What's new

Can someone explain Cetrion's placement?

OwtQue

PSN: iiPuREWreQMoDe
I have been checking out tier lists from some of the top players, and they are putting Cetrion in the S tier. I don't understand how. I've been trying to use her over the last couple of weeks and have been getting BODIED. So can someone explain to me why she is S tier? Thanks!
 

Arqwart

D'Vorah for KP2 copium
Staggers.
Pressure.
Safety.
Zoning.
Mobility.
Disjointed hitboxes.
Mixups.
Unbreakable damage.

The general consensus so far is that Tornado, Teleport, and Ground Pound is the best combination. It gives so much power and utility to Cetrion on top of all the power and utility she already has.
 

xWildx

What a day. What a lovely day.
Cetrion is, as Steph would say, one of the game’s “premier zoners.” Funny though, she’s also one of the games premier stagger and whiff punishing characters.

The bitch is basically MK9 Freddy with less damage but better normals. Run away all day, get full screen frame traps, then feel free to go in at any moment with amazing staggers, safe enders, and a god forsaken restand if the opponent is foolish enough to jump (and not named Jacqui or Fujin).
 

OwtQue

PSN: iiPuREWreQMoDe
Staggers.
Pressure.
Safety.
Zoning.
Mobility.
Disjointed hitboxes.
Mixups.
Unbreakable damage.

The general consensus so far is that Tornado, Teleport, and Ground Pound is the best combination. It gives so much power and utility to Cetrion on top of all the power and utility she already has.
Where do her staggers, pressure, and everything else you named, come from? I get the zoning, but I feel lost the entire match. I wanna get better with her. Other than constantly playing and getting bodied, what else can I do to improve?
 

OwtQue

PSN: iiPuREWreQMoDe
Cetrion is, as Steph would say, one of the game’s “premier zoners.” Funny though, she’s also one of the games premier stagger and whiff punishing characters.

The bitch is basically MK9 Freddy with less damage but better normals. Run away all day, get full screen frame traps, then feel free to go in at any moment with amazing staggers, safe enders, and a god forsaken restand if the opponent is foolish enough to jump (and not named Jacqui or Fujin).
What are her safe enders? Sorry I feel brand new here honestly lol. Just trying to learn as much as I can
 

Second Saint

A man with too many names.
You're just bad. You need to learn how to play her. She's amazing.
The guy came in here asking for help, not screaming that everyone was wrong. Maybe this isn't the best approach to take to telling someone they need to level up?


Where do her staggers, pressure, and everything else you named, come from? I get the zoning, but I feel lost the entire match. I wanna get better with her. Other than constantly playing and getting bodied, what else can I do to improve?
I was about to give you a basic rundown of how she pressures, even though I haven't played Cetrion in a year, but I couldn't remember the input of her mid, went to look it up at Kombat Akademy, and realized I'm an idiot. Here's your Cetrion guide, have fun.

 

Icefyre

Shadows
You’re never gonna teach a scrub how to play cetrion via a reply on a message board. Dude posted a video of dragon playing her. If that video isn’t enough then he will never get it.
The only people you can't teach are those who aren't willing to learn, and those with clear cognitive bias, neither of which the OP shows. Do you know how many people over the years have gotten better at these kinds of games via reading these kind of message boards?

I'm not sure I understand your aggression over somebody asking for help. This kind of "holier-than-thou" attitude is what people don't like about this site. Ignore him if you want, but quit insulting the guy.
 

REYTHEGREAT

..........................
Here is the thing. Some people think they can pick up Cetrion and it is an automatic win. While yes, you will win. You will encounter players that will get through all the BS. To really play and learn Cetrion you need patient and footsies. Learn her when shes plus and hit confirms. She has the tools, but like i've said. She is not a pick up easy mode type of character.
 

