Rain general discussion

[Agilaz]

Bubble has unlimited swag potential and you can squeeze out a tiny bit more damage if you're using two bars. I'm guessing it's more playing a longer range game? Hitting a bubble and being able to pull in your opponent for a combo + oki seems to be the idea, but idk.

Bubble + hydro is great, alternatively bubble + air specials.

 

[Wigy]

Yo that bf3 dive bomb loadout is stupid as hell i love it.

Portal projectile parry
Ability that lets you use shit in air
That bf3 thing thats a sword on the floor.

Turns into dragonballz pinball

 

[Agilaz]

Yo that bf3 dive bomb loadout is stupid as hell i love it.

Portal projectile parry
Ability that lets you use shit in air
That bf3 thing thats a sword on the floor.

Turns into dragonballz pinball

That's what i use vs most mileenas and generally they leave the set once they realise their brainlet "durr throw sai" strat no longer works

 

[Trustful_Whale]

Bubble has unlimited swag potential and you can squeeze out a tiny bit more damage if you're using two bars. I'm guessing it's more playing a longer range game? Hitting a bubble and being able to pull in your opponent for a combo + oki seems to be the idea, but idk.

Bubble + hydro is great, alternatively bubble + air specials.

Being able to yank someone from full screen for a combo and/or side switch feels pretty awesome.

Yo that bf3 dive bomb loadout is stupid as hell i love it.

Portal projectile parry
Ability that lets you use shit in air
That bf3 thing thats a sword on the floor.

Turns into dragonballz pinball

I like swapping out the projectile portal with Hydro Boost. You lose the slash KB which is pretty lame but you get a lot of extra air synergy.
They even have a preset loadout with this called Dignified.

 

[Mandolore1123]

Footsie bait/switch god. His wave dashing, both forward and backward, are easily in the top 2-3 in the game. I'd argue he's #2 in backdash and #1 in forward dash. I know Ninjakilla is an Elder God at wave dashing so he's not the best litmus for the general playerbase, but just look at this shit.

Fair enough. I was going off of the stubby range of his normals

 

[STB Bodam]

Rain is not a rushdown character. Don't know why people keep saying that. No plus frames on any of his normals. No plus frames on any of his specials except the lightning move. His staggers are bad ranging at an average of minus six. So essentially no pressure game.

Because Rain has always been a rushdown character, especially so in Mortal Kombat 9 (2011). In this game, I'm not sure he's anything. I hope I'm wrong and that we will all come to find out how dominant he is over the course of the next few months but I'm feeling kinda iffy about his toolset, at the moment.

 

[ogrimtitan]

I'd very much like to find a Rain setup that's a powerful neutral/setup/space control monster instead of rushdown, so if anyone's finding luck with that, I'd be happy to know about it.

 

[Archgamer]

Because Rain has always been a rushdown character, especially so in Mortal Kombat 9 (2011). In this game, I'm not sure he's anything. I hope I'm wrong and that we will all come to find out how dominant he is over the course of the next few months but I'm feeling kinda iffy about his toolset, at the moment.

I'm speaking in context to this particular game. No plus frames on normals and specials(purple rain aside). No staggers in the +3 to -3 range. His f3 is -1, but I don't consider it a string. 133 is -3 but that is the full string.

Rain basically takes his turn and then gives it up. Rain's best stagger is -5 from b1. If the opponent isn't half asleep they can poke that out.

 

[chrisisnice]

This is the first game that I am giving Rain a shot. What do people think are his best moves to consider equipping and which would you not bother with? I don't mean load outs, just moves (unless they are dependant on each other)

 

[DarksydeDash]

Grabbing with Rain is the gameplan, and to mix it up, you either do F2D3, oe B21.
Much like Spawn, making the opponent freeze up with your movement and baiting a whiff is what he specializes in.

 

[Pterodactyl]

Everyone out here with the water jump, I’m sorry I can’t bring myself to get rid of super kick, that’s like 50% of what Rain is in my mind and they made it look so fucking cool in this game.

—-

So what’s the use for his ground bolt slash move? Outside of the KB does it have any utility?

 

[STB Bodam]

I'm speaking in context to this particular game. No plus frames on normals and specials(purple rain aside). No staggers in the +3 to -3 range. His f3 is -1, but I don't consider it a string. 133 is -3 but that is the full string.

Rain basically takes his turn and then gives it up. Rain's best stagger is -5 from b1. If the opponent isn't half asleep they can poke that out.

