Mileena General Discussion

[chrisisnice]

What a bunch of whingers.

 

[Vslayer]

She’s boring to me.

I don’t understand why play time, air teleport and air sai toss are slot moves. They should’ve been base. It would’ve freed up more options for her.
I also don’t understand why air sai can’t be thrown after a teleport. Kitana does the exact same teleport, but MUCH better and Scorpion can use his launching teleport on the ground or air and it isn’t a slot.
She has like 1 combo but combo routes are pretty lame in this game so I guess that makes sense

It seems like they wanted to make sure she wasn’t too crazy but I feel like they went a bit overboard on how toned down she is. She isn’t flashy or anything like that and it’s kinda sad, especially coming from MK9 and X

And before some people act dumb and try to force words down my throat, I’m in no way saying she’s bad. She’s great, really great. The mix is real and once you get going, it’s kinda hard to stop her. I’m just saying she’s boring. She also feels helpless without playtime or stabyscotch.

I mean her combos were insane in MKX, but this isn't MKX. It's a bit ridiculous to think she would have the exact same options. I think with extended strings, the CG and sai slide, she's extremely fun to play. She has a ton of option for combos once they're launched. I mean it really depends on how you like to play but I like cheeky stuff so I love playing her. To me personally, she's fun. More fun than a lot of characters. More fun than Cassie, who I spent 8 months playing.

 

[Temptress]

What a bunch of whingers.

Being critical of a character's gameplay =/= ungrateful of their inclusion. People are allowed to have opinions, buddy, especially regarding a character they waited nearly two years for.

I personally find her really enjoyable and LOVE how she looks and feels, but I can also agree that certain aspects of her gameplay/toolset seem unnecessarily neutered while characters like Liu or Johnny get to have the luxury of a base kit true to the character with additional ability slots that serve the purpose of complimenting their existing toolset, whereas Mileena's abilities consist almost exclusively of things that should be in her base kit and are needlessly excluded.

Why don't the aforementioned characters (+ others) need to sacrifice their identity or toolset, while Mileena does? Her not being able to hit confirm telekick into air sai and needing to sacrifice ability slots just to have access to her air projectile and air telekick (things that are crucial to her identity as a character) just feels WRONG and makes the balance team look incompetent because it's clear that this treatment isn't consistent among the cast. If it was, there probably wouldn't be complaints.

In no way do I think she is bad (quite the opposite), I just think that her custom abilities were handled terribly and lazily and would happily sacrifice other things in order to have access to things that make Mileena, well... Mileena. It's similar to Kitana players expressing frustration on release at her lack of fan juggles, unbreakable damage, air conversions, etc. and her gameplay identity feeling misaligned with the character.

 

[Vslayer]

Mileena is really good but you just have to accept that her stubbiness IS her weakness. There are scenarios where it‘s just impossible to get your turn back with her where other characters don‘t struggle with. Good example is playing in errons poke range, when you block a poke you better walk back and see what they‘re doing and not go for your turn because you sure as hell won‘t get it. Her second hit of her 11 string also whiffs sometimes even on hit which is stupid and lost me some games.
Mileena has top tier zoning and Oki and it‘s okay for her to have a weakness but please don‘t act like it doesn‘t exist, it‘s not downplaying it‘s just accepting the fact that she‘s not the best at every aspect in the game

It definitely is, but what I meant is I play around it the best I can and I have never felt like I lost a game because of that specifically. I've only lost games because I've played like ass or I failed to adapt. I've faced a couple of Errons so far, the ones that kept poking I just started jumping over and that did the trick.

I don't know, to me, you can either make a character work because you enjoy them regardless of their weaknesses, or you focus on the bad and don't think outside the box when using them. If Erron's are going to F4 at me I'll just throw sais, I don't care. If Rambos are going to try and zone, watch me tele kick. If I have trouble whiff punishing or my opponent outranges me, I'll be zoning them until they get close enough that I can F2 or B2.

Maybe she just fits my play style because I like taking risks and I like to pressure my opponent with a million different tools. Again, it's really an issue of if she fits you or not. If you think the payoff is not worth the risk then she probably isn't for you personally.

