Jin Saotome's Strategy

Jin is a very funky character to use and though he's a mid-size character, he feels a lot like a big guys. Since he's not a dialer, his moves have horrible recovery delay and they all do extreme damage, you should play him like you would Hulk. However, unlike the big guys, he can move very fast and he's not an easy combo target.

Advantages

  • Jin has extreme priority on all of his normal moves. If he and his opponent both attack at the same time, chances are that Jin will come out on top. Get to know what each move does and use them to your advantage.

  • Jin's supers all do extreme damage and are great as defensive moves. Blodia Punch is very fast and is great for countering missed moves. Great Cyclone is Jin's best anti air move and Blodia Vulcan takes him totally off the screen, making it impossible to hit him.

  • Jin has the element of surprise working for him. Almost all of Jin's moves either come out totally unexpected, or they confuse the opponent. Saotome Fire is extremely fast and can be used even when an opponent is right on top of Jin. Also, his S.Roundhouse will often trick your opponent into trying to counter. be extremely tricky while using Jin.

  • Jin's powerup will help him a lot when a fight gets ddesperate. Not only does he get super armor, he gets super strength and extra chipping damage as well. There is also a big intimidation factor working here.

  • Jin is just plain fun to use. Especially when you're kicking ass and you pull off his Saotome Fire taunt.

    Disadvantages

  • All of Jin's normal moves have horrible recovery delay. Make sure you connect with them or you'll get countered. A good thing to remember is to always have the Saotome Dynamite charged so that he can cancel out of slow recovering moves.

  • Jin is not a distance fighter. He must be up close and in your face to win. If an opponent manages to keep him away, Jin will eventually lose.

  • Jin has no effective chipping moves. The Saotome Typhoon chips ok damage but leaves him wide open. None of his supers do any useful chipping damage, so don't count on them when a fight gets desperate and you resort to chipping a weak opponent to death.

  • All of Jin's special moves leave him wide open. Be careful about using the Crush grab and the Typhoon against smart opponents.

    Offense

    For Jin to win a fight, he's got to be close to his opponent. Get close by either attacking or taunting them to come to you. If you allow them to keep you away, you'll definitely lose.

  • Jumping in is a key part of Jin's offense. Depending on the position of your opponent, you should vary your attack. J.Fierce is for opponents under Jin, J.Strong is for opponents next to him, J.Forward is for when they get above you, while J.Roundhouse is great for when they are diagonally under you.

  • Learn the C.Strong --> Blodia Punch combo. This is Jin's bread and butter. As soon as you're able to consistently pull it off is when you'll consistently be winning. Learning to combo his team super is even better.

  • Whenever using any of Jin's ground attacks, always have the Saotome Dynamite move charged. Since it knocks opponents away even if they're blocking, Jin will always be safe from counter attack.

  • Don't use the Crush Grab unless you want to show off. Most opponents will block and counter it. Only go for it against scrubs that you wanna humiliate.

    Defense

    Jin's defense is simply amazing and he's able to crouch in a corner and counter all day if his opponent is a jumper/dasher.

  • The Dynamite move is excellent as both air and ground defense. Even if the opponent sees it and blocks, it'll still knock em away leaving Jin safe from any jump ins.

  • You can play Jin sort of like Dan. If you want your opponent to come to you, just taunt until they get pissed enough to jump carelessly at you, then pull off a Great Cyclone! Muhahahaha!!

  • Jin is what I call a good pogo defender. He can constantly jump away from his opponent while hitting an attack button that will catch anyone jumping at him. His priority and range in the air allows him to do this rather safely.

    Onslaught

  • First Form - Like most of the smaller character, the easiest way to win against Onslaught is to pull off the simple C.Jab, C.Strong, C.Jab, C.Strong combo while he's pulling off the Mega Optic Blast. It leaves you safe and it does immense damage!

  • Second Form - Lemme just tell you right now that none of jin's supers or specials will do anything to faze Onslaught's second form. Don't use them at all. The best way to win against Onslaught is to just be careful. The best attack to use is J.Roundhouse to the face.

    Fighting Jin

  • Almost all of Jin's moves will leave him open at some point. Learn his moves and learn when to counter. His special mvoes leave him extremely vulnerable. Don't waste your chance and counter immediately.

  • Be careful of all his high priority and surprising attacks. Don't try to counter Jin if he's jumping in on you cause he will beat you. Just block and try to get him after he pulls off a slow recovering move.

  • Try to keep him away. Jin has no long range attacks so if you're good at keep away, you can theoretically cheese him to death. Might take a while but it's possible.

  • Don't try to outhit him on the ground as well. His jab punches are extremely fast and will beat almost anyone's fastest attack. From there he can go on to his C.Strong --> Blodia punch combo. Avoid this if possible.

  • If you see him pull off a Tornado Drill, don't counter immediately, chances are he'll cancel it into a Dynamite move. Wait for the dynamite, dash in and combo.

  • Watch out for Jin when he's powered up. He'll have super armor so don't try launching him. Just do ground combos and knock him down if possible. Chipping supers work great in this situation.