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Strategy Lex's Playstyle

Hey - I've recently taken an interest in Lex. Primarily due to his lack of exposure and noted "bottom tier status". I feel like his placement on the tier list is due to the lack of representation and exploration into Lex's Playstyle. I've practice a bit with Lex and I would like to talk about my findings as well as what I believe to be Lex's optimum range, playstyle and goals during a match.

"The Zoner That Could..."

My first impression after looking at Lex's arsenal is that he would be a zoner through and through; the charge, the lance, the laser, the shield, the mines, the probes - he has so many resources. However, in practice its a completely different story. Lex is slow, big and floaty. His zoning - while flexible - is low damage and not fast enough to keep up with a solid rush down.

This is perplexing - why have all these tools if they synthesize to nothing?! What was the developers goal in giving him these tools. I submit to you a thought - that Lex wasn't intended as a strict zoner.

"Setup for Failure"

Setups...setups...setups. Once I started exploring his setup game I believe Lex to be a hidden gem in the roster. All of his specials in someway or form contribute to an extensive setup game at Lex's disposal. The Charge provides a hardknock down, the mines allow oki setups and unblockable setups, the probe applies pressure on wake up as well as providing time for additional setups and trait also furfills this role. It took me only a short amount of time to piece together setups that allowed me to achieve damage accumulating up to 60%+

In many ways this makes sense given Lex's character in the comics - always resourceful and at his most dangerous when utilizing his assets. So given how should Lex approach battles?

"Long Stick Middie"

Mid Range is where I think Lex was meant to be. He's close enough where if the opposition tries to zone it'll be unsafe - and Lex is in the position to punish with his Charge as necessary. Plus his c3 and j3 can snuff out attempts to pressure him. Lex, in my opinion, his a meter heavy character - desperately needing to spend wisely yet liberally (funny pairing eh?). I believe that more often than not Lex should be pushing the offensive and trying to land a hit which will inevitably lead to his diverse setup game in hopes for additional damage.


In Summary

Lex is meter reliant mid-range character who relies on momentum and whiff punishing. His setups grant him a flexible but slow starting offense - as he needs to land a hit to get the ball rolling. He suffers at fullscreen because of his slow zoning and vulnerability.

I defiantly think that Lex deserves a closer look by the community at large because his offensive potential off a hit confirm is rather impressive. I feel like his subpar defensive abilities can be avoided by remain in Charge range.

I respect all the players putting the time into getting to learn this character - as I said I believe him to be a diamond in the rough. Players of Lex please let me know what you think of the points I brought up in this post - I don't really care to talk about buffs or nerfs (there's enough of those threads all over the place) but let me know what you think of the following -

Lex's Intended Playstyle
Lex's Optimal Range


Thanks!
Chance
(sorry I didn't spell check this post)
 

Wrenchfarm

Lexcorp Proprietary Technologies
I think mid-range is pretty much optimal for Lex. You don't want to be at full screen, he'll get zoned out with little that can effectively fight back. Up close he is a little sluggish and dependent on his armour to keep him from being hit out of things. Once he has a knockdown and his armour he can bully opponents on wake-up and get real nasty, but in a nuetral state he'll lose to most of the cast that have better/safer normals.

At mid he can always punish with the charge and control the air with j.3 so that's nice. You really do need a knock down to start deploying mines and probes though. If the opponent plays smart and safe, it can be difficult to get the ball rolling.