Slips
Feared by dragons. Desired by virgins.
So after months of playing Scorpion, pre-patch and post-patch, I feel like I can make a pretty accurate assessment of the character and his variations. Scorpion is a pretty good character. Mid tier, possibly high mid tier. I'll go over all the major categories that make a character and rank my boy Scorp.
Offense -
Ninjitsu: 3/5
Inferno: 3/5
Hellfire: 4/5
My definition of offense is how well can a character open up an opponent who is conditioned to block. Overhead/low, pressure, and strike/throw are what makes this category. In all variations, his best overhead that yields damage is f4. Not easy to see on reaction since the animation is pretty ambiguous, but at the highest possible level I believe it can be seen. Once it's established my opponent can see f4, then Scorp has to move on to his lower damaging options such as throw and f2 as his main overhead. 3/5 reflects Scorp's opponent playing their best defense. If f4 cannot be reacted yet by his opponent, I'd notch it up to an 4/5.
Defense -
Ninjitsu: 5/5
Inferno: 2/5
Hellfire: 4/5
This is keep out footsies and anti-air essentially; how good Scorp is able to stop opponents from running/jumping in. Good counter-poke options I believe belong here too. d2 is quick and great for jumps coming down onto his head and cross-ups. Scorp's d4 is fast and recovers very good on whiff and sets up his offense for Ninjitus and Hellfire. Also low-profiles very well for jump ins and cross ups. Ninjitsu's swords go without saying that the threat of them being thrown out and getting launched scares people. His NJP in Ninjitsu is good too. Hellfire relies more on his normals but also has Flame Aura that has to be respected especially for characters that don't have great jump attacks as it can AA pretty good as well. Also has to be respected as an anti-counter-poke tool. Inferno's keep out is more high risk/high reward with low demon and overhead demon. Not bad but very risky.
Whiff Punishing -
Ninjitsu: 5/5
Inferno: 2/5
Hellfire: 2/5
Ninjitu's b2 and f2 are beautiful whiff punishers. Some of the best in the game imo. On the flip side, Hellfire and Inferno's normals are pretty short, the best being his f3 which you better make sure is gonna hit cause it is very bad on whiff. He can use takedown also, but it's just as risky as f3 if you react too slow. Only thing stopping this category from being a 1 is his walkspeed/run are decent and his teleport is an adequate whiff punisher at times depending on the scenario.
Punishing -
Ninjitsu: 4/5
Inferno: 4/5
Hellfire: 4/5
This is punishing moves on block. All variations for the most part punish for the same damage so I'll just go over why I think he's a good punisher. Being able to punish anything -9 into a combo into a standing reset means he carries big momentum when he punishes. Takedown and f3 are better than most of the cast for punishing moves that have pushback.
Jump attacks -
Ninjitsu: 5/5
Inferno: 4/5
Hellfire: 4/5
I think it goes without saying j3 is one of the best jump attacks in the game. Couple the fact he can combo off of it and you have every Scorpion scrub's dream of landing a jk~teleport combo. Ninjitus gets an added bonus with his NJP.
Armor -
Ninjitsu: 2/5
Inferno: 2/5
Hellfire: 2/5
I listed all 3 variations even though they all have the same armor for consistency's sake, but outside of teleport being a good armored wake-up attack, his normal standing armor is on Jacqui's level. Takedown does a nice 14% but extremely bad on whiff and block.
Zoning -
Ninjitsu: 1/3
Inferno: 2/3
Hellfire: 2/3
Inferno's zoning is mainly effective for how good it anti-zones, forcing opponents to come in and deal with the demons. Trading with low demon is rarely in his opponent's favor. However, his zoning isn't too hard to get around once someone commits to getting through it, but it does force his opponent's to play his game at mid and 3/4's screen allowing him to opt if he wants to keep zoning or go in. Hellfire is a safer form of zoning but without the advantage of doubling as an anti-zoning tool. Hellfire is safer on whiff and he can use feints and fireball cancels to get people to jump and AA them. Like Inferno though, the zoning can be avoided pretty easily or at worst eat one hellfire and then run in to play footsies.
Anti-zoning -
Ninjitsu: 2/3
Inferno: 3/3
Hellfire: 2/3
Scorp's teleport goes without saying that it is one of the best anti-zoning tools in the game. It's fast, it can be done in the air, it can be faked, and with meter it combos. Inferno gets the full 3/3 because of the added insult of low demon being a great anti-zoning tool as well.
Damage -
Ninjitsu: 2/3
Inferno: 2/3
Hellfire: 3/3
All variations do around the same amount of damage. In the upper 20's and lower 30% meterless and spending a bar gets you to mid to upper 30%. Not bad, but nothing special. Hellfire gets very good damage off of an unpunishable low and f4 if he can get it to hit.
Overall
Ninjitsu - 29
Inferno - 24
Hellfire - 27
Ninjitsu I believe gets the nod at the highest possible level in the current meta of MKX. Hellfire has the best vortex and damage if he can get f4 to hit. And Inferno is solid but just doesn't bring much to the table besides a little better Anti-zoning.
