Praying Mantis (a.k.a. Tourouken)
Description: A fusion of ancient Chinese martial arts. Imitating the mantis, this scroll attacks fast leaving the opponent with no opportunity to strike back.
Price: 192 Astros
Class: All
Opinion: Praying Mantis is a huge mix-up of elements from different scrolls. Mantis has a ton of options, including a stun launcher and a invincibility-frame dodge move. Praying Mantis strikes very fast with most of its attacks, at the cost of some recovery time. Praying Mantis has a lot to offer for its price, and it's overall a pretty fun scroll.
DIFFICULTY TO USE: MODERATE-
DIFFICULTY TO MASTER: MODERATE+
POTENTIAL: VERY HIGH
Combos:
PPPPP - [480]
KKKK - [460]
KPP - [360]
KKP - [290]
kG - N/A
kG(P) - N/A
kG(K) - [160]
>>G - [200] (120*)
(P+G) - [230]
Renkan Senshou Souji Senpu
PPPPP
80, 90, 90, 100, 120 [480]
Praying Mantis's punch combo is fast, and it hurts quite a bit. However, in exchange for blazing speed and recovery, the attacks themselves are highly linear. They have almost no peripheral range whatsoever, making Mantis horribly susceptible to drifting. This is easily Mantis's biggest problem. The first punch recovers the fastest, the second and third have average recovery, but the fourth and fifth share horrible recovery, so keep that in mind. When pressuring, never go past the third punch unless you intend to finish the combo for damage. None of Mantis' punches, bar the first, recover fast enough for effective pressure, even though the punches have above-average blockstun. An opponent literally can block through any form of pressure, so you'll have to grab to counter this.
As mentioned previously, all of Mantis's punches come out blazingly fast. So fast, in fact, that there are no noticeable counter-points in the combo (provided no delays are used). This gives you a great advantage against blocking opponents, seeing how their only option is to attack or flee at the right time.
Because Mantis can't really pressure, making your opponent stand in one spot will be relatively difficult. As such, you'll have to play around this and play Mantis like a punisher. Really only use the punches if you have a clear shot to your opponent's back. If your punches happen to be blocked, then do your best to remain unpredictable. Remember that you can angle yourself out of the way of a blocker with Mantis' punches.
Rensou Tousentai Senputai
KKKK
90, 100, 120, 150 [460]
Mantis's kick combo is pretty painful for four hits, but for the most part it's overwhelmingly average. Each kick has a somewhat spinning animation, leading to good peripheral range. Unlike most scrolls, whose punches are meant to catch drifters, Mantis is supposed to pluck them out with its kicks. The kicks all have pretty average recovery as well.
Mantis' first kick has rather deceivingly large range, allowing for effective punishment. Because Mantis lacks a true pressure combo, Mantis excels at staying out of range and punishing the opponent for their mistakes with KKP.
Only use this combo when a juggle (KKP) would be ill-suited for the situation (going for the edge kill, angled combo, etc.).
Rensou Rakugekishou
KPP
90, 100, 170* [360]
* - reduced damage due to air-time attack
Mantis's fence edger. Horrible recovery on both PP portions of the attack relegates the combo's use to purely fence edging. When combined with its ground hit (>>G), KPP is actually Mantis's most powerful combo when attacking from the front. However, because the attacks have such bad recovery, it's not advised.
When going for the fence kill, be advised that not delaying the PP portion of the attack will cause your combo finisher to miss sometimes. For maximum reliability, delay the final P as long as you can.
Rensou Senshippo
KKP
90, 100, 100 [290]
Praying Mantis's juggle launcher is a stun launcher like that of Muhon's Ninjutsu and Wing Chun. The KK input before the actual juggle launch ensures that you have plenty of time to react so that you can press P in time to juggle the opponent. The juggle launch itself is unsafe like Muhon's and Wing Chun's, so use with caution against blockers. The stun attack has deceivingly wide hitboxes, so angling it won't be a problem.
Always go for the juggle unless the situation doesn't call for it. Usually, that isn't too often, but sometimes you just need to knock the opponent off with the kicks instead of just juggling them off.
