Ethereal:
Against anyone with great rushdown, hard to stuff wake-ups and those that B12 and low sai in Piercing are worthless against.
- Cassie
- Lao
- Jax
- Tanya
- Kotal Kahn
- Takeda
- Quan Chi
- Goro
- Sonya
- Kano
- Raiden
Piercing:
Against anyone that can easily evade regular sai (slides or projectiles that trade in their favor), those that can't do much about low sai, bad/easily stuffable wake-ups and those whom she can compete in footsies against.
- Sub-Zero
- Reptile
- Kitana
- Liu Kang
- D'vorah
- Erron Black
- Predator
- Tremor
- Ferra/Torr
- Jacqui
- Johnny Cage
- Kenshi
- Shinnok
- Kung Jin
Ravenous:
Actually I feel like Ravenous is the best pick against characters that you mostly have to bait and punish, they don't have pressure so Etheral is not necessary, they either have footsies you can't compete against with B12 in Piercing (Ninjutsu Scorpion) or have meh footsies, and have hard to stuff wake ups so Piercing is also worthless.
The thing they have in common is that they have a lot of punisheable stuff and these MUs are all about punishing the wrong reads from both players, since Mileena is just as unsafe. And Ravenous has the most damaging combos out of her 3 variations, so her punishes will hurt more and she can position her oponents and her healing is also very helpfull in these MUs.
- Ermac
- Scorpion
- Jason
- Mileena
I'm actually not 100% sure about D'vorah, Kung Jin, Ferra/Torr and Sonya's positions but I guess they all can be handled by Piercing and Etheral.
I feel like Mileena wins the Kotal MU, except for Sun God, there she's even. The other two, she can more than hold her own in Piercing but Kotal is Kotal. I think Blood God is his worst go to since she can zone him out all day long and he can't wakeup once she knocks him down. She will literally always have a bar in this MU to force respect.
Against Cassie, I think its a 5-5, but not a HARD 5-5. Cassie has to work her way in and if you play the turtling Piercing right, you'll have meter, at least a bar, in most cases TWO, by the time she reaches you so she can't be brain dead happy. Also, Mileena can exploit her gaps and keep her honest with b12, plus she can oki Cassie, even in Hollywood with EXnutpunch OR just punish on block anyways. She hits just as hard as Cassie and can continually throw her back full screen and chip her out in the process.
Against Quan, everyone is guessing not just Mileena, however, in Piercing, she CAN lock him down once she knocks him down since he has no armor and his d1 is JUST outside of b12 range. A block trance also gets us a full f343 punish. In this MU, you actually want to be on top on him and terrorize him to make a careless jump so you can AA him with a roll, or other choice of your choosing.
Takeda has gaps that EXroll can stuff, and he literally can't wake up, not even in Ronin. His slow armor also makes it a similar take as to how you'd deal with Quan as well as the fact that his specials are unsafe on block, so he HAS to take it slow and steady or else she's putting him in the corner and gg.
Against Jax, low sais actually become incredibly useful pretty much for the same reasons as against Cassie. You're building meter while chipping him, and until he gets close, you can use this time to test their movement between the two sais. EXroll doesn't get its armor broken outside of 11 in which a regular roll will beat out that option, so once you force him to respect your options, you WILL notice them play slower. Like.with Quan, its a coin flip no one can do anything about, but at least if you blocked the overhead punch, you get a full combo. Jax too, cannot wakeup against Piercing.
Lao I feel is pretty dead even. Mileena can oki him and/or bait specials and movement which she can punish all on reaction or on block. Upclose, he's taking as much risk doing EXspin, just like our risk in doing a roll in this MU. They keep each other very honest and do the same damage. They both have roughly the same OKI game and have a full screen presence. What keeps this from being in his favor IMO is the fact that we can punish everything he can do with roll, a tele, EXroll, and through proper spacing with b12 for +30% into the same loop, not even counting the chip done throughout the match, or throws.
Goro, I need more experience on, but it feels even. You can tele on reaction to his tele and beat it every time for a punish and upclose, EXroll will stop his pressure. Expunchwalk can be jumped over on knockdown or otherwise and without meter, he's about as helpless as Quan is. Force him to use his meter and you'll find yourself having a significantly easier time. Even with meter, he DOES run out eventually and fairly quickly and then its your turn.
Sonya, also its just guessing the 50/50, but you can zone her out AND whiff punish her or punish her on block. She also can't wakeup and needs to play cautiously against b12. Her b2 (I think, the overhead starter) CAN be reacted upon with EXroll for a full combo so keep her on her toes with this and she won't be nearly as hasty as she usually is. Her energy blast is practically useless since low sai not only traders but causes it to go right over us.
With Kano, I feel that Piercing makes it even since it becomes a footsie war. Cybernetic is the more problematic once simply because his projectiles are mids and can be used as plus frames. Roll goes under them though. In terms of damage, they're both dead even as well as with the oki. So long as he has a bar, which he will ONLY really have at most in a lot of situations, we have to respect the upball, but this also means you can bait it out. Even if blocked and there's no punish, Kano with no meter has very few threats and on knockdown, must guess like everyone else and take the pressure.
Kobu Tanya is just retarded and deserves to get nerfed to INJ Scorpion status. The gaps can be EXrolled and we can punish everything that is punishable on block with b12 or roll, but she's just a walking 50/50 with no thought process. She doesn't even need rekkas, she can just use her normals. Ethereal is a better choice for the fact that it will evade Tanyas armor breaking rekka, but you HAVE to play keep away as much as possible. With Piercing you have to mix in the two since lowsais go under tonfas and upclose, Tanya can't wakeup either.