OwtQue

PSN: iiPuREWreQMoDe
Here is the thing. Some people think they can pick up Cetrion and it is an automatic win. While yes, you will win. You will encounter players that will get through all the BS. To really play and learn Cetrion you need patient and footsies. Learn her when shes plus and hit confirms. She has the tools, but like i've said. She is not a pick up easy mode type of character.
Yeah I'm getting better with her now. The learning curve was steep but I'm getting more comfortable. She forces me to play differently than I normally would. That's why I was having a lot of problems lol
 

Arqwart

D'Vorah for KP2 copium
Where do her staggers, pressure, and everything else you named, come from? I get the zoning, but I feel lost the entire match. I wanna get better with her. Other than constantly playing and getting bodied, what else can I do to improve?
The staggers come from every touch risking a tornado / rock wall follow-up. Tornado is 100% safe on block due to pushback and rock wall is safe if amplified (though it has a flawless block gap, but that's a mindgame all its own). Every poke, 1, 11, 2, 21, F2, etc. threatens a rock wall or tornado after to shut down any attempts at taking one's turn back. Every single thing Cetrion does becomes a mindgame as to whether her opponent gets to play the game after.

The pressure comes from the fact that rock wall is also VERY plus (+15 IIRC) and tornado, while not near as plus, puts the opponent at the perfect range for Cetrion to choose to poke, stagger again, or back away with her insane backdash. She also has an advancing mid via F2 which is super easy to hit confirm off of the string it leads into so every instance of her appearing to back away results in a mindgame of her backing away to do far rock wall, zone, come back in with pokes / fast highs, come back in to grab, or come back in with the advancing F2. Note that due to rock wall and tornado being plus the way they are, this all continuously loops into itself every time Cetrion confirms a hit. In addition, she can use ground pound cancel on hit or block to enforce additional pressure mindgames.

The safety comes from basically all of her strings being 100% safe and having knockback on them to put you far enough away that her backdash beats any attempts at advancing on her after blocking. In addition, she has the rock wall / tornado options on block to force things to be safe.

The disjointed hitboxes are pretty self explanatory. A lot of her moves have hitboxes that aren't part of her hurtbox in the slightest (rock wall, tornado, boulders, S1, F2, every hit of 212, etc.).

The mobility comes from her having one of the top 2 best back dashes in the game and a pretty damn good forward dash too. Combined with her disjointed hitboxes reaching far, pushback on attacks, and plus frames on hit, she's extremely slippery and near impossible to pin down. Also: teleport that can be used in the air.

The mixups are a new addition courtesy of customs allowing players to have the ground pound mixed with actually useful abilities. It's a low so it can cause mixups off any overhead string enders she has.

The unbreakable damage is due to the fact that the Geyser is her only lifting combo extender and that's not used in her best combination. As such, hit confirms for combo purposes lead to the tentacle grab which leaves the opponent standing. Her combo damage isn't anything great (~20% for a bar), but it's entirely unbreakable and leads to her above-mentioned plus frames into pressure / stagger fun.

Toss all this together with Boulder, Air Boulder, Laser, Tentacle, Tornado, and Ground Pound zoning insanity and you have a character that I honestly believe rivals Jacqui for #1 spot on the tier list. If not tied for #1, Cetrion is an EXTREMELY close #2.

EDIT: for getting better, I highly advise going to YouTube and watching videos of how Dragon, one of the top best MK players and a Cetrion loyalist, plays her.
 
Last edited:

Lex Luthor II

Lord of Lightning
I have been checking out tier lists from some of the top players, and they are putting Cetrion in the S tier. I don't understand how. I've been trying to use her over the last couple of weeks and have been getting BODIED. So can someone explain to me why she is S tier? Thanks!
I've honestly been asking this question myself too. I'm really good with the usual good kast, Joker, Jacqui, Kabal, Sub Zero, but I'm super terrible with Cetrion and I don't get it. I watch Dragon use her, and I still don't get it.



I'm going to just chalk it up to one of the unsolvable mysteries of the universe.
 

Espio

Kokomo
Lead Moderator
Just wanted to chime in here. @jmt I think a short vacation for you is in order. This isn't the first thread where you are very vitriolic and toxic. I think the core problem with all communities including but especially ours is how we talk to others and treat others. I think it's obvious why Cetrion is good, but you have to meet people where they are when it comes to fighting games. Some people are new as hell and legit not well versed in what to even look for. I think we have all been there. This year has been horrible for so many of us and I think we all need to be a whole lot nicer. Educate and inform >> demean and degrade.
 

