Hmmmmm, I've been pretty much doing that for a while now (Thank God) I would either confirm with a standing 1 into f21 or go in with a b12 if I'm feeling lazy.
Yeah I just kinda freeform it, and honestly I think that's the best way to play it because it's so freaking range dependant. Get ANY combo off it and it's worth the meter at the end of the day, my main focus is just getting that original convert, whatever string you can use to convert it reliably I'd just go with that. Hell to be honest just connect an ex Hat call is worth the meter, and worst case scenario on block the plus frames let whatever you convert with turn into a free block string. This kinda thing isn't something I fret about, might just be my playstyle but I call back that EX hat expecting it to be blocked, being pleasantly surprised at whatever I manage to get off it when I convert, and just revelling in the fact that we build meter INSANELY fast which lets us burn the bar like that, I feel it's one of the characters big strengths. Just my thoughts on it tho
Yeah I just kinda freeform it, and honestly I think that's the best way to play it because it's so freaking range dependant. Get ANY combo off it and it's worth the meter at the end of the day, my main focus is just getting that original convert, whatever string you can use to convert it reliably I'd just go with that. Hell to be honest just connect an ex Hat call is worth the meter, and worst case scenario on block the plus frames let whatever you convert with turn into a free block string. This kinda thing isn't something I fret about, might just be my playstyle but I call back that EX hat expecting it to be blocked, being pleasantly surprised at whatever I manage to get off it when I convert, and just revelling in the fact that we build meter INSANELY fast which lets us burn the bar like that, I feel it's one of the characters big strengths. Just my thoughts on it tho
Its where Hat Trick relies the most, i tested how fast can lao build and spend a bar just with 112124 loops with hat traps and hcbs and i landed a 100% chip before i ran out of meter.
So is just a mater of simple math, looping hcb blockstrings will get you to build more likely 80% of your bar even if you spend every single time as long as you're able to hit the same string twice if you use the meter.
so 112124~ex hcb~112124 hat trap its like, makes you spend a bar and you get 80.5% of it back, any string you land blocking will get you to 100% of that bar you just spent.
So I have this training partner who's extremely with Swarm Queen D'Vorah and I've just played my first set against him with me playing Hat Trick.
How do you think this match up plays out? I can't deny that I got squashed, obliterated even. Once she was in I felt like I couldn't do anything, I tried armour, poking, back dash, jump, the lot. My only hope was to run and play here comes the hat but that only saved me for so long until I get locked down and knocked out.
I admit my Lao is early days and I wouldn't say I'm even good with him yet but I felt pretty confident about getting out of her oressure beforehand with EX Spin atleast.
Is this such a bad match up that it's not worth trying or am I such a Scrub Lao that I'm not doing anything right?
Welcome to my Kung Lao guide. Since the recent buffs, this is a character many people have been intrigued by, and I personally think at this point it's fair to say he IS very viable, and although he doesn't have some of the pointed strengths of the other two variations, he does bring his own to the table, and a versatile, adaptible playstyle to be molded by the hands of the player behind him. This guide contains almost all the information I could come up with, but nothing is ever truly complete in the ever-changing world and metagame of Mortal Kombat, so I am 100% committed to keeping this thread up to date, accurate, and useful. Any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.
DISCLAIMER: this guide is currently unfinished, and will be built on heavily over the next few weeks by contributing members of the Kung Lao community. If you would like to contribute, feel free to leave anything in the comments section, if not I do have a very friendly and open Inbox
Legend:
RC = Run Cancel
OH = Overhead
HCB = Hat Call Back (DD2 with Hat out)
Spin = DF1 with Hat in
TP = Teleport (DU)
JiP = Jump in 2
JiK = Jump In 3
NOTES
Just to run down most useful buttons to be pressing in the neutral game. Hat Trick has some very nice, very safe buttons.
