japanese is a stupid language, so some romanizations may be wrong. these are marked with a *.

last update: 10/01/2007 - combos checked and updated for 1.05, minor corrections. yay senna got boosted!

KYOUDOU SENNA

CONS: high damage modifier, loop system/setups can be fairly hard to execute, poor mixup options, very weight-class dependent
PROS: great pokes, fast and mobile, tight pressure, healhax, IS TOHNO AKIHA WITH A SWORD.

COMMAND LIST:

choukaifuku: E (heals around 10% of the health and P gauges, max 3 usages per match)

kibisu geri: 6L, senna hops forward and does a little kick. frametrap.

kare tsubaki: 4/6H, senna does a fake tsubaki that leaves both the petals from tsubaki(L) and the mine from tsubaki(M/H).

ha gaeshi*: j.H after j.H, senna swipes the enemy with her sword while returning it to its sheath.

harukaze: 214L, senna jumps back and slides forward on landing, doing a low hit followed by a high hit. both on landing and after the first hit connects, harukaze can be followed up by...
-> mai: L, senna twirls forward with full-body invincibility.
-> geki*: M/H, senna does 2M or 2H respectively, both of which can be comboed after normally.

nagikaze: 214M, senna hits the opponent up to four times by spinning her coat.

ikifuki*: 214H, senna hits the opponent while drawing her sword, then hits them again while returning it to its sheath. never used by itself, as it can be followed up by...
-> shijuusen: 4H, senna dashes forward while slashing at the opponent's feet, then dashes backwards slashing at them again.
-> ougekka: 6H, senna does a gekka that's pretty much completely untechable.

gekka: 623L/M/H, senna jumps up and draws her sword in a circle resembling a crescent moon, hitting the opponent in the process. the H version leaves behind a faint circle, dealing a second hit and wallbounce to the opponent. if gekka(H) is used twice in a combo, then on the second time, instead of dealing a second hit with wallbounce it will simply knockdown the opponent.

tsubaki: 41236L/M/H, senna slashes the opponent with the following followup effects - L version, the opponent is launched. M version, she lays a mine that detonates after approximately one second. H version, she lays a mine that detonates after approximately three seconds.

nagikaze - ran: 63214B, like nagikaze but more powerful (i.e. more hits). the opponent is also launched at the end.

tsubaki - ran: 41236B, senna launches a projectile that travels fullscreen across the ground. this has ridiculously low recovery, making it an excellent pressure/combo move that's only limited by the fact that senna has no ground overheads T_T.

ouka hishousen: 623B, senna does a three-hit uppercut with the last hit resulting in knockdown. can be followed up by her big bang break,
-> setsugekka*: 623B after the third hit of ouka hishousen. senna slashes the opponent seven times on her way to the ground and lands before the opponent does. as she sheathes her sword, the hits land simultaneously and do massive damage.

terminology:

L: A
M: B
H: C
B: b-gauge ("supers") button
P: p-gauge recharge button
E: enhance
j.L/M/H: jump attack
sj.L/M/H: superjump attack (usually inputted as 29L/M/H)
iad: instant air dash (usually inputted as 966 or 676 or 6956)
(1h): cancel after the first hit of a multi-hit move
(nh): allow n hits to land. if this is not specified for a multi-hit move, maximum hits is the implication.
gekka: 623L/M/H
ougekka: 214H 6H
shijuusen: 214H 4H
tsubaki: 41236L/M/H
nagikaze: 214M
harukaze: 214L
-> mai: L
-> geki: M/H
nagikaze-ran: 63214B
tsubaki-ran: 41236B
ouka hishousen: 623B
-> setsugekka: 623B after the third hit
[x]: x is optional; this may be a weight class dependency or it might just make the combo a lot harder to do for relatively minor gain
[x/y]: x or y may be used as you see fit

some notes on individual moves:

