VF5FS Lion Strategy

Introduction(top)

Often considered as the king of annoying low attacks Lion is a good choice for beginners. His easy commands and overall pretty simple combos make him easy to pick up and learn. Lion is a pretty complete character in this iteration and he’s vastly improved from his vanilla counterpart :

• His set of circular attacks benefits from the counter hit on evade system from FS.
• He received a guard break, that lead to good damage to fight against the new throw escape system.
• He gets to play the new side turned game easily starting from a low attack.
• His throws, ring out potential and wall game are strong, his mids got better and his lows are still an annoying factor for the opponent.

His main weaknesses rely in his poor punish game, his weight class and his kind of risky style of play with lows. Also Lion is a character that deals significantly less damage as the weight class raises. So matchups against high damage/heavy weight characters with good reverse nitaku such as the golden trio of Akira/Taka/Jacky can be a difficult.
One of the key element to overcome this hurdle is to have good positioning and ring awareness as Lion is one of the best character to both create and capitalize on ring outs or wall combos.

Nitaku(top)

What's this character's nitaku, or two-choice, guessing game?
The basic nitaku with Lion’s is between throw and 33P. Against punch sabakies, Lion can use 6K instead of 33P to get good damage. Keep in mind that both options are unsafe on evade.

When opponent is back against the wall, + is the move of choice to fish for wall stagger into a wall combo. Near the wall, Lion’s already good throw game becomes even stronger due to + and 63214P+G increased damage potential.

What is recommended at different advantages?

Small Advantages (+2) : 6P/6PP, throw, 1K/2K+G
6P/throw is the basic guessing game against opponent who have difficulty to fuzzy.
Low attacks like 1K, 2K+G offer a way to open opponent with stronger fuzzy skills. Both attacks are quite fast and give a knockdown on normal hit, but very unsafe on evade/block.

Nitaku : 33P, 8P+K,8K, 3K, 6K, 2K+G, FC6P+K,1K, 46K, throw

One of the best attack here would be 8K, it has good reward on CH while beating low P even when the frames don’t allow it and beating and one evade direction. It allow you to take few risks and have good reward in case opponent did something wrong. (low risk/medium reward)

• 33P and 6K are your go to options if you suspect the opponent will abare. Safe on block but punishable on evade.(High risk/high reward)
• From +6, 2K+G is uninterruptible by low P so it’s a good option if you hesitate between low P or evade from the opponent. Just don’t get too predictable with it.(High risk/low reward but beats all opponent’s options besides low block)
• 1K will beat, abare, mid/high sabakies and stances giving you a combo. Will also beat high guard giving you a knockdown. If opponent evades your are in trouble though. (High risk/low to medium reward).
• 3K somewhat has the same properties than 8K (semi circular kick that covers Lion front) but not as safe due to it being a single hit attack. However, with its good range it will beat backdashers giving you a butt stagger. (medium risk/low to high reward)

Large advantages :46K, P+K,2K+G, K+G, 41236 P,TRSF guard break, TRSF P, throw
Same options as above except 46K and P+K and K+G become valid options.

41236P is also an option, though interruptible by low P even at large disadvantages it should beat abare launchers giving you a free PKP on CH so it will loose only to low damage abare and will beat a lot of the opponent options and help you start applying side turned pressure.


What can you do to defeat a Guarding Throw Escape? (e.g. guard breaks)
Lion has a plethora of low attacks that can be used to break opponent’s guard throw escape.

• 41236P to play the side turned game
• 2P+K4 for a safe on block low
• 44K+G when opponent is close to the wall
• 1K for a fast low that knocks down
• 2K+G to beat an evade

He also has the guard break from stance that is a good option especially on tech roll since you have more time to set it up.

What can you do if you anticipate an evade in any or a particular direction?
To front: If you think your opponent will escape to your front, if you have enough advantage 8K is usually the best choice, but it can get stuffed by standing P at low to medium advatanges, in which case 8P+K is recommended.

To Back: If you think your opponent will escape to your back, 41236+P or 1P+K are valid choices.
41236P gives you a free PKP on CH. 6P+K also covers that escape direction but it is hard to use due to its slow speed. Its better to keep it for tech roll pressure or far/mid range game.

K+G/2K+G are your 2 full circular of choice, both being risky if opponent can predict they’re coming. 2K+G is one of the few sweeps that will knock down on normal hit so it is pretty good.

