Much like Reptile is to Mileena, anyone foolish enough to pick Scorpion against Liu Kang may as well consider throwing in the towel early unless they are purposely looking for a challenge the size of climbing Mount Everest.
Liu Kang simply owns and dominates this match in every phase. Spamming the spear will result in low fireballs. If you try to turtle Kang and telepunch, a block will result in aaHP + bicycle kick for 40%. God forbid Scorpion attempts a telepunch and gets blocked in the corner... And of course, the main reason Kang owns this matchup, his low toe.
Watch the first two minutes of this video (also 5:53) and, assuming you haven't died of laughter, you'll see what I mean. Kang can sit and wait for Scorpion all day and there's virtually NOTHING Scorpion can do about it. If he jumps in, there is a possibility he could land a throw, but he also takes a HUGE risk of eating an uppercut 90% of the time. Even just by creeping up, he slowly takes damage via low fireballs. A desperate player may even consider using Scorpion's leg takedown. That is a huge mistake as the move is broken and will always lead to an unblockable uppercut for the recovering player. The only thing Scorpion can do is creep up and find the sweet spot for a sweep. Other than that, a player with very quick reflexes can sometimes teleport from full screen and hit a throw as they land. For Scorpion to have a chance here, he is going to have to wait for a missed fireball, cautiously jump in, then hit a deep JK + spear (uppercut.) If Kang is mid-screen, Scorpion can JK, telepunch, spear (uppercut.)
If Kang wants to play this matchup to win, I suggest getting a quick hit via fireball then let Scorpion back himself into a corner. That way if he tries to teleport he won't be able to get out of the corner for a throw attempt and will have no choice but to play offense to no avail. Goes without saying that this is a 9-1 match in favor of Kang.
- Should Kang bother using kicks?
- Does Scorpion have any other options to make this a fair fight?
- How often should Kang spam fireballs here?