Cyrax is not easy (asking for tips)

[Konqrr]

I've always been a fan of Cyrax. Until last night, I had not spent much time with him outside of the Challenge Tower.

I played my friend for a few hours last night who mains Lao/Noob and the occasional Smoke or Kano. I've got to tell you, Cyrax is not an easy character to play. I found myself checking both my meter and his ALL the time, which is something that I don't need to do much with my main, Kitana. I was in situations that I had to decide what type of combo to do because of the meter my opponent had and whether or not I had meter and if I wanted to use my last bar or not.

He seems to be an incredibly setup heavy character, which I like, but I know that I can't hit training mode with him for an hour like I did with Cyber Sub and be competitive.

Now to the point of the thread:

How should I approach learning Cyrax?
What should I look for in matchups?

How the hell do you get the first hit bonus with this character!? XD I think I got it once out of the entire night and I was really trying.

 

[SektorCyrax]

ive seen people use exragdoll for the first hit since it hits low..maybe his anti air grab..if you know they are going to jump in

yeah ive noticed that too with cyrax..im like oh crap i dont have a bar of meter..i cant do my BnB oh shit they have 2 bars..when i do have a meter they will always break the combo if they see that i have meter. (they can see the BnB combo coming) Should i use an exnet to drain them of a bar of meter? are they just going to gain enough meter back and break it?

this character is very technical it feels like

i just picked him up myself and am having good success though, i like the set ups and the work you have to put in.. im getting very used to that AA grab he has...i like it alot.

 

[REYTHEGREAT]

Add me on psn I'll play you so you see how I use him. You cam pressure with 1,1 and you can also do command grab if 1,1 is blocked.

 

[Konqrr]

Add me on psn I'll play you so you see how I use him. You cam pressure with 1,1 and you can also do command grab if 1,1 is blocked.

11 is good, but my friend was jumping out at will when I would try to pressure with it (after block and hit).

 

[TheChad_87]

I feel like I'm in opposite land ... Ya know, with me giving you advice! ^_^ lol

Anyway! I find that bomb-zoning is an excellent, excellent tool. You drop bombs and this gets the opponent moving. If s/he stands still, they're gonna eat a bomb and a subsequent 30+%. This gives you prime time to throw the net.

If s/he's being jump happy, I've found Anti-Air to be a great tool to condition your opponent. I've had people afraid to jump at me up close for fear of anti-air. If you catch em' with a net from far away and hit em with a "Fail-Trap" [m.Bomb, 2, 2, njP, dash, B+2, dash, 2, 1, Net, dash, 3, 3, Anti-Air (40%, 13 Hits)], you'll condition them to think that "jumping is bad". (Note: You have to throw the m.Bomb in the last few secs of the Net or it won't deploy it. Practice with the timing because outside of Raiden, Sektor, and Noob, pretty much all characters have trouble avoiding this.)

As far as getting the first hit bonus, that's something I struggle with myself. I usually have to decide between going for the anti-air (tons of people jump in for their first move) or going for the newer, milder bomb trap [F+2, *c.Bomb, dash, 3, 3, Net, njP, dash, B+2, dash 2, 2, F+1 (33%, 10 Hits)]. With it, you HAVE to be quick on your c.Bomb to get the cancel. The F+2, when cancelled into c.Bomb causes considerable stagger.

Also, just to make sure you're in the know on my 2 favorite BnBs & My X-Ray combo of choice (I'm sure there's better, but these are fairly easy):

2,1, *Sticky Bomb, m.Bomb, Uppercut, B+2, dash, Uppercut (49% 9 Hits – 1 Bar)
3, 3, *Net, dash, 2, 1, *Sticky Bomb, m.Bomb, Step Forward, 3, 3, Buzzsaw (Reset) njP, dash, B+2, dash, 2, 1, *Net, dash, 3, 3, Anti-Air (30%, 10 Hits, 30%, 11 Hits – 1 Bar) [Total: 60%, 21 Hits]
m.Bomb, 2, 2, njP, dash, B+2, dash, 2, *X, *dash, *1 *Ragdoll (56%, 13 Hits)

The X-Ray combo can be done after a net and is basically the "Fail Trap"

EDIT: Also, GREAT advice from NariTuba below

 

[NariTuba]

11 is good, but my friend was jumping out at will when I would try to pressure with it (after block and hit).

You are a MUCH greater player than I am, so I offer this advice humbly. I´m sure you can put it to much better use than I can.

Like REYTHEGREAT said 1,1 can be hit confirmed so it would be 1,1,*net on hit and 1,1,CG on block. Also 1,1,1 is safe on block so if the opp is jumping out on you a lot after the 1,1 you might want to throw that last 1 in there to check him or do 1,1,(no cancel)air throw. If you do this last option and the opp, instead of jumping, crouches to avoid the 1,1 pressure (hits high) you will cross over. This last situation is interesting because it shows one of his tools that hasnt been fully developed yet in my opinion, using air throw to cross over. Its not that people are not doing it, its that I havent seen it used with precision.

Let me also add that d4 is Cyraxs best poke as it has great range and has adv on block and great adv on hit. Can be followed by 1,1 no problem.

Hope any of this is useful to you and would love it if u can give us your thoughts after youve tried all these.
cheers from Argentina!

 

[Konqrr]

I played against a Raiden player tonight and it took me about 15 games to finally win a match. I couldn't find a decent setup to use. Teleport I stopped with a close bomb then forward dash, but the random superman and EX superman through net was killing me. I found the Kung Lao match to be much easier than the Raiden one. He also played Reptile and destroyed me and he doesn't even play Reptile lol ... that matchup sucks as well.

Thanks for the tips guys. Blowing him up with 73% combos was fun ^_^