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"Konvocação" - My hands-on impressions, in-game tests results and more

Poto2222

"Online is your forte!" - A Wise Man, 2015.
God. DAMN. What a day it was.

So I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the game super early and boy oh boy, it's hella different from what I expected. Not in a bad way, mind you, but holy shit, I was super lost on how to play. I've been playing lots of MKX these past few weeks so when I got my hands on that early build I was immediately overwhelmed by the lack of mobility options in the game.

It feels like everyone has MKX Johnny Cage air time when jumping and not being able to run or dash-block felt really weird (but this one was expected tbh). But the dashes. Oh boy the dashes. But it's all cool, it's a different game and we have to adapt, right? I'm sure we'll get used to it, just like we did back in 2015.

Anyways, yesterday I asked for a few suggestions on what I should test in that build, so here's a (very short) list of my findings! Keep in mind that the version we played is the same one used for the LA and London events, so there wasn't anything new per se. Some of these might be old news for some (many?) but eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just trying to help.

- Dashing IS the fastest way around, at least for Skarlet (didn't test this with other characters, but I'm pretty sure it'd be the same). I saw some people wondering whether simply walking would be a faster option to get from full screen to touching-distance from the opponent or not so here it is.

- Breakaways have superarmor. I wanted to know if you could break its armor by hitting the opponent twice on the way down before they hit the ground but nope, fully armored.

- Delayed wakeup is still a thing. I'm just no sure if you can do Getup actions afterwards, so this makes this test basically irrelevant. lol sorry

- Flawless blocks are NOT as lenient as I was expecting. Many people mentioned that it has a 3-frame window so that sounds kinda forgiving, right? Noperino, they didn't come as easy as I anticipated. Or maybe I just suck, I dunno. Think of DMC Royal Guard but against human opponents instead of AI, that's the kind of shit we'll have to get good at.

- Standing normals as anti-airs are still viable. God it felt good to AA fools with Sonya's 1, even though I had no idea what combo to do afterwards. lol Other players were using Scorpion's 4 just like his MKX standing 3 to anti-air and that felt super satisfying to watch!

- Hitting someone out of a backdash counts as a Kounter. I thought they were going to remove this from this iteration because now they're not invincible on startup, but it's still there. The more I think about backdashes, the more useless they seem. I hope I'm wrong.

- There is a 'Fatal Blow Damage Boost: ON/OFF' setting in the Tournament tab (Options Menu). I never heard of this before and I obviously couldn't test it since Tournament mode wasn't available in that build. Does that mean Fatal Blows should do less damage in a competitive environment? Super weird option.

I know this isn't a lot, but I hope these answer some questions.

I wanted to get more time with the game but I was kinda busy with commentating! Holy shit, I was the very first person to commentate MK11 matches here in Brazil and I'm super proud of it!! It was super fun! Shoutouts to my boys at Kombat Klub and WB Games Brasil for this amazing opportunity, and an even more special shoutout to @Buiu for letting me commentate alongside him! Fucking honor, dude.
It was kinda weird having to commentate directly from the main stage and all (like WTF even), but hey, I still had a blast. lol


Speaking of commentated matches, the ones of you who watched some of those sets might be wondering why the matches were so freaking bad or even if those players have ever played a Mortal Kombat game once in their lives before.

So here's your answer.

The main stage setup was SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER laggy. I'm talking about ONE AND A HALF SECOND of delay. I'm not even exaggerating, it was freaking terrible. Ask @Killer Xinok. Shit was bad. lol

I swear our players are better than that! lmao And to prove that, check Kombat Klub's youtube channel for some sets in an actual playable setup. (I'm pretty sure Xinok is going to post some matches in his youtube channel too, so you can keep an eye out for that)

And since we're already here, here's a small set featuring yours truly against GuiEXEptional, one of SouthAmerica's finest Scorpions in MKX.


Yes, I know, I kept insisting on doing the same combo over and over even though Sonya's b123 is clearly punishable on block, but c'mon I only had a few hours with the game, pls don't hate me lol


All in all, amazing event through and through. The staff was amazing, the venue was amazing, the game was amazing and Sonya was amazing (as hard as it is to admit it haha). I miss it already, goddammit.
 