Midscreen:
F2: Punish, Neutral B22: Overhead Starter D4: Poke/conditioning tool D1: Check/Pressure Set-Up 112124: Pressure string Jump in 2: Air opener EX-Projectile: Fullscreen full combo starter projectile
F23 is your go-to punisher but is super unsafe in the neutral, however F2 is an amazing 11 frame advancing mid that can also hitconfirm into a 35% Hatarang combo in the neutral off the F21 string. B22 is an Overhead starter with advancing properties, that cancels into Hat Trap and is fully safe against everything except Cassie's Flipkick. Using D4 is a good poke and a great way to bully your opponent into getting opened up for an Overhead. Aside from the regular uses of D1's as a check and fastest/least negative poke, it is especially useful as Hat Trick (and Kung Lao in general) as he has a lot of stuff that leaves him only slightly negative (6 frames and and under) and throwing that poke out immediately after can discourage your opponent from being able to throw anything too heavy your way if the try capitilise on their plus frames. On hit it also perfectly sets up a 112124, which is a pressure string that builds about half a bar and gives a completely safe trap, and with a Hat Trap already out can be gapless looped into itself again at the cost of a meter. It's a great response to any blocked pokes or for just taking advantage of +frames in general, as it hitconfirms quite easily into 25% and a Trap set-up. I normally wouldn't mention Jump in 2 as every character obviously has jump in's, but this one deserves a mention as it has an insane disjointed Hitbox, and makes 44 (your highest damage combo starter) completely safe, as it can usually be beaten by pokes as it's a high, and the second hit has an armorable gap, hitconfirming off the Jump in solves both these problems at once. This is especially relevant for Hat Trick because we get a completely safe Trap set up off the JiP, 4 cancel, and also because unlike other variations, B321 is such a bad opener for us, netting only 18% without meter. JiP also beats out most other air normals, and is still an easy convert thanks to our advancing normals. EX-Projectile is also a key tool as it launches for combo making it a great opener, which I'll touch on more in other sections. Other noteworthy moves for the neutral game are NjP, JiK, Divekick, Teleport, Spin, and Hat Trap/Callback, but I feel these are pretty self explanatory and/or mentioned later on in this guide. However, it is also worth emphasising that his NjP is really good.
Corner:
44: 50/50 opener 112124: Punish/Wake-Up Pressure F21: Punish/Wake-Up Pressure B22: Overhead Starter with Hat On D1/D4: Pokes B321: Good punish, advancing corner push normal NjP: Air opener
Corner plays somewhat different to midscreen, in that after every 21 knockdown ender, you can make use of the frame advantage to set up a safe Low Hat Trap, and use it in conjunction with 44. The second hit of the string being Overhead gives you a mix-up option between that and cancelling the first 4 into Hat Callback, making it a true 50/50, even if the first hit is blocked. The dangers of this however is the fact that 4 is a high starter, meaning it will get beaten out by most wake-up pokes. F21 however is a good compliment to this, as it will beat out wake up pokes, delayed wake ups, and will give amazing pressure on block as well. Neutral jump into Air-Hat Callback or NjP is a good mix-up as well, and jumping back while threatening the Divekick/Air-Hat Callback at all times are good options to start with another Jump In, or to just catch your opponent off guard with one of the first two options, or a whiffed cross-up/wake up punish. The overhead starter option of B22 is as good as ever in the corner if your Trap isn't set up, and combos into significantly more meterless damage than before. B321 is now a much better option in the corner as it now does combo with Spin, as does the entirety of 112124 for your fastest point blank punish other than naked Spin, but F2 is still your fastest advancing normal so don't forget about it.
Kung Lao plays a bit differently to Tempest and Buzzsaw, in that he doesn't necessarily always need to be rushing in and beating down your face. The Hat Trap does however give him elements of what makes both versions good without crossing into their territory or doing their "thing" better than them, while adding some unique utility of it's own.
In general, you want to get whatever you can out of the situations you are in, without necessarily trying to force positioning on to your opponent. At range? Use your Hat's to win the meter war and trick your opponent into getting opened up to a Hat-A-Rang opener. Your opponent throwing projectiles? You have an excellent teleport opener to punish, that can combo into 45% meterless if you set up a trap as well. Trading blockstrings? Abuse your meter gain and chip strings. Neutral game, you have an amazing Overhead starter which is completely safe on block and sets up a free Trap on block, you have a good D4, and you have one of the most legit mids in the game with F2 (your go-to punish). AA's are unreliable in this game, and Kung Lao is a major threat in the air, with air-armor, Divekick, possibly THE best D2 hitbox in the game, an amazing NJP, and Hat Trick even has the ability to call Traps back mid jump. In the corner you have a lot of mix-ups and everything you do midscreen pushes your opponent towards it heavily, even his THROW (which really lives up to the name). Make good use of it all, you have the tools.
Any combo that ends in 21 can have replace this for a second JumpKickDiveKick. In the corner, its generally best to end in 21, you can end in a Throw for max damage, or F14 for max Untechable Knockdown damage. I prefer to end with 21 for Hard Knockdown and good frame advantage whenever possible, as it gives time to get a hat out, even Low Hat is unpunishable after a 21 ender. I've ended all my combo's listed in in 21, unless it's impossible or inconsistent to land. I'll touch more on the benefits of this later.
