Liu Kang Thread - "Face Me, In Mortal Kombat!"

Aldo Moreno

New member
Liu Kang
The True Hero

liu-mk9.jpg


Liu Kang, The True Hero, once again makes an appearance in the latest installment of the MK Series. This time around he is (thankfully) not an undead zombie, rather has rebooted back to his human roots alongside the series timeline. To play Liu Kang effectively, you'll need to be proficient and confident in rushing down your opponent using quick overhead strings and dangerous High-Low Mixups.​

Spoiler:
Orphaned at a very young age, Liu Kang was raised by Shaolin monks, who taught him the way of the spiritual warrior. They soon recognized his potential as a contender for the Mortal Kombat tournament and rigorously trained him for this task. Raiden, too, understood that Liu Kang was Earthrealm's best hope for freedom and introduced him to Master Bo' Rai Cho to further his development. Once fully trained, Liu Kang bested all challengers and earned the high honor of representing the Shaolin in the Mortal Kombat tournament. He and Raiden then embarked on their fateful journey to Shang Tsung's island to compete in this pivotal kontest.


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Spoiler:

1: Front Punch
2: Back Punch
3: Front Kick
4: Back Kick
D: Dash
DC: Dash Cancel
B: Back
F: Foward
Do: Down
EX.: Enhanced Version
J.: Jump/While in the Air
NJ.: Neutral Jump - Jump up
-x?: Do Attack ? number of times


Spoiler:


High Dragon Fire (B F 1): Liu Kang's basic projectile. Has somewhat of a startup delay, won't win in projectile wars against zoners such as Noob, Sindel, and Shang Tsung. However this is a solid projectile that will trade evenly for the most part. Use to bait your opponent into coming closer, then punish them with your deadly rushdown.

Low Dragon Fire (B F 3): A Low variation of Liu Kang's High Dragon Fire. Has approximately the same startup delay as the High version, however it hits low. Great for konfusing the opposition in projectile wars, and kan be used to bait your opponent just like the High version. It's also useful noting that the Low Dragon Fire can catch opponents off guard and hit them on their attempt to wakeup.

Flying Kick (B F 2): Personally, I have yet to find a viable use for the Flying Kick except as a kombo ender. Liu travels fast across the screen, however if blocked (which it usually is), the Flying Kick will leave you open to severe punishment from your opponent.

Parry (Do B 1): My personal favorite in Liu's arsenal. Liu enters a stance for approximately 1.5 - 2 seconds in which any High or Mid attack will be punished with a teleport behind and a punch in the back. Use this when your opponent tries to jump-in on you, you feel pressured, or if you want to bait your opponent on wakeup. I find this move so useful, because it can virtually negate your opponent's rushdown while enabling to begin your own.



Spoiler:

Fatailty 1: (Klose) B F Do Do 3
Fatailty 2: (Distance) Do Do F Do 4
Stage Fatailty: (Klose) Do F B 1
Babailty: (Distance) Do Do Do 4


Spoiler:

VS Spam, Zoners, and Keepaways: To be perfectly honest with you, Liu Kang has no answer to zoners such as Noob and Sindel so if you were expecting a character to handle him he is not the one. Your only answer to their never-ending projectile strings is to dash-block and hope for the best.

Anti-Air Tactics: Liu Kang can use parry to punish any opponent that thought they were going to be able to pressure him with a jump-in attack. Otherwise, if timed right, the High Dragon Fire can hit opponents mid-jump.

Mixup Game: Liu has arguably the STRONGEST Mixup game in MK9. His strings are VERY deadly and can keep your opponents guessing. If your opponent doesn't have a strong answer when waking-up (such as Johnny Cage's Flip Kick), you can keep them pinned down indefinitely. Your rushdown game is your most dangerous weapon. Most notable is his B3,2,1 string (which can be juggled up to 5 times). Never let up on your opponent! Ever!


