If Li Mei's EXfireball hit mid from full/mid-screen, that wouldn't be a big issue. But I digress.
She can't just machine gun mids to enforce. She has to use a combination of d4, backdash b3/b2, ia db4, and reversal ex db3. d4 if you want low commitment/frame trap/set up other stuff, backdash b3/b2 if you read d1 or jab interrupt, ia db4 if you read something that beats backdash (d3/d4/other far reaching lows), and block -> reversal ex db3 if you know they're gonna poke and have the resources to combo. The threat of losing 400-500 for guessing wrong once on defense can help open up other stuff. I can't really see her having horrible matchups since her gameplan (assuming Scorpion kameo) is basically just "touch the opponent twice" and it's pretty hard to shut that down. Sure there are some characters that can make getting the touches a little harder but her tools are good enough that if you play solid you can always win. Even if you're down, her robbery factor is pretty high due to big damage + unbreakable shenanigans and she can just kill out of nowhere in the right game states.
She's a jack of all trades kind of character.
how is she a jack of all trades though?
She can zone from full screen with her fireball and lantern.
I dont think that describes a jack of all trades. Shes servicable in some areas and absolute dogshit in a number of important ones. IDK she seems to be the weakest of the cast ive played properly outside quan but my friend i play against a lot has characters who dont give a fuck about zoning and have long reach normals which seems to be death combo for li mei
yeah i'd be curious to see if anyone on here could make a case for her not being bottom 5.You know, maybe I'm upselling her a bit
Ive had a go at most of the cast and only character who looks clearly worse is quan.Come on man, she's not bottom 5I won't try making a case why though
You've got to work to win with her. She ain't Raiden or Kenshi, that's for sure
man i feel like im taking crazy pills, everything in her kit screams like handicap, as if another part of her kits is bananas but they just forgot to put in the broken thing. I literally cant think of one thing she is good at?You've got to work to win with her. She ain't Raiden or Kenshi, that's for sure
(Everything is assuming scorpion kameo)
Way above average imo. Great recovery and gives her some screen presence outside sweep distance without having to commit to bf4
Not much else to say here that hasn't already been said. Her offense revolves around using her plus frames to open up anything that's gonna make them explode. Sometimes you just have to make the read on offense to get there.
Probably her neutral-defining move. It's kinda like a KL low hat but in the air and also it's a huge damage starter. The more I play her the more I'm thinking this is her most important move. Not just for like stopping jumps (or other random moves/kameos) but for how much easier it is for her to play neutral when she has a lantern up. If she gets one out, it significantly reduces the mental stack she has to worry about in neutral and you can basically start exclusively looking for
Her secret sauce basically. The big damage + 7f punisher + big damage off a 7f frame punisher have her doing stuff most of the cast isn't doing. I'm including her armor (which is average) here because these tools make her defense elite. She's kinda playing that MK9 style counterpoke game since she's one of the few to full combo a blocked poke and definitely getting the most damage out of everyone from that. This makes her objectively scary to pressure because she can take half your life with one good read on defense. This doesn't even have to be her blocking a poke either. Her challenging, jumping, or even ia exd4ing out means you have one mistake to make the rest of the round if you're not dead. Having a lantern out makes her defense even better because an ex db3 into a lantern does so much damage that if you didn't die from the combo, she's so far ahead and probably not losing that round. And even if you want to be a hero and stuff her ex db3 she has armor for a get-off-me.
Big disagree here. I think her grounded neutral being super solid is a result of all her pokes being at least usable if not good. d1 is average but she generally has other things she'd rather be doing than d1 in most situations. d3 is a little above average since it has some nice range and some aa capabilities but again she has other stuff she would rather be doing at that range. b4 is super good. 0 on block or +1 if spaced with very good range and speed. d4 is obivously her star poke. Safe, awesome range, whiff punishes other pokes on reaction, starts her offense if it lands etc. Instant overhead threat means she can also run a MK9 Smoke style offense if that's your thing. Scare them into blocking the overhead and just d4 them to death. Another normal that deserves mention here is s4. I honestly think it's stupid good. +3 on block, big range, pushback, whiff punishes s1 or jab strings, checks dash ups, all while leading to a huge starter. I just think this move has so much going for it. If you're not using it, you should be.
This isn't meant to be targeted shade or anything like that, just wanted to address the general perceptions of the character most seem to have, but I think these are the most like "elementary" criticisms of her kit most people had from day 1 that aren't causing any serious issues now. Especially the stubbiness/gaps/lack of mids stuff. Her aa normals aren't elite or anything like that but s1 and s4 both work at the right ranges/angles. Also she has lantern and db3/ex db3 acts as a pseudo dp so it's not like she'es getting jumped on all the time. Her jump ins probably are average but I've never considered it an issue since her ground game is strong so she has other stuff to do besides jump. The gaps do exist and it can suck to get mashed/armored out when you're trying to cook but in my mind, if you have them doing that then you have them guessing, which is what opens up her explosive touches. Just gotta use the right counterplay. The stubbiness accusation matters in exactly one meaningful scenario I think which is having 12(4) whiff after only landing the second hit. Other than that she has a move for every situation. If you're trying to get by with just 12 than yea you're gonna feel like she has no range. It's a jab string. The "no good mids" thing is crazy to me. Like I thought this the first week I was playing the character but then I realized I was dumb. Yea her mids suck if you try to machinegun them during pressure. You're just gonna get mashed out or whatever since they're both double digit startup. So maybe they're not for that? Then you chunk them for 500 after walking back on a poke and see why it's helpful that both her mids are back + button. b2 even has a little Dudley-esque step back on startup if it's not obvious what this is designed for. They both have a bunch of things going for them and are pretty integral to her game so it's wild for me to see them being called "not useful". Not hitconfirmable =/= not useful.
This is not true.
Li Mei is an incredibly solid character. She’s nowhere near the bottom 5.
I strongly disagree with this statement. Straight up. We might be playing different games since I usually fight against Raiden, Kenshi, Geras, etc. with easy >40% combos with NO kameo. While Li Mei is apparently married to Scorpion to hit similar lvls of dmg.
this made me lose the will to live
and yet somehow it's fast enough to whiff punish every poke/almost every string while advancing from past sweep distance AND being her highest damage practical starter AND being anywhere from +3 to +5 on block. just because you can't do it doesn't mean it's not possible
I do occasionally use it successfully but comparative to other character whiff punishes, not good.
What is Raiden’s damage without kameo? Kenshi’s high damage all use sento which is essentially a kameo.
f4 and iadb4 are unreactable safe(ish) 50/50s that lead to great damage (with scorpion) or decent damage depending on which kameo you use.
b2 doesnt beat any pokes except off b34 if i remember correctly and d1 gets backdash whiff punished. My friend backdashes after 12 a lot so ive had to blind confirm 124bf1 and on reaction scorpion kameo to catch him disrespecting the last hit.