Was playing in the lab a bit this weekend and have found a couple of interesting things for 4k and 7p that I thought I'd share relating to their use against stunned opponents.
4k. So everybody knows 4k, obviously, and it should be a staple of your game given range/speed options afterwards. What makes it even better and I don't know if people are utilizing is using it into takedown cancels against stunned opponents. A great example is after hitting p+k; a followup 4k is unholdable. The stun is pretty short unfortunately, but that means you can probably count on the takedown coming out after the stun ends. However, if you takedown cancel, you have all sorts of exploitable excitement available to you. You can of course extend the combo with the p, k, and 2p options, as usual; p will only give you about 14 frames to work with so you would have to throw something else out to continue the stun towards cb or launch, but not a bad option. k will launch; but if this is only the third hit you will only get enough height for kp or p6p6p, probably.
However, just letting the cancel ride occasionally is actually a great option; it turns out this will leave you at between +12 (fastest stagger escape) and more realistically +15 (fast stagger escape) in the opponent's face. This is fast enough you can continue the stun with p or 6p no problem, just to mess with your opponent's timing. You can go for almost anything in her arsenal at +15 safely (possibly except for 9p), up to and including just a 66f+p to takedown. Even better, if you draw a hold from your opponent, you should recover in just enough time to respond with the appropriate throw of your choice. This is at no risk to Mila, and can really screw with your opponent's sense of timing holds; do they have to hold directly after the 4k, or do they need to wait for the takedown cancel, or will you cancel the takedown at all? It's worth mentioning you should be fairly safe (depends but typically -1 to -3) even if you don't cancel the takedown and they e.g. low hold or just stagger escape and it misses, so you can even just try for safe takedowns. So it's a pretty miserable mixup to be on the other end of.
7p: I did not initially realize you could go into takedown after this move, and I think that makes it actually much more useful than it might appear. In the open, it's -8 unsafe, but if you takedown or takedown cancel you'll duck a throw punish. They can beat either option with a low throw but then they miss the throw if you don't takedown, and you should be able to hi counter throw in retaliation, so this is a big gamble for the opponent. Also, you have a long, long time to go into takedown, so if they get defensive you can read that and takedown pretty late into the recovery. This won't save you from a throw if they're on point, but if they hesitate you should be ok.
On stun, this causes an interesting crumble knockdown where they will fall down at Mila's feet. While the stun is approximately forever even if they escape, it's harder to hit followups that it should be as they fall down so fast. As best I can tell, if you takedown cancel you have to use p, nothing else seems to hit them in time. However, you can tackle completely safely or takedown cancel here. This has two uses:
1) Obviously if they try to hold, you can take them down them right out of that. If they low hold, this doesn't work. If you takedown cancel however you're in the same boat as above, where you have massive frame advantage and should be able to throw appropriate to the hold they used.
2) This stun is such that if they don't get hit and they don't tech when they hit the ground, you should have a ground throw guaranteed. This should work even if you miss the takedown, but it's easier to hit if you cancel it. Additionally, if you takedown cancel, you have a lot more frames to work with to pressure the tech with.
I think working these into Mila's game will give her a lot nastier pressure on stun. It's harder for her to work up to a good juggle since she really needs a 4th hit launcher or CB to get enough height for p6pp p+k or even just p+k to slam, but if you're able to keep in the opponent's face with the stuns you've got a good chance of hitting takedowns or hi counter 6f+p/2f+p/214f+p into takedowns or confusing your opponent sufficiently to get those combo extends into p+k and ground throws, and that's ultimately where Mila wants to play.
4k. So everybody knows 4k, obviously, and it should be a staple of your game given range/speed options afterwards. What makes it even better and I don't know if people are utilizing is using it into takedown cancels against stunned opponents. A great example is after hitting p+k; a followup 4k is unholdable. The stun is pretty short unfortunately, but that means you can probably count on the takedown coming out after the stun ends. However, if you takedown cancel, you have all sorts of exploitable excitement available to you. You can of course extend the combo with the p, k, and 2p options, as usual; p will only give you about 14 frames to work with so you would have to throw something else out to continue the stun towards cb or launch, but not a bad option. k will launch; but if this is only the third hit you will only get enough height for kp or p6p6p, probably.
However, just letting the cancel ride occasionally is actually a great option; it turns out this will leave you at between +12 (fastest stagger escape) and more realistically +15 (fast stagger escape) in the opponent's face. This is fast enough you can continue the stun with p or 6p no problem, just to mess with your opponent's timing. You can go for almost anything in her arsenal at +15 safely (possibly except for 9p), up to and including just a 66f+p to takedown. Even better, if you draw a hold from your opponent, you should recover in just enough time to respond with the appropriate throw of your choice. This is at no risk to Mila, and can really screw with your opponent's sense of timing holds; do they have to hold directly after the 4k, or do they need to wait for the takedown cancel, or will you cancel the takedown at all? It's worth mentioning you should be fairly safe (depends but typically -1 to -3) even if you don't cancel the takedown and they e.g. low hold or just stagger escape and it misses, so you can even just try for safe takedowns. So it's a pretty miserable mixup to be on the other end of.
7p: I did not initially realize you could go into takedown after this move, and I think that makes it actually much more useful than it might appear. In the open, it's -8 unsafe, but if you takedown or takedown cancel you'll duck a throw punish. They can beat either option with a low throw but then they miss the throw if you don't takedown, and you should be able to hi counter throw in retaliation, so this is a big gamble for the opponent. Also, you have a long, long time to go into takedown, so if they get defensive you can read that and takedown pretty late into the recovery. This won't save you from a throw if they're on point, but if they hesitate you should be ok.
On stun, this causes an interesting crumble knockdown where they will fall down at Mila's feet. While the stun is approximately forever even if they escape, it's harder to hit followups that it should be as they fall down so fast. As best I can tell, if you takedown cancel you have to use p, nothing else seems to hit them in time. However, you can tackle completely safely or takedown cancel here. This has two uses:
1) Obviously if they try to hold, you can take them down them right out of that. If they low hold, this doesn't work. If you takedown cancel however you're in the same boat as above, where you have massive frame advantage and should be able to throw appropriate to the hold they used.
2) This stun is such that if they don't get hit and they don't tech when they hit the ground, you should have a ground throw guaranteed. This should work even if you miss the takedown, but it's easier to hit if you cancel it. Additionally, if you takedown cancel, you have a lot more frames to work with to pressure the tech with.
I think working these into Mila's game will give her a lot nastier pressure on stun. It's harder for her to work up to a good juggle since she really needs a 4th hit launcher or CB to get enough height for p6pp p+k or even just p+k to slam, but if you're able to keep in the opponent's face with the stuns you've got a good chance of hitting takedowns or hi counter 6f+p/2f+p/214f+p into takedowns or confusing your opponent sufficiently to get those combo extends into p+k and ground throws, and that's ultimately where Mila wants to play.