Spoiler:

Meterless Kombos
1 1 1 = 9%
1 1 2 = 11%
1 1+Flying kick = 11%
1 2 b+1 D 3 3 4 = 20%
J+2 2 1 3 3 3 4 = 25%
1 2 B+2 D 3 3 4 = 20%
J+2 2 1 3 3 3 fireball = 25%
J+2 2 1 3 3 3 flying kick = 25%
J+2 2 1 3 1 2 B+1 D Uppercut = 29%
1 2 B+2 D 1 2 B+2
B+3 2 1 D B+3 2 1 D B+3 2 1 D B+3 2 1 D B+3 2 1
J+2 2 1 3 1 2 B+2 bicycle kick = 37% (Kombo by Liu Kang93)
jp,213,12b1,dash,b312,dash,b31 dragon kick (can add another b312 against corner) (by Jamezz420)
jp,213,f12,f12,b31 bicycle kick (by Jamezz420)
b312,dash,b312,dash,b312,dash,b312,dash,b312 (by Jamezz420)
jp,b3Xray,dash,b312,dash, b312,dash,b312 (by Jamezz420)
213,dash,213,dash,213,dash,21 bicycle kick (by Jamezz420)
213,b121,dash,b121,dash,334 (by Jamezz420)


Meter Kombos
1 1 Ex+Flying Kick
J+2 2 1 3 3 3 Ex+Fireball = 27%
J+2 2 1 3 3 3 Ex+Fireball = 28%
J+2 2 1 3 1 2 B+2 EX+Bicycle
f4 3 enhanced dragon kick


X-Ray Kombos
J+2 2 1 3 3 3 X-Ray..Bicycle Kick = 44%
1 2 B+1 D 3 3 X-Ray..Bicycle Kick = 41%
1 2 B+1 Dash 1 1 X-Ray..Bicycle kick = 40%
F+2 4, Xray, b+3 1 2, b+3 1 2, b+3 1 2 = 45%(kombo by Liu Kang 93)



Spoiler:


Videos from Liu Kang93


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Special thanks to Thirteenthorde, Vigilante_FireDragon, Liu Kang93, and Duneboo for helping me out with this thread. Don't forget to give them lots of rep.
 
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Good stuff Aldo =D

Really accurate on the tactics section too. I only have one thing to add and that's from far away he actually could deal with zoners and zone himself very well actually. It's just a little harder for Liu Kang than with other characters.

Instant air fireballs come out RIDICULOUSLY quick AND recover extremely quickly so your opponent's time to retaliate is pretty small. The goal is to air fireball as soon as your feet leave the ground so the fireball hits the top of their heads. If done well they are forced to dashblock toward you because jumping over instant air fireballs is a really bad idea because they hit in the air too. And while they're dashblocking toward you this is when you low fireball to mess them up. Liu Kang could effectively become one of the strongest zoners in the game vs some characters. It's practically identical to the way Kabal could zone with low blades and instant air eye beams.

The easy way to do the instant air fireball is to jump diagonally and back then press forward and FP. The diagonalback motion is interpreted as just back, so if you do diagonalback---forwardFP the air fireball will come out. It takes some practice but if mastered Liu Kang's game becomes 100000% more deadly in combination with his rushdown.
 
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I don't see my name in the first post Aldo! ;P

For anyone that cares, Aldo and I wrote this guide together. He did the combos, while I handled Tactics, Opinions on Specials, etc. etc.
 
After you hit your juggle there's no reason to keep doing 213. But I guess its easier because you don't need to dash cancel and people are too lazy to work a bit more to maximize their damage.

213,dash,B3,1,2,dash,F2,4,Bicycle kick/dragon kick

In fact I wouldn't advise on using 2,1,3 too often. Good players can fuzzy guard both your 2,1,3 and B3,1,2 by just blocking low and switching after the first 2 hits. I prefer using the F3 on low block until they start blocking high. After that it's B3,1,2 all day long.

That's all I remember. Haven't used Liu Kang in a while.
 
Good stuff Aldo =D

Really accurate on the tactics section too. I only have one thing to add and that's from far away he actually could deal with zoners and zone himself very well actually. It's just a little harder for Liu Kang than with other characters.

