General/Other - Mileena The Mileena General Discussion Thread (All Variations)

[james1926]

@Arkayne

Ok apparently I was wrong about f12 on wakeups, I haven't tested yet and see why it was whiffing on me but the hitbox seems better on piercing.

Ex low sai is punishable but it's an option, it's always good to have options. I already said it's not that good but since it creates mixup situations it doesn't make it unusable. And is not unsafe on hit. It's +3 actually. Only normal low sai is unsafe on hit.

Low sai might be easily reacted, but that doesn't make it useless. The move can have good use in many matchups.

B 1,2 doesn't have the same frames and it's definitely not as good in ravenous.

Anyway, the only thing we should all agree is the teleport on hit. I don't understand what great tools Mileena has that her teleport needed to be -8 on hit, while Scorpions (and other teleports) is still positive on hit. What Mileena has so much better than Scorpion?

As for your balance suggestion, I will contribute to the discussion maybe after 1-2 months, there is a lot more I need to learn first

but seriously low pounce should change to an overhead.

 

[JDE]

I posted the setup here.

http://www.testyourmight.com/threads/mileena-combo-thread.49635/page-20#post-1695422

 

[MajinBerserker]

Not sure if this is posted or not, but here's a tutorial video by Bafael displaying some of her potential (if anyone cares instead of being negative).

This dude's videos are usually very good. He's posted a lot of Ultra SF stuff. Thanks for sharing. This video is pretty darn good, IMO.
And from the description, looks like he's going to cover the whole cast like this.

 

[JDE]

This dude's videos are usually very good. He's posted a lot of Ultra SF stuff. Thanks for sharing. This video is pretty darn good, IMO.
And from the description, looks like he's going to cover the whole cast like this.

Yeah he's always been helpful in games. Learn a lot from him in SF. He knows a lot about KI, too.

 

[MajinBerserker]

I'd just like to add to the recent positivity statements.
I was emo about Mileena early on, but now after actually learning how to play MKX (mechanics, movement, general footsies), I'm supportive of her again.
Everyone's stated her weaknesses. But everyone has also listed her strengths.
I agree.
Once I learned the game a bit better after 2 weeks, I was able to feel fine using Mileena. She's not OP, so what. Haha.

 

[MajinBerserker]

I'd also like to add that stopping some wake up armor with F12B4 and B12, both into combo, has worked great for me. (I use Piercing Mil.). Many have mentioned this tactic in the threads.
Sure you have to watch the opponents meter and kind of know they're wake up armor options, but Mileena has great tools on knockdown, in my opinion.
And, while gimmicky, EX Roll on top of the opponent's wake up can work wonders. Of course this is risky, but a damaging option.

As a MoS Ermac player also, I confess to being more comfortable knocking down the opponent with Mileena- due to her options I listed above. I feel Ermac is better overall, but Mileena has a much better knock down game. Just my two cents from playing experience.

 

[Sultani]

Well, im still not completely comfortable with the fact that she's completely meter dependent in order to do anything.

No meter? Block low, stand up, she cant hit you. Meter? 50% chance to hit someone or get stomped if you lose the coin flip.

I would also like to clear something up about ravenous giving you mix up options. I do not have access to the game right now, so if someone could confirm, that would be great... People assume that high pounce and low pounce are a mixup. I have been told that they are both blockable mids.

In short, it might be the case that ravenous not only doesn't have more mixups, but that the entire variation itself is only good for different combo enders because both can just be blocked just like any regular mid attack, making them essentially worse than a regular throw.

 

[Arkayne]

@james1926 It's the same frames man. The only thing is that the range in piercing is a tad bit further me and Rapid talked about this and figured it out.

@Sultani Grabs are good for also catching whiffs, and beating out opponents "pressure" situations. I put Pressure in quotations for a reason. lol

 

[Sultani]

@james1926 It's the same frames man. The only thing is that the range in piercing is a tad bit further me and Rapid talked about this and figured it out.

@Sultani Grabs are good for also catching whiffs, and beating out opponents "pressure" situations. I put Pressure in quotations for a reason. lol

You have a 7 frame startup into 30ish% for wiff punishes regardles of variation. Why would you use a command grab for a wiff punish?

