Crouch is a state which crushes highs and can block lows. It can be entered by holding D/B, D, or D/F. Crouch can be used to enter the stances full crouch (FC) and while standing (WS), giving access to new moves and preventing the use of regular, standing moves.
It also prevents sideways movement into the screen
Crouching states and their transitions are not handled through global systems, but directly in character movesets. This for instance creates exceptions with some characters, most notably Master Raven who can access her full standing movelist even when crushing a high (Source: kiloutre Crouching Levels)
Full crouch
Full crouch is a stance entered after holding D/B, D, or D/F for 11 frames. It gives access to moves listed as âwhile crouchingâ in the in-game movelist and FC on Wavu Wiki.
FC d+1, FC d+2, FC d+3, and FC d+4 can be done after holding D/B, D, or D/F for only 6 frames.
When a player is forced into crouch, they recover in this stance.
While standing
While standing is a temporary stance lasting 6 frames after releasing D while in full crouch. It gives access to moves listed as âWhile risingâ in the in-game movelist and WS on Wavu Wiki.
Standing moves cannot be done from while standing, with the exception of moves with u/b, u, or u/f inputs.
Crouch cancel
A crouch cancel is any movement that exits crouch without entering while standing. This is done to access standing moves quickly after recovering in crouch or being forced into crouch.
The generic way to do this is sidestep up (u~n), dash (f~n~f), or backdash (b~n~b). All of these can be done in 1 frame when buffered, but only the sidestep can be fully buffered, so dashes are only used to do moves from those stances.
Some moves that normally recover crouching have a special input to instead recover standing. This sometimes called a crouch cancel. The most common move that can do this is the generic d+1, which can recover crouching with d+1,F.
Crouch levels (CL)
When D/B, D, or D/F is input from standing, there are three different stances involved.
| Standing | |
| Crouch level 1 | |
| Crouch level 2 | |
| Crouch level 3 |
- Level 1 (CL 1) will perform standing attacks, so this is still in the standing âstanceâ, but it will crush high moves. This can be used to include 1-5 frame window of high crush into standing attacks with a down direction input holding d/b / d / d/f input for said amount of frames (e.g. hold d/f 1-5f +1 for delayed d/f+1 with high crush).
- Level 1.5 (CL 1.5) is caused by ducking under an active, non-unblockable high move during the frames 1-11 within a distance of approximately 2 in-game range indicator units. You will exit CL 1.5 after the opponent's high move's active frames are over and 3 frames have passed after the last active frame.
- Level 2 (CL 2) will perform half crouch attacks with no additional inputs (e.g. FC d+3), and will perform while standing attacks if D is released
- Level 3 (CL 3) will perform all crouch attacks, i.e., full crouch and half crouch.
If D is held for 6 frames, while standing attacks must be input exactly as D is released. For every extra frame D is held, an extra frame of n is allowed.
| While standing |
Strictly speaking, it's not accurate to think of while standing as a distinct stance from crouch. Rather, while standing moves are performed from crouch level 2 or 3 with D released and the crouch stance lingering. At crouch level 2, it lingers for as long as level 2 has been entered for. At level 3, it lingers for 6 frames.
If D is pressed during this lingering, crouch is re-entered faster the less lingering there was. So the lingering can be thought of as unwinding the crouch stance, which takes longer the deeper into crouch you are.
In all cases, the stance (which moves you can use) is distinct from the state (whether highs are being crushed and lows blocked). The state is decided entirely by whether or not D is held.
Crushing highs
â This section needs clarification
Crushing highs speeds up the transition through the crouch levels and does weird stuff sometimes.
Instant while standing
Instant while standing (iWS) describes a broad range of techniques for performing while standing moves from standing as quickly as possible.
The universal technique to do this is holding D for 6 frames, then releasing it and pressing the attack button on the same frame. Contrary to popular belief, doing any other input (such as a half circle or quarter circle motion) does not make this any faster, but it can help with the timing.
Many characters have crouch dashes which can access while standing moves faster than the universal method, or at the same or similar speed but with added movement.
Frame-by-frame comparisons:
- 2 added frames. d,f,n: Feng, Nina, Leo, Lili, Paul; b+3+4,db,n: Steve; d,f,f: Eddy.
- 3 added frames. d,d/f,f: Feng, Paul.
- 4 added frames. f,n,d,d/f,n: Armor King, Bob,Devil Jin, Heihachi, Hwoarang, Jin, Kazuya. d,d/f,b,n: Dragunov.
- 6 added frames. Others.
Instant full crouch
Instant full crouch (iFC) describes performing non-generic full crouch moves from standing as quickly as possible.
The universal technique to do this is holding D/B, D, or D/F for 11 frames and then doing the attack. If the direction held overlaps with the directions of the FC move itself, after holding for 31f you will get the FC input - e.g. Geese FC d/f+1 versus FC 1 after 31f of hold.
Notable exceptions are:
- Marduk iFC through his Vale Tudo Stance (VTS) with only 1 added frame at fastest execution or 2 if there is an overlapping VTS move requiring you to cancel the stance with d/b before the FC move - e.g. 3+4,(d/b) <FC move>
- Jack-7 can access FC d/b+1 with only 6 added frames of holding D/B
- Yoshimitsu can access FC d/f+4 with only 6 added frames of holding D/F
- Eddy can access FC 1+2 with only 6 added frames
- Nina can access FC d/f+4 with d,df,D/F+4 with only 8 added frames
External links and sources
- Video on iWS, Crouch Level & Input Buffering by kilo
- Continuation video on Crouch Levels and the Maven exception by kilo
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| Concepts |
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| Miscellaneous |