What martial arts does Lara Croft know?

Lara Croft is the main hero and adventurer of the video game series, Tomb Raider. She is known for her ability to scale jungles and tombs and is mostly seen as an archeologist and explorer. However, during parts of her job – she’s also called into physical action. That is, Lara Croft is a trained fighter who is skilled in several different martial arts. From striking to archery, Lara Croft knows how to handle herself. However, just how good is she when it comes to combat? Read on for more information.

Muay Thai

In the 2018 movie, Lara Croft has a sparring match in a boxing ring against a superior opponent. Here, we see the pair exchange a variety of techniques that are taken from both Muay Thai and kickboxing. During this exchange, Lara manages to reverse the position and corner her opponent by using a Thai clinch. She then uses this to set up kicks.

It makes sense that Lara Croft would be knowledgeable of Muay Thai due to the Tomb Raider Underworld video game. This is because it’s set in Thailand, where Croft visits one of its ancient tombs. Whilst in the country, it’s assumed that she trains Muay Thai which would make sense and is indicated in the fight scene during the movie.

Krav Maga

During various movie scenes, it seems that Lara Croft also knows a bit of Krav Maga. Here, she manages to disarm weapons from up close and beat her opponents by using superior grip fighting techniques. As someone who is often seen brandishing two pistols, this would be an important skill to learn, both for keeping hold of your own gun, as well as staying safe from others.

At times, Lara Croft is also a bit of a dirty fighter too and won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to win. For example, she has previously used groin kicks before which is a technique used in Krav Maga. This is especially useful when going against stronger enemies as it nullifies the playing field in Croft’s favor.

Kickboxing

Returning to the 2018 movie, Lara Croft also displays some kickboxing techniques, both in and out of the ring. Due to her flexibility, head kicks don’t seem particularly difficult for her which means that she can potentially knock out her opponents with a big blow to the head. She also uses body shots and boxes with her hands too.

Obviously, it’s worth learning kickboxing if you’re going to get into dangerous situations that a jungle explorer would find themselves in. Arguably, kickboxing is Croft’s biggest attribute as it allows her to fight without weapons which is sometimes called upon.

Kyudo

When armed, you could say that Kyudo is Lara Croft’s most important skill. Kyudo is a Japanese martial art that relies on archery. If you’ve ever studied native American or Mongolian archers, then you’ll agree that archery is a very technical skill that requires years of time to master. Regarding Kyudo’s relationship with Lara Croft, she is certainly skilled in the art.

In the games and movies, she uses archery to kill enemies and her bow and arrow basically acts as a gun as she’s very accurate with it. Of course, Croft does use guns at times and is handy with pistols, however she also uses Kyudo archery from distance when she’s undercover. Arguably, this is a better option to use if you’re technical enough as it is more accurate than shooting pistols from afar.

What is Lara Crofts weakness when fighting?

Whilst Lara Croft is a skilled martial artist, she is only human and isn’t a perfect fighter. Obviously, her main occupation is exploring tombs rather than fighting, so her combat skills aren’t meant to be superior. One example of this is during the 2018 movie when sparring. Although Croft shows her Muay Thai and kickboxing skills are solid, she also gets beaten during this sparring session meaning that her opponent was better at striking.

Further, her opponent finishes the bout using a rear naked choke. After Lara Croft gives her back, she’s helpless and clearly doesn’t know Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or grappling escapes. This makes sense if her main fighting style involves striking and weapons meaning if she’s meant to grapple then she’d struggle in terms of BJJ or wrestling. Perhaps in future editions of the games or movies we will see a Lara Croft who is more developed in this area. This means, if you did plan on fighting Lara Croft then firstly you’d want her unarmed. After this, the best strategy would be to get in close and grapple her.

Conclusion

Overall, Lara Craft is a skilled martial artist whose greatest strength is her knowledge of Kyudo. When given enough time and space, it seems that Croft is a very skilled marksman. Away from Kyudo, Lara Croft is a solid fighter but isn’t really an expert either. In other words, her martial arts skills using hand-to-hand combat are realistic and she isn’t invisible unlike certain other superheroes or characters.

Therefore, she isn’t exactly a master in Muay Thai or kickboxing, but she is more than competent and could take out your average, untrained person with it. To summarize, her fighting style involves a blend of archery and striking martial arts and whilst she isn’t a black belt, she is still a tough opponent.

If you’re a fan of the Tomb Raider series then check out the movie here.