Sanshou
Price: 189 Astros 
Class: All 
Description: A famous Muay Thai warrior known only by "Bruce" is the basis of this Sacred Scroll. Renowned across the land for his powerful, crippling strikes and unmatched agility, he recorded his legendary techniques upon parchment to be taught to the youths of the world; Sanshou now remains his most celebrated legacy. 
Opinion: Sanshou is a relatively simple, aggressive scroll that controls the close-range battle through heavy stun and other various tools. Sanshou's kickstun is among the best in the game, allowing for incredible hit-confirm potential; combined with the great width of Sanshou's moves, just the slightest nick ensures that an opponent will eat either a combo or a juggle. Sanshou can also remain slippery and unpredictable with a short-distance dodge move, which can set up a devastating stun launch on just a minor whiff from the opponent, and omni-grab capability makes dealing with turtlers infinitely easier. However, Sanshou's damage falls right under the 'average' category. As the scroll has no spectacular ace in the hole, Sanshou's difficulty comes almost entirely from its need to consistently outplay and stay ahead of the opponent to succeed - a feat which requires intimate knowledge of both the scroll and the opponent. 

DIFFICULTY TO USE: HARD 
DIFFICULTY TO MASTER: VERY HARD 
POTENTIAL: VERY HIGH

Combos:
PPPP - [430] 
PK - [200] 
KKKKK - [480] 
KPPP - [330] 
kG - [x] 
kGP - [130] 
kGP - [150] 
kGK - [180] 
(P+G) - [240] 
(K+G) - [230] 

Cannon Backhand
PPPP 
80, 100, 100, 150 [430] 
Sanhou's punch combo is a short-ranged pressure tool that is remarkably quick and presents very little movement, making it superb at angling. 

Sanshou's first punch is a small step-in jab that hits wide and barely moves the character at all; at close range, it's a great poking move but fails as an effective way to either close distance, strike from mid-range, or move around the opponent at infighting. Sanshou's second and third punches are, for all intents and purposes, identical except for animation, as both have the same damage and about the same recovery and stun. They both are fairly quick moves, making both equally good reset points for pressure strings. Like the first punch, they hardly move as well, so they hit extremely wide. The last punch is a sweeping backhand that practically hits the entire area in front of your character - it's very difficult to whiff. 

PPPP is Sanshou's best form of pressure, and when used properly it does a great job of making opponents feel supremely uncomfortable around you. The lack of movement and wide range on all the inputs make it essentially impossible (or extremely difficult) to drift around in Sanshou's effective range, so if you can stick to your opponents you can effectively counter a drift-heavy playstyle. Sanshou also comes equipped with an omni-grab, so if you come across lots of blocking (or intentionally force them), grabs will easily break their guard. That being said, Sanshou's punch combo is only strong when you are in close range - Sanshou has no way of its own of closing the gap between you and an opponent, so you will have to figure out yourself the best way to close in on your given target. 

Roundhouse Feint
PK 
80, 120 [200] 
Sanshou's two-hit knockdown is weak but it comes out fast enough. Because it starts from a punch it's blockable even if you landed the first punch from the front, and landing it from the back results in wacky knockdown incidents. It's absolutely useless in 1v1s but its speed can catch some people off guard in edging maps. 

Brutal Rush
KKKKK 
90, 70, 70, 85, (55, 110) [480] 
Last input hits twice.
Sanshou's kick combo is a short-medium range combo whose strongest point is the immense amount of hitstun each hit inflicts. The amount of stun in the combo rivals that of Shoot Boxing and Pro Wrestling, to put things in perspective, allowing for easy, stress-free followup if you whiff at first but manage to reconnect later - you can fully delay every single hit in the combo, and the opponent will still be unable to block. 

Sanshou's first kick moves forward a slight bit and pokes at the area in front of your character; there are deceptively large hitboxes extending around your character's leg and foot, making it hit wider and longer than it looks like it should (although it shouldn't be overestimated - Sanshou's first kick still has relatively short range). Sanshou's 2nd and 3rd kicks use alternating legs to strike with but hit essentially around the same area in front of you and don't move you terribly far. Sanshou's 4th kick hits much lower than the others, being a low sweep, but this quality only merits attention when juggling with it. Sanshou's last kick input hits twice, the first hit being a punch and the last hit being a high roundhouse. Although both have radically different animations, both hits angle surprisingly well (if first hit lands, the second one will almost always connect too). 

