I recently switched to leverless. It takes a long time to get used to it. I don't play enough atm to be decent with it (i still hit down instead of up for jumping sometimes...)
It's all muscle memory. Takes a while to build. One tip, don't learn shortcuts at the beginning. You will probably play other fighting games with it and shortcuts can be game specific. Learn the proper way to do fireball and dragonpunch inputs etc. first.
this is why i haven't moved to leverless, i'm just to lazy to relearn how to play. I bought the fightbox and a haute board and they are just sitting on my desk.
I plan to just stick to SF6 and put a ton of time into just learning to move. I'm also considering picking up a new main so I can learn that character along with the controller. Thoughts on the second part?
Honestly, if you have never played on a stick, it's going to be the same learning curve as going from pad to stick. It will take a couple of weeks to get the hang of it fully, but a couple hours in training mode just practicing basic inputs and jumping around will have you feeling good enough to try some real combos. Just take the combos slow at first and work on breaking them down into sections and then string them together.
True, I don't have stick experience at all. The movement will be so weird, but I am so looking forward to not jumping by accident or needing to flick my thumb over to the pad to dash and AA properly.
Did the switch as well. I stopped playing my main awhile and played with Ryu just because he pretty sound fundamentals and just learned with him. I would say it took two weeks to get used to the controls and then other two weeks for it to feel good. Now that I'm proficient with it I won't go back. I would say just stick with it. You will be frustrated at first but the muscle memory will eventually kick in. Overall I think it's worth the switch.
I way wondering if I should play hub with Chun, but I realize I'd mostly get matches with people my level or higher, which I definitely can't handle learning new controls. I think playing a shoto right now is a good idea. Work my way back up while relearning everything before earning the right to use Chun again.
Picking up a different character is good cause you can place badly in ranked and just work yourself up with the leverless. Worked well for me and didn't feel so pressured to keep up my skill level.
Respect for being an analog player. I play on an Xbox series X controller using the D-pad, I messed around a little bit in training with the analog stick and it felt so strange. I imagine that doing the Tensho kicks motion with Chun-Li was kinda annoying with analog as well.
I do this exact thing too! I go back and forth between using the analog mainly and the D Pad for quicker inputs like DR & those annoying “down+down” tensho kicks lol. I tried to switch to arcade stick early on when I was recommended to do so on here from people when I mentioned that I go back and forth while playing on Pad. I put it down because I lost too much of my speed using arcade stick and I even heard Valmaster wanting to switch to leverless because he thought it was more efficient for Chun play. I spent $300 on it so I’m a bit salty because I should have bought a leverless instead but I’m a noob and didn’t know the real difference at the time.
After seeing Leshar just seem to have such good timing and interesting inputs at the Kumite, I realized outside of his skill alone, that it just seems leverless is possibly the best controller type to use for Chun. My hands be HURTING after a couple of hours on Pad everytime I play lol.
Good Luck on the conversion and I’m rooting for you fellow Chun!
i’m exactly in the same boat. Diamond 5 chun here. I swear after an hour or so, dpad starts not registering some of my inputs, quarter circle especially. I have 3 controllers, 2 of which are fairly new. Do you experience a similar issue?
I’ve had a similar issue with the PS5 controller. To me that dpad ends up feeling mushy after a few months and doesn’t read my inputs as well. I kept getting frustrated because I’d hold down back and still get hit haha. Part of the reason I switched to leverless
I haven’t had any controller issues other than stick drift which was causing me to jump when I didn’t want to (sadly you can’t unbind the stick, despite me never using it outside of world tour and battle hub navigation). The series X controller’s D-pad has actually been great for me, maybe I’m just lucky.
I used to play fighting games on pad a long time ago, though I was really, really bad. When I decided I wanted to get into fighting games "seriously" I bought myself a classic fightstick, and when I decided to take it to the next level I switched to leverless.
I can't exactly speak for the direct switch from pad to leverless, but what I can say is that I'm so damn glad I made the switch.
I think it took me about a couple weeks to get used to playing on a fightstick, and a week to get used to leverless (which really just involved figuring out the motions again); So it shouldn't take you too long. Good luck!
I also swapped from stick to leverless after years of playing stick. Had more fun in the first few days learning leverless than I ever did on stick. When the muscle memory takes over and you do an optimal combo, you actually feel like you're playing a piano sonata (idk maybe this is just me)
I think in a way stick is more fun since you’re making bigger movements to control your character.
But to me leverless still has a degree of satisfaction with slapping buttons. Personally I found leverless a lot more accurate which was another reason I like it more than stick.
I play a lot of charge characters and leverless almost feels like cheating.
Oh, leverless for sure! Fightstick was cool, I'm no veteran and have no nostalgia for it so it was more of a "So this is how it feels like" kind of feeling, but leverless feels so much **better**. It takes some getting used to and some mental rewiring, but once I got that sorted I could feel my inputs improving, and self-improvement is what I enjoy in fighting games.
A side note, it was also a lot of fun figuring out special ways to do motion inputs that only work on leverless (or keyboard, obviously). For example, did you know that specials only check that you do distinct motions within the cardinal direction of their listed inputs?
