A Beginner's Guide to Juri
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Introduction
I don't claim to be a Juri expert, and as of this writing Juri has been officially out for a week or so. “What kind of introduction is that!?” You might be asking. “How awfully presumptuous of this scrub to think he can start writing a guide on a character that isn't even 2 weeks old!”
Well it's all true. I also don't doubt that the meta for her will change over the coming months, though when that happens I will update the guide to reflect it.
With that said, maybe SFV is your first fighting game you really dug into, and are overwhelmed with how complicated Juri feels in relation to the rest of the SFV cast. Or maybe like me you are an old Juri player, and are baffled on how you are supposed to play her in this game. If that sounds familiar, then hopefully this guide will help you.
As with my general philosophy with learning a new fighter, I will try and simplify the amount of things you need to learn with a character. Juri by her nature will still have more things to memorise than your average SFV character, but I will try and recommend stuff which are easier to apply to multiple situations rather than stuff which are more optimal but have more specific requirements (I guess a part of the reason why I am writing this guide is because there is already crapton of Juri “BnB combos” vids out there which are unnecessarily complicated or too situational for someone trying to learn a character.)
Terminology
I'll be referencing the following moves as such because I'm lazy to memorise new names:
Hazanshu → Ryondansatsu (qcb+K)
Fuhajin → Fuharenkyaku (qcf+K)
Pinwheel → Tesenrin (dp+K)
Strengths
Almost all of her combos lead back into her oki
Plays the SFV meta of frametrap/throw/shimmy well
Strong abare
Weaknesses
Her throw game only leads into resetting the neutral (even in the corner).
Her “get off me!” moves in EX Pinwheel and V-reversal only resets the neutral, making it tough for her to fight out of the corner or reverse momentum.
Her options are very limited if the opponent can successfully prevent her from gaining Fuhajin stores.
Moveset
Normals
s.LP
3f jab. Works as a jab AA but not Ryu tier.
s.LK
solid s.LK
s.MP
Standard s.MP. Leads into her TC but its hard to hit confirm it. Frametraps 3f moves with c.MP. At 5f startup and 3 active frames, it's her next best dash punish if s.HP is too slow (read: Nash)
s.MK
A respectable s.MK to push someone out. It's +1 on hit -4 on block, making it the worst frames wise out of the ladies with similar s.MK (Karin, Chun and Cammy). It hits twice and the 1st hit is cancellable however.
s.HP
The god. You will live or die in footsie battles by how well you can whiff & dash punish with this. It has great priority and leads into her most damaging combo with Fuhajins stocked. It can be comboed into MK Hazanshu, but it's difficult to hitconfirm. For that reason I would suggest you go for LK Hazanshu for hitconfirms. Did I also mention that this is Juri's go to AA? This is easily Juri's best button.
s.HK
On paper this move looks great. A hopkick that moves forward, hops over lows and even CCs! In practice the startup and airborne frames are kind of slow to come out. With that said I haven't really had enough time to properly explore this move. So who knows, maybe in a months time every online Juri will be trying to do their best Ken Masters impression with it. Can be used during oki to blow up someone who habitually backdashes on their wakeup.
F+MK
Has really good reach for an overhead.
B+HK
A Ryu style axe kick. It's a little tricky to time it to hit meaty on someone's wakeup but it's worth it since it's an easy hitconfirm. If they block you can cancel into a Fuhajin store so it's win-win either way.
c.LP
4f jab.
c.LK
3f low. Can be chained into LP to start combos.
c.MP
One of Juri's best buttons. Good priority, +0 on block, and hits high enough to tag most low crushing attacks like Ibuki's OH or Juri's own MK Fuhajin. It works as a great button to test the opponent's defences, or as a defensive poke.
c.MK
It's got respectable reach for a c.MK. It's nothing much by itself but gets noticeably more threatening when you have HK Fuhajin stored, and becomes down right scary when you can confirm into V-Trigger using it (by doing c.MK xx HK Fuhajin (1 hit) xx V-Trigger).
c.HP
Her go to CC punish against a blocked DP. It also starts off her incredibly powerful CC AA combo, but in practice it is too unreliable of an AA to work against a well spaced jump-in (its hurtbox extends past its hitbox). This changes in FSE where it becomes a proper AA. It may be a viable strategy to v-trigger a jump-in on reaction to try and fish for that CC, but it's an unexplored strategy at the moment.
