MK9 | "For the Shaolin!" - The Kung Lao thread

Current Fighting Games Mortal Kombat
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Thought I would open up a thread for general Kung Lao discussion since I couldn’t find a GD thread (only found a combo video thread) and I plan on using Kung as one of my main dudes. I will reserve a post or 2 more (just in case some momentum gets going in this thread… probably wont but better be safe than sorry). Im no great MK player but would like to help organize info for the bladed hat badass :rock:

Anyways so yea I really like Kung Lao. He is quick, has a few options to getting in, and potentially has some pretty good mix ups from what I can tell. Nice safe and quick kombo strings, pretty sneaky dive kick, quick roll, that lariat seems like it has a .3 frame start up lol and seems really good.

So for my BnB (no meter/midscreen) I have been using for now has been

FP, FP, BP~Spin(lariat), dive kick, dash, FP, dash, BP, BK, FP+FK (usually go for BP and not BK once I grab them)

still need to learn a combo for the corner and what not.

General question… what is the timing like for the follow up grab (FP+FK) with BP or BK? I can’t for the life of me get consistent with it and usually end up mashing BP hoping he will throw them up.

Some early Kung Lao combo videos/ideas

[media=youtube]x6jWQdSYaic[/media]

A video to give people an idea on how to get creative with Kung with meter. His moves (especially spin) give him many potential juggle properties. Shout outs to KillerXtreme for this

[media=youtube]KXNCFOJ0ztk[/media]

Nice little combo video put together by DRX. Shows many different ways in which Kung can get combos started.

I will post more videos, combos, and tips as they come in. Any general Kung Lao gameplay tips would be great to get this thread started. Since I stated before this is my 1st MK game ever I will let some vets provide the gameplay tips.

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Reserved

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for that post grab attack, i just mash either bp or bk. i get something 90% of the time

also you can follow up with the grab combo after landing an xray if you dash up into it

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Good shit man I feel Kung is an absolute monster in this game.

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What is the 70% corner combo? I can get 61% with jp 112 spin njk xx dive kick (x3) 24 x-ray.

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Im unaware of a 70% corner combo? Im getting 56% with dive kick, spin, njk xx dive kick (x2), 1, 23 x-ray

Edit: NVM I see the youtube video on testyour might

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I can’t seem to dash fast enough to get to to first FP after the dive kick… any tips?

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Make sure you are jumping towards them and you do the dive kick as soon as you possibly can where it will hit them (do it too early you will whiff and too late you wont connect). Dash as soon as you land and don’t press FP too early or you will cancel out of your dash too early and your FP will come up too short.

At first I thought that it was really hard and almost not worth it but after you get the feel down it is actually pretty simple.

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Yup, Kung Lao is a beast. Fast, versatile, high damage and safe as fuck. And his Spin, OMG I don’t even wanna think about that stuff. Full body invincibility on the first frames, nice pushback on block (very hard to punish), enables crazy combos, EX Spin can be used as mid screen whiff/block punisher. Best move in the game so far.

I’ve played more than 100 VS games against a fairly good Kung Lao player and he just dwarfs the cast that was available in demo (scorpion, sub zero, johnny, kitana).

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Bump

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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.