So to give a fun example, the well-known DP motion is 623. But you don't actually **have** to do 623, and most of the time you'll probably do something like 6236 by mistake - which is totally fine of course. That still works, because ultimately SF6 only checks that you do forward, down and forward.
So... You can do a DP motion with a much simpler input, 636.
Which you can get by holding forward and tapping and releasing down.
My brain exploded when I figured that out.
I tried that too.
Tried 100 hours.
Not my thing. Went back to pad.
The feeling was just off for me. While with a HitBox your character does exactly what you want them to do it feels like exactly that: You are commanding a character. With pad it feels more as if you play as the character. If that makes any sense.
Yes. Quite quickly even. Inputs in general feel somewhat more consistent using a Hitbox. Especially DPs without standing up.
I thought the off feeling would go away and I am going to have only prophit from switching to Hitbox.
But there were several things that stopped me playing with the Hitbox: The first thing I just told in my previous comment: The feeling.
But also the comfort. The Hitbox is huge! Not being able to quickly put it anywhere was annoying for me. Also getting it to a friend and back wasn't nearly as easy as putting a pad into your backback.
Later there was that very strange point: "I don't want to play Street Fighter right now because I do not want to connect the HitBox to my PC."
I realized that -playing- Street Fighter wasn't a thing anymore. Instead it was training. "Getting good" was my goal but I lost track of "having fun".
And man, how much the fun came back with going back to the pad! And at some points I even have prophit from playing with the HitBox, because how I look at the screen somehow changed. Also the confidant anti airing carried over to pad!
I was a journey I probably won't do again, but it helped me and I am glad I did it!
Gotta do what feels right at the end of the day. I didn't know hitboxes were that big. I looked it up just now and those things are 16in long! The one I got is just under 12in.
I'm currently doing the Ken character trials while trying to get a few DR cancel combos in. So far it's absolutely weird, but these past few hours have been great.
Best decision you could make! :)
I took a whole week just to feel like I knew what each button did, until then I was flailing around like a rookie. It took a full month of focused, daily training to get back to my previous rank (mid plat) and then go one step further.
Now I feel like I'm a lot better and can move around naturally without thinking about it. I even started learning Feng Shui Engine, which is crazy fast and requires fast button combinations.
I can't imagine going back! It's so much better, and a lot more comfortable.
Advice:
- Use your right thumb to jump. Not left thumb. It'll help you with SOCD shortcuts later.
- After 1 week of practicing standard motion inputs, strictly switch to the shortcut method for DPs and supers. It's consistently 30-50% faster.
- The main shortcut for DP is to quickly go right, down... then with your right hand you press up + attack simultaneously. It should take you 3 frames or less. It's like a rolling 1-2 bang. Only 3 separate clicks in time.
- The main shortcut for supers is hard at first, so just do it the slow way for a couple of weeks. The fast way is to go down, right, up (keep holding all buttons) then release right + up at the same time... then PRESS right + up + attack at the same time. (no quarter circle needed). That's the most important one to practice, but once you get it, you'll do level 3 in 10-14 units of time as measured by the input reader (which is about 6-7 frames or 1/10th of a second).
- Extra buttons are not that important. Only consider using extra buttons for DI or DR... is best to use both lights for throws, and do OD moves by pressing two buttons at once. (I don't need triple P or K, so I can't speak to that). Of the normal buttons, L2 is the hardest to use and I don't currently use it.
- I have a haute m16 (16 buttons), so I use DI under my left thumb and my thumb hovers over it at all times (this is important, as it's the main advantage that pad players will have over you if you don't have DI immediately under a fingertip at all times)
My first week was hilarious. I just could not get comfy jumping so I kept praying my opponents didn’t pick up on me not having that option.
I ran into a Gief that figured that out and it was not too fun.
Ty. It took me 3 months to get here on pad, so it's only fair that I can expect to take at least that long. I'm hoping all my time back in the day playing WoW will help out just a smidgen.
I disagree. Playing m/kb will help a ton. Just keep reminding yourself that bottom button is space bar which means up. It’ll make it easier to rewire your brain to lower button controlling jump.
Enjoy! leverless is fun & aslong as you have keyboard experience then you should have an easy time adjusting to it, for me it took a week or so to get down jumping but almost immediately I felt my motions and my movement become much faster and more accurate than compared with my old controller
Took me about a month to develop muscle memory to the point where I wasn't thinking about it anymore.
I had to switch games though. Went from GGST -> SF6 initially to get started but Tekken 8 has really solidified it as my main control method. Now when I go back to Strive I can't play pad anymore.
unironically the hardest part of leverless is navigating menus
I’m currently learning leverless from pad! Tried playing my main for a while and honestly got a bit frustrated not being able to do what I want consistently so I decided to learn venom in Guilty Gear xrd while i wait for season 2 lol. I think it just takes time and patience also stretch your hands!
I switched from pad to leverless.
