MK9 | "For the Shaolin!" - The Kung Lao General Discussion Thread

Current Fighting Games Mortal Kombat
2

Ok so I thought I would post how I generally like to pressure people with Kung Lao.

Basically my Kung Lao gameplan is based around “The best defense is a great offense” I am constantly trying to be the one pressuring (with Kung that isn’t too hard as he has so many options). Even if it means I get bopped in the process a couple of times. I want to get them to the corner as fast as I can because I dive kick/spin landed leads to big damage.

Mid screen I like to get in and abuse the shit out of his 1121 string. If I can hit confirm it early then I can land a spin into my BnB dive kick combo. If I see that they block I will follow up with the following options.

  1. Another 1121 string
  2. F+2 overhead
  3. Sweep
  4. Throw
  5. Teleport 1/2/3

Generally i really like option 1 the best because I feel if you go at it long enough they get impatient and eventually stop blocking it. However, I always mix up options 2-4 just so they know I have those options to keep them honest. Option #2 is fairly slow but for people who like to block low it is a good way to get in a 7% and continue the pressure.

Option 5 is very gimmicky. I think Kung Lao’s teleport is pretty bad if you rely your offense around it. It seems like it is fast but how slow the attack comes out gives the opponent plenty of time to punish it with an uppercut or whatever. I will only do it on somewhat a rare occasion if I know the opponent isn’t expecting it because of how much I barely use it. IMO besides this, teleport should only really be used to punish an EXPECTED projectile, basically a guess far in advance.

As for getting in I really like his F+3 roll. It is the quickest an safest IMO. I already described why I don’t really like his teleport and his Dive Kick, although very quick, is punished by basically whatever on block. I used DK’s to punish or if I am very close to them in the corner so I can land a giant corner combo (I find it opponents don’t expect DK’s in the corner if you are fairly close). I also like the DK, not necassarily as an attack, but to cover ground. I use it low to the ground so I can cover a decent amount of space but not hit the opponent, which usually sets me up for a F+3 roll.

As for meter, Kung is one of the best in the game because he can use it in so many ways. His Xray is very easy to land off of his brainless spin hit confirms and can be followed up with his ff,2,3,1+3-(2/4) chain. His EX BF hat can add like 7-10% on a lot of his BnB combos. He also does decent amount of damage to where you can save meter for Breakers to frustrate oppoents even more.

Kung IMO at this point is no doubt top 5 in this game. I think early on he will be the character people have the most problems with until they learn his weaknesses and how to punish him. You can punish his spin on block which people aren’t doing currently. I also feel his low game is somewhat lacking (his sweep feels like it is one of the worst in the game). At this point, everyone wants to be playing offense and not defend so Kung Lao will eat people up.

3

Is it just me or is his spin move the most amazing move in MK. Its easily the safest and quickest GTFO and has great combo potential.

4

spin isnt safe at all. im pretty sure every character can dash up, full combo. not many people are doing that as of yet tho

to add to the thread, for low pressure, you can end the 1,1,2,1 string in a low hat. not much, but its enough to force a low block

5

I really like the throw at 1:04 of the second link.

6

As HNIC Mike stated, technically, it isn’t a safe move and can be punished by a full combo. However, it definitely is one of those moves where you can just sort of throw out there every once in awhile hoping to connect and if the opponent isn’t expecting it might not react quick enough to punish it on block.

For example, I like to F+3 (his roll) and if they block it, ill throw that shit out every now and then to keep them honest hoping they press a button. If you have a pattern to your “random” spins though that shit will be caught onto easy.

As I stated before, I think Kung Lao is fucking great but people are letting him get away with a lot of shit right now that should be punished. He will dominate early and sort of tail off eventually once people catch on (sort of like Rufus I guess in SF4… everyone hated him at first but over time he got figured out a little bit but still remained one of the best characters). He will still be one of the best characters though pending balance patches.

7

I just made a combo thread so go ahead and post combos over there. I want to try and keep this thread for more overall strategy because IMO in this game it is much more important than the combo execution itself.