c.HK
Nothing special as far as sweeps go, but in FSE you can cancel it into LK Fuhajin to make it safe.
j.LP
A fast and effective air-to-air. Works well as a jump back AA if you were too slow to react to a cross up jump with anything else, or if you are expecting to trade blows in the air.
j.MP
Causes a juggle state by itself or leads into her air TC. Note that her hurtbox extends past her hitbox, so you should only try this if you don't think you will trade blows.
j.HP
Her other great air-to-air option. As the the angle of her kick suggests its best to use it early in your jump arc as you rise up against most jump-in attacks. It's also practically designed to deal with Vega's walldives or Bison's headstomps.
j.LK
A typical j.LK.
j.MK
A solid crossup j.MK.
j.HK
A typical j.HK. Note that it has to hit deeper than you'd expect to make it combo.
Target Combos
MP → F or B + HK
Deals good damage but suffers from the 2nd hit missing crouchers. While Juri does have 2 moves that force a restand the only way you can combo them into her target combo is by v-trigger cancelling, and she has better combos if that's the case. It's kind of a shame since in FSE her TC can also be jump cancelled into some very stylish looking combos, but it is what it is. It might be worth going for this TC after an ambiguous j.MK crossup if you know the opponent has to AA standing up.
j.MP → j.HK
Sends the opponent flying down to the ground. Serves a similar function to her air grab in calling out predictable jump-ins.
Specials
Hazanshu
This move is strictly just for punishing fireballs and ending combos. It's her easiest special to confirm into CA. The EX version gains fireball invincibility after the initial startup frames and causes a juggle state.
Pinwheel
LK makes it possible for her to combo into CA off certain normals. It can be spaced to be safe on block on a standing opponent but it is very difficult to make safe on a crouching one.
MK is her AA DP. Due to it having upper body invincibility near the start and it having a deceptively short horizontal reach, you want to wait for the opponent to get in fairly deep with their jump-in before you use it.
HK is her most damaging combo ender without using resources.
EX is Juri's reversal DP. Note that it has 7 frames of startup and only 1(!) frame of invincibility. Get ready to be sad when someone meaties you out of it.
Fuhajin
LK is her most multi-faceted and arguably most important Fuhajin. You can use it to create classic Guile pressure, on knockdown it can create setup situations, and it can be used to make her other Fuhajins safe. It's biggest weakness is its short range, which can put you in situations where you are throwing the fireball at unsafe ranges or at a safe range but the opponent can simply walk back to escape the pressure. On the other hand opponents that are moving backwards to avoid the fireball works out to your favour since it gives you times to safely replenish Fuhajin stores or v-skill.
MK will go over lows, but it's unsafe on block so I wouldn't recommend you try it unless you are really confident in your reads. It's main use is that it unlocks Juri's most damaging combos starting from a HP, which you can get a lot of mileage out of thanks to how awesome s.HP is.
HK improves a lot of punishment options for Juri, which is further enhanced since you can v-trigger cancel the 1st hit for an even bigger punish.
EX hits low and is -2 on block making it a decent special to just throw out there. It is also a good combo ender as well.
Note that she is able to destroy fireballs with her kicks.
Throws
Her throws... could be better. All of them reset to neutral, and don't give you time to go for Fuhajin stores without being punished by anyone with decent reach. Be warned that her forward throw puts Zangief within his LP SPD range.
It's possible to catch someone waking up pressing buttons by following up a throw with s.HK or c.MP, though s.HK may get stuffed by 3f normals. I don't know why, but I can verify that this works. Then again why Nash players insist on doing wakeup buttons without having a reversal will forever be a mystery.
You may have heard a frequent comment (usually accompanied by tears) that Juri has a massive throw range. In reality she actually has a below average throw range, approximately 0.585 (she is somewhere between Ryu who has 0.55 and Nash who has 0.6), but her great forward walk speed is what makes it looks so good.
Like all air grabs Juri's air grab has a rather interesting property of removing her lower hurtbox during the grab animation. This means its possible to bait anti-airs by whiffing an air throw, particularly those pesky jab anti-airs.