Do you all agree? Feel free to argue, it's the best way to learn and gain perspective.
Offense -
Ninjitsu: 3/5
Inferno: 3/5
Hellfire: 4/5
My definition of offense is how well can a character open up an opponent who is conditioned to block. Overhead/low, pressure, and strike/throw are what makes this category. In all variations, his best overhead that yields damage is f4. Not easy to see on reaction since the animation is pretty ambiguous, but at the highest possible level I believe it can be seen. Once it's established my opponent can see f4, then Scorp has to move on to his lower damaging options such as throw and f2 as his main overhead. 3/5 reflects Scorp's opponent playing their best defense. If f4 cannot be reacted yet by his opponent, I'd notch it up to an 4/5.
Defense -
Ninjitsu: 5/5
Inferno: 2/5
Hellfire: 4/5
This is keep out footsies and anti-air essentially; how good Scorp is able to stop opponents from running/jumping in. Good counter-poke options I believe belong here too. d2 is quick and great for jumps coming down onto his head and cross-ups. Scorp's d4 is fast and recovers very good on whiff and sets up his offense for Ninjitus and Hellfire. Also low-profiles very well for jump ins and cross ups. Ninjitsu's swords go without saying that the threat of them being thrown out and getting launched scares people. His NJP in Ninjitsu is good too. Hellfire relies more on his normals but also has Flame Aura that has to be respected especially for characters that don't have great jump attacks as it can AA pretty good as well. Also has to be respected as an anti-counter-poke tool. Inferno's keep out is more high risk/high reward with low demon and overhead demon. Not bad but very risky.
Whiff Punishing -
Ninjitsu: 5/5
Inferno: 2/5
Hellfire: 2/5
Ninjitu's b2 and f2 are beautiful whiff punishers. Some of the best in the game imo. On the flip side, Hellfire and Inferno's normals are pretty short, the best being his f3 which you better make sure is gonna hit cause it is very bad on whiff. He can use takedown also, but it's just as risky as f3 if you react too slow. Only thing stopping this category from being a 1 is his walkspeed/run are decent and his teleport is an adequate whiff punisher at times depending on the scenario.
Punishing -
Ninjitsu: 4/5
Inferno: 4/5
Hellfire: 4/5
This is punishing moves on block. All variations for the most part punish for the same damage so I'll just go over why I think he's a good punisher. Being able to punish anything -9 into a combo into a standing reset means he carries big momentum when he punishes. Takedown and f3 are better than most of the cast for punishing moves that have pushback.
Jump attacks -
Ninjitsu: 5/5
Inferno: 4/5
Hellfire: 4/5
I think it goes without saying j3 is one of the best jump attacks in the game. Couple the fact he can combo off of it and you have every Scorpion scrub's dream of landing a jk~teleport combo. Ninjitus gets an added bonus with his NJP.
Armor -
Ninjitsu: 2/5
Inferno: 2/5
Hellfire: 2/5
I listed all 3 variations even though they all have the same armor for consistency's sake, but outside of teleport being a good armored wake-up attack, his normal standing armor is on Jacqui's level. Takedown does a nice 14% but extremely bad on whiff and block.
Zoning -
Ninjitsu: 1/3
Inferno: 2/3
Hellfire: 2/3
Inferno's zoning is mainly effective for how good it anti-zones, forcing opponents to come in and deal with the demons. Trading with low demon is rarely in his opponent's favor. However, his zoning isn't too hard to get around once someone commits to getting through it, but it does force his opponent's to play his game at mid and 3/4's screen allowing him to opt if he wants to keep zoning or go in. Hellfire is a safer form of zoning but without the advantage of doubling as an anti-zoning tool. Hellfire is safer on whiff and he can use feints and fireball cancels to get people to jump and AA them. Like Inferno though, the zoning can be avoided pretty easily or at worst eat one hellfire and then run in to play footsies.
Anti-zoning -
Ninjitsu: 2/3
Inferno: 3/3
Hellfire: 2/3
Scorp's teleport goes without saying that it is one of the best anti-zoning tools in the game. It's fast, it can be done in the air, it can be faked, and with meter it combos. Inferno gets the full 3/3 because of the added insult of low demon being a great anti-zoning tool as well.
Damage -
Ninjitsu: 2/3
Inferno: 2/3
Hellfire: 3/3
All variations do around the same amount of damage. In the upper 20's and lower 30% meterless and spending a bar gets you to mid to upper 30%. Not bad, but nothing special. Hellfire gets very good damage off of an unpunishable low and f4 if he can get it to hit.
Overall
Ninjitsu - 29
Inferno - 24
Hellfire - 27
Ninjitsu I believe gets the nod at the highest possible level in the current meta of MKX. Hellfire has the best vortex and damage if he can get f4 to hit. And Inferno is solid but just doesn't bring much to the table besides a little better Anti-zoning.
Do you all agree? Feel free to argue, it's the best way to learn and gain perspective.
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