Allen Snider
Brief Overview
Type of Character
Allen is a shotokan style character with a bit of a twist. His solid fireball and Dragon Punch (well, Rising Dragon) and generally good normals are supplemented with relatively easy and damaging loops using his Triple Break super to launch the opponent over and over as long as he has the meter. His command grab and Justice Fist, a super cancellable and high damaging move that's otherwise negative on hit(!) rounds him out and in general is a incredibly solid and accessible character.
Strengths
- His projectile (Soul Force,
236P) and dragon punch (Rising Dragon,623P) allows for solid "Super Turbo" style play by zoning out the opponent with fireballs and catching their jumps with Rising Dragon or his 5HK - Decent chip options with both Soul Force and Fire Force without having to use Gougi such as Berserker
- Can consistently turn confirms into high damage with Triple Break Loops, allowing him to easily cash out damage from his meter
- Has both a dragon punch (Rising Dragon) and his
5HKfor anti airing - Decent normals in general
- Has a great meterless reversal with Rising Dragon
- His fireball game allows him to generate meter in the neutral very well.
Weaknesses
- Somewhat low damage without meter
- No real 100% guaranteed anti-air / air-to-air conversions, attempting to cash in more damage is a risk
- Many of his damaging options are unsafe and often fully punishable if they don't hit or are blocked
- Reversal options are all unsafe or punishable, making them incredibly risky.
5 Minute Guide
(if you don't know what the abbreviations mean, check the notation guide below.)
Take Infinity as your deck, lets you gain 130% meter almost immediately, after doing 10 supers you get a rapidly regenerating super bar
2LK, 2MP, 2MK, 5LK, 5MK are all good buttons to poke with. 236P is a nice fireball.
If someone is jumping in on you, either do 5HK or 623P. You can do 623P as you're getting up if someone is trying to hit you, you'll get combo'd for free if it's blocked.
For combos, start off with light kicks or punches, move up to medium kicks or punches and then to hard kicks or punches. Easiest and most reliable one is 2LK > 2MK > 2HK.
If your combo lands, as long as you haven't done 2HK yet you can do 6MK and then immediately do 236236P to get a fireball super. This'll deal about 20% of their health in damage.
If you do 236236K instead of 236236P in combos, you can catch the opponent on the way down with 421P and immediately do 236236K again. You can do this over and over as long as you have the meter. When you've done your last 236236K do 623P instead of 421P so that they can't hit you while Allen keeps posing.
A good sample block string would be 2LK > 2MK > 236P. If this hits, cancel into 236236P OR 236236K into Triple Break Loop.
Recommended Decks
Infinity
- Solid and easy to activate Blue Gougi and extremely powerful Yellow Gougi makes this deck a no-brainer pick.
- Allen really wants meter for his damage, which Infinity provides almost immediately with its 3 Meter Ups
- Guard Cancel is generally solid anyway, but Allen has both a strong combo starter with Justice Fist and a reversal with Rising Dragon to punish people's blockstrings and pressure
- Rage is a very nice bonus, allowing Allen to consistently get full Triple Break Loops in the later rounds.
Aggro
- Very solid Blue Gougi and 2 fairly easy to Trigger Yellow Gougi means this Deck cashes out very quickly.
- Chip Up is a difficult Blue Gougi to Trigger quickly, but has a solid effect. It will increase the chip of Soul Force by 50% and increase Fire Force's chip by 100%.
- Grab Up is very handy as Allen relies more than usual on his normal throw to open opponents up.
- Erase Blow is not immediately useful as he can already deal with projectiles normally, but is good against Doctrine Dark's EX-Plosive.
- Illusion is a very handy automatic escape from highly damaging combos, which mitigates dropping combos or being overzealous with Rising Dragon.
- Rampage is a big buff to Allen's damage, and Allen can play aggressively and use Soul Force to keep the Rampage stacks topped up.
Nightmare
- Has the easiest Blue Gougi in the game to Trigger with 2 solid Yellow Gougi, Soul Drain unfortunately being very difficult to Trigger.
