I might have exaggerated. Could you elaborate on what makes Kung Lao a solid character?
Maybe I missed on what makes him good compared to other character like J. Cage etc.
First, I don't think asking "what makes him good compared to Cage" is realevant. Cage is arguably top tier, if not the best character in the game. Any character is going to look worse in comparison. It'd be like comparing any NBA all-star to Michael Jordan.
As to what makes him solid, here's what I like about him:
- His 121 string is a safe, cancelable, gapless 3 hit string.
- His B1 is 6 frames, so he can punish opponent's -7 strings with either B1 into special or just a safe B12.
- His 212 string is a safe, cancelable, gapless 3 hit string. 21 is also +3 on block, and his standing 2 is just 8 frames, so he has some nice stagger pressure.
- F2 is an 18f overhead, that can combo with Kameo. Unsafe, but nice range and pretty fast for an overhead that can lead to a combo.
- B33 and B34 is a safe Mid/Low or Mid/OH mixup string. Technically fuzzyable, but it's tight. Very low risk mixup. Might be able to combo these with the right kameo.
- B3 on hit also leaves Kung Lao +11 right next to his opponent, where he can jail his 212 or F333 strings.
- F333 is a safe, cancelable, gapless 3 hit string.
- D4 is a really solid safe poke
- Buzzsaw is a solid projectile that knocks down on hit, very nice to have in projectile trade wars
- Hat toss is a tad slow for a projectile but hits mid, so opponent can't neutral duck.
- He has multiple ender options that lets him easily side switch or push to the corner
- He has a divekick, so he can change his jump arc and lead to big damage.
- He has solid damage, and that damage is pretty easy to execute. Took me 2 minutes just now to put together an easy 29% combo, one bar no kameo off of a safe 3 hit string that can easily be hit confirmed.
- He has a nice anti air combo with standing 4.
He just seems solid to me. Lot of pressure from easily confirmable 3 hit strings, and if he hits he has fairly easy launcher into damage. Up close he can generate some really nice pressure, and convert that pressure into easy corner carry and damage. When he's right next to the opponent, he's got a lot of nice strings. And he has ways to deal with zoning, and that's before taking kameo into account.
To me his downside is that he's only really effective point blank range, so he's going to need to work to get in and likely have to block a lot of the opponents longer range strings. Also, while he has nice pressure, higher caliber opponents are going to be able to take that pressure and wait him out, so he's going to need to be blocking a lot of his opponents strings. Hence why I think it makes sense for him to have a really good armor move, since he's going to be in a position where he's going to need to block a lot. He wants to be on the opponent like glue, he's not much for zoning or neutral.
He does rely a bit more on meter compared to some, but it's not like meter is hard to come by in this game. Solid character, I don't think he needs much, if any, changes right now.