Yeah just tried it and I’m not convinced, the fireball will stop him if you block the rose but not if it hits you.
Is there just one standard BnB combo for Laura? Ive just been doing F HP>St HP>HP Bolt which I think is just a target combo(?).
Her f HP -> HP is her target combo and it’s cancellable but yes, that is one of her few combos. Her other confirmable combos are just off lights like st LP/LK xx LP bolt. She isn’t a combo character per se, most combos she is able to get are from doing meaties or counter hits but due to her ability to command grab and mix up, giving her stronger combos would be pretty ridiculous. Her normals are very powerful and a lot leave her with plus frames and are frame traps built upon itself for those same reasons. Her cr MK xx LP bolt is a great tool and will probably be used a lot because it’s (mostly) safe on block and on hit leaves her +2 which allows her to either command grab, throw, or press buttons for frame traps. Her game starts when you’re either in the opponent’s face and/or you get your opponent knocked down which is why most of this thread is devoted to frame traps and/or meaty combos after a knockdown.
I’ve been messing around in the lab earlier and it might come in useful for those who are willing to V trigger for pressure or a way to get in. All the frames are only based off of my own testing so I’m not 100% sure they’re accurate and are if they are blocked.
f HP -> HP xx V trigger = +3f
st MP -> st MK (or just st MK) xx V trigger = +6f
st HP xx V trigger = +7f
st HK xx V trigger = +7f
f HP -> HP is pretty slow on start up but the f HP is confirmable (if you’re fast), if not, hitting the second HP will then allow you to confirm whether or not it hit, if it did, cancel into HP bolt to save your V trigger, if it didn’t, go into V trigger and it’ll leave you at +3 allowing you to pretty much do anything you want (i.e. buttons, grab, or command grab). I think I’ll probably go to using this a lot considering the range she can do this at to get in and it puts your opponent in a bad situation.
Laura’s other target combo (or just st MK) st MP -> st MK into V trigger leaves her at +6 which is an odd spot to be at. Her command grab isn’t going to work immediately so she will have to wait a frame before doing it, otherwise it’ll whiff. However, this option will allow her to either go into cr HP to hit confirm into MP bolt or st LK tick into HK command grab or st LK follow with st MP xx EX fireball frame trap. The range will, unfortunately, push her out a bit too far for cr MP to work hence the EX fireball cancel from st MP. All in all, I think this is a bad position for your opponent to be in so I think it’s a good option to go with.
st HP into V trigger is a decent option as it moves/keeps her close and comes out relatively fast. If st HP into V trigger hits, Laura can continue into st/cr HP into EX fireball reset shenanigans. If it CCs, then it’s actually unfortunate because her best option here is to do cr HP xx MP bolt. Another option is just to wait two frames and then go for command grab or throw if it’s blocked (timing is pretty weird though). Normally, st HP is -2, so it’s not unsafe (necessarily) but if you want to keep the pressure going, going into V trigger is an option. Alternatively, if it’s blocked, she can do another st HP after the V trigger and V skill back; if the st HP CCs, she can follow with MP bolt, if it doesn’t hit, well, you’re at least at neutral. I think I like this option the least because it doesn’t leave Laura in a great situation and it’s not a tight frame trap. But it’s information, so someone might find a use for it.
st HK into V trigger works if she’s not doing it at max range. Just slightly from max range, if it hits, she can combo into cr HP xx MP bolt. If it CCs at closer ranges, she can follow with f HP -> HP xx HP bolt for massive damage (322/496). St HK starts up pretty slow but the pay off is pretty big and it leaves her at a lot of plus frames. Not sure how often I’ll use this personally though because st HK isn’t a move she’ll want to do at close ranges and if she does it at the farther ranges, it doesn’t really get her anything if it’s blocked for the cost of a V trigger. Worst part of it all, if it hits at max range without CC, she can’t follow with anything. Not really recommended but it’s an option if you have a good read on your opponent pressing buttons at the wrong time or ranges.