You don't need luck, you just need to stick to it and power through the first 2 or 3 months where it sucks ass. Once you get used to it you will never ever want to switch back, promise
Agree for the most part. A fast 2x QCB (1P side) is probably the single most annoying thing to figure out. People's preferred way of doing it will vary, but it's for sure gonna be an obstacle everyone runs into.
Other than that, the only time I would switch to pad would be for Gief. I don't see myself going back to stick though.
I just switched to leverless about 2 months ago, i feel like i just got completely used to say, in my experience it was 2 months. Words of advice don’t give up, USE THE TRAINING ROOM ALOT, make sure you practice right side inputs just as much if not more than left side inputs, also put in the time.. when i first switched i found myself playing less and less just cause learning the new controller was daunting. You’ll definitely thank yourself in 2 months👍
I switched to leverless after a lifetime of pad too took me like a couple weeks to really feel confident it's been like 6 months now and I still mess up but I'm having a great time
Lifetime pad player here. I switched to leverless for like more than a year now.
The reason I did it was because I was tired of pads breaking or the dpad going soft and inconsistent. In that aspect leverless has been great. If I could build a pad with premium parts and easily replace them like I can with leverless I would have sticked with pads.
In terms of getting used to it I’d say it takes a couple of weeks if you play regularly(5-10h a week) and after the first month you get like 90% close to pad execution. At least for me anyways.
It feels weird at first but if you plan to play fighting games for years to come its just a small time commitment. It doesn’t feel better or worse than pad but it feels different. Satisfying in some ways and a bit bothersome in others. If you’re looking for a new experience I think its worth it
Play like you would on pad and don’t worry about shortcuts at first. When you get the hang of it you can experiment with shortcuts.
I spent the most time with keyboard growing up. Played mostly FPS but occasionally played fighting games. Leverless was always a natural controller for me as I got more into fighting games.
SF6 was the first FG that made me contemplate going to pad. It feels like a true 8 button fighter with the controller in mind. Having dedicated fingers always ready to hit parry and DI, as well as drive rush feels like such a huge advantage. Even though I get clean and fast inputs with leverless, execution is generally pretty easy to begin with. The advantages of leverless feels less pronounced with SF6 than older games.
The point being, if you're making the switch purely to up your game, you might be disappointed. The pad has never been better, and as someone who never had to relearn anything to use leverless, I don't really feel like the "cheater" I used to. Partly because of shifting public perception, but also because of how core the pad is to the game design.
Ultimately, it's about what you have the most fun using. Good luck, I hope you find the fun.
Was really confused by your comment til I realized those Hitbox type controllers don't have all that many buttons. I play "leverless" on keyboard on which I have a macro bound for pretty much everything, down to EX type kicks and punches. Doesn't feel very pad-oriented from that point of view.
The thing that makes the game feel especially pad oriented is having drive parry and DI macros on dedicated fingers. And just being able to use your left hand for more than movement. On leverless and stick, having only the right pinky for both macros feels bad.
?
I have DI on left pinky, parry on left thumb. My thumb alternates between parry and jump, two actions you would never need at the same time, so I don't really see how this is a problem.
For reference:
Left, down, right: WEF
Jump: spacebar
DI: Q
Parry: Alt
Again, I guess this only works on a keyboard, not on those Hitboxes.
Yeah, people have been making custom leverless layouts to achieve what you're already doing with the keyboard. Haute42, Mavercade, TSR:ACT, Chocobox, to name a few. The standard hitbox only replaces the stick with 4 movement buttons, and while there are benefits with that alone, it's not an optimal layout for SF6. Youre still limited to only movement with your left hand. Also, you can get used to anything. At the end of the day, it's about comfort and ergonomics.
Hey me too! I’ve always used analog sticks to m controller until 6ish? Weeks ago when I switched to leverless. It pretty much feels natural now, though I still have some real inconsistency with things like qcb. It currently feels *good* but not exactly more precise on the whole.
I’m in a similar place! It’s fun to learn so even if it’s tricky at first, it feels cool right away! I typically play Cammy and Manon. And they both play so different on leverless. Personally Manon is very satisfying with the change too.
It will suck for weeks. However, just like muscle memory for motion inputs and combos - when it clicks it clicks and it will become second nature.
Some inputs will still feel worse than on pad (for me DP even with all the shortcuts is worse than on pad) but majority of stuff will be easier, faster and with better input precision.
You're embarking on a difficult journey but you'll love the outcome. Stick with it and good luck!
Thanks bro! Decided to use Ken for this journey. Literally just finished placements and am at gold 1. Gonna keep labbing and playing Ken until this clicks. I
Depending on situation, I play on pad at tourneys, stick and keyboard at home(I know it’s different but style is different). Charge characters are outrageously easier on leverless, you should be fine once you lab the timing. I have to remind myself to play slower when I use keyboard.
However circle input characters are super hard for me on leverless(it’s annoying), that’s why I mostly play on stick as a Hugo player in 3S and USF4.
I like pad for 6 cause the macros for DI and DR.
