A Killer Instinct Guide for SFIV Players by Infil

Both these moves are safe on block, although Triplax can be shadow counter bait since it always hits at least twice. Ankle Slicer is a low attack that crushes lows and swings Thunder backwards before he lunges forwards, avoiding some throws and attacks. Shadow Triplax has one hit of armor. Back throw counts as an opener; it is directly cancelable into doubles and linkers.

Ankle Slicer is a fast, damaging linker but the higher strengths are easier to break, since Thunder winds up for multiple swings. Shadow Ankle Slicer completes its five hits very fast, which can make lockouts hurt for two bars. Triplax hits 2, 3, and 4 times for light, medium, and heavy, which can be confusing. Back throw is also a linker, which means you can do two back throws in a row (as an opener, then a linker), and all manuals are possible after back throw. Back throw can be teched while in a combo using LP+LK, but the timing is as tight as breaking a light manual and the throw comes out with linker timing (which is much earlier than a light manual would occur), making it difficult to defend against.

Ankle Slicer will build Thunder the meter he needs to be threatening with shadow Call of the Earth, so it's the recommended ender to use early in the fight. Otherwise, you'll mostly see the two Call of the Earth enders being used; the regular version does a hard knockdown and lets Thunder set up an incredibly meaty, ambiguous jump-in, while shadow Call of the Earth can grant Thunder level 5 ender damage and it ground bounces for an additional follow-up (but breakable) hit. Triplax ender has situational uses, but Thunder's floaty jump hinders some of the traditional wall splat mixups. Sammamish as an ender should probably be avoided.

Normals to watch: Thunder has a 2-hit command overhead with +HP, which goes very far and is good to catch people who panic at the edge of Thunder's command grab range, but astute defenders can shadow counter it on block. Otherwise, Thunder can keep people who try to jump away from command grab with normals like close LK, which if canceled into heavy command grab on block will create a dangerous tick throw option. Far standing HK and HP are also great buttons that can be canceled into heavy Triplax opener if your opponent chooses to sit at this range long enough; HK causes Thunder to stand on one foot and lunge forward, dodging some low moves, and HP is a little slow at 10 frames of startup but takes up more than 3 character lengths of space in front of Thunder. Jumping MK and HP have cross-up potential, with HP being Thunder's bread winner; it has massive active frames and a hugely ambiguous hitbox.

Specials to watch: As is always the case with grapplers, the Call of the Earth command grab is scary. All versions are throw invincible, and HP has over half-screen range, but they're a little slow out of the gate at 10, 13, and 17 frames of startup for light, medium, and heavy. That's not so bad, though, because that allows Thunder to tick into them and the range really can't be understated. Shadow Call of the Earth is the real star here; at just 5 frames of startup before the freeze and 0 frames after, and almost the range of the HP version, dealing 23% unbreakable damage with follow-ups possible, this move will terrorize opponents who are anywhere near Thunder. This is when Thunder can start using his excellent dragon punch, Sammamish. It goes through projectiles (which means Thunder can use it to approach in some cases) and is throw and upper body invincible, and has very little landing recovery. It's also cancelable into Skyfall by pressing HK, a foot stomp that will thwart some punish attempts but is very unsafe if blocked. Thunder can use Sammamish to cross over a knocked down opponent for a tricky mixup as well. Use Ankle Slicer to sway out of the way of attacks and crush low attacks. Thunder also has Call of Sky (PPP), a special move that calls a bolt of lightning down on top of your opponent's head. It's a very slow move that struggles to track moving opponents and will get you killed if you use it up close, but it's pretty useful to pin down people who try to run away from Thunder, forcing them to fight in a range he's more comfortable with.

General strategy: Thunder's main strategy is to get people to sit still, so he can give them a giant hug. Doing this is not necessarily easy, however, which is why, like most grapplers, the command grab is not something you'll try to land every time you're close. Most of Thunder's pressure will be with Ankle Slicer and Triplax, and using some beefy mid-range normals to convince people that jumping is bad, and then surprising them with a quick forward dash into shadow Call of the Earth. Thunder's Ankle Slicer battery ender is particularly important, since having meter available makes Thunder a much more pronounced threat; if you have bar already, use Call of the Earth ender and set up Thunder's strong wakeup game with jumping HP cross-ups, tick grabs, empty jump lows, and empty jump grabs. For reversals, Thunder only has shadow Sammamish; the regular one is only upper body invincible and will get stuffed by low meaties, but regular Sammamish can be used in tricky ways offensively when combined with Skyfall (which can cross up) and its low landing recovery. If your opponent likes to keep to the air, like Sadira, use Call of Sky to convince them to stay grounded. If you're getting zoned out, use Sammamish to avoid projectiles and inch your way forward with forward dash. If you're really struggling, activating instinct should get you the rest of the way there.