 

[Temptress]

As someone who stopped playing this game for over a year and only came back due to her release, I’m curious as to which characters people think Mileena is similar to in terms of gameplay.

I failed to retain a lot of MU/character knowledge due to my prolonged absence, so characters I don’t play/characters I didn’t play against often online are quite foreign to me. I really enjoy her playstyle and I’d love to know who else is comparable in that aspect.

 

[xKhaoTik]

I mean her combos were insane in MKX, but this isn't MKX. It's a bit ridiculous to think she would have the exact same options. I think with extended strings, the CG and sai slide, she's extremely fun to play. She has a ton of option for combos once they're launched. I mean it really depends on how you like to play but I like cheeky stuff so I love playing her. To me personally, she's fun. More fun than a lot of characters. More fun than Cassie, who I spent 8 months playing.

Never said I expected her to have the same options from MKX at all. I was just comparing the 2. I know the game in general is toned down from MKX but we still have characters like Lao who have juggles for days, characters like Sonya who hit massively hard and Jacqui who is...Jacqui.

Her not being able to throw her sai after a teleport is a crime. Like, that makes no sense. Where’s the sense of threat behind it? Her counter zoning has always been a thing for her but it’s pretty watered down this game. I knew and prepared for her ball roll not to launch so I’m not upset about that at all since that would be kinda crazy in this game, but her teleport didn’t have to be nerfed like that. It’s easily one of the worst teleports in the game. Mileena + worst teleport should not be in the same sentence at all but somehow NRS decided to make it happen.

But again, I still find her good. The zoning is still there. The command grab is great. She has great oki. But overall, she’s just boring.

 

[Vslayer]

Never said I expected her to have the same options from MKX at all. I was just comparing the 2. I know the game in general is toned down from MKX but we still have characters like Lao who have juggles for days, characters like Sonya who hit massively hard and Jacqui who is...Jacqui.

Her not being able to throw her sai after a teleport is a crime. Like, that makes no sense. Where’s the sense of threat behind it? Her counter zoning has always been a thing for her but it’s pretty watered down this game. I knew and prepared for her ball roll not to launch so I’m not upset about that at all since that would be kinda crazy in this game, but her teleport didn’t have to be nerfed like that. It’s easily one of the worst teleports in the game. Mileena + worst teleport should not be in the same sentence at all but somehow NRS decided to make it happen.

But again, I still find her good. The zoning is still there. The command grab is great. She has great oki. But overall, she’s just boring.

Yeah I think they didn't want to make her too much like Kitana so like Kitana players would still play her and not just all switch to Mileena. Idk it's definitely a weird choice, which makes air sai just useless.

 

[PlusFrames]

I’ve made four variations. All equipped with cmd grab and play time, but the third slot is different and the costume seems suitable...

• MK2 skin has air sai (since that's been a base move since she’s been a character )
• MK3 skin will have rolling thunder (since that’s the name of her ball special in UMK3)
• Kitana-esque skin has low sais (since she’s wearing some type of leggings, it just seemed suitable with her doing the splits)
• default skin has air tele (since that costume seems closest to mkx, and that’s when air tele was introduced, if I’m not mistaken)

Yes, i don’t use her tarkatan skin, which i love, but i can’t find a suitable placement for it with this scheme, but the real downfall of this system is...

air sai just useless.

I’ll never use her Mk2 costume

 

[Vslayer]

As someone who stopped playing this game for over a year and only came back due to her release, I’m curious as to which characters people think Mileena is similar to in terms of gameplay.

I failed to retain a lot of MU/character knowledge due to my prolonged absence, so characters I don’t play/characters I didn’t play against often online are quite foreign to me. I really enjoy her playstyle and I’d love to know who else is comparable in that aspect.

Well Kitana is an obvious one, she has good zoning and counter-zoning, combos, block shenanigans. But Mileena has better mix.

If you want good zoning, anti zoning and mix then Sonya or Cassie are your girls.

