it contacts them consistently.
h) Avoid going for throws or cross ups in most situations. The throw should be a last option when all else fails, since you have to walk in and lose charge in order to try it, and you also lose all position advantage once you do so. Similarly, trying a cross up on a cornered opponent puts you too close to the opponent to make Dee Jay Corner effective, and if the opponent blocks, you will then find yourself in a corner situation of your own (the exact opposite of what you want to have happen).
i) Eventually, a good player will find a way to start inching their way out of the corner. Don't let this daunt you. Instead, pay attention to their attack pattern and then use your specials to push them back into the corner again (remember: anytime an opponent is in a corner, they are also more likely to end up in there again since they are already closer to it to begin with; so them gradually creating space away from the corner does not mean they are home free - not by a long shot). Once again, your goal here isn't to land constant damage, but to keep driving your opponent back to the corner where psychological damage will start to take its toll (even if it isn't translated into life damage until a later point).
j) If you find yourself being pushed too far out from a cornered opponent, you can sometimes Insta-Focus an opponent's normal to get back into a better range to re-initiate the corner pressure.
k) Lastly, except when doing standing moves, be sure to always be charging downward so you can anti-air any foe who tries to jump out or who tries some other form of attack that your Jackknife Special can stop dead in its tracks.
FINDING THE BEAT: YOUR BEST CORNER PRESSURE COMBO FOR LAYING DOWN THE HURT IN DEE JAY CORNER
While Dee Jay has a ton of combos he can do in the corner, a mainstay one to keep in your arsenal is this new one:
Low Strong -> Fierce Max Out -> Hit-Confirm to Super (and Possibly Ultra 1)
The main reason to use this combo is that you can randomly throw the Strong out at its optimum range, then perform the Max Out with relative safety. You are not left vulnerable afterwards when you do the Max Out but, more importantly, you generally maintain your perfect corner range because the Max Out pushes the opponent back into the corner and causes you to move very little backward at the same time. In other words, you don't have to worry about resetting your optimal position relative to the cornered opponent when fishing for this combo. In addition, the low Strong has a ton of canceling frames, meaning you can usually see it hit and then have time to add the Super cancel from the Fierce Max Out to extend the combo. I should mention that this combo will actually work anywhere on the screen against everyone except for E. Honda (given that the Super flash tends to stun the opponent long enough for the follow-up Max Out and Super to connect). That said, I have chosen to highlight it here as part of the corner pressure game because the Strong is less likely to be whiff punished when the opponent is in the corner, whereas this is always more likely when you use it anywhere else. However, it does have useful applications in both scenarios, so it's worth exploring further on your own terms.
NOTE 1: These steps to implement Dee Jay Corner game are not full proof; rather, they are meant to increase your success in the corner, not guarantee it. In particular, opponents can often Focus or reversal between two hits of your pressure that are not a true blockstring in order to create distance and gradually escape the corner. The thing is, though, the opponent has to be damn sure that you plan to commit to these strings, lest they leave themselves vulnerable (either because the sequence you do blows through their Focus or you choose to hold off on the full blockstring and instead wait to punish their reversal). In other words, this becomes just another element of the corner pressure game, if you are aware of it. So be sure to constantly be mixing up your attacks and timing while maintaining your optimal range from the cornered opponent.
To that end, the video below provides a useful demonstration of just how potent Dee Jay Corner can be (even on the computer AI):
And here is a second demonstration of Dee Jay Corner to show you what it looks like at regular speed. Note how Dee Jay uses several moves to put El Fuerte in the corner and then uses a variety of attacks to make sure he never gets out again . . .
NOTE 2: Be aware that there are some characters that are less prone to corner pressure due to the nature of their specials, many of which allow them to escape much more easily than most other characters. E. Honda and Decapre come to mind, as they both have highly effective ways to escape the corner quickly. What's more, any special done as a reversal becomes an armor breaker for Focus Attacks, so that isn't a particularly great way to deter them from these attacks, either. Nevertheless, the more creative among you should be able to find ways to keep even these dodgy characters under pressure.
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