I just the game and wanted to try out laura, its my first time playing a real fighting game, i have found videos about frame data but i’m confused about what ppl mean by season 1 and season 2 of the game? I know she’s a grab character but how do you play her and stuff?
Season 1 and Season 2 refer respectively to the version of the game we got at launch and to the new version we got on December 20th. The S2 balance patch changed a lot of things for many characters frame data wise and Laura was one of those who benefited the most from that.
To make things short, Laura is a rushdown grappler whose main goal is to stay close to the opponent and pressure him with mixups and frame traps. She has many way to score a knockdown - ground hit throws, anti-air hit throws, regular grabs and command grab - that will prevent the opponent from backrolling and therefore lead into vortex setups.
Unlike the other grapplers who really revolve around command grabs and get the best pressure out of them, her command grab is really but a mixup tool in a diverse moveset including frame traps, command dashes, lows, overheads and fireballs. Her quintessential tool is actually the EX fireball - on block it puts the opponent into a 50/50, on hit it launches him in the air and allows you to reset into another set of mixups.
Since she’s so powerful up close but moves slowly and has short range, most of her time is spent trying to find a way to get closer to the opponent that will do whatever he can to not let her in. This can be achieved in many ways: by landing a CC with her st. HK/HP, by going through projectiles and ill-spaced normals with EX bolt (and now in S2 with EX command grab too), by anti-airing them and finally by shielding yourself with your own projectile to be able to move forward.
That should do it for the general gameplan. Basically if you like keeping the distance between you and your opponent, don’t play her. But if you like being able to strangle your opponent through relentless pressure and tricking him constantly into making the wrong choices then she’s your character.
Is there a page with all of her mix ups and stuff and like a explanation of why they work or something? sorry im really new, i didn’t just want to look up mixups/combos and just do them i wanted to see why they work and how so i know the right way to use them
Mixups work as long as you have at least two possible options that are mutually exclusive like:
- hit or grab
- low or overhead
- left or right
Let’s say I’m in front of you, I press st. LK and the opponent blocks it. Since I’m in range for my command grab, the opponent now has to guess if after st. LK I’m gonna tick throw him or press another button. If he guesses grab and neutral jumps or backdashes but I pressed a button he will get tagged by it; vice versa, if he guesses button and blocks I will be able to grab him.
A mixup is more or less legit depending on the frame data. Mixing up on tick throws for instance requires your blocked moves to be at least +2 on block against characters with 3 frame jabs because throws are 5f and throws will beat attacks if they go active on the same frame. In the case of Laura, all tick throws with st. LP, cr. LP and st. LK are totally legit because they are +2/+3 on block; cr. LK is +1 only so if you’re playing against a 3f character he might jab you out of the grab.
All of her low/overhead mixups on the other hand are not “real” because her overhead is slow enough to be either stuffed by attacks or blocked high - and if they block it it’s heavily punishable. Your goal in this case will be to condition the opponent to block low, either by tormenting him with crouching kicks or by confusing him with your movements so that he freezes in place. Of course, when he starts fearing the overhead you can begin hitting him with lows.
And finally, left/right mixups need to be ambiguous enough to make the opponent unsure about which direction to block, which will allow you to land more combos. When for instance Laura hits someone with an EX clap she can reset him in the air with a normal and command dash forward. Depending on the normal used and the spacing, Laura will land either in front or in the back of the opponent, meaning that if he holds back while you landed in his back he will be actually holding forward and not blocking your hits. Someone who knows Laura match-up will of course know that st. MK xx command dash reset will always make her land on the opposite side, but st. HP for instance may make her land on either side depending on the spacing, and both buttons work differently in the corner or if you do command dash back > command dash forward.
All these mixups allow you to both scare and condition the opponent to allow you to carry out your gameplan. You want him to jab more so you can land devastating counter-hit combos? Then grab him more. You want him to stop pressing buttons so you can grab him? Then asphixiate him with frame traps until he starts blocking everything. Being hard to read will enable you to dominate them, and you can achieve that by changing your attack patterns or your movements in an erratic way, something for which Laura’s moveset is very good for.
Thank you for the help, but is there anything more to her than the tick throws and counter hit combos? I wasn’t doing too bad last night but whenever i knocked somebody down i didn’t know what to do after, i’d try to lp or lk them on their wake ups but they always hit me out of it so i’d just block on their wake up and felt like i lost my momentum
welcome to season 2
You have to learn your advantage after each specific knockdown and what you can do after that. From best to worst advantage:
M/EX Bolt (both enders): +1 after dash
Forward throw, H Bolt: 0 AD
Back throw: -1 AD
VT/EX command grab: -2 AD
Regular command grab: -4 AD
All the data above is assuming your opponent quickrises. If he doesn’t then you have either to time your meaties manually or to use some setup to be sure to hit them at the right moment.
After M/EX Bolt you can safely dash and either grab or jab because you have frame advantage. With the P ender (side switching) you actually end up close enough to tick throw, but with the K ender your grab will whiff after pressing a button.
Forward throw allows you to dash and jab, but if the opponent has a 3 framer you will trade. There are still good options for both back and forward throw (f+HP, EX grab, L Bolt)
If you dash in after the command grab you are always negative, and with regular command grabs actually even punishable. You have though other options:
- after EX/VT grab, L Bolt will be +1 on block and a fuckton on hit/CH; EX grab will beat 3 framers; f+HP will also beat 3 framers; and you can also just walk and press st. HP to fish for CCs
- after regular c. grab, you can mash st. HK to catch their buttons on wake-up; you can walk a little and sweep; L Bolt will be -1 (still safer than usual); and finally if you read a backdash or a jump you can punish both of them with the overhead
Again, these things only work if they quickrise. If they don’t then adjust yourself accordingly.
You have advantage. After hp+elbow and fwd throw, you are left at 0 after dash. So you can still use st.lp to catch people. After Rodeo Break and Split River, you are at +1 after dash. Sunset Wheel and back throw leave you negative. The only thing I would try is st.hk or cr.hk (at MAX distance) on their wakeup. Also, lp+elbow is great at catching people on wake up with its 4 active frames. I like to toss it in there every now and again.
Also, if they delay their wake up, you can charge a fb at least to level 1 and put it over them. This is good because it causes another panick, people will ex reversal themselves because they think you will run up on them, just have them scared to press shit. Its a good way to inject fear.
When you get them on knock down the point is to make them panick. You can dash up and us her command grab. Laura still has some oki game. The key to it is to make them lose their minds trying to figure out when they can wake up jab or not by mixing up your attacks.
Okay, once again thank you for your help hopefully i’ll get good enough in a few weeks to play ranked haha
Watching this video is what got me into playing Laura.
It’s from one of the first beta they did last year, so some information could be outdated, but the concept of the character is still the same