- Speed Up makes Allen's approach even better - Ghost is both easy to Trigger with Allen's fireball game and extended combos (such as his Triple Break Loop) and exceptionally powerful, allowing Allen to approach and mix up the opponent while being completely invisible
- Energy Drain is a very solid Yellow Gougi, getting Allen his meter. Also very easy to Trigger given that Allen's 2HK is safe and special cancellable, allowing him to easily end meterless combos in a knockdown.
- Soul Drain is very much a Round 5 Gougi but does have a powerful Effect that stacks with his Energy Drain.
Move Analysis
Notation
This guide uses Numpad notation. That means that directions correspond to the numbers on your keyboard numpad (ie. 6 is right, 4 is left, 8 s up, 2 is down). 5 means no direction held. For example, the classic Hadoken quartercircle motion would look like 236, the classic Tatsumaki/Hurricane Kick motion is 214 and the classic Shoryuken motion is 623.
| Notation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| LP | Light Punch |
| MP | Medium Punch |
| HP | Heavy Punch |
| LK | Light Kick |
| MK | Medium Kick |
| HK | Heavy Kick |
| MP+MK | Press both MP and MK at the same time. |
For the special and super moves listed later on, the first input is the classic input, the second is the progressive input.
Cancel means you can do something else as soon as your first move hits IE. 2MK on hit can go straight into a special move if you input the special move as 2MK would hit. Special Cancel means you can cancel into Special Moves and Super Cancel means you can cancel into Super Moves.
Link means you have to let the move finish first before you can do another move. An example is 2MP into 2MK where 2MP has to completely start up, hit and recover before the 2MK can come out.
Lows are moves that have to be blocked crouching. Most crouching kicks hit low.
Mids are moves that can blocked either crouching or standing. Almost all standing moves, special moves, supers and crouching punches hit mid.
Highs/overheads are moves that must be blocked standing. Most jumping attacks and all Hard Attacks (MP + MK) hit high/overhead.
FEXL runs at 60 frames per second, so 1 frame is a 60th of a second. 2 frames would be 1/30th etc.
Startup means how long it takes for the move to actually hit.
Active means how long the move will actually hit for before recovering. The more active frames the better as a rule.
S.blo stands for standing block. In this case, it shows the difference in time between you recovering from your attack and the opponent recovering from blocking your attack. If it's 0, you both recover and can act at the same time. If it's -1 or lower, the opponent recovers faster and can act before you. If it's 1 or higher, you recover faster and can act before the opponent.
C.blo is similar but when the opponent crouch blocks instead.
Normal Moves
| Normal | Description | Startup | Active | S.blo | C.blo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5LP | Allen's fastest normal with somewhat decent range, whiffs on crouchers Special Cancels. | 4 | 2 | -5 | -1 |
| 5MP | A fairly mediocre mid, 2MP is preferred. Allen's only standing punch that doesn't whiff on crouchers. Is a decent meaty given its active frames. Special Cancels. | 6 | 6 | -5 | -1 |
| 5HP | A stubby mid that whiffs on crouchers from further away, not worth using in neutral. Special Cancels. Stick to 5HK for anti-airing. Super Cancels. | 13 | 3 | -2 | 0 |
| 5LK | Nice and quick long reaching normal, sadly doesn't hit low despite its animation. Special Cancels. | 5 | 6 | -8 | -4 |
| 5MK | Another long range normal, thankfully doesn't whiff on crouchers, making it decent for blockstrings. Special Cancels. | 7 | 6 | -12 | -8 |
| 5HK | Allen's dedicated anti-air button. This one works better for catching people jumping in far away, as its angle is pretty poor for people jumping right on top of you (Use Rising Dragon instead for that). Super cancellable, so is a decent way of starting Triple Break Loops. Whiffs on crouchers. | 8 | 8 | -3 | -1 |
| 2LP | Good jab with long range that's only 1 frame slower than 5LP, decent for tick throws. Special Cancels. | 5 | 5 | -4 | -0 |
| 2MP | Solid mid hitting normal, links into itself with dashing momentum and into 2MK as well. Special Cancels. | 6 | 6 | -4 | 0 |
| 2HP | An okay mid hitting punch, 2HK's long range makes it better for blockstrings. Sees more use for Allen's frame traps. Super Cancels | 8 | 6 | -5 | -2 |
