Come on pls, if with being a -5 after a hat trap, in many cases you can d1 to win trades, you can even d4
When you pull your hat back you're at -7 and you have EX Spin to win trades that has armor and armor breakes, d4 and F2, and you're not even on neutral
Tempest has all that options when is at -3, Hat Trick will have far better if he becomes neutral, because both characters share the same poking and meter tools, aside from the hat spin and ex spin all the options are mostly the same, the only thing stopping tempest to go ham on meterless hat spin is the cooldown it has on the hat to reappear when gets blocked.
But any Kung lao who has two bars of meter, can build more than it spends with loopable block pressure, it doesn't even need to be loopable, your tool just need to be neutral on block with no gap.
The gap is not pointless, its there so that Hat Trick players can't just use hatarang as a pressure tool when mixups are blocked, its a move that benefits on hit not block.
You guys are underestimating the incredible power of frame trap, Skarlet in Mk9 ended all of her pressure with -3 to -10 and she was easily top 10 character due her frame traps, once she made you respect those options she would easely loop her pressure into more pressure even if it wasn't guaranteed it was just the mental pressure of being trapped that made her build meter like water, which IMO Kung Lao in MKX builds even more in any variation.
lets all not forget that MKX uses a unblocking system that costs 1 frame to release block before you attack unless you're using a reversal special, if Hatarang gap is removed and the second hit on block becomes neutral on block Hat Trick would be at +1, the opponent would have to input a reversal to win a trade most of time because releasing block costs one frame.
And then on the neutral all your options would be more in favor of hat trick which i already said before, everything would come out one frame earlier, this including tactics as jump back or crossups with a disjointed hitbox jump in to not lose most of trades, and do things in the same way tempest already does.
F2 becomes 10 instead of 11, so using a 10 normal would lose to this mid because it would come 1f later
d4 low profiles and beats lows, would come out at 8f instead of 9, which on hit would give HT a free hat trap into HCB pressure
Crossup jump into 112124 (more meter)
ex spin comes out at 7frames, has armor and destroys armor, of course is punishable on block, but just knowing that the move is there, totally conditions you to not reversal using meter, knowing on neutral you might still lose the trade to this move
Opponnents options:
Just block: Sure, it rewards him if KL ex spins thinking about a trade he gets a full combo, but also, it conditions him for 7 extra frames, so KL can input a 8f high while he is blocking and re-loop his pressure.
Poke out: Sure, why not, but what happens if lao blocks d1? lao gets a free throw? he is mentalized to get out of pressure, mashing increase the risks of getting ex spinned or F2'd, he can also get grabbed, since throws wins trades over pokes like 80% of the time, and there is still the jump option.
Reversal: Again, what if he just blocks, the special the opponent will use is safe on block? What if HT ex spins as well?
While there is a lot of questions to deal with while his is playing, you're at neutral thinking what next options favors you best after using hatarang.
Again, the gap in hatarang is not pointless, hatarang doesn't suck, the special move as it is, is fine, its the other departments that needs to be looked at.
If you are getting a D1 when you're -5 on block you're playing a shit opponent. Either that or they're doing an unnecessarily slow move. Why would you try to punish with a 13 frame move? There's not "many" cases that you win trades, you shouldn't be winning them at all if your opponent is playing correctly.
Hat Trick will not be better at neutral! He has EIGHT frame moves at best, 90% of the cast win any trade against him. That's not advantageous to Lao in any way. I really don't see where you're getting that he's at any sort of advantage.
"But any Kung lao who has two bars of meter, can build more than it spends with loopable block pressure, it doesn't even need to be loopable, your tool just need to be neutral on block with no gap."
This is completely false. There is NO LOOP, he is at neutral and only has 8 frame options or slower afterwards. Most of the cast have 7 frame moves or faster which, if you do the simple math, shows that Lao is not at advantage and cannot loop anything. After he does a hatarang he will be hit out of a followup standing 1.
The gap is pointless Eddy, there's no justification for it whatsoever. You thinking it should never ever be used for pressure at all is not justification for a gap that you can full combo him out of. As I said, if there was a gap it should not be 10 frames.
"F2 becomes 10 instead of 11, so using a 10 normal would lose to this mid because it would come 1f later
d4 low profiles and beats lows, would come out at 8f instead of 9, which on hit would give HT a free hat trap into HCB pressure
Crossup jump into 112124 (more meter)
ex spin comes out at 7frames, has armor and destroys armor, of course is punishable on block, but just knowing that the move is there, totally conditions you to not reversal using meter, knowing on neutral you might still lose the trade to this move
Opponnents options:
Just block: Sure, it rewards him if KL ex spins thinking about a trade he gets a full combo, but also, it conditions him for 7 extra frames, so KL can input a 8f high while he is blocking and re-loop his pressure.
Poke out: Sure, why not, but what happens if lao blocks d1? lao gets a free throw? he is mentalized to get out of pressure, mashing increase the risks of getting ex spinned or F2'd, he can also get grabbed, since throws wins trades over pokes like 80% of the time, and there is still the jump option.
Reversal: Again, what if he just blocks, the special the opponent will use is safe on block? What if HT ex spins as well?"
You're being completely biased in this list.
Yes F2 becomes 10 but people still have faster normals than 10 frames, F2 being a mid is irrelevant because it's too slow to beat out followup pokes or even standing 1s in most cases.
D4 doesn't beat lows, it'll trade at worst. As I said most people have a 7 frame normal so your D4 would get beat. Yes on hit you get a Hat Trap but you're being selective in what you write and you're missing out that on block you're getting full combo punished.
Crossup jump into 112124 is completely reactable and there's no way the opponent is going to let you do that.
You don't have the option of ex spin, your hat is off, so bringing that up as an option is irrelevant in this situation.
Opponent's options:
Block: KL will not ex spin because he does not have that option. In the majority of cases you may as well poke because you're bound to beat out the majority of KLs options afterwards. Stop using the word loop, nothing about anything to do with this situation is any sort of loop as he's at no plus frames at all.
Poke out: Oh so you avoid mentioning the counteroptions for Lao's options but have no problem bringing up Laos counteroptions to the opponent here? This is why your list is biased. If Lao blocks a poke it isn't even a free throw because most pokes aren't - enough to guarantee a throw. Again, you won't get ex spun because he doesn't have his hat and F2 is too slow to beat out pokes so it's irrelevant in that situation. You're right about throws beating pokes sometimes though, I personally think that's a stupid mechanic but it's not my decision so whatever.
Reversal: Again with the selective mentioning of couteroptions and ex spin when he can't use it. Yes most reversals are unsafe but they can just reversal throw instead and then you're in the corner. Lao also has to guess, not just the opponent.
I never said hatarang sucked, nor is it the number 1 priority, I just don't see any valid reason why there's a gap so big in the move. Insinuations aren't valid reasons. I will however concede that I forgot about pokes being a frame slower as you can't reversal them so make hatarang minus if need be.
