Gead's sakura guide

Hello, and welcome to Gead813's first guide:Sakura. I hope this guide will help you realize Sakura's full potential.I want to thank Cinik and Mako Shark for
making their Suigetsu and Pain guides as I used them as examples for my guide. I also want to thank DJ for creating Arashi and giving me a place to post this.
4life and Shadow and Towerworld also helped me test stuff so thanks to them to...and lastly thanks to glenn for some corrections in the guide...but enough of these thank yous, it's time for the guide ^_^


A) Pros and cons
B) Attacks - combos, grab, tilt, u1, and u2
C) Items - items and kunai
D) Awakening
E) Supports
F) Advanced combos and strategies
G) final thoughts



A) Pros and cons

Pros:
- Tilt and grab cause SB
- Up item can restore awakening
- U1 can be used in mid-air and has little end lag
- U2 can punish certain u1's
- good air combo
- you can easily grab and u1 after sb.
- can be unpredictable
Cons:
- Very difficult to u2 after sb
- awakening is basic
- u2 can't punish cDashes
- if the last hit of the air combo is subbed in particular, you can be punished.
- u1 can be punished if blocked


B) Attacks



Combos - For most, if not all characters, combo's are things people stay away from. But there are times where use combos for fun. Combos should only be used in a friendly game, where the goal isn't all about winning; When the goal is to have fun. In a serious game, combos could also be used when the enemy doesn't have the chakra to substitute and punish. This combo information ignores the hit you get for cDashing.


reg combo - does 8 hits and leaves the opponent on the ground. You can follow up with an Item or kunai and other than the up combo, it does the least amount of damage..if you don't count the air combo you can do after the up combo. This is the only combo you should stay away Use this combo if you are to lazy to hold the analog stick in any direction.

up combo - does 7 hits and leaves the opponent in the air. You can follow this up with a air dash which leads into a u1 or air combo. If they don't tech after the combo, you can also wait until you hit the ground and grab them as they fall. Alone, this combo is the worst, but paired up with an air dash or grab, it is the best of the combos. Use this combo regularly over the others

side combo - does 9 hits and cause sb. This combo does the most damage along with the down combo. It is also worth noting that this combo has a cinema at the end that works against most awakenings. the only awakenings it doesn't work against are the ones that keeps the person in place after being hit by something that should have sent them flying. Examples of the awakenings that stay in place are Itachi's and Jugo's awakening. Use this combo against awakenings, or if u want sb and can't get the timing for up combo into grab right.

down combo - does 7 hits and leaves the opponent on the ground. This combo does the most damage along with the side combo. This combo is the hardest to sub. Use it if u need to guarantee damage, like when the timer is running out.

air combo - does 3 hits and leaves the opponent on the ground. The air combo is above average as it only has 3 hits to complete, although if the last hit has a lot of end lag, allowing your opponent to punish you....not much else to say...

Grab - does 3 hits and cause sb. It has a little bit of start-up lag and just a little less of ending lag. It is also moderately easy to grab after sb. It's good
at punishing but isn't the fastest, so only use if when you on it'll connect or after sb. To grab after sb you must run up to the enemy a bit.

Tilt - Sakura's tilt has Sakura charge at the opponent and then punch them. It does 4-11 hits depending on when you have sakura do the punch. the punch causes sb.there is a lot of ending lag after the punch though, making it impossible to lead up with anything other than a u3, although u have to be fast with the u3. the tilt is similar to Choji's tilt as he also charges and punches. Sakura is faster though. Luckily you can replace the punch with an air dash, kunai, cKunai, or u1. this tilt is VERY fast with no starting lag whatsoever. You get your first hit faster than a rasengan charge. This makes Sakura's tilt one of the best punishers that doesn't require chakra in the game! Not only that, but the only hits subable are the first and last hits. Although the tilt seems awesome, there are some flaws.
First off, if u try the tilt after sb, it'll do the damage as Sakura charges but the enemy won't come along for the ride. Also if the enemy guards, after 2 or 3
hits, you'll start charging right past the opponent, allowing them to punisher you. Luckily if they guard and you tilt, you can air dash to stop the punishment,
but some punishments will not be stopped, like rasengan. If they also guard the air dash, you can then u1 for one last surprise.

U1 - "Cherry Blossom Clash" is Sakura's u1. Sakura pauses for a moment, then leaps towards the opponent and punches the ground. If it connects, it leaves the opponent in the air, allowing you to air dash, or while he's falling, combo, grab, or u3. Sakura's u1 can be activated in mid air, and if you it in the MIDDLE of a ninja run,it counts as it being in mid air. If you use it on the ground, it'll have higher priority than kunai and cKunai. If you use it in mid-air, it has less start-up lag... or you could just say faster. It is very similar to Tsunade's U1, but Sakura's has more range while Tsunade's mid-air u1 is faster than Sakura's mid-air U1.

