Crouch is a state which crushes highs and can block lows. It can be entered by holding D/B, D, or D/F (henceforth, just D). Crouch can be thought of as a stance, giving access to new moves (full crouch and while standing), and preventing the use of regular, standing moves.
Crouch levels
When D is input from standing, there are three different states of the transition to full crouch. All of these states crush highs and can block lows, but they differ in what attacks can be done from them.
| Standing | |
| Crouch level 1 | |
| Crouch level 2 | |
| Crouch level 3 |
- Level 1 will perform standing attacks
- Level 2 will perform basic crouch attacks (e.g. FC d+3), and will perform while standing attacks if D is released
- Level 3 will perform all crouch attacks, and is usually called full 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 its own state. Rather, while standing moves are performed from crouch with D released and the crouch 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.
During this lingering, guard acts as though it were standing (so highs and mids are blocked).
Most critically, if D is pressed during this lingering, crouch is re-entered faster the less lingering there was.
Crushing highs
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.