USF4 Dhalsim

Ultra Dhalsim

Dhalsim is a zoning based character who thrives on being able to keep the opponent out and frustrating them. He accomplishes this by controlling space on the screen with slow yoga fire projectiles along with an arsenal of far reaching pokes and great anti airs. The goal of a good Dhalsim player is to throw carefully spaced fireballs at a range where if your opponent jumps, you have time to react with the necessary anti air. He takes damage off the opponent in small chunks this way. This is easier said than done however, as a lot of characters have ways to make simple things such as anti airing an opponent, very difficult to do. This is dhalsims biggest weakness in SF4 AE 2012, as a lot of the cast either have moves that blow through fireballs on reaction (ex chicken wing, abels rolls, jaguar kicks etc) or have ways to change their trajectory in the air when jumping (dive kicks, burn kicks, wall jumps). Some characters can even do both of these things. These characters then have ways to start vortexes off of these attacks which can easily lead into one hit death.

Now for Dhalsim the risk/reward for accomplishing his goals in the match is not in his favour at all anymore. As I said, vs a lot of the cast he has a tough time anti airing. But even when he does successfully anti air lets look at what he is rewarded with:

back + mp = 70 damage
back + hk = 90 damage
st.hk = 90 damage

So dhalsim has to land more than 10 anti airs to kill most characters. Succesfully landing these anti airs leaves your opponent about two training room squares away which isn't even that great of a position for him. Compare that to a character like C.Viper or Abel whose goal is to land one burn kick or one step kick and then are immediately in prime position to mix you up twice then kill you. Or a character like Cammy or Rufus who land one dive kick and are doing upwards of 180 damage and get a vortex going afterwards. And whats the reward for dhalsim anti airing? He can get into a position where he can start up yoga fire zoning again which is good yes, but that also leads to another problem. His fireballs do not do enough raw damage or chip damage to make people feel threatened by them. The mentality vs dhalsim currently is 'oh I can afford to take this, I'll just get in eventually and then he's dead'. Dhalsims damage really though should be a lot more threatening so it gets the opponent thinking like 'Ah these pokes and fireballs are really chipping my health away, I can't afford to take any risks to get in'.

So really I think the goal with Ultra Dhalsim should be mainly to increase damage pretty much across the board. I like the switch back to Super damage on his st. fierce. Thats a step in the right direction. But I also think he should receive an extra 10-20 damage for those anti airs stated above along with an extra 10-20 damage on his forward + mp, down forward + mp and jumping forward + mp. I think it would be fine to leave the damage of his fireballs alone as they are meant for pure space control. However the great space control of his fireballs only really matters if he can get big damage from that space control and thats why buffing his anti air and poke damage would seem fair to me. You can leave the damage alone on the normals he uses to do combos with as his combo damage and link potential is fine really. Zoning characters shouldn't be able to big damage combos in my opinion. Because of this though, zoning characters should have a big damage neutral game which Dhalsim currently does not.

Onto his nerfs I found in the build I played last weekend. I think these are really undeserved for a character that many consider to be extremely weak (Ultradavid thinks he is a bottom 10 character). The change that leaves me scratching my head the most is the removal of his yoga fire being cancellable into his Ultra 1. This has been a staple of dhalsims gameplay since Vanilla and it seems very odd to me to remove it at this point. It is a strong tool but it is in no way broken or too good. Like I mentioned earlier Dhalsim is a traditional trap based character and this trap was one of my favourites to use. Baiting people into jumping over what looks like a punishable yoga fire then cancelling it into a Yoga Catostrophe at the last minute was one of the best feelings I got as a Sim player. I love fireball traps and things of that nature so this was always my favourite thing to do. Having it outright removed was very upsetting. Dhalsim has very poor comeback potential in general and this has further weakened that potential. Not only does this weaken Sim as a character, it also just makes him plain less fun and unique to play (at least to me).

The other big nerf dhalsim got in the build I played was the removal of the hard knockdown from his Ex Upblast. Again I think this is a very undeserved nerf for a number of reasons. For a start that move is not a move you regularly land on someone as it requires your opponent to be attacking from a very specific angle above you. You also need to commit to a forward input to do it as the move is a half circle back motion making it risky to do in tight situations. The move is also prone to trading. However, the reward for landing a successful up blast, trade or not, was perfect for Dhalsim. The Hard Knockdown gave Dhalsim time to think and setup his wall. This is something zoning minded players love in characters they play. Now in Ultra, you can just get hit by it, quick rise then dash in twice and suddenly Dhalsims in a tricky situation again. Its a really undeserved nerf. The only reasoning I can see behind it is that Capcom generally wants to get rid of all hard knockdown moves to avoid vortex problems but in this case I don't think that should apply. Dhalsim players aren't regularly landing this move and vortexing people off it. However, in the last couple of majors Ive watched Ive seen players like Fchamp get incredible mileage out of the move when under pressure or in a clutch situation and don't think theres anything wrong with it.

Now onto his buffs in the build I played. I have already stated I like the fact that st.hp has had its damage reverted back to Super and I think thats a step in the right direction. So I'll talk about his other buff. He received a double hitting st.mk. This is a good change that does help Sim. One of his weaknesses before was being prone to people focus attacking through limbs to get in on him. St.mk does a lot to mitigate this weakness and adds to the frustration element of his gameplay. Getting hit twice by that foot on block or on hit definitely pesters people more. I do not think this is a game changer for Dhalsim though as this change mainly aids in making his good match ups better rather than helping out in his bad match ups vs dive kick characters. The characters whose only answer to dhalsims limbs is focus attack, will feel the impact of this change. But overall its not what Dhalsim urgently needs. I think it should still be left in though as having a tool like that definitely does not hurt.

In conclusion I think above all else, what Dhalsim needs is raw damage. Basically his fireball, anti air and poking game needs to do more damage so his game plan can kill quicker. Having to do 3-4 correct anti airs to really do damage and get people scared is a big difference to having to do 5-6. Vs the current top tier, Dhalsim is just delaying the inevitable vortex that could happen to him at any minute. I think Dhalsim has always been a character where you have to play perfect, which is fine. However, the goal with Ultra SF4 should be to make the reward for playing perfect kill quicker, and the best way to achieve this is to increase damage in the areas I described.