What's new

Just how unsafe is Scorpion?

Thinking about picking Scorpion up just because I’m a fan of his style this game and like his normals in neutral. My question is how unsafe/punishable is he really? I’ve heard everything he does is basically unsafe which has me concerned but is it that he’s unsafe on everything or is it one of those things where if you space your normals properly it’s safe due to pushback (coming from Street Fighter, Nash in SFV was very much like this, seemingly everything he did was very unsafe up close but if you space properly and catch the opponent at the end of your normals they really couldn’t punish you). That being said what is the general game plan for this character and how should you play him? Thinking about using his second variation.
 

HAMMER

Noob
Based off of the three MK games previously:

Ed Boon has made his favorite Scorpion like this:

  1. Simple to use.
  2. Viable.
  3. In the middle when it comes to extremes.
He can't be unsafe on everything, that just isn't the case for any of the characters in Mortal Kombat games for MK9-MKX-MK11.

He's more of a character that shows the reflection of the player skill over the character itself.
 
B1,4,3 is normally a safe string on block.
However if you flawless block b1 the rest of the string will not come out. B1 on block is -14 with no pushback and scorpion is now full combo punishable.
 

DrFolmer

AKA Uncle Kano
His negative strings mostly has a lot of push back which actually just puts you in a good position to use your GODLIKE shimmy tools. Scorpion is as safe as you want him to be. He's not top tier because he has a teleport. He's top tier because of his crazy good footsies
 

LawAbidingCitizen

Bomb Setups & Ball Rolls(Mileena/Cyrax)
Thinking about picking Scorpion up just because I’m a fan of his style this game and like his normals in neutral. My question is how unsafe/punishable is he really? I’ve heard everything he does is basically unsafe which has me concerned but is it that he’s unsafe on everything or is it one of those things where if you space your normals properly it’s safe due to pushback
He is very safe when spaced properly. He has mad range with the chain spin which is unsafe but some Characters can't punish that far, on top of it his long range moves allow him enough time to teleport punish on reaction if spaced correctly.
His mixups have mad range and all if them can be made safe with an additional button.
For example:
B14(high-Low) is unsafe but B143 is safe.
F42(Low-Overhead) is unsafe but add F423 safe but both have flawless block gap on last hit. But it's a mind game and they have to guess number of hits.
Good pokes but not the best up close but not the worst.
All of his normals are hit confirmable so there is that. No yolo teleports.
He can't be kept in corner (Teleport) and can punish opponents punish on thier turn when spaced properly.
One if the best mid to long range characters.
 

EMPRESS_SunFire

Regina George of discord
B1,4,3 is normally a safe string on block.
However if you flawless block b1 the rest of the string will not come out. B1 on block is -14 with no pushback and scorpion is now full combo punishable.
What!? Strings come out on block even if you flawless block the first hit, you just don’t take chip from it.
Even if that was possible... good luck flawless blocking a normal in the neutral game lol.
 

EMPRESS_SunFire

Regina George of discord
Don’t listen to some of these Scorpion players.
If somebody is using him right he is very safe actually.

B143 is safe and you can hitconfirm it into teleport. His low-overhead-mid thing is also safe. His 212 string can be staggered and is + on block at the end, f34 is probably the best stagger move in the game, combined with his throw looks he has amazing ways of opening people up.
His teleport by itself is punisheable but it has so much layers that it becomes ridiculous having to deal with EX tele, regular tele and teleport cancels. Even his over the top U3 wake up is safe :p
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
Don’t listen to some of these Scorpion players.
If somebody is using him right he is very safe actually.
No one said he’s unsafe. He was hella unsafe in the beta, that’s probably where OP heard it. The only things he has that are unsafe are his specials and the b1 being flawless blocked, b141, and strings that you don’t finish.
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
Yeah I first noticed it vs the AI, after they flawless blocked the b1 nothing else came out. So I tested it in training and yup, you can flawless block b1 and if you do, Scorpion cannot do anything. It’s not like it will happen very often, but I’ve had people do it to me but they didn’t know about it. So they didn’t punish.
 
Yeah I first noticed it vs the AI, after they flawless blocked the b1 nothing else came out. So I tested it in training and yup, you can flawless block b1 and if you do, Scorpion cannot do anything. It’s not like it will happen very often, but I’ve had people do it to me but they didn’t know about it. So they didn’t punish.
I figured it out when I went through Scorpion's strings with Flawless block AI to check the gaps. :)
I ran into few flawless blocks in few hundred matches but probably it was not intentional and punished either.