If you want lots of set ups and safe on block specials then Kano is for you.

 

[Temptress]

Well Kitana is an obvious one, she has good zoning and counter-zoning, combos, block shenanigans. But Mileena has better mix.

If you want good zoning, anti zoning and mix then Sonya or Cassie are your girls.

If you want lots of set ups and safe on block specials then Kano is for you.

Thank you for the response! The Sonya comparison seems really accurate, as she too suffers from shitty-mid syndrome and range issues, which she compensates for with her combo potential, mix and zoning.

Funnily enough, Sonya and Kitana were two of my mains (third being Sindel) when I actually played, with Cassie being someone I intended to learn fully as I really enjoyed playing her offline. I definitely gravitate towards a certain playstyle, it seems.

I’m really curious about Kano now. I never cared for the character much prior to MK11, but I remember really digging his aesthetic and moveset this time around; they really captured his identity perfectly. I’ll have to lab him, for sure.

 

[Blewdew]

I mean her combos were insane in MKX, but this isn't MKX. It's a bit ridiculous to think she would have the exact same options. I think with extended strings, the CG and sai slide, she's extremely fun to play. She has a ton of option for combos once they're launched. I mean it really depends on how you like to play but I like cheeky stuff so I love playing her. To me personally, she's fun. More fun than a lot of characters. More fun than Cassie, who I spent 8 months playing.

Yeah don‘t get me wrong I love playing her as well, it‘s just that her weakness is really showing sometimes. And I didn‘t mean an erron mashing pokes necessarily but more like mileenas short range opens erron a lot of options to go for after a blocked poke which is the result of Mileena not being able to get her turn with a mid or even with a poke and it gets even more annoying with the „blocked poke backwalk into mid“ gameplan some characters have. You can definitely work around it but you always have to play smart where other characters don‘t have to.

 

[M2Dave]

As someone who stopped playing this game for over a year and only came back due to her release, I’m curious as to which characters people think Mileena is similar to in terms of gameplay.

Custom Mileena and custom Robocop is a valid comparison in my opinion. Both characters have low projectiles with identical krushing blow requirements and command grabs, although Robocop's hits mid and gives limited okizeme options while Mileena's hits high and leaves you right next to your opponent. Both characters also have similar forward and back dashes and weaknesses in footsies because of their stubby normal attacks. I do believe that Mileena is a superior character, though, because unlike Robocop she has access to 30% of damage with one bar, a worthy armor-breaking attack, and functional reversal attacks. She also has a teleport and a smaller standing and crouching hitbox.

She does have major issues in footsies, though, so you either have to play outside of footsies range or at point blank range where the command grab is always a threat. I also agree with some of the criticism about the custom moves and slots. Regular sai should have been a regular special move that is irreplaceable by nothing.

 

[Temptress]

Custom Mileena and custom Robocop is a valid comparison in my opinion. Both characters have low projectiles with identical krushing blow requirements and command grabs, although Robocop's hits mid and gives limited okizeme options while Mileena's hits high and leaves you right next to your opponent. Both characters also have similar forward and back dashes and weaknesses in footsies because of their stubby normal attacks. I do believe that Mileena is a superior character, though, because unlike Robocop she has access to 30% of damage with one bar, a worthy armor-breaking attack, and functional reversal attacks. She also has a teleport and a smaller standing and crouching hitbox.

She does have major issues in footsies, though, so you either have to play outside of footsies range or at point blank range where the command grab is always a threat. I also agree with some of the criticism about the custom moves and slots. Regular sai should have been a regular special move that is irreplaceable by nothing.

Thank you for the detailed response! I haven’t seen much of Robocop at all, but his kit based on you’ve written intrigues me. I’ll have to check him out.

 

[LawAbidingCitizen]

I don’t understand why play time, air teleport and air sai toss are slot moves. They should’ve been base. It would’ve freed up more options for her.
I also don’t understand why air sai can’t be thrown after a teleport.

