DBFZ/Goku/Strategy

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 Goku


General Tactics

Base Goku might as well say "anchor" on the tin. He has solo mixups with his 214X, he has amazing assists, his supers are safe DHCs that get stronger with every teammate that dies, and he adds tons of damage to your team. As a solo character, his goal is to stagger and command grab you to death, which he can do very effectively due to having solid frame data. When he's not in your face, he also has a strong ranged game: A great 5S, with 1-2 Ki Blasts being safe against Superdash, 2S for covering vertical space, an air-ok beam for better space control, and 214S which is a tracking, auto-confirm projectile that leads to big damage and beats all other projectiles.

Team Synergy

Point

Not the first option most people think of when looking at this character, but actually not a bad idea. Putting Baseku point lets him profit from 2 assists that can help him become stronger in several ways: easier access to Genki charges, improved mixups, and most importantly, easier neutral.

Baseku himself builds plenty of meter and has decent ways to use Special Tag with the right combos, so his teammates won't be left underdeveloped if you ever want them to come in.

The problem with putting Baseku here is that he's not really built to be a Point character. That is to say, he doesn't have the best tools for closing the gap, nor the crazy assisted mixups, and his meterless tools aren't the best (outside of 214L which, as insane as it is, requires either Vanish or a sideswitching Special Tag to be combo'd from). You also lose access to his very strong A assist if he loses the Point war. In general, you lose out on many benefits that would come with putting him in the back.

All in all, this position sacrifices much of what makes Baseku a good support/comeback character in favor of making him better right off the bat, using less gimmicks. Pretty controversial place to put him overall, but it's seen success at high level (see pro player Scamby) so if you think it's right for you, by all means go for it, even if others may call you crazy.

Mid

This is the first position where another character can take advantage of his amazing assists and supers. He also gets at least one assist to abuse himself, which can help him a lot in neutral. Putting Baseku mid is a fine choice, but one you will only usually make if you have another dedicated anchor (such as Z Broly, Tien, Janemba) on your team that has an assist he likes, and even then you could make an argument for keeping him anchor anyway.

Anchor

This is the position where Base Goku feels at home. His mixups are good enough that he doesn't have to rely on assists to open up his opponents, and his Kaioken gets better with each successive ally that gets K.Oed. His own assists are really good (especially A) and he has some of the best DHC supers in the game. In DBFZ it is important to rotate your team around a lot (and not live and die by a specific order your characters should come in) so as to preserve every character's health as much as possible, which means there may be times you'll have to tag Baseku in early. However, keeping him in the back gives his teammates more time to build meter for him and gain an advantage that he can press. Plus, should the first 2 characters on your team get steamrolled, he has absolutely amazing comeback potential. In most team comps you'll be playing him here.

Picking teammates

Baseku isn't a particularly picky character. As he is a support/comeback character, the main thing he wants from his teammates is meter. Do your best to play him with at least one character who can build it well so that Baseku always has access to his strongest tools.

There's another thing he really appreciates having: neutral assists. Baseku's neutral needs to be played very carefully as many of his space control options are either committal or easily blown through, and his buttons are pretty small. Having assists like beams or DP assists can give him a considerably easier time keeping opponents in check or making his way in to pressure them.

A few examples of solid teammates:

Goku Black: Both provide amazing assists for each other. Black A helps Baseku with neutral while B helps his midrange. Baseku A is just fast enough for Black's preferred neutral tools and has great pushback for his left/right mixups, plus it's really good for his combos. On top of that, tagging after Black's ground 236M gives Baseku unique rejumps, as a bonus.

Teen Gohan: Amazing point character that builds all the meter in the world and provides Baseku with a crazy good DP assist should he be tagged in. Teen Gohan also benefits greatly from Base Goku's A assist himself, whether for combos or for mix.

S Broly: Play these two together and you get what is likely the highest damage shell in the game. S Broly's B assist does wonders for Goku's neutral presence, he builds pretty decent meter, and combining his already very high damage supers with Super Spirit Bomb is a recipe for disaster. S Broly, in turn, loves Baseku A for practically everything, from combos to midrange neutral to unique command grab setups.

Bardock: The classic father/son shell. Bardock builds consistently good amounts of meter for Baseku and provides him with a fast strike assist (Bardock A) in neutral which helps him in the area he struggles most: midrange. In turn, Baseku A provides Bardock with unique fuzzy mixups off his 214x, is great for his combo extensions, and it's just fast enough for lariat + assist approaches.

Blockstrings

In pressure, strike/throw is the name of Baseku's game. Let's start off simple.

Baseku's safe gapless blockstring would be 2L > 5L > 5LL > 5M > 2M > 5S > 5H > 2H > j.236L. Instead of j.236L, you can use j.236S which automatically frametraps and jails into Vanish on block (while Vanish lets you restart pressure). Be careful doing this, though, because if the opponent starts to expect it and reflects the beam, they'll get to 2H you. It's recommended to use 236S > Vanish in different parts of your blockstring when you want to restart.

