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Question - Tempest How is Kung Lao supposed to be played?

Truesolo

<message deleted>
Is he a defensive wall? Is he a offensive monster? Can he be played without using meter? Have people been playing him wrong the whole time?
 

WakeUp DP

GT MK OshTekk.
I'm also lost now that he has been nerfed/buffed in some areas. the EH hat being plus enough to connect 44 is nice but he lost his pressure and he has no real mix ups so im guessing just bait and punish type?
 

The_Tile

Your hole is mine!
Tempest is all about baiting the opponent into pressing buttons after exhat and whiff punishing with walk back B312. His pressure is still good, but its spacing pressure now instead of straight up frame traps.

Hat Trick is the pressure character now. He still has +14 (IIRC) off EX Hat Callback which means he can jail a D4, S1, or even a B2 if he likes and continue his safe pressure. Hat Trick struggles vs characters with fast mids though, as a lot of his strings into Hat Toss are slightly - the opponent can hit you out of any pokes with their fast mid and you can't low profile. I like to try to keep my opponent in the corner and pressure with the 11 string, either cancelling 1, 11, 11212 or 112124 into hat toss, then using F2 to catch any slow pokes or blocking to bait armor.

Not sure about Buzzsaw as I don't play him, but Lao is still a solid character overall.
 
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CrimsonShadow

Administrator and Community Engineer
Administrator
To be honest, though: with Tempest, people constantly talk about his strings and orbiting hat and whatnot -- but if you notice, 50-60% of the damage in Lao matches (and sometimes more) comes from jump-back hat or jump-in hat as a starter. He has the ability to hit from a range that's deceptive, with a hitbox that's bigger than a lot of jump-ins. Abuse that in the spacing game -- hit people as they try to move in, or try to move backward, etc.

Then maybe another 20% comes from throwing people as they try to block his grounded offense. Then opening them up once they're expecting the throw.

Probably 70% of damage in real matches stems from jip+jbp+throw.
 

WiseM0nkey

welcome to the ButtSlam
To be honest, though: with Tempest, people constantly talk about his strings and orbiting hat and whatnot -- but if you notice, 50-60% of the damage in Lao matches (and sometimes more) comes from jump-back hat or jump-in hat as a starter. He has the ability to hit from a range that's deceptive, with a hitbox that's bigger than a lot of jump-ins. Abuse that in the spacing game -- hit people as they try to move in, or try to move backward, etc.

Then maybe another 20% comes from throwing people as they try to block his grounded offense. Then opening them up once they're expecting the throw.

Probably 70% of damage in real matches stems from, ji2/jb2/throw.
/thread
 

WiseM0nkey

welcome to the ButtSlam
You make it sound so easy now go beat PL's buzz saw and post it the clip here....
I'm not saying i'll beat PL's Buzzsaw or anything, I'm saying that against buzzsaw you pretty much know when it's your turn, staggers are reads / reactions just like any staggers in the game, and if you block a low hat it's your turn
 

WakeUp DP

GT MK OshTekk.
I'm not saying i'll beat PL's Buzzsaw or anything, I'm saying that against buzzsaw you pretty much know when it's your turn, staggers are reads / reactions just like any staggers in the game, and if you block a low hat it's your turn
It's a pain having to guess OH,OH, Low or OH to Low. While you are waiting for the low hat for you turn he can just keep pressing buttons and not cancel into low hat lol.

And even then after low hat he can just go for ex spin on a read so it's not as easy as you put it.
 
If you want to piss off a buzzsaw player just neutral jump a low hat and then make him wait for it to return.
Lao doesn't really have legit offense or footsies in this patch.
i would say after the patch u have to yolo because he's not a pressure type character anymore
would u agree ?
 

WiseM0nkey

welcome to the ButtSlam
It's a pain having to guess OH,OH, Low or OH to Low. While you are waiting for the low hat for you turn he can just keep pressing buttons and not cancel into low hat lol.

And even then after low hat he can just go for ex spin on a read so it's not as easy as you put it.
low hat on block, ex spin is kind of a gimmick, they just kind of do it and it's easly baitable... your opponent did a ton of d1 low hat so maybe next time wait for it and then start your own offense

his OH/OH/Low or OH/Low mixups dont win him the game, he just have to touch you 300 times before winning, although they're effective in the corner
 

Carl

Noob
Actually lao is a pressure character but i been using tempest lately abit more defensive and it is really really good.
So i guess depending on your style though i like a balanced play style now.
Though i think the wrong way to use lao is to always try to rely on the F2 3 but i try to use him more for whiff punishing and the dive kick is good on that part as well.
 

Amplified$hotz

I like Tekken 8
Actually lao is a pressure character but i been using tempest lately abit more defensive and it is really really good.
So i guess depending on your style though i like a balanced play style now.
Though i think the wrong way to use lao is to always try to rely on the F2 3 but i try to use him more for whiff punishing and the dive kick is good on that part as well.
^this is how I play him. But I use buzzsaw for the space control. Dive kick is a really good anti air. He's like how you would play batman in injustice. Combine offense and defense
 

Carl

Noob
^this is how I play him. But I use buzzsaw for the space control. Dive kick is a really good anti air. He's like how you would play batman in injustice. Combine offense and defense
Yes agreed very much. i used to always be in there face but now i dont feel like i have to. I use buzzsaw and tempest though im getting abit irritated when my hat gets jumped and i have to wait for it to spawn again. Also on some stages when the hat goes to the corner it doesnt come back straight away i think this is a bug.