2L: low hit, combo opener.
5L: don't poke with this, you have better.
6L: "kibisu geri". pretty good frametrap. beware that it can be mashed out of, though.
2M: senna's relaunch. jcable
5M: senna's best poke/decent antiair, 5M 5H -> is a common way to open a combo.
2H: low hit, another good long poke and combo opener, 2H 6L ->.
5H: comes out real slow, but is a good antiair. throw it out well in advance of a jumpin.
4/6H: "kare tsubaki". interesting mixup option, but not very useful: recovery is just as long as the real version, so people are still going to just jump out of it.
j.L: jumpin on iad/j.B/etc. pressure strings/mixups. decent airtoair.
j.M: not much to say here; don't use it by itself.
j.H j.H: standard jumpin. j.H can crossup, but not quite as easily as, say, kunagi's j.H. also funky is the crossup on the second j.H that you get if you airdash at just the right height and distance.

gekka: ground 623L starts with a little hop that translates to stupid startup time, so if you want to try reversal dragonpunch, use 623M. ... j.623L 623H/623B is a nice way to end an air combo. 623H/j.623H groundbounces, followed by a delayed wallbounce effect that looks VERY weird but sets up quite nicely to senna's loop system.
ougekka: arguably senna's most important move, senna's loop system revolves around this move in specific.
shijuusen: beautiful move. the third and fourth hits are low and can cross up, and this move floats like no other; it combos to ougekka loop like a breeze.
tsubaki: used in corner loops and funky corner pressure strings. not too hot by itself, as it requires gauge if you want to do ANYTHING after it. it seems to prorate a lot more than it used to, which makes for crappy damage combos.
nagikaze: you'll see it a lot in combo videos as a count-extender, but it prorates quite a bit. pops up every now and then in ougekka loop setups though.
harukaze: one of senna's two primary frametraps. first hit is low and second hit is high; M and H followups are 2M and 2H respectively. L followup involves senna doing a little nagikaze-like twirl that carries full body invincibility that can and will cross up the opponent. it is possible to combo after both 214LM and 214LH, but be warned that there is massive prorate. 214L j.B j.L j.M land etc. is also a very cute looking mixup.
ouka hishousen: another centerpiece of senna's damage, modifying your combo by changing or omitting a move is an important consideration that leads to 3-hit ouka hishousen setups. in general, if you can land the first two hits of ouka hishousen, there's something you could have done differently earlier to land all three hits instead, and the damage from the ending with a 3-hit ouka hishousen is always better than whatever you changed to get to said 3-hit setup. in addition, not only does landing that third hit get you a knockdown, it also opens up the possibility of finishing the opponent off with setsugekka. on a minorly related note, this move is a hilarious desperation wakeup reversal super, especially if you have three gauge to spare...
nagikaze-ran: prorates like crazy. not really worth the gauge; tsubaki-ran is much better.
tsubaki-ran: it is possible to combo into and out of tsubaki-ran without gauge (other than that spent on the move itself, of course), making it great for combos; it's also a decent projectile/pressure move, as you can dash after it and combo.
throw: average throw, I guess? it's possible to combo after it.
E: enhance, heals you by around 1000 hp while simultaneously recovering around the same percentage of P gauge; this move is only useable 3 times max per match.

combos:

notes: all combos listed were performed on rouga, with no extend charge.
all BnBs start with 2L; on jump-in (i.e. j.L j.M or j.H j.H) the initial 2L should be removed from the combo due to probable spacing issues. it's also possible to go into many of these combos by simply poking with 5M.

[FULLSCREEN]

1. 2L 2M 2H 6L 5L 5M 5H gekka(H) 66 5M 5H ougekka 66 (OTG)2L 2M 5H ougekka: 2675(20 hits)
-> ouka hishousen: 3668(23 hits)
--> setsugekka: 5236(30 hits)

basic, fullscreen bnb. works on pretty much everyone, and is also a good example of what senna can do after poking with 2H and hitconfirming with 6L. note that if you delay by the correct amount of time, you can land 3 hits of the ouka hishousen as opposed to 2 hits if you cancel right away, on pretty much all the characters. try doing it as late as possible, in order to get the knockdown as well as open up the possibility of ending with setsugekka.

some people may have trouble dashing in after gekka(H); there's an auditory cue for this. the trick is to listen for the sound of the white circle senna leaves behind in the air hitting the opponent; at this point, it is possible to buffer a dash out of senna's landing recovery frames. the dash is vital to any combo that uses gekka(H) or else senna may be out of range for the final OTG part of a combo; worst case scenario senna may miss the first ougekka entirely.

another point of interest is the 2H 6L; if you gatling too slowly then 6L will actually hit OTG, thus invalidating the last section of the combo. to avoid this, cancel 2H into 6L as fast as possible.

