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How do you use reptile?

Hello everyone.Im not a *BIG NAME* player who goes to a lot of tournaments and all that.I wish i could but I can't because Im working two jobs and attending school.With that being said, I hope you guys hear me out on this.MK has died out in my area and i still play the hell out of it.mainly in practice mode and online.Ive been to a couple of tournaments and I did really well even though I only play ranked online.I main reptile along with the most of you guys.I want to know how you guys capitalize with reptile.are you aggressive?smart?go for high fancy combos?I believe that reptile is the most customizable character in the game.his only downside to me is that he can be out zoned by anyone if I'm not mistaking.I use him in a way that i have to have momentum to beat an extremely great player.with that being said,I have to be aggressive and smart.Often I look at the battle through my opponents eyes.If I anticipate a teleport,I block and punish.(for most opponents)Projectile,I EN slide,opponent jumps I EN fb.I don't know if Im the only reptile who do this but I've never seen or played against anyone who do what Im about to tell you.lets start off with subzero.EN slide has armor on projectiles as you may already know.It also has armor on ice clones too.Im tired of seeing subzeros keeping reptile at bay in the corner with his damn ice clones and reptile have meter.EN slide through them and get the hell out that corner because reptile is no good in the corner.especially against subzero.second, JIP then 2(now you opponent is stunned)so you know what that means?combos.But what if they block the 2 don't worry.Its the safest move reptile have.If they block the and try to hit you,guess what,the forceball will not be interrupted and you have a free combo if they dont break it.if you end the combo with 421,do it all over again because most people will get up and automatically just block.And they fall for the exact same thing again.You can also do the EN acid hand after JIP 2.If your opponent catches on and don't fall for it.Instead, JIP 2 slide or EN dash,go invisible,whatever you can do to get in their head.*(But you can't JIP 2 421 if you are wondering,they can be interrupted)*If your in question about this, try it out for yourself in practice mode and in an actual game.you will thank me big time.One more thing.The smoke shake.I've never seen anybody do this but I do it all the time.If your fighting smoke, punish his teleport a couple of times to make him think twice about it and get in his face enough to make him want to play keep away.Do enough forceballs so that he will use the shake.let him get a couple of counters on you.Now he's conditioned to it so do another slow one so that he do the shake again.You are probably thinking''is this guy nuts?"No Im not.that's what you want him to do.But you can cancel the forceball with an EN forceball.Cancel it when it gets close to smoke but not too close.Now you have a new forceball coming out and it should be the slow one and smoke can't recover quick enough because you just dashed in and put him in a combo.It's also useful to use the forceball cancel after 421 but that takes as much good timing as the dash NJP.Slow fb can be canceled into an EN slow fb.vice versa.same for the fas force ball but a little more difficult because you have a small window to do it.I found this to be really useful against sonya when she uses one of her dive kicks as a wakeup after 421.Extremely useful against Kano because of the wakeup Ball.The is really good against players who can't teleport,plus it buys you extra time if executed right and you can continue to rush down.But be careful who you use this on.be aware of your opponent's armor moves and the skill level of your opponent.Oh yea and it's probably not a good idea to do this on raiden because of his teleport.So thats it for now guy.this is how I utilize my reptile in nutshell.I know how to do all the flashy combos but this is the game plan i stick too because it really works.My ranked W/L ratio went to maybe 400/90 ever since Ive been doing this.I want you guys to give this tactic a try for a few matches and tell me how it goes for you.If you have something to share I'd like to hear it because that's what make Mk a great game is how we continue to discover things about the characters.
 

THTB

Arez | Booya | Riu48 - Rest Easy, Friends
First off welcome to the site and GG earlier. Be careful with the grammar...a lot of people are gonna complain about the wall of text.

To answer the topic, Reptile is really solid at counter-zoning and applying wakeup pressure. He has a lot of good tools to combat against zoning and anti-zoning options and really gets momentum the second he knocks you down. He's also a good punisher, simply due to elbow dash punishing anything that can be punished. I generally play him based around these aspects.
 