ABACABB

End Of Humanity
cetrion is really good but not auto win , shes my day 1 main and i remember getting bodied with her all the time ( yes it was before all nerfs lol so she was a lot better ) but after time i started winning and learned how to use her properly . I also labbed force of nature a lot before customs so ground pound mixups and cancels are easy for me . Playing her now with tele tornado and ground pund i feel strong everywhere on screen . Ofc my main goal is to zone but when it gets upclose i feel comfortable too . She has tools for every situation , only dmg is low but is she would deal 300 dmg per touch she would be broken and def nr 1 in game lol
 

Malec

Noob
The staggers come from every touch risking a tornado / rock wall follow-up. Tornado is 100% safe on block due to pushback and rock wall is safe if amplified (though it has a flawless block gap, but that's a mindgame all its own). Every poke, 1, 11, 2, 21, F2, etc. threatens a rock wall or tornado after to shut down any attempts at taking one's turn back. Every single thing Cetrion does becomes a mindgame as to whether her opponent gets to play the game after.

The pressure comes from the fact that rock wall is also VERY plus (+15 IIRC) and tornado, while not near as plus, puts the opponent at the perfect range for Cetrion to choose to poke, stagger again, or back away with her insane backdash. She also has an advancing mid via F2 which is super easy to hit confirm off of the string it leads into so every instance of her appearing to back away results in a mindgame of her backing away to do far rock wall, zone, come back in with pokes / fast highs, come back in to grab, or come back in with the advancing F2. Note that due to rock wall and tornado being plus the way they are, this all continuously loops into itself every time Cetrion confirms a hit. In addition, she can use ground pound cancel on hit or block to enforce additional pressure mindgames.

The safety comes from basically all of her strings being 100% safe and having knockback on them to put you far enough away that her backdash beats any attempts at advancing on her after blocking. In addition, she has the rock wall / tornado options on block to force things to be safe.

The disjointed hitboxes are pretty self explanatory. A lot of her moves have hitboxes that aren't part of her hurtbox in the slightest (rock wall, tornado, boulders, S1, F2, every hit of 212, etc.).

The mobility comes from her having one of the top 2 best back dashes in the game and a pretty damn good forward dash too. Combined with her disjointed hitboxes reaching far, pushback on attacks, and plus frames on hit, she's extremely slippery and near impossible to pin down. Also: teleport that can be used in the air.

The mixups are a new addition courtesy of customs allowing players to have the ground pound mixed with actually useful abilities. It's a low so it can cause mixups off any overhead string enders she has.

The unbreakable damage is due to the fact that the Geyser is her only lifting combo extender and that's not used in her best combination. As such, hit confirms for combo purposes lead to the tentacle grab which leaves the opponent standing. Her combo damage isn't anything great (~20% for a bar), but it's entirely unbreakable and leads to her above-mentioned plus frames into pressure / stagger fun.

Toss all this together with Boulder, Air Boulder, Laser, Tentacle, Tornado, and Ground Pound zoning insanity and you have a character that I honestly believe rivals Jacqui for #1 spot on the tier list. If not tied for #1, Cetrion is an EXTREMELY close #2.

EDIT: for getting better, I highly advise going to YouTube and watching videos of how Dragon, one of the top best MK players and a Cetrion loyalist, plays her.
Imo Tornado is the most ridiculous move
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
Just a quick reminder, a character being top tier or S tier doesn’t mean they’re easy to use or even necessarily easy to win with. Even if a character is perceived as “braindead”, you still have to put a lot of time into a character in order to be successful with them.
 

xWildx

What a day. What a lovely day.
Yes, Cetrion, and MK11 in general, is incredibly difficult to pick up. That’s why people like Rewind have basically just picked up Cetrion legitimately and are already winning tournaments with her.
 

NaCl man

Welcome to Akihabara
Yes, Cetrion, and MK11 in general, is incredibly difficult to pick up. That’s why people like Rewind have basically just picked up Cetrion legitimately and are already winning tournaments with her.
A top player does well with top tier character holy shit stop the presses lol.