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General/Other - Hat Trick Hat Trick: The MKX Sleeper $%!7ter

The PantyChrist

Rest in Pantiez
So we all know Kenshi and Kitana are bad right? I wanna take a few minutes to talk about this variation and why it sucks. Now you may be thinking to yourself, "But Panty, you're playing a risk/reward character and you make reads like you never passed kindergarten! why should we listen to you!"
Heres the thing, i still know a thing or two about how the character works, or should work rather. so ill go through a few problems with him and simple fixes that can be made to help see more Hat trick around.

Lao Cant spin:
this may be a design oversight from the other two variations. as when lao throws his hat it would seem fair that he has a short cooldown before he gains access to his hat based moves again. This variation suffers that same rule, the difference is the whole point of this variation is to set traps with his hat on the screen for an extended period of time. not being able to spin means he actually loses tools for punishes on teleports or certain armored wus.

Let Hat Trick Lao spin with hat on the screen. even if ex spin only gets 1 hit instead of 3 i think thats a fair tradeoff.

The Hat trap itself:
standard hat trap is a high, low hat trap is a mid. there is almost no reason to use standard hat trap. certain moves cancelled into a hat call will actually cause the standard hat to whiff, making it dumb. Another problem is they both have HUGE startup(39 for regular, 43 for low) i dont think he has any stagger strings even on hit with enough cancel advantage to make this not full combo punishable. The only truly viable way to set the hat up is on a b321 hkd cancelled into the hat. Any KD can work i guess but it can be tech rolled.

um make both hats mid. I guess Im ok with the hat trap only really being good on knock down but even there the opponent still has a lot more options.

The trap goes away when he gets hit:
All the effort you put into setting up that hat? gone with a poke! you spend more time trying to set the damn thing up than actually getting to use it. It's also really not very easy to convert off of in many situations.

In a game where d1/2/3/4 do not combo into specials, i dont think its unfair for lao to keep that hat on the screen until he gets to use it or it goes away after time. This can be a sensitive fix though because if lao can keep the hat when he gets knocked down without being able to spin, he has no wu. so i dont think its fair to give him 1 without the other. If in the absence of being able to spin with hat on the screen and he can keep the hat on hit, maybe he can keep it on stagger but it comes back when lao gets knocked down.

Hatarang:
His ex hat toss in this variation. Its a Mid- high. not only is there a gap between the hat going and coming back, its a frickin high.

make this move a Mid-mid.

Hat Trick Lao could possibly be the ONLY variation in the game where the draw to the variation actually TAKES AWAY his tools. hopefully some of this stuff is just design oversight as i cant imagine this character being intended to be this way or left this way.

@colt
 

Clampa_

Learn from this.
I always look at the other characters in this game and say, "sigh why can't I have three variations that are all worth using to some extent?". If anyone want to play a trap character Raiden's Master of Storms variation is the way to go, has everything that hat should should have and more.
 

The PantyChrist

Rest in Pantiez
I always look at the other characters in this game and say, "sigh why can't I have three variations that are all worth using to some extent?". If anyone want to play a trap character Raiden's Master of Storms variation is the way to go, has everything that hat should should have and more.
I've liked Lao since mk2. I think a lot of these can be simple fixes and some are possibly design oversights. Even with my suggested changes he may still be the weakest of the 3 but at least more viable.
I already played a shitty character for 2 years
 

tatterbug4

Bug of tater's
If I remember right that hat doesn't even give any mix ups anyways. The closest you get to a low is f23 and you can do over head b2 anymore so what's the point? I agree the variation has a cool idea but it didn't work out at all
 
I kinda want standard hat trap call back to hit overheard and low hat trap call back to hit low, but maybe that will make him too good?

Or have his hat return after getting hit twice not just once.

But I'm not really sure any buffs to hat trick will make this variation good, but I will continue to play hat trick no matter how bad it is.
 
