Question - Goro Goro's best variation?

[RYX]

Fangs is a giant redundancy that only adds slight improvements to existing moves that are negligible when you have the choice of having two other variations that provide more versatility and new options.

i mean so is tigrar

outside of flame breath which is gonna get stuffed on reaction, MB low fireball is just a B3 that you spend meter on to get the same damage as you would from B3~EX punchwalk but with less corner carry

 

[Pterodactyl]

i mean so is tigrar

outside of flame breath which is gonna get stuffed on reaction, MB low fireball is just a B3 that you spend meter on to get the same damage as you would from B3~EX punchwalk but with less corner carry

My argument wasn't that Tigrar lacked redundancy, but it isn't as redundant as Fangs.

I'm still surprised so many people were on the "Tigrar da bes" boat day one when KW was always aggressively better.

Not to say playing a variation besides the apex is bad, as I do it all the time, sometimes the other "lesser" variations feel better.

 

[BunLantern]

I went Tigrar but only slightly. I just can't pass up the low fire ball 50/50s and the halfway decent fireball (Shokan bolt is butt). The added pressure of flame breath is nice as well.

KW would be my 2nd because ground pound is a great way to fuck with an opponent and the MB OTGs. However I find it much less helpful in matches where the opponent has a teleport or move that gets them off the ground like Liu Kang's flying kick (which so much of the cast has.).

Almost never use DFs but I must say that blade spin catching jumping opponents is a huge plus over punchwalk.

Topics like this are why Goro is so awesome. Almost every other character in the game is already down to 1 or 2 viable variations but Gman's are all so balanced that no one can decide. They all bring something to the table.

 

[chief713]

I don't think the low fireball 50/50 is all that good (it's decent in the corner) but KW definitely becomes a lot less useful against the type of chars Bun mentioned. I'm finding f.3 xx flame breath to be a really good tool in TF, so I've been mainly running that variation.

 

[Phosferrax]

KW.

Fast whiff punish, chest lunge is a decent anti air that can catch jump-backs and certain back dashes, ground pound gives it the strongest fullscreen game of the three, chest lunge is his best conversion tool giving him an ender or far pushing combos and an air-to-air follow up, chest lunge can be time to restand, and EX groundpound OTGs and restands for real dirt.

Tigrar has low fireball mix-ups and the flamebreathe is incredibly + on block and versatile.

Fangs has the best pokes by far and can get the most damage of the three but is incredibly limited by comparison.

Are there any videos of this?

 

[Pterodactyl]

Are there any videos of this?

Courtesy of @TONY-T

Doesn't "extend" combos but it stuns while leaving you with advantage, and you can definitely tick throw or b3/21 cancel, or EX punchwalk to eat any assumed retaliation, or whatever you think would work.

 

[Bildslash]

Kuatan Warrior no questions asked now or ever (unless the other variations get a buff).

I started with Tigrar because I feel victim to the bandwagon. However, I soon find out that is close to good but no cigar for one reason: Low Fireball. Low Fireball is poop: 1) doesn't hit fullscreen, 2) can be jumped easily, 3) has a huge punished-by-armored-specials gap when used in blockstrings, 4) for whatever reason I always get this shit instead of EX Punchwalk during wakeup (personal pet peeve and fault).

Goro has a big design flaw: he's supposed to be a heavy footsie in-your-face character, yet everything he does sends the opponent flying across the screen. Shokan Grab? Throws them away. Punchwalk? Great carry, but punches them away. 1 1 2 / b1 2 1 ender? Sends them flying full screen away. That means you're forced to earn your way back, except Goro has the slowest (or 2nd slowest, dunno if Torr is slower) run in the game, coupled with big whiff recoveries, forces you to have options full screen.

Becasuse of the above Quake in KW becomes the biggest asset Goro has. It forces a reaction from the opponent, something Low Fireball does not. With Quake you make the opponent come within your footsie range, either by jumping or running, and setup accordingly. Sure, Goro has Stomp to inmediately close distance, but unless it's done on read the move is baloney; except, when Quake forces the opponent to jump.

In short:

Kuatan Warrior: all around balanced variation. A jack of all trades if you will.

Tigrar: close but no cigar.

Dragon Fangs: poop. Doesn't address Goro's flaws.


P.D.: @colt @tylerlansdown shameless request: we need a Goro skin, pls kthx.

 

[BunLantern]

Kuatan Warrior no questions asked now or ever (unless the other variations get a buff).

I started with Tigrar because I feel victim to the bandwagon. However, I soon find out that is close to good but no cigar for one reason: Low Fireball. Low Fireball is poop: 1) doesn't hit fullscreen, 2) can be jumped easily, 3) has a huge punished-by-armored-specials gap when used in blockstrings, 4) for whatever reason I always get this shit instead of EX Punchwalk during wakeup (personal pet peeve and fault).

