Who is below him in the tier right now lmao
Ascension
Seriously though, I recently played at a tournament and did better with Kat Kahn than Shao Kahn and I've played more Shao:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/465404798?t=02h29m09s
Could it be the MU or something else? Absolutely. But I think Totemic players will be pleasantly surprised with the number of MUs they can win now. And I plan to grind it to figure out exactly how many.
As for the blood totem question, I've posted this before, but I know there's a lot in this thread to go through, so here it is again:
Put out totem --> Hit the opponent --> Get life
Put out totem --> Hit the opponent --> Opponent hits you or you tech a grab --> Get no life
Put out totem --> Opponent hits you or you tech a throw --> Hit the opponent --> Get life
Put out totem --> Hit the opponent --> Opponent hits you --> Hit the opponent --> Get life off your hit after the opponent hit you not before
So, basically, it's like the old blood totem that stopped working after you got hit. But instead, it stays out, giving you another chance to get life from it without needing to resummon.
This also means that once you do get a hit, it's very important that you summon another totem to cash out the life you have gotten, because as soon as you get hit, it all goes away.
It sucks that teching a throw counts as a hit, but thankfully, blocking has nothing to do with it. You can be blocking when the totem expires and still get life back.
Hope this helps.