How do you guys tackle the Mileena matchup? I feel like I'm not building any meter while she has tons of it, once I get in with f21 I don't have the meter to convert and even if I do she has the meter to break... I can't zone her or put up a forceball without getting punished and I get outfootsied by that long ranged staggerable string.
I haven't played too many good mileenas since the patch (most of them don't even use b12) but I'll give this a shot.
First off you lose at full screen. There's no point in trying to trade projectiles, acid spit goes over her if she does low sai and you cant get a force ball out to save your life. So your focus has to be on getting in. You can jump the low sai but alot of mileenas like to teleport after doing low sai so try to bait it out and punish. If you're having trouble punishing tele-air sai than you can always do b34. It doesnt matter whether she delays the sai or just does teleport, it will always catch them with the last two hits for 14%. Theres always ex swipe too. You're going to want to punish it every time though to keep them from throwing it out.
If you do manage to get a force ball out than you have to be aware of her options to deal with it. Most people only have 3 options to deal with it; blocking it, jumping it or armouring it but mileena can also roll under it, teleport or get out a couple sais before blocking. You'll need to get a feel for how they react before going in with anything but a couple of those options are punishable. A good player will mix up what they do though so you dont really get the control from force balls that you do in other match ups.
Lastly never forget that mileenas desperately want to hit you with roll. So be ready for those and punish as hard as you possibly can. You cant waste the opportunity and you need her to be reluctant to just throw them out.
This match up feels similar to the gm sub zero match in that you have to play it very patiently and not be too risky. You have to accept that in certain situations they're in control and have to wrestle it back. Every opportunity to get damage must be taken and you have to be very wary of your positioning.
I suppose this all a sign of a bad match up but those are the most fun for me. There's no better feeling than grinding out a match up then overcoming the odds.
