How to Play Sagat in Ultra Street Fighter IV

1General information about Sagat

As for our tutorial dedicated to M. Bison, we will quickly talk about the history of Sagat. Sagat is the Emperor of Thai boxing, nicknamed the invincible Tiger. His ultra powerful kicks would be simply unstoppable. Only Ryu managed to defeat him, a defeat that continues to haunt him and pushes him to surpass himself.

Sagat is a Shoto, with a high and low fireball and can perform Uppercut Tigers like the Shoryuken of Ryo, Sakura or Ken. This rather slow character will have a lot of life points (1050) and will very rarely be stunned (1000). You will find below the table of the special moves of this character:

Sagat's special moves:

The Tiger Uppercut will be Sagat's most classic move and will be used in almost all of the character's combos. Thanks to this, you can punish a bad combo from your opponent, with the possibility of being punished if he hits on guard, but also put the opposing character on the ground and thus put pressure on him by performing a Dash a few seconds later. .

The Tiger Uppercut like the Shoto Shoryuken will allow you to perform a FADC and place Sagat's Ultra right after. Note that you will also be able to place an HK between the two blows to inflict even more damage on your opponent even if this combo will be much more difficult to achieve. The Tiger Uppercut in EX is a good way to punish fireballs that are too close to your character.

The Tiger Knee will be done by performing the same manipulation as an Uppercut and then pressing the Foot button and not the Fist. Just like most of the character's skills, alternating between the Light, Medium and High Kick will allow you to be faster or slower, go more or less far and above all do more damage.

This blow will allow you to get closer to your opponent very quickly and the EX part will be able to both cross the balls and put your opponent on the ground in order to jump to inflict cross-up blows on him. You can also Cancel the Tiger Knee to place your Super right after to create devastating combos.

Sagat will have the ability to fireball high or low by performing a quarter circle forward and fist (up) or quarter circle forward and kick (down). You will then be able to modify the speed of these shots by alternating the fists (Light, Medium or High). This will be particularly useful in Matchups like Honda's, who will have to gradually manage to advance without getting hit to reach the close combat against Sagat.

You can also occasionally place a Tiger Shot High in EX which will be unavoidable if the opponent tends to jump to avoid your low or slowest Tiger Shots. Also remember that the Tiger Shot High in EX will knock your opponent down! Perfect if you want to follow up on a dash or a Jump LP to keep putting pressure on him.

This is the same fireball as the Tiger Shot in High but fired from below. As explained before, it will be useful to alternate the fireballs to create a rhythm against enemies who do not have a fireball and cannot hit you from a distance either. Pay attention to the distance of your shots because you can get hit on the recovery of the ball as by an HK jump for example.

Just like the Tiger Shot in High EX, the one in Low can also allow you to put down your opponent. It will be particularly useful to you against a Shoto abusing his fireballs. Your Tiger Shot in EX will then be able to counter his ball and hit him directly. You can then get closer via a Tiger Knee while increasing your Super gauge.

Although little used, this new move will increase the damage and properties of your future Tiger Uppercut. The hit will become Armor-break and inflict the following damage: 150 (LP), 170 (MP) and 180 (HP). This blow could therefore be devastating against a character focusing on his focus and/or kill an opponent who will not have many life points left.

2Super and Ultra de Sagat

In this second part of our tutorial dedicated to Sagat, we will tell you about the Super as well as the Ultra from Sagat. Above all, you will be recommended to use your EX bars for Tiger Shots in order to modulate their speed, but also with EX Tiger Knees intended to surprise the opponent.

This is Sagat's Super which can be performed once the entire Super bar is charged. In order to do it, you will need to do two forward quarters and a foot. This super can be placed behind a Tiger Knee cancel in order to inflict heavy damage on the opponent and cross the fireballs at the same time. Note that it will drastically increase your opponent's Stun gauge and put him down, allowing you to chain him in the corner.

Sagat's two Ultras will have to be used differently depending on the opposing character. It will be more interesting to take the Tiger Destruction against the Shoto knowing that placed at the right time, you will be able to cross the fireballs made at the wrong distance. Conversely, the Tiger Cannon will be more difficult to chain and we advise you to take the first more often, which will be placed directly after a Tiger Uppercut Cancel followed by a HK if you master the chain.

3Sagat Combos and Matchup

Basic Combo:

C.LK (x2) -> C.LP -> Tiger Uppercut

Here you are in the present of Sagat's best close range combo. The first two crouching kicks will allow you to see if you are hitting the opponent's guard or not, if this is not the case, you can continue your sequence by placing a Light Punch then a Tiger Uppercut in order to put your opponent on the ground and dash if you want to keep the pressure on.

S.LK (x2) -> Low Tiger Shot

The LK will be a very handy move for Sagat if you want to poke your opponent on guard or not. This fairly quick shot will have a good range and allow you to punish him with a Low Tiger Shot in sequence if he doesn't keep.

Advanced Combo:

Tiger Uppercut HP -> FADC -> HK -> Ultra

The easiest way to place the first Sagat Ultra. You will need to hit your opponent with a Tiger Uppercut HP (to inflict heavy damage) then cancel this blow with a focus, place your HK although not mandatory and chain everything with the Ultra. This advanced combo will be the first to learn as it will be Sagat's most damaging combo while placing your Ultra.

J.HK -> C.MP -> Tiger Uppercut HP

Once placed, you can continue this sequence with a FADC, HK then Ultra. As you will have noticed, most of Sagat's combos will be done through a Tiger Uppercut, intended to put the opponent in the air to catch him with an Ultra or an EX blow. You will therefore need to quickly master the "FADC" which consists of pressing the MP and MK at the same time to perform a focus and then do a dash to cancel the focus.

C.MK -> Tiger Shot -> FADC -> Tiger Knee

Quite interesting since you just have to touch the opponent with your MK to place your Tiger Shot cancel, hit with your Focus level 2 and chain everything with a Tiger Knee HK. A very effective combo that can remove up to 40% of your opponent's life bar and stun them a few seconds later.

C.LP -> Tiger Shot (Low) -> Ultra

Tiger Shot HP -> FADC -> Ultra

This combo will only be done in the corner, in order to keep the pressure on your opponent. Note that the Ultra will not pass entirely! Regarding the second combo, it is an anti-air to perform at the right time otherwise you can be countered quite easily.

C.LK -> MP or HP -> Super

C.LK -> C.MP -> Tiger Uppercut -> Ultra

Combo quite easy to perform and which will allow you to use your Super full pot, thus inflicting maximum damage. Regarding the second combo, it will not work on the Hitbox of all characters, so be careful of the opponent in front who could counter you if the Ultra does not pass. You will then simply have to do your sequence without finishing with the Ultra.