That is what I've noticed so far. I really don't understand what they thought his strengths or even singular strength is. In the stream they spoke about how he would have incredible "combo flexibility" but aside from Bubble, you're pretty limited to 1-3-3~DB1 (I forget what this one is called -- I think "Geyser Stream") 1-3~amp. Geyser Kick and 2-4-2~Geyser Kick -- which let's face it, is not totally reliable online 100% of the time.

My execution is not great with him yet but I'm really scared that -- at his highest level -- he will be among the worst characters in the game, no matter the variation/setup you choose. I hate to cry "buff" already but if I were a betting man, I'd say that in his current state he will likely be regarded as a bottom-5 character and that absolutely breaks my heart.

 

[Pterodactyl]

Man his counter hit KB into fatal blow cancel is so fucked up, I’m surprised they let him keep that.

that shit feels almost guaranteed every match assuming you get below 30%.

 

[M2Dave]

Man his counter hit KB into fatal blow cancel is so fucked up, I’m surprised they let him keep that.

What is the counter hit KB?

And what are the best normal attacks and special moves for this character?

I am confused as to how he is supposed to be played.

 

[DarksydeDash]

What is the counter hit KB?

And what are the best normal attacks and special moves for this character?

I am confused as to how he is supposed to be played.

IMO you need to know how to wave dash properly with him because his game plan is baiting whiffs from strings like F2d3 and then advancing backward to punish said whiff. Of course, you can just grab people all day and come in swinging with b212

 

[Zviko]

S4 Hydroplane os if they forward roll. If they don't you still have enough time to punish U3/U2 or pressure with F2 if they block. And yes, easy KBs are on but Hydroplane KB procs at 54 startup. It's 60 here so it works.

 

[Pterodactyl]

What is the counter hit KB?

And what are the best normal attacks and special moves for this character?

I am confused as to how he is supposed to be played.

 

[Onryoki]

Rain isn’t that unsafe. Yes he’s -6 and it might be the end of his turn but most of his strings can’t be punished. Which is a good thing imo.

 

[Mandolore1123]

Rain isn’t that unsafe. Yes he’s -6 and it might be the end of his turn but most of his strings can’t be punished. Which is a good thing imo.

Stuff being -6 is the perfect timing to set up FB reversals too. Not to mention he can cancel into AMP Katar toss to become -5 with pushback.

 

[Syzoth]

I should have a short day tomorrow, in which case I'll make a video with my findings thus far. It's not much but I have an unusual mindset and I'm enjoying rain, even if he falls short where we expected him to excel.

He's like a bully thats 4'6 and weighs 80 pounds, you don't wanna smack him away cuz you know you'll crush his little ego. You just go "oh no you got me lil guy, youre the winner. I'm no match for you" and feel good watching him walk away with his little head held high.

This is my very early hot take.

Fun fact.
This is actually a key part of parenting.

 

[STB Bodam]

I'm starting to see a little more potential with him now. As @Zviko posted above, F2 is looking like it might be his savior. I'm just having a hard time deciding between Bubble's strong combo potential and trickery and his standard Glaive Toss because it can be used to make of blockstrings safe if you amplify it.

I also like Hydroplane quite a bit since it gives him another quick option to force players on the ground into making mistakes when you start mixing up your opponent with his short-hop U3 and armor crush (amp-BF3).

 

[Zviko]

You don't really need Katar Toss to make anything safe. 242 is not cancellable on block except on 2nd hit but that's irrelevant because it's a dial in. The only thing you can make safe is B3 if you don't go for the full string but I don't see the point of doing that either. What it can do though is cover the gap in B212 but maybe Tidal Wave can do that too, idk. It's still a nice and fast projectile that can be made mid and also for down poke -> special mind games.

 

[Pterodactyl]

Really been having the most fun with weather ball and hydro plane.

Also it feels physically impossible to do his weather ball brutality and not yell “BITCH” when he smacks the opponent into the screen. It’s just too satisfying.

 

[Mandolore1123]

There's a bug with Hydro Boost (again ). If you do 242~Hydro Boost in the corner, it only combos from the player 2 side (ironically) and doesn't combo from the player 1 side. I'll post video here later. Hopefully NRS fixes this

Good news is: 242~hydro boost combos mid screen on both sides, so we at least have a consistent 9f punisher into great damage and corner carry

 

[Onryoki]

Stuff being -6 is the perfect timing to set up FB reversals too. Not to mention he can cancel into AMP Katar toss to become -5 with pushback.

Exactly. I think Rain is actually a very fair and balanced character in terms of his gameplay and abilities. He definitely isn’t the best character in terms of tools but to me he’s fine the way he is.