If I remember right that hat doesn't even give any mix ups anyways. The closest you get to a low is f23 and you can do over head b2 anymore so what's the point? I agree the variation has a cool idea but it didn't work out at all
It grants free pressure on block. The problem is still that kung lao loses some options while doing this so it would be hard to counter the multiple options the opponent has to get out of this. There are just too many options out of this imo and it is hard to get the initial hit in because kung lao doesn't really have anything in the variation outside the hat trap. So it is not easy to setup and it isn't that hard to get out of either and the opponent can choose to just block and the worst case scenario would be a grab which gets you out of the setup and if the kung lao player goes for a blockstring he will be left at minus, which also means the opponent gets out of the setup.
 

The PantyChrist

Rest in Pantiez
It grants free pressure on block. The problem is still that kung lao loses some options while doing this so it would be hard to counter the multiple options the opponent has to get out of this. There are just too many options out of this imo and it is hard to get the initial hit in because kung lao doesn't really have anything in the variation outside the hat trap. So it is not easy to setup and it isn't that hard to get out of either and the opponent can choose to just block and the worst case scenario would be a grab which gets you out of the setup and if the kung lao player goes for a blockstring he will be left at minus, which also means the opponent gets out of the setup.
There's also virtually no reason to respect it. He loses tools. Can't punish certain wus for more yhan like 12-22% and only nets about 20% on hit if converted properly
 

Afro_physicist

Hat Trick
What they should do is have the hat toss be a trap like luthors' mines in injustice. Have the low toss be a low and the above hat toss be an overhead and the other two be mids. He wouldn't need spin with this, he would just have to set up knockdown that push them into his hats. And he could still call it back to add to his pressure
 

The PantyChrist

Rest in Pantiez
Nah he doesn't need mixups. This variation needs stability. I think both being mids would be fine, especially since they are plus. If it's a mixup it becomes kinda op in a way he doesn't need and if they become a mixup but negative I also don't like that.
 

Peckapowa

Champion
I always look at the other characters in this game and say, "sigh why can't I have three variations that are all worth using to some extent?". If anyone want to play a trap character Raiden's Master of Storms variation is the way to go, has everything that hat should should have and more.
It's only good when you can turtle
 

Peckapowa

Champion
I kinda want standard hat trap call back to hit overheard and low hat trap call back to hit low, but maybe that will make him too good?

Or have his hat return after getting hit twice not just once.

But I'm not really sure any buffs to hat trick will make this variation good, but I will continue to play hat trick no matter how bad it is.
His hat should stay until callback regardless of getting hit. The hat needs to not be duck able so frequently and his ex hat rossshould hit mid mid, but have a gap in after on block so the opponent can armor or something. That way he can make his strings safe and have pressure.

Ha trick Kung Laos issues are symbolic of this game major oversights.


Most of the strings weren't thought about and have shit risk reward analysis so you can't use them or other strings simply are better in every way. Also everything creative and interesting about the game was poorly executed and isn't as effective as the cheap junk so it's worthless.
 

Charybdis

We are returned! Death to the False Emperor!
Agree with OP. Hat Trick is just bad. It's an awful variation that absolutely hamstrings KL for no reason. Tempest gives you high damage, Buzzsaw mix ups and the low hat grind, Hat Trick gives you nothing. I'd rather play variation-less KL than Hat Trick
 

supernumian

Triborg Enthusiast
I love this variation but it's impossible to use it now.
For me, the only way to make it viable is:
- to make low hat trap hit low
- normal hat trap hit overhead or middle
- blocked hat return 0 on block and ex blocked + on block
- trap stay in the screen for a shorter period of time but don't go away if you get hit
- you still lose normal, spin, etc... trap are used to make mixup and force pressure with + frame on block
 

Invincible Salads

Seeker of knowledge
good points, yeah they should definitely add some of those changes, would be nice to have spin with the hat off.

oh yeah, and make f4 safe :p