LawAbidingCitizen
Bomb Setups & Ball Rolls(Mileena/Cyrax)
Ok I'm going to make this Mileena specific but you can apply this to any character. Usually you need two hitting moves to hit confirm but with pokes it's different. The reason you can hit confirm pokes is because of the animation or sound, both are huge indicators that let your brain know what happened.
But this only works if you lab it up with dummy set to Block "random kombo" and burn it into your soul. The key is to get muscle memory of it and then you will be a natural and will find yourself doing it like it's the matrix and time slowed down.
Ok with that said, when you D1 and your opponent blocks it the character won't have it's body lower at all and the sound is different, softer. When your opponent is hit by a D1 they will have their body drop from on average 15 frames and the sound is much louder, it's a huge animation.
So it's pretty easy to practice.
This is what you do.
If the opponent blocks, you need to block!
because they can light you up with mids, and all sorts of fast strings. We are not gonna focus on dodging throws In this guide..
So block right after you see they didn't drop closer to the ground (This is important).
Then poke again and if it hits you need to use your fast string, in this case for Mileena it's 11 which jails from a poke and can't be ducked.
Main strings you can use after D1 hits:
so they can block the 11/B11/233 or you can hit. You need to also hit confirm this as well and it's very important that you do. But it's much easier than hit confirming pokes so no worries. Especially if you are using B11/34/233 since the animation between the hits is much slower and/or more visually confirming. Some if the strings have more frames so it's damn near impossible to not hit confirm it once you get the muscle memory.
Base Sai on block is safe, so if the B1 is blocked do Sai and amp to make it completely safe and if it's a hit confirm into the very unsafe ball roll for a full combo punish.
B1/F2/F43 jail into sai, meaning they can't duck the high Sai's and are forced to respect it and eat the chip. Obviously F4 is 18f startup and probably not the best option, same as F2(17f low) but it can't hurt to throw in 34 and throws or ticks. Strike/throw is just another 50/50(mix-up).
Here is an example:
If you practice all of these things together it will make your close up game dramatically stronger.
Know your options after pokes!
How many frames you are advantage on hit and how fast you need your follow up and the distance of each move.
It's important to know that hit confirming takes thinking out of it and has you do the proper response instantly like the pros and your hands just autopilot it for you once you labbed it enough. This is muscle memory and it's your best friend. It's one of the single most important tool you have in MK11
So you want to practice this until you never mess up with the practice dummy on random combo. Slowly get faster and faster and then work your way into casuals and try it in matches.
I've played a ton of players online and offline that didn't know what to do up close. They are just locked up holding block allowing me to move freely and put them in the blender with no fear. This is because the average player doesn't know what to lab/practice and most importantly they don't know how to hit confirm pokes or strings especially double hit confirm. So they lock up and are scared of a poke or what mixup I'll do next.
I wanna point out that you don't see many players stealing turns from SonicFox and that's because he labbed the hell out of all the matchups, learned their weaknesses and practiced on his reaction to all the top players moves they used to shake him up. Sonic, Dragon and NinjaKilla look like robots half the time for a reason. Because it's an autopilot reaction that is learned.
If this helped I'll make other guides like, How to punish close up pressure, or how to meaty. The idea is to level up the community so we all challenge ourselves and rise together.
Bonus: if you have a mashy opponent and they do dumb shit like D1 on block into string, just walk back and if they are using their starter, usually 7f high or short range mid they will wiff and you get a combo into the poke/strike that you just got better at from labbing the double hit confirming!
But this only works if you lab it up with dummy set to Block "random kombo" and burn it into your soul. The key is to get muscle memory of it and then you will be a natural and will find yourself doing it like it's the matrix and time slowed down.
Ok with that said, when you D1 and your opponent blocks it the character won't have it's body lower at all and the sound is different, softer. When your opponent is hit by a D1 they will have their body drop from on average 15 frames and the sound is much louder, it's a huge animation.
So it's pretty easy to practice.
This is what you do.
If the opponent blocks, you need to block!
because they can light you up with mids, and all sorts of fast strings. We are not gonna focus on dodging throws In this guide..
So block right after you see they didn't drop closer to the ground (This is important).
Then poke again and if it hits you need to use your fast string, in this case for Mileena it's 11 which jails from a poke and can't be ducked.
Main strings you can use after D1 hits:
- 11 (8f starter high) pretty fast but doable hardest of your strings to hit confirm. But fastest and easiest to jail.
- B11 (10f mid) easy visual
- 233 (12f high mid) easy hit confirm
- 34 (high overhead) high damage pretty easy to hit confirm.
so they can block the 11/B11/233 or you can hit. You need to also hit confirm this as well and it's very important that you do. But it's much easier than hit confirming pokes so no worries. Especially if you are using B11/34/233 since the animation between the hits is much slower and/or more visually confirming. Some if the strings have more frames so it's damn near impossible to not hit confirm it once you get the muscle memory.
Base Sai on block is safe, so if the B1 is blocked do Sai and amp to make it completely safe and if it's a hit confirm into the very unsafe ball roll for a full combo punish.
B1/F2/F43 jail into sai, meaning they can't duck the high Sai's and are forced to respect it and eat the chip. Obviously F4 is 18f startup and probably not the best option, same as F2(17f low) but it can't hurt to throw in 34 and throws or ticks. Strike/throw is just another 50/50(mix-up).
Here is an example:
If you practice all of these things together it will make your close up game dramatically stronger.
Know your options after pokes!
How many frames you are advantage on hit and how fast you need your follow up and the distance of each move.
It's important to know that hit confirming takes thinking out of it and has you do the proper response instantly like the pros and your hands just autopilot it for you once you labbed it enough. This is muscle memory and it's your best friend. It's one of the single most important tool you have in MK11
So you want to practice this until you never mess up with the practice dummy on random combo. Slowly get faster and faster and then work your way into casuals and try it in matches.
I've played a ton of players online and offline that didn't know what to do up close. They are just locked up holding block allowing me to move freely and put them in the blender with no fear. This is because the average player doesn't know what to lab/practice and most importantly they don't know how to hit confirm pokes or strings especially double hit confirm. So they lock up and are scared of a poke or what mixup I'll do next.
I wanna point out that you don't see many players stealing turns from SonicFox and that's because he labbed the hell out of all the matchups, learned their weaknesses and practiced on his reaction to all the top players moves they used to shake him up. Sonic, Dragon and NinjaKilla look like robots half the time for a reason. Because it's an autopilot reaction that is learned.
If this helped I'll make other guides like, How to punish close up pressure, or how to meaty. The idea is to level up the community so we all challenge ourselves and rise together.
Bonus: if you have a mashy opponent and they do dumb shit like D1 on block into string, just walk back and if they are using their starter, usually 7f high or short range mid they will wiff and you get a combo into the poke/strike that you just got better at from labbing the double hit confirming!
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