Instant air fireballs come out RIDICULOUSLY quick AND recover extremely quickly so your opponent's time to retaliate is pretty small. The goal is to air fireball as soon as your feet leave the ground so the fireball hits the top of their heads. If done well they are forced to dashblock toward you because jumping over instant air fireballs is a really bad idea because they hit in the air too. And while they're dashblocking toward you this is when you low fireball to mess them up. Liu Kang could effectively become one of the strongest zoners in the game vs some characters. It's practically identical to the way Kabal could zone with low blades and instant air eye beams.

The easy way to do the instant air fireball is to jump diagonally and back then press forward and FP. The diagonalback motion is interpreted as just back, so if you do diagonalback---forwardFP the air fireball will come out. It takes some practice but if mastered Liu Kang's game becomes 100000% more deadly in combination with his rushdown.

IAF is actually easiest with Liu Kang, I would say. I can do them blazingly fast with him.
 
Can't give you any rep now, but goddamit I will!


This is what the Kombatant threads should look like.

Some are really well done like the Jade, Sektor (;)), and Cyrax threads.


But some others are just move-lists with combo suggestions.

I love that you gave descriptions and strategies for his specials.

Great job bro!

internet-bro-fist.jpeg
 
Very cool, im not a liu kang user, i never liked him but this is well made. One thing, I think you forgot the Bycicle Kick in the specials list.
 
I don't see my name in the first post Aldo! ;P

For anyone that cares, Aldo and I wrote this guide together. He did the combos, while I handled Tactics, Opinions on Specials, etc. etc.

Sorry dude. I was taking kare of my big bro last night and didn't have time for it. Let me do it.
 
This is a great character thread. I've been searching for a good second main to go with Sub-Zero and I decided Liu Kang looked pretty good after watching Duneboo's breakdown of him. Then comes along this thread and I'm given a lot of good material to start off with lol. I'm really digging all his options. Killer mix-ups, great corner game, and so forth. My biggest question is this: Liu Kang's wake-up game seems pretty weak, what do you think is the best option for it? I've had slight success mixing up EX Parry's and the occasional Flying Kick when they try to jump to close distance, but nothing fantastic.
 
Here's how to change the format.

For color changing, use [color=red*] [/color*]
For size changing same format, but instead, do [size=any number higher than 16*] [/size*]
Center alignment, use [center*] [/center*]
For images: [img*][/img] No spaces between the URL link for the picture.

Just don't add the * on it. And here's a good image on the opening post.

liu-mk9.jpg


And Back, you definitely hurt my feelings about my character guide threads. No snoo snoo from Sheeva, then. lol
 
I finally made a new combo. I call it Liu Kangs Corner Xray Kombo!!!!!!

It's quite hard to do but with practice and good timing you can pull it off .

it's a 13 hit 45% damage combo.

F+2 4, Xray, b+3 1 2, b+3 1 2, b+3 1 2.

It's really a 15 hit but the F +2 4 move counts as a 2 hit, but it does give you a free chance for the X-ray. Video will be up later.
 
Appreciated if you thank me on the opening post for the picture and helping you out on the colors, Aldo. And you still forgot to add the Bicycle Kicks in the Specials section. You know there's a different property when you do the Enhanced Parry, in which he uppercuts them for a start of a juggling combo.

Plus, he has the Dragon Stance. Make a unique notations about the stance.

Dragon Stance: D, B+2 (can input one of the following buttons while in Dragon Stance) It lasts about 1-2 seconds. Can be used to bait the low-level opponent to come to you.
Final Act: 1-He uppercuts the opponent. A true popup. Can start a juggling combo after this.
Fist of Death: 2-He does a backfist that knocks the opponent back.
Shaolin Flip: 3-He does a front somersault kick that knocks the opponent to the ground.
Moon Sweep: 4-Does a more damaging sweep on the opponent.

ANyways, very good thread now. Looks better now.
 
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