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Match-up Discussion Lex Luthor Matchup Discussion (Version 1.06)

rev0lver

Come On Die Young
The old matchup discussion thread can be found here:
http://testyourmight.com/threads/lex-luthor-matchup-discussion.29216/


To keep more up-to-date and organized info for new Lex players, we'll have a new matchup discussion thread. Here we can discuss match numbers and strategy as we develop our game further. As a community, I think it would be cool to have people write up some strategies for matchups they're familiar with to include in this post. I'll add some of mine, and will update with anything people would like to add.

Aquaman
Strategy by Rev0lver -
Aquaman's game is somewhat straightforward in this matchup, but Lex must play this matchup around his setups. Unfortunately, Aquaman's trait ruins some of Lex's combo potential, but fortunately, his lack of advancing or teleporting wakeups helps Lex's oki game a lot. Lex wants to keep a netural game at mid to close range as he won't win up close without trait, and can threaten Corp Charge punishes to Aquaman's zoning. From here, he has the advantage of being able to force Aquaman to make a move or you can start activating trait.

When Aquaman traits up after a punishable move, you can use f2~corp charge (or f2 into combo in the corner) for guaranteed damage. Otherwise, you have the option of standing reset gimmicks to combo him when his trait is down (string into mines or lance charges). Lex can play his normal game with his trait up, but you're limited on your oki pressure as his scoop and trident rush are both multi-hitting and will break your armor, so keeping a short distance and throwing out traps is best here.

My opinion - 4-6

Ares

Bane

Batgirl

Batman

Black Adam
This MU is very even in the sense that Lex has a lot of options, but Black Adam has a lot of options to avoid them and maintain lifeleads. Other than playing footsies, you're honestly best off jumping around the air to avoid lightning and to j3 divekicks until you have your trait up. When that happens you can do what you want, but you have to be wary of BA's mobility and work with j3's and probes so you can start mixing him up. One really good thing about this matchup is that even though BA's trait breaks armor, Lex's trait at level 3 will outlast his. So if he tries to counter with it, you can make it a stalemate until its gone. If you have enough health to take risks, though, you can definitely try to nullify it with unblockables and keepaway things. Being unpredictable while still making good use of probes and trait is definitely the key to this matchup.

My opinion: 5-5

Catwoman

Cyborg

Deathstroke

Doomsday

Flash

Green Arrow

Green Lantern

Harley Quinn

Hawkgirl

Joker

Killer Frost

Lobo

Martian Manhunter
Lex has a lot of options in this matchup to shut down MMH's normal strategy. This mainly involves strategic placement of mines and a lot of trait abuse. A close mine will punish OH tele on block and hit (needs to be slightly closer on hit) which will shut down this option for him. Trait also removes this option to teleport, and makes Lex pretty much the only character who can zone him, even if it's just a short time if he chooses to trade. Probes will let you punish teleports as well, but a smart MMH player will generally only go for it to avoid the hit. MMH's mb b3 will beat out armor as it's 2 hits, HOWEVER this can be punished with your own mb b3 as it gives you multiple armor hits with trait active. Cancelling a string/normal into corp charge during trait pressure can also beat out a mb b3 and make him waste a bar.

You want to get to somewhat of a mid range in this matchup. This is where the baiting game happens that lets you get your stuff out. When you're sent fullscreen you can easily wakeup corp charge on reaction to a projectile/ground blast to get to this spot (though he can bait this too and throw a red orb). From here MMH normally has to look for you setting things up or traiting, and will therefore have to try teleporting. Instead of trying to punish teleport, you can get trait up pretty safely and go in. With momentum, Lex can work his game as usual.

My opinion: 5-5

Nightwing
Strategy by Rev0lver

When Nightwing is in escrima stance, Lex has to get into about mid-range until he has his trait. Fortunately, NW's zoning is not too difficult to deal with in this matchup. Ground sparks can be jumped and wingdings, while armor-breaking, can be punished with corp charge or better from up close when not meter-burned. Otherwise, Nightwing best plays this matchup in staff stance, keeping Lex out more easily and using his pressure up close. However, Lex's staff projectile will trade in Lex's favor with his ground staff, but with slower startup cannot always be relied upon.