| 2LK | Very fast long ranged kick that hits low, solid button in general. Special Cancels. | 5 | 6 | Hits Low | -2 |
| 2MK | Like 2LK but slightly longer, another solid button and can be used like any Street Fighter shoto's 2MK to catch opponents dashing in. Special Cancels. | 6 | 5 | Hits Low | -3 |
| 2HK | Allen's sweep, excellent range, low profile and fantastic frame data makes it great for ending block strings and dodging high attacks/fireballs. Special and Super Cancels, but as it knocks down on hit it can't be used to continue combos. | 7 | ? | Hits Low | -2 |
| j.LP | Downward reaching jab, not particularly useful. | 4 | ? | ? | Hits Overhead |
| j.MP | Similar to j.LP but slower, just use j.HP for the same normal but better. | 5 | ? | 13 | Hits Overhead |
| j.HP | Probably the best jumping punch he has. However, his kick aerials are stronger in any case. | 5 | ? | 13 | Hits Overhead |
| j.LK | A downward kick, just use j.MK instead. | 5 | ? | 5 | Hits Overhead |
| j.MK | Allen's best general aerial, faster than j.LK for some reason and can also cross up on opponents. Stick to this one for your jump ins. | 4 | ? | 13 | Hits Overhead |
| j.HK | Decent air to air and deals a solid chunk of damage, use this when your opponent is a bit too jump happy. | 8 | ? | 13 | Hits Overhead |
Command Normals
| Command Normal | Description | Startup | S.blo | C.blo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6MK | Can be chained into from any normal, Super Cancelable only. The slow startup and poor frame advantage means this should only be used in strings that have already hit. Will actually get over most `2LKs` and `2MKs`. Still, it's a great way of getting into Triple Break from a confirmed string. Has a good niche against D.Dark's EX-Prominence as it'll easily move past its hitbox. | 17 | -12 | -8 |
| MP+MK (Hard Attack) | Allen's universal overhead, should mainly be used to catch people trying to block Allen's many good lows and should be always be super cancelled as it is actually - on hit! Still, fairly decent to throw out once in a while. While Allen jumps, its speed and actual hurtbox makes it pretty poor for getting over low normals. | 32 | -34 | -4 |
Specials
| Special Move | Description | Startup | S.blo | C.blo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soul Force (236P/6P) | A regular fireball that travels the length of the screen, the strength of the punch controls the speed of the fireball. Super cancels which allows for confirms into Fire Force or even start a Triple Break Loops. Generally safe at long ranges but be wary of using it in blockstrings, as upclose it is outright punishable on block. Soul Force has decent pushback midscreen but will not pushback in the corner. | 13/-14/-11 | 13/-14/-11 | 13/-14/-11 |
| Rising Dragon (623P/3P) | A rising uppercut that is invulnerable on startup, making it an excellent anti-air and reversal. Massively unsafe on block however with each strength getting progressively worse. The strength of the button determines the height and number of hits of Rising Dragon. Super cancels, Fire force making it less unsafe and Triple Break potentially starting a loop on hit but will be just as unsafe on block. | 5/-18/-16 | 5/-31/-29 | 5/-35/-33 |
| Justice Fist (421P/4P) | An advanced outstretching lunge which deals great damage but is unsafe on hit, never mind on block. Very importantly, it super cancels which makes it excellent as combo filler for Triple Break Loops. The strength of the button determines the length Allen travels. Has a pretty near "clean hit" mechanic, where hitting with the tip of the fist deals more damage (29 damage to 34), builds slightly more meter and sets the opponent aflame (cosmetic only, no actual effect.) While it does destroy fireballs, it should only be used in combos since it's way too dangerous to miss. Fantastic combo filler, don't use it to end combos if you can help it, especially in the corner. | 15/-79/-75 | 15/-83/-79 | 15/-87/-83 |
| Vaulting Kick (63214K/8K) | An command grab that knocks the opponent to the opposite side of the screen. No difference in button versions. Does slightly more damage than normal grab, but is mainly useful for being untechable. Notably can be Kara Cancelled to increase the range of the command grab. | 3 | Grab | Grab |
Supers
Quick note, in startup framedata (eg. x + y), x means the startup until Super Freeze and Y is the startup for the super to come out afterwards.