Hat Traps can be used in a number of ways, and aside from being ABSOLUTELY safe to both throw out and call back off certain strings, they are excellent ranged punishes, Call Back being a safe "projectile", that travels towards your position on the screen (and will follow your movements), which also launches on connect (although not always practical to convert off), and Low Hat which skims all the way across the ground, hits Low, but is less safe to set-up, and launches less thus is harder to both convert, and combo with. They can also be used to give you very nice block strings, as well as to extend your damage mid combo (pushing Tempest levels, with extra wallcarry). Remember that Spin and Hat Toss are not available while your Hat is off, but if you get hit the hat immediately returns meaning you can always Spin on the wake-up.
Kung Lao's 112124 can be either used to get a completely safe Hat Trap out behind your opponent, or linked together with another 112124 with no armorable gap by using an EX-Hat Call Back (giving him shades of Tempest pressure). Low Hat set up in the corner is completely safe after any 21 ender even if your opponent Tech Rolls, which gives you a 50/50 in the corner albeit off a set-up, giving you a very nice corner game and options regardless.
He has a decent projectile, which is extremely hard to distinguish from forward Hat Trap. You can Hat Trap AND Callback in the amount of frames it takes most characters to throw a projectile, so this is a good way of building meter at range, and if your opponent gets too irrespectful of it, the afore mentioned similarity in animations is a good way to sneak through a Hat Toss projectile, as well as a Hat-A-Rang, our EX projectile, an amazing launcher which combo's full screen for ~30% after a Run Cancel.
Midscreen (and corner) combo's can be extended by the Hat Callback, and once the Hat is back on further extended by the spin, giving you a bit of extra damage and wallcarry. But if the spacing is too short your combo can carry you past your Hat meaning the HCB will whiff, and if the Hat is too far the hitstun won't be long enough to combo. So being aware of where your Hat roughly is at all times is important. Assuming you get a full combo punish or TP 3 opener where you can follow up with anything, your 3 optimal choices for ranges are as follows: 4xxHCB for close range, B321xxHCB for slightly further range, and 44, RC, B321xxHCB for maximum range. As such, Hat Trick has more BnB's than most characters, combo's are almost freeform and change based on the positioning and flow of the game.
Practically any combo with a HatCall Back in the middle of it, can be followed up with either 4xxSpin or B321xxSpin. B321 is singificantly harder on execution, and adds more gravity making the follow up double air kicks much harder to connect, but will add about an extra 2% to most to combos. At my discretion, I've used 4xxSpin for most combos, B321 for the ones that didn't have much previous juggle if they were considered consistent enough during my testing. Feel free to go with what you what please.
You want to go for the longest range combo possible without carrying them past your Hat in the space of the combo before the Hat Callback. I personally recommend sticking one map as much as possible and getting familiar, although that's just a suggestion, but I'll touch more on it later.
Hat Trick has a true 50/50 in the corner if he has a Low Hat set up, a set up which is 100% safe off a 21 ender if timed right (tested against Tempest EX-Spin), or off B321xxLow Hat Trap. A close enough Low Hat can be used to give you a 50/50 with standing 4, you have a choice of follow up string which is an Overhead launcher into combo (44), or cancelling into Hat Callback (4xxHCB). It can be used midscreen but requires close promixity Low Hat, and gets very little return off the Overhead as well as less returns off the Low than a standard midscreen combo, making it best used after pushing someone to the corner and ending in a 21, giving him some very strong options in the corner. Just remember that there IS a gap that can be armored through in between the first and second hit of 44.
Positioning is vital with this variation. If you start a combo and your Hat is behind you, you've just cut your combo short because you can't spin or HatCall. Cross-up your opponent, make sensible use of TP, armored Teleports ARE an good use of meter (and your Hat stays up even if you take a hit), if you need to call your hat back pre-emptively even if it whiffs (still a bit of meter), and just be aware of your Trap at all times. Believe me, it will be much easier for you to keep track of it than your opponent, and the payoff is worth it. On this note, I swear by Lin Kuie Temple as that stage for Hat Trick Kung Lao, there is four "Leap" interactables, the two middle ones you can pick your direction. This is perfect for switching positions, and using your Hat traps to control a LOT of space. And given how much dominance Air Force Kung has over the sky, it's much harder for your opponent to abuse. Between Dive Kick, Spin, Vortex, great jumping normals, air armor with EX-Teleport, Hat Call back and AIR Hat Call Back, you have a lot of options. It will also make it harder for your opponent to keep track of the Hat.
