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Kameo choice

Gonna point out the obvious first and foremost and say that I am not in any way close to an EVO champion.
Shao has a few glaring weaknesses in my opinion so you really need to pick a kameo that patches those up at least somewhat.
But I'm going to rip the band-aid off immediately: I don't think Shao is that great. I could very well be wrong. If I am, good.
If I'm not wrong, all the more reason to really think hard about what kameo to pick...

Kameos can do three distinct things:
  1. they potentially alter your health
  2. they directly determine your forward throw
  3. they have different kinds of assists
At base, Shao has 1100 health which is 10% more than standard. He has pretty bad mids when he's holding his axe. Besides the 26f startup b2, nothing is hitconfirmable. He has a 14f mid (b1), 20f overhead (f2), and 20f low (b3) but without assists, your only follow-ups are canned strings with low damage and unsafe frames. In my opinion at least, it is very important to make the mid, overhead, and low workable tools that lead to high damage.

Jax (HP 1200, throw damage 110/160/210)
Assist wise Jax doesn't do anything of worth that I have found. However if you want the highest health pool and beefy throw damage at the cost of meter, he's your guy.
Jax doesn't help your b1/f2/b3 at all so I wouldn't recommend him, but if you want to make throws your primary mixup he's the best choice.

Kung Lao (HP 1100, throw damage 120)
Kung Lao can turn all three above mentioned normals into combos.
However you will remain unsafe if they are blocked. Kung Lao also has a low hat toss that might help you in neutral. He's workable, but I wouldn't recommend him.

Motaro (HP 1050, throw damage 120)
Motaro can only turn f2 into a combo starter, and it remains unsafe. While he can't turn b3 into a combo, he can create a b32 mixup with his low fireball that is also +4 on block. All of Motaro's assists are very good for Shao's neutral, but he does make Shao a lot less beefy especially when compared to Darrius and Jax. Motaro is a great choice if you want to pad Shao's neutral.

Darrius (HP 1150, throw damage 120)
Darrius can turn f2 and b3 into safe combo starters which is huge. It also makes his b1 (fastest mid) hitconfirmable. His assist follow-ups can also give you way more mix-up possibilities. However in neutral Darrius is useless.

Sektor (HP 1100, throw damage 110)
Sektor can technically do what Darrius does, and he can do it twice as often. Sektor's rocket only costs half of the kameo bar, Darrius' kick costs the entire bar.
However Sektor's rocket starts up so slow that you can only really use it after knockdowns. It will also telegraph the incoming mixup a lot harder.

Other options
Cyrax and Goro can sort of do what Darrius does, but they don't lead into full combos. Instead the opponent will just be jailed. Compared to an actual combo, that's horrible.

Conclusions
The only decent choices seem to be Darrius, Motaro, and Sektor. Maybe Kung Lao.

Darrius bumps your health to 1150 and can turn b1, f2, and b3 all into safe combo starters. His assist follow-ups can also make Shao's oki a lot deadlier.

Motaro on the other hand can only turn f2 into an unsafe combo starter and can turn b3 into a mixup string with the low fireball that is + on block. The rest of Motaro's assist are incredibly useful in neutral.

Kung Lao is a weird compromise. He can turn all three into unsafe combo starters and the low hat helps a bit in neutral.

And finally Sektor can do what Darrius do, but realistically only after knockdowns. He can do it twice as often though. I think he is more helpful in neutral than Darrius and Kung Lao, but definitely less than Motaro.
 

Bobbyxton_

It's Official
Good post! I'm curious what you're using with Darrius and Sektor that make them more valuable than the rest? You can tell there's going to be quite a bit of discussion around Kameo's as for me, Jax and KL are miles better than anyone else.
 
Gonna point out the obvious first and foremost and say that I am not in any way close to an EVO champion.
Shao has a few glaring weaknesses in my opinion so you really need to pick a kameo that patches those up at least somewhat.
But I'm going to rip the band-aid off immediately: I don't think Shao is that great. I could very well be wrong. If I am, good.
If I'm not wrong, all the more reason to really think hard about what kameo to pick...

Kameos can do three distinct things:
  1. they potentially alter your health
  2. they directly determine your forward throw
  3. they have different kinds of assists
At base, Shao has 1100 health which is 10% more than standard. He has pretty bad mids when he's holding his axe. Besides the 26f startup b2, nothing is hitconfirmable. He has a 14f mid (b1), 20f overhead (f2), and 20f low (b3) but without assists, your only follow-ups are canned strings with low damage and unsafe frames. In my opinion at least, it is very important to make the mid, overhead, and low workable tools that lead to high damage.