Going on the assumption that both being blockable mids is true..

ravenous and ethereal are both worthless. ravenous would then be a variation based on a command grab that's blockable same as a mid special with no follow up combo. With roll being a 7 frame startup and also a blockable mid that leads to a combo with better range, regular roll is a better choice than any command grab outside of ending a combo with some different animations.

Regular throws are not blockable and evreryone has them. Her command grabs are worse than every single characters throws then. No? (again, assuming they work just like a blockable mid)

Ethereal is used for setups and spacing type things I'm told. Well, you can get hit out of the startup, thrown out of invisibility, and punished upon recovery. Back dashing has invincible starteup and is much faster with less recovery, running can be cancelled immediately with a block or normal. Teleporting onto the other side of an opponent doesn't really matter because of the recovery and the fact that there isn't directional blockng outside of high and low. So, ethereal is an entire variation that sacrifices damage for punishable movement when back dashing and running are better and everyone can do it.

Her best variation is her best variation because slight damage increased combo enders and a little more range on a couple particular strings. That's stupid.

I'm on the mileena sucks train again.

 

[Bizzle PB]

You have a 7 frame startup into 30ish% for wiff punishes regardles of variation. Why would you use a command grab for a wiff punish?

Going on the assumption that both being blockable mids is true..

ravenous and ethereal are both worthless. ravenous would then be a variation based on a command grab that's blockable same as a mid special with no follow up combo. With roll being a 7 frame startup and also a blockable mid that leads to a combo with better range, regular roll is a better choice than any command grab outside of ending a combo with some different animations.

Regular throws are not blockable and evreryone has them. Her command grabs are worse than every single characters throws then. No?

Ethereal is used for setups and spacing type things I'm told. Well, you can get hit ou of the startup, thrown out of invisibility, and punished upon recovery. Back dashing has invincible starteup, running can be cancelled immediately with a block or normal. Teleporting onto the other side of an opponent doesn't really matter because of the recovery and the fact that there isn't directional blockng outside of high and low. So, ethereal is an entirevariationthat sacrifices damage for punishable movement when back dashing and running are better.

I'm on the mileena sucks train again.

I struggled mightily for the past week with the debate of Mileena good or bad. Mi tries other characters and went to the lab. I finally said screw it and I would figure it out. M

Well I did. Mileena is a viable character. I played in VSGC tournament last night and had a couple of good wins with her. My was able to open opponents up, but unable to string them into combos. I can fix that with a little bit of lab work. It felt good to get my opponents in the air, I just couldn't finish.

Read and react is what I am feeling from her. she does have some good pressure strings, but the overhead is a dangerous one.

Take you time. Stick with it. She will be just fine.

 

[james1926]

@Arkayne Bro it's 11 frames on piercing and 15 on ravenous and ethereal.

@Sultani Please note that roll is 8 frames now.

 

[JDE]

TBH, out of all the characters that I play currently (3 or 4 that I've been deciding on), I'm having the most fun with Mileena. I just hope that she stays viable.

 

[llxPeeKABooxll]

Anyone find the glitch with her EX tele-kick where for some reason after the EX Mileena just doesn't do the multiple hits?

Looking at this initially I don't know if it could be helpful or not. Right now it just seems like a bad glitch that randomly robs her of a combo.

 

[Loryuo]

This is my first time playing a MK game, so bare with me here. I picked up Mileena since she fits a type of archetype i'm fond of(personality wise) and i'm not sure if i'm either improving, or playing straight up stupid in this game. I've been playing Ethereal Mileena, cause i like the option to make strings safe, though i forget every now and again what exactly is safe.

Is back B1,2 her best punish on block, besides ball roll? i've been abusing F2,3, 4/EX Ball for pretty much every situation on the ground that's not in the corner.

I was playing my friend who is a MK Vet, and quite frankly, He beat me a lot(like 140-25) it was quite discomforting hearing him say that to win with Mileena you gotta play random/Kitana is awful and worse than Mileena, picking different characters, and when i would win, he would just say things like "i never used this character before."