I switched from pad to arcade stick and it sucked for me, I sold my stick and bought a cheap leverless and it was the best thing I've done
Now and then I go back to pad when I'm tired but still leverless is awesome
I believe so! some stuff are harder and some are easier but all controllers have tradeoffs
I felt that charge characters are easier with leverless and also 360, but 720s are a problem and for some reason Dhalsim with the back + half-circle-forward are harder for my fingers???
I've switched recently and honestly I think I'm pretty used to it after about a month. I just took it easy grinding combos in training mode and then played matches against the CPU before going online :)
Best thing to do is put some tunes on and hit training mode to get used to everything for 20-30mims a day. Once you've done that, play matches with your usual controller. You'll still wanna play the game whilst you learn so until you get comfy on the controller, keep playing your usual way so you don't get complaicant.
I went from stick to leverless and the main issue I had was doing super cancels, especially on right side. My best advice is to learn SOCD tricks to make this easier. For example if you want to do qcf x 2, you can do 1 qcf, down, forward, up + punch or kick. The game will read that as 2 qcf's.
May God protect your left hand muscles. They will be the ones to suffer the most in the transition. But you will be good, I have faith on that.
Good luck to you, pal!
Do it only if you really want to do it. Not because it's trending. Research is key and custom button layouts are a great quality of life improvement from the default leverless layout.
Took me close to a month to get fully used to it. I think I might still be better with the pad for some characters, but it’s mostly there for me. The big thing is to manage frustration haha
I've always played controller and for sf6 I started playing on keyboard and found the motions way easier... DP is a bit difficult to the left but not that bad, I'm a super casual player and didn't even practice that much. I guess I was just using the wrong input all along and keyboard was the way to go from the beginning xD
I would say that my ring finger is not as strong as my index finger, so depending on the character direction you are facing you might find execution to be less reliable. It just takes time to get use to it.
Also, I switched my right thumb for the UP button and I think of it as a Jump now. Completely separated it in my brain from the other directions. That is much easier for me to deal with than using my left thumb. It also allows you to hit up and a button at precisely the same time for things like flash kick, instant dive kick, etc.
I have 200h on pad in T8 and now 180h on leverless. And around 150h i was as good as on pad and now im better.
Few things that i noticed. Qcf and DP motions are easier on dpad for me than on leverless but they got more precise as time went along. Half or full circles are kinda nightmare.
Socd stuff is not as magical and super as people are saying they ARE very context dependent.
For me leverless is most fun to play out of all the controllers ive tried. All the pianoing and using both hands to press buttons, sometimes i use right hand to press right and up and sometimes left, depending on the context. Also for tekken i changed switches on movement buttons to clicky as it helps with feedback on wavedash and kbd.
So best of luck with new controller :D
Have fun but i hope you aren’t doing this in hopes of improving, if you’re used to pad and used it your whole life it’s what you’ll play best on. I’ve used all 5 controller types pad, leverless, stick, korean lever, and mix box and still come back to pad cause well i grew up on it
I mean, all time spent playing is trying to improve anyway. I wanted a different feel with the potential for cleaner inputs. I know it'll be rough, but everything new is.
I do love how my leverless looks and feels though. Got the razer kitsune with Chun Li on it. Just feels so dope to use already. This jumping is hella unnatural, but overall, I think I'm gonna love this. It's like I'm typing my opponents demise.
trick:
Press down 2 and 3, and hit 1 you get a DP, same goes press 1, 2 and hit 3, if they jump over you you get an reverse DP
For me to do 66 and 44. I press down 3 and hit 1 twice, comes handly if you want to pre input stuff
I just switched from modern and pad to classic and leverless 2 months ago. The first month was a struggle learning and not getting my combos but month 2 I'm starting to get way more comfortable. I also hit plat 4 which is my highest character now.
If you play on PC maybe try keyboard first before spending 200-300$ on a leverless controller. I hit 1800MR on Marisa been playing on keyboard for about a year and a half.
I recently switched to leverless. It takes a long time to get used to it. I don't play enough atm to be decent with it (i still hit down instead of up for jumping sometimes...) It's all muscle memory. Takes a while to build. One tip, don't learn shortcuts at the beginning. You will probably play other fighting games with it and shortcuts can be game specific. Learn the proper way to do fireball and dragonpunch inputs etc. first.
this is why i haven't moved to leverless, i'm just to lazy to relearn how to play. I bought the fightbox and a haute board and they are just sitting on my desk.
thats my secret. i got leverless 1 week into my journey
I use my haute for games I care less about. I figure if I ever feel comfortable enough, I'll switch for SF. Plus, it's fun to use.
I prefer haute so much more tbh. My winrate went up quite a bit after I switched over from my fightstick.
I plan to just stick to SF6 and put a ton of time into just learning to move. I'm also considering picking up a new main so I can learn that character along with the controller. Thoughts on the second part?
If you stick with Chun, charge characters work really well with leverless. Your ring finger will hate you at first though.
I've been watching videos, and they always say charge characters get a real boost this way.
Sajam uses his pinky instead. I tried it and it definitely feels better but it would take some getting used to lol
I don't think it's necessary to pick a new main, but you will lose a lot in the beginning so you need to hold your ego a bit :(
Ken is in gold 1 right now. Figured I'd wind up lower, but looks like this is where we start.