That's a lot of buttons, and we'll go over them, but for starters there is one thing you should keep in mind that's most important: you can frametrap at any time by delaying the next button you press in that string. After eating enough combos, opponents will learn not to mash on those frametraps or try to jump away, which is when they may resort to just blocking or trying to reflect... that's when you throw in a command grab (214x). Baseku can sneak in a grab after any of the normals in the above string. This is the core of how Baseku's pressure works: identify your opponents' habits and exploit them by either yeeting them with his grabs, or bonking them with an M starter for trying to keep you from yeeting them.

Important to note: Baseku gets significantly higher damage from frametraps than from grabs. This means smart players are more likely to respect his pressure and thus get grabbed more often. However, don't assume every player will play smart - make sure you earn their respect. If they never give it to you... continue frametrapping them to death.

With that out of the way, here's some key things to remember about his normals.

  • 2L and 5L are his best stagger points by a mile, as they have the best frame data (especially 2L which is +0 on block).

You can also cancel them into themselves via 2LL or 4LL which can give you more ambiguous pressure. For example, you can alternate between 5L(dl)4L (restart) 5L, and 5L (restart) 5L(dl)4L - they won't know where the frametrap is.


... Wait, why do you care when you could frametrap with M starters? Those give a lot more damage after all.

Besides strike/throw, Baseku is good at playing the game of frametrap/reset - he can make it hard to tell when he might frametrap or when he might restart his string altogether. This is another way besides his command grabs in which he can abuse opponents' respect. Why do this? Because ambiguous rhythms make people scared and the longer they block, the more prone they will be to pressing buttons when they shouldn't. Resetting your pressure multiple times will make most opponents very antsy to mash on you. Additionally, reversals beat frametraps and command grabs, but they don't beat just stopping, so cutting your string short sometimes, maybe calling an assist at the same time to maintain pressure, can be good for conditioning. Baseku's L buttons are great places to restart your pressure because they recover very fast and have the threat of a potential M starter after them. Smart opponents will be hesitant to mash on you after these buttons, which gives you an opportunity to stop for a moment to bait out reversals and continue pressure if they didn't use one.

If you have the execution for it, a great way to discourage it further is incorporating dashblocks. This will beat reversals while keeping the best possible spacing for your pressure. It's best done after 2L since you can dashblock against even the fastest DPs that way, but against slower ones you can also do it after 5L or 4LL too.

  • 5LL and 5M are mostly just blockstring filler, though they will hurt a lot if they land because, you know, M starters. Both are safe on block at -5 so if your opponent respects you a lot, they are usable as reset points.
  • 5LLL isn't seen often in blockstrings, but has value in that it jails into Vanish. This can help him reposition himself when he wants to escape the corner or try to steal it for a left/right mixup.
  • 2M is Baseku's only low. True-stringing into it will beat reflect and jump attempts because you can't reflect or jump while crouch blocking, so this is a good normal to use to discourage opponents from trying to escape your grabs. Using it as a frametrap leads into Baseku's highest-damaging combos as well.
  • 5S is a good button to throw out after a frametrap as it will combo on hit and travel all the way to the opponent if Baseku got reflected, plus you can continue pressure using 2S afterwards if the opponent is cornered (this stuff isn't as great if the opponent has a ki-blast invulnerable special move to attack you with after reflecting!). Using this as a frametrap itself is also strong against reflect as it will keep you point blank. Lastly, it initiates "Ki blast RPS" on block: After blocking a ki blast, opponents can guard cancel reflect, which will win if Baseku does 5H at all after it. However, Baseku can just bait the reflect or use a grab if they do it... but if they mash Baseku will lose his turn or get punished. But if they mash, a frametrap 5H will catch them. It goes in circles, creating a rock-paper-scissors scenario.
  • 5H and 2H don't have anything special about them, but they are ToD starters on hit so people still have to be very wary of them.
  • 236L is normally -5 on block which would make it the basic blockstring ender, however it has a few key bonuses. It has good pushback, which means if characters with smaller L buttons try to take their turn after it, they might not reach Baseku and get smoked with an M button of his own. It also becomes -3 when done after 2H. Lastly, the move itself is an M starter so you can get huge damage off it with assists or even ToDs.

Anti-Reflects:

  • 2M anti-reflects after 5L or 2L up close (most consistent with dash momentum).
  • 5S keeps you point blank if it's reflected. As an anti-reflect, it works after any button and is a very good option because it allows you to cancel into 2H if the opponent used reflect > tag. However, opponents can use Ki blast invulnerable moves to go through it instead, so be wary of them.
  • 5H anti-reflects after any other button. 5L > 5S > 5H would be a good go-to anti-reflect string for reasons cited so far.
  • 236L can act as an alternative to 5H.
  • 214X at any point beats reflecting if expected.

