All About Pao

Hey SkullDude, welcome! I fought you a couple of times. Hope you’ll stick around and add more input.

A slight change from this strat: I no longer do max height dives and instead do low dives + kick. Some Shoals who get wise to your tricks can manage a headshot before you get in, so if you suspect that, you can dive straight up and then kick.

Against Jefailey, if you can get in his face, he can’t hit you with his kick.

Picked up Divekick when it hit Steam, and Kung Pao was definitely a character I was drawn to since watching the UGFT tournament. Fun stuff. While KP does have her weaknesses, it pays to persevere and keep finding those holes in everyone’s defense. I tried to counterpick a couple times with Mr. N but it never worked out right. KP is my girl, and that’s who I stick with.

Gotta agree with the Baz and Dr. Shoals comments, and I’ll be looking to try a couple of the tactics mentioned here.

Against Baz, save up your meter for the air special. If Baz tries to go for kickfactor, use the air special to protect yourself. When you get close, be prepared to kickback. You might even be able to do it twice in a row.

If Baz uses dive gem, the match gets harder.

In any match where the opponent uses the dive gem, I wouldn’t bother using the dive gem as a counter. No point.

Agreed. Everyone’s dive is better than KP’s, so just stick with your kick gem.

The only exception is Pao mirrors. Whoever has the higher dive wins, so if you don’t use the dive gem, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage.

I think the Dive matchup is even. Against Dive, I think the best way to fight him is to wait for an attack. If he attacks, you can score a headshot with kickback > kick. You don’t want him to get kick factor, so some pressure is needed. If the opponent gets into unreactable range (see vid in first post), you can be sure the opponent will use G special if he has enough meter.

Something new I learned about Pao: she’s great for punishing kick factor activation. The opponent has to kick before KF activates, so you can use that to your advantage.

Updated first post with my video tutorial.

Try your best to get a portal crack at the very edge of the opponent’s side. If you do, and just let it sit, chances are they’ll forget about it. At the very worst, they’ll know it’s there but can’t do anything about it. The point is, they can’t sit back in the corner as long as the crack is behind them.

Also, any time you have meter and you advance forward, try dropping a crack to put pressure on the opponent. Make them fear the crack.