Although Sanshou's kicks have great stun, their recoveries are not nearly as superb. A total whiff on any of the inputs will leave you dead open. Make sure you at least touch something with the kicks. On block, Sanshou's kicks don't grant nearly as much of an advantage as the punches, so they are inadequate pressuring tools. Use them to punish mistakes your opponents make, and to stop drifting from getting out of hand (Sanshou's kicks hit wide, and if any hit so much nicks them you can easily follow up with a combo). 

Sledge Hammer
KPPP 
90, 70, 70, 100 [330] 
Sanshou's launcher is one of the few four input launchers (the others being Zin Karate and Rage) and so far the only launcher with a KPPP input. 

The first P input takes some time to come out and moves forward a lot more than the other hits in Sanshou's arsenal, causing it to have a tendency to miss at certain angles. The second P input hits a lot wider and comes out a bit faster, while the launching input - the last P - moves nil distance and bounces everything in a very, very wide area around you. 

Even though Sanshou's launcher is a KPPP input the massive stun on the first kick still lets you easily hit-confirm into a launcher if you're paying adequate attention. The P inputs of the launcher aren't that great on block, but they do recover faster than your regular kicks so whiffs aren't nearly as fatal. That being said, continuing the combo, even if the first few hits whiffed, into a drifting opponent is a perfectly viable tactic. 

Backstep
kG 
Has invincibility frames. 
Doesn't cause a hit.
Sanshou's kG causes you to take a leap backward, granting you invincibility until about a 0.25 second delay after you land. From this position, you can either choose to press P (stun launcher) or K (massive knockback) or nothing (causing you to stay there for a really long time). The stance is held for an extremely long time, allowing for a massive delay on either of the two attacks. If attacking afterward would be disadvantageous, you can choose to not do anything, but you'll lose any offensive advantage you had due to the sluggish recovery of the move. 

Angling the backstep, rather than simply retreating in the same line as your opponent's attack, almost always is more effective in setting up a follow-up attack. Knowing when and how to use the dodge will be important in maintaining an unpredictable nature. 

Tenderizer
kGP 
[130] 
The P input after the kG backstep initiates a charged punch that always stun launches no matter the charge level. You'll step forward to do the punch, but it's not a generous distance - don't overestimate the range. 

kGP is the more useful of the two choices because of the damage potential and trading ability in a 1v1. In the event of a trade of hits, you'll always come out on top (unless it was a knockdown move) since the opponent will be grabbing their innards waiting to be juggled, while you'll already have recovered. However, it is unsafe on block, so use accordingly. 

Super Tenderizer
kGP
[150] 
Unblockable.
A charged kGP comes out faster than most charged combos and is unblockable on top of that. Opponents paying attention and walking around will almost never be hit by this, but you can play some nasty wake-up by dodging a recovery move and snapping back with this. It also allows you to pseudo-delay your P launch and angle it twice. 

Nightmare Roundhouse
kGK 
[180] 
Pressing K after the backstep will cause you to spring forward with a powerful roundhouse straight that sends the opponent flying. The hit range on this is a lot longer than the P version, but of course this doesn't stun launch. The knockback distance on the move is insane, making it a great edging move. Unlike the P this move is also neutral on block, but it should be avoided in non-edging 1v1s since you sacrifice too much damage by using it. 

Sanshou has a omni-grab. 
Front grab throws behind. 
Back/side grab throws behind. 
240 damage 

Sanshou has a unique counter. 
Moves both user and opponent forward and spins opponent around. 
230 damage

Juggles:

KPPP P P KKKKK 
[330] + 48 + 48 + [288] = [714] 
A relatively simple juggle. Pay attention to the fourth kick input since it hits low, and delay if necessary. 

STRATEGY:

As a scroll with great hit-confirming and pressuring ability, Sanshou works best offensively. The lack of range will force you to stick close to your opponent to remain effective, so master approach methods such as slide kicking or jumping in to constantly be in your effective range. Once inside, a variety of pressuring and punishment tools will be made available to make short work of your opponent. Make use of your fast and wide punches to make an opponent scared to move and remember an omni-grab will easily deal with side-blockers and turtlers, and Sanshou's unique counter will instantly negate any offense the opponent attempted and reverse the advantage to you.   Sanshou's kicks are good punishers and anti-drift tools, but are subpar at pressuring blockers, so try to hit opponents with them and make use of their stun. When playing against scrolls that can outprioritize your hits, proper use of the kG backstep (angling) can easily punish spamming or opponents' attempts to break out of your pressure with their own hits. You'll have to be smart and steady when using Sanshou - this isn't a scroll that will play itself.