What's new

Guide - Liu Kang Liu Kang Living Guide Thread

AssassiN

Noob
With things like this it seems to make the cancels in Duelist less viable. This fireball cancel is legit and is hella quick.


I mean he has a legit infinite as long as he has stamina.

bf2mb f213 fb cancel 112 bf2 mb. Where is the gap to back dash?
If they crouch-block the flying kick, the bicycle kick will whiff.
Also the 2nd "1" of 112 whiffs on crouch block so they can interrupt there.
If bicycle kick didn't whiff then Liu would have a block infinite with: F213~FB run cancel~F213~BF2 MB.

Fun to troll people with who have no idea what is going on.
 

AK L0rdoftheFLY

I hatelove this game
If they crouch-block the flying kick, the bicycle kick will whiff.
Also the 2nd "1" of 112 whiffs on crouch block so they can interrupt there.
If bicycle kick didn't whiff then Liu would have a block infinite with: F213~FB run cancel~F213~BF2 MB.

Fun to troll people with who have no idea what is going on.
the normal BK is a high but the FK mb BK is a mid that is +15. What are you talking about?
 

Shake

Noob
Can anyone help me out with some general strategy tips for newer players? The big issue for me playing as liu kang is footsies. I'm new to fighting games and I'm still not really comfortable with inputs especially sprinting. I find it really hard to get in on characters like cyromancer sub zero, kotal kahn, etc who have a lot of range and good low/overheads with good range. My go to string is 113 which I can combo off for 25% in fire fists and I try to mix it up with F44 for some lows, but its particularly hard to get in range of certain characters to connect or punish with my 113. Kotal kahn can pretty much throw out his war god sword overhead/low and I'm not sure how I should be reacting to it. I should probably look at his moves and see how negative they are on block and find another move to punish them with?

I only really play flame fists right now because I'm trying to get comfortable with fighting games in general and it seems like hes most basic variation although I guess dragon fire might be even better. What do you guys think about his variations right now? Which would you suggest starting out with?
 
Can anyone help me out with some general strategy tips for newer players? The big issue for me playing as liu kang is footsies. I'm new to fighting games and I'm still not really comfortable with inputs especially sprinting. I find it really hard to get in on characters like cyromancer sub zero, kotal kahn, etc who have a lot of range and good low/overheads with good range. My go to string is 113 which I can combo off for 25% in fire fists and I try to mix it up with F44 for some lows, but its particularly hard to get in range of certain characters to connect or punish with my 113. Kotal kahn can pretty much throw out his war god sword overhead/low and I'm not sure how I should be reacting to it. I should probably look at his moves and see how negative they are on block and find another move to punish them with?

I only really play flame fists right now because I'm trying to get comfortable with fighting games in general and it seems like hes most basic variation although I guess dragon fire might be even better. What do you guys think about his variations right now? Which would you suggest starting out with?
Id recommend to work on execution and combos first, make sure you can do all your basic specials consistently by turning on your input. There should not be any errors , so if theres a special d,b,2 then it should show d,b,2. Then see if you can do it consistently while walking, practice combos, learn how to anti air consistently, find out what to do when you knock someone down, how to start a combo. Also 113 and f4 isn't a mixup because you can see the 11 and then block high.
 

Shake

Noob
Id recommend to work on execution and combos first, make sure you can do all your basic specials consistently by turning on your input. There should not be any errors , so if theres a special d,b,2 then it should show d,b,2. Then see if you can do it consistently while walking, practice combos, learn how to anti air consistently, find out what to do when you knock someone down, how to start a combo. Also 113 and f4 isn't a mixup because you can see the 11 and then block high.
What do you do to hit overhead then? B2? My execution is decent but I find that I get better execution by playing real games. If i sit in practice and get a combo down 100% I'll still drop it in a real game, if I get the inputs down at least decent enough to hit it 50% of the time in practice then I find that I get it down better by doing it in real games from that point on. My main issue is just not knowing what I should be doing against characters with a lot of range.

Also whats the advantage of dragon's fire? It seems like all you really get is air fireball and the ability to cancel fireballs? And what does Exing your flame fists do? Does it just increase the duration of the buff?
 

AssassiN

Noob
What do you do to hit overhead then? B2? My execution is decent but I find that I get better execution by playing real games. If i sit in practice and get a combo down 100% I'll still drop it in a real game, if I get the inputs down at least decent enough to hit it 50% of the time in practice then I find that I get it down better by doing it in real games from that point on. My main issue is just not knowing what I should be doing against characters with a lot of range.

Also whats the advantage of dragon's fire? It seems like all you really get is air fireball and the ability to cancel fireballs? And what does Exing your flame fists do? Does it just increase the duration of the buff?
It could help to post what variation you like to use.
113 and F44 aren't legit mix-ups like Salad posted, you can do F44, B2 and throw to mix up your opponent.
People are more eager to block low for his pokes and F44, because it's safe on block and leads to damage. While B2 leads to a knockdown and is punishable.