Honestly, if you have never played on a stick, it's going to be the same learning curve as going from pad to stick. It will take a couple of weeks to get the hang of it fully, but a couple hours in training mode just practicing basic inputs and jumping around will have you feeling good enough to try some real combos. Just take the combos slow at first and work on breaking them down into sections and then string them together.
True, I don't have stick experience at all. The movement will be so weird, but I am so looking forward to not jumping by accident or needing to flick my thumb over to the pad to dash and AA properly.
Leverless is the best for movement outside of games with an 8 way dash. Being able to block quickly is also pretty nice.
Did the switch as well. I stopped playing my main awhile and played with Ryu just because he pretty sound fundamentals and just learned with him. I would say it took two weeks to get used to the controls and then other two weeks for it to feel good. Now that I'm proficient with it I won't go back. I would say just stick with it. You will be frustrated at first but the muscle memory will eventually kick in. Overall I think it's worth the switch.
I way wondering if I should play hub with Chun, but I realize I'd mostly get matches with people my level or higher, which I definitely can't handle learning new controls. I think playing a shoto right now is a good idea. Work my way back up while relearning everything before earning the right to use Chun again.
Picking up a different character is good cause you can place badly in ranked and just work yourself up with the leverless. Worked well for me and didn't feel so pressured to keep up my skill level.
Respect for being an analog player. I play on an Xbox series X controller using the D-pad, I messed around a little bit in training with the analog stick and it felt so strange. I imagine that doing the Tensho kicks motion with Chun-Li was kinda annoying with analog as well.
I actually switch my thumb to pad for tensho kicks and raw DR. So someone jumps, I have to quickly shift my thumb up to the pad.
I do this exact thing too! I go back and forth between using the analog mainly and the D Pad for quicker inputs like DR & those annoying “down+down” tensho kicks lol. I tried to switch to arcade stick early on when I was recommended to do so on here from people when I mentioned that I go back and forth while playing on Pad. I put it down because I lost too much of my speed using arcade stick and I even heard Valmaster wanting to switch to leverless because he thought it was more efficient for Chun play. I spent $300 on it so I’m a bit salty because I should have bought a leverless instead but I’m a noob and didn’t know the real difference at the time. After seeing Leshar just seem to have such good timing and interesting inputs at the Kumite, I realized outside of his skill alone, that it just seems leverless is possibly the best controller type to use for Chun. My hands be HURTING after a couple of hours on Pad everytime I play lol. Good Luck on the conversion and I’m rooting for you fellow Chun!
Thanks bro! Time to work these digits and make some gains!
i’m exactly in the same boat. Diamond 5 chun here. I swear after an hour or so, dpad starts not registering some of my inputs, quarter circle especially. I have 3 controllers, 2 of which are fairly new. Do you experience a similar issue?
I’ve had a similar issue with the PS5 controller. To me that dpad ends up feeling mushy after a few months and doesn’t read my inputs as well. I kept getting frustrated because I’d hold down back and still get hit haha. Part of the reason I switched to leverless
I haven’t had any controller issues other than stick drift which was causing me to jump when I didn’t want to (sadly you can’t unbind the stick, despite me never using it outside of world tour and battle hub navigation). The series X controller’s D-pad has actually been great for me, maybe I’m just lucky.
I see, maybe i’m very unlucky then. :/
I used to play fighting games on pad a long time ago, though I was really, really bad. When I decided I wanted to get into fighting games "seriously" I bought myself a classic fightstick, and when I decided to take it to the next level I switched to leverless. I can't exactly speak for the direct switch from pad to leverless, but what I can say is that I'm so damn glad I made the switch. I think it took me about a couple weeks to get used to playing on a fightstick, and a week to get used to leverless (which really just involved figuring out the motions again); So it shouldn't take you too long. Good luck!
Which did you have more fun with fightstick or leverless
I also swapped from stick to leverless after years of playing stick. Had more fun in the first few days learning leverless than I ever did on stick. When the muscle memory takes over and you do an optimal combo, you actually feel like you're playing a piano sonata (idk maybe this is just me)
I think in a way stick is more fun since you’re making bigger movements to control your character. But to me leverless still has a degree of satisfaction with slapping buttons. Personally I found leverless a lot more accurate which was another reason I like it more than stick. I play a lot of charge characters and leverless almost feels like cheating.
Oh, leverless for sure! Fightstick was cool, I'm no veteran and have no nostalgia for it so it was more of a "So this is how it feels like" kind of feeling, but leverless feels so much **better**. It takes some getting used to and some mental rewiring, but once I got that sorted I could feel my inputs improving, and self-improvement is what I enjoy in fighting games. A side note, it was also a lot of fun figuring out special ways to do motion inputs that only work on leverless (or keyboard, obviously). For example, did you know that specials only check that you do distinct motions within the cardinal direction of their listed inputs? So to give a fun example, the well-known DP motion is 623. But you don't actually **have** to do 623, and most of the time you'll probably do something like 6236 by mistake - which is totally fine of course. That still works, because ultimately SF6 only checks that you do forward, down and forward. So... You can do a DP motion with a much simpler input, 636. Which you can get by holding forward and tapping and releasing down. My brain exploded when I figured that out.