This was quite a long section, but if you can get a grasp for using everything written in here properly you will have a very strong Base Goku. Make sure to take things one step at a time and slowly incorporate each little tip into your gameplay until you feel comfortable enough to move onto the next.

Okizeme

Baseku's okizeme boils down to just good ol' safejumps, but he does get a couple of bonuses that others don't. Most notably, he's able to get a 214S charge before his safejump off the right knockdown, and using j.H4S may prevent people from reflecting Baseku out completely while having a reflect come out if they tried to DP the j.H (this is very weak to delay tech, be careful!). Keep in mind the following setups don't work well midscreen; good midscreen oki is hard to come by in this game in general. They also tend to "lose" to delay tech, but if you're worried about that you can option select it by doing j.H into backdash - the backdash only comes out on whiff, on hit or block you stay in their face.

  • Smash j.H/j.DR oki - backdash, hold 9, time a falling j.H. Safejumps anything and can be followed up with j.4S to stay in even if opponents reflect the first button.
  • 2SSS oki - This ender is the best one for oki. 22S, whiff 2L, sj IAD j.H. Gives you a free Spirit Bomb charge and still safejumps, but adding in a j.4S won't reach if they reflect unless they decide to press buttons after their reflect. Hold S down after 2L to make the next IAD a sj IAD automatically, make good use of that macro.
  • j.2M oki - sj IAD j.H. j.4S works after this one.
  • Back-to-corner Smashless 214M oki - hold 9, time a falling j.H. A lot more niche than the others but good to remember for when you've consumed down-Smash early in your combo (via 2SSS for example) and doubt the combo will kill.

Tips and Tricks

  • 214L does not require any delay when tick throwing from lights, but requires a 4 frame delay when throwing from a medium. Alternatively, 214M and H can be used instead.
  • 236M and H are both frame 4 reversals, but 236H is the one you should be using as it's much faster and gives ridiculous reward on hit. You can use it after blocking Vanishes or otherwise in any situation you're -2... unless you've got your back to the corner, in which case this reversal easily gets stuffed.
  • j.236H is a super sneaky cross-up fakeout. If you notice your opponent blocks cross-ups a lot, jump forward and do this move next time. Be aware that this still loses to 2H like any cross-up, though.
  • Jumping into j.236S[2] is also great as a fake cross-up, with the benefit of actually beating 2H attempts (so being better for conditioning), but the drawback of less reward on hit.
  • Tiger Knee-ing grounded 236S makes it recover much faster than usual. If you've got the execution for it, make sure to do so.
  • While charged Spirit Bomb is a crazy good neutral tool, don't be afraid to spend it in combos, even off scaled starters. It builds lots of meter for him and he can end with 2SSS to get the charge right back anyway with the right routes.

Fighting Goku

Strike/throw is Baseku's main way to mix you besides universal options. Reversals are very strong against him for that reason. In terms of neutral, Baseku is very weak to characters that have long ranged buttons and especially ki-blast invulnerable special moves. If you happen not to have those, Superdashing once in a while can still catch Baseku players off guard, especially when in closer ranges. It also helps a lot to vary your movement patterns, since while Baseku's space control is strong, it's also somewhat committal and you may get a positional advantage if not straight-up a punish if you get him to use the wrong tool at the wrong time. Baseku also doesn't have any great ways to move forward, so don't be afraid to just play his game once in a while and see whose patience runs out first. Baseku struggles hard to get in against opponents that don't mind staying away from him.

When it comes to dealing with raw Kaioken... if you whiff something and Baseku does the finisher, delay your Vanish to escape. If you Vanish immediately, he will still kick you in the noggin, but if you time it as you see him teleport you will avoid it. Holding up-back after blocking a Kaioken followup can work well, but if the crackhead Baseku player is actually smart he'll be able to stop that by using Kaioken 2M. The best options you can use are delay Vanish or simply blocking each followup (takes some practice, but it sends a message). The latter is the safest option since Kaioken 5L has enough blockstun to true string into 2L (overhead) or 2M (low) alike, which forces you to react or fuzzy block.

Punishing Super Spirit Bomb

Super Spirit Bomb is punishable, but not quite as hard as other Level 3s are, and only in a rather specific way. One must dash towards Goku a little bit (to avoid the explosion at the end), reflect and then immediately Superdash (you can also just block instead of reflecting, but then you take chip damage). While Goku's invulnerability lasts until he recovers if the bomb whiffs, if it connects with anything the invuln will go away, which is why dash-up reflect SD is a true punish. You can apply the same concept using air-tracking supers instead of SD.

On one hand, getting punished with a SD is much better than getting punished with a ToD starter. On the other hand, Baseku's Lv3 is punishable in situations where other Lv3s are not. For example, Lv3-ing a frametrap with Baseku either returns him to neutral or gets him punished if the button the opponent whiffed recovered fast enough, whereas any other Lv3 would've just hit said opponent.

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