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Laura Frame data (when available) : Here
Reserved
Laura can’t use EX Bolt to escape your oki options. Keep the pressure on constantly when you’ve knocked the opponent down.
I feel like this match up is really heavily in Laura’s favor, probably the only match up I go into feeling confident Laura is going to win every time, regardless of my opponent.
Unlike a lot of Laura’s match ups which are positional, this one I feel is really all about frame advantage. Your goal isn’t to get to a specific distance, but to be at plus frames over your opponent at whatever distance you currently are. If you’re even +1, your fastest move that can hit at that range will hit before your opponents fastest move that can hit at that range. Also unlike most other match ups, I feel like good footsies can go a long way in this match up, as its one of the few match ups where I feel like Laura can compete evenly with her opponent at neutral. Also, be careful about using ex bolt to blow through her projectile if you see her charge it before letting it go, if she reaches level 2 charge it gains a second hit that will blow up your armor. All but her lp bolt can be punished hard on block (at best -7), and even the lp bolt leaves her at -2 (and thus you at +2) on block, which again, is huge in this match up. As a corollary, I think its extra important to really confirm your combos into bolts in this match up, since something as simple as a blocked cr.mk -> lp.bolt can really put you in a bad spot.
Edit: Slight rewording for better clarity.
I thought the lp bolt on block was -2 but +2 on hit?
It is, he wrote wrong
I was referring to if you block Laura’s lp.bolt, you are +2. Sorry for the confusion.
Random largely useless tidbit time!
Got a Laura who is constantly hitting stand jab after blocking your st.mk but don’t want to risk the meter and massive negative frames of an ex.bolt attempt after its blocked? Next time you poke with st.mk, equiva cancel it (VSB) and then cancel the equiva into a lp.bolt. You’ll get there in time to wiff punish the st.lp, putting yourself back in and at +2 as well. If she blocks, your at -2, but your not much worse off then the -1 you were off the blocked st.mk to begin with, and your at the same disadvantage (-2) you’d have been had you simply blocked his st.lp after the st.mk.
The counter-tech to this tech is to instead go for lk.sunsetwheel rather then a stand jab after blocking the st.mk. If she dashes forward, you throw her, if she does her dash shimmy, you throw her, if she does equiva cancel into lp.bolt cancel… you still grab her. On the flip side, you still lose if she hits a light button, jumps, or simply delays the lp.bolt cancel but I could get lost for days coming up with counter-counter-tech.
In any case, if you try this technique, and your opponent is frequently NOT hitting any buttons after the st.mk, consider mixing in an avante cancel off the equiva and then doing a sunset wheel. This will make them reconsider not hitting a button, and if they “reversal jump”, also allow you to recover in time if your opponent neutral jumps to either jump mp, stand block, or just dash under. If you went for st.lp though and they went for a neutral jump, you’re probably eating a big combo. That said… neutral jump after blocking your st.mk is a pretty risky and unusual choice for them to make since your not likely to go for a throw when your negative, and if you don’t dash cancel not only will most buttons will knock them out of the jump, but you can hp.bolt it on reaction.