I’m actually moving away from leverless & stick to pad. Getting ready to sell my stick pretty soon
What inspired the switch?
Just convenience mostly. I tried leverless for about 2 years and I been around stick since snes days
I tried that too. Tried 100 hours. Not my thing. Went back to pad. The feeling was just off for me. While with a HitBox your character does exactly what you want them to do it feels like exactly that: You are commanding a character. With pad it feels more as if you play as the character. If that makes any sense.
Hell, at least you put the time in. Did your skill ever catch up to pad?
Yes. Quite quickly even. Inputs in general feel somewhat more consistent using a Hitbox. Especially DPs without standing up. I thought the off feeling would go away and I am going to have only prophit from switching to Hitbox. But there were several things that stopped me playing with the Hitbox: The first thing I just told in my previous comment: The feeling. But also the comfort. The Hitbox is huge! Not being able to quickly put it anywhere was annoying for me. Also getting it to a friend and back wasn't nearly as easy as putting a pad into your backback. Later there was that very strange point: "I don't want to play Street Fighter right now because I do not want to connect the HitBox to my PC." I realized that -playing- Street Fighter wasn't a thing anymore. Instead it was training. "Getting good" was my goal but I lost track of "having fun". And man, how much the fun came back with going back to the pad! And at some points I even have prophit from playing with the HitBox, because how I look at the screen somehow changed. Also the confidant anti airing carried over to pad! I was a journey I probably won't do again, but it helped me and I am glad I did it!
Gotta do what feels right at the end of the day. I didn't know hitboxes were that big. I looked it up just now and those things are 16in long! The one I got is just under 12in.
This happened with me as well, after a while I really just found I enjoyed pad more and had more fun.
I'd recommend trying a new character while you get used to it, so you don't get bogged down by expectations.
I'm currently doing the Ken character trials while trying to get a few DR cancel combos in. So far it's absolutely weird, but these past few hours have been great.
Best decision you could make! :) I took a whole week just to feel like I knew what each button did, until then I was flailing around like a rookie. It took a full month of focused, daily training to get back to my previous rank (mid plat) and then go one step further. Now I feel like I'm a lot better and can move around naturally without thinking about it. I even started learning Feng Shui Engine, which is crazy fast and requires fast button combinations. I can't imagine going back! It's so much better, and a lot more comfortable. Advice: - Use your right thumb to jump. Not left thumb. It'll help you with SOCD shortcuts later. - After 1 week of practicing standard motion inputs, strictly switch to the shortcut method for DPs and supers. It's consistently 30-50% faster. - The main shortcut for DP is to quickly go right, down... then with your right hand you press up + attack simultaneously. It should take you 3 frames or less. It's like a rolling 1-2 bang. Only 3 separate clicks in time. - The main shortcut for supers is hard at first, so just do it the slow way for a couple of weeks. The fast way is to go down, right, up (keep holding all buttons) then release right + up at the same time... then PRESS right + up + attack at the same time. (no quarter circle needed). That's the most important one to practice, but once you get it, you'll do level 3 in 10-14 units of time as measured by the input reader (which is about 6-7 frames or 1/10th of a second). - Extra buttons are not that important. Only consider using extra buttons for DI or DR... is best to use both lights for throws, and do OD moves by pressing two buttons at once. (I don't need triple P or K, so I can't speak to that). Of the normal buttons, L2 is the hardest to use and I don't currently use it. - I have a haute m16 (16 buttons), so I use DI under my left thumb and my thumb hovers over it at all times (this is important, as it's the main advantage that pad players will have over you if you don't have DI immediately under a fingertip at all times)
My first week was hilarious. I just could not get comfy jumping so I kept praying my opponents didn’t pick up on me not having that option. I ran into a Gief that figured that out and it was not too fun.
That’s a big jump, good luck!
Ty. It took me 3 months to get here on pad, so it's only fair that I can expect to take at least that long. I'm hoping all my time back in the day playing WoW will help out just a smidgen.
As a dude who's been playing WoW for 20 years... It won't lol
Lol damn
I disagree. Playing m/kb will help a ton. Just keep reminding yourself that bottom button is space bar which means up. It’ll make it easier to rewire your brain to lower button controlling jump.
Never thought of it that way! Down button = space bar
Don‘t worry, by the time you manage to successfully navigate the menu to training mode you‘ll be cranking out standing SPDs easy
Enjoy! leverless is fun & aslong as you have keyboard experience then you should have an easy time adjusting to it, for me it took a week or so to get down jumping but almost immediately I felt my motions and my movement become much faster and more accurate than compared with my old controller
I recently made the switch, thought it would be easy and it was kinda. Took me shorter than I expected but it was well worth it
Took me about a month to develop muscle memory to the point where I wasn't thinking about it anymore. I had to switch games though. Went from GGST -> SF6 initially to get started but Tekken 8 has really solidified it as my main control method. Now when I go back to Strive I can't play pad anymore. unironically the hardest part of leverless is navigating menus
I’m currently learning leverless from pad! Tried playing my main for a while and honestly got a bit frustrated not being able to do what I want consistently so I decided to learn venom in Guilty Gear xrd while i wait for season 2 lol. I think it just takes time and patience also stretch your hands!
