How to Beat (Insert Your Character) - LILI

Hello,
I thought it would be cool to share how to beat your own character because mains should know their character the best, or at least I can share tips to beat my main (Lili). PLEASE, feel free to share any tips against your main, maybe your general game plan, or strings you abuse that you should not be getting away with. Or even a cool move you like to use.

I'm a Tekken King/Emperror Lili. I may not have a deep legacy understanding of the game, but I do know that Lilis my rank, including me, get away with so much more than we should. I'm not saying I'm a top-tier player by any means, but I do believe I have more Lili match-up knowledge than 90% of people. Also, I am in no way trying to downplay Lili, she's really strong.

Launch Me Please

For starters, when I try to steal your turn and fail, please launch me. This one's more geared toward beginners, but sometimes people don't launch my Matterhorn in Tekken King. That's D3+4 for Lili, and she does go into a handstand, high crushes everything, and sends you 3000 feet into the sky. If you block it, you MUST launch me. It's -21 mid with a little bit of pushback. I'll also go over some of the most common Lili flow charts for Matterhorns later.

U 3+4, when Lili jumps into the air and lands on top of your head for a launch. Only works if you run into it, if it clips you it's safe, but take your turn, if it whiffs you have 2 years to launch her. Some Lili's use this at the start of the round if you mindlessly mash or at the wall as a hail-marry. A single back dash should suffice.

Lili is supposed to be a fundamentally defensive character. Best movement, with some of the best punishes. Make sure to punish her punishes if she fails to punish.

F2 3, IMO the best 12-frame punishment in the game. Long-ranged, knock-down, and wall splat. If she fails the punish, and you block it, it's -15. Launch her, no one knows that's launch punishable.

DF 4 4, It's her knee into a stomp, Mid into a low. Just don't get knowledge checked. If the mid hits you the low is guaranteed making it a 13-frame punish. Most Lilis will use this as their frame trap follow-up. The stomp is delayable, low parry, or block, its -13 for Lili.

DB 3+4, it's a knock-down low that leads to a guaranteed while standing 2. Way too many Lili's use this move, it kind of pisses me off because the only reason they are spamming it is because you guys get hit by it. 24 frames, so fully seeable and has an obvious animation. -18 for Lili when you block it, so kill her.

31, or 32. Lili's go-to whiff punish is 31, it's mid-mid, long-ranged, heat-engager, and full combo off a heat dash. If you block this it's -13. However, some Lilis will switch this up with 32 instead, a mid-high, and now safe on block, but a much worse punish. However, there is an option-select here that I don't see some pros doing. 1 or 2 both come out at the same time, which means you can consistently punch parry both options with a bit of practice.

(Side story, you can skip)
In my 400 hours, I've only played against one person who knew about this punishment. ttvAYkunggaming, and insane Jin for his rank. I ended up beating him because I sent out only the 3, -11 on block btw, he parried then I launched him because 3 puts Lili in Back Turn. But big respect for him.

Clip Here, sorry about my loud keyboard, I was a dumb 13-year-old who liked loud noise. Skip to 45 seconds.

My Neutral Tools I Abuse

DF 3+4, <3. Her cartwheel, that all Lilis abuse. It's long-ranged, mid, launching, safe on block, and puts her in Back Turn. You can sidestep this either way, but I generally recommend stepping her left in neutral. More on this in the Back Turn section if you block this.

3+4, her other god-neutral tool. It's a homing, High High, that's even longer range than her cartwheel. Duck this every time on reaction, can be harder when she's close, but it's slow at 23 frame start-up.

These two are abused in lower ranks, I can go more into her other neutral tools if people really struggle. Basically, sidestep left in neutral against Lili. Aside from 3+4, she has pretty crappy homing moves in neutral.

Feisty Rabbit Mixup

If Lili is NOT in heat, I would personally never duck a Feisty Rabbit. It's B3 or 4 for right or left. It looks like an enhanced sidestep and Lili gets a broken mix-up in heat. But if she's not in heat I would personally never duck unless she gets predictable. She has three options after.

2, 20-frame mid. Heat engaged and fully combo if she heat dashes out of it. Lili is -9 on normal block, take your turn after you block it.

3, 20-frame low. It's quite a chunky low. Lili is -13 if you block. Lili gets a while-standing after, I'll talk more about her WS 1 2 that Lilis love to abuse.

