Burst Baiting

A friend asked me recently why my rate of catching bursts is so high, even at the weirdest of spots. I feel like this is pretty good info to share, for both players who burst terribly so that they can learn where not to burst and players who want to learn how to burst bait.



Ultimately, burst baiting is still down to opponent tendencies. If your opponent doesn't wanna burst, there's really not much you can do about it. You just stop baiting his burst and move on to other things. Don't treat this guide as 100% correct, but take it as a reference to choose which spots to bait your opponents burst at. I'm also just going to use CF as the game to explain this.



Outside of opponent tendencies, there are 5 common spots that players are very likely to burst at.



#1 When they get hit by something stupid.

#2 When you do a mixup on an opponent that swaps YOU into the corner.

#3 When they immediately get hit by something on their wakeup as they are recovering from a combo.

#4 When they reach a part of a combo that they are taught to be burst safe

#5 When you threaten a hit that can end the round.

#6 When they just got their burst back.



#1 is the one that gets burst baits for me all the time. Players absolutely hate getting hit by something that they think they shouldn't have got hit by, especially if it's something that makes your opponent think that you are a piece of shit. Resets are the most common example here. For instance, getting reset by Ragna's Gauntlet Hades when the player expects you to cash in on a standing 5b 5c hit, or resetting with an AA by leaving them airborne instead of going for knockdowns. In general, the more prideful your opponent is, the more likely he is to fall for this. If your opponent thinks highly of his reactions, sometimes just even hitting him with an overhead guarantees frustration and a likely tendency to burst immediately. This works even better if you spend meter in order to convert off your resets. Jin's 6a RC 5c is a wonderful example. Players always burst at 5c thinking that I will not bait there because I just spent 50 to convert, and forget that 5c is a horrible place to burst due to it being still kind of advantageous for Jin should the player not burst anyway since he can just jump cancel it.



#2 rarely happens because very few characters do it as a type of mixup, but when it happens, the burst comes very often. Hibiki's 214d, Jin's 5b vacuum out of corner mixups, Azrael's crossovers into 5a are some examples of when this scenario occurs. I don't even think being cornered in this game is that bad unless you are fighting privileged characters, but players are drawn to the sudden possibility that they can get the corner and negate the damage of a combo at the same time just by bursting. It's not that the idea is bad, but because it's so predictable that players want to be greedy like that that this becomes a very common burst point.



#3 is essentially a rage burst but why are people more likely to burst if they get hit by something immediately after they just recovered? It's because of the idea of momentum. If you get hit by 2 combos in most fighting games, chances are that you are not only down to half your health, but you are also going to reach the corner soon, if you aren't there yet. This point is a favourite to burst at because you avoid both the corner and the life lead doesn't become as significant as compared to if you take the combo. It's even better if you play some character with who's dumb in the corner, like Izanami, Carl or Nine. Players get even more afraid and are more likely to burst faster.



#4 usually requires an RC of some sort, which sometimes is a huge waste of meter. However, a burst for 50 meter is an extremely good trade that you should strive for if you have the correct read. This one depends more on player tendency more so than the rest, since it assumes that your opponent knows which part of your combo is burst safe and which part isn't. For most characters, this comes at normals that cannot be jump canceled on hit or have high recovery. Unfortunately, CF bursts are too fast to react to, so it's a little difficult to RC in reaction to the burst at these points. In Xrd however, it's so much easier because the bursts in that game are slow. Dauro is usually a safe point to burst at, but because it's such a common burst point due to its high reward move on hit and high recovery, it becomes predictable to the point where you can see the burst come out and hit RC in reaction to the burst.



#5 is a 50/50, and it also depends on your opponent's knowledge to recognize the situation. If you can win off a move that connects with your opponent, the chances of him bursting go way up. OD usually plays a part in this, with 1-hit confirms into OD in order to take the game (of course, you must prove yourself capable of doing this or your opponent won't give a shit). It's not the worst of scenarios if you OD and your opponent bursts, but it's a scenario that can be improved vastly by taking his burst and getting a free combo, which will probably save you a burst since you don't need it to kill your opponent. Plus, you start the next round with full burst while your opponent has 0, which is ridiculously good compared to if you just took his burst while you were trying to kill with OD.



#6 is another rage burst tendency, and works more in conjunction with the above 5 points. Think of it as an add-on where your opponent is more likely to burst should he have just got his burst back and you did 1 of the 5 above. Why this happens is because players are normally keeping track of their bursts. The moment it fully regenerates, in the back of their mind they take a mental note that they now have this resource. Should you hit them with something that they feel burst happy with, the mental note is brought up. They remember they have burst and are more likely to use it to get out immediately.



Okay so what happens when your opponent stops bursting completely? Preferably, you want to have a scenario where you can bait a burst and retain superiority. Aforementioned Jin is amazing at this because he can jump cancel 5b/5c to burst bait while leaving himself at a great position to continue pressure with j.2c should the opponent not bite. This varies from character to character so be sure to experiment with what scenarios you can get out of a failed burst bait.



So I've explained a lot about burst happy points. Seems like bursting really sucks huh? Honestly, it does because OD is so much better in CF. However, beyond your opponent reading your burst tendencies, you should learn how to burst responsibly and make it more difficult for your opponent to take your burst. There are 2 common terrible burst habits that players have.



#1 Bursting in hitshop.

#2 Bursting moves that precede a move with long and reactable startup.



#1 is something that players can immediately fix. If you burst in hitstop, the burst takes longer to come out. Sometimes, it takes so long that you can react to the burst with a jump cancel or RC. The prime example of this is bursting Carl's Cantabile on hit. If you do, you definitely deserve to get your burst taken.



#2 covers scenarios where your opponent has to commit to a move that has a reactable startup. Since you can't RC moves on startup in CF, these spots are safe places to burst at. Examples include Izanami's slide and Jin's 6b, and honestly tons of these moves exist out there which are completely safe to burst. There's literally no reason to burst Jin's 5c if he's doing a crouch confirm, because if 6b doesn't come out his damage goes to shit anyway, and if 6b does come out it's a free place to burst at.



Well I hope this helps whoever read this out in both burst baiting and bursting better. Also, as a last note if you made it this far, remember to use barrier in CF because it's free and there's no reason why anyone should not be holding barrier on defense.

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