Generally, Lex has to be smart with his armor and with the placement of his traps. Flying grayson will avoid a lot of mine setups and can be used to safely stuff a trait dash (though with a forward dash you can look for a mixup on his recovery). This can be d2'd pretty easily if thrown out, so baiting it can be great here. Staff spin will also break Lex's armor, but this can also be punished with trait by blocking all but the last hit. Generally, on a hard knockdown (corp charge/b3+f3) when he's in staff stance, your best option is to bait a wakeup (both of which can be punished from this range) or trait dash and try to backdash flying grayson if he goes for it to keep the armor.

My opinion - 5-5

Raven

Scorpion

Shazam

Sinestro

Solomon Grundy

Superman

Wonder Woman

Zatanna

Zod
 
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I think it should be a priority to find the best strategies against zoners. They are a huge barrier for people who want to main Lex, and probably the reason there are so few Lex players online- people just hate having no options at long range.

Specifically, Cyborg, Raven, and Sinestro.

Then other characters who aren't really zoners, but zone Lex out anyway. Such as Batgirl, where Lex can't do ANYTHING between her bola's (+3 ON BLOCK AND HITS MID WTF???) and batarangs, unless he wants to risk catching a free smoke-bomb.

I dunno if anyone watched the AK stream last week, but Clint's Lex was just completely stuffed by a Raven. Lex can hardly move against her. If she mixes up her soul-crush with her basic projectile, you can only safely get about 1/10th of a step between everything she shoots.....

Then there's Sinestro. If tournaments continue to not do forced-random stage picks, Sinestro players are going to try for Ferris Aircraft if they know what they're doing. That stage is a PROBLEM for Lex.
 

bdizzle2700

gotta stay sharp!
well i main black adam and i think its 5-5 lex can control the air pretty well with that axe and charge. but bladams mobility does make it a bit hard for lex to use his traps. but my exprience is limited in this mu.
 

Galactic Geek

Losing is learning; winning is succeeding.
My biggest issue is Ares - I have NEVER been able to beat him if he's controlled by even a remotely decent player... Any advice on how to counter his annoying teleports, tricky combos, & zoning?
 
My biggest issue is Ares - I have NEVER been able to beat him if he's controlled by even a remotely decent player... Any advice on how to counter his annoying teleports, tricky combos, & zoning?
So, Ares is my secondary, and he's definitely tricky to block, you have to remember his attack patterns.

Here's the attacks an Ares player is going to use:

d1-rising sword (low, low)
He's also got two overhead combo starters, one hits on the first attack, one hits on the second attack, each have around a 13-15 frame startup.

If his overhead combo starters are blocked, he still has the option of canceling into a rising sword.

So if d1 is a low that comes out in 7 frames, and his overhead starters come out in 14 frames, your best option to block him is to fuzzy guard the first hit. Block low and then change to high really quick. If he goes for the overhead instead of the low, you will have changed to block high in time to hit it.

So fuzzy-guard the FIRST attack of any string, block low and then high really quick, to check for the quick low, and the slightly slower overhead.

If the first hit of the string was a low attack, block the second hit low as well.

If the first hit of the string was a mid or high attack, block the second hit high as well.

ALWAYS block the third hit of any Ares string low. He can hit you overhead OR low on that third hit, but the low hit leads to a full combo.

Whenever he does his basic 112 string, always block low for that rising sword. Same case here, any overhead he has is less threatening than the low sword which leads into a full combo.

Lastly, whenever he tries to hit you with his low d1-foot poke, get into the habbit of counter-poking with d1. If Ares attempts to d1 into rising sword, it can be interrupted by a d1 poke. If you are feeling bold, and you KNOW he's going to try and d1 into rising sword, go d1 XX grav pull for a full combo interrupt punish.
 

Galactic Geek

Losing is learning; winning is succeeding.
I appreciate the advice LtLuthor.

