I mean with those 1 frame links, I might not be able to jail it all the time and get poked out of the pressure but I hear you. ( similar stuff with all the Liu Kang nerfs) I still have not checked b2 pcc yet but I will. How useful is b22 pcc into 21? Or b2 pcc 21. I tried in practice (b22 pcc) and it gets poked out but I think if they are expecting the low laser and slow they get launched into hit confirmable combo. Do you use it too?
It is the very same for me. I use a hitbox for cancels and still I am unable to jail into low pokes. Besides I have to focus hard on mashing my buttons, when I want to lose the least possible amount of frames. Thus I usually prefer the "easy" links.
The thing why I consider "b2~pcc, f12~pcc" so strong are these:
- it is an rather easy link
- b2 and b22 are the actual mindgame; both can be followed up with f12 (which makes the execution easier)
- f12 can be easily hitconfirmed into another pcc or ex scimitar for huge damage
- f12 can even be hitconfirmed into another lowplasma to start the process all over again.
- f12~lowplasma and f12~pcc are another mindgame.
- every cancel allows a tick throw
The risk/reward ratio simply is sooo in Predator's favour. There are hardly any gaps and every gap can only be contested by taking a lot of risk. This fact alone allows going for other options, like b2~pcc, b311 and others.
Now you can argue that 21~pcc does the same, yet I think that the cancel opens up a bigger gap. Besides it is kinda hard to hitconfirm 21 during the heat of a battle (I can't really do it). Besides 21 has slower start-up, a longer attack animation (which is a bad thing imho) and leads to pretty much the same damage (at least for 1 bar). Whenever f12 is jailing (so that hitting high is no issue), I see no reason to not use it over 21.
All in all b2~pcc feels like "the missing link" that I was looking for in the original post.
