b2 loops

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Almost every staple combo uses b2 loops. You don’t need to master them before playing Lee.

Combos with b2 loops do at most 6 more damage, and they have slightly better wall carry. It’s far from the most pressing thing to optimize. It may as well be the last thing to optimize.

In isolation, b2 loops are not that hard. The window is 3 frames. The hard part is never dropping it.

Because the extra damage from a b2 loop is so small, it’s not sensible—if your goal is only to win the current game—to attempt a loop until your hit rate is over 95%.

How do you get to this point? You might think the only way is to grind out hour long practise sessions. This will of course work, but do you really want to do that?

If you want a life outside of practising b2 loops, the answer is simple: practise while waiting for opponents. Try them in actual games occasionally. Don’t force it.

You’ll lose a lot of games to dropped b2 loops. It’s unavoidable.

Then, one day, it’ll all come together. This can take months, even years.

b2 loops are a commitment to Lee. It’s a decision you make after playing him for a while, when the pain of dropped b2’s can’t phase you, when you’re ready to say with confidence that you’re a Lee player.

Details

Given this, it’s best to target a tempo of 35 frames. This way you can be off-tempo a little and still hit the loop:

Buffering

b2 loops are hard because of how input buffering works. Usually, you’re able to input the next move in a combo shortly before the last one ends, and it’ll act like you timed it perfectly.

With b2 loops, however, there’s a catch:

So to use the input buffer for b2 loops, you have to press b and 2 on the same frame.

This isn’t quite as useful as it seems. If you use the input buffer, you throw your tempo off. You’re generally better off staying on tempo, especially for practising. It can however be useful when you need a frame perfect b2 loop, such as when the opponent is slightly off-axis.

This is also how b+2,f~N b+1:1,f~N links work. The b+1 must come out exactly when the b+2 ends, so you almost have to use the buffer, and either way you need to press b and 1 on the same frame.

  1. Against big characters, or if the opponent is higher up when first b+2,f~N connected (e.g. d/f+2 b+2,f~N), this window can be 1–2 frames longer.