Lucas Matchup advice

[aryga]

Sorry if this is already a thread but I couldn't find it. As a Ryu main I'm having some real difficulty against Lucas, to the point where people who don't even main him can just switch to him and beat me. I'd say it's my most difficult matchup, but maybe it's just because I have no idea what to look for.

Usually I go into each matchup with a gameplan of what I want to be doing, playing more defensive or rushdown, looking for short hop nair combos or something like that, but I can't seem to figure out how I should go about beating a Lucas.

Is there anything I should be looking for? Something really punishable that I can do against him?

Here are my specific problems or situations I need help with:

• Offstage his PK Thunder gimps me all the goddamn time (I've gotten slightly better against this by trying to mostly recover high, so I don't get random spiked into or away from the stage)
• Tons of multihit moves make Focus Attack not worth using, especially in the air
• Lucas' Zair is amazing at spacing and keeps me from getting in
• Lucas' grab is so fast it's near unpunishable if I was far enough away to not get hit by it
• I can't camp with Haduken because he has the absorber
• I get combo'd mercilessly, usually via his nair strings or his down tilt, down tilt, down tilt, down tilt, down tilt, jab jab jab jab combo

Any advice on specific things I should think about when going up against a random Lucas is greatly appreciated!

 

[Mili]

1. Don't use your jump and you won't get gimped
2. Only big multi-hits that he uses are N-Air and PK Fire. FA is still pretty useful against Z-Air and F-Smash (as well as B-Air spike set-ups and F-Air) but you shouldn't be overusing it in the first place.
3. FA beats Z-Air but you can just learn to powershield it
4. Don't try and punish it unless you KNOW you can. Learn the limits of Ryu against Lucas, stop overextending and you won't get punished. It also is pretty punishable with F-Smash and often you can read the option the opponent chooses afterwards as it is most of the time telegraphed as hell.
5. Only use Shakunetsu. Heals 3% and you can force him to rethink using the absorber through Shaku Hover.
6. You can SDI out of N-Air pretty easily so I'd suggest actually DI'ing instead of freaking out or getting frustrated. His close up tools are outranged by all our own buttons so you shouldn't rush in.

Overall, Lucas isn't that great of a character and going slowly and making sure you know where to punish (he's not safe on shield like at all) will take the matchup for you. Furthermore, N-Air -> D-Air is pretty easy on him and he dies relatively early to TSRK kills (link can be found here: http://smashboards.com/threads/ryus-tsrk-kill-percentages.428626/).

Just practice walking around and powershielding. You don't have to approach Lucas if you shield well and are smart with your options. Whatever you do, DO NOT GET FLUSTERED. As a Ryu, you need to get used to having an extra 100% damage on you compared to your opponent. You have to remember that they are also scared ****less of TSRK so keep that in mind. Be calm and just focus on DI when getting combo'd. Mix-up your DI off the D-Throw to throw their timing off and whatnot.