I know that her V reversal is actually quite a powerful tool for her, especially considering that her wake up options are pretty weak but I also feel like she has trouble getting in too and using V trigger like this might make it at least a tad easier for her. I can’t imagine her having too much trouble building up V trigger considering that she’ll take quite a bit of damage just trying to get in through other methods. I think going with either of her target combos are probably the way to go, at least it will be for me.
Nice stuff. I’d been looking at the 6HP target combo cancelled into V-Trigger but I hadn’t tried the rest out yet. I’ll stick them in the soon to exist frametrap section.
So, scrap forward throw from your arsenal ladies and gentleman. 6HP followup only works on Rashid, Zangief, Chun and Birdie. Everybody else escapes with backdash for free, except for when they are in the corner. This means backdash beats all meaty options (EX SSW and 6HP) mid screen. To add insult to injury, some chars like Cammy, Bison or R.Mika even completely escape the unsafe Dash - 6LP. Only option at that point is to go for wonky stuff like Dash - 6HP, which CCs them out of the air. Needless to say, Dash 6HP after forward throw is extremely gimmicky. Should probably add that info to the oki section in OP.
I should probably elaborate more on the point why I stated you should take back throw over forward throw in the corner in the OP 
I’ll add some more notes in a bit.
EDIT: Meaty 2LK comes out of the same reset setups you’d use for meaty overhead, and combos into 5LP \o/
I tested out 6HP -> HP xx V trigger some more and unfortunately, it’s not quite as good as I made it out to be, I think. For the second HP hit to get Laura close enough, she has to still do 6HP at non-max range in order for her non-command grab options to work correctly. So at the farther ranges, 5LK can’t be used as a tick throw nor work as a frame trap for 5MP. At a bit closer ranges, she can still do 5LK into 5MP as a frame trap and because after V trigger leaves her at +3 and 5LK 4f start up, it can counter hit into 5MP. Also, it’s a bit of an anomaly, if done close enough for 5LK to work as a tick grab, the LK command grab has to be done as soon as possible or else they will be out of range; I’m assuming it has something to do with pushback and 5LK recovering before the full pushback of it happens, I’m not sure. And of course, if 5LK hits them rather than them blocking, it pushes them too far out of range for command grab so it’s not what I would call free damage necessarily depending on what your opponent chooses to do. To avoid them potentially pressing a button or getting hit, opting to use 5LP instead could lock them down because it remains a true block string and it still allows Laura to be in range for LK command grab (under the assumption she was close enough with the target combo). It still puts your opponent in a bad situation but not nearly as bad as I initially thought due to the spacing requirement.
Something else I’ve noticed while testing V triggered EX clap, it has slightly different properties (including being +6 on block instead of +3). If Laura does 5HP xx EX clap while in V trigger and 5HP CCs, the EX clap will connect leading to mix up potential whereas outside of V trigger, EX clap won’t combo into a CC 5HP. Not sure how many of us will be putting that to use though but it is interesting and it leads me to believe that EX clap while in V trigger has a faster start up.
Hey guys here’s a meat mp set up after forward throw if they slow rise. Throw>lp bolt>mp>mp. Not perfectly meaty but gives you +7 hit and +6 block.
Not sure if its been mentioned or not but as far as the ex fb resets go you can s.mk dash under and actually dash back again to be back on the side you started, it leaves you a lil’ distance away but good for s.hk or something. In an ideal situation you’d get CC, only good to use once you’ve conditioned them abit. You can also use a normal that puts you in front (c.mp, c.hp etc.) and cancel it into ex.elbow which puts you behind, if they are aware of gimmicks you might catch people out with this using it sparingly (once a match… never? lol).
Also if you’ve got them in the corner, normally resets don’t put you behind but you can if you reset with s.mk and dash back then forward. Timing is abit wonky but it does work.
That is not a good idea. If you do the L Bolt and they quickrise instead they can whiff punish you big-time. There are two setups for forward throw in the OP that do give you perfectly meaty MP after the forward throw.