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Flawless blocks are NOT as lenient as I was expecting. Many people mentioned that it has a 3-frame window so that sounds kinda forgiving, right? Noperino, they didn't come as easy as I anticipated. Or maybe I just suck, I dunno. Think of DMC Royal Guard but against human opponents instead of AI, that's the kind of shit we'll have to get good at.
How do you flawless block a string? At the LA Event, 16bit said if you flawless block the first hit, then you just hold the block button and it automatically flawless blocked the rest of the string or something but I wasn't really sure if that sounded right...
 

Poto2222

"Online is your forte!" - A Wise Man, 2015.
@STB Sgt Reed @MadPropz101 I couldn't record anything so I have no Raiden footage to show, but I did test him for a few minutes, I'll give my impressions later in his subforum if you're still interested. =(

@STRYKIE No new k.blows or brutalities were found.

@SaltShaker The k.blows requirements weren't mentioned anywhere in the characters' movelists, so I guess we'll have to find them out, just like secret brutalities. And backdashes can't be canceled at all.

@ChatterBox Forgot to test short hops against D4 and other pokes, sorry. =(

@Scott The Scot Turns out I suck at F.Blocking, and didn't have an opportunity to test them against wakeups.

How do you flawless block a string? At the LA Event, 16bit said if you flawless block the first hit, then you just hold the block button and it automatically flawless blocked the rest of the string or something but I wasn't really sure if that sounded right...
I'm pretty sure you just have to hold it. I'll check with the other players that were also there and give you a more concrete answer later, ok?
 

Circus

Part-Time Kano Hostage
By any chance did you get any footage of Geras' poke frame data? Did someone scroll through Geras' pokes at any point?
 

kcd117

Noob
By any chance did you get any footage of Geras' poke frame data? Did someone scroll through Geras' pokes at any point?
Character is a beast. His normals are godlike. Way better than I was expecting at first. His d1 is 6 startup and -3 on block, his d3 is 9 frames but is super trash and his d4 is 12 frames and has ultra good range both horizontally and vertically (I was pretty shocked at how good it was anti airing people lol). All his pokes ticked into his mid grab.

Now talking about why he was so good, his eleventh hour variarion had the sand simulacrum move that gives him the power to create a clone of himself that you can teleport to or blow up (for a sweet sweet +12) and it stays active for a very long time, basically a darkseid minion that doesn’t go away when you get hit. He is not a character with huge combos, his best dmg out of the corner was f212 into low trap for 22% and f212 does like 15% by itself, so what I was doing was hit the f212 into sand simulacrum on top of the other person and the I had enough time to dash up, and from there It was a guess. After the dash up I was in the range of his f1 shoulder charge, so I could cancel f1 into explosion and go for his mix (which I’ll explain down the line) or convert and take them to the corner if they tried to move. I could also bait a wakeup and explode the clone and convert, or keep the pressure if they didn’t wakeup. Both rolls would get you “out” of the setup on some but when I thought they were going to roll out of it I was doing two things: wait and push them into the clone again with another f212 pressure loop or teleport into the clone and keep my pressure anyway. With time people will learn ways arround it but boy this shit felt strong.

My favorite thing about him was his f2 string. It was the best normal I saw in the game hands down. It is a 12 frame startup advancing mid at -2 that can go into an unsafe low (with a gap but not big enough to poke) for 19% in f22 1+3 or can lead to the f212 launcher also at -2. The beauty here is that f2 db2 was safe and his f2 ticks into his bf2 command throw. So once he hits you with the f2 you have to guess between a delayed low, a tick throw, a canceled special or the rest of the string. This was extremely strong in the corner, he felt like the only character to actually have a corner blender lol.

Oh, I almost forgot, his spare time move is really cool and it seemed pretty legit in some matchups lol.

I’m actually extremely sad I won’t be able to play this big boy again until the beta is live.
 

kcd117

Noob
One small thing I noticed too: female/big boy hitboxes are back. Geras db2 whiffs on sonya if you cancel it from a f2 on hit and when I was playing Geras vs Geras I noticed he could only convert some of his stuff against himself.
 