I find Mileena to be very fun, though I still don't know how to time Jump punches(1 or 2 with her?), can't do proper reversals on block. Can't block mix-ups consistently enough to the point, that when they do unsafe specials/normals, I just uppercut if i block it since i'm scared i won't be able to punish it.

So do you guys have any overall advice to playing her? Sorry for the mini rant lol.

 

[Endding]

After countless matches, I'm improving on the Cassie MU. It's fucking hard, but if you play patient, whiff punish you'll do alright.

The best variation for that MU is Piercing for me, the low sai adds more mind games and b12 helps bring caution into the opponents game.

Just a note on 'buffing' I honestly dont think she's that bad. She's not godlike, and never will be so the downplayers just got to accept that. I can understand the frustration believe me, but you've either got to toughen up, or find a another character.

Saying that, I'd personally love for EX Fade to actually do something, bring something to the table for that variation. Apart from that, shoutout to y'all sticking by the Empress. We in there.

 

[TheGabStandard]

Hi and no need to apologise for the mini-rant. Just read through your post and will give advice where I can.

This is my first time playing a MK game, so bare with me here. I picked up Mileena since she fits a type of archetype i'm fond of(personality wise) and i'm not sure if i'm either improving, or playing straight up stupid in this game. I've been playing Ethereal Mileena, cause i like the option to make strings safe, though i forget every now and again what exactly is safe.

If you can't always remember which strings are safe or can be made safe there is a couple of ways that can help. One is find your safe strings from the frame data and testing them in training mode. Set the AI to reversal to block your moves and reverse with their fastest special (probably best against characters your friend plays at first if not Kung Lao). Once you find out which ones are safe tag them so you can see the string inputs during your matches. Eventually you will get used to remembering which ones are safe and which ones are not.

Is back B1,2 her best punish on block, besides ball roll? i've been abusing F2,3, 4/EX Ball for pretty much every situation on the ground that's not in the corner.

B12 probably not as it is 14 or 15 frames on startup. Best punish other than ball roll is probably 21 string. F23 and 123 strings are reasonably quick so decent alternatives.

Using the F23/EX Roll mixup is good but look into other strings where you can apply the same kind of mixup like 21U4 and F12B4.

I was playing my friend who is a MK Vet, and quite frankly, He beat me a lot(like 140-25) it was quite discomforting hearing him say that to win with Mileena you gotta play random/Kitana is awful and worse than Mileena, picking different characters, and when i would win, he would just say things like "i never used this character before."

I don't believe that to be true. You can play random with Mileena but you are asking for a lot of pain if you do as she is super high risk. If anything she is one of the characters that requires the most thought. Saying stuff like that about Mileena and how Kitana is worse isn't great. If they are the characters you want to play then he should be encouraging and helping you figure out stuff to get the most out of your character choices, especially if he is a veteran.

I find Mileena to be very fun, though I still don't know how to time Jump punches(1 or 2 with her?), can't do proper reversals on block. Can't block mix-ups consistently enough to the point, that when they do unsafe specials/normals, I just uppercut if i block it since i'm scared i won't be able to punish it.

This is where training mode becomes your best friend. What you have listed here can be figured out in training mode and then applied to matches. Practice jump ins until you get the timing right comfortably.

The reversal window is tricky so again I would say got to training mode and record the AI doing a string and block immediately after. Then when you playback you block the string and input the reversal you want until you consistently do the timing. The same thing applies to mix-ups. If you can't block them correctly record the AI to do these mixups and practice blocking them to the point the recognize the animations of each strings. This will help making blocking easier. It does sound like a lot of work but it is amazing what you can learn just by spending an hour or two in training mode.

With the uppercuts at least you are punishing usafe moves which is better than not doing anything at all. Eventually you will get comfortable with doing full combo punishes from the things you do in training mode.

So do you guys have any overall advice to playing her? Sorry for the mini rant lol.

Play her patiently and with good thought. A lot of her tools are unsafe so knowing when to use them is key. Practicing whiff punishing would significantly add to your game as that is how the character is best played. Aside from that enjoy the character and feel free to ask the forum any other questions you might have.

