How to Defeat the "Zone"

[HeeroYuy135]

My natural play style from my experiences with other games that are not fighters in the past couple of years (i.e. SF, Marvel, and BB) is to rush down the character/objective and PTFO (Play The F***ing Objective). The problem I'm having is when I face up against someone who can put distance on me, i.e. Yukiko, Naoto, or even in a Yu mirror match when the opponent throws C Zio all day. Part of this is trying to "panic jump" (where I would think I'm jumping in a direction but I just jump straight up and down) but a part of this is not knowing how to defeat the zone and "those who keep distance" characters.

So how I get past the zoning and get back inside to rush the opponent again?

[yashanyu1]

AC roll, Air dash block, walk forward while blocking, or just IB the projectiles and build meter coax them into coming to you. learn to predict the opponents habit of when they throw projectiles. You gotta be patient and think of what you need to do and remember your tools. With meter narukami can punish projectiles with Ziodyne for instance. Don't get hot and heavy under the barrage just keep calm and block plasma.

[Ghurdrich]

Most zoners, especially in this game, tend to put a lot into their zoning. Thus baiting and punishing is quite strong against them. For example, if Yukiko's throwing fans at you, or Liz is Ziodyning you, it'll be a while before she can throw another one. Use that opportunity to get in just a little further. Patience is key. I fight a lot of people who just keep trying to IAD in blindly, and obviously that gets them punished. Find out what tools your character has that can punish zoning, or better yet, keep ground (Akihiko's dodge moves, Teddie's 2D Teddie, etc) under zoning, and if you can help it, don't give up an inch of ground for anything. A Zoner's worst nightmare is someone who can get out of fullscreen lockdown, no matter how steadily.

[Raging Ghost]

Protip: You can use certain moves to dodge some types of projectiles. Keep that in mind.

[loyaloath]

In my experience as Labrys, you just need to take a few steps in between each projectile, and keep in mind what ones can move you back. When they change up to a move that can push back even on block that is when you want to use your roll, otherwise I tend to just block everything and hopefully bait an BD out of them. At least at this point in time, it seems a lot of liz players will try their grab as soon as you get remotely close, so just remember to tech out of it since you can tech her BD or just hop as you get close to her.

I'm not as sure on Yukiko, since I have not fought many that are good as her but it should be possible for you to slowly advance on her too. Personally I find Naoto the easiest of the zoners to deal with because of how her BD works and it is super easy to bait. if they are just spamming shots at you, its pretty easy to IAD in between each one and still be decently safe. But then again I also have not run into any great Naotos, either.

[SteinGuns]

I'd imagine Mitsuru's air whip thing can easily punish zoning, and Yu has alot of ways to punish zoners.

As an example, Raging Lion is pretty good at dealing with Naoto's jump back reload thing if timed correctly. Also, swift strike at mid or so range can easily punish things like Elizabeth's Ziodyne, or Yukiko's fans. Yu's Zio all around isn't really that safe, even at mid range.

I don't really play any of these characters aside from Liz, these are just some things I noticed when fighting these characters online, so I apologize if the information isn't 100% accurate.

[Rasetsu]

Exploit your movement options and find out what gives your opponents character trouble, superjumping is pretty strong against Liz's ground keepaway, while dodge can beat yukiko's fans unless they time them perfectly. Try and predict your opponent's next move and act accordingly, get to know the 'zoning habits' of your opponent, that is, try and see the patterns in their zoning game so you can get past it, most people have a pretty stale neutral game and will be doing the same thing over and over, and if you adapt they won't be able to handle it as easily.

Get a feel for the opponent's moves and try and gain ground during the recovery of their moves. As a Yukiko main I can tell you, if you ever see me throwing 2 fans at you and they don't hit, the recovery on that thing is more than enough for you to IAD and close a lot of ground on me, and even punish me if you're close enough. The anti-air fans are also particularly dangerous on whiff if you aren't more than midscreen away. If I use my persona recklessly and don't cover it with fans or make it hit you from behind, be sure not to miss the punish, most zoning characters are no trouble when persona broken.

[Ghurdrich]

most zoning characters are no trouble when persona broken.

This. Dear lord this. With pretty much the only exception being Naoto, any character with prominent zoning capabilities might as well have no arms at all without their persona. That damned Yukiko who trapped you in a corner with her maragi combos now has to either poke you with fans for the next little while, or else get up in your very dangerous grill. She really has no choice, because you've taken away everything, even her Furious Action.

Liz is a little better off, but she loses most of her good mixup, and obviously any long-range capability (watch out midrange for her 5B though.)

The list goes on, but if you can Persona Break a zoner, you might as well have won the match.

[Agito]

Also remember that there are no chip kills in persona so you cant die while blocking