Kung Lao? Where dose he really Rank Now in the Tier List?.. Top players?

Kung Lao Pros:

+Mix-ups are virtually unlimited with half decent zoning
+Mobility allows him to be a threat all over the screen
+Completely safe EX teleport
+Blows up pokes with a full combo
+Great chip damage and meter building
+Fast normals
+Easy execution
+WHOOTIGAH

Kung Lao Cons:

-Low hitbox characters give him sort of a difficult time
-Divekick and spin are punishable on block
-Looks like Justin Wong


Yeah, he's still top 5.

Wish reo had started this thread would be 20 pages full by now lol.

KL being 2nd best is a bit extreme. He is top 5 though. The character only has 2 bad MUs. The only characters that I think are better than KL are Kabal, Kenshi, Sonya and Cage.

KL has a 6 frame spin, 7 frame 2 and a 10 frame 1. Hes really fast and mobile. Best X-ray in the game. Its literally a game changer and has pretty good pressure. I wouldn't go as far as saying hes top 3 but definitively he deserves 4-5.

The only characters I can see beating KL are Cage and Sonya. Him losing to Kitana, Sektor and Jax is a myth.

You keep saying that, but why don't you explain to us if there is a way to get around it...

basically the the 1 and 2 are the strings lao is gonna use for 80% of the time. the reason it is not as bad for other characters to whiff a move is because they have other strings that do connect and their gameplan isn't offensive styled like lao is. and what do you mean mileena is the only small hitbox character... the biggest problem is the strings whiffing on crouch block which happens with plenty characters.

Strings whiffing on the low hit box characters is a problem but if they didnt whiff and hit low hit box characters than hed be the best player in the game. KL isnt designed to be a pressure machine like Cage.

NRS is laughing at us. So many good characters and no possible way to figure out who is the best.

Top 3 with Kabal and Sonya/Kenshi

All the low hitbox characters that can duck his strings have even more punishable strings than KL, so I dont get how being poked out of a string is bad, when KL can just block and spin all the characters, bar Cage (unless Cage doesnt confirm 11F1 on stand block).

Sonya B21/114/21 vs Crouched KL? Spin
Jax 12/F41 vs Crouched KL? Spin
Sektor 12B1 vs Crouched KL? Spin, may be the only string but KL has alot of other advantages over Sektor

Mileena is the only 1 that can really get underneath him, while at the same time having uninteruptable strings, but her strings suck ass anyway. Sonya having the same hitbox doesnt really matter, cause Sonya needs to D4 him to even get near him, hows she gonna d4 him when he's all over the screen every 2 seconds doing all sorts of crazy shit.

KL beats Sonya since his spin beats her MS mixups after blockstrings all together, so the threat is always on the Sonya player. When people actually learn to play footsies properly they wont fear Sonya half as much

Kung Lao 1.05 isn't meant to go careless rushdown mode. He's so mobile because he's supposed to control the space and punish the whiffs.

What does KL punish whiffed moves with? 21? Whenever i try to punish whiffed moves my 1 and 2 always dont go far enough.

Wanna see how to play KL ... watch @FOREVER KING play him

i don't even care what he is on the tier list tbh, but I know for sure that there's not one matchup in this game where lao gets dominated. Low hitbox does mess up his pressure, but with proper throw mixups and use of his d3 and d4 you can deal with hit. He still has the best xray in the game and the best AA in the game, so he is still solid. His f2 and 2 4 1+2 are safe as well. His ex divekick can be placed to give you advantage if it's blocked and he has ex tele tech where if you whiff the grab, u keep the armor when you go down. There are too many pros for him, and very little cons.

easily top 5

In my opinion, the way most KL player are using him he's "just" top ten. His specials are way overused, even in high level play, and the spin gets punished much to often.
When high level players start to rely on his mixups, he might be top 5.

You make it sound like everyone is braindead to how fast his spin is, good players will bait the spin cause it leads to a full combo punish if missed. It can be as dangerous to lao as it can his opponent, if i play vs lao i will cancle my strings and block hoping they will spin so i can punish. You cannot just throw out random spins thinking they will dash in for extra pressure like jax after his 12.. where is the guarntee he will go for a 4-1 after? If he dosent your going to eat full combo. Without hitcomfirming the spin its risky as hell. Not like reptiles dash where he can just mash it out because of the 2 frame window to punish it.. Or cages f3 thats 0 on block half the time reacting to that with a spin seems near impossible even tho you have a +3 advantage. Or sonyas kartwheel thats only -3 on block.

Thats why you want to master KL standing 2 and learn to hitconfirm 21212~spin. You should never spin out of pressure or anything always do standing 2. Its 7 frames and only 1 frame slower than spin. Spin is mainly used as an AA/cross ups and in combos nothing else. Any good KL player will not just throw it out. 2>Spin

By crouch blocking and making the opponent miss, the spin or standing 2 hits them during their recovery.

There is no 'baiting the spin' in this scenario.

foxy when you force your opponent to commit to crouch block in mk9 they are at a penalty for being in crouch block you cannot just spin them all the time from being in crouch block because of the penalty you get for being there. Thats the idea off offensive play forcing the opponent into crouch block there only real option is to use meter for armour or specials.. Or to find a opening to hitcomfirm a poke to gain there advantage.

The only time you want to be in crouch block is to poke, or by fuzzy guarding which is the idea off fuzzy guarding so you dont get the crouch penalty i dont doubt you already know this just i dont understand the logic behind what your saying tbh.

When the opponent does the strings f0xy is talking about, they will whiff when Kung Lao is crouch blocking allowing him to spin them during their recovery frames without risk, obviously earning him a combo. Whereas those characters can get an uppercut at max against Lao without using meter.

Basically Lao's crouching hitbox is worse for those characters than their's are for him.

The only two true low hitboxes in the game are mileena and sektor, but only when he is blocking. Everyone else is bigger than them and things start to not whiff as the list goes up.

This low hitbox talk is getting absolutely OUT OF CONTROL. People are making it seem like its the end all and be all of every matchup
First it was kabal vs sektor, now its KL vs everybody.

Dude.....
I don't even want to reiterate what has been said in this thread but KL is no higher than 4th and no lower than 9th.

And the argument, why isn't KL winning tournies is thin as toilet tissue.
So what you want is for Reo and CDjr to main KL for proof?! O ok.

On Lao's case it's like Jax vs Cage but for all low-hitbox characters.

Who uses those strings with Sonya anyway? Every Sonya player starts Sonya's offense with d+4 xx MS f+1 which can never be interrupted.

I think Kung Lao loses to Cage and Sonya, which is a big deal because these two characters are turning out to be highly popular in tournaments. Kabal and Kitana are tough match ups, but it is debatable whether Kung Lao loses to them at the highest level of play. Having only 2-3 bad match ups would make him top 10.

kitana fucks kung lao in the ass