2. 2L [2M/5M] 5H shijuusen 66 2M 5H gekka(H) 66 2M 5H ougekka 66 (OTG)2L 2M 5H ougekka: 3229(22 hits)
-> ouka hishousen: 4129(25 hits)
--> setsugekka: 5681(32 hits)

2M and 5M do the exact same damage, though 5M pushes back more, so in most cases 2M is preferable (in addition, 5M is also not jcable; 2M is). however, 5M does hit higher than 2M, so there are places where 5M must be used instead. just a note that on the first two dashes, it is possible to cross up the opponent while he's falling (thus screwing up your own combo), so try and time those right. also, regarding the first 66 2M, try to time it such that the 2M catches the opponent as low as possible, or else they may be able to tech out of the gekka(H).

note that this is one of the harder 3-hit ouka hishousen setups; those of you who are having trouble landing that third hit should refer to the extra section for help.

3. 2L 5M 5H tsubaki-ran(7h) 66 5M shijuusen 66 2M 5H gekka(H) 66 2M 5H ougekka 66 (OTG)2L 2M ougekka: 4034(29 hits)
-> ouka hishousen: 4542(32 hits)
--> setsugekka: 6048(39 hits)

this is a great combo for the associated gauge cost. if you're getting damage in the 5000 range (not including the follow-up ouka hishousen or setsugekka), you're dropping your combo between the 5H and the tsubaki-ran. try cancelling 5H into tsubaki-ran faster. also, if your spacing is right, if you cancel 5H into tsubaki-ran fast enough, and if your first dash is fast enough, you can land up to 7 hits of tsubaki-ran; chances are, though, you'll only get 6. there's only a minor damage difference, so it's not that big of a deal. with a little bit of practice, however, it's quite easy to consistently get all 7 hits.

[CORNER]

none at the moment. check back later! use combo number 3 for now; I haven't found anything that does better damage yet (tsubaki, tsubaki-ran, nagikaze, and nagikaze-ran, traditional corner rape specials, all prorate too much now). 5 hits of tsubaki-ran land in combo 3 in the corner, and it does 3720(27 hits)/4290(30 hits)/5810(37 hits) damage.

[THROW]

4. throw [B]...
-> (OTG)2L 5M 5H ougekka: 1167(8 hits)
-> (OTG)2L 2M nagikaze(4h) sj.L j.M j.H gekka(L)...
--> gekka(M): 1704(13 hits)
--> ouka hishousen: 2619(15 hits)
---> setsugekka: 4234(22 hits)

if you're not in the corner, the [B] is required to combo after your throw. refer to combo 6 for notes regarding the nagikaze(4h) followups.

[OKIZEME]

5. 2L 2M...
-> 66 throw
-> 2H 6L...
-> iad j.H...
--> j.H land 2L 2M...
--> j.H land 66 throw
--> j.B j.L j.M...
-> [2H/5H] harukaze...
--> standard harukaze options (see 7.)
-> 2B j.H j.H...
-> j.B j.L j.H...
-> B 2L...

I could keep on going and going. make up your own oki chains and tick throw setups, it's not that hard. final variant, the "senna 50/50 mixup", courtesy of this video. go check it out.

[EXTRA]

6. ... (OTG)2L 2M nagikaze(4h) sj.L j.M j.H gekka(L): varies (10 hits)
-> ouka hishousen: varies (13 hits)
--> setsugekka: varies (20 hits)
-> gekka(M): varies (11 hits)

use this on the final rep of any combo if you're having trouble landing 3-hit ouka hishousen off ougekka. you can also replace the ouka hishousen with a gekka(M) for the knockdown, but keep in mind that ending with ougekka always does more damage than ending with an air combo, so if you're not going for the 3-hit ouka hishousen to end you should always stick with ougekka. when cancelling gekka(L) to ouka hishousen or gekka(M), however, input the latter moves FAST, as gekka(L)'s untechable time is practically nil.

ending with air combo -> 3-hit ouka hishousen/setsugekka generally loses no more than 200 damage compared to ending with ougekka -> 3-hit ouka hishousen/setsugekka, though, so if you're very inconsistent with the delayed ouka hishousen after ougekka, you should definitely use this combo instead.

on the other hand, if you don't have enough gauge to end a combo with ouka hishousen, and your opponent is almost dead, you can end your combo with this and the gekka(M) followup for an extra 300ish damage. in general, however, it's better to end your combos with ougekka because it leads to a much fatter wakeup situation for you, allowing you access to a wider range of okizeme setups. in other words, only hail mary for this combo if you think that few hundred damage is really going to make a difference (tough call to make)!

