I can’t contest what you say, technically speaking if a player is familiar with the match up and plays perfectly, SSW should always result in your resetting the game to neutral, since they should have no reason to ever get hit by her meaty normal options or thrown by her dash in throwing options, including off ex wheel. Back throw seems like the better option on the surface, but reduced range and damage aside, the biggest flaw in always going for back throw is that back throw can be teched.
Perhaps instead consider this, if you believe you opponent is always blocking for a frame or two after quick rise and then hitting a button, you could delay your meaty so that its no longer meat but hits a couple frames after their wake up. Crush counter them with delayed st.hk a few times and I bet that would dissuade them from continuing to mindlessly quick rise with only a brief block into button, if they try to just block longer then delay your st.hk longer, and if they start just flat out blocking, that re-opens the potential dash to sunset wheel mix up. Just something to consider.
You’re right, it does; a reversal 3f button does beat out the Sunset Wheel. I was just messing up my inputs when I was testing it yesterday when I set the dummy. I think I was spinning my stick a bit too much for the quick rise and ended up getting a move to come out instead of just the 5LP with Laura but I saw “reversal” pop up and just assumed that it was my normal. Oddly enough though, “reversal” doesn’t appear if I do a reversal 5LP, I thought it was supposed to?
Only in training. During a match it comes out only with specials.
You’re +2 after back throw, dash, so a command grab will work against chars with no 3 frame normals (ken, birdie, alex, bison, nash, fang, dhalsim, zangief)
I don’t think Laura’s CA is as useless as someone depicts it. Sure you might wanna burn that meter rather on EX fireballs or Bolts than on her CA, but thanks to its invincibility and quick dash it’s very easy to land it after an empty jump into your opponent’s medium range or to punish someone who’s getting too confident at rushing down on you. On some characters like Zangief who always meaty you on wakeup it seems you can land your wakeup CA pretty consistently. And you can also cancel into it from a regular fireball if you want to.
I wouldn’t argue it’s effectiveness, it’s really more about whether or not I have the meter to spend on it. I’m usually using my meter for EX fireballs to either reset and/or keep pressure that I’m almost never going to have a full stock of meter. Also, it’s not a 0f grab so if they didn’t press a button, then you just wasted all your meter and Laura needs her meter for either her mix up game and/or to get in with EX elbow against fireball characters. Now for characters like Nash where their EX doesn’t really net them a whole lot, they can afford to stock up on meter and use it as a reversal option but Laura doesn’t really have that luxury.
I agree, I feel like this forum under rates it. 4 frame start up with relatively decent range lets you punish a LOT of stuff laura normally either couldn’t punish at all, or at least not well. And the fact that its her only true invincibility move can’t be over stated, when you’ve got a full meter your opponent either has to respect your wake up or take a huge risk. Yes its a big risk for you too, but its one thats always worth considering if your opponent is frequently using meaty set ups on you as raw CA can just end games and meter refills pretty fast in this game. It’s also one of my favorite things to link into off a v trigger cancel on hit when its available since most of them give at least 4 frames advantage, and its a pretty slick hit confirm link off st.lk, st.lk, cr.lp->st.lk, or my preferred cr.lp, cr.lp (the latter preferred for me just because the crouch helps me successfully input the motion for the CA in time to link consistently). I generally don’t save up for it intentionally, but if the natural flow of the match results in my having a full bar, I always consider my options with it
Yeah I almost always end up using it to finish the round/match. What usually happens is that I get him to low health, then he starts getting momentum and since he has to commit himself to relentless attacks to avoid getting killed he’ll just eat my CA.
I very much like to compare her CA to Abel’s U1 because they can both walk through attacks and crush all hope of a comeback.
Also maybe not everyone knows that but her CA on V-Trigger is actually the 4th most damaging one in the whole game with a very solid 370 damage (Birdie on V-Trigger is 420, Zangief is 400 and Necalli on V-Trigger is 380). You can pretty much eat 40% of their lifebar with a single good read.
It’s not free though, especially against characters who can low profile and have the range (e.g. Cammy). Also, because Clap is pretty slow and she takes a huge step forward, it makes it pretty easy to catch her trying to throw out a Clap. I’m not saying don’t use it because it is one of her few tools that she can use to stop people from dashing in recklessly but mind the spacing. Of course, there’s also fireball invincible moves so if you throw it out and they don’t dash, they can react properly and punish. Jumping is another problem but I guess if you condition them not to jump at you, then it’s less of a problem.
I also feel that the people who are willing to dash in are also the same types of players who don’t get dissuaded so easily, so even if it means eating a Clap here and there, the reward for them getting in is generally much higher. I think if you expect the opponent to be dash-happy, sticking out 2MK buffering into LP bolt is much more of a deterrent than a Clap, especially when they are forced to guess after getting hit, not to mention that it’s also generally safer to do.
Honestly though, Mika and Laura are so much alike that it’s really more about who can get their game started first. However, Laura does do better at the footsie game a tad better so as Laura, you’ll want to take advantage of it if/when you can. Also, probably avoid throwing out Claps, Mika can drop kick through them or simply slide under them, I haven’t found many uses with the Claps at the neutral against her. Laura can react to Mika’s drop kicks too and either low profile it with 2MK and get a punish but the timing is kind of strict or do 5HK for counter hit. Aside from those things, I don’t really know what else to say - just try to play solid and wait for your opportunity to get in. Mika has her 6MK which is incredibly annoying to deal with as Laura, I haven’t really found a way to deal with it as of yet other than EX elbow when they get a little too happy with that button.
Tend to save meter against Ryu. I use ex elbow at times to go through fireballs. However, saving for her CA makes Ryu quite reluctant to throw careless fireballs up close. You can punish his fireballs on block from quite a range.
Laura can just turtle up and there isn’t much mika can do to get in. In my opinion, Mika’s best tool for getting in altering her jump ins with her body splash, which heavy elbow beats. You can low profile her s.hk with c.mk which leads into a big punish. Her best normal in neutral is whiff punishing with F.mp which only means you need to stray away from c.hp in the neutral. The last thing you need to watch out for is her V-trigger, the most common normal mika’s will use to activate is c.hp which you can command backdash/neutral jump and whiffpunish.
If you just play solid most mika’s will try to do random crap like random peach bomber and dash up grabs, but as long as you play patient and don’t dash you’re 100%. V-trigger wins this match up because her fireballs go much further and more importantly you can charge a level 2 fireball very quickly. I know playing lame sucks but if you wait long enough you’ll get a knockdown and you can start mixing her up.
I feel like, in the corner against Mika, remember st.mp is -2 on block… throw out a jab (unless you expect an EX peach)
I imagine VR is essential in the match up, as well. Laura’s VR especially since it throws them back so far. Which reminds me, can I get some set ups for after V-Reversal? Laura at advantage after VR->dash up, or no? I’d like to start using it more…
Also Mika is negative on all of her regular throws if you’re standing. She has different animations for her regular throws if you’re crouching or standing.
I feel like you can win a lot of matchups by playing “lame” (Gief, Mika, Chun), but being a wall in those particular matchups is her strength and people just don’t want to play Laura as anything but rushdown. You definitely have the tools to do it.