I find meter is best saved for getting in as opposed to extending combos, as Lao has so many great tools to do this (Spin, Hat Toss, Hat Call Back, Armored Teleport [+ MB Throw] are all great metered openers), but spending meter in combo's will generally only net around 3% per meter spent, but I've included a couple of mid combo Meter uses regardless in the section, but generally only for the hardest hitting combos.
You can build a LOT of meter for these options with the 112124 blockstring.
Execution Tips:
*;44 has an armorable gap, but with a jump in can be made entirely safe by hitconfirming the jump in and inputting [Ji2,4DF4] on hit or [Ji2, 4DF2] on Block for a completely safe Hat Trap. **: Immediately after calling the Hat back, hold forward while waiting to press F2. You won't notice any visible walk, but the couple of frames or so will be enough to make the combo string consistently when you get it. ***: In poke range, after calling a Hat back, input D1F1 and hitconfirm the second 1, you just don't tap if you don't see them get launched. This is the safest most reliable possible convert.
Execution Tips:
*: After a knockdown, between Divekick, EX-AirHCB, and HCB on landing, going for a Back Jump lets you threaten a full combo the entire way back, and if they respect all that, gives you a safe Jump in to make your High openers uncrouchable. Good mix-up tech, especially good against characters like Mileena with a low-profile wake up launcher, or against characters whose wake up you know will whiff on a Jump Back. **: Delay the B321 follow-up, let them float for a little bit after the 44 launcher, so that the HCB connects.
SAFE BLOCKSTRINGS & HAT SET-UPS
||100% Safe-On-Block Set-Ups||
1.5% Meterless - B22xxHat Trap [Builds 20% of a Bar] 2% Meterless - 4xxHat Trap [Builds 10% of a Bar] 2% Meterless - B32xxHat Trap [Hitconfirmable - Builds 20% of a Bar] 2.5% Meterless - 112124xxHat Trap [Hitconfirmable - Builds 40% of a Bar]
3.5% Meterless - 4xxHCB[Builds 25% of a Bar] 4% 1 Bar - EX-HCB, 112124xxHat Trap [Builds 50% of a Bar, No Armorable Gap] 7% 1-Bar - 112124xxEX-HCB, 112124xxHat Trap[Hitconfirmable -Builds 90% of a Bar + Set-Up, No Armorable Gap] 8% 1-Bar - B321xxEX-HCB, 112124xxHat Trap[Hitconfirmable - Builds 75% of a Bar + Set-Up, No Armorable Gap]
As an end note, this is all subject to change. I'll be adding in more things like gameplay footage and combo videos later on. If you play Hat Trick and would like to contribute, please do so! I know I missed some viable Hat Call Back combos which I'll eventually update, I have just been sitting on this big list and it's getting confusing so I need to put it down now. I'd love to get some more flashy shit for the Swag section, but any serious advice, or gameplay notes you would like to modify / add to this, please let me know and I'll definitely put them in if they are worthy
So to the people that had constructive criticism at the start towards the guide @Eddy Wang@UsedForGlue do you like the state the guides in now? I hope to add frame data on Hat cancels soon btw but im not sure how to get them
So I have this training partner who's extremely with Swarm Queen D'Vorah and I've just played my first set against him with me playing Hat Trick.
How do you think this match up plays out? I can't deny that I got squashed, obliterated even. Once she was in I felt like I couldn't do anything, I tried armour, poking, back dash, jump, the lot. My only hope was to run and play here comes the hat but that only saved me for so long until I get locked down and knocked out.
I admit my Lao is early days and I wouldn't say I'm even good with him yet but I felt pretty confident about getting out of her oressure beforehand with EX Spin atleast.
Is this such a bad match up that it's not worth trying or am I such a Scrub Lao that I'm not doing anything right?
So to the people that had constructive criticism at the start towards the guide @Eddy Wang@UsedForGlue do you like the state the guides in now? I hope to add frame data on Hat cancels soon btw but im not sure how to get them
I don't want to answer this one because I'm pretty salty against DVorah. In my humble opinion. Shes a cunt. Mate.
Its not 100% tested yet but:
I came up with an idea. The "SwagTrap" is to stop smart opponent from doing d1 as AA. I setup a back hat and go for crossup: jk,divekick,4/d1~HCB fallow up of a choice. Pretty nasty shit if Your opponent is d1 happy abuser. Oh, if it was known then sorry. I just havent seen it any where.