Goro has a big design flaw: he's supposed to be a heavy footsie in-your-face character, yet everything he does sends the opponent flying across the screen. Shokan Grab? Throws them away. Punchwalk? Great carry, but punches them away. 1 1 2 / b1 2 1 ender? Sends them flying full screen away. That means you're forced to earn your way back, except Goro has the slowest (or 2nd slowest, dunno if Torr is slower) run in the game, coupled with big whiff recoveries, forces you to have options full screen.

Becasuse of the above Quake in KW becomes the biggest asset Goro has. It forces a reaction from the opponent, something Low Fireball does not. With Quake you make the opponent come within your footsie range, either by jumping or running, and setup accordingly. Sure, Goro has Stomp to inmediately close distance, but unless it's done on read the move is baloney; except, when Quake forces the opponent to jump.

In short:

Kuatan Warrior: all around balanced variation. A jack of all trades if you will.

Tigrar: close but no cigar.

Dragon Fangs: poop. Doesn't address Goro's flaws.


P.D.: @colt @tylerlansdown shameless request: we need a Goro skin, pls kthx.

I've lost so many matches because of MB low fire ball coming out instead of MB punchwalk so I totally see where you're coming from with that. Daddy needs a PS2/3 to PS4 controller converter fast. If MB ground pound had a hit of armor I might change my mind about Tigrar but it just leaves him so open to teleports and flying kicks.

P.S. You missed a huge opportunity to say "Close but no Tigrar."

 

[Alright RyRy]

KW since day 1. and will be the only variation I use of this character. @Big D hating KW since day 1.

 

[Bildslash]

P.S. You missed a huge opportunity to say "Close but no Tigrar."

Dammit!

 

[DarksydeDash]

Kuatan Warrior for two reasons:
- OTG
-Ability to side switch in combos

 

[AK L0rdoftheFLY]

sorry but anyone playing full rush down tigrar is doing it wrong.

That is not, and never was, his design. The reasons why I like tigrar:

1) fireball is fast enough to stop run and slows down the pace of the match.
2) fireball is a high with a huge hitbox that hits almost every jumper out of the air. This makes opponent neutral crouch...you may think that is bad but that is what opens up the low fireball. They try to get in slowly and low fireball hits them.
3) high fireball doees 9% and wins most every fireball trade in the game except for low profile zoners like dragon's fire kang.
4) When they do get in, his flame is + no matter what and can be used in the footsie battle better than anything else. It catches jumpers, people in d4 range, and anyone with longer normals than you. Every time one is blocked or hit you get a 50/50 and a chance to make this whole process start over again.
5) He still has punch walk and the ability to get you off no matter what.

Say what you will but I don't think anyone is using tigrar well yet. KW seems like the simpler variation to me. Still effective but different.

I choose Tigrar.

 

[chief713]

s
4) When they do get in, his flame is + no matter what and can be used in the footsie battle better than anything else. It catches jumpers, people in d4 range, and anyone with longer normals than you. Every time one is blocked or hit you get a 50/50 and a chance to make this whole process start over again.

This is mainly why I prefer TF right now. Like it's been mentioned, all of Goro's shit throws the opponent full screen, but flame is pretty much the only thing Goro has in any variation that lets him keep up SOME kind of sustained pressure. I'm still not really sold on his low fireball(I like how it trades, but it's still feels too slow) but the discoveries I've been making with flame are, alone, enough to make me use TF in most matchups.

 

[Big D]

KW since day 1. and will be the only variation I use of this character. @Big D hating KW since day 1.

Too bad I'd never lose to Goro in tourney

 

[Truegojira]

I voted Tigrar and here is why.

This variation has the best high-low game. Better in their face mix-up as well as great chip damage. Flame Breathe is stupid good at setting up a lot of shit on block as well as on hit. His fireball also launches damn high and travels fast.

KW I feel is probably better the variation OVERALL vs more mobile characters but I think that its lack of mix-ups potential compared to Tigrar or even dragon fangs is lacking.

 

[Agilaz]

While I recognize Kuatan Warrior as being the best, I personally prefer playing Tigrar at this point. There's mindgames to be played.

Granted, I don't compete professionally, so perhaps my opinion doesn't weigh as much, but here's why:

Tigrar is a momentum killer and it allows me to keep control over a match. He's still punchy punchy Goro, but being able to switch to a (admitedly mediocre) zoning game in the middle of a match gives me that control. This varies by MU of course.

Then there's his flame breath. I still believe it's his most important tool, and the key to making this variation good. It's a frame trap, which is great, but I do realize that it has a gap when using it to end a string or normal. Here's where the mindgames come in.

As long as they're not armouring through, I can just keep pressuring with flame breath. So for example, 11~FB followed by F3~FB followed by F3~PW/FB/Low Fireball.