| Super | Description | Startup | S.blo | C.blo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Force (236236P/46P) | A super version of Soul Force with 5 hits., deals somewhat low damage but is a much safer cancel than Triple Break and can even cancel into Triple Break. Decent chip option as well. Fairly fast, can potentially be used to beat out other projectiles in a fireball war. Similarly to Soul Force, it becomes much more unsafe in the corner as it relies on pushback to keep you safe. | 4 + 4 | ? | ? |
| Triple Break (236236K/46K) | A triple kick which send the opponent flying up into the air. Low damage but makes it incredibly easy to get juggle combos which can lead into Triple Break again.
It's not difficult to learn practical combos that can lead to using all 3 bars of super on Triple Break. The speed and hitbox of Triple Break also allows for some cheeky conversions, making Allen incredibly explosive.
A sample beginner combo may be 2LK 2MK 6MK Triple Break > Justice Fist > Triple Break > Justice Fist > Triple Break > Rising Dragon.
This super is pretty much purely for combo applications, it has an awful hitbox for anti-airing and a lot of start up. |
6 + 9 | ? | ? |
Gameplan
Neutral
Allen has a selection of decent pokes, with his 5LK, 5MK, 2MP and 2MK being the most useful. These buttons also can easily combo into 2HK or even 6MK into Triple Break or Fire Force, allowing him to cash out damage from his far reaching normals. 2HK by itself is great for its knockdown but is very bad to whiff given its long recovery.
Allen also has a very solid fireball game allowing him to chip the opponent out and zone them. If they attempt to get around it with jumping, his Rising Dragon and 5HK allow him to knock the opponent out of the sky. His LP soul force in particular allows him to both control space and even let him run in very safely.
Allen's fast walk speed and run speed allows him to quickly get ground on the opponent and lets him get his pokes into range.
Offense
Mix-Ups
Allen doesn't have overhead normals or specials apart from MP+MK, so Allen relies on Frame Traps and Tick Throws along with his command grab (especially a to open a turtling opponent. His solid crossup kick also lets him get some left-right mixup on opponents recovering from a knockdown. Allen's solid chip options also means that it is no big loss for his strings to be blocked.
Set-Ups
Vaulting Kick into Fire Force
Simple chip option from fullscreen, sadly you don't get time for much of a runup before the opponent recovers.
Frame-Traps
Any Delayed Chain
As there is always a big window for you to chain one move to a higher strength, essentially any button can become a frame trap by simply delaying the next button just enough to allow a gap for an opponent to press a button that'll then get hit by your delayed button before their move can start up.
The easiest way of practicing this by setting the training dummy to "After First Hit" and Guard All (Standing) or Guard All (Crouching), and setting either 5LP or 2LP in a slot for "Recording Settings (After Guard).
The dummy will try to jab their way out of any gaps and if you've delayed correctly, you'll hit the dummy out of the startup of their jab. 2MP or 2MK are great normals to try and frame trap from.
2MK/2MP > Soul Force
Both these normals unchained have a gap that can be beaten out by 5f startup moves, Soul Foce will catch these normals and as it super cancels can start Triple Break Loops. 5HP works as well, sadly 5HP still whiffs on some characters if they keep blocking while crouched, including Allen himself (Maybe a full list? Definitely works on D. Dark.) Justice Fist actually works if you feel like being a man and/or being at least -79 if you guess wrong.