Edit:
I saw somewhere awesome swag combo that starts with 4~spin, rc,1~hat out, 11,2~HCB, spin, 21 I think. Any ideas ?
Its not 100% tested yet but:
I came up with an idea. The "SwagTrap" is to stop smart opponent from doing d1 as AA. I setup a back hat and go for crossup: jk,divekick,4/d1~HCB fallow up of a choice. Pretty nasty shit if Your opponent is d1 happy abuser. Oh, if it was known then sorry. I just havent seen it any where.
Edit:
I saw somewhere awesome swag combo that starts with 4~spin, rc,1~hat out, 11,2~HCB, spin, 21 I think. Any ideas ?
All away traps setups post knockdown are known, including the HCB dive kick crossup.
The problem is that once you get that hat out, and you read a panic wakeup, even if you block it, you won't get much of your punish anyway, because Lao cannot combo from away hat trap if the opponent is in front of him. Other than that i think its his best setup, but also his greatest weakness.
All away traps setups post knockdown are known, including the HCB dive kick crossup.
The problem is that once you get that hat out, and you read a panic wakeup, even if you block it, you won't get much of your punish anyway, because Lao cannot combo from away hat trap if the opponent is in front of him. Other than that i think its his best setup, but also his greatest weakness.
Thanks Eddy as always.
You are right, its sad that he is so limited with hat out. He should be able to spin and HCB fallow up. Currently I am working on: b22 mterless fallow up that is so hard to get 28% i think and that swag combo I mentioned earlier.
I am also thinkin' about cutting down combos for mid screen hat setup/pressure.
Thanks Eddy as always.
You are right, its sad that he is so limited with hat out. He should be able to spin and HCB fallow up. Currently I am working on: b22 mterless fallow up that is so hard to get 28% i think and that swag combo I mentioned earlier.
I am also thinkin' about cutting down combos for mid screen hat setup/pressure.
tbh i don't think he needs a hatless spin, there are other way to fix his issues, just as the traps not functioning as traps in first place.
This is the last time i will be sharing this, this information has been in the forum for a while.
I'm really eager to see what NRS will do to make this variation usable and viable, just hope they don't give him a hatless spin leaving anything else untouched so he becomes viable and his other tools will be just there.
First of all, what it really needs fixing is the way the HCB keeps whiffing on certain ranges, even f23~hcb is making the hat whiff against some characters on hit, others can even neutral crouch it and even on crouch block it whiffs on some instances against some chars.
secondly another thing really needs to be fixed, is the gravity, HCB has different gravity if hits someone standing, and a unviable one when hits someone crouching, to make it worse, low HCB has the same problem, which makes your combos not consistent because either you get a full decent combo out of your read, either they try to poke out, but the gravity launch is pretty low that even if you made a read you won't get a decent conversion. This is currently pissing us off because its makes the character not suitable for a tournament setting, on situations where you need a raw HCB on great reads, your opponent can just guess by poke out crouching, if they're wrong you get 1 hit, if they right they get out of pressure.
third: I love the idea of placing the hat in different directions, forward hat do his job fine, and is the only usable trap since is way faster than any other, above trap is useless because is impossible get a situation where that hat will work, either air or ground the hat doesn't hit anyone due his travel trajectory, and also his placement.
In my opinion, above trap needs additional commands, 1 to place the hat above but towards KL, so to actually keep ppl in check with jumping in to avoid roundtrips (hat trap~hat call back) since the travel speed of the hcb is genuinely average (there is nothing wrong with it to be honest) and one to place the hat Above, but behind him, this way he can setup above hat trajectories and mix it up to function as real traps (specially if the above hat this overhead)
last but not least, still part of the trap problem, is the away trap.
The concept of the away trap is well conceived, the mix up is placing the hat out of the screen, and your opponent is not able to see if you placed the hat low or mid, and then you get to cross up your opponnent for a free blockstring if you placed the hat mid, and oh/low which is not even hard to blockable, but you can trick your opponent to block your mixup or get caught by it in running, ex tele~mb throw, jump ex hcb, or just cross into delayed hcb to trick them up with a low instead of a overhead.
all this is very nice, but there is a problem, the away hat trap doesn't give KL a combo if the opponent is not in between the hat and lao, so, in many instances, they can just wakeup attack and if you try anything after placing that hat you lose your setup and eat a big damage in many cases, i would totally agree with this if this didn't criple the rest of his game, but it does.
