how do you escape pressure / mix ups?

[PerfectDark]

Hello, I am still paying Liu Kang main, while trying to learn Scorpion, but lately I think I will switch to learning Ashrah as I see her in so so many high level match ups.

So the idea is what do you do when you are constantly pressured by your opponent, I have learned great zoning with Liu, that I am sure of but I have constant problems with the following characters:

No.1 : Smoke
No.2: Li Mei
No.3: Mileena
No.4: General Shao
No.5 Omni Man

I know I am doing a couple of things wrong, as in punishing with just a throw, I am so quick to push that button when I can probably punish with a full combo and I don't use the FB4 to punish jumps at me, I punish with just the down and punch but it gets troublesome when I get attacked low then overhead, overhead then low, it's like I can't escape it, is it a reaction time thing to block low then overhead or viceversa, or what pokes can I use to interrupt them?

Any ideas are appreciated,

thanks and good luck to you all, I am in the middle of rank V Master and want to push it.

[Infevo]

This game is about offense and not defense. If you block you lost already. If you really want to torture yourself to get something out of defense you will have no choice but go into practice mode and learn all characters' move sets and frame data by heart and think about your options. This is mandatory if you want to compete at any rank higher than Demi-God.

Learn the armorable gaps.
Learn the bigger gaps (Li Mei has two huge gaps in her b3,4 and her 2,1,4 for example) to punish with full combos.
Learn the range of all moves and what to whiff punish.
Learn when to up block.
Learn what to duck.
Learn what to flawless block and then punish.
Learn where you can back dash and punish follow ups.

Liu Kang enforces bad behavior. Especially since people rely too much on his zoning. Similarly Scorpion does reward cheesy play with spear, sweep, teleport. Play Li Mei and learn fundamentals. And do not go for the high risk/high reward setup with Scorpion but rather run Kung Lao as your Kameo.

If you really want to get better you have to play a lot and use your time wisely. If you have trouble against a character in KL, then make sure to immediately go into practice mode and learn that character! Make a habbit out of it and I guarantee you will get rewarded for it. This applies to any fighting game.

[PerfectDark]

Originally posted by Infevo:

This game is about offense and not defense. If you block you lost already. If you really want to torture yourself to get something out of defense you will have no choice but go into practice mode and learn all characters' move sets and frame data by heart and think about your options. This is mandatory if you want to compete at any rank higher than Demi-God.

Learn the armorable gaps.
Learn the bigger gaps (Li Mei has two huge gabs in her b3,4 and her 2,1,4 for example) to punish with full combos.
Learn the range of all moves and what to whiff punish.
Learn when to up block.
Learn what to duck.
Learn what to flawless block and then punish.
Learn where you can back dash and punish follow ups.

Liu Kang enforces bad behavior. Especially since people rely too much on his zoning. Similarly Scorpion does reward cheesy play with spear, sweep, teleport. Play Li Mei and learn fundamentals. And do not go for the high risk/high reward setup with Scorpion but rather run Kung Lao as your Kameo.

If you really want to get better you have to play a lot and use your time wisely. If you have trouble against a character in KL, then make sure to immediately go into practice mode and learn that character! Make a habbit out of it and I guarantee you will get rewarded for it. This applies to any fighting game.

thank you for the answer mate