If somebody inentionally flawless block.a.14F move I will give him that punish with respect. :)

Btw if it matters I can confirm that Scorpion is safe enough and on the other hand he also can take risks for good reward if he wants.
 

Matix218

Get over here!
I figured it out when I went through Scorpion's strings with Flawless block AI to check the gaps. :)
I ran into few flawless blocks in few hundred matches but probably it was not intentional and punished either.

If somebody inentionally flawless block.a.14F move I will give him that punish with respect. :)

Btw if it matters I can confirm that Scorpion is safe enough and on the other hand he also can take risks for good reward if he wants.
Yeah i guess if someone flawless block punishes your b1 they earned that punish lol
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
Yeah i guess if someone flawless block punishes your b1 they earned that punish lol
It’s not as hard as you think. It’s not about doing it on reaction, it’s about doing it on a read. You can flawless block 6f moves, it’s all about predictions. D1 into D1 is pretty easy to flawless block if you practice doing it enough. Online though it’s nearly impossible to flawless block stuff unless it’s a string or jump in attack. Even though MK11 has good netcode, it’s still online.
 

EMPRESS_SunFire

Regina George of discord
It’s not as hard as you think. It’s not about doing it on reaction, it’s about doing it on a read. You can flawless block 6f moves, it’s all about predictions. D1 into D1 is pretty easy to flawless block if you practice doing it enough. Online though it’s nearly impossible to flawless block stuff unless it’s a string or jump in attack. Even though MK11 has good netcode, it’s still online.
Well, flawless blocking a poke is way easier cause you know when it’s coming mostly, and even then it’s a risk because well you could get hit by it.

Now flawless blocking a 14 frame advancing mid in neutral game where it could come out at any point is harder for sure and also riskier since you could be getting full combo punished by mistiming it.
 
Thinking about picking Scorpion up just because I’m a fan of his style this game and like his normals in neutral. My question is how unsafe/punishable is he really? I’ve heard everything he does is basically unsafe which has me concerned but is it that he’s unsafe on everything or is it one of those things where if you space your normals properly it’s safe due to pushback (coming from Street Fighter, Nash in SFV was very much like this, seemingly everything he did was very unsafe up close but if you space properly and catch the opponent at the end of your normals they really couldn’t punish you). That being said what is the general game plan for this character and how should you play him? Thinking about using his second variation.
He was very unsafe in the beta, but he’s pretty damn safe now.
 
I had a fucking Kung Lao on EU flawless block every one of my wake-up u3s. When people read you like that, flawless block become very scary.
Yes I have the feeling I need to lab flawless blocking wake up attacks. It is worth the effort and probably not too difficult as you already use oki timings (e.g. meaty attacks) or on read block or meaty jump in.

However the starting frame of the get up attacks varies too but maybe U3 not I did not check it (e.g. Scorpion's U2 is 13F while Erron Black's is 8-9 lol).
Scorpion's B1 is already good to stuff fair amount of U3 too... You just step back a bit and whiff punish it. Of course the opponent can see it coming better than the flawless block.
 

GLoRToR

Positive Poster!
Don’t listen to some of these Scorpion players.
If somebody is using him right he is very safe actually.

B143 is safe and you can hitconfirm it into teleport. His low-overhead-mid thing is also safe. His 212 string can be staggered and is + on block at the end, f34 is probably the best stagger move in the game, combined with his throw looks he has amazing ways of opening people up.
His teleport by itself is punisheable but it has so much layers that it becomes ridiculous having to deal with EX tele, regular tele and teleport cancels. Even his over the top U3 wake up is safe :p
^This.
 

kcd117

Noob
He is one of the safest characters in the game. Even his unsafe stuff can be a mindgame, teleport is basically a 50/50 for you to punish for example.

Imo he was pretty balanced in the beta without his misery blade. He paid the safety price for not letting anyone else play neutral, very good at whiff punishing for decent dmg everywhere in the screen.

Now he is just cheap, not much of a thinking man’s character. If you don’t like dealing with anyone’s neutral he is a great pick bc the threat of tele forces people to constantly block in neutral, second guess anti airs, take throws when they wouldn’t, get in the range of your normals for free, etc.
 
Omg how epic fail is this character's understanding.

However on that low level I agree with all of it.
It was the same in mkx as well so no surprise. In MKX it was even more scrub friendly with OH/LOW starters, take downs lol. Scorpion neees to be popular = scrub friendly.
But that does not mean it is ALL what Scorpion means.