1 thing I wish they would do in practice mode that the don't do is include all of the basic moves & combos of the characters for counter-attacks or just as pre-recorded moves, similar to what they have with the special moves (although I understand why they wouldn't be used as wake-ups); heck, they don't even give you options for some of the special move variants such as some of MMH's specials. All you'd have to do is select it from a list (after all, EVERY move in the game has a name - it shouldn't be that hard to do) & watch your opponent perform the attack/combo over & over again with a few seconds in between. Now, I know there is a record feature where you can do this, which is nice to have, but it's also somewhat complicated to setup - especially if you're new to the game & not very good at doing combos in the 1st place.
 
Thoughts on Doomsday vs Lex?

I've been having some issues with Doomsday getting so in my face and being fast enough along with his trait to ignore a good chunk of Lex's ranged or setup options (I've seen a DD trait up right before an unblockable setup to completely stuff it and punish Lex after burning my meter for the missiles :V)

So far I've kindof been trying to bait him into traiting for things I can work with so I can pressure him when he doesn't have the option to use it during cool down and using Lex trait instead of trying to go for some OKI setups since Doomsdays speed and anti air grab can be a bit frustrating at times on wake up.
 
At full screen, Batgirl gets at least 10 freaking bola throws and I can hardly move an inch.

I can't dash, I can't jump (blown up by teleport), and litterally, I can't even trait up and dash if she mixes her batarangs in with bola (bola then batarange will nail Lex before shields go up :O)

I've just started testing, but Bola's are +3 for her on block at point-blank range. Meaning at full screen, it's more like +25.....

I don't think this is an even match anymore. I think its just that Batgirl players haven't realized how much her zoning just completely locks down Lex.
 
At full screen, Batgirl gets at least 10 freaking bola throws and I can hardly move an inch.

I can't dash, I can't jump (blown up by teleport), and litterally, I can't even trait up and dash if she mixes her batarangs in with bola (bola then batarange will nail Lex before shields go up :O)

I've just started testing, but Bola's are +3 for her on block at point-blank range. Meaning at full screen, it's more like +25.....

I don't think this is an even match anymore. I think its just that Batgirl players haven't realized how much her zoning just completely locks down Lex.
May be mistaken on this but I was having mediocre success reacting to her teleport with CC every time she was tries to punish jumps. Doesn't punish but it helped to avoid her and close the distance. Not certain on how reliable this is. But it definitely seems like a bad match up for Lex.
 

Galactic Geek

Losing is learning; winning is succeeding.
At full screen, Batgirl gets at least 10 freaking bola throws and I can hardly move an inch.

I can't dash, I can't jump (blown up by teleport), and litterally, I can't even trait up and dash if she mixes her batarangs in with bola (bola then batarange will nail Lex before shields go up :O)

I've just started testing, but Bola's are +3 for her on block at point-blank range. Meaning at full screen, it's more like +25.....

I don't think this is an even match anymore. I think its just that Batgirl players haven't realized how much her zoning just completely locks down Lex.
You could always try walking forward - at least that way you can block on reaction. ;)
 

Thead

Noob
At full screen, Batgirl gets at least 10 freaking bola throws and I can hardly move an inch.

I can't dash, I can't jump (blown up by teleport), and litterally, I can't even trait up and dash if she mixes her batarangs in with bola (bola then batarange will nail Lex before shields go up :O)
You can jump over the Bolas. If you're full screen, as soon as you hear that distinctive blip of Bola startup, you can wait for her to release and easily jump. Bolas have a lot of recovery on whiff, and a pretty long startup. Mid screen jump into Corp Charge punishes whiffed Bola, and can even stuff the startup of Bola if they leave it too long (deceptively long startup, the Bola can still be stuffed as its leaving Batgirls hand).

The trouble I had was vs Batgirls Cartwheel multi hitting wakeup, with Trait I could sometimes stuff it between the 1st and 2nd hits. Neutral jumping it I still seemed to get me. Is there a sure fire way to stop this wakeup other than standing back and letting it whiff?
 

Thead

Noob
Yeah, block or push-block it.
I know (with Trait) you can block, absorb the follow up attack and combo punish. I'm not gonna spend a bar of meter to pushblock someone's Wakeup attack after I've knocked them down, what kind of stupidness is that lol.