Faded Dreams V

Retired June 2012. Unretired June 2013.
How do you use Reptile?
Well, since you play online, press Back, Forward, Y as many times as you can. The faster, the better. It only takes 9 connected hits to win a round, and nobody will punish you. Be careful of people with 3 dot connections; you do NOT want to challenge those people. They may get away with offline tactics.
 
wall of text??complain?Im sorry as you can see Im new on here..lol.I want to ask you this.not that i don't agree with you but anti-zoning?I thinks of anti-zoners as characters like scorpion,smoke,raiden. you can't zone them.But reptile can be out zoned by good zoners.But if reptile can somehow get around it and get in on them,it's hard to stop him.Like you said he is a solid character and that's why I play hime.
 
Well, since you play online, press Back, Forward, Y as many times as you can. The faster, the better. It only takes 9 connected hits to win a round, and nobody will punish you. Be careful of people with 3 dot connections; you do NOT want to challenge those people. They may get away with offline tactics.
That is very punishable.
 
Offline. Online, most of the time, all I can get (if I'm lucky) is a grab.
If ya'll think reptile's dash is bad then I'd hate to see how ya'll hold up against kabal,maleena,cage,lao,kano,and especially quan chi.and I mean good ones at that.Every character have a move or two and some three that make you call bs the whole match.adjust and find a way to get past it and if you're lucky you will barely get the win.or you might get a flawless.that's what mk is all about.not fatalities.finding a way to out do your opponent with your own unique skill set and tactics.
 

McNasty

Moist.
counter zoning by occupying space with forceballs. the fact that he gets low when doing FB is a big part of his counter zoning game that and knockdown off AA spit. Also to go along with his punishment he is a slow character with the best punishment tool in the game so he can force your opponent to tighten up and not want to play footsies with him giving you a lot of pressure options revolving around d4,321, and ex dash shenanigans.​
 

Faded Dreams V

Retired June 2012. Unretired June 2013.
If ya'll think reptile's dash is bad then I'd hate to see how ya'll hold up against kabal,maleena,cage,lao,kano,and especially quan chi.and I mean good ones at that.Every character have a move or two and some three that make you call bs the whole match.adjust and find a way to get past it and if you're lucky you will barely get the win.or you might get a flawless.that's what mk is all about.not fatalities.finding a way to out do your opponent with your own unique skill set and tactics.
Only Lao's teleport 3 matches the level of bs Reptile's dash is online.

But that first post was meant to be a joke, dude. lol.
 
counter zoning by occupying space with forceballs. the fact that he gets low when doing FB is a big part of his counter zoning game that and knockdown off AA spit. Also to go along with his punishment he is a slow character with the best punishment tool in the game so he can force your opponent to tighten up and not want to play footsies with him giving you a lot of pressure options revolving around d4,321, and ex dash shenanigans.​
I see what y'all mean about his counter zoning but that's only if he gets them on the ground and then he would have enough time time to get some force balls out and some spit.He gets low but not low enough.he can still be hit doing a force ball.Its a matter of when he gets the force ball off.if your opponent is throwing their projectile the same time reptile does the forceball, theirs will hit first and from there comes another one and so on.Kabal is the toughest one to anti zone along with katana.well for me it is.
 
I see what y'all mean about his counter zoning but that's only if he gets them on the ground and then he would have enough time time to get some force balls out and some spit.He gets low but not low enough.he can still be hit doing a force ball.Its a matter of when he gets the force ball off.if your opponent is throwing their projectile the same time reptile does the forceball, theirs will hit first and from there comes another one and so on.Kabal is the toughest one to anti zone along with katana.well for me it is.
TBH, kitana zoning can be beaten by 1 move... Spit. When kabal does his stupid IAGB, use fb, the gas will wiff and he has to block or jump over. Ground saw can be punished with dash jip, so its too risky for kabal. Plus you can eat like 10 ground saws and still live lol, it doesnt do that much dammage.

If you have to eat a projectile to get that fb out, do it
 
TBH, kitana zoning can be beaten by 1 move... Spit. When kabal does his stupid IAGB, use fb, the gas will wiff and he has to block or jump over. Ground saw can be punished with dash jip, so its too risky for kabal. Plus you can eat like 10 ground saws and still live lol, it doesnt do that much dammage.

