Make no mistake about it, mid-range projectiles are absolutely a major facet of footsies. In fact, their uses are so diverse and their impact so significant that it’s impossible to cover everything in one article. I’ll attempt to provide a conceptual introduction instead.

Tactically speaking, a fireball is a relatively slow poke with good range. Ideally you want to rely on attacks with roughly 4-5 frames of startup, which recover quickly. By contrast, projectile specials typically have over 10 frames of startup followed by lengthy recovery periods.

To compensate, projectiles possess one exceptional property: their active hit box is invincible.

With physical attacks, effective range and vulnerable range are approximately equal. Even if you have a full-screen normal move like Dhalsim’s s.HP, whiffing it in front of Dan still gives him an opportunity to retaliate. Furthermore, Dan’s invincible Koryuken will counter Dhalsim’s s.HP from any spot inside its range. These basic principles form the foundation of footsies.

The rules of engagement change when dealing with fireballs. Counteracting the opponent’s attack is no longer enough to hurt them because projectiles are independent entities. Thus, your table of counters shifts dramatically.

Most importantly, you lose the option to retaliate after standing back, because projectiles will continue advancing until they make contact, at which point you’ll be pushed out of range. In fact, the longer a projectile travels before connecting, the more frame advantage it creates for its owner.

Projectiles can be utilized as pokes just as easily as normals can. Fireballs can apply pressure, beat out mistimed normal attacks, repel aggressive opponents, and punish mistakes. There’s no unwritten law restricting pokes to normal moves. Some fireballs even knock down, which makes them viable as midscreen counterpokes. Even if they carry frame disadvantage when blocked, most opponents are rendered incapable of retaliation after getting pushed so far backward.

Two direct universal methods of dealing with projectiles are jumping over them and stuffing them during startup. Jumping is always risky, but the reward is high provided you land a damaging combo. Using a quick poke to prevent the fireball from coming out involves less committment. However, it does require you to stay within close promixity, which is a challenge against fireball characters. It’s always wise to build meter as you work to close the gap, because even the threat of a super move can be enough to discourage opponents from throwing fireballs – tipping the matchup advantage in your favor.

The entire strategic landscape of Street Fighter changes dramatically once you begin thinking of projectiles as components of footsies. Fireballs are what transform Shotos from mediocre poking characters into mid-range powerhouses. The difference between a beginner and an expert player is immediately apparent from how well they apply fireballs in footsies.

It takes more than a technically sound gameplan to stay ahead of the field and win consistently. No matter how dominant or reliable your tactics may be, they can still be neutralized by an opponent who sees them coming. Therefore the last missing piece of the strategic puzzle is misdirection – or as some players call it, randomness.

Element 31: A few times per round, do something completely meaningless yet relatively safe for no reason other than to distract your opponent. For instance if your character has a poke which dominates a certain matchup, skilled players will try to make it whiff as they advance to close the gap. Avoid falling into the trap of abusing your best move at every opportunity. Pick out a few key moments and randomly whiff a jab instead of pressing the obvious button. You won’t believe how often this tricks opponents into walking right into your low fierces.

Element 32: Another way to escape predictable scripts and flowcharts is by mixing up your timing; by skipping beats rather than pressing different buttons. Walk into c.MK range but don’t press it right away. Hang around that distance for a second to lure your opponent into a false sense of security, then tag them once they get restless. The next time you claim that spot, they won’t expect you to attack right away.

Element 33: Every now and then – especially when an opponent presumes you’ll become ultra defensive – simply throw caution to the wind and go on an offensive tear. In addition to some seriously nasty mixups, you’ll need the element of surprise to pull this off, which means grasping a good sense of match flow before you flip the switch.

Element 34: Is anything less effective on paper than wakeup c.LP? That’s why it wreaks havoc on cautious players’ plans; used sparingly, of course.

Element 35: Just do lots of weird, confusing things! When the tide of battle has turned against you and nothing seems to be going your way, try repeatedly stomping the ground at mid-range. If it breaks your opponent’s rhythm and makes them question themselves even for a split second, it could buy you the opening you need.

It’s virtually impossible to hide all of your patterns from observant players. No matter how clever and unpredictable you think you are, someone out there will succeed in identifying and exploiting your habits. You must find ways to mask your thoughts, in order to protect your most potent tactics from being turned against you.

Whatever strategy you adopt in any given matchup, mix it up with a little freestyle creativity to throw your opponent off the trail. Resist the urge to coast on autopilot. Force yourself to try something new every round. It doesn’t need to be unsafe, it doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does have to be unexpected.

Since jumping is such a slow committment and since ground counters to crossup attempts are much quicker than the air time required to reach crossup position, effective crossup setups are more about anticipation than reaction. Due to sheer damage potential, one well-timed ambiguous crossup can turn the tide of an entire battle. Finding reliable ways to create such opportunities is essential to any offensive-minded gameplan, sometimes to the point of passing up guaranteed damage in favor of arranging a convenient crossup.

Element 27: Eliminate the opponent’s capacity to anti-air by knocking them down first. In fact, one of the primary goals of footsies is to land a sweep or psychic DP precisely for the purpose of securely jumping over them as they stand up. Simple, right?

Element 28: Bait your opponent into committing a slow attack and jump over them as it whiffs. This method is slightly more complicated and considerably riskier, but there are several ways to get it done. You can tick with light attacks to push them into position, then fake a throw and go for the crossup as their counterthrow misses. You can catch them focusing too heavily on ground footsies and jump over their c.MK pokes while they’re fishing to land a super move. You can even poke them from a safe distance until they get frustrated enough to become predictable with their counterpokes, then jump over one as soon as you feel out their rhythm.