V-Reversal
Like her throws, her V-Reversal resets the neutral, and she isn't safe to go for Fuhajin stores on anyone with reach. Her V-reversal also suffers from a small quirk in that it hits low, so it can even whiff against certain attacks.
V-Skill
Her v-skill has 2 stages to it. If you just tap it she will do a crossup attack. You can try and be cute with it by setting up a fireball followed by v-skill for an ambiguous crossup, but don't rely on it it because her v-skill is -1 billion on block.
You can also brake cancel out of the v-skill mid-dash by pressing MP+MK again. Again you can try and be cute with it in doing Ken-style dash cancel mixups, but don't rely on it.
The real reason to use her v-skill is to charge it to max (you will get a visual cue of of a dust cloud pulse beneath her feet), which you can then dash cancel out to store it. The charged version is fireball invulnerable after the initial startup frames and lets you punish things at distances that you normally wouldn't be able to, and you can usually end most combos that you would end with HK Fuhajin. As an added bonus it also gains a pretty good chunk of V-gauge on hit.
The side-switch property is also good for helping you getting out of corner situations. Just keep fishing with that c.MP or c.MK and then hitconfirm into the charged v-skill.
Note that once you have charged long enough to get the upgraded V-Skill, you get to keep the charged version even if the opponent hits you out of the charging animation.
CA
The fireball travels about 2/3 of the screen, however it decreases in damage the further it travels so its best to either combo into it or use it to punish jump ins.
V-Trigger (Feng Shui Engine Alpha)
FSE gives the following benifits:
- Forward dash distance increases
- Fuhajin no longer requires to be stored (each use will consume the bar)
- LK Fuhajin travels farther, faster and has 2 hits
- Her s.MP -> B or F+HP TC can be jump cancelled
- Her air normals all cause a juggle state and can be chained together in order of lesser to greater strength i.e. j.LP ->j.MK -> j.HP (each chain cancel will consume the bar)
- Her standing and crouching normals can all be chained together in order of lessser or equal to greater strength i.e. c.LK -> s.MP -> s.MK -> s.HK (each chain cancel will consume the bar)
- c.HP becomes a more reliable AA
- c.LK, s.MK(2nd hit), c.HK and s.HK can now be cancelled into her Fuhajin.
FSE is largely unexplored still but opens up interesting stuff like:
- c.HK (blocked) xx MK Fuhajin to punish people who would try and punish a blocked sweep with their own sweep
- Blocked MK Fuhajin is normally super punishable, but when cancelled into LK Fuhajin during FSE it becomes a 3f frametrap
- You can cancel a whiffed LK Fuhajin into V-Trigger to create some interesting setup situations
- It alters a number of chained and unchained normals in small and subtle ways. Check the framedata link at the bottom of this guide for the full breakdown, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that for some odd reason her j.HK and j.HP have 3 less plus frames on hit making comboing into her c.HP trickier, on the other hand her j.LP and j.LK gain 3 more plus frames on hit making it possible to combo into a c.HP from a deep jump in.
Combos, Frametraps, Shimmies, and other things
Because Juri has so many different combos depending on what resources she has, it will be pretty crazy for me to type it all out and for you to try and memorise it all by rote. Instead I will list the combos by it's starter, and then what you can end with depending on resources. If you are finding it hard to memorise all her combos in the heat of the match, I would suggest you just stick with the combos that use the bare minimum of resources for now, as it's better to end your combo with something sub-optimal than it is to drop the combo afterall.