I don’t believe EX Clap in V-Trigger does have faster startup, as if my calculations are correct 5HP xx EX Clap has a one frame gap both in and out of V-Trigger. Unfortunately on some characters the EX Clap just won’t connect on CC. Maybe it has a larger hitbox or moves slightly faster in V-Trigger? I’m not sure.
Ah OK I must have block the Rose then. How fast is that move any way?
I don’t think it’s faster start up, everything about ex thunderclap in V-trigger is the same -except- you will get three hits instead of two.
Urgh. I’m testing out blockstrings and I’ve found some inconsistencies. If you set Chun-Li to do 2LP on guard recovery, then do 2MP xx EX Clap, 5MP, it’ll counter hit as it’s supposed to in the left corner, but Chun mysteriously goes under the 5MP hitbox in the right corner ;_;
I can’t get consistent behaviour midscreen unfortunately.
That is so bizarre LOL. I just tested it myself and I was second guessing myself the entire time with Chun in the right corner because I was either getting counter hit or just hit out of 5MP when there’s no way that should have been possible outside of me mis-timing it. But then I try it on the left corner and it counter hits Chun every time. Weird anomaly, indeed.
I also tested this mid-screen and you’re right, it’s inconsistent; sometimes it’ll happen and other times, it won’t. Nerf Chun!
So I was messing around with Laura in training mode and found out that if you space L bolt charge to hit at max range, you can press S.lk and punish their counter poke. It’s like the set-up you get off a properly spaced s.mk where if the opponent doesn’t move your S.lk misses but if they press a button you hit them. This can be really useful for Laura in certain match-ups since a well spaced bolt charge can get Laura in and let her start her offense instantly. The only downside is that the set-up is inconsistent or just doesn’t work on certain characters.
Characters it will always work on:
Ryu
Ken
Rashid
Laura
Karin
Dhalsim
Cammy
Characters it will never work on:
Chun (s.lp)
Mika (s.lp)
Alex (cr.lp)
Zangeif (cr.lp)
Birdie(s.lp and cr.lp)
Claw (cr.lp)
Characters it’s weird on:
Nash - (doing your s.lk will beat his cr.lp but only dodge his s.lp and causes both your normals to whiff. It looks likes you’re -1 after both of your moves whiff but none of his jabs reach far enough to hit you so you might be able to just do the mix-up again)
Dictator -(same as Nash)
Fang - (his s.lp is the same as nash but you can also duck it and his cr.lp randomly losses or trades to your s.lk)
Necalli - ( same as Nash)
Sorry if this post looks like a mess I’m tired and don’t feel like proofreading it.
Just doing some more frame data stuff on blocked -> VSF. I think all of it is accurate, someone may want to double check.
5MP xx VSF = -2
2MP xx VSF = -2
5MK xx VSF = -4
2MK xx VSF = -7
5HP xx VSF = -5
5LK xx VSF = -8
5LP xx VSF = -9 (or more, i.e. don’t do it)
I think that just about covers the normals that Laura would cancel into VSF. Definitely looks like that 5MP and/or 2MP is the safest option to go with and it gives the opponent the least amount of time to do anything.
Is the frame advantage the same for normal VSF and V-Trigger VSF?
Based from what I can tell, the VSF has the same frames regardless of in V trigger or not. I think the only difference is the distance that she covers.
That was my understanding too but I figured it might be worth knowing for sure so just ran a simple test.
I set gief to st.mk (9 frame start up) on block. I then did st.mk -> Avante -> cr.mp, and as one would expect, I would get trades (st.mk is -4 when avante canceled, cr.mp is 5 frames, so 5+4 =9). I then did st.mk -> avante -> st.lk, and I stuffed giefs reversal, again expect (4+4 = 8).
I then v triggered and did the same tests. The results were the same. cr.mp traded, st.lk stuffed.
So the good news is that despite the increased distance, the number of frames of avante is not increased when in v trigger, the downside is that the number of frames has not been decreased either, so VSF cancelling normals is as unsafe as ever.
I’ll update the OP once I have some free time. Busy this weekend and will be abroad for most of next week.