Element 29: Do something chaotic then go for a crossup while confusion throws off their reflexes long enough to get them into trouble. Maintain that pressure for as long as you can keep them off balance, or until they gain enough meter to tilt the risk vs reward scales too far in their favor. Back off when you sense desperation, or at least switch to attack patterns which are safe from their most tempting comeback scenario.

Element 30: Shut down an opponent’s crossup attempt with a vertically aimed normal move, then time your jump to catch them with a crossup as they land on their feet. On a related note, whoever wins an air-to-air encounter usually lands first by a large enough margin to immediately rejump for a crossup as the reeling opponent descends. Another alternative is to wait until someone jumps from long distance, then jump over them as they come down. This works especially well in games with air blocking and air parry mechanisms, which give players an incentive to forgo attacking.

As you can see, there are countless ways to go about setting up crossups, depending on the character matchup and your opponent’s tendencies. It’s just a matter of developing a strong enough ground game to train your opponent to stop expecting you to jump.

At the beginning of a match, everyone tries to stay out of crossup range or to refrain from using slow attacks at that distance. Once you catch them slipping into that spot and behaving dangerously, that’s when you should start looking for your chance to cross them up – without making your intentions obvious!

One of the most useful tools in footsies is the hopkick. Not every character is lucky enough to have one, but those who do tend to rely heavily on its offensive utility and mid-range control capabilities. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Element 23: Hopkicks are practically free after certain moves, at certain ranges, in certain matchups. Become familiar with all of these safe setups, because as long as your method of attack requires huge risks to counter, you’ll remain in charge of the match. Once you get your opponent thinking they need to psychic uppercut, that’s half the battle won. Then all you have to do is follow through, bait it, and punish conclusively. Hopkicks are a good offensive foundation because they automatically avoid low attacks, they’re too quick to counter on reaction, and they travel forward so it’s difficult to make them whiff. They accomplish several goals even when blocked: you establish momentum, you build meter, you drain the opponent’s guard bar, and you back them into the corner or push your way out.

Element 24: Up close, hopkicks can be used to extend offensive sequences or interrupt telegraphed poke strings. Some are even considered truly airborne, temporarily rendering them immune to throw attempts. Since hopkicks trump such a wide array of defensive attacks, their threat alone is enough to scare experienced opponents into blocking passively, which opens up all kinds of throw opportunities.

Element 25: Characters who possess air divekicks without minimum jump height requirements can adapt them to mimic the tactical functionality of hopkicks. Examples include ST Dhalsim’s j.D+MK drill, SF4 Cammy’s Cannon Strike, SF4 Rufus’ j.DF+MK divekick, CFE Anakaris’ j.DF+K divekick, and XSF Wolverine’s j.D+MK divekick. As long as it can float directly over an opponent’s low attacks and recover faster than they can react to anti-air, it’ll provide a huge offensive boost to your gameplan.

Remember, you aren’t trying to win the match with hopkicks alone. Never get caught up in overusing them to the point of becoming predictable, abandoning your gameplan, or forgetting other effective tools in your arsenal. Utilize hopkicks just enough to discourage an opponent’s best counterattack options and seize the opportunity to expand your offensive scope.

Element 26: What’s the best way to counter hopkicks? In most cases, preventing opponents from establishing that ideal range is the wisest solution. Once they’ve already found it, the safest response is to block and think about what they’re going to do next, then capitalize on your prediction or escape to a superior position. One hopkick by itself won’t cost you the match, but feeling pressured might. Beyond that, it’s up to you to find optimal counters for each matchup. (Protip: Try standing jab – it works against divekicks too!)

This week’s installment highlights assorted tricks of the trade which may help refine your game further. When combined with the basic tools outlined in previous chapters, your characters will become even more elusive at mid-range.

Element 19: Whiff a crouching light attack as bait, then cancel its recovery into an evasive standing light attack. For most characters, the preferred ploy would be chaining c.LK into s.LP because the c.LK’s outstretched vulnerable area will be replaced by the relatively safe s.LP hit box. Any low poke meant to punish the low short will pass harmlessly under a standing jab. Some game engines don’t allow kicks to be chained to punches, in which case c.LK to s.LK is the next best choice – especially if that character’s s.LK narrows their baseline hit box by kicking high with their front leg.

Element 20: Leverage the threat of an effective poke to secure an extra step forward, then use it to set up a throw mixup. Watch ShootingD follow a slow fireball into c.MK range, then hover menacingly over that spot for a moment before advancing to land the throw. It worked because prior rounds had taught his opponent to respect his precision with c.MK and fireball spacing. Of course, the direct counter to that maneuver is simply marching in without hesitation and throwing him first, as Aniken irreverently demonstrates shortly thereafter.

Element 21: After blocking a long-range jump attack, try walking backward instead of low blocking if you expect your opponent to attempt anything fancy. For example, if Ryu tries to catch Guile with a delayed sweep, Guile can walk out of range to make it whiff. Obviously this tactic should be used sparingly because it would make an awful primary strategy. However, it’s a great way for solid defensive characters to frustrate opponents who already have trouble finding a way inside. Walking backward before blocking the jump attack also helps mess with their spacing.

Element 22: Make your opponent block your poke at the exact distance so that their counterpoke will barely whiff from where they end up. If you poke from too far away, they won’t want to push a button. The closer you get to that perfect distance where their counterpoke misses by a pixel, the more enticing that button will seem in their eyes. Doing this well hinges on one crucial secret principle: In most fighting games, crouching makes your character bigger and blocking makes your character bigger. Don’t crouch and don’t block!

Such specialized tricks may not factor into every match you play, but there are literally hundreds of them – if not thousands. Every minor advantage counts towards giving you an edge over the competition. Playing footsies against someone means putting up everything you’ve got against everything they know, so everything counts.