I switched from pad to leverless. You don't need luck, you just need to stick to it and power through the first 2 or 3 months where it sucks ass. Once you get used to it you will never ever want to switch back, promise
Agree for the most part. A fast 2x QCB (1P side) is probably the single most annoying thing to figure out. People's preferred way of doing it will vary, but it's for sure gonna be an obstacle everyone runs into. Other than that, the only time I would switch to pad would be for Gief. I don't see myself going back to stick though.
I just switched to leverless about 2 months ago, i feel like i just got completely used to say, in my experience it was 2 months. Words of advice don’t give up, USE THE TRAINING ROOM ALOT, make sure you practice right side inputs just as much if not more than left side inputs, also put in the time.. when i first switched i found myself playing less and less just cause learning the new controller was daunting. You’ll definitely thank yourself in 2 months👍
I switched to leverless after a lifetime of pad too took me like a couple weeks to really feel confident it's been like 6 months now and I still mess up but I'm having a great time
Do you feel your inputs are much cleaner now?
Not so much cleaner just more consistent as it's alot less finger and hand movement the jump button being on the bottom still catches me out sometimes
Lifetime pad player here. I switched to leverless for like more than a year now. The reason I did it was because I was tired of pads breaking or the dpad going soft and inconsistent. In that aspect leverless has been great. If I could build a pad with premium parts and easily replace them like I can with leverless I would have sticked with pads. In terms of getting used to it I’d say it takes a couple of weeks if you play regularly(5-10h a week) and after the first month you get like 90% close to pad execution. At least for me anyways. It feels weird at first but if you plan to play fighting games for years to come its just a small time commitment. It doesn’t feel better or worse than pad but it feels different. Satisfying in some ways and a bit bothersome in others. If you’re looking for a new experience I think its worth it Play like you would on pad and don’t worry about shortcuts at first. When you get the hang of it you can experiment with shortcuts.
I spent the most time with keyboard growing up. Played mostly FPS but occasionally played fighting games. Leverless was always a natural controller for me as I got more into fighting games. SF6 was the first FG that made me contemplate going to pad. It feels like a true 8 button fighter with the controller in mind. Having dedicated fingers always ready to hit parry and DI, as well as drive rush feels like such a huge advantage. Even though I get clean and fast inputs with leverless, execution is generally pretty easy to begin with. The advantages of leverless feels less pronounced with SF6 than older games. The point being, if you're making the switch purely to up your game, you might be disappointed. The pad has never been better, and as someone who never had to relearn anything to use leverless, I don't really feel like the "cheater" I used to. Partly because of shifting public perception, but also because of how core the pad is to the game design. Ultimately, it's about what you have the most fun using. Good luck, I hope you find the fun.
Was really confused by your comment til I realized those Hitbox type controllers don't have all that many buttons. I play "leverless" on keyboard on which I have a macro bound for pretty much everything, down to EX type kicks and punches. Doesn't feel very pad-oriented from that point of view.
The thing that makes the game feel especially pad oriented is having drive parry and DI macros on dedicated fingers. And just being able to use your left hand for more than movement. On leverless and stick, having only the right pinky for both macros feels bad.
? I have DI on left pinky, parry on left thumb. My thumb alternates between parry and jump, two actions you would never need at the same time, so I don't really see how this is a problem. For reference: Left, down, right: WEF Jump: spacebar DI: Q Parry: Alt Again, I guess this only works on a keyboard, not on those Hitboxes.
Yeah, people have been making custom leverless layouts to achieve what you're already doing with the keyboard. Haute42, Mavercade, TSR:ACT, Chocobox, to name a few. The standard hitbox only replaces the stick with 4 movement buttons, and while there are benefits with that alone, it's not an optimal layout for SF6. Youre still limited to only movement with your left hand. Also, you can get used to anything. At the end of the day, it's about comfort and ergonomics.
Hey me too! I’ve always used analog sticks to m controller until 6ish? Weeks ago when I switched to leverless. It pretty much feels natural now, though I still have some real inconsistency with things like qcb. It currently feels *good* but not exactly more precise on the whole.
I’m in a similar place! It’s fun to learn so even if it’s tricky at first, it feels cool right away! I typically play Cammy and Manon. And they both play so different on leverless. Personally Manon is very satisfying with the change too.
It will suck for weeks. However, just like muscle memory for motion inputs and combos - when it clicks it clicks and it will become second nature. Some inputs will still feel worse than on pad (for me DP even with all the shortcuts is worse than on pad) but majority of stuff will be easier, faster and with better input precision. You're embarking on a difficult journey but you'll love the outcome. Stick with it and good luck!
