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Breakthrough - Sorcerer Ketchup's Quan Chi (Sorcerer) impressions - MCM Expo

PND_Ketchup

"More deadly than the dawn"
Hey guys,

Was not going to write up my Quan experiences after Endevermore posted his, but I just thought the more info the better when it comes to filling everybody in. I only used the Sorcerer version of Quan, because I wanted to stick to my guns for as long as possible so I could learn the game faster.

There may be a few tiny conflictions here and there, and this is mainly me going by memory. There's some stuff that Endevermore didn't use and vice versa, so hopefully we can piece this all together to paint a clearer picture of how this creepy bald dude seems to be shaping up.

As usual, this was all on a preview build, so none of it is at all finished. Thus certain moves/damage will not be final. So lets go by utility and what actually exists vs the viability of these moves at the moment.

Specials:

Skull - D,B,2: A straight projectile that lands similar damage to that of MK9. This move can also be done in the air with a low diagonal path. There doesn't appear to be a height restriction and can be done as low to the ground as you cn input the command. Seems to be safe on block and has no pushback, could be slightly + on hit, but I could be wrong. MB version seems slightly larger as he fires two at the same time, does increased damage.

Sky Drop - D,B,4: Quan's Sky drop is exactly the same as it is in MK9, but this time the move will always knock down. This means that the teleport may end up being used as a way to bait anti airs to give easier jump ins over landing a standing reset. Unlike MK9, Quan cannot choose where he lands this time round. he will always land directly on the opponents position, so use this move wisely! MB version will grant Quan a hit of armor and increased damage.

Sky drop can also be instant aired to dramatically reduce the startup time, imagine Sektors instant air teleport and you'll be able to imagine the use for it. The startup time for this move seems relatively slow on its own, so you'll need to get used to instant airing to beat projectiles. I was punishing projectiles on reaction with it reliably, so yay!

This move currently hasn't got a particularly good hitbox on it. I was hit out of it on the way down numerous times, and I was even thrown out of it via environment interaction. It was also stuffed out when trying to use it as a wakeup attack, but wakeup attacks in general didn't seem very good in this build.

Rune - D,B,1: Much faster startup on this move than his MK9 counterpart, and it seems like a far more viable zoning tool this time round. The hitbox is also wider on the ground in MK:X. There is only one input for this move, then you must either hold forward or back to do the close/far variation. There is no pushback on this move, wasn't able to tell if it's unsafe on block as I never used it up close.

First hit is a high, but the MB second hit is a low that can be blocked. No more Rune Trap! Second hit bags a high amount of damage for a single hit, but I couldn't tell if this was intentional or just because it's a build thing. Both hits will knock down, but both can be tech rolled and don't give any kind of hard knockdown. You can land a MB rune and use your run to close the gap safely.

Trance - B,F,3: Quan stuns the opponent, and they begin to walk towards him in a trance like state. This is just like the MK9 version of his trance, with the opponent even walking towards him at all times. Most of Quan's strings caused a knockdown rather than a stagger, but I'm sure you can get some kind of 50/50 mixup off this give his overhead/low attacks. Was unable to see what the MB version does, but it doesn't appear to drain meter anymore.

Move is still highly unsafe on block, even more unsafe than his MK9 trance.

X-Ray - Shoulder Buttons: Very fast Green Projectile that covers the whole screen distance. Unsure if it was a mid or high, but looked like it was relatively high off the ground. Can be easily combo'd into due to its speed. Wasn't able to see if it had armor properties as I only ever used it mid combo for swag points.

Sorcerer Specific specials:

Armor Spell - D,D,3:
Quan creates a green aura around hit that will grant him a hit of armor that regenerates over time. fast hitting strings or multiple hitting attacks will still chew through him, but single hitting moves will allow quan to armor through and punish. Move has relatively slow startup, but seems faster than his buffs in MK9. You can use it after landing a trance, but you won't have enough time to continue a full juggle combo based on my experience. Again, I could be wrong there, I wasn't able to experiment with potentially faster strings. The aura remains for a long time and he's unable to use any more while a spell is active, you c an only cast one at a time.