5LK/2LK > 2HP
A good route to catch people trying to throw through your strings and requires no manual timing. The only downside is that 2HP is -5 on standing block which is potentially punishable by 2LK from most characters which makes it weaker for dash-ins. However, 2LK > 2MK is a safe route that'll also catch someone attempting to stand block after a 2LK and there's always the threat of a delayed Fire Force to catch a potential 2LK punish. It's also possible to tech a throw in the case they attempt that as their punish.
Dash-in 2LK > 5HK
5HK is an alternate ender for the previous route as it's -3 on standing block and if done point blank won't whiff on crouchers. This can still be punished with a throw but Allen can still tech the throw.
Defense
Allen's defensive play is decent. While not to the level of D.Dark, he can control the stage well with use of his Soul Forces and his 5HKs and Rising Dragons to catch people jumping over the Soul Forces. Unlike D.Dark he can't get combos from stray hits across the screen, so his damage output massively drops. If he has a life lead however and time is running out, he's still pretty good at keeping the opponent out and punishing them for poor approaches and/or winning through a timeout.
Reversals
Allen unlike most characters has access to a meterless reversal in his Rising Dragon. Unfortunately, he lacks a super cancel that'll keep him safe if the Rising Dragon is blocked. Ultimately this comes down to knowledge and knowing when it isn't working out for you.
Allen takes a lot of decks with Guard Cancel and Guard Cancel allows him to Justice Fist his way out of pressure, making for an excellent combo starter. Rising Dragon can also work well as a guard cancel special since the invulnerability should let him get out of most followups to a string.
Escapes
Allen doesn't really have any special moves or supers that get him out of trouble. For the most part he needs to run away the old fashioned way or use his Reversals.
Character Specific Techniques
Combos
As per all characters, Allen can chain from a normal to a higher strength normal, either punch or kick. Chains work off cancels, meaning that the button doesn't have to finish its animation and can go immediately to the next normal. When links are mentioned, that means the normal HAS to finish and then you can get the next normal to come out. These tend to be harder. His 6MK chains from every other normal.
Bread And Butter Combos
(Note: Almost all of these strings will work from a j.MK jumpin starter too.)
Universal Strings
2/5LK > 2/5MK > 2HK
A nice, safe and fairly rewarding chain as it scores you a knockdown and works off your standing or crouching kicks.
2/5LK > 2/5MK > (5HK) > 6MK > (Triple Break Loop/ Fire Force)
A slightly more risky string as 6MK is poor on block. If the opponent is definitely standing, feel free to put the 5HK in for the extra damage.
If the 6MK connects, rev up your Triple Break Loop.
Whatever > Triple Break > Justice Fist > Triple Break > Justice Fist > Triple Break > Rising Dragon
A nice and beginner friendly loop. While the individual parts are dangerous to drop, it is fairly easy to pull off regardless.
It's extremely important to not end the combo with Justice Fist if it won't end the round, especially in the corner (and you will be in the corner, as this combo has fantastic corner carry.)
Dash-In combos
2MP > 2MP > 2MK > Soul Force/6MK > (Triple Break Loop/ Fire Force)
The momentum from your dash allows you to link (Not chain, so timing is a lot more strict) a second 2MP which can then link into 2MK.
This is definitely more difficular than your chains and on blocks there's fairly noticeable gaps that the opponent can jab through. Mix it up with cancelling your 2MPs into Soul Force to frame trap them.
A very respectable punish combo against very unsafe moves like Rising Dragons or many blocked supers.
Hit-Confirms
2LK> 2MK > 6MK > Whatever
If 6MK will be blocked, it's better to go into Soul Force or 2HK instead.
Whatever > Soul Force
Soul Force is both a decent blockstring ender and can go into both Fire Force or Triple Break, making it a no-brainer to cancel into from a chain of normals for the most part.
Soul Force becomes way more unsafe in the corner however and so you'll prefer to end corner strings in 2HK.
Anti-Air Conversions
5HK > Triple Break
This allows Allen to potentially deal 50%+ off antiairs using a Triple Break Loop. Annoyingly, this can easily drop off max range 5HK connects, making it pretty risky to confirm.