Metin

Ermac & Smoke Main
- There is a 'Fatal Blow Damage Boost: ON/OFF' setting in the Tournament tab (Options Menu). I never heard of this before and I obviously couldn't test it since Tournament mode wasn't available in that build. Does that mean Fatal Blows should do less damage in a competitive environment? Super weird option.
Why the hell are they bothering us with the fatal blow introduce at the first place. Big new, big new... so, say bye bye to the supers again..
 

Jhonnykiller45

Shirai Ryu
Why the hell are they bothering us with the fatal blow introduce at the first place. Big new, big new... so, say bye bye to the supers again..
What are you saying? Fatal Blows are going to be used no matter what since they're not tied to any other resources.

@Poto2222 Fatal Blow damage boost is probably the same thing as the Injustice 2 Supermove damage increase, where you could press the attack button during each hit of the Super's animations to increase or decrease (if you were receiving it) its damage.
 

Eddy Wang

Skarlet scientist
Oi poto, muito obrigado pelos testes, faz tempo que não visito Kombat Klub definitivamente terei que voltar, dá um abraço a malta aew em especial ao KilerXinok.

- Dashing IS the fastest way around, at least for Skarlet (didn't test this with other characters, but I'm pretty sure it'd be the same). I saw some people wondering whether simply walking would be a faster option to get from full screen to touching-distance from the opponent or not so here it is.



We Have the best walkspeed in the game, the best range and now confirmed the best dash, we're set boys, we top tier again. #SkarletMainsRejoice.
:DOGE


- Flawless blocks are NOT as lenient as I was expecting. Many people mentioned that it has a 3-frame window so that sounds kinda forgiving, right? Noperino, they didn't come as easy as I anticipated. Or maybe I just suck, I dunno. Think of DMC Royal Guard but against human opponents instead of AI, that's the kind of shit we'll have to get good at.
Jin's parry in Tekken are 3f startup, so the lenience should be the same for anyone who mained Jin, played Guilty Gear or Samurai Shodown 2 or played my Mugen MK game which has flawless block.
Follow my lead guys.
:DOGE
 

Circus

Part-Time Kano Hostage
Character is a beast. His normals are godlike. Way better than I was expecting at first. His d1 is 6 startup and -3 on block, his d3 is 9 frames but is super trash and his d4 is 12 frames and has ultra good range both horizontally and vertically (I was pretty shocked at how good it was anti airing people lol). All his pokes ticked into his mid grab.

Now talking about why he was so good, his eleventh hour variarion had the sand simulacrum move that gives him the power to create a clone of himself that you can teleport to or blow up (for a sweet sweet +12) and it stays active for a very long time, basically a darkseid minion that doesn’t go away when you get hit. He is not a character with huge combos, his best dmg out of the corner was f212 into low trap for 22% and f212 does like 15% by itself, so what I was doing was hit the f212 into sand simulacrum on top of the other person and the I had enough time to dash up, and from there It was a guess. After the dash up I was in the range of his f1 shoulder charge, so I could cancel f1 into explosion and go for his mix (which I’ll explain down the line) or convert and take them to the corner if they tried to move. I could also bait a wakeup and explode the clone and convert, or keep the pressure if they didn’t wakeup. Both rolls would get you “out” of the setup on some but when I thought they were going to roll out of it I was doing two things: wait and push them into the clone again with another f212 pressure loop or teleport into the clone and keep my pressure anyway. With time people will learn ways arround it but boy this shit felt strong.

My favorite thing about him was his f2 string. It was the best normal I saw in the game hands down. It is a 12 frame startup advancing mid at -2 that can go into an unsafe low (with a gap but not big enough to poke) for 19% in f22 1+3 or can lead to the f212 launcher also at -2. The beauty here is that f2 db2 was safe and his f2 ticks into his bf2 command throw. So once he hits you with the f2 you have to guess between a delayed low, a tick throw, a canceled special or the rest of the string. This was extremely strong in the corner, he felt like the only character to actually have a corner blender lol.

Oh, I almost forgot, his spare time move is really cool and it seemed pretty legit in some matchups lol.

I’m actually extremely sad I won’t be able to play this big boy again until the beta is live.
Thank you so much! I've been starving for this kind of info!
 