After taking a hit, the armor will take around 3 seconds to regenerate, then he can take another hit once it returns. This also applies in the air, so long as he's in the general area of the spell, the armor will be granted. As far as I remember, I was unable to MB any of his spells.

Special move Spell - D,D,1: All spells take the same amount of time to startup, so it;s up to you which one you use at any given time. This version will buff Quan's Skull projectile and his Runes. The Enhanced Skull will land initial damage, but will then start to tick away further damage for a few seconds. I'm not sure what the enhanced Rune does, as it seemed to do the same damage and was still blockable. But it turned into a purple attack, so something was happening. I just couldn't find out what unfortunately.

This aura doesn't appear to buff his trance of skydrop currently.

Opponent Debuff Spell - D,D,2: I actually don't know what this move does. Quan Chi places the aura underneath his opponents position, then a debuff like VFX will appear on the opponent for the duration they're standing in it. They didn't appear to take more damage and there was no kind of meter drain occurring. May have something to do with blockstun or agility meter, but I'm really not sure.

You can end a combo in all versions of his spells to grant a setup on their wakeup, but there was a huge amount of negative edge, so I was unable to use his armor spell on their wakeup due to the strings I was using. I imagine using this will be highly effective for pressure vs single hitting wakeup attacks, but was unable to really capitalize on it due to the negative edge. Presumably the full game will allow you to turn release check off.

In terms of strings, I found myself using the following the most:

B3,2,4 - Low starter that launches. Has pathetic range on the B3, so you can only use this move right up close. This seemed to be highly effective when using the run to close space, then using his low launcher when they stand up. Safe on block, but left him slightly minus. Quan can backdash and can an attempt to counter poke with an opponents string, but the opponent can chase down the backdash if they read it.

1,3,2 - Standing jab seems fast, leading into a combo that causes a knockback, Didn't find many uses for thw whole string, but you can special cancel the first two hits. Very few of Quan's strings can be special cancelled right at the end.

B1,4,2 - Relatively slow startup mid that splats the opponent. Used as a higher damage combo ender and seemed rather effective in the corner due to the splat of this string. Combine the splat with Quan's armor spell and you may have a nightmare corner game on your hands.

F2,1,2 - Mid string that also launches. Although this is a launcher, the move will not attack twice on block, leaving Quan safe. The move will only launch if the opponent is actually hit by the string. It knocks them pretty far away, but you can still land a 2 into trance if you hit them close enough to begin with.

I didn't find any overhead strings, but I think Endevermore did. So check out his writeup to see what he makes of that!

Low Pokes:

D1 -
Decent speed, generic D1 range. Cannot be comboed into anything.
D2 - Not as fast as his MK9 uppercut, but still a very decent anti air.
D3 - Decent range, but not very fast on startup. Can be used to stop pressure, but I think it leaves him minus on block, but not punshable.
D4 - very slow low poke. Almost looks like a sweep at first.

B2 is an overhead that can be special cancelled, but this cannot follow into any other string. You can go for a 50/50 up close using his B2 and B3, but going overhead into trance is risky. you can cancel it into a skull instead, meaning if the normal lands your skull leaves you open to land either a grab/B2 or B3.

To summarize

Using Quan chi's Runes and Skulls mean he could be a very decent zoning character with an up close knockdown game given the properties of his spells in Sorcerer. He seems a lot more mobile than he did in MK9, but that's partly due to the general speed increase of MK:X. His mixup game feels very similar, with risky overheads into trance and hitconfirmable low launchers. Instant air skull and close/mid rune could prove to be an annoying wall of defence to deal with, but as it stands, he may not have particularly good wakeup attacks once the opponent gets in. but that's speculation judging how his moves worked in the build I played.


Hopefully this can help you all get some insight on how this guy plays currently, may be a few spelling errors but I didn't have much time to write this up!

