LawAbidingCitizen
Bomb Setups & Ball Rolls(Mileena/Cyrax)
There has been a ton of hate surrounding Liu Kang's F43xx mix known as:
F43U3 (plus on block string with 10f gap)
F43xxParry
F43xxAmpedLowFireball
F4 Stagger into Throw
Many incorrectly state this as a true 50/50 guess game for the opponent.
Well I'm here to tell you, this can be turned against him and its not what is scary about Lohan Quan Liu Kang.
Many players think its wise to always punish his F43(gap)U3 string with pokes or standing 7f starters. Well its not the best option. Its because you get beat by the other options. You can do D3 which will beat Parry and F43U3 but it still gets beat by F4xxThrow and F43xxLowFireball.
What you need to know is 3 of his 4 options are reactable. So by understanding this you can punish him 75% if the time instead of 25-50% of the time.
You can do this one of two ways:
1. By using the OS that beats 4 of Liu Kang's options after F43xx
2. by waiting until the moves are in recovery.
The F43xx OS:
You hold crouch block until the first hit of amped low fireball Is blocked then let go of block and keep holding block and just be paitent and observe what comes next and punish them on reaction. This OS beats the following options when canceled off F43:
F43xx LowFireball option is punishable by waiting just like the other options but by ducking the Amped high fireball and punishing with a move faster than 15f startup with a bit of distance. Nightwolf's F12, Subs B3/S3 and any 9f advancing mid will do most characters have an answer to this.
His F4 stagger into throw has recognizable delay between the kicks and throw allowing you to recognize what's coming and duck the throw for full punish. Its more than 30f recovery.
A good example of this is in Rooflemonger guide to countering liu kang (TheNewEvil):
Examples:
Obviously I can only set the AI to playback 4 options, I've cycled through 20 different combinations and every time I can react to most of it at worst its all punishable on read.
What I think isn't reactable is F4 into Throw/F4 stagger into F43. I can't tell the difference between throw/button after the delay. So luck every character you can be mixed up.
Is it all lost? NO its not that's where player tendencies come into play. Every player has patterns and some players may do F4 intimate throw or some may do F4 into buttons but you can identify patterns and use this guide as a way to punish most of liu kangaroo options and since you are scouting patterns its in your favor.
The Above Videos:
I have the above recordings set to Random Hidden Playback so there is no way I can possibly know what's coming, as you can see I'm consistently punishing all of these options. Its because its reactable when they use only these options and counter able at a high level.
F43xx anything Is punishable!
Record Liu doing this in practice and find ways to counter these options and you will turn one of his strongest buttons against him. And destroy nearly every KL Liu Kang in existence.
Wiffing issues with F43 mix vs Crouch Block:
Thanks to @Kindred
We have video evidence.
Is Also I guide on Noble| Raptors (Kombat Academy) which shows you how to make F43 wiff so you can punish it:
www.kombatakademy.com
This is not the only thing in KA by Raptor he has tons of guides for every character. I encourage all to use this resource to learn and improve. Like making unsafe strings safe with a universal OS.
A fellow TYMer I won't name had issues finding a way to punish his Amped Fireball with Sub Zero Dead Of Winter so I'll leave this here for Sub mains to try:
Notes:
If liu Kang does any string canceled into Amped HighFireballs its punishable as displayed in the first clip. The 3rd hit has a gap in the blockstuns that you can duck for a full combo punish on reaction. If you are having issues identifying that special move compared to others you will need to practice with AI set on hidden playback with 4differnent options until you can consistently punish it on reaction. Build up your muscle memory until its natural.
What actually makes liu Kang scary is he gets amazing damage and pressure from his actual staggers:
B1 (-4 on block, -3 at max range)
12 (+3 on block)
B34 (-2 on block)
212 (-2 on block) /2121
Not to mention he has a +3 on block auto shimmy that jails from his pokes. Very strong and some characters have trouble dealing with that.
He has amazing:
A2A's
FB combos
Wakeup
AAs
Crossover conversions
Corner damage
Midscreen damage
Oki and restands
Pokes
Jailing
Plus frames
9f mids
Safe hurtboxes vs certain characters (after throwing and using certain strings his body leans back where some characters wiff on punish)
Literally everything you need plus more. The liu Kang's that scare me aren't the F4 only players its the ones that utilize all of his tools.
Something to watch out for is that he has an 8f startup parry that launches and can beat wake up's (U3's) not to mention he can reversal through several gaps so don't use your plus frames on him otherwise you are eating insane damage
That's 330 easy damage from exploiting a gap that can be buffered to come out easily between strings that have at least 8f gaps and keep in mind that is nowhere near optimal and includes 1Bar, and a FB nets him over 480. He gets about 400+ for bar and KB without Fatal if he uses it on your WU U+3
Easy KB was set to on in that last video so the 600 isn't possible in gaps but the same damage is possible for Krushing wakups. I'll leave the video so you can get an idea of how much damage LK can get from countering wakeup easy and even up to 730 damage if the liu Kang has execution.
His weaknesses:
He lacks range and suffers when players space correctly even on his -2 staggers you can walk back or wave dash back to force wiff punish. His F4 and B1 have less range than several D3's so use that to your advantage. If he reads you will back dash he can use B34 which has his best range but is slow to the start at 16f startup so you can counter that by Neutral jumping into a full combo punish.
Beating Liu Kang is about spacing properly and choosing the right times to punish and knowing what's in your favor to actually punish. He is definitely top 5 but beatable if you play the matchup right.
