List of the best zoners in the game?

[Salad Petresky]

Did you know he has an Instant Air Fire Ball that's ridiculous like Kabal's? You don't need to do low fireball when you with in jump distance, that when you use his IAF. Its probably hard to imagine unless you actually see someone use his zoning to the fullest potential. Against characters who have IAF he beats them with his low fireball and against the others, he uses his IAF.

i can see how liu can zone pretty well, but kabal could have 2 gas blast on the screen while liu on can have 1 (liu is a bit slower). Kabal low projectile also knocks down though. And kabal can combo off of his iagb

 

[Enenra]

Kabal
Noob Saibot
Kenshi
Liu Kang

 

[Big Pampering]

Did you know he has an Instant Air Fire Ball that's ridiculous like Kabal's? You don't need to do low fireball when you with in jump distance, that when you use his IAF. Its probably hard to imagine unless you actually see someone use his zoning to the fullest potential. Against characters who have IAF he beats them with his low fireball and against the others, he uses his IAF.

yes but the instant air fireball is nowhere near the speed of kabals, kitana or mileenas for example. I do agree he can zone pretty well. but overall there are a lot of better zoners than him imo

 

[arydious]

idk about you guys, but kenshi is a BITCH to fight. lol

I agree i think that the damn shoulder should be toned down a little bit, it seems like he can throw that shit to damn quick, back to back

 

[GuamoKun]

yes but the instant air fireball is nowhere near the speed of kabals, kitana or mileenas for example. I do agree he can zone pretty well. but overall there are a lot of better zoners than him imo

...just fight against Shoryuken's Liu Kang...I for one can say that his zoning is better than Kitana's, but not as good as Kabal's.

Kitana has no low hitting projectile so you can just duck under it, but can be comboed into in certain situations.
Liu Kang has a low fireball, and an IAF is harder to combo after it though, and his ex fireballs but opponent in a stagger state
Kabal, has both a low projectile, his IAGB is very quick when done right, and can easily combo off of it.

 

[EGP_Shoryuken]

i can see how liu can zone pretty well, but kabal could have 2 gas blast on the screen while liu on can have 1 (liu is a bit slower). Kabal low projectile also knocks down though. And kabal can combo off of his iagb

Alright... last time I answer this cuz I already explained, but I'll go into a little more detail this time. Your not trying to trade IAF with Kitana or Kabal cuz they win that trade. When they do IAF, you do low fireball, they land on the low fire and they get knocked down, after they get knocked down that's when you start your IAF's. Assuming the Liu Kang player is good @ doing his IAF's, that will leave Kabal or Kitana no choice but to come in. If Kabal or Kitana try to do their IAF after Liu starts his IAF, they both lose. If Kabal tries to throws saw blades, Liu gets 1 guaranteed IAF fireball and 1 blocked IAF 1 and the saw blades don't hit Liu cuz he goes right over them. I've played some of the best Kabal's and Kitana's and they don't ever out zone me cuz they can't, they win by rushing and Liu has frame traps also.

Edit: Lui Kang blows up some of the best zoners in the game when it comes to fireball wars, but doesn't get a whole lot off his fireballs, they just keep you in check. The reason I think he's the 2nd best zoner is because, he out zones some of the most dangerous zoners and zones well against the not so aggressive zoners and rush characters.

 

[Tolkeen]

I agree i think that the damn shoulder should be toned down a little bit, it seems like he can throw that shit to damn quick, back to back

That's because you're online. If you're offline, you SHOULD be able to punish a blocked SC with a smoke bomb at least. If you're online, you SHOULD be able to jump in on him right over the second one. Or if you're smoke, jump to bait one, then teleport punish.

*Lag permitting.

 

[M2Dave]

Alright... last time I answer this cuz I already explained, but I'll go into a little more detail this time. Your not trying to trade IAF with Kitana or Kabal cuz they win that trade. When they do IAF, you do low fireball, they land on the low fire and they get knocked down, after they get knocked down that's when you start your IAF's. Assuming the Liu Kang player is good @ doing his IAF's, that will leave Kabal or Kitana no choice but to come in. If Kabal or Kitana try to do their IAF after Liu starts his IAF, they both lose. If Kabal tries to throws saw blades, Liu gets 1 guaranteed IAF fireball and 1 blocked IAF 1 and the saw blades don't hit Liu cuz he goes right over them. I've played some of the best Kabal's and Kitana's and they don't ever out zone me cuz they can't, they win by rushing and Liu has frame traps also.