I'm hoping jump back 3 might stuff it, will have to check.
 

Spacepopsicle

Cool Beans
Alright Lex forum, I know that there isn't much else to do than to read this so take your time with me on this. I cannot fight these characters:

Batman - j2 (classic) and his zoning is too damn good, double batarang plus bats
Killer frost - not so much zoning more so slide + little bit of zoning
Catwoman - I plain and simple cannot fight catwoman in any way
Flash - He's more of a bad match up still advice would be nice
Green Lantern - the missile, so good, + overall GL

That's them, they more so don't have to do with bad MU except Flash, but if you could help me out it'd be great, everytime I get matched with against one of those characters, no matter they're skill, it's an uphill battle for me
 

Galactic Geek

Losing is learning; winning is succeeding.
Alright Lex forum, I know that there isn't much else to do than to read this so take your time with me on this. I cannot fight these characters:

Batman - j2 (classic) and his zoning is too damn good, double batarang plus bats
Killer frost - not so much zoning more so slide + little bit of zoning
Catwoman - I plain and simple cannot fight catwoman in any way
Flash - He's more of a bad match up still advice would be nice
Green Lantern - the missile, so good, + overall GL

That's them, they more so don't have to do with bad MU except Flash, but if you could help me out it'd be great, everytime I get matched with against one of those characters, no matter they're skill, it's an uphill battle for me
Out of all of these match-ups that you've mentioned, the ONLY 1 I have trouble with is the dark knight. His trait can eat through shield & his j2 ambiguous cross-up can get really annoying. My advice is to block his trait, reverse block his j2, & if you think he's going to use his grappling hook, set up a gravity mine so he'll fly into it.

Killer Frost is easy - simply duck. Her knives will pass overhead, & you'll avoid her ice spike & can punish her slide. In addition to that, her overheads are slow enough that you can counter them with a d1 or other means.

Catwoman & Flash both love to rush-down, so my advice is to go on the defensive. Watch for & block wake-ups & keep them at a distance. Throw gravity mines on the ground to keep their rush-down attacks from hitting you. This way you can condition them to stay away from you, which will instantly get you the advantage.

Green Lantern is relatively easy to beat if you watch for his ring grab. Simply stay back, shield up, & avoid or absorb his projectiles/ring grab as you rush in to crush him.
 

miloPKL

soundcloud.com/pukelization
I have trouble with Flash and Harley lately. Flash gets in for free. Harleys shots piss me off. I need more time with both.
 

imblackjames

Ive seen the leprechaun
I have trouble with Flash and Harley lately. Flash gets in for free. Harleys shots piss me off. I need more time with both.
What i do with Harley is i duck until she gets in range of a corps charge. If she does something (ie cupcakes or air gun) to mix it up i wait for it then go in to punish. those guns are a pain though you just have to be super patient.
 

Galactic Geek

Losing is learning; winning is succeeding.
What i do with Harley is i duck until she gets in range of a corps charge. If she does something (ie cupcakes or air gun) to mix it up i wait for it then go in to punish. those guns are a pain though you just have to be super patient.
James is right - just yesterday I fought a Harley & I did the exact same thing he suggested. It went down to the wire; we were both neck & neck, but because I waited patiently, I managed to survive a hit & use a wake-up corp charge to win the game with only 1% health left with only 4 seconds left on the clock because she got too close. Everyone in the KOTH room was screaming in their excitement because they thought that I would lose...
 
Catwoman - I plain and simple cannot fight catwoman in any way


Watch the latest GGA stream archive. 16 Bit has some matches against PPJ's Lex that perfectly illustrate why Lex stomps all over Catwoman.

To sum up what I learned from watching:
Jump backwards and press 3. Catwoman is hilariously ill-equipped to deal with it.
 

Galactic Geek

Losing is learning; winning is succeeding.
Watch the latest GGA stream archive. 16 Bit has some matches against PPJ's Lex that perfectly illustrate why Lex stomps all over Catwoman.

To sum up what I learned from watching:
Jump backwards and press 3. Catwoman is hilariously ill-equipped to deal with it.
Can you link to that archive/particular video for me? I can't find what you're referring to. :(