It's actually looking like she'll be even easier to counter poke, making her already sketchy footsies even more sketch. You'll probably be seeing st mk a little bit less for instance. While they buffed the hit advantage, allowing for her to just straight up link to st/cr lp and st/cr lk without counter hit (while allowing linking to cr mp on counter hit(insane) the on block disadvantage is now as risky as Laura having her lp elbow, former cr lk, st hp, and f+ hp blocked. Instant 50/50 not in Laura's favor. And if she tries to use the counter hit setup with st mk~st lk and the st mk is blocked, because of the buff to the hurtbox and the nerf to the hitbox of the st lk, she'll most likely get counter hit for trying. Her jumping mk and st hk received similar nerfs/buffs in the hitbox/hurtbox department.
With her fireball also generating less meter, as insane as it looks on paper, she's probably really going to need that overhead!
Agree with most of this. The Laura changes are really pushing for players to use her riskier than trying to play a solid neutral game. These types of normal nerfs were all over the place with other characters though so I'm not totally sure what they're going for. Overall they've nerfed her ground game, so I'm not sure how exactly were supposed to contest against Chun/Karin in the footsies section..
While her overhead being + is a cool buff, it promotes players to.. actually use it more when it's still -7 and they added extra hurtboxes on it so it could trade more often lol. Really and truly her overhead is an online classic. I've lost a few tournament matches by thinking it was a good idea to use it at any point of the match except for if it's meaty lol.
The buffs to her regular command throws are great as well. 5f start up and extra damage. Again it's promoting riskier play in using it, but it'll be better for tick-command throws. Ex command throw being projectile invincible finally gives it some great use. Really good buff for her, it'll make a few of her problem matchups a bit more accessible. For example, against Guile you really don't have a great way to get in vs her V-Skill Booms, If you jump -> flash kick, her walkspeed is really poor so you don't make much ground in trying to walk forward against Guile's projectile pressure. Having the ex command throw through the V-Skill boom makes the matchup a bit better, but it'll still be a tough one.
Her cr.LP having an additional +1 of hitstun is a great change. Gives her a valid empty jump low option.
I really don't get the change to her target combo being +2 on hit lol, unless if TC on counter hit are registered for the 2nd attack as well then it's good. (someone answer this for me pls)
Her two HP target combo being a frame faster is good. Better for poking with and great if you can hit confirm it into HP Elbow.
Ex Thunderclap juggles a bit better. Cool change, makes her a bit more consistent.
Overall, she's still a good character. Her neutral game got a bit worse IMO with her go-to pokes getting bodied. I don't feel like they really fixed her main issues with this patch. St.MP is still just okay as an AA. HP Elbow is still gonna get stuffed or trade with tons of jump-ins unless done at the height of their jump arc. She'll still lose the matchups she lost to before IMO.
The biggest buffs for her (and every other grappler) were the system changes IMO. No more worrying about DP's through blockstrings or during oki situations, some characters lost their throw loops, grey life going down slower is a plus and the input lag is still at 6.5 frames so when you thought you jumped, you actually didn't so you still have to hold the command throw lmao.
tl;dr, nerfed her neutral game and promoted more risky/ham type gameplay. buffed indirectly by characters losing invul on their DP's so less second guessing between baiting and attacking on their wakeup and between blockstrings. Can't really tell if overall she's a much better character, but with the top tiers getting nerfed a bit, she should have a good spot on the tier list instead of potential bottom 5.