Edit: Lui Kang blows up some of the best zoners in the game when it comes to fireball wars, but doesn't get a whole lot off his fireballs, they just keep you in check. The reason I think he's the 2nd best zoner is because, he out zones some of the most dangerous zoners and zones well against the not so aggressive zoners and rush characters.

You bring up valid points. Liu Kang does force Kabal and Kitana to approach him, but that does not make him the second best overall zoning character in the game. Kabal is still the superior zoning character overall, and comparing Liu Kang's iaFB to Kabal's iaGB is a little bit silly. No aerial fireball matches the speed and recovery of Kabal's iaGB. Also, Liu Kang will not win a zoning battle vs Freddy, Noob, Kenshi, and Sindel. The Noob match up is especially difficult for Liu Kang.

 

[EGP_Shoryuken]

You bring up valid points. Liu Kang does force Kabal and Kitana to approach him, but that does not make him the second best overall zoning character in the game. Kabal is still the superior zoning character overall, and comparing Liu Kang's iaFB to Kabal's iaGB is a little bit silly. No aerial fireball matches the speed and recovery of Kabal's iaGB. Also, Liu Kang will not win a zoning battle vs Freddy, Noob, Kenshi, and Sindel. The Noob match up is especially difficult for Liu Kang.

No can really zone Liu, remember he has an EN Dragon Kick that allows him to get in and knock down any opponent who is out zoning him. After a knock down Liu can start his IAF against all zoners with the exception of 2. Once he starts his IAF and does them correctly, none of the characters can even throw out a projectile without them eating a fireball, unless they do a long range fast armored move. Only Sindel and Noob can restart the zoning again and win it. Both of those characters knock down Liu in a trade and their projectiles are too fast, so Liu gets knocked down and they continue to zone him. I haven't tested Kenshi %100, but I think if Liu starts his IAF's Kenshi might not be able to do a special without getting knocked out of it.
When it comes to Freddy, he gets knocked out of his glove when he starts the animation but no glove comes out. He can do a low glove but it works like kabal's saw blades and they go right under Liu and he can continue to do IAF's. What I'm not sure of is that Freddy's EN Claw might have enough reach to hit Liu, since Lui's feet barley leave the ground.

 

[Scoot Magee]

What about stryker? Gun forces people to crouch and is extremely fast, bombs are great at far range and do really good chip damage, he has great anti airs and anti zone tools which help check opponents projectiles and get his projectiles on screen. I'm sure he can have a tough time against some of the cast but the character has not really been explored much as far as I know. He is primarily a zoning character. What do you guys think?

 

[xenogorgeous]

What about stryker? Gun forces people to crouch and is extremely fast, bombs are great at far range and do really good chip damage, he has great anti airs and anti zone tools which help get his projectiles on screen. I'm sure he can have a tough time against some of the cast but the character has not really been explored much as far as I know. He is primarily a zoning character. What do you guys think?

good point, the buffs Stryker gained, overall, improved a lot his gameplay, and, he is good, his back 3,2 string is a great weapon, he has the fastest projectile in the game, and his roll is annoying, hard to predict if well used ......... and he is very unexplored so far, I think despite his popularity being low, Stryker, as character, has some very interesting weapons in this game.

 

[Hitoshura]

I'm surprised no one said Stryker. With fast gun cancels, air control grenades, an anti air roundhouse that's probably the best anti air normal in the game and a super awesome anti zoning roll toss he can be a pretty formidable zoning character. Poor under used bastard always gets forgotten.

u can duck underneath all of strikers projectiles. Even his grenades......yeah lol

 

[Mr. Mileena]

No can really zone Liu, remember he has an EN Dragon Kick that allows him to get in and knock down any opponent who is out zoning him. After a knock down Liu can start his IAF against all zoners with the exception of 2. Once he starts his IAF and does them correctly, none of the characters can even throw out a projectile without them eating a fireball, unless they do a long range fast armored move. Only Sindel and Noob can restart the zoning again and win it. Both of those characters knock down Liu in a trade and their projectiles are too fast, so Liu gets knocked down and they continue to zone him. I haven't tested Kenshi %100, but I think if Liu starts his IAF's Kenshi might not be able to do a special without getting knocked out of it.
When it comes to Freddy, he gets knocked out of his glove when he starts the animation but no glove comes out. He can do a low glove but it works like kabal's saw blades and they go right under Liu and he can continue to do IAF's. What I'm not sure of is that Freddy's EN Claw might have enough reach to hit Liu, since Lui's feet barley leave the ground.