7. harukaze...
-> (without landing) j.B j.L j.M...
-> (OTG)2L 2M...
--> 5H ougekka: 1388(8 hits)
--> nagikaze(4h) sj.L j.M j.H gekka(L)...
---> gekka(M): 1832(13 hits)
---> ouka hishousen: 2591(15 hits)
----> setsugekka: 4173(22 hits)
- mai
-> 2L [2M/5M]... (combo or pressure string)
- geki(M)
-> 5H gekka(H) 66 2M 5H ougekka 66 (OTG)2L 2M 5H ougekka: 2264(16 hits)
--> ouka hishousen: 3155(19 hits)
---> setsugekka: 4712(26 hits)
-> standard okizeme mixups (see 5.) i.e. iad j.L j.M...
- geki(H)
-> gekka(H) 66 2M 5H ougekka 66 (OTG)2L 2M 5H ougekka: 2204(15 hits)
--> ouka hishousen: 3125(18 hits)
---> setsugekka: 4688(25 hits)
-> standard okizeme mixups (see 5.) i.e. 6L...

harukaze is a fun move, and thanks to the new higher float on the second hit and the subsequent ability to combo after aforementioned second hit, it's actually a very good frametrap/mixup/crossup/pressure move now. in addition, the initial hit of harukaze has lots of priority, so don't be afraid of people trying to mash out.

8. [CORNER] 2L 5M 5H...
-> tsubaki(L) tsubaki-ran 66 5L 5M 5H ougekka 5M 5H gekka(H)...
-> tsubaki(M) nagikaze-ran 5L 5M 5H gekka(H)...
-> tsubaki(H) tsubaki-ran 66 2M 2H 6L 5L 5M 5H...
-> shijuusen 66 nagikaze-ran 5L 5M 5H...
-> nagikaze nagikaze-ran 5L 5M 5H gekka(H)...

in my search for a good corner combo, I've tried many variations. here are some of them. note that a few of these would probably work full screen too.

final notes:

there is a minor bug involving setsugekka where if you cancel ouka hishousen at JUST the right time, the third hit will have been activated (i.e. will be in start-up frames) but will not have landed yet. when this happens, you'll end up losing the damage from the third hit of ouka hishousen, which can be MASSIVE (several hundred in most cases, over 1000 in the worst case scenario). to avoid this, try to cancel into setsugekka only after you're sure the third hit has landed (not too hard, as there is a massive window to input the move, basically anytime before your opponent hits the ground).

also of special note is senna's remarkably low crouching hitbox; not only is it the lowest in the game, it's so low that it will make many things whiff or simply not work. for example, while senna can land iad j.H j.H on any member of the cast (including kunagi if timed right), it fails completely against herself - either the first j.H misses entirely, or the second one fails to come out (note that a normal airdash would allow for both hits of j.H j.H, but not a low iad). this is something you can use to great advantage; many people will be surprised to find their pressure strings failing on senna and will be forced to change to different timings, possibly making their mixups even easier to see coming.

this is, however, a double-edged sword: thanks to senna's ridiculously low hitbox, it now becomes obscenely easy to cross her up; in fact, your opponent may even be able to cross you up without meaning to. a smart opponent will be able to put this to good use, playing crossup mind games from midscreen. note that in the corner, while it is impossible to cross senna up, your opponent will be able to keep up his pressure by allowing his character to fall slightly after iading, so it's six of one and half dozen of another.

in terms of general gameplay, senna gets to lord pretty much the best poke in the game over everybody else: 5M. though a bit slow, this poke will beat so many things it's not even funny, thanks to its superior range. when spaced correctly, 5M can even serve as an anti-air (5M 5H gekka(H)...), thanks to its relatively high hitbox. in addition, 5M will easily go pretty much any of senna's combos, particularly 5M 5H shijuusen etc. when combined with senna's mobility, we get a deadly combination: both the ability to zone your opponent and the speed to do so.