I was hoping tele Drop would allows sai to roll but I was severely disappointed. I also think they should be base

She has like 1 combo but combo routes are pretty lame in this game so I guess that makes sense

I agree she has ball roll but like you said most characters have only one route. It couldn't hurt to give characters a normal string that launches for free maybe being slightly unsafe, I mean characters like Rambo, Joker have strings that launch with no bar and some are incredibly safe. But that is a universal change

I’m in no way saying she’s bad. She’s great, really great

I don't think she is boring, in fact I'm also a player that left for some time due to characters being overly stale/watered down but I think they did a great job with Mileena. Obviously there are things I'd change about Mileena
B1 range increased
F12 wiffing
Making those air moves base
I think 2 startup could be faster based on the rest of the cast
F23 should be less harmful to herself compared to similar KB strings

But honestly I'd be happy with a single change. I'd be happy with only making tele-kick into sai possible or air moves being base.

As someone who stopped playing this game for over a year and only came back due to her release, I’m curious as to which characters people think Mileena is similar to in terms of gameplay.

I failed to retain a lot of MU/character knowledge due to my prolonged absence, so characters I don’t play/characters I didn’t play against often online are quite foreign to me. I really enjoy her playstyle and I’d love to know who else is comparable in that aspect.

I think Mileena is similar to Terminator and a bit to Sub zero minus the free combo extender and unbreakable damage.
Terminator aside from cancelling B1 11f doesn't have fast mids and lacks range with his mids, his mixing strings are also very slow and also has a great restand.

I think Mileena has the potential to be top tier but I do feel their are design flaws. They could have allowed iconic moves to be base and air Tele-kick into air sai conversion without making the damage or combos crazy and still kept that Mileena feel. IDK maybe they should make those moves base and add other options to exsisting moves.
For example:
Make Tele-kick have an air cancel that allows her to spend defensive bar to be midscreen from her opponent, an add-on to the move.

Make air-sai and air Tele-kick base but add extensions for them to allow combo extension or mabey make the metered version of tele-kick restand or choose sides.

The vanish is too cost heavy, 50% damage reduction and meter cost, nope it should give her the ability to teleport to saftey with a cost like that or be like her ethereal var in X with costly pressure.

What's everyone else's ideas? What would you change

 

[PlusFrames]

Make F1 a mid

 

[Kiss the Missile]

She has a ton of option for combos once they're launched.

I mean feel how you want about her, I think she's cool too, but this is a flat out lie lmao

 

[Vslayer]

I mean feel how you want about her, I think she's cool too, but this is a flat out lie lmao

Nah, after they're launched, you can do the D2 combo into full screen push or CG, you can do a J1 combo again full screen or CG, you can do a 34 into CG. You can do a F43 into restand, or F43 into CG. I feel like a lot of characters don't have half these options lmao. And they all do good damage, you can choose if you wanna push them full screen or keep them close with the CG.

 

[Afumba]

What's everyone else's ideas? What would you change

Your ideas/suggestions aside...

Extended strings should be base kit.
And if not they should add another F43 ender to her base kit ending with a mid/low so the string is always cancellable. In this case play time would receive a change that makes F43 1+3 behave like 11 1+3.

Restand should work without having to spend a bar. The amp could be allowed to extend combos or should be removed.

Give second hit of 11 a bit more range to prevent the seccond hit whiffing on hit.

Tiny bit better recovery on ex roll in juggles so she can be more swaggy in combos... Some things seem to miss just by 1 frame or 2

I hate how its possible to force a weird hit collision between ex roll and breaker to neutralize her armor breaker possibly even be +. I would like it changed.

Moves to add... more biting lol

1. A pounce move. Like a long range cmg.
2. Another mid pounce move (no cmg), kinda like cassies tackle but with more bite
3. Maybe tele cancel
4. Sai traps. You throw a sai into the ground and enemy will be launched if they walks on them or after a short time. (No explosion, animation smth like sai slide)

Not gameplay related but i would like them to smooth her recovery animations a bit. After certain things it looks unnatural how long she is rooted in place, staring, waiting, doing nothing except being sad that she stepped on some kind of super glue half a second ago...