5HK > Fire Force
A less rewarding but much less unsafe super cancel. Depending on how you hit it, may just deal 1 hit or get the full 5 hits. If you have the spare meter, this is a pretty safe way of squeezing out extra damage.
Make sure you delay it though, as the opponent can still sail over the Fire Force and punish it depending on how the 5HK hits.
Rising Dragon > Triple Break
This is very much on the ballsy side, but allows you to use Rising Dragon to get past jump-ins that beat your 5HK (And there's quite a few, such as Darun's j.HK, Shadowgeist's Shadow Sword Kick and Pullum Purna's Drill Purrus) and get your Triple Break Loop.
Air to Air Conversions
j.MK/HK > Triple Break
Depending on both your height and the opponent's height, you can fairly often get Triple Break to catch them as they fall. As a rule, if you hit them as you're on your way up your jump, you'll probably not land in time for the Triple Break.
j.MK/HK > 5HK > (Triple Break)
5HK will fairly often catch the opponent similarly to Triple Break but way less dangerous if it misses.
j.MK/HK > Justice Fist > Triple Break
Despite how dangerous the Justice Fist is to whiff, it actually works fairly reliably. The HP version of Justice Fist can often go under people and whiff, definitely practice this in training on a jumping opponent to get a feel for it. If you can land this, you can do 50% damage very easily off a basic full Triple Break Loop
Triple Break Loops
This is THE Allen Snider combo. Easily converts from any move that super cancels and repeated as long as you have the meter. Also gives you an opportunity to figure out what Allen is actually shouting (Four Two Kick? Fortune Break?). You can potentially squeeze more damage out by getting clean hits of Justice Fist, but really, it's best to make sure the combo is finished.
Whatever > Triple Break > Justice Fist > Triple Break > Justice Fist > Triple Break > Rising Dragon
As mentioned early, this is the basic Triple Break loop. Will work anywhere on the screen and deal roughly 40% damage.
Whatever > Triple Break > 2MP > 5MK > Justice Fist > Triple Break > Justice Fist > Triple Break > Rising Dragon
A slightly more optimal loop, corner only as 5MK will fall out midscreen. Sneaks in a bit more damage and also builds you more meter. Another corner variant is to do 5MP > 5HP > Justice Fist.
Any of these extensions only work after the first Triple Break, just stick to Justice Fist after the 2nd or third Triple Breaks.
Whatever > Triple Break > 5LK > 5MK > 5HK > (in corner 6MK) > Triple Break > 5LK > 5MK > 5HK > (in corner 6MK) > Triple Break > Rising Dragon
Another potential loop, the trick is to get the 5LK to hit late during the first loop but then do it quicker the second time. Builds a lot of meter, often allowing you to sneak in one more Triple Break than usual.
Resources
VODs
Primers/Tutorials
Allen Snider Primer by Hidden Gem. Somewhat outdated but still very useful.
A small video on further optimizing Triple Break Loop juggles by starrich55.
Tech
Glossary
Kara Cancel
Kara Cancelling (Or "Empty" cancelling) is a fairly old fighting game glitch that lets you start up a move and then almost immediately input a more "difficult" action/move. The input system thinks you've done the simpler move by accident and lets you go straight into your more complicated move. In Allen's case, by Kara Cancelling 2HK and doing Vaulting Kick, you get the movement from the start of 2HK and then grab, teleporting Allen forward surprisingly far. You don't necessarily need to do anything tricky, just do it quickly and you'll see Allen suddenly scoot forward and maybe catch a few frames of the 2HK startup. A input that might work better would be 63K > 214K.
Tick Throw
Tick Throws are generally when you drop strings, often only doing jabs and attempted a delayed grab (do it instantly and the opponent will probably still have throw immunity from blockstun, causing the grab to whiff), catching a blocking opponent who is expecting a string to start or continue.
Sadly, Allen doesn't get to enjoy being + after his jabs, but this is still a very effective way of sneaking in grabs while starting from a string, and it causes the opponent to second-guess blocking strings.