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While Yang’s normals are fairly good, zoning is not his forte. The ranges on his normals (cancelable or otherwise) are somewhat stubby, so getting into a poking fight with certain characters can be costly. This in no way means that his normals are useless, but rather they are much more powerful up close, exactly where he (and you) want to be. However, there will be times where it’s more profitable to play a patient game, and thus knowing what your normals are capable of is a must.
My draft for this article has gotten incredibly long, so I’m going to break part 2 into two separate sections. The first will have a breakdown of his normals, and the second will have the command normals, specials, ultras and a list of combos.
Punches
Jabs – Both crouching and standing jabs are extremely useful. Both have 4-frame startup and link into crouching forward, which is important because that allows for the possibility of a Senktyuutai ender. The jabs are also useful in that you can easily hit confirm off 2-3 of them, allowing you to either finish the combo or try something else if the opponent is blocking. Jabs can also be rapid-fired, which jails the opponent on block, and in turn allows them to be used for option selects.
Many characters cannot duck stand jab, which allows you to get in their face and throw out jabs while you walk forward, locking them down (to a certain extent). Add the fact that stand jab has pretty good range, you’re able to get at least like 3 walk up jabs before it becomes a little dangerous to do so. Something to note is that walking up with stand jab over and over can make an opponent jumpy, and if they try to tech a possible throw, they’ll eat a counter-hit stand strong instead. Use that to your advantage and abuse the normal. As a bonus, you’re able to link Ultra 1 from a hit stand jab (s.jab is +8 on hit, Ultra 1 has 8 frame startup), though the window is tight to land it.
Strongs – Unlike 3rd Strike, Yang’s close strong in AE isn’t the preferred punishment normal. It actually does less damage than both close fierce and crouching forward, and the activation range (where close strong instead of far strong would happen) isn’t that great either, which asks the question: why would I use this normal at all? Well, close strong links into low forward (1 frame link, p-linking makes it easier), which makes it slightly more damaging than close fierce, though I don’t personally believe the damage increase is worth all that much for trying a 1 frame link (I’m a big fan of keeping things simple).
On the upside, his strongest ground B&B (c.jab -> cl.strong -> c.forward) is pretty much two counter-hit setups in one combo, meaning a mashing opponent is going to get caught by something if you lag the normals slightly (unless that something is an uppercut, which is bound to happen). Also, if you get a counter-hit cl.strong, you can link Ultra 1 (tight window, not really that great). Far strong seems a bit useless to me – while you can go straight into the punch chain, the normal itself isn’t very noteworthy. I’ve also not found a use for low strong so far other than Seiei Enbu, seeing as it can’t be canceled into anything, and doesn’t provide any significant results when it actually does connect.
Fierces – Yang’s far fierce is a decent anti-air against certain far away jump-ins, albeit a little slow for that role. On the ground far fierce is a pretty good poke, comes out somewhat fast for punishment situations, but retracts slow, making it a little risky to miss. It has a little less range than stand roundhouse, but the recovery seems to be better. Close fierce is his strongest cancelable normal, meaning this should be used in most punishment situations unless there’s need for something else. Cl. fierce activates after command grab, meaning cl.fierce xx slashes/Senkyuutai is possible.
Jump fierce is the preferred jump-in due to the angle it points at. It does the same damage as J.RH but, because of the angle, it does not miss opponents whose hitboxes are too low. Jump back fierce is also nice to use; it beats certain jump ins and also will stuff divekicks done too close to him when it activates. Neutral jump fierce is good too – it hits pretty far in front of him, making it a decent air-to-air, albeit a little slow on the start up.
Kicks
Shorts – Yang’s shorts are, without a doubt, some of the more ridiculous normals I have seen in Street Fighter. Low short links into itself, allowing it to be hit-confirmed as well as going under a ton of things in the game. It’s incredible. Low short goes under C.Vipers burn kicks, under her fierce Thunder Knuckle (her uppercut), Balrog’s EX dash straight [one short only], Tiger Knee, many jump-ins, and the list is still not complete. Low short allows you to just walk up and throw the move out against certain characters on their wakeup and they will simply have to take it, which is a huge deal in Street Fighter.
Stand short is just as insane. With the same startup (both have 3 frame startup), excellent range for a stand short, and the ability to cancel into slashes, Yang is able to punish things that many characters can’t. Examples include blocked Balrog jab dash punch, Fei Long Rekkas (as long as they’re close enough), Yun’s punch chain when it’s stopped at two hits (this is HUGE, normally this string is 'safe', so Yun can usually throw it out with impunity), and the list goes on. Footsie-wise, it’s great. It comes out fast, retracts fast, and can be canceled into slashes. In neutral situations, stand short is what you would want to use. In fact, in many situations you’d want to use stand short. When in doubt, stand short xx slashes.
Forwards - Low forward, while being his main punisher normal for whiffed attacks, is pretty stubby. I’ve compared it to Yang in 3s, and it is definitely not as far-reaching. Be that as it may, it’s fairly fast and has the best reach of all his cancelable normals. It even goes under certain attacks (like crouching short, but not as reliable). But as I stated, the range will do less than impress you. There have been several instances where someone whiffs a random DP relatively close by, and low forward whiffs right in front of them. Far forward is also a good tool to stop people from jumping or dashing in, as it comes out quick and reaches far, but it’s less useful on the ground, as it does not hit crouching opponents. Close forward is his launcher.
In my opinion, not enough people talk about - or use, for that matter - close forward enough. It’s -2 on block, meaning very few things can actually punish you for using it, so you can just kind of randomly throw it out. It leads into a lot of things, especially since it is the main meterless way to land an ultra. Jumping forward is Yang’s crossup. Very reliable, certain setups allow you to make it pretty ambiguous and still have it lead into a combo. If an opponent tries dashing under you as you neutral jump, coming down with jumping forward covers both sides, leaving very little guessing for you to do. Since jumping forward can turn into a two-hit air chain (usually as you jump forward, but can also be done as you jump back I believe), you can land combos on people attempting to focus your jump in, though certain focus attacks (like Chun) oftentimes makes the second hit whiff if the first hit wasn’t done early enough (I’ve seen the attack go straight through Chun).
Roundhouses – Stand RH is Yang’s longest reaching standing normal. It comes out somewhat slow and retracts slow as well, but is still useful against characters attempting to walk in. It is also decent against far away jump-ins. It’s main use I can see is against the grapplers, seeing as they are big, slow targets. Being a slow, single hit attack, you kind of commit yourself if you try to play footsies with it against faster characters. I’d consider it kind of like of a fireball – if the opponent happens to be jumping, the result is just as bad as if you threw a fireball. Be a little careful with stand RH.
Low RH is Yang’s longest crouching normal. It comes out in 8 frames, sets up an untechable knockdown, and can be linked into from stand jab. Low RH is nice in the fact that if you can tag the opponent with it at certain distances, safe jumps and ambiguous cross ups become a possibility. A good footsie tool, it catches many people walking back and forth on the ground. It is, however, unsafe when blocked so keep in mind that certain characters can hurt you for it. Jump RH is a good air to air normal, though I haven’t seen anything about its hitbox, but it’s fairly reliable in that role. For actually jumping in, I still believe jump fierce beats it out due to the angle in which fierce is pointed at. Both jump fierce and RH do the same damage, so…
Overall, Yang is not a character with excellent poking normals. I had originally played Chun Li before, so perhaps I’m spoiled. Nonetheless, his range is slightly below average, meaning it is incredibly important to get close to your opponent and stay there, which is exactly where his strengths lie. Get in and stay there. Unless it’s Zangief, of course. In that case just run the hell away.
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