Poto2222

"Online is your forte!" - A Wise Man, 2015.
Fatal Blow damage boost is probably the same thing as the Injustice 2 Supermove damage increase, where you could press the attack button during each hit of the Super's animations to increase or decrease (if you were receiving it) its damage.
Ooooooohhhhhh, I completely forgot that was a thing in Injustice 2. Damn, I should've tested it during Fatal Blows!

Oi poto, muito obrigado pelos testes, faz tempo que não visito Kombat Klub definitivamente terei que voltar, dá um abraço a malta aew em especial ao KilerXinok.
Pode deixar! Esse ano teremos muita coisa no KombatKlub, então apareça por lá! :)


Btw holy shit @HellblazerHawkman thanks lol
 

DixieFlatline78

Everyone Has A Path
Skarlet seems to have some incredibly strong zoning. The tongue knocking full screen and being mid seems like it'll be really frustrating and obnoxious to get hit by. Not that I'm complaining tho. It's like a V-Skill Boom
 

kcd117

Noob
the opinions re dashes in this game appear to be a growing consensus. Don't think I've heard anyone who likes the dash mechanic in the current build
Some dashs felt like they needed a little help distance wise, most didn’t. None of the dashes felt like they needed to be faster tho imho, it was all about the distance they travel. I had absolutely zero problems with movement the way it is when I was playing Geras (the slowest character in the build) so to be very honest I don’t think the movement is a bad, I just think it is gonna take a while for people to get used to it after being spoiled by the MKX-ish standard.
 

Circus

Part-Time Kano Hostage
Character is a beast. His normals are godlike. Way better than I was expecting at first. His d1 is 6 startup and -3 on block, his d3 is 9 frames but is super trash and his d4 is 12 frames and has ultra good range both horizontally and vertically (I was pretty shocked at how good it was anti airing people lol). All his pokes ticked into his mid grab.

Now talking about why he was so good, his eleventh hour variarion had the sand simulacrum move that gives him the power to create a clone of himself that you can teleport to or blow up (for a sweet sweet +12) and it stays active for a very long time, basically a darkseid minion that doesn’t go away when you get hit. He is not a character with huge combos, his best dmg out of the corner was f212 into low trap for 22% and f212 does like 15% by itself, so what I was doing was hit the f212 into sand simulacrum on top of the other person and the I had enough time to dash up, and from there It was a guess. After the dash up I was in the range of his f1 shoulder charge, so I could cancel f1 into explosion and go for his mix (which I’ll explain down the line) or convert and take them to the corner if they tried to move. I could also bait a wakeup and explode the clone and convert, or keep the pressure if they didn’t wakeup. Both rolls would get you “out” of the setup on some but when I thought they were going to roll out of it I was doing two things: wait and push them into the clone again with another f212 pressure loop or teleport into the clone and keep my pressure anyway. With time people will learn ways arround it but boy this shit felt strong.

My favorite thing about him was his f2 string. It was the best normal I saw in the game hands down. It is a 12 frame startup advancing mid at -2 that can go into an unsafe low (with a gap but not big enough to poke) for 19% in f22 1+3 or can lead to the f212 launcher also at -2. The beauty here is that f2 db2 was safe and his f2 ticks into his bf2 command throw. So once he hits you with the f2 you have to guess between a delayed low, a tick throw, a canceled special or the rest of the string. This was extremely strong in the corner, he felt like the only character to actually have a corner blender lol.

Oh, I almost forgot, his spare time move is really cool and it seemed pretty legit in some matchups lol.

I’m actually extremely sad I won’t be able to play this big boy again until the beta is live.
I've been really dissecting everything you've wrote about Geras. Compared to other character's pokes speeds, he's a BEAST. Again, THANK YOU for this. I've theory crafted a ton of strategies with him already but this additional info just confirms that this is absolutely a character I'll use. Any kind of info like this is golden, especially for a character like Geras who many people are ignoring.

Now I'm just super curious to know the startup speed and disadvantage on block for F4 (flying knee), B2 (Sledgehammer), and F1 (Shoulder Tackle).

One quick thing too. You're saying that F2xxSandTrap is safe? I thought Sand Trap was super punishable up close? Am I misunderstanding something?