Also the 2nd long post by me in this thread will act as a “reserved” post for more info. Once we get a lot we can argue and debate what general info should belong in the first couple posts.

8

I’d like to point out that you cannot 1,1,2,1,spin I mean it’ll hit if they don’t block, but it doesn’t actually combo… So you’ll have to 1,1,2,spin. The best thing I’ve done with 1,1,2,1… Is in an air juggle where I’ll throw an e.hat to keep them up in the air a bit longer to continue another juggle…

So it’ll go something like j.1,1,1,2,spin~nj.1~dash~1~dash~1,1,2,1,e.hat~dash~1,1,e.spin the e.spin probably would be overkill as by that point damage scaling has gone down, its just an extra 2 hits… You can probably just dash uppercut at the end there.

As for his uppercut the best use for it is probably directly after a knockdown or if you want quick damage off a n.j juggle since you can n.j then teleport without hitting the ground. In which then you can 4 kick him, or even 1 grab him… Other than that its pretty useless…

9

I meant 112 that was my mistake

10

B+33 or whatever is a low that you can cancel into spin, giving Kung Lao a juggle off of a low. Really nice IMO.

11

heres a lil something from tom brady [GUIDE] Kung Lao

12

Wow, Kung Lao looks solid top tier as of right now. (Too early, but his 26LP is sick)

13

This, I whouldnt abuse it, use it as AA, punish or combo into it.

14

Whats a good bait to keep people from not crouch blocking. I know you can cross up Jumping 1 or 2 them. I just dont like throwing out forward 2 it seems really unsafe on high block.

15

Throw them.

16

When you throw down EX girinding hat and walk up and throw next to the hat, your own hat will hit you and Kung Lao will fall to the ground but your opponent will be standing up.

17

EX ground hat in the corner is really good. put it down ahead of your opponent and then hold the 2 button. forward throw them into the corner. After they bounce up off the throw from the ground you can release the hat, if it hits them then can 1. 1. then 2,4,1+3,4 them for more damage off your throw or dependeing on there blocking you can 3,3 spin them into like 3 jumpkick,Divekick combo then release hat to hit them in the air. and finish with normal grab combo ender.

Space needed or hat will just hit their feet when put out or if you release the hat during the throw the hat makes kung lao fall to the ground. like said in above post.

18

Thought I’d post here as it seems more lively than the other threads.

I’m really having trouble with combos that use the divekick. Like 1, 1, 2, spin, divekick, dash, 1, dash, 3, 4, 1+2, 3. I’ve given up on it and do it without and I’d be fine with it, except it seems his best corner combos abuse jump kick/divekick repeats.

So spin to divekick in a combo first. What’s the trick? Do I jump straight up or forward? Catch them on the way up, when they are “still” or way down? I can’t get it.

And corner repeats. I’m guessing fast as possible but it doesn’t work for me. Jump forward maybe, or maybe even back? Grah lol.

I’m a kombo noob sorry.

19

For midscreen, I find his easiest BnB combo to be 1, 1, 2 xx spin, jf.k xx dive kick, (land) f+3 xx spin.

This combo leaves you very close to your target to continue pressure as opposed to ending with the throw which can send them flying fullscreen. I think it does the same damage as well; possibly maybe 1% less, I’m not totally sure. You can change the opener from (1, 1, 2 xx spin) to (b+3, 3 xx spin) for a low hit to start. Also, you can change the ender of (f+3 xx spin) to (f+3 xx X-Ray, f.dash, 3, 4, 1+2, 3) for very beefy damage that uses X-ray later in the combo then most other Kung Laos I see doing (spin, X-Ray).

As far as corner dive kick looping, ill post what I posted on the TYM forums as a response to the someone asking essentially the same question.

In case anyone else is having the issue to do dive kick loops in the corner, don’t do j.k xx dk too fast.