Once they start catching on and armouring through, I can instead switch my pressure to strings or normals ending in punchwalk. This results in a situation where they will either have to guess flame breath or punchwalk or low fireball. Guess wrong and I get more pressure and chip if I do FB, wall carry if I do PW and a knockdown if I do low fireball.

Anyway, perhaps this all sounds better in theory than in practice, and I wish there was a local scene here in Belgium to try it in a proper setting. Ultimately it seems to me that Goro is just a very honest character across all variations. He's not as braindead as Kung Jin or Raiden, because he actually requires you to get in your opponent's mind, ESPECIALLY in Tigrar which I feel is his most versatile (but not most powerful) variation.

 

[chief713]

^^ Flame breath traps work in high level play. There's quite a bit of stuff you can do with it.

 

[ultrasimmons]

Fro my current experience with Goro, I am finding Kuatan Warrior to be my favored variation for a simple reason. Almost everyone I've played cannot deal with Ground Pound, and after a knockdown with Goro usually resulting in launching someone midscreen, you usually get a free Ground Pound on a good chunk of the cast. Goro doesn't have a good toolset for fighting at range, but Ground Pound helps round him out in a unique way. Also, it absolutely wrecks on the GM Sub Zero matchup.

 

[Gruff757]

Tigrar still my favorite
Kintaro skin pl0x!

 

[Northern Slasher]

Tigrar for life. So much + frame and low launcher goodness.

 

[The Duke]

Kuatan, basically because of the battle helmet and Ground Pound.

 

[Vintagesoul]

So, I'm hoping that more people will revisit this topic now after the big Goro patch.

I've only been playing Tigrar, but the truth is, what I really want is to focus on the variation with the least worst match ups now, so I'm hoping for all the KW and DF players to jump in and tell me why I should switch.

Here's my impression of Tigrar, at the moment:

Tigrar:

SF4 Sagat is how I would describe him. The damage and frame data on Flameball means that he out zones all but a handful of characters in the cast. This allows him to focus on watching for jumps (which u2 is now very good against)and run ins. Any character that he can play his zoning game against, I feel he has at worst an even match up with- and that includes high tier characters like Tempest Lao.

The ability to meter burn PW greatly increased the potency of flame breath flame traps. Its much more dangerous for the opponent to stick out a poke to stop flame breath. I feel that TF has the most stable pressure game (DF's pressure appears to stronger, but it seems to require more risk taking).

Has potentially very bad match ups against characters with crouching fireballs, but imo has the least bad match ups of the three. (KW looks like it still loses to air teleports, and DF still looks like it loses to characters to can outzone and out footsie him. )

 

[mastermalone]

Am I the only one using an arcade stick(with alt.controls)? I hates in Tigrar the long low fireball motion(DF4) ,sometimes goes for it instead of PW

Nope. I use a stick too. It's the only way I can play fighting games.

 

[Nuovo_Cabjoy]

I've recently jumped back on the Goro train and have only really been using Kuatan Warrior, but I'll make sure to try Tigrar out again soon.

I'm finding that ground pound really does have a decent amount of utility, but by far the otg ground pound is the biggest reason I play this variation. The ability to choose at the END of a combo if you'd like to do an extra 12% is huge imo, on top of the recent PW buffs, meaning meter management has become a whole lot easier for Goro. As strange as it sounds, reversal command grab can very much be utilised to blow up people trying to counter poke. It won't work every time once they catch on, but is still a useful tool. Immediate 26% right there if you have a bar. Ordinary GP turns into 21% with a bar, which is an equally nice option for closing out rounds.

I understand Tigrar may cause the opponent to play a little differently, opening up different opportunities for Goro. For now, though, the insane damage potential EX GP brings to KW is too much for me to pass up.

 

[Vintagesoul]

I've recently jumped back on the Goro train and have only really been using Kuatan Warrior, but I'll make sure to try Tigrar out again soon.

I'm finding that ground pound really does have a decent amount of utility, but by far the otg ground pound is the biggest reason I play this variation. The ability to choose at the END of a combo if you'd like to do an extra 12% is huge imo, on top of the recent PW buffs, meaning meter management has become a whole lot easier for Goro. As strange as it sounds, reversal command grab can very much be utilised to blow up people trying to counter poke. It won't work every time once they catch on, but is still a useful tool. Immediate 26% right there if you have a bar. Ordinary GP turns into 21% with a bar, which is an equally nice option for closing out rounds.

I understand Tigrar may cause the opponent to play a little differently, opening up different opportunities for Goro. For now, though, the insane damage potential EX GP brings to KW is too much for me to pass up.

Having mained TF and played a bit of KW and DF, I feel that KW's biggest weakness is meter building.

Goro is never in a truly bad position as long as he has a meter stocked. TF builds meter comfortably with relatively low risk flameballs and DF actually does well building meter with d1xxFang Spin.

KW is the only variation where it can be tough to build meter in certain situations. The 12% damage from ex ground pound is very very good, but KW is ironically the one variation which really needs to think twice before burning meter.