TomDC85's bitchin' Lau FAQ

TomDC85’s bitchin’ Lau FAQ

Okay, here’s the deal. Another newbie asks ‘are there any good Lau juggles?’ and I call upon the forum to flame their arse to hell. However, this is not just for newbies with no skills, this is for the seasoned players who haven’t taken a thorough look at some of the finer and obscurer Lau combos. I will only list the *best* combos, because there are hundreds of different variations available, and only some useful in any given situation. Dunno how long it will end up, but I’ll only stop when it’s done. Anyway, enough said, lets begin already!

Whiff- not connect
Nh-Normal hit
Ch-Counter hit
As- any stance
Cs- closed stance
Os- open stance
d.p.- damage points

These define the necessary criteria for a combo to function. Still, nothing works 100% of the time. D.p. is only approximate, as bounce hits and stance affect your damage.

Superknife combos:
The superknife is often misunderstood. It is not abusable and to be thrown out at all times as it is quite slow, but due to the crouching animation in its execution, high attacks will whiff (not connect)

Nh(Normal hit)As(any stance)…+->+…70d.p.(damage points)
Nh/Cs(closed stance)…+-> +…76d.p.(if in Os, d.p. is 83 but has a bounce hit allowing Tr/Qr escape)
Nh/As…+->++…78d.p.

Ch/As…+->+…87d.p.
Ch/Cs…+->+…89d.p. (useful if you cannot perform punches)
Ch/As…+->++…93d.p.

Punch-Superknife combos:
Guarantees the superknife and is a much quicker opening, but doesn’t whiff high attacks. Damage scaling prevents some of these attacks being what they could be. The punch-superknife hits the opponent higher on counter than a normal superknife, allowing for some very lengthy wall combos. In this situation, try pressing after the , then another

Nh/As…+-> +…80
Nh/Os…+-> +…84
Nh/As…+-> ++…88

Ch/As…+-> +…80
Ch/Os…+-> +…86
Ch/As…+-> ++…88

The above work for middle and light-weights. Rarely, the above will connect with a heavy-weight, but don’t rely on this happening. For all normal hits, follow up with , and on counters use +. The damage is too variable for me to list, as punches will miss from time to time. Open stance betters your chances of connecting with the string.

Palm combos:
A quick, effective move, but hits high meaning it can whiff. Don’t deliberate as to whether you are in the right stance to use it, but be aware which combo should follow.

Nh/Os…->+…37d.p.
Nh/Cs…->+…58d.p.

Ch/Os…->+…48d.p.
Ch/Cs…-> +…70d.p.

Kick-elbow-palm combos:
It is rare that will connect because there is time for a guard or crouch after the first punch. However, it can happen, especially if you have just used in your match and throw in a surprise third hit. It does more damage than the straight palm (obviously), and bounces the opponent higher. You can work it as a float too. See later.

Nh/Os…->…86d.p.
Nh/Cs…->+…86d.p.

Ch/Os…-> +…87d.p.
Ch/Cs…-> …87d.p.

Jump-kick-elbow-palm combos:
Jump a sweep then destroy their foolish character with these.

Nh/As…+-> +…68d.p.

Ch/As… +-> +…77d.p.

Jump-quick-kick-palm combos:
Again, jump a sweep, but quicker and less damaging.

Nh/Os…+->+->…61d.p.
Nh/Cs…+->+->…78d.p.

Ch/Os…+->+->…69d.p.
Ch/Cs…+-> +…72d.p. (on light-weights use +->+ -> + for 77d.p.)

And all the rest:
Nh/As…++…66d.p.
Ch/As…++…77d.p.
(great after whiffed rising attacks)

Nh/As…+->+…60d.p.
Ch/As…+->+…70d.p.
(similar usage to above, but jumps sweeps. Riskier)

Nh/As…++->…47d.p.
Ch/As…++->…68d.p.
(Jumps sweeps, and very quick recovery if the first kick is blocked)

Useful tricks:
The emergency FAQ does just about everything I haven’t and some stuff I have, so please use it to see the move-by-move analysis and recovery times (hats off to Hyun). Still, I will now write some of my favourite tricks and general tips that are not above.

The ++ is great. Use a near-guaranteed superknife combo after it. Add ten to the superknife combos above for strength. Seems to lift the opponent a fraction higher too, so still good on heavy-weights.

Pressure opponents with elbows and punches. Leave big delays after the punches in your combos for the low kick, and use the back-flip after punches as much as you can, as it is mid and takes you to reasonable safety. You can often get ring-outs like this.

When an opponent is somewhere where they can’t Tr/Qr i.e. edge of ring, don’t just use a ground attack, use the superknife just before they land and on a bounce. If they are floating, repeatedly use the knife for high damage and with the bonus of pushing them further along. This will force them to rise where they don’t want to.

Against throwers, use , ++ and many throws of your own due to slow recoveries on their part, and be VERY careful about double low kicks. The kicks are great in combos or for bounce hits, but elsewhere you WILL be low-thrown. Throwers like Jeffrey and Wolf tend to have high punch combos that are slow, perfect for the superknife.