There should be an deliberate delay between the j.k and dk, this allows the opponent to get knocked slightly higher in the air each time. Sometimes the negative edging can cause issues if you use 4 for the j.k so I recommend using 3 xx d.4 instead of 4 xx d.4

Last time I checked (which was first week it was out) I was able to get four j.k xx dk reps off a 1,1,2 xx spin in the corner. I never do four reps in games though, I have hit three reps several times though though (I admit it’s rare they don’t get broken before then, lol).

When doing three reps, I do the first two j.k xx dk reps slow, then the last one quickly and go into (2, 4, 1+3, 2) or (X-Ray, f.dash, 2, 4, 1+3, 2)

Edit: Also, for the the first j.k xx dk rep do jump forward, then do jump back for the remaining reps.

20

For midscreen, I find his easiest BnB combo to be 1, 1, 2 xx spin, jf.k xx dive kick, (land) f+3 xx spin.

This combo leaves you very close to your target to continue pressure as opposed to ending with the throw which can send them flying fullscreen. I think it does the same damage as well; possibly maybe 1% less, I’m not totally sure. You can change the opener from (1, 1, 2 xx spin) to (b+3, 3 xx spin) for a low hit to start. Also, you can change the ender of (f+3 xx spin) to (f+3 xx X-Ray, f.dash, 3, 4, 1+2, 3) for very beefy damage that uses X-ray later in the combo then most other Kung Laos I see doing (spin, X-Ray).

As far as corner dive kick looping, ill post what I posted on the TYM forums as a response to the someone asking essentially the same question.

In case anyone else is having the issue to do dive kick loops in the corner, don’t do j.k xx dk too fast.

There should be an deliberate delay between the j.k and dk, this allows the opponent to get knocked slightly higher in the air each time. Sometimes the negative edging can cause issues if you use 4 for the j.k so I recommend using 3 xx d.4 instead of 4 xx d.4

Last time I checked (which was first week it was out) I was able to get four j.k xx dk reps off a (1, 1, 2 xx spin) in the corner. I never do four reps in games, though I have hit three reps several times (I admit it’s rare they don’t get broken before then, lol).

When doing three reps, I do the first two j.k xx dk reps slow, then the last one quickly and go into (2, 4, 1+3, 2) or (X-Ray, f.dash, 2, 4, 1+3, 2)

Edit: Also, for the the first j.k xx dk rep do jump forward, then do jump back for the remaining reps.

21

I’ve posted some matchup info about Kung Lao in my Smoke thread. The Smoke boards don’t seem too interested in discussing matchups, so I was hoping people here are. If you could take a quick look at the info I posted and tell me where you agree and disagree, I’d be very grateful. It’s always helpful to talk about matchups from both sides.

Here’s what I have written:

Kung Lao

[details=Spoiler]Matchup: ?/?

Strategy: Keep him at full screen. Don’t jump.

At full screen he can only toss his hat at you and teleport. Hat loses to shake and smoke bomb badly. He can teleport, but you can uppercut that on reaction. His only real options are block-dashing, whiffing a dive kick, and en:teleport.

Up close, Lao absolutely wrecks you. Spin beats out all of your normals, and you have a very hard time punishing it with your slow normals (you might be able to get a smoke bomb, but I’m not sure and can’t test it). He can mix it up with throws, a very fast low combo into spin, and his usual 1, 1, 2 spin. You can’t win at point blank, and your primary goal is to get him off of you. En:shake can be a good desperation move. Your sweep goes under his 1, 1, 2 and out-ranges most of what he has. Block dashing backwards can work, as can enhanced teleports backwards.

Don’t ever jump. He can punish it on reaction at any range. From far away, he gets a free dive kick. Up close, he gets a spin into a combo. It might be a good idea to bring a separate controller/stick with a broken up button for this matchup.[/details]

This matchup feels like a 4/6 Smoke/Lao, possibly even worse. Smoke doesn’t have a particularly solid zoning game; rather, his tools are for beating zoners, not applying the same type of zoning pressure that Sub or Ermac can do. That means he has a hard time keeping Lao out, and he loses badly up close. Let me know what gives you a headache when you’re playing Smoke and what strategies you find particularly effective against him.