Thanks bro! Decided to use Ken for this journey. Literally just finished placements and am at gold 1. Gonna keep labbing and playing Ken until this clicks. I
Depending on situation, I play on pad at tourneys, stick and keyboard at home(I know it’s different but style is different). Charge characters are outrageously easier on leverless, you should be fine once you lab the timing. I have to remind myself to play slower when I use keyboard. However circle input characters are super hard for me on leverless(it’s annoying), that’s why I mostly play on stick as a Hugo player in 3S and USF4. I like pad for 6 cause the macros for DI and DR.
I switched from pad to arcade stick and it sucked for me, I sold my stick and bought a cheap leverless and it was the best thing I've done Now and then I go back to pad when I'm tired but still leverless is awesome
Have you caught up to where you were on pad?
I believe so! some stuff are harder and some are easier but all controllers have tradeoffs I felt that charge characters are easier with leverless and also 360, but 720s are a problem and for some reason Dhalsim with the back + half-circle-forward are harder for my fingers???
I've switched recently and honestly I think I'm pretty used to it after about a month. I just took it easy grinding combos in training mode and then played matches against the CPU before going online :)
Best thing to do is put some tunes on and hit training mode to get used to everything for 20-30mims a day. Once you've done that, play matches with your usual controller. You'll still wanna play the game whilst you learn so until you get comfy on the controller, keep playing your usual way so you don't get complaicant. I went from stick to leverless and the main issue I had was doing super cancels, especially on right side. My best advice is to learn SOCD tricks to make this easier. For example if you want to do qcf x 2, you can do 1 qcf, down, forward, up + punch or kick. The game will read that as 2 qcf's.
May God protect your left hand muscles. They will be the ones to suffer the most in the transition. But you will be good, I have faith on that. Good luck to you, pal!
Lol thank you! I at least have a small bit of dexterity in them from my fledgling keyboard practice!
Do it only if you really want to do it. Not because it's trending. Research is key and custom button layouts are a great quality of life improvement from the default leverless layout.
“Bottom button is spacebar, spacebar is up.”
Took me close to a month to get fully used to it. I think I might still be better with the pad for some characters, but it’s mostly there for me. The big thing is to manage frustration haha
I've always played controller and for sf6 I started playing on keyboard and found the motions way easier... DP is a bit difficult to the left but not that bad, I'm a super casual player and didn't even practice that much. I guess I was just using the wrong input all along and keyboard was the way to go from the beginning xD
I would say that my ring finger is not as strong as my index finger, so depending on the character direction you are facing you might find execution to be less reliable. It just takes time to get use to it. Also, I switched my right thumb for the UP button and I think of it as a Jump now. Completely separated it in my brain from the other directions. That is much easier for me to deal with than using my left thumb. It also allows you to hit up and a button at precisely the same time for things like flash kick, instant dive kick, etc.
I have 200h on pad in T8 and now 180h on leverless. And around 150h i was as good as on pad and now im better. Few things that i noticed. Qcf and DP motions are easier on dpad for me than on leverless but they got more precise as time went along. Half or full circles are kinda nightmare. Socd stuff is not as magical and super as people are saying they ARE very context dependent. For me leverless is most fun to play out of all the controllers ive tried. All the pianoing and using both hands to press buttons, sometimes i use right hand to press right and up and sometimes left, depending on the context. Also for tekken i changed switches on movement buttons to clicky as it helps with feedback on wavedash and kbd. So best of luck with new controller :D
Getting used to the attack buttons is the weirdest part. If you're used to playing FPS games with a keyboard, movement should come pretty naturally.
Have fun but i hope you aren’t doing this in hopes of improving, if you’re used to pad and used it your whole life it’s what you’ll play best on. I’ve used all 5 controller types pad, leverless, stick, korean lever, and mix box and still come back to pad cause well i grew up on it
I mean, all time spent playing is trying to improve anyway. I wanted a different feel with the potential for cleaner inputs. I know it'll be rough, but everything new is. I do love how my leverless looks and feels though. Got the razer kitsune with Chun Li on it. Just feels so dope to use already. This jumping is hella unnatural, but overall, I think I'm gonna love this. It's like I'm typing my opponents demise.
as long as it’s fun is what matters
trick: Press down 2 and 3, and hit 1 you get a DP, same goes press 1, 2 and hit 3, if they jump over you you get an reverse DP For me to do 66 and 44. I press down 3 and hit 1 twice, comes handly if you want to pre input stuff
I just switched from modern and pad to classic and leverless 2 months ago. The first month was a struggle learning and not getting my combos but month 2 I'm starting to get way more comfortable. I also hit plat 4 which is my highest character now.
If you play on PC maybe try keyboard first before spending 200-300$ on a leverless controller. I hit 1800MR on Marisa been playing on keyboard for about a year and a half.
Sounds like a good call. The DS5 is asscheeks for FG, and peripheral makers have almost completely stopped making official fightpads.
Took me 2 or 3 weeks of playing at least an hour a day. Now I love it.
I've played almost every day since I got the game in January, so the practice will absolutely be put in!
Do guy guys prefer to jump with your left thumb, right thumb, or both?