The King of Fighters XV/Luong/Strategy

Luong is one of the easier characters to play but making use of her mix-up potential from her insta-air overheads from Max Mode requires a bit of practice. With these aspects in mind, Luong is a strong character who likes to play in mid-to-close range neutral and using feints to bait enemies into making mistakes.

Luong is great when on the approach, as she has options to exploit while in midair, like her jumping air 214+K. This is jumping cartwheel that enables enables her to slightly change the trajectory of her landing and also build meter. In addition, she can also cancel some of her jumping normals into air 214B/D which can yield some rather devastating mix-ups and damage, specifically when going from jumping A (light punch) and then canceling into her EX 214+K which yields a full combo and will still hit overhead and will even cross targets up depending on whether the user hops forward or not. This is specifically exploitable from Max Mode canceling from a light normal.

New in KOFXV is 214A/C, where she delivers two kicks to send the target flying. The EX version serves as a wall bounce (wall wire) for combo extensions, which offers the player more creative combo potential. The regular versions of 214A/C enable her to either end combos and also super cancel into her Desperation Moves when either of them land successfully.

Another addition is her 236A, 236B, and 236C which enables players to hold the corresponding button and feint out the rapid kick strikes with D while keeping them held. You can also dash cancel out this stance, making her very hard to approach.

If the player is looking for a relatively simplistic approach with a variety of options for baiting out the enemies mistakes from her special moves, Luong is an excellent character to pick up and is pretty fun to play.

Neutral

Pokes

Her main pokes are cr.B and cr.D. They both hit low and have great range.

Blowback

Her CD Blowback is a great neutral tool. It's big, it's fast, it's safe and it allows for an easy hitconfirm by using Geki. If Blowback gets blocked, Geki will keep you safe due to huge pushback. If Blowback hits, you can dash cancel Geki, which gives you enough time to hit confirm into her Level 2 Tei Super, for example. This is her best neutral tool, so make sure to abuse it.

Geki

This is the part of Luong that makes her a scary neutral character. She enters a stance, from which she has access to a kick that can aim at three angles: Up, in front and low. The opponent has no clue which version she is going to do. As if that wasn't scary enough, she can delay the kick, cancel it and dash cancel out of it.

• A Geki aims upwards. Beats airborne opponents, but whiffs on grounded opponents.
• B Geki aims straight forwards. Has the most range out of the three versions, but whiffs on crouching opponents.
• C Geki aims downwards and is a Low attack. Has less range than the B version, but hits crouching opponents.

Truth be told, the kick itself isn't too strong. It's like a poke and she can't really combo into it. But the fact it's a long range poke with multiple options is enough. Not only that, the damage adds up pretty quickly if the opponent gets hit by multiple of these.

Rushdown

Luong's rushdown is pretty straight forward. She has almost no plus frames, so she has to rely on other things. Her 6B is an Overhead attack. This can help her open up the opponents, but can't be cancelled into anything when done raw, meaning she has to do Quick MAX Mode activation to combo out of it. Just like before, Geki is a threat once again. By mixing up various Geki options, Luong can make her rushdown tough to deal with. A proper dash cancel is pretty unreactable, which is a good opportunity to continue the pressure or even Grab the opponent. She can also simply hold the stance and alternate between the three angles.

Overall, Luong's rushdown will eventually get her back to neutral, where she is much stronger. Her playstyle is mostly designed to force the opponent to make a mistake and approach her.

Mobility

On The Ground

Her rolls, backdash and run speed are decent. She can easily get where she wants.

Since most of her neutral relies on Geki, it also has an importance in mobility. Dash canceling Geki allows her to approach much faster than usual. This might not be too fascinating, but remember, Geki has various options that can make the opponent hesitate to approach, which is a perfect opportunity for Luong to make her move.

In The Air

Her jump arc is pretty great. She flips her legs over, which has some high profiling properties.

Her D Ren has some uses in the air, which suspends her in the air for longer. This is a pretty useful property for several scenarios, like baiting anti airs and saving yourself from landing straight into a projectile.

Setups

Luong has several very strong setups that are worth learning. They are all very strong and make her much scarier to deal with. The only downside is that her best setups usually cost meter, although this won't be a problem if she is in Mid or Anchor positions.

Ren Crossup

Probably the most important setup to learn. Due to the trajectory of her D Ren, it can hit as a crossup in certain situations. It is a Mid attack, despite being an airborne move. If it gets blocked, it is still on the safer side. If it hits, a combo can be converted afterwards, although the scaling will make the combo deal very little damage.

Examples:

• j.A > j.214D
• Hard Knockdown > Hop/Hyper Hop > j.214D

EX Kou Mix

EX Kou is probably the strongest combo tool Luong has. However, it is also very strong in reset situations. The idea is to walk towards the opponent as they are bounced after hitting the wall, connecting cl.D (which forces them into a restand position), canceling it into Geki and, finally, dash canceling Geki. Depending on the timing, Luong will either end up on the left or right side.

This mix can be done anywhere on the screen, although it is harder to do when done in the corner, because the EX Kou sends the opponent behind Luong, whereas midscreen it sends them in front of her. When doing this in the corner, replace cl.D with cl.A, or else the crossup situation won't be possible.

Also, since this setup costs 1 bar of meter, it can, in theory, be looped up to 10 times with enough meter. However, only about 3 or 4 reps are enough to kill.

Tips & Tricks

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