Coming from a Tekken perspective, it seems like all the characters have risky mixups but which characters have the most effective ones in terms of risk/reward?
Liu Kang? Smoke? Reptile? Cage? All of them seem to have a safe M/L launcher and a safe L/M move to mix it with.
Kabal can end block strings (like forward+FK, BP which is advantage or safe) with Tornado Slam (overhead) or Saw Blade (low) which is quite a good 50/50 with not much risk depending on spacing and which character you are fighting.
Some have target combos that either end with an overhead or low, but they dont seem to lead to much except more frame advantage if they hit.
Cage is my main for the moment (not sure how much longer, I like him but his options seem limited in many situation). He has almost nothing decent that goes low except sweep but you can atleast do a 50/50 on jump-ins with sweep or forward+BK which are both safe on block. It can be risky though if they know its coming because they are not true block strings and can be punished by some fast specials.
It seems that most characters can either do good damage off of a low or off of an overhead, but not both. So, while Liu Kang’s overhead isn’t all that bad, there really isn’t a reason to block high with him (he gets MUCH more damage from a low).
he gets frame advantage if the overhead hits tho right? i know its not a straight combo, but + frames are good
From what I understand the saw blade is punishable by a full combo up close, like most projectiles, so it’s a very risky low to use for mixups.
That’s why you spam the overhead all day (gives +frames on hit) until they start blocking high and that’s when they get hit by the launcher.
Note that Scorpion has options to use a low risk/reward mid/low mixup, and a high risk/reward mid/low mixup, which is good but I think the most solid option is a safe launcher mixed with a safe low reward move.
Yeah, Liu gets frame advantage off the overhead and damage from the low. Either option is safe on block, too. That’s what his game is…safe 50/50s.
Scorpion’s 50/50 game is more risky, but he gets really nice damage off either option. b2 and f4 xx spear. Any situation you have frame advantage is where you can stick those in.
If you attempt more than one f+FK in a row, then the opponent can cr.FK between them. The opponent’s cr.FK will also beat grabs and some highs. Liu’s b+FK will beat an opponent’s cr.FK after an overhead though.
Also, is f+FK completely safe on block? I know it pushes the opponent away and it doesn’t have too much recovery, but what if the opponent has a fast approaching move (such as Cage’s Shadow Kick)?