[quote name='jer7583']No he means focus attacks stun on hit and allow you to go into an ultra. Or dash cancel out of a focus attack into ultra?
Focus attacks seem like slow to start high priority attacks that allow you to eat one hit that's regenerative during windup. But if you time it right, you eat that first hit, but then the focus comes out during the opponent's vulnerable frames, and they get countered with whatever you can go into from a focus attack.[/QUOTE]
From Wiki:
Focus Attacks
Focus Attacks, known as "Saving System" in the Japanese version, is a new system that is being introduced in Street Fighter IV. The focus attack is a move that allows the player to absorb an attack and launch a counter attack, and it is performed by pressing the medium punch and kick buttons simultaneously. There are two phases to the attack. In the first phase, the player will shift into a new stance, at which point he is able to absorb one attack from the opponent. The second phase is the counter attack. The longer the player holds down the medium punch and kick buttons the more powerful the attack will be. If the buttons are held for long enough the attack will cause the opponent to crumple slowly to the ground, allowing the player to follow up with a free hit. If the buttons are held for longer still the focus attack will become unblockable. Attacks that were absorbed during the first phase of the focus attack still cause damage to the player; however, life lost from the opponent's attack will be gained back afterward. In addition, during the first phase of the focus attack the player may perform a dash either forward or backward to cancel the focus attack. Finally, at the cost of half the super combo gauge, many special moves can be canceled into a focus attack. By executing a focus attack during the special move, the animation of the move will be cut short and go instantly into the focus attack animation. This allows players with precise timing to cancel special moves into focus attacks, and in turn cancel focus attacks into the forward dash, resulting in new combo possibilities. If a special move is blocked by the opponent, the new system allows players to cancel the blocked move with a focus attack, and then cancel the focus attack by dashing backward safely away from the opponent.
Ono has stated that this system was incorporated in order to shift the emphasis away from combos and toward a more realistic system he has compared to boxing, in which "the skill is in reading your opponent's move before he starts moving ... We haven't forgotten about combos and linked moves, but focus makes it so that you have to read your opponent." The system aims to make ground attacks as viable a way of approaching opponents as jumping was in previous games. The focus system is a core part of Street Fighter IV's gameplay.
Ultra Combos
In addition to powered up versions of special moves introduced in previous Street Fighter games such as Super Combos and EX Special Moves, the game also introduces a new type of powered-up special move officially dubbed the Ultra Combo. Ultra Combos are long and cinematic moves featuring a lengthy combination of punches, kicks and other moves. Just as there is a Super Combo gauge, there is also an Ultra Combo gauge (officially known as the "Revenge Gauge"), but whereas the Super gauge fills as the player hits an opponent, the Revenge Gauge fills when one takes damage from the opponent. Along with the Super Combos, Ultra Combos are one of the only times the camera breaks from its normal fixed position to show a more dynamic, cinematic view of the gameplay.