 

[projectzero00]

What's everyone else's ideas? What would you change

• B1 range increased. I hate when characters have a tiny window to punish and have to dash forward because of whiffing issues. Frost had that issue and got fixed with b12 buff.
• F12 should be special cancelable. Shame cause f1 is amazing.
• Air-sai and air-teleport should be base. Period. I said it before, they're so useless most of the time it's plain lazy they made them custom and called it a day. She can't even combo through them like Noob's teleport. If not base moveset, make them actually useful and have something to add to her gameplay like convert air-sai to ball roll or telekick to air-sai.
• Playtime should also be base. She feels so incomplete and rushed as a character without it.
• Stabbyscotch should hit after her blocked normals. She's very unsafe and easy to block so could give her something for people to not just sit there, block and punish so easily.
• Ditch vanish or overhaul it cause rn it's a mess. Even Super on YT couldn't make it work.

Even fixing half of those would make me happy. For now I'm sticking to off-line.

 

[Kiss the Missile]

Nah, after they're launched, you can do the D2 combo into full screen push or CG, you can do a J1 combo again full screen or CG, you can do a 34 into CG. You can do a F43 into restand, or F43 into CG. I feel like a lot of characters don't have half these options lmao. And they all do good damage, you can choose if you wanna push them full screen or keep them close with the CG.

You just listed 4 different strings into command grab. Multiple possibilities doesn't mean multiple options.

 

[xenogorgeous]

What's everyone else's ideas? What would you change

Change the input command of Kahnum Dash, and make it not replace Ball Roll ..... also , make Ball Roll a low move ..... hehe

too much oppressive changes to make Mileena hella broken ? hehe

 

[John_NX]

As much as I love what everyone is suggesting to "fix" Mileena, you guys realize that none or most of these won't even happen right? Unless they make huge changes across the cast, which they haven't in almost two years, I don't see anything "creative" happening :/ .

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Yeah, they didn't even bother making any weak abilities worth using for existing people. What we have is what we have. Mileena is luckily good, even if her options are REALLY straight-forward, and you have no build options.

Like, I'm upset we get so few claw/bite moves, and half her presence is 'lol my projectile is better than yours', and 3 of her skins are just Kitana, but enh.

 

[LawAbidingCitizen]

Make F1 a mid

I mean mids are always great but if she had to have a extra mid I'd rather it be a different button. Because a 9f advancing mid won't be 0 on block like F1 is. They nerfed that on Cassie to -3
I am way too attached to F1 and it's amazing options to have a reset neutral tool get nerfed on block.

But I'm not gonna turn down a 9-12f advancing mid but they could make it F3 or something let it be kicks into Sai's being thrown, a long range move. If ya feel me

Change the input command of Kahnum Dash, and make it not replace Ball Roll ..... also , make Ball Roll a low move ..... hehe

too much oppressive changes to make Mileena hella broken ? hehe

You know what I like. I'd love to have her low-ball roll back. I fucking miss it so much
I don't think a low ball roll would be broke, all they have to do is make it 5 frames before the overheads would come out on her overhead strings so it can be fuzzy guarded.
I'm happy with her mix ticks and Cmd grabs and staggers but a bare ball roll would be nice to require blocking low.

As much as I love what everyone is suggesting to "fix" Mileena, you guys realize that none or most of these won't even happen right? Unless they make huge changes across the cast, which they haven't in almost two years, I don't see anything "creative" happening :/ .

I understand why you feel that way but I've been here long enough to know, NRS will do what the public wants as long as they feel it's fair. If the public cry's enough, a character gets nerfed/buffed.
Look at Kotal/Kano now

 

[xWildx]

Making the last hit of 2334 launch would be a nice QoL change and allow her punish certain attacks when she doesn’t have meter (as it stands, the +1 on the 4 is damn near useless).

Also, I’d appreciate 112 not being FULL COMBO PUNISHABLE on block. Like, make it -7 so her turn is clearly over, but full combo punishable? For what? Because if she has a certain move equipped she can do a grab.... that’s also punishable if you duck?