If you have to eat a projectile to get that fb out, do it
Yea spit would make sense for katana.It's like when I do have a game plan for kabal he always do the opposite of what I anticipate him doing.lol.I Jip, he jump back air gas,i forceball,he ex nomad dash,I block low,he overhead hook move.and that stupid block infinite,I block,low and high he still punish.lol
 
Yea spit would make sense for katana.It's like when I do have a game plan for kabal he always do the opposite of what I anticipate him doing.lol.I Jip, he jump back air gas,i forceball,he ex nomad dash,I block low,he overhead hook move.and that stupid block infinite,I block,low and high he still punish.lol
You should never jump in that mu thb, unless its a cross over for a mix up, or punish wake up ground saw or a kabal player is abusing ground saw.
 

Mattman

Warlock Nerd
reptile is my main, but i dont play him with one style every match and maybe thats my problem. my style seems to always be dependant on the matchup, perhaps even moreso than the player im up against. against kitana there are more slides and acid spits than anyone else. against sub there are a whole lot of ex sliding and forceball oki going on. i pretty much do nothing but block and dash against mileena and kano online. the fact that i have to adjust to my matchup may be a universal trait to every player for all fighting games though lol. im not all that good honestly, luckily for me, reptile may be the most versatile character in the game
 

Briggs8417

Salt Proprietor of TYM
I think differently of this character than most people, but I'm not saying anyone else is wrong because they are not. Reptile is a very solid counterzoning character as well as one of the bed Oki pressure characters. I feel like Reptile isn't limited to this however. I think he is one of the most versatile characters in this game and can adjust to almost any situation.

sent from Gotham City via the batcomputer
 

GNG Iniquity

#bufftaquito #punchwalk #whiffycage
You know, I don't really pressure with Reptile, because I honestly don't think he's that great at it. I tend to gravitate more towards using him midscreen/outside of sweep distance, balls and spit, keeping the opponent out with d4~acid hand, and building meter for EX Slide and EX elbow dash to get that +5 advantage and then pressuring a bit. When you space him properly with elbow dash, he's just plain nasty, it punishes everything in the game; but when used moronically it gets him killed - except online. Despite being -15 frames it's still difficult to punish online.

However, you don't want to develop terrible online habits, so don't use him like that because it will not translate well in offline play.
 
I'm a very aggressive reptile player. Mostly to gain meter from chip then combo hunt with ex slow balls, njp, Jip, and punishes.

Zoning is key though with certain characters. Like cage and kitana.

However I find that once you put the pressure on with dashes, d4 321/acid hand mix UPS etc. Is the best way to really make your opponent uncomfortable.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
 
Im sorry guys.in my post when i said 421 i meant 321 lol.i was tired as heck when i posted this last night.sorry if i confused you with that.
 
You know, I don't really pressure with Reptile, because I honestly don't think he's that great at it. I tend to gravitate more towards using him midscreen/outside of sweep distance, balls and spit, keeping the opponent out with d4~acid hand, and building meter for EX Slide and EX elbow dash to get that +5 advantage and then pressuring a bit. When you space him properly with elbow dash, he's just plain nasty, it punishes everything in the game; but when used moronically it gets him killed - except online. Despite being -15 frames it's still difficult to punish online.

However, you don't want to develop terrible online habits, so don't use him like that because it will not translate well in offline play.
I think reptile is great with pressure especially when he has the enhanced slow forceball following him as he apply pressure.But it all really depends on how well his opponent knows the matchup and what to anticipate.but reptile is so unpredictable in some situations.but when i do mirrors i alway just block low until he uses the overhead.if he 321 acid hand while I'm blocking low i can raise up as soon as i see him start the move because it's an overhead.And as far as online play,it sucks for me because my connection is not the best but it's good enough for me to pressure and BnB.I just can't ever do the more advanced combos online due to lag.Online really helps me to understand matchups better and what other character are capable of.So it's really a learning experience for me rather than just trying to get wins.And to me, I wouldn't describe my online habits as terrible.The only habit you can really have is not being able to adjust to different situations and pulling through.that's why all my friends stopped playing it because they did well but they had only one play style and didn't know how to exploit their opponents tactics.nor did they know matchups.In my case, I do translate well offline.except the fact that I use a ps3 controller in tournaments.But I can adjust to that also.