Cheers,
Ketchup

 
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PND_Ketchup

"More deadly than the dawn"
@STORMS If you ever want to promote the we did coverage for D'Vorah and Quan, it'd probably be best to somehow merge our two writeups into one big document for a thread. We both had equal time with our characters.
 

ENDeverMORE

The incredible introvert
Nice write up man! I didn't meet anyone to help test with properly, half of this stuff I didn't know. But then I was messing around with all the variations at some point or another.
thanks for answering a few questions I had in mind from Saturday :)
 

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
@STORMS If you ever want to promote the we did coverage for D'Vorah and Quan, it'd probably be best to somehow merge our two writeups into one big document for a thread. We both had equal time with our characters.
They're both on my list. Way ahead of you. ;)
 

PND_Ketchup

"More deadly than the dawn"
Are there 50/50's in MKX? How was the chip dmg from normals?
Forgot to answer your first question, sorry man.

Yes, the game has 50/50's. Quan Chi and D'Vorah both have high/low options, quan can turn his into trance, presumably you can keep them in that situation depending on what setup you have, but I wasn't able to experiment long enough to find anything myself.
 
Forgot to answer your first question, sorry man.

Yes, the game has 50/50's. Quan Chi and D'Vorah both have high/low options, quan can turn his into trance, presumably you can keep them in that situation depending on what setup you have, but I wasn't able to experiment long enough to find anything myself.
Are the 50/50's punishable?
 

PND_Ketchup

"More deadly than the dawn"
Are the 50/50's punishable?
Quan Chi's low string leaves him minus but safe, but the string can be hitconfirmed into trance.

His overhead was a single attack that had to be committed, but I didn't have time to see if he had a string that started in an overhead. As it stands with the way I played him, his overhead was unsafe if committed into trance, but I could be wrong if he actually has an overhead string.
 

Pterodactyl

Plus on block.
The setup was really quiet, we could only really hear the impact noises of each hit, but couldn't hear any voices I'm afraid :(
I'll be completely honest here.

No Woolay, no play.

Unless they decide to bring back Shang AND the tag mode, then i'll reconsider because the Deadly Alliance is the coolest shit.
 

testyourpatience

Ya'll stingy
i don't think he'll have woolay. along with the design flaws of mk9 quan chi also went the woolay. i like his gibberish when he uses the green aura better than woolay :)
 

PND_Ketchup

"More deadly than the dawn"
Updated the Original post with a description of his X-ray. Kinda silly that I forgot to include it!

X-Ray - Shoulder Buttons:
Very fast Green Projectile that covers the whole screen distance. Unsure if it was a mid or high, but looked like it was relatively high off the ground. Can be easily combo'd into due to its speed. Wasn't able to see if it had armor properties as I only ever used it mid combo for swag points.
 

MKF30

Fujin and Ermac for MK 11
YES! Thank god, no more lame rune traps then with staggers gone(thank you NRS)and no more fucking annoying placed teleports, that shit was so annoying in MK9 and it knocks down now?! Sweet. So he's more MK 4 ish! Nice.

I like how his trance is more unsafe too(a good tradeoff for increased speed of his runes and air fireballs), and how his zune Knocks down now instead of just leaving you open like MK9. I may use this character now as a secondary for sure hehe. Zoning options and second variation seems like my style ;)
 

testyourpatience

Ya'll stingy
yeah he made no sense in mk9. if he does turn out good in mkx, it's not going to be because of the same design flaws he had in the previous game. kinda sucks that now that i'm going to main him he's not going to be lame, but oh well lol.
 

haketh

Noob
YES! Thank god, no more lame rune traps then with staggers gone(thank you NRS)and no more fucking annoying placed teleports, that shit was so annoying in MK9 and it knocks down now?! Sweet. So he's more MK 4 ish! Nice.
Knocking down is a nerf, the stagger was better because you were at advantage & they couldn't reverse.