c.LK → c.LP
Used for: 3f Punish
Combos with: LK Pinwheel, HK Pinwheel (needs to be deep or it whiffs), HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
s.LP
Used for: 3f punish (when starting from c.LK would cause too much pushback)
Combos with: LK Pinwheel, HK Pinwheel (needs to be deep or it whiffs), HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
s.LK
Used for: 4f punish
Combos with: LK Pinwheel, HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
s.MP → B or F+HP target combo
Used for: After landing an ambiguous j.MK on a standing opponent, frametrap after a s.LP, dash punish
Combos with: MK Pinwheel, LK Fuhajin (delay) HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin, Fuhajin(Store) → EX Fuhajin, CA, (V-Trigger only) jc. j.MP v HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
c.MP
Used for: 5f punish, fishing for hit confirms in the neutral, frametrap after a s.MP
Combos with: LK Hazanshu, HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
c.MK
Used for: 6f punish (c.MP is generally a better punish, but c.MK has slightly more reach), catching feet in the neutral
Combos with: LK Pinwheel, HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
s.HP
Used for: Whiff punishing, punishing dash-up grab, shimmy, after a cross-up j.MK
Combos with: MK or LK Hazanshu (LK is easier to hitconfirm), MK Fuhajin > c.MP xx HK Fuhajin, MK Fuhajin > c.MP xx LP Hanzashu xx CA
s.HK
Used for: Fishing for CCs
Combos with: forward dash > s.LP xx HK Pinwheel, HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
c.HP (ground)
Used for: Optimal damage after landing a j.HK or as a CC against blocked DPs
Combos with: HK Pinwheel, LK Fuhajin xx HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin, EX Hazanshu > HK Pinwheel, HK Hazanshu xx CA, after a crush counter you can do a slight walk forward and do any of her s.HP combos.
c.HP (anti-air)
Used for: risky CC attempt
Combos with: B+HK(1 hit) xx HK Pinwheel, LK Fuhajin (delay) EX Hazanshu > HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin, LK Fuhajin (delay) HK Hazanshu xx CA
B+HK
Used for: Used meaty on the opponent's wakeup or after a j.MK
Combos with: HK Pinwheel, LK Fuhajin xx HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin, Fuhajin(Store) > EX Fuhajin, LK Hazanshu xx CA
EX Hazanshu:
Used for: fireball punish
Combos with: HK Pinwheel (if it hits deep), HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin, HK Fuhajin (2nd hit) xx V-Trigger > HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
j.MP
Used for: calling out predictable jump ins.
Combos with: HK (target combo), HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin, EX Fuhajin, LK Pinwheel xx CA
CA combos
Note that any combos that ends with LK Pinwheel or Hazanshu can also be cancelled into your CA.
V-Trigger combos
(After V-Trigger activation) s.HP xx MK Fuhajin > c.MP xx HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin
(After V-Trigger activation) s.HP xx MK Fuhajin > c.MP xx LK Hazanshu xx CA
Note that any combos that leads into HK Fuhajin on a standing opponent i.e. c.MK xx HK Fuhajin can have HK Fuhajin cancelled on the 1st hit to go into your V-Trigger combo.
Frametraps:
s.LP > s.MP > c.MP will catch 3f buttons in between
c.MP xx LK Hazanshu will catch 3f buttons
(V-Trigger only) MK Fuhajin xxt LK Fuhajin will catch 3f buttons
Tick throw
Blocked point blank s.LP into throw. Hold forward as you press throw as otherwise it may whiff if they walk backwards.
Shimmy
Walk back into s.HP
Safejump
Fuhajin (store) into jump is a safejump.
General Gameplan
As Juri your goal is to try and grab all your unique resources in order to make your options more dangerous. Try and make sure you are always stocked on Fuhajin and then v-skill if you can. With that said don't give up momentum for resource gathering, there's no point in gathering every resource if the opponent or worse, you, are already dead before you can make use of it.
How you are going to prioritise which Fuhajin store you get first will vary depending on MU and player habits, but as a general rule you can go with: LK Fuhajin > HK Fuhajin > MK Fuhajin.
LK Fuhajin is generally best because you can use it to force the opponent to go on the defence, thus giving you more time to acquire more resources. HK Fuhajin afterwards as it allows you to score a knockdown after certain buttons, allowing you to go on the offence and if they're foolish enough not to quickrise, gives you a chance to sneak in one more Fuhajin store. MK Fuhajin opens up her most damaging combos off of a s.HP.
Whether you should prioritise getting HK Fuhajin over MK Fuhajin will depend on the player. HK is generally the safer bet as it has more general applications, but if your opponents has habits that can be exploited with s.HP (likes to dashup throw, likes to whiff buttons in the neutral, is susceptible to being shimmied) then going for MK Fuhajin can be more lucrative.
When you have multiple Fuhajins stocked her damage output increases. Ending a combo with HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin does slightly more damage than ending it with EX Fuhajin and you save yourself 1 bar. Because of this and from having a very active playstyle, Juri has a pretty easy time getting CA stocked so long as she doesn't need the metre to reversal.