Mileena shut downs lui

 

[EGP_Shoryuken]

The problem with Stryker is that he loses the zoning with characters that have a low fireball or characters who have fast IAF's. Once a character with a fast IAF's get the upper hand, his gun animation is too slow and he never even gets a chance to pop of a round, then he's forced to come in and try and roll under the IAF's. Its the same with sub and a lot of other characters with slow start up on projectiles.

 

[Big Pampering]

No can really zone Liu, remember he has an EN Dragon Kick that allows him to get in and knock down any opponent who is out zoning him. After a knock down Liu can start his IAF against all zoners with the exception of 2. Once he starts his IAF and does them correctly, none of the characters can even throw out a projectile without them eating a fireball, unless they do a long range fast armored move. Only Sindel and Noob can restart the zoning again and win it. Both of those characters knock down Liu in a trade and their projectiles are too fast, so Liu gets knocked down and they continue to zone him. I haven't tested Kenshi %100, but I think if Liu starts his IAF's Kenshi might not be able to do a special without getting knocked out of it.
When it comes to Freddy, he gets knocked out of his glove when he starts the animation but no glove comes out. He can do a low glove but it works like kabal's saw blades and they go right under Liu and he can continue to do IAF's. What I'm not sure of is that Freddy's EN Claw might have enough reach to hit Liu, since Lui's feet barley leave the ground.

why do subzero players always also play liu kang lol. look at denzel and marvaz

 

[xenogorgeous]

Problem with Liu Kang, is that some players rely "too much"in his rushdown fierce tiger string , I mean, some players explore a lot Liu in face to face battles, but, underuse his projectiles tools. So, if you can keep Liu outside the distance to connect the Fierce Tiger loop sequence, you zone him and maybe some Liu players can feel very uncomfortable during the projectile battle, losing it

 

[EGP_Shoryuken]

Mileena shut downs lui

Mileena shuts down all characters who try and spam out IAF's. Her telekick and roll I think are the 2 best anti zoning tools in the game imo. I haven't seen anyone use her tools on reaction to fireballs and zoners but maybe Pig. I think Mileena is the best zoner because she can counter all zoners with either of he specials and when she wants she can do her IAS's to zone most characters.

 

[Armageddon]

Mileena
Freddy
Kabal
Kenshi

Just my opinion.

 

[Sage Leviathan]

why do subzero players always also play liu kang lol. look at denzel and marvaz

IF YOU AINT GOT NO MONEY TAKE YO BROKE ASS HOME

 

[M2Dave]

No can really zone Liu, remember he has an EN Dragon Kick that allows him to get in and knock down any opponent who is out zoning him. After a knock down Liu can start his IAF against all zoners with the exception of 2. Once he starts his IAF and does them correctly, none of the characters can even throw out a projectile without them eating a fireball, unless they do a long range fast armored move. Only Sindel and Noob can restart the zoning again and win it. Both of those characters knock down Liu in a trade and their projectiles are too fast, so Liu gets knocked down and they continue to zone him. I haven't tested Kenshi %100, but I think if Liu starts his IAF's Kenshi might not be able to do a special without getting knocked out of it.
When it comes to Freddy, he gets knocked out of his glove when he starts the animation but no glove comes out. He can do a low glove but it works like kabal's saw blades and they go right under Liu and he can continue to do IAF's. What I'm not sure of is that Freddy's EN Claw might have enough reach to hit Liu, since Lui's feet barley leave the ground.

You bring up valid points yet again, so I will only address aspects of your post that are questionable.

- At a high level, EX dragon kick is a waste of meter under most cirumstances. With Noob, for example, unless I am about to lose, why do I care about EX dragon kicks? Yes, they knock down, but they do not put Liu Kang at an advantageous situation. The same is true for any full screen armor attack. The primary exception is Kabal's EX dash for very obvious reasons.