4, 23-frame mid. It's slower than the others but for better frames. -2 for Lili be careful taking frames.

I see a lot of people fuzzy duck, but as you can see it's a true mix-up with a 20-frame mid and low. In heat, it's a launching mid, and a knock-down low with a steel pedal follow-up. Yeah, it's really strong, sorry. Here are a couple of tips.

As I mentioned, it is a lot less threatening out of heat. Both mids are minus for Lili, however, her slower mid is only -2 for her so be careful. Both mids are technically sidestep-able right, but Feisty Rabbit 3 has some weird tracking. 3 is completely tracking. The 4 is pencil thin and anyone can sidestep it.

While her Feisty Rabbit 3 is quite a chunky low, the situation after is not Lili favored, as long as you don't let her abuse WS 1 2.

(Very Niche)
One last thing, she can skip all options and hold forward instead. This will bring her into Dew Glide, many people get visually over-cluttered and duck. I personally like 2 1, it's a homing mid and will launch you if I'm in heat. Also, I see a lot of high-ranking Lilis, go into Dew Glide, then cancel, and throw out a mixup. Because of the visual barf, you will most likely stand there and take the mix-up.

While Standing 1 2

This deserves a whole section. One of the most abused Lili strings. Long story short, duck the second hit.

Longer story, the whole string is WS 1 2 4. Mid, High, Low. Duck the second hit and launch, or at least WS 4 her. If she rips the whole string and you fail to duck the high, duck the low, Lili is -14 if you block it.

This string is so abused by Lilis because she can hold forward after the second hit and go into Dew Glide, another stance that I will cover. It looks like a budget crouch dash. If you block the mid and high, it's a pretty nice situation for Lili. If you want boosted Lili mains (me) to cry, duck my WS 1 2. (Note: I would lab this punish because it's a bit hard and the low counter hit launches if you're too slow).

Dew Glide

Short section, Dew Glide is QCF for Lili, looks like a crouch dash, she has a lot of ways to enter it. The general thing is no lows can come out of Dew Glide. If you never duck Dew Glide you won't get hit, however, she can 1+2 grab you out of it. Many people, understandably, get visually overwhelmed by Lili, and blindly duck and get hit.

The reason you would duck, would be to duck and launch my Dew Glide 3+4. This is when Lili turns into a helicopter and kicks with both legs. It's +6!!! on block, respect it if you block it. So many people don't even know it's plus on block, let alone +6. It's high-high so again duck it if you can, respect it if it hits you. Break throw with 1+2. Everything else is a mid, too lazy to go over it, just lab it, some of it's punishable.

Really niche, but Lili can dew glide cancel, which allows her to do other things.

Back Turn

Her Back Turn is complex. The biggest general thing is punish her BT 1+2. This is when Lili turns around and double downward slaps you. It's a normal launching mid, NO ONE punishes. It's -11 for Lili on block, but it forces crouch. Most people with get their while standing 4. Doesn't matter, just punish it any way possible, even a 10-frame dick-jab. I LOVE it when you don't punish it. Also, her power crush out of back-turn is -13, so punish.

Here are some ways she enters it and how to stop her.

11, One of her 10-frames punishes. It was very deservingly nerfed. Now it's -6 on block for Lili, dick jab beats everything, (except if she adds on 3). Don't let her mindlessly use 11 to get Back Turn mixups on you unless she uses it as an actual 10-frame punish. If she adds on the 3, launch her. It's -15. If you get counter hit by 11 the whole string is natural, it's twitch-conformable, but hard.

DF 3+4, my beloved. Soley carried me to Fujin and helped me beat all my friends (when they still played). It's her cartwheel that Lilis love to spam. Super long-ranged, mid, launches on normal hit, safe on block. Yep.
On block, It's only -4 for Lili. You beat it with side steps. Dick-jab now loses to her power crush and 3+4, where she jumps into the air and resets the situation. But not a bad option select if you need to take the mix.

B2 1, super underrated and never used. It's 13 frames, high mid that can go into Dew Glide or Back Turn. It's -4 on block for Lili so copy and paste the cartwheel situation. It's really short-range though.

B 3+4, Her manually entering it. Please don't let her do this. If she does this, it means you got so overwhelmed you let her manually turn her back, and then mix you. You should launch her, but just a dick jab can neutralize it.