Ryusei Koushugeki
kG
N/A
Mantis's kG is really just an Agent's kG that slides backwards instead of forwards. You're invincible throughout the entire slide until you recover. However, it can't be used as offensively since it moves backwards, but it's a dodge nonetheless.
Ryusei Koushugeki Gyaku Chugaeri
kG(P)
N/A
Pressing P after the initial dodge causes you to take an extra flip backwards, increasing the amount of invincibility you get. There's not too much use to this attack other than to dodge ExoCore attacks or simply to run away. Also, you can use this in favor of kGK, if you think that your opponent might predict a kGK and block. You'll mainly be using this to dodge ExoCore attacks and to put distance between you and your opponent, since Mantis performs better in long range play. An interesting thing to note is that when you angle this, your character will go in the OPPOSITE direction than the direction you press.
It's very important that you learn how to master the effectiveness of this dodge, as it grants Praying Mantis drifting abilities some scrolls can only dream of.
Ryusei Koushugeki Senkyutai
kG(K)
80, 80 [160]
Mantis's kG causes you to slide forward abruptly and launch the opponent into the air with twin kicks. You're not invincible during this move, unlike kGP. Use it in the same situations as Agent's kGK; when your opponent misses their attack due to your kG invincibility. Great for wake-up game as well, as you dodge their recovery kicks.
An interesting thing to note is that the invincibility frames and execution for this attack come out slower than Agent's, greatly impacting its usefulness and reliability. Only use this if you know you have ample time to dodge an opponent's attack. Remember that you'll need more time than a counter would need to pull this off successfully, so avoid exploiting breakpoints in scrolls with Mantis' kG.
Senpu Rakukyaku
>>G
[200] - standing
(120*) - grounded
Mantis's ground-hit causes some rather hilarious moments with a full-on body drop. Mantis's ground hit is really unique as it grounds you, putting you on the floor and rendering you invulnerable to everything except certain attacks. It also leads to rather annoying wake-up game, since >>G is pretty much un-punishable under any circumstance. A successful ground hit can follow any of the following:
KPP
A successful juggle
Any knockdown attack to the back
Whenever an opponent is knocked down, and you have enough time to initiate a run
Mantis's ground-hit opportunities are slim because of the slow speed of the >>G input, but in exchange it has massive power. Also, as an added bonus. the ground hit moves your opponent so that when you recover, there is no risk of a recovery kick (provided a wall didn't get in the way). The attack also dodges all low attacks (recovery kicks, dash attacks, etc.).
Saishu Houkou
(P+G)
[230]
Mantis's grab throws slightly forward and does a little bit more damage than usual. Aside from that, it's a pretty bad grab for edging since the grab doesn't really throw forward at all: it's great for 1v1 though, since it gives you time to jump over and initiate a wake-up game from the back. Because Mantis can't really pressure, grabbing will be a necessity against excessive blockers.
Juggles
Basic Punch Juggle:
KKP P P PPPPP >>G
90, 100, 100, 48, 48, 48, 54, 54, 60, 72, 120 [794]
Mantis' punch combo is troublesome to connect if the opponent is directly touching a wall when you launch them, so you may have to use the kick combo instead in this case.
Basic Kick Juggle:
KKP P P KKKK >>G
90, 100, 100, 48, 48, 54, 60, 72, 90, 120 [782]
You'll only need to do the kick juggle if your opponent happens to be touching a wall when you happen to land KKP.
STRATEGY
Mantis is a pretty all-around powerful scroll. Its only weaknesses are the relatively small hitboxes of the punch combo and the lack of a true two-hit knockdown. When using Mantis, don't forget about your kG dodge. It can save your hide with kGP or punish the opponent with a juggle with kGK. Mantis cannot exactly pressure in the true sense of the word, and is much better as a long-range punishing scroll thanks to the range on the first kick. KKP whenever an opponent makes a big enough opening for you to strike them with your first kick, and use PPPPP when you don't think you'll have enough time to hit them with the kicks. All of Mantis' attacks have great frontal range, but bad peripheral range, so you'll have to be careful. Mantis overall is kind of a quirky scroll, so it will really take some getting used to.
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