Introduction
A contractor for a PMC, Luke uses his elite military background to teach mixed martial arts. His days off are spent eating junk food, playing video games, and fighting, but make no mistake—Luke plays to win.
Luke Sullivan is a shotoclone character with an emphasis on a strong midrange pressure and whiff punishing. Luke has most of the standard shoto tools you could want, but puts several unique spins on them to craft his own style. Where Ryu is defensive and neutral-oriented, and Ken is aggression and combo-utility oriented, Luke focuses on a strong midrange that transitions into excellent pressure once he's gotten in.
One notable thing about Luke compared to other shotos is his many advancing target combos that let him convert openings into effective punishes and pressure. Luke can use his great 2MP, 5MK and 2MK to push opponents back, or lunge forward for punishes with 5LP, 5MP and 5HP. Complimenting this is his signature Sand Blast fireball, an exceptionally formidable tool for both neutral and pressure. Its extremely high speed allows Luke to use it as an extended poke or blockstring ender while still having good advantage on block at most ranges. If he chooses to spend meter on OD or Drive Rush, then Luke is also capable of dealing monstrous damage and carrying you very deep into the corner.
Once the opponent is in the corner or low on Drive, Luke is extremely formidable at locking the opponent down. Easy throw loops, a fast and safe overhead, a Level 3 Super that gives him oki, along with many ways to be plus or even fully reset pressure. Many of Luke's normals lunge him forward, which synergizes with Drive Rush to create hard-to-escape pressure sequences and surprise whiff punish opportunities. On defense Luke excels at well, with his 2LP being a 4f jab with a great hitbox. He has a great DP with Rising Uppercut and a fantastic anti-air in 2HP.
Perhaps the only things Luke could be considered to struggle with is his approaches, as he doesn't have as many ways to effectively skip neutral and force RPS in neutral the same way other top tiers like Ken and Juri can. He also has a rather poor sweep, but he can make up for this by using 5HP to punish a sweep on block instead of sweeping back. All in all, Luke is a character with few meaningful weaknesses, and can perform well at all levels of play. While his 5LP is on the slower side, this is because it moves him forward for better punishes and pressure and thus exists as a tradeoff rather than a weakness. Sand Blast similarly does not travel fullscreen outside of the OD version, but this is another tradeoff for its powerful speed and frame advantage. None of these differences create meaningful weaknesses in Luke, allowing him to craft a strong and reliable gameplan. If you want a shoto with more of a focus on pressure and playing out the midrange, you should hit the streets with Luke.
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Classic & Modern Versions Comparison
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Most of the tools Luke is missing in Modern are mainly combo tools, namely 5LK in light confirms, j.MP for his only cancelable jumping normal into Aerial Flash Knuckle, and 4HK for his highest damage combo starter/filler.
The most important omissions for neutral are Classic Luke's 5MK (a low-risk ranged poke that pushes opponents out without moving Luke in) and j.HP (a jump-in hitting directly below Luke that is difficult to contest or anti-air). This makes Modern Luke's keepaway slightly worse and his jump-ins slightly easier to beat, though this difference is negligible.
Of the whole cast, Luke is probably the one whose Modern and Classic kits are the most similar, with the added benefit of Modern conveniences (auto hit-confirming low lights, instant supers, etc).