Hope this helped someone deal with Liu Kang better!
F43U3 (plus on block string with 10f gap)
F43xxParry
F43xxAmpedLowFireball
F4 Stagger into Throw
Many incorrectly state this as a true 50/50 guess game for the opponent.
Well I'm here to tell you, this can be turned against him and its not what is scary about Lohan Quan Liu Kang.
Many players think its wise to always punish his F43(gap)U3 string with pokes or standing 7f starters. Well its not the best option. Its because you get beat by the other options. You can do D3 which will beat Parry and F43U3 but it still gets beat by F4xxThrow and F43xxLowFireball.
What you need to know is 3 of his 4 options are reactable. So by understanding this you can punish him 75% if the time instead of 25-50% of the time.
You can do this one of two ways:
1. By using the OS that beats 4 of Liu Kang's options after F43xx
2. by waiting until the moves are in recovery.
The F43xx OS:
You hold crouch block until the first hit of amped low fireball Is blocked then let go of block and keep holding block and just be paitent and observe what comes next and punish them on reaction. This OS beats the following options when canceled off F43:
- F43xxParry
- F43xxAmpedLFB
- F43xxAmpedHFB
- F43 throw
F43xx LowFireball option is punishable by waiting just like the other options but by ducking the Amped high fireball and punishing with a move faster than 15f startup with a bit of distance. Nightwolf's F12, Subs B3/S3 and any 9f advancing mid will do most characters have an answer to this.
His F4 stagger into throw has recognizable delay between the kicks and throw allowing you to recognize what's coming and duck the throw for full punish. Its more than 30f recovery.
A good example of this is in Rooflemonger guide to countering liu kang (TheNewEvil):
Examples:
Obviously I can only set the AI to playback 4 options, I've cycled through 20 different combinations and every time I can react to most of it at worst its all punishable on read.
What I think isn't reactable is F4 into Throw/F4 stagger into F43. I can't tell the difference between throw/button after the delay. So luck every character you can be mixed up.
Is it all lost? NO its not that's where player tendencies come into play. Every player has patterns and some players may do F4 intimate throw or some may do F4 into buttons but you can identify patterns and use this guide as a way to punish most of liu kangaroo options and since you are scouting patterns its in your favor.
The Above Videos:
I have the above recordings set to Random Hidden Playback so there is no way I can possibly know what's coming, as you can see I'm consistently punishing all of these options. Its because its reactable when they use only these options and counter able at a high level.
F43xx anything Is punishable!
Record Liu doing this in practice and find ways to counter these options and you will turn one of his strongest buttons against him. And destroy nearly every KL Liu Kang in existence.
Wiffing issues with F43 mix vs Crouch Block:
Thanks to @Kindred
We have video evidence.
Is Also I guide on Noble| Raptors (Kombat Academy) which shows you how to make F43 wiff so you can punish it:
Punishing Liu Kang’s F43 – Kombat Akademy
www.kombatakademy.com
A fellow TYMer I won't name had issues finding a way to punish his Amped Fireball with Sub Zero Dead Of Winter so I'll leave this here for Sub mains to try:
Notes:
If liu Kang does any string canceled into Amped HighFireballs its punishable as displayed in the first clip. The 3rd hit has a gap in the blockstuns that you can duck for a full combo punish on reaction. If you are having issues identifying that special move compared to others you will need to practice with AI set on hidden playback with 4differnent options until you can consistently punish it on reaction. Build up your muscle memory until its natural.
What actually makes liu Kang scary is he gets amazing damage and pressure from his actual staggers:
B1 (-4 on block, -3 at max range)
12 (+3 on block)
B34 (-2 on block)
212 (-2 on block) /2121
Not to mention he has a +3 on block auto shimmy that jails from his pokes. Very strong and some characters have trouble dealing with that.
He has amazing:
A2A's
FB combos
Wakeup
AAs
Crossover conversions
Corner damage
Midscreen damage
Oki and restands
Pokes
Jailing
Plus frames
9f mids
Safe hurtboxes vs certain characters (after throwing and using certain strings his body leans back where some characters wiff on punish)
Literally everything you need plus more. The liu Kang's that scare me aren't the F4 only players its the ones that utilize all of his tools.
Something to watch out for is that he has an 8f startup parry that launches and can beat wake up's (U3's) not to mention he can reversal through several gaps so don't use your plus frames on him otherwise you are eating insane damage
That's 330 easy damage from exploiting a gap that can be buffered to come out easily between strings that have at least 8f gaps and keep in mind that is nowhere near optimal and includes 1Bar, and a FB nets him over 480. He gets about 400+ for bar and KB without Fatal if he uses it on your WU U+3
Easy KB was set to on in that last video so the 600 isn't possible in gaps but the same damage is possible for Krushing wakups. I'll leave the video so you can get an idea of how much damage LK can get from countering wakeup easy and even up to 730 damage if the liu Kang has execution.
His weaknesses:
He lacks range and suffers when players space correctly even on his -2 staggers you can walk back or wave dash back to force wiff punish. His F4 and B1 have less range than several D3's so use that to your advantage. If he reads you will back dash he can use B34 which has his best range but is slow to the start at 16f startup so you can counter that by Neutral jumping into a full combo punish.
Beating Liu Kang is about spacing properly and choosing the right times to punish and knowing what's in your favor to actually punish. He is definitely top 5 but beatable if you play the matchup right.
Hope this helped someone deal with Liu Kang better!
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