U2- This is called "Full Blossom: Cherry Blossom Clash".First, sakura runs forwards a bit, then she pauses a bit, runs again and punches. If the punch connects, the u2 connects. This U2 is Very underrated. First off, ALL parts of the u2 have higher priority than running and combo u1's, like Naruto's rasengan barrage, or Hidan's u1.Because of this, If you see Minato or Naruto come charging at you with a rasengan and there is enough time to press the buttons, you can punish with a u2. While your u2-Ing, the enemy will happily run in place with a rasengan,, waiting for you to finish you u2. Sadly, ranged u1's have higher priority than the u2. u1's like fire ball with just knock you away. It is also very difficult to U2 after Sb... at first, I though it was impossible but there is a way...Right after Sb Start running back, and right before the peak of the bounce, activate the u2. It takes some time to practice, and you could always use the storm combo. Just activate the U2 right when something like a fireball that cause Sb hits the opponent. your bud will then strike the enemy back right into your U2. Also noobs might think that the charge was the U2 and might drop the guard before she does the punch. This happened to me three times so far, but i don't suggest trying it unless if you want to produce lols for them sucking ^_^



C) Items

Kunai - 3 regular kunai while in place and 6 while moving. Nothing to see here folks.

cKunai - 8 blue kunai. you've seen this before...hopefully...

Items - The right item is 2 explosive tags that cause SB. The bottom item is guard break, The left item is a tag that lowers defense, and the up Item gets rid of your most recent bad trait, like defense down or poison. The little purple icon trait also counts as this, so using the up item after awakening will get rid of this trait and restore awakening!



D) Awakening - Sakura's awakening is one of the 4 misleading awakenings, like Kakashi (look at awakened face picture) Hidan (i wonder...) and Kabuto (look closely at the hands...). Sakura's hands glow blue and leave little blue trails behind but that's pretty much it... other than the basic awakening stat increase.( more attack and defense, less chakra required for u1) Lasts around 15 counts. Try breaking the guard with cKunai, or just weakening it and then use u1 or grab...or tilt *gasps*

E) Supports - Lets me start by showing you the special supports...
Chiyo - Powerful Tag Team
Tsunade - Monster Strength
Ino - Rivals in Love
Naruto, SM Naruto, Sasuke, TS Sasuke, Kakashi - Team Seven
Naruto, SM Naruto, Kakashi, MUST HAVE-> Sai or Yamato - New Team Kakashi
Ino and Karin - Aiming for Sasuke
2 Leaf Chunin - Leaf Chunin (-_____-)
2 Random leaf Shinobi Ranked Chunin and below (including Neji, Sasuke, and Sai) - Leaf Peers

I suggest Getting at least one on Attack for sb and the other on any of the three. If you do 2 attack, you can grab > Sb > grab > sb > grab


F) Advanced combos and strategies - Here's a list of some "homemade" combos and strategies you can use with Sakura. When i say tilt, i mean just the charge part...and i assume you have SB available

Infinite combo - This takes some practice. First start by tilting and then air dashing. Then right when you land tilt again...then air dash tilt > air dash > tilt
and so on and so forth. The only thing the enemy can sub is the air dash and first hit of the tilt. if they sub the air dash, you can u1 and catch them by surprise.
If they don't have chakra or supports, this combo can be VERY deadly.
tilt > air dash > tilt > air dash > tilt...

Cherry Blossom grab combo - This works much better with Tsunade support and 2 attacks. First jump in the air and use Tsunade support, then immediately use u1. If you don't have Tsunade support then just u1, then air dash and use u1, then use do it again...then while they are falling again, grab them and it will lead to SB, then grab them again and then it'll lead to another sb if you have 2 attacks. chances are, you'll gain the ability to u3 and all chakra, so end it with a u3. if not, then either grab again, or jump up and use your 2nd support if it can go in mid-air (Pain, and Itachi for examples) if the combo is done completely, it's basically an auto win...especially if you get them with a def down b4 hand. This takes A LOT of practice
Tsunade support > u1 > air dash > u1 > air dash > u1 > grab > sb > grab > sb > grab/other support/air combo/u3, 2 bars health down if it's u3( AUTO WIN )

Grab combo - grab > sb > grab > sb > grab

UP cherry blossom grab combo - Just do the Cherry Blossom Grab Combo but move the Tsunade support to right b4 2nd u1 and do a up combo b4 everything...followed by air dash
up combo > air dash > u1 > air dash > Tsunade support > air dash > u1 > air dash > u1 > grab > sb > grab > sb > grab/other support/air combo/ u3


G) Final Thoughts - I hope reading this has given you an idea of Sakura. Although you can't just read it and be the best, you got to practice, practice, practice.
Thank you again for taking your time to read this guide, good luck mastering Sakura. ^_^

Holy sh!t dude sorry! I didn't know you posted this guide, I would've dedicated my time for another character anyways this is pretty nice!

lol, it's ok, i posted this an hour ago, there would've been no way u would've known...besides 2 good guides are better than 1 ^_^
if u didn't get the message...u got a good guide

lol its funny tht 2 were posted on the same day but they both hav nice info so its not tht bad

not only a day, but less than a hour apart. lawl

updated some information... thanks glenn ^_^