compared to many of the other characters in the cast, senna's crossup and mixup options are relatively poor; her j.H j.H crossup is highly dependent on spacing and height, unlike, for example, kunagi's beastly j.H, which is probably the best jumpin in the game. senna also lacks a good overhead on the ground, which, for example, rouga has in 4/6H, which can even be comboed after. she does, however, have decent frametraps (6L and harukaze) and, thanks again to her mobility and range, tight pressure. throw in a loop system that can be set up off pretty much anything, and you're looking at around an A-tier character. unfortunately, senna has lost much of the damage she used to be able to do (for example, in 1.01 senna could loop ougekka four times in the corner for 1 gauge and do 6000+ damage), particularly in the corner.

with these in mind, when playing senna you should make sure you play to her strengths: excellent poke range, high priority, good mobility. and when in training mode, don't just practice her combos; you should also make it a point to practice her pressure. since senna cannot rely on mixups like other characters, a good senna player must have tight pressure strings and use her frametraps well. in particular, senna is an excellent character to tick throw with, thanks to her fast, grounded dash (lol @ kunagi) and the fact that she can combo after her throw in the corner - and with senna, you'll have your opponent in the corner half the time because your fullscreen combos take them straight to the wall. and once you start tick throwing, and your opponent starts getting scared, well, that's when your frametraps start working.

senna's combos are actually fairly freeform, and I've haven't really even touched upon half the moves she has. experiment with all sorts of setups, don't just take my word for it. anything that knocks down can be OTGed back into ougekka loop or 3-hit ouka hishousen setup, or maybe even something amazingly cool and new that you've invented yourself and refuse to share with anyone else. just a word of caution: a lot of senna's moves prorate badly, so make sure the damage of the combo you're doing is worth the trouble it takes to do it. also, note that I no longer give advice pertaining to weight classes and how combos change for different characters; this will now be left as an exercise to the reader.

as far as extend charge goes, senna's playstyle really lends her to abusing the extend charge a lot. she has a lot going for her: full-untechable moves that wallbounce (ougekka), superior poke range and mobility that allow her to not get hit as much even when her health is low as a result of extend charging; and last but not least, she can heal herself with her enhance, which pretty much means she can extend charge for free. as a general rule of thumb, I'd say extend charge whenever possible if you're not sacrificing anything (read: a knockdown), but try and alternate them with enhances (i.e. extend charge, then enhance the next, then extend charge following that...). with senna, anywhere between 120-140 is fine, really, depending on how many opportunities your opponent gives you.

in terms of good places to enhance or extend charge, by far the best is when you land an ougekka from midscreen or further. as senna does average damage at best and relies heavily on pressure to win, you never want to give up a wakeup opportunity just to get an extra five points of extend charge in. however, if you land an ougekka that bounces your opponent very far, you can easily get 10, maybe even 20 points in one go, which is well worth sacrificing one wakeup. thanks to her mobility and range though, where senna really shines is simply backing off from her opponent and extend charging. if the opponent attempts to rush in and punish, senna can easily throw out a 5M or something to catch her would-be attacker. while senna's 5M is punishable on whiff, it is not punishable on block, so it's not very easy to bait as pretty much nothing in the game outranges it, meaning a senna player can wait until it's clear that the opponent is going to have to eat or block it before throwing it out. enhance, on the other hand, is much slower, and requires at least 90% screen distance between you and your opponent, or aforementioned midscreen ougekka.

this, of course, raises certain questions: if you're almost dead, and you knock down your opponent, should you try and enhance? the answer is, while it depends on who you're fighting (obviously sanzou is fine, but kunagi is not), 99% of the time I would say: no. the only 100% safe knockdown for senna to enhance after is the midscreen ougekka, and if you've landed a midscreen ougekka chances are you can follow it up with something OTG to a new pressure situation, which could easily lead to the 3000+ damage that could either kill your opponent or equalize the match, as opposed to enhancing, which only recovers 1000 damage worth of life. but this is entirely up to personal preference, so don't take it from me, figure out what you're most comfortable with.

Last update : Saturday, 03 November 2007

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