Everything you got in here, so we can finish this quickly !
Wanting to see what Ken players think about the Laura matchup : We need to wait for a thread to be created
Ken Frame data (when available) : Here
Reserved
I’m surprised nobody posted anything here yet. But all it takes is Ken to touch you once and then you’ll be in the corner and the game is over.
Yes, Ken has many tools to open Laura up. I got bodied in a recent event; being in the corner against Ken is just brutal.
These matchups against Ryu and Ken are not easy. They have good normals in neutral and basically destroy you after one knockdown. You can also go ham but there is always the threat of DP.
@DrGulag I honestly believe now that Ken is Laura’s worst matchup. While I find Chun and Ryu tough, I think they’re very winnable. Ken is brutal, though. Not only does he have the defensive tools to keep you out in DP and a better fireball, he does better burst damage than you do, and he converts better from midrange pokes than you do. Right now, I’d take any matchup over Ken. I’m really worried about this one, I’m not sure what to do right now. I can’t find an area of the game where he doesn’t have an advantage over Laura.
This is now without a doubt one of my toughest matchups. I had no idea Ken was such an issue before I started playing platinum players. I need to hit the training mode in order to find out what should be done.
The problem is that in some ways Ken plays similarly in neutral. He can use unsafe run gimmicks (like we can) but he has better buttons, nice damage output, a reversal, extremely good shimmy game and that light tatsu is infuriating.
I agree, now that people aren’t trying to play him like sf4 Ken, it’s a real struggle. He has real blockstrings, better pokes, a better fireball, an air tatsu, can tick throw almost anywhere in the middle of a string, and let’s not forget the uppercut. His corner game is almost mika-level.
Light Tatsu really is the worst. There’s almost no risk for them when they just throw it out randomly at close range or even on wake-up, though I accidentally found out that it’s not airborne on start-up at least so you can grab him out of it.
My goals for the Ken matchup are to really learn his frame advantage so I can s.LP etc at all the right times to stop his pressure, then to learn touch of death strings. It seems like I always get one big jump in or CC combo on him every round, if I have a pre-programmed way to kill every single time off it I think I can make this matchup no worse than 6-4. I don’t think you can play footsies with him and win, you really need to save up for a huge swing, like as if you’re playing as R Mika.
Here’s some footage of me fighting Ken in a longish set. Zoning him is a legitimate strategy in this match I feel. You can keep up with him in the fireball war and walk him back into the corner. His cr mp is such a good poke tho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-agB25fGVGc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL--Q3gCPaM
Any questions or critiques welcome.
What do you think about this MU in S2? I feel that despite his nerfs nothing has really changed since he can still easily dominate the neutral against her. He lost nothing of his corner carry and conversions so he can still lock you in the corner for free.
I havent been able to play for a long while since my PS4 is in the shop, but it really hasent changed at all. The run shenanigan cancels, VT cancels, are all still extremely effective. His corner mixups are still ridiculous. The thing Im still losing my mind over is that stupid run, yet Laura can get jabbed and thrown out of her dash on late reaction.
However, last time I played I really dont see him at all anymore, though I think thats because Urien pretty much makes the shotos useless now. Since the DP nerf, you can still apply pressure to him much better, so causing them to panic is much easier for sure. His tastu nerf is better for Laura, doesnt matter where or when he did it, HP Elbow and st.mp will clown him.
Not much has changed but, as zetback said, his free ex tatsu’s are gone so you at least stand a better chance of not being bullied to death near the end of a round. To be honest, the few I’ve played are still doing it as well as wake up DPs so I just let them kill themselves.