Since you can't combo with the hat behind you and the opponent in front, they can choose to risk a wakeup or anything all the time, even if you read and block it, the max you get out of it is 11212, 44 followups but since the hat is not on your head, you don't get to extend your combos. So many character can just run away from the forward trap, making you chasing them where your play field is basically useless since you can't combo with the hat on your back, facing teleport characters will be a nightmare, since they can switch sides in counter of where you place the hat and you don't have a proper way to punish them.
My suggestion
I keep telling, if lao has 11212~hcb to let him link anything under 15 frames when the hat will not connect on the opponent from behind, above or when behind lao to make what nrs calls 2in1 combos (which is actually links), the hat traps will function as real traps, it won't matter where they're placed, if with 11212~ you get to link f32, 11212, or 44, b12, you won't need a hatless spin, because the moment you connect anything out of this link, the hat will be back in your head in time to perform a spin and extend your combos normaly without give him another tool he doesn't need.
Just to get an idea, his away or above traps would give him the current combos, remember that when he Hcbs with the hat behind him or above him, the hat doesn't hit the opponent:
Above or away trap out hcb links ideas.
11212~hcb~ 44, b321~spin jk~dk, 21
11212~hcb~f23~spin ...
11212~hcb, run~11212~spin etc etc
11212~hcb~run~112124~hatarang~etc etc
(his regular combos are 25 to 27%, with this he could do 31% meterless just as what he gets when he does a HCB combo, and around 35 to 37% with a bar which is what he gets from a jumping and the right filler.)
Still eager to see in the next patch how he will play out though, but this one last change is really needed, doesn't break the character at all and in combination with his fix, it will making him viable.
These are the ones i think it needs to be looked at more, in order for his traps to actually work.
Other than that, there is the pressure issue, where all he does from blockstring into hat traps are all minus so he can't apply pressure afterwards most of the time without getting poked out or thrown to not allow him to put anything in screen, being slightly less negative would be nice for sure so he gets to apply some pressure.
Well the thing is, from a reasoning standpoint, tempest already does this. Why have two variations with two different tools allow you to do the same thing?
Then from a technical standpoint, HOW will you do this? Increase cancel advantage of 11212? Increase hit advantage? Tremendously decrease recovery of the call back? All 3 of these could break Lao in either HT or other variations
I will remain HT player since he is very fun to play and Swag freestyle variation. I am also moving my way to Buzzsaw as I personally think he is a little bit underrated in the eyes of kommunity and gives me the shades of Charlie/Nash pressure here and there.
Well the thing is, from a reasoning standpoint, tempest already does this. Why have two variations with two different tools allow you to do the same thing?
Then from a technical standpoint, HOW will you do this? Increase cancel advantage of 11212? Increase hit advantage? Tremendously decrease recovery of the call back? All 3 of these could break Lao in either HT or other variations
Tempest connects hatspin, HT will not connect HCB to link a combo, for that to happen the HCB needed to just hit standing without launching and the opponent had to be between Lao and the Hat, the link is just a function that allows him to cancel this string into another string faster than 15f while the hat is going back to his head when they're not in between Lao and the Hat, its not like hat spin stuns ppl.
increase the hit advantage by 2 frames and removes the Auto-block function of HCB.
Have a little faith bruh, NRS is a good listener, pretty sure they don't buff a character without analyzing our suggestions, and considering if its good or not first, if is something that can be done without breaking the character to help him out it will be done.
If it makes him be too good, then he won't have it.
Also, we have been discussing Hat Trick flaws like in more than a few months now, all these threads and stuff is just to reinforce, at this time of the year, i also believe NRS has already considered what to change in the balance patch on the entire cast, which is what gets me eager to see how they will change HT, will they fix is issues? will they give him what we ask? Or will he gain something entirely new?
Its indeed swaggy, but more than one HCB in the combos scales his damage pretty hard, the move has damage protection, you should avoid to use it more than once in the same combos.
There is one thing i've learned watching Fluffy and ETC combos, if you extend your juggle damage beyond where connecting Jk~dk 21 becomes very hard to connect, switch to iadk, 21, it deals less damage, but you get the Hard Knockdown.
For example
(Away Trap) ex tele~grab~MB, B321~HCB, 4~spin, iadk 21 does 43%, my regular combo out of this used to do 42% without the standing 4, if i add the standing 4, i can't do Jk~dk, 21 unless the opponent is cornered, so the replacement does 1% more damage.
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