Opponents’ rising attacks should be your favourite thing, as +… is guaranteed if you time it right (not too difficult, either). If you’re classy and want a little variation, use one of the jumping kick-combos to whiff low attacks. Also works before sweeps. + is the easiest

Keep your wits about you and don’t fall into repetitive patterns. Use some weird moves every now and again, and be ready to take advantage of all situations. Learn how high an opponent must be for a float-combo to succeed. For example, against my friend’s Sarah yesterday, I used +. The first punch missed, but the kick countered for a big stagger. I followed with + (she hit a wall)->+ for 102d.p.

Ch/As…+->+->+…85(only light weights) Thought I’d use this as an example of a combo where you can easily modify it to fit the situation. You can replace the last sweep with a punch combo if the opponent hits a wall for much larger damage, and if they don’t you only lose 1d.p. from the other best superknife combo. Bear in mind there are better combos out there, but many rely on wall/ bounce hits and are stance dependant. Another lengthy combo, and again one where you’ll have to decide what to do mid way through, would be Ch/As…++->+(buffered, wall hit)->++…95d.p. Only on light-weights, but I’ve used it many times before as it is not too situation-specific. A full 9-hit combo. Tekken, eat your heart out.

The charge attack + is one of the best as it’s mid, unlike someone like Jeffrey. You can counter hit an opponent into a wall then + for 107d.p. It also ducks low while charging. You can often surprise an opponent by doing this at the start of a round.

When an opponent does a low sweep and you defend, as Lau you can’t throw, so the best solution is an elbow-palm, then a guessing game as to whether you will throw, crouch-backdash, crouch-backdash and defend or crouch-backdash and do a rising kick. Remember- better still to jump it, but beware of Pai/ other Laus who can do a sweep then high kick.

B…B…But…my opponent won’t play fair, sir!
Well then, consult this here little list, young man!

He keeps crouching and defending! When I go for a hit, he just does a low punch!
Well, the elbow has significantly better range than a low punch, so use this little number +. Here comes the (semi)advanced bit. After this, go for a crouching back-dash. This will whiff high attacks or throws and dodge elbows and low punches. You get a small time advantage when the elbow-palm connects, so it will always work. The decide whether to do the rising kick or just defend. The kick will whiff high attacks and doesn’t leave you at a disadvantage if it’s blocked. ++ is also good for low punchers, but it doesn’t whiff high attacks and is more predictable.

He’s playing as Jacky and Vanessa! He’s got auto-reversals! No! My plan!
+, ++, + or + will soon settle the matter. Jacky and Vanessa both have slow recoveries from many of their attacks, so destroy them with + and punches. +-> is useful, especially as you are not at a time disadvantage if the + is blocked. ++ is brilliant as it will whiff high attacks and is not auto-reversible, and if you interrupt a high string and get a counter, go for a combo like + for 78d.p.

They keep pushing me away with long-rage attacks! No fair!
Lau’s evade attack has good range, and many long-range attacks are easily evadable. Use the superknife to duck under high hits, ++ to jump low, jumping kicks to confuse them and close the distance, or Lau’s very long low sweep +. Another of my tactics is to back-dash away from an opponent, tempting them into a ranged attack, back dash beyond that then hit for an instant + combo.


Well, that’s it FOR NOW. Can’t think of anything else right now. Please, feel free to comment/ suggest additions etc…Despite my initially aggressive nature, I’m quite reasonable.

This is all my own work, and any duplication of another’s stuff is an accident. If any of this is worth mentioning elsewhere feel free, but please plug my name though /versus/images/icons/wink.gif.

TomDC85
(Thomas Daniel Chapman, born 1985)

 

For a small fee I can convert your terms and abbreviations to the ones everyone else uses /versus/images/icons/wink.gif

Sorry, just felt someone should mention it.. it's confusing to see "DP" all over the place because DP is already used to indicate shun di's drunken points. OS is already taken too.

The strategies could use some fleshing out and some of them are a little weak/risky ... like trying d/f+PPPd+K outside of floats. Someone who's seen lau's PPPsweep since VF1 will generally block it and cornhole you, for example.

 

is paying attention to open and closed stance really that important? i've never really payed attention to that stuff before but i guess i will now, it's kinda hard for me to even think about that stuff while concentrating on the fight at hand though, most of the time.

 

It used to be more important because throw range in older versions of VF was really short. In open stance, throwing an opponent was harder... For example in VF2 if you scooted kage close to lion and then both players let the sticks go to neutral, lion's wide stance would keep kage away and all throw attempts would fail. So if you wanted to throw a lot you either needed to do a dash before every throw attempt... or you wanted to just stay in closed stance as much as possible.

In VF4 this isn't really a problem anymore... so you just want to watch stance to get the most damage out of your combos. The difference between using combos that work in either stance and using combos that work only in one stance... is something like 20-30 pts for lau (with the stance-dependent combos being better). For some characters like pai it just doesn't matter as much.

 

wow thanks for the insight, i just started playin Lau and didn't knwo that at all, my main character is Aoi, does that matter much to her? i only really notice it's effect after an inashi from YY stance.