FF 4, Her stomp. One of her best moves. Chunky Low, and is technically kinda seeable at 22 frames. It's Jin D2 seeable, so not really, but kinda. Just remember, she keeps her back straight, so no high crushing and bad range. If it counter hits she gets a small follow-up, a heat engager, or knockdown. It won't launch you even out of heat dash. On hit, it gets rough. Lili is +10 in Back Turn, not true +10, she can't 10 frames after a normal hit. The best option IMO is just stand block. (This move is amazing) If you have god-like reactions, the stomp is -6 on block if she goes into Back Turn. I know that sounds insane, but because she's in Back Turn I'm 99.99% sure this means a WS 4 is guaranteed. Don't take my word for it I haven't fully labbed this situation. It's -12 if she doesn't go into Back Turn.

Anything else I either forgot or it's trash.

Matterhorn Flow Charts

Here are my favorite Matterhorn Flow Charts to steal your turn. I won't describe all of them, so you should lab them if you're not familiar with her moveset. In general, Lili's love the -3 to 0 range to rip Matterhorn. Also after you heat dash is a common flow chart.

D2 2 4, Matterhorn. D2 2 4 is Mid High High. She can change the last high to a mid. It will now be -17 for Lili but with insane knock-back. If your character has a long-ranged punish under -17 frames punish her. (ie Jin's Devil Fist). Obviously, if she follows the flow chart, launch the Matterhorn.

Side Step 1+2, Matterhorn. An evasive mid, that is 0 on block.

2 4, Matterhorn. Her wall splat 10 Frame Punish. Bonus tip, 2 jab can lead to either a high or a low, so always duck after 2 jab. 2 4 does not jail, so you can duck. Apparently, this has been a Lili flow chart for years.

DF 1, Matterhorn. This is her mid-check. This one's not very common. It's more common for Lili's to sidestep after her mid-check because it's a strong mid-check at only -1.

UF 3+4, Matterhorn. Very gimmicky scrub killer. It's a flying double-knee that leads to a Matterhorn or a safe high kick. If she rips Matterhorn, it's a normal launch like everything else. If you didn't have the balls to duck this string, the high kick is -4 for Lili, just take your turn. Note: Some Lili's will use this for phantom frames if you respect it too much, like Jin 2 1. Or as Oki Trick to jump over you and Back Turn mix-up. Very rare tho.

How to Survive Heat

Lili has two heat smashes. In neutral, it starts off with her 3+4, the high-high, homing, cross-map kicks. Duck and launch quickly because the rest of the heat smash is mids and will give her a Back Turn mix-up on the block.

Lili also has a low heat smash from Back Turn, but it's unique and honestly unfair at the moment. It's another mind game to punish her. It's really complex because it's only -8 on block, but she's in back turn, but it pushes back a lot. This makes punishing her low-heat smash very weird. IMO the only thing that they should nerf to Lili, but I'm biased. Watch a video on how to punish. It's also basically impossible to sidestep.

This means you can't sidestep either of her heat smashes, but her heat burst is linear with great range. The saving grace is neither heat smashes do a lot of damage.

I've already covered her Feisty Rabbit mix-up in heat, just know it's really strong.

Finally, her ff 3+4, the same move as Feisty Rabbit 4, QCF 1 4. It's the move where she turns into a drill. Its frames get significantly more Lili favored. Pre Lili Nerf, at the wall, there was actually nothing you could do besides watch your health slowly drain as your character lifelessly bobbled as you wall splatted over and over again. Thankfully, this is gone, you can sidestep it either way.

Wrapping Up

If you could only take one thing from this, I would say punish Lili's Back Turn 1+2. If you could learn one more thing, it would be to duck WS 1 2.

If you actually read all of this, wow, and thanks. Also, I'm confident that if you absorb 50% of this your Lili win rate will skyrocket. Some people may ask why I'm outing all Lili mains, including myself. Lili is a wonderful character, that should be a defense menace. In my experience, Tekken 8 is the most fun when both sides are not being knowledge-checked and this in-depth, complex game can shine. Some people may not have the time, or the will to watch those lame videos where some dude just goes over the entire move list of the character. Literally, no one absorbs material like that. It's not anyone's job to teach the gimmicks of their own characters, but I thought this would maybe lead to a discussion where mains shared their game plans and gimmicks to lead to stronger fundamental Tekken. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I love talking about Tekken and Lili. ,

Also I wrote this because Tik Tok was banned for 12 hours in the United States. Sorry if my grammar is bad. English is my first and only language.