Been playing some offline with a few friends lately. Problem is one of them plays Leo really good and i'm having problems with trying to get out of Leo's rekkas and backstance. I try to blitz and/or use dead angle to interrupt him, i've sometimes managed to just guard and follow up with a Potemkin buster or a regular throw.
Some helpful tips would be greatly appreciated.
The most important thing would be to avoid letting him get into stance for free, either via the raw dash through or rekka(2). As far as relatively guaranteed punishes go:
In the case of the raw dashthrough, you can option select throw by tapping 4+HS+another non-dust button during blockstrings - you'll throw him if he crosses up, and get faultless defense if he doesn't. You can practice this in one of the vs. Leo tutorials/challenges.
For rekkas, you can throw him out of the crossup part if you regular instant block rekka(1). Be careful if the throw is mistimed and doesn't come out - you'll have to actually block rekka(2) in the opposite direction to avoid being opened up when the first is IB'd. If you miss the IB on the first hit, you can regular IB the second and potentially get a punish with your fastest move (6f or faster) as long as he isn't the type to go into the third on block.
You can also stand blitz in the above situations where throw can be used, but it's generally riskier than the mentioned option select.
As for stance tips:
He's at disadvantage (-3) from regular blocked rekka(2) so you can beat whatever normal he puts out after with one of your own. However, an immediate parry can catch whatever non-throw comes after. An unfortunate guessing game. He'll use your hesitation to start going into his stance mixups. If your execution is on point, maybe a frame perfect pot buster (3f startup) is a guaranteed punish?
Aside from during the situations above, trying to go for throws is generally not recommended due to half his stance normals having some throw invul.
The main thing to look for is gaps between blockstring hits, and this usually happens during overhead startups and when he tries to front step (66) back in for a pressure reset / crossup. Using this gap can help you better anticipate when to stand block, but particularly wily players can use a delayed low to open you up if you're autopiloting. There's also a vs. Leo tutorial/challenge to practice this.
Stance HS (overhead that doesn't guard crush) is plus on block, but is only (relatively gapless) from stance S (long poke with cross). There's room to mash out of bt.P > bt.HS or bt.K > bt.HS with a long-enough fast button if you're brave, but it's super risky.
If you have 50 meter, you can get a guaranteed dead angle after blocking stance HS.
You don't need to worry about the low once you push him out far enough, and FD can help reach this point sooner. Be ready to mash if he tries to front step back into range.
Assuming you are on fightstick: if you get guardcrushed, you can hold down back + one button and piano the others to recover faster. This lets you recover from the stagger faster without having a normal accidentally come out, preventing Leo from getting a free meterless combo after.
If he's using rekkas or the raw crossthrough during stance blockstrings, refer to the first section for countermeasures.