Side Turned(top)

What are this character's options for side turning the opponent with an attack or throw?
41236+P and 6P+K are the two attacks that Lion can use to turn the opponent on any hit. Both moves leave you with advantage to apply good mixups.
61P+G catch throw can also help Lion go to the opponent side.It is especially usefull when Lion and his opponent are parrallel to the wall since it will allow Lion to put the opponent in the "sideturned and back to the wall" situation.


What are the optimal follow-ups when the opponent is side turned?
FC6P+K is the move of choice if you think the opponent will attack from side turned.

41236P leaves you at +5 which make FC6P+K uninterruptible by low P. Also being a two handed attack it will beat sabakies. Since you recover low from 41236P, you just have to input 6P+K for the move to come out so you won’t waste any frames doing the command. It’s also very safe on block from the side. It’s only vulnerable to evade.

Other good moves include 3K, another 41236P, TRSF mixups, 1P+K and 66P+KP:

• 3K will cover one evade directions and abare giving you a free PKP on CH.
• 1K+GP will beat abare and high guard
  
• 41236P will cover the other evade direction and stand guard. It gives you PKP on CH.
• 1P+K will cover abare the back evade direction and stand guard.
• TRSF mixups are aimed to catch opponent out of evade in any direction or people sleeping on guard/delaying their attack.
• 66P+KP, will beat opponent evade/attack pattern.

Do the options vary due to ring position?
When the opponent is near the wall and sideturned you should know that either a standing or low P that makes him hit the wall is enough to create a wall stagger (into wall splat into combo).
With Lion there are several ways to crete this situations that are somewhat complementary and cover differents choices the opponent can make, hence Lion's strong wall game.

• Opponent is sideturned and crouches --> use 3K to hit him crouching then follow up with a guaranteed low P to make him hit the wall then proceed to 9K+G into wall combo. If oppponent is farther from the wall PKP can create the same wall stagger with the last hit giving you more options than most characters to create wall combo far from the wall.
  
• Opponent dodges to your front: 3K will hit counter then you can go directly into 9K+G
• Opponent dodges to your back: 41236P will hit counter hit him with low P or PKP
• Opponent just guards, hit him with 1K+GP into wall stagger or try the guard break into 9K+G

All those options besides guard break will beat standard abare after a 41236P so using this move near wall is a good idea to put the opponent into nasty mixups


What are the optimal follow-ups when you successfully evade an attack that recovers standing or crouching?
When you evade someone’s move you also have good options depending on the move escaped:

• smal recovery (nothing guaranteed): same mixups options as above
• medium recovery: PKP
• large recovery (aka a lot of mid/mid strings when evaded early): 3P+K into perfectly buffered 44K combo. 3P+K into PK or throw. FC6P+K side crumple.

Combos(top)

Any additional notes about combos (e.g. favouring one over another due to ring position)
Discuss techniques that can be used for 1 frame delays

Wakeup Strategies(top)

Okizeme(top)

You can easily go over low rising attacks with 8K or 46K.You have to enter 46K earlier since it doesn't go airborne as fast as 8K. You cant also try to crush rising attacks with 3K. Tourou Soufu KK second hit after 63214P+G throw is nice too with 4 active frames and a jumping animation.

For standing rising attacks, Lion 4P+K can be used for big damage but it requires good timing/distance/specific setups.
Guaranteed punishment after blocking certain rising attacks: KK or 3P+K on -15 standing backroll. 6PP on crouching.

Ukemizeme(top)

Ideal attacks to pressure with : Guard break/Stance KK/Stance P is a good mixup, 41236P, , 3P+K+G PPP, sweep, 46K, 336P+K, Throw/meaties.

Option selects between attack or down attack: 3P(P)

Meaties : after almost all combos ending in 6PP, 46K+G is a great meaty that will work on most characters, giving a combo opportunity and still safe on block. One of the best meaty in the game. After combos ending in KK, 46K is usually a meaty with great risk reward ratio.(ex: 46K,4P+K, P, KK into another meaty 46K)

Ring Position(top)

Wall Pressure(top)

How to induce, and follow-up, wall staggers
How to induce, and follow-up, wall side stuns

Ring Out(top)

Ideal ways to ring out over half fences
Ideal combos that carry good distance (for ring out)

Other(top)

Stances.
Anything else is unique about the character?