Yosuke
Swatting a mosqito with an axe
Combo notes
Health: 8,500
Fuzzy target
Midscreen SB combo doesn’t work normally on him - keep him as low as possible before spike hits, with dash 5A and late sweeps, otherwise must end with sweep immediately after [5B]
Unique responses and punishes
5D/j.D
2B to take the card, then jump cancel. Can use other buttons if preferred, but 2B works best in most cases. Also j.D is head attribute, so you can 2B quite late if you need to.
5A/2A stagger
Due to speed difference, you need to either grab, IB into a trade, or backdash
DP
Rising j.A into falling j.B to trigger and punish Normally, just don't attack then 2B. Frame perfect safejumps can beat it too (whiff air throw > j.B to time this) Can be outranged by 5C, confirm with sweep.
Kunai
A/B can be rolled, and punished with dash 5A if close enough You will be negative if you roll SB version (total 35f, roll is 33f plus reaction time)
Tentarafoo
DP if close enough Jump towards and punish (only hits the ground)
Garudyne
If he has meter, unpunishable (expect OMC 2A). If he doesn't, block until the end and then run up 2B. SB version you can super/IK back as he has no control.
Sukukaja
Technically, C version is punishable if you press 5A on flash. D version is very punishable with 42f after flash. SB version has 0 recovery frames.
Woo
Block low: On C version, if you were close, block then punish with 5A , otherwise punish the whiff (FC 5A)
You have to hit it earlier than you think you need to - once he lands he only has 5f recovery for all versions. SB version is effectively unpunishable unless you were stood right next to him, in which case it is -10, but even slightly further than that and you risk getting DP'd.
Overview and tips
Dustloop page here
This... is a pretty big disaster. Yosuke has everything you don't want to see - a great 2B, the best stagger in the game, great frame data and movement a DP that beats safe jumps, heck even a better j.B than yours in most scenarios. Pretty much the only saving grace is that his health is lower and he's a fuzzy target, so you really need to be on point here.
Due to how much better his normals and movement are in neutral, what you're looking to do is call out his movement in and swat him as he goes to attack. Often, this will be by covering space with j.B or j.C as he comes in - inherently risky but you don't really have a choice. It is very important to stay on the ground when at range, as Labrys does very poorly in general air to air skirmishes, and you need to be ready to deal with any D buttons Yosuke presses (free card for you if he presses 5D/j.D).
In terms of pressure - Lab suffers due to how good Yosuke DP is, although note it can be beaten in three ways - triggering it while going above/behind him, triggering it while out of range (e.g. via 5C), or baiting it fully by not attacking. try and figure out which works best against the Youske you're facing.
To deal with Yosuke pressure... well you can't really. All his buttons are faster than yours by a good amount, to the point where he can easily do infinite loops or jail you if you try to leave the ground. It's pretty much a matter or making them bored enough to try something unsafe, or maybe attempting a grab.
Some final quirks that you'll notice in Yosuke players that you can exploit:
They will often throw kunai in response to you attempting orb/spear in neutral, this is a chance to roll and punish
If you don't set off his DP, or set it off but fail to punish, another DP will usually follow, so wait for the 2nd one to end if you fail to punish the 1st.
If you're within frenzy kill range, expect tentarafoo/throws more often
Main adjustments to make
Orb is kinda meh here - he has enough air options to just exist above it, and it also gives him a good DP target to guarantee setting it off. He's also fast enough to just destroy it on reaction. Use sparingly.
You cannot normally safejump Yosuke (unless you're frame perfect, which tends to happen on CH DP setup only. There is a whiff throw > j.B setup, but that's tight, and punishing it on block is hard due to no hitstop. Go for ranged stuff or rising/crossup options instead.
Your DP is pretty bad here due to how good his stagger is - pretty much only use this against 5C/2C. Expect his DP often, and be ready with a full 2B punish if you ever bait it.
All your oki options are worse due to his DP working against all of them, so try and be out of the way through rising or crossup options used alongside your normal oki options.
j.B remains your only decent midrange button - but Youske has a bigger faster one. Still has an important use in neutral, including via crossups and while retreating to cover space.
Chain knuckle does very little here, as it gets blocked during his 5C/2C, and it's rare he's running at you on the ground for long enough for chain to matter. Worth to catch some retreating options sometimes (like IABD j.D).
He has one of the best meterless gears punishes on reaction (very easy route, simple to do), so use with caution. Beware of him having meter to IK too - he's very light on meter usage so this is a major threat.
j.D can make space if he stays low, but you will lose a card to kunai if he doesn't run into it. Basically too slow for the MU.
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