A quick question about King

[Unga Bunga Muscle Tower]

When he grabs, I know you have to press 1 or 2 or 1 + 2.

But for King, is it random for which one you press due to his variety of grabs ( Which varies from all 3 inputs)?

[poop]

They are not random. Each throw has a specific break.

If you try them in practice mode make sure to turn on recovery display. You will be blue when your input is ignored and go back to normal colors during the throw break window.

[Unga Bunga Muscle Tower]

Originally posted by poop:

They are not random. Each throw has a specific break.

If you try them in practice mode make sure to turn on recovery display. You will be blue when your input is ignored and go back to normal colors during the throw break window.

I know that, but is teching which grab a guessing game?

You could press 2 to tech one grab, but he actually inputted a grab that you tech with 1

[The Fabled Englishman]

Originally posted by Unga Bunga Muscle Tower:

Originally posted by poop:

They are not random. Each throw has a specific break.

If you try them in practice mode make sure to turn on recovery display. You will be blue when your input is ignored and go back to normal colors during the throw break window.

I know that, but is teching which grab a guessing game?

You could press 2 to tech one grab, but he actually inputted a grab that you tech with 1

The tl;dr is: if he reaches out with his right hand, it's a 2 break, if he reaches with his left, it's a 1 break. If he reaches with both hands, it could be 1 or 1+2.

King and Armour king are unique insofar as they are the only characters which have a double-handed throw which is broken with a 1 input rather than a 1+2 input - giant swing.

If you are struggling with reacting to the arms, here are some tips for dealing with King specifically.

- King has almost no throws where he reaches out with his left hand only. This means that if you ever see him reach out with one hand, you should generally break with a 2. This covers both Tijuana Twister and his Tombstone.

- King's main throw mixup is between shining wizard (1+2 break) and giant swing (1 break). Both throws involve two hands. King also has muscle buster and executioner drop and a couple of other assorted 1+2 throws but muscle buster can't be buffered, which limits its usefulness and the rest of the 1+2 throws aren't really that useful in open ground.

- It is actually possible to distinguish between the giant swing animation and the shining wizard animation and react in time to break 1 or 1+2. However, if you are unable to do that (and it's hard), there are contextual clues you can use to guess which throw he is going to use. For instance, if King's back is to the wall, there is a strong possibility that he's going to attempt a giant swing due to side switch and wall splat damage.

Shining wizard is also only possible out of a running animation. It is possible to execute a shining wizard instantly from point blank range, but that requires frame-perfect execution and most lower ranks are unable to do it. Conversely, giant swings are also possible out of a running state, but that also requires execution.

What this means is that, if a low-rank King is running towards you and throws you, just break 1+2 because it's a shining wizard. If they throw you from point blank range, break with a 1 because it's a giant swing.

There are other ways you can limit King from executing his high-damage options from his chain throws, but that's another story.