Okay, so you know you want to get her Fuhajin stores, but how do you do it? A good player will not give you the opportunity to get them for free, if they see you go for raw Fuhajins in the neutral, they will try and stick to you at a distance where they can easily punish it on reaction, which is especially easy for characters that can cross the screen quickly like Cammy or Balrog.
For that reason you should try and get your Fuhajin stores in the following way:
Cancelling an AA s.HP into it.
Ending a blockstring i.e. B+HK xx Fuhajin (Store)
Ending certain combos i.e. B+HK xx Fuhajin (Store) > EX Fuhajin
While your opponent is too preoccupied defending against your LK Fuhajin i.e. ending a combo with HK Fuhajin xx MK Fuhajin xx LK Fuhajin will cause the fireball to meaty against quickrise, giving you time to get another store.
Negating their fireballs with it (don't do this against a slow fireball as you will be baited)
Seeing the opponent committing to something that leaves them unable to react to a Fuhajin store i.e. jumping back, whiffing buttons in neutral
Ending blockstrings with Fuhajin (Store) is particularly good since even if you didn't score a hit, you still benefited by having gained one Fuhajin. That said, be cautious about doing this against grapplers as it leaves you at -2 and in a vulnerable position to be command grabbed (you DEFINTELY do not want to do it against Gief with CA stocked).
In summary, I think it's best to think of Juri as a hybrid midrange-counterpoker/rushdown character in SFV. She has rushdown in the sense that every character in SFV can be played rushdown, but she doesn't really have the tools to keep relentlessly pressing on the opponent outside of FSE. Instead you should try and move in and out, testing your opponents defences with her buttons and then confirming them into a KD to start her oki. If they manage to successfully defend against your mixup, don't try and force the rushdown and instead reign it back and start the process over again.
Simplifying the learning process even more
If you managed to read all of that (congratulations for sticking through!) and still feel overwhelmed with learning Juri, then don' fret. Like with any other character it can be effective to simply stick with a learning a few but highly effective techniques with Juri and then gradually tacking on more things as you master them. I would suggest you master the following things depending on your rank and you should be good:
Bronze Tier Hero
- Learn how to consistently AA using her s.HP and MK Pinwheel
- Learn how to control the ground game with her s.HP and c.MP and to a lesser extent s.MK and c.MK
- Learn how to meaty someone's wakeup using B+HK, and to mix it up with throw
- Learn how to hitconfirm her B+HK into a combo or to do a Fuhajin store if it gets blocked
- Learn how to combo an ambiguous crossup j.MK into her s.HP combo
- Learn a basic punish such as c.MP xx LK Hazanshu
- Get familiar with situations where you can safely go for a Fuhajin store and when not to
[As you can see all you need to be successful at this stage is just to understand Juri's neutral buttons and to abuse B+HK on someone's wakeup]
Silver Tier Hero (In addition to everything from Bronze Tier)
- Learn the combo variations out of her c.MP, s.HP and c.MK and how you could land these buttons
- Learn how to cancel into her V-trigger combos from HK Fuhajin
- Learn how to tick throw with s.LP > throw
- Be aware of when you can go for more damaging combos when you have Fuhajin stored, but also being able to do the minimum punish when you don't.
- Learn your CC combos and get familiar with commons scenarios where you would most likely land a CC (such as blocking a DP, or tagging them with s.HK after a forward throw).
Gold Tier Hero and Beyond (In addition to everything from the above tiers)
At this point you should be thinking of knuckling down and learning the ins and outs of her completely.
Juri's framedata (credit to
@LordWilliam1234 ):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1phr4jOfiXuaLxZgE1vk1myee_QK2RqP_M2cmnXOERDE/edit#gid=2113719160
Hurtbox/hitbox viewer (credits to
@eiSH and FrameTrapped):
eish.deviantart.com/art/Juri-624733439
Juri's normals to specials interaction guide (credit to
@jaysdc):
forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/210989/googlesheet-every-normal-to-every-special-interaction-exhaustive-list#latest
Players to watch:
fLoE - CFN: Floejisan -
https://twitch.tv/floe
Ai Ai - CFN: aiaitomo
Yossan - CFN: yossan
Sako - CFN: option9
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