Jax (HP 1200, throw damage 110/160/210)
Assist wise Jax doesn't do anything of worth that I have found. However if you want the highest health pool and beefy throw damage at the cost of meter, he's your guy.
Jax doesn't help your b1/f2/b3 at all so I wouldn't recommend him, but if you want to make throws your primary mixup he's the best choice.

Kung Lao (HP 1100, throw damage 120)
Kung Lao can turn all three above mentioned normals into combos.
However you will remain unsafe if they are blocked. Kung Lao also has a low hat toss that might help you in neutral. He's workable, but I wouldn't recommend him.

Motaro (HP 1050, throw damage 120)
Motaro can only turn f2 into a combo starter, and it remains unsafe. While he can't turn b3 into a combo, he can create a b32 mixup with his low fireball that is also +4 on block. All of Motaro's assists are very good for Shao's neutral, but he does make Shao a lot less beefy especially when compared to Darrius and Jax. Motaro is a great choice if you want to pad Shao's neutral.

Darrius (HP 1150, throw damage 120)
Darrius can turn f2 and b3 into safe combo starters which is huge. It also makes his b1 (fastest mid) hitconfirmable. His assist follow-ups can also give you way more mix-up possibilities. However in neutral Darrius is useless.

Sektor (HP 1100, throw damage 110)
Sektor can technically do what Darrius does, and he can do it twice as often. Sektor's rocket only costs half of the kameo bar, Darrius' kick costs the entire bar.
However Sektor's rocket starts up so slow that you can only really use it after knockdowns. It will also telegraph the incoming mixup a lot harder.

Other options
Cyrax and Goro can sort of do what Darrius does, but they don't lead into full combos. Instead the opponent will just be jailed. Compared to an actual combo, that's horrible.

Conclusions
The only decent choices seem to be Darrius, Motaro, and Sektor. Maybe Kung Lao.

Darrius bumps your health to 1150 and can turn b1, f2, and b3 all into safe combo starters. His assist follow-ups can also make Shao's oki a lot deadlier.

Motaro on the other hand can only turn f2 into an unsafe combo starter and can turn b3 into a mixup string with the low fireball that is + on block. The rest of Motaro's assist are incredibly useful in neutral.

Kung Lao is a weird compromise. He can turn all three into unsafe combo starters and the low hat helps a bit in neutral.

And finally Sektor can do what Darrius do, but realistically only after knockdowns. He can do it twice as often though. I think he is more helpful in neutral than Darrius and Kung Lao, but definitely less than Motaro.
Thanks for you input and effort brother Shao.
 
The recharge rate on KL’s low hat is insanely good, and you can hold it to make moves safe - similar to Kanoball. The space required to set it up makes it less practical though (too close and the hat bounces offscreen). Personally haven’t had much success improvising with it, def has to be labbed.
 

Metzos

You will BOW to me!
Choosing Motaro can also change the properties of Shao's FB. It changes the starting animation allowing Shao to link FB to strings and combos otherwise impossible to connect.
 

Olcadan13

mk1 apologist
ive been basically solo maining sektor with general shao. what he offers is…

- rocket oki forces them to hold a 50/50 (albeit unsafe)
• if you do the rocket early you can combo after f2, not sure if this makes f2 safe on block but i doubt it

-rocket armor breaks
-rocket mid blockstring to stay plus
• been experimenting doing overhead slam mid blockstring with rocket behind it to safely enter no axe stance

-you CAN restand with flamethrower but honestly kinda useless

-teleport punch can be confirmed off of only

•b3
•f1 2
•f1 2 2 (best damage with kameo)

overall i think its okay for that lockdown pressure gameplan, probably not optimal but still fun. only glaring con is lack of non rocket confirms and the forward throw is kinda ass
 

DixieFlatline78

Everyone Has A Path
What about Kung Lao?
Low projectile and teleport seem like a good option for Shao
Low hat can lead to armor breaking hard-to-blockable setups with his bare handed F2. Teleport also gives you that full combo off Weapon F2. Plus you get to extend your combos before your actual launch, of course.

Shao seems to benefit a lot from Sektor too. More armor breaking, plus on block lockdown setups for bare hand. Plus he's one of the few characters who truly benefits from the restand.

I've been running Sub-Zero. Of course, combing into freeze lets you get the buff up and go into a 40+% combo. Then the oncoming mixup can confirm into freeze, recall hammer, and continue the combo from there.

 

Lex Luthor II

Lord of Lightning
Darrius (HP 1150, throw damage 120)
Darrius can turn f2 and b3 into safe combo starters which is huge. It also makes his b1 (fastest mid) hitconfirmable. His assist follow-ups can also give you way more mix-up possibilities. However in neutral Darrius is useless.
How do you do those f2 and b3 combos with Darrius?