- Kenshi can reflect an iaFB. Of course, you can bait the reflect by doing an iaFB just above his head. While Kenshi's full screen zoning is not very good, I am sure that Liu Kang would be better off playing a rush down game in this match up.

- Liu Kang has to approach Freddy. Have you ever played against a competent Freddy opponent? Regular and EX ground spikes crouch underneath any aerial fireball, including several standing ones. Only the very best anti-zoning characters like Smoke and Mileena shut down Freddy's zoning game. Unless you have a substantial life lead, you will certainly lose the fireball game vs Freddy. I have played Master D.'s and REO's Liu Kang, so I am very familiar with this match up as a Freddy player.

 

[Tolkeen]

- Kenshi can reflect an iaFB. Of course, you can bait the reflect by doing an iaFB just above his head. While Kenshi's full screen zoning is not very good, I am sure that Liu Kang would be better off playing a rush down game in this match up.

I'm not so sure about this but I may be mistaken. Since Kenshi is a strong zoner, and he has one of the best "get off me" moves in the game, wouldn't it make it easy for Kenshi to get a significant life lead, if Liu Kang is trying to maneuver the wall of projectiles?

 

[EGP_Shoryuken]

Your points are right about Noob that's why repeatedly mentioned that Noob wins the zoning in that match. The EN Kick in that match is used to get closer to Noob rather than eating a few clones or a teleport from full screen while jumping in. I much rather do an EN Kick on reaction to a clone than lose a portion of my like trying to get in. With Noob its all about using some fireballs to punish upshadow and try to jump over clones for full combo when you in jip distance. Meter in that match up is much better used for EN moves rather than breakers since Noobs damage doesn't really come from combos.

Liu can go back and forth with kenshi when it comes to zoning as long as Liu stays just outside spirit charge distance. This allows him to do IAF's then low fireball and if Kenshi reflects the IAF, he has to block the low one. His reflect doesn't recover in time to reflect the low one, So basically you do high low high low. The only thing that gets Liu in that situation is a EN Spirit Charge but if Kenshi had no meter Liu is going to get chip damage and build alot of meter. But in the end Liu is forced to come in but can get some decent damage while doing so.

As far as the Freddy match up goes, I know Liu can stop him from spamming mid screen glove, but I'm not sure how the ground spikes play out in that match, since I haven played a really good Freddy yet.

 

[Dann]

my list
1. Kabal- obvious reasons.
2. mileena
3.freddy- most retarded fighting style in the game. Four different f**king projectiles/zoning tools and a random teleport move. That move happens to be just as good as smoke's smoke towards and away. Not to mention he has high damage potential. they should have made it so his damage output was as bad as noobs because he is purely a zoning character. in conclusion when it comes to pure zoning freddy with a random teleport move, 4 GOOD projectiles/zoning tools is the best Zoner in the game.
4. Kenshi
5. kitana
6. Jax- perhaps the only weird pick on my list. Jax's projectile has great recovery and the ground and pounds can be canceled into the projectile and the bionic arm. If Jax's gets a life lead it becomes a viable option and if he is loosing the zoning battle he can just ex punch through whatever is being thrown at him. if you get a life lead, there is a few characters that you can be content with just throwing out special moves and zoning for a while.

its also good to note the best anti zoning characters. what they do is sorta like zoning but is not really zoning. They do what i like to call whiff punishing.
1. Smoke
2. Raiden
3. sektor/ sindel- those projectiles are pretty fast. idk where to put them on my list. when you talk about zoning there both worth mentioning

 

[Name v.5.0]

u can duck underneath all of strikers projectiles. Even his grenades......yeah lol

Yeah, but he can hold his shots and wait for you to get up. Being able to duck a projectile doesn't mean a character sucks at zoning. You can duck iaGB, and iaFans.

Dont get me wrong, Stryker isn't the best character, but his zoning abilities should have him somehwere in the middle of the 12 or so zoning characters.



After giving it some thought, here are my top 5 in order:

Kabal
Freddy
Kenshi
Kitana
Noob

 

[Big Pampering]

IF YOU AINT GOT NO MONEY TAKE YO BROKE ASS HOME

keep quite