Dragon Sign Stance

Dragon Sign Stance (DSS), named in the move list as Dragon Charge, is a crucial Law tool for his combos and useful for his pressure and punishes with his parry (b+1+3). It can be entered manually by pressing d+1+2 but mostly used by transitioning from his kick strings in combos.

Strings

Law can enter the DSS from his punches and kick strings, in some cases entering the stance automatically.

Punches	Kicks	Automatic
1,1,2	b+2,3,4	ss2
1,1,1,2	4,3	ss2,1
1,2	4,3,4	ss2,1,2
1,2,2,2	4,u+3	.
2,2,2	ws3	.
f+2,2,2	ws4	.
b+1	.	.
b+1,2	.	.
b+2,2	.	.
ws1	.	.
ws1,2	.	.

DSS move list

Punch	Kick	Throw
DSS.1	DSS.3	DSS.1+3
DSS.1,4	DSS.4	DSS.2+4
DSS.1,F+1	DSS.3+4	.
DSS.2	DSS.f+3	.
DSS.1+2	DSS.f+4	.
DSS.f+1	DSS.f+3+4	.
DSS.f+2	DSS.b+3+4	.
DSS.f+2~1	.	.
DSS.b+1+2	.	.

Some details:

• DSS.1+2 and DSS.f+3 are power crush moves;
• DSS.4 is his only low from the stance;
• DSS.3, DSS.f+2, DSS.f+3 and DSS.f+4 are his more common combo tools and finishers from the stance;
• DSS.2+4 is his only "2" throw break in the move list;

Transition

The command to transition into the DSS differs from move to move. Mostly, all his punches strings enters DSS directly by just inputting back,neutral,forward before he finishes the attack, doing a pose animation after you did the move.

The kicks is where most of the problem reside, you need to first input back,neutral,forward before the last hit (for example, "b+2,3,4", you need to input "back,neutral,forward" before the third hit), with this you enter Dragon Fake Step(DFS), a stance where he begins to walks backwards after the string, thus beginning the cancel window. After entering the DFS, you input Forward+the DSS move you want to cancel to, being when you are "recovering" from the attack. For example, you want to do b+2,3,4 DSS.f+4: you will do b+2,3,4, then you input "back,neutral,forward" before the third hit, then after the hit, during the "recovery" of the string, you input f+4.

But beware with some details:

• His "back,neutral,forward" should be done always before the kick you want to cancel, if you input that after the move, Law will do a variant of the DFS, known as TFS, which looks similar but he walks more backwards and he can't enter DSS instantly.
• The second forward and the button shouldn't be pressed at the same frame, like EWGF or JFSR, or Law won't cancel the DFS into the DSS.
• Has between 2~3 frames after the hit that are't cancellable, so you should be more cautions when inputting the second forward.
• If you want to cancel into DSS moves with neutral input(example DSS.2), you should input the forward, then leave to neutral(f,n) before pressing the button.

The command screen should be reading as:

	String
	DFS input
	b+2,3,4 hit
	recovery
	DSS cancel

b+2,3,4~DSS.f+4

Frame

Input

State

⋯

b2

⋯

n3

⋯

n4

⋯

n

⋯

b

⋯

n

⋯

f

⋯

n

⋯

n

⋯

F

⋯

F4

b+2,3,4~DSS.2

Frame

Input

State

⋯

b2

⋯

n3

⋯

n4

⋯

n

⋯

b

⋯

n

⋯

f

⋯

n

⋯

n

⋯

f

⋯

n

⋯

n2

The more different cases of his DSS transitions is ws3, which needs only to input forward, since it automatically enters DFS after hit. And 4,u+3, who can be done with similar input with the punches transition.

While Standing 4

Although ws4 hasn't a different input from 4,3 and b+2,3,4 to DSS cancel, it's still the hardest DSS cancel from Law, mostly because of the tight window. Because the move is the fastest one of the three (i11), isn't a string with extra moves to prolong the buffer window of back,neutral,forward and is a While Standing move, it requires more practice and cleaner inputs to achieve.

• My personal tip in this case is to release the input from Full Crouch(D,n), press 4, input back,neutral,forward in the next moment, never beginning the input at the same time as 4 or before pressing the button and input the second forward after the ws4 hit.

The command screen should be reading as:

	Full Crouch
	while standing
	ws4
	DFS input
	ws4 hit
	recovery
	DSS cancel

ws4~DSS

Frame

Input

State

⋯

D

1

n

2

n4

3

n

4

b

5

n

6

n

7

n

8

f

9

n

10

n

11

n

12

n

⋯

n

⋯

F

⋯

F

It's also the quickest transition along with ws3, but being a safe mid and faster. On Counter Hit, it's possible to combo into:

• DSS.1,4_f+1;
• DSS.2;
• DSS.f+2;
• DSS.3+4;

DSS.f+1 is possible too but it's pretty hard, practically a Just Frame in execution.

Timing

While the back,neutral,forward hasn't much issues per se, the second forward is a much more restricted window to hit, needing more practice and patience to properly understand and execute. Most of what makes the DSS pretty difficult is the lack of any visual cue on his cancel window, weird inputs and he hasn't a secret/obscure detail to do like "doing the commands and the buttons at the first frame" or an alternative. But you shouldn't feel afraid, you can be more consistent in doing DSS.f+4 finishers than you expect.

Parry

Law has two parrys: His b+1+2 and b+1+3 (or b+2+4). It's b+1+3 the important one here. He can parry punches and kicks with b+1+3, but he only can punish entering in DSS, by inputting back,neutral,forward. It's a small window and he only enters if he catch anything, but after catching a hit he can punish the adversary with DSS.1,4 or DSS.2(in the corner).