 

[Sultani]

It seems as though the characters that people currently consider low tier are the ones that dont play like your typical nrs fighter.

Certain characters seem to be designed around footsies, baiting, wiff punishing, etc.

While i would like it if those tactics were viable, i feel like that sort of design simply isnt as strong in this game as the typical rush down mixup power.

Mileena is one of these characters.

 

[NoxiousDonny]

B12 probably not as it is 14 or 15 frames on startup. Best punish other than ball roll is probably F23 or 123 strings as they are reasonably quick, Maybe 21 string as well but cannot remember the frame data as the game isn't near me. If someone else can confirm that would be great.

21 is her fastest normal, so it the most practical punish string.

 

[TheGabStandard]

21 is her fastest normal, so it the most practical punish string.

Thanks for confirming

 

[NoxiousDonny]

Thanks for confirming

No worries.
---
I realise you're an Ethereal player not Piercing, so the question is open to anyone.. but I don't quite understand why Piercing's B12 isn't good as a hit confirm. Why is 123 considered best? First hit is high and it has nowhere near the range of B12.

 

[NoxiousDonny]

What exactly should Mileena's (Piercing) B12 be used?

 

[TheGabStandard]

No worries.
---
I realise you're an Ethereal player not Piercing, so the question is open to anyone.. but I don't quite understand why Piercing's B12 isn't good as a hit confirm. Why is 123 considered best? First hit is high and it has nowhere near the range of B12.

Huh, I use B12 as a hit confirm when I do play Piercing. I would say 123 is visually easier to see to commit to the combo than B12 so maybe that is the reason. Otherwise I think its fine to use.

 

[NoxiousDonny]

Huh, I use B12 as a hit confirm when I do play Piercing. I would say 123 is visually easier to see to commit to the combo than B12 so maybe that is the reason. Otherwise I think its fine to use.

Alright, great. Thanks.

So.. I'm using...
B12 at range to poke or combo if it hits.
21 as a low string and as to punish, unless I'm too far away to punish with it, in which case B12. Also use 21U4/21 EX Roll as a mixup.
B21 as a mix-up/low string from range instead of up close, in which case I'd use 21.
F4 as a low starter, F44 so it's safer if it's blocked.

Is that about it as far as starting strings go? Am I missing something? Using any of them incorrectly? Anyone feel free to respond/help out, just wanting to make sure I've got her down properly.

I have trouble implementing it into my game but also F12B4/F12EX Roll as another mix-up.

 

[Whole milk]

Alright, great. Thanks.

So.. I'm using...
B12 at range to poke or combo if it hits.
21 as a low string and as to punish, unless I'm too far away to punish with it, in which case B12. Also use 21U4/21 EX Roll as a mixup.
B21 as a mix-up/low string from range instead of up close, in which case I'd use 21.
F4 as a low starter, F44 so it's safer if it's blocked.

Is that about it as far as starting strings go? Am I missing something? Using any of them incorrectly? Anyone feel free to respond/help out, just wanting to make sure I've got her down properly.

I have trouble implementing it into my game but also F12B4/F12EX Roll as another mix-up.

I use her 123 after a jip because its neutral on block and causes some knockback which makes it pretty safe

 

[Premonitionist]

@1man3letters and others. Have you had any MU exp against Cyber Kano? I'm easily getting out zoned by his knives and a non EX knife toss shuts down Mileena's EX tele. Playing against a Kano that can block is proving difficult. He also out footsies here. How are you guys handling this MU?

I've played quite a few matches with Mileena against kano and what I've been doing is getting the Kano to respect my EX tele (I know it's unsafe but imo if he just keeps throwing knifes you have to do it) and once you get in don't get out, just try and stay in. If he tries to B+1 pressure u, u can D+3 after the first B+1 and if it hits you're at advantage. Also the normal stuff like baiting his ball on wake up and punishing. Also don't be afraid to trade projectiles sometimes, he gets 5% and Mileena gets 6%. Grabbing a lot helps too if the Kano is a beast with the block button haha. I basically play this match as a rushdown Mileena that baits on occasion, you can actually get a lot off punishing in this MU if you make the Kano scared.