I'd go into training mode and try to get more familiar with his inputs, his range and the run canceling.
When it comes to range, Liu has some pretty good stuff:
- His DB2 has a lot of range, safe on block and has a decent start-up. EX DB2 has armor and knocks full screen(really handy if you want to zone)
- B2 looks like his DB2, but has less range. Overhead that leads to an untechable knockdown
- B3 has a lot of range as well, lowers his hurtbox alot(a lot of stuff will whiff, really good against jump-ins). Low that leads to an untechable knockdown

Using B2 and B3 to knock your opponent down will allow you to run up and apply pressure.
 

Shake

Noob
It could help to post what variation you like to use.
113 and F44 aren't legit mix-ups like Salad posted, you can do F44, B2 and throw to mix up your opponent.
People are more eager to block low for his pokes and F44, because it's safe on block and leads to damage. While B2 leads to a knockdown and is punishable.

I'd go into training mode and try to get more familiar with his inputs, his range and the run canceling.
When it comes to range, Liu has some pretty good stuff:
- His DB2 has a lot of range, safe on block and has a decent start-up. EX DB2 has armor and knocks full screen(really handy if you want to zone)
- B2 looks like his DB2, but has less range. Overhead that leads to an untechable knockdown
- B3 has a lot of range as well, lowers his hurtbox alot(a lot of stuff will whiff, really good against jump-ins). Low that leads to an untechable knockdown

Using B2 and B3 to knock your opponent down will allow you to run up and apply pressure.
Thanks, that makes sense. I was playing flame fist at first but I'm probably going to start using dualist. Flame fist damage buff seems okay but the rest of it seems worthless and windmill punch feels like an overall loss over bicycle kick, bicycle kick seems better just because in combos you can usually get a d2 or something off after it ends whereas with windmill punches thats usually the end of the combo. Dualists damage buff looks really nice and having the heal + air fireball in the light stance could be handy. I'm not really into the dark orbs. As a new player I just don't have the know how to set those up and I'd rather focus on improving my fundamentals, but even if I never use those I still feel like dualist is better.
 

AssassiN

Noob
Thanks, that makes sense. I was playing flame fist at first but I'm probably going to start using dualist. Flame fist damage buff seems okay but the rest of it seems worthless and windmill punch feels like an overall loss over bicycle kick, bicycle kick seems better just because in combos you can usually get a d2 or something off after it ends whereas with windmill punches thats usually the end of the combo. Dualists damage buff looks really nice and having the heal + air fireball in the light stance could be handy. I'm not really into the dark orbs. As a new player I just don't have the know how to set those up and I'd rather focus on improving my fundamentals, but even if I never use those I still feel like dualist is better.
I've never played dualist, nor do I really plan to. I play with Dragon Fire, I'd recommend you start with that variation. Seeing as Dualist seems more about placement of the orbs and using that to your advantage. If you don't plan on using those, I'm afraid you might be missing out and not using that variation to it's full capability. You can check out the Dualist thread and ask any of the players there(@AK L0rdoftheFLY) to help you out. The healing actually looks pretty useless, lol.

Flame Fist doesn't look that useful to me, but I could be wrong. I don't really know any Flame Fist players except for @XBlades and @Phosferrax.
The variation looks like it be a bit more zoning oriented with the parry as an extra defensive option and the ability to do extra chip with the flame fist buff.
But the Flame Fist buff has so much recovery it's ridiculous.

If you have any questions about Dragon Fire, Liu in general or the game, feel free to ask.
 
Was testing in dragon fire and all normals outside of d1 d3 and d4 that are cancelable can be run canceled into 113. i.e. f4 bf1 (hold) ff+ block (run) 113. IL post a bid in a bit. Makes any poke a combo starter.



both hits of f4 are cancelable.

Heres the vid: (forgive the quality, just grabbed it from ps4)

shows 112, f3, f4 (2 hits) f21, and f44 being canceled into 113 for whatever your typical bnb is. Looks like every hit in this game forces stand so no worries about 113 whiffing. Some are more fancy like b34 (1 hit of 4) -> fireball cancel ->b34 -> whatever your best combo is there. Easiest way for me to do reliably is to buffer the fireball, then press ff1+block after I see fireball animation. Also, you can do this off of 1 hit of f4 but it's REALLY tight.
About how long did it take you to get this down consistently?
 
Yeah that looks so hard jesus christ...
practice doing fireball then canceling with FF+block+1 (don't hold 1) Then start with the easier ones like 112 frc (fireball run cancel maybe?) 112. as long as you buffer the fireball really early you pres FF+block+1 once you see the fireball start charging. as soon as you hit the block+1 you can hit 1 again. Certain ones aren't bad as long as they are very plus. B34 (2 hits total, 1 ht from 4) is the most advantagous move I've found thus far.
 

Solo

Shadow Priest
What is a good wake up move for Liu Kang?

Also, what do everyone use to keep pressure? I use (I think it's) b1,2.