I’m a new Law player and have been trying some matches online, but have had some difficulty getting in with him. Here’s what I have observed so far:
Law has some decent reaching pokes with s.MK, c.MK, c.LK, and s.HK. He also has a few moves that produce forward momentum with the likes of s.MP, Knuckle Rush, Junkyard Kick, his slide, and Dragon Hammer.
They all move quite a nice distance, but they all suffer from one problem: long startup. Mind you, I’m at a D rank but I seem to end up losing to random pokes since it seems players at that rank are way too random for their own good and I end up getting zoned out. I was thinking of perhaps jumping a bit more to compensate for the slower normals and then go from there.
Not a Law player but just jumping is the answer. The distance covered by diagonal jumping has been too good ever since SF4, and in this game you can risk trading with many AA’s. If you land the jump then you can hit a big combo.
Jumping in this game is a bit of a gamble like it is in most fighting games. A jump-in is very easy to react to, and by the time you see the opponent jumping to meet you, and hit a button it is too late, you get counter hit and of course you know the rest. Of course if you’re on the other side of the screen, jumping to get in is safer but this of course should not be your only method of closing the distance. Personally, getting in with law shouldn’t be too bad depending on the match-up. The best bet is to look at your team. Who are you using with law, and who is starting? Of course if you anchor law, he should be tagged in, do his dmg and either get out or stay in. If he stays in, then staying on top of the opponent shouldn’t pose too much of a problem depending on the match-up of course.
First thing first. Not to sound like a dick but simply walking forward is the best method of closing the distance. You’re able to react to things, dash either way, and block without fear of being counter hit. That should be your main method. Second, once you’re at the proper distance I find that using the first two inputs of the junkyard kick combo moves law forward pretty far and if blocked leaves you at -4 which is relatively safe depending on the match up you’re playing and easy to confirm. Of course you could do the dragon rush combo, and cancel the sweep with somersault, which will leave you close to the opponent, safe and gives a good frame trap set up using knuckle rush afterwards. You should be able to punish a lot of whiffed attacks (at distance) using this. The main problem with it thought is that it can be neutral jumped pretty easily. If you see them neutral jumping at a distance, a well timed dragon’s flight will hit them out of the air, and get you in the pocket. I think the main problem you are having is just getting used to playing law and knowing how/when he can move. Keep on trying new things to get in there and see what does and doesn’t work.
I use partial Junkyard Kick to get in their faces, s.MP / c.MK xx Spin Kicks at further distance.
There’s a strict safe distance for Flying Kicks that make it safe with LK version but it’s uber risky if they jiggle in or out too far you get punished or whiff punished.
Law’s forward dash is one of the best in the game, I’d say at least top 30% of the characters. Use it because his normal walk is slow as hell.
I wouldn’t say that. Majority of special moves yes, but most normals that are easy to abuse… no . The point being, since the move has an extremely long duration, the opponent has time to think about their options before committing to anything. So sure once the match starts and no one has meter it’s a good idea to move yourself forward and keep pressure but later in the match, hell no.
d/f+lk xx shaolin kicks (hold) dash cancel. Or if you are closer just do the shaolin kicks. Or backdash and hope for a whiffpunish opportunity. Remember that you can be hit during d/f lk, But you are invincible during backdash. I usually try to punish with b+mp, lk, mk into juggle. But don’t do the last hit of the string if he blocks.