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Question - Smoke Where does smoke rank compared to the other variations?

KombatJames

For the lin kuei!
Hey guys I know we are early in kp2, but I want some feedback from you guys regarding smoke. As a smoke main there is a couple things about the character that really been bothering me especially online. First off, his b1 combo into sb does not combo consistently unless you ex the sb. Secondly, his S4 whiffs more than half the time when you try to cancel into his spear on a airborne opponent. Lastly he doesn't have any armored reversals. He is a really fun character to play, but sometimes it can get kinda rough online getting rushed down. Where does he rank compared to the other tri-borg variations? I would love to hear your thoughts about the character, thanks
 
Sounds like your combos need a little re-configuring if s4 into spear is whiffing. In terms of where he ranks, though, I feel he is about on the level with Sektor. It still feels too soon judge with Cyrax, and I haven't labbed with CZ at all but everyone seems to think he's the best right now. So Smoke is probably about 3rd best, give or take one rank.
 
He's easily the worst of the four. Any of his + strings (1112,114,F214) can be armored so he HAS to stagger to try and read it and give up his plus frames. Any blocks string into SB/EXSB besides 3xEXSB can be armored,jumped or just outright full combo punished against the most of the cast. His is only wakeup can be punished by most of the cast if they don't over commit to something on his wakeup. He's absurdly meter dependant and does no damage unless you use your precious meter on EXTP which should be used on EXSB. The only redeeming thing about this character is the great normals that the rest of the borgs have anyway,and his vortex which requires meter to be true on most characters and can still be armored out if they block.

I still love him though.
 

KombatJames

For the lin kuei!
Sounds like your combos need a little re-configuring if s4 into spear is whiffing. In terms of where he ranks, though, I feel he is about on the level with Sektor. It still feels too soon judge with Cyrax, and I haven't labbed with CZ at all but everyone seems to think he's the best right now. So Smoke is probably about 3rd best, give or take one rank.
Its not the combo, its the timing. The timing has to be perfect. If u watch any smoke players on twitch or YouTube, that s4 would whiff at least 2 times during a match. Its not just me, its a known common issue.
 

KombatJames

For the lin kuei!
He's easily the worst of the four. Any of his + strings (1112,114,F214) can be armored so he HAS to stagger to try and read it and give up his plus frames. Any blocks string into SB/EXSB besides 3xEXSB can be armored,jumped or just outright full combo punished against the most of the cast. His is only wakeup can be punished by most of the cast if they don't over commit to something on his wakeup. He's absurdly meter dependant and does no damage unless you use your precious meter on EXTP which should be used on EXSB. The only redeeming thing about this character is the great normals that the rest of the borgs have anyway,and his vortex which requires meter to be true on most characters and can still be armored out if they block.

I still love him though.
I agree 100%. Smoke is my boy as well:)
 

Vigilante24

Beware my power, Red Lantern's Light
Smoke is slept on. In the right hands he is going to mop people. He has the potential to be the best or 2nd best variation imo.
 

Eddy Wang

Skarlet scientist
He is the only variation with a tekken stagger string mechanic, i'm still playing around with him to be honest, i don't think he sucks at all, i'm just no used to escape through gaps to whiff punish, since i've been mostly armoring through them.

He has gaps on his string to bait ppl to kill themselves.
 

Groove Heaven

Jobber-baron
Decent but honest vortex that does ~25% per rep

Great strings in b21 and f21

No real zoning

No armor and bad wakeup options

I think he's the worst or 2nd worst but I don't have the best eye for this kind of thing. I would love to get surprised.
 

Vigilante24

Beware my power, Red Lantern's Light
Guys Smoke is the only variation where he can use his 10f mid as a counterpoke and be completely safe with no gap, and one is a hitconfirmable meterless launcher.
 
Guys Smoke is the only variation where he can use his 10f mid as a counterpoke and be completely safe with no gap, and meterless launchers.
F43 has a gap and requires meter to convert,F4D1xSB has a huge reactable gap that can be full combo punished/armored,even if you do exSB,F2 gets low profiled by tons of pokes and as I said before,any string besides into SB or EXSB on block be armored or full combo punished by almost the whole cast.

And every variation has meterless launchers and better damage to go along with them except sektor meterless but he gets missile set ups to compensate.
 

KombatJames

For the lin kuei!
F43 has a gap and requires meter to convert,F4D1xSB has a huge reactable gap that can be full combo punished/armored,even if you do exSB,F2 gets low profiled by tons of pokes and as I said before,any string besides into SB or EXSB on block be armored or full combo punished by almost the whole cast.

And every variation has meterless launchers and better damage to go along with them except sektor meterless but he gets missile set ups to compensate.
Well said
 

Wigy

There it is...
His neutral is amazing if the opponent has crap armour -i play cyrax is a fuckkkknnng nightmare.

Cant really comment.

I'd say cyrax's neutral is pretty weak, his combos and setups are just filthy. So its a tossup on whos better. Bit early to call.

His teleport normal is an amaaazing whiff punisher, his NJP is very good, only comments i really have on him. My friend mains him, i'd say his ex shift is one of the best reversals there is lol. Giving my jc nightmares.
 

dwz_mk9

I could do this all day...
I wouldn't say smoke is the best, but he certainly isn't the worst either. Vortex is good, has good strings such as F2 1, B2 1, F4 D1, the best meter less anti-air in the game with S4, and phase which I think hasn't even discovered it's true potential yet. Some of wekanesses are lack of armor, poor neutral, and semi low damage. Overall though, I think he's solid. The only they really need to fix is the whiffing issues and B1 xx regular smoke bomb connect no matter what.
 

Vigilante24

Beware my power, Red Lantern's Light
Are you talking about his f43?
F43 has a gap and requires meter to convert,F4D1xSB has a huge reactable gap that can be full combo punished/armored,even if you do exSB,F2 gets low profiled by tons of pokes and as I said before,any string besides into SB or EXSB on block be armored or full combo punished by almost the whole cast.

And every variation has meterless launchers and better damage to go along with them except sektor meterless but he gets missile set ups to compensate.
No I was talking about F42 and F4D12. F42 is meterless launcher that is -5 with no gap. F4D1 is -3 and can be hitconfirmed into the last 2 for full combo. These are specific to Smoke.
 

KombatJames

For the lin kuei!
No I was talking about F42 and F4D12. F42 is meterless launcher that is -5 with no gap. F4D1 is -3 and can be hitconfirmed into the last 2 for full combo. These are specific to Smoke.
I just left the Lab, yes those strings are safe but you can't combo it into any special move.....