MK1 Combo Trials General Discussion

[Juggs]

Figured I’d make this thread for those who are actually doing any of these, or who have done them, to ask and offer advice. There were 7 combo trials for each character, now there’s 8. With the I believe Omni update, they added an 8th combo trials for each character which is a Fatal Blow combo. I had already completed every characters combos trials, so it was a bittersweet moment when I saw there were new ones. I enjoy doing them for the most part, but some of them are so frustrating and super impractical. And some are legitimately difficult especially when you’re using the god awful PS5 pad that is horrible at precise bf/fb inputs.

Anyway, I haven’t done all the 8th combo trials for every character yet, but if anyone needs help just ask. So far, Havik’s 8th combo trials has been the most frustrating to try to do on a PS5 pad. It’s 4 bf motions in a row + another back button and a ff xx fatal blow at the end. My thumbs are dead right now. And the combo itself isn’t complicated at all. It’s just ex bf1, bf1, b+kameo, ex bf1, bf1, ff xx fatal blow. It should be relatively easy enough, but it wasn’t… for me at least ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[xKhaoTik]

Shang’s T8 was ridiculous lol

 

[Juggs]

Shang’s T8 was ridiculous lol

I’m about to try it. Just finished Johnny Cage’s T8 and my god that was difficult.

I typically practice sections of the combo depending on how hard or long it is (giggity). And definitely had to do that with Cage’s. The hardest part is connecting his b2 where you have to hold it after Jax’s b+kameo. You’ll know what I mean when you see the combo.

In fact, it’s: 212, j2, 212, b32, b+kameo, hold b2, fdb4, bd1 xx bd1 xx df3, 214 xx bd1 xx bd1 xx Fatal Blow

 

[Juggs]

Shang’s T8 was ridiculous lol

Yeah, this shit is annoying as hell. I FINALLY got to the end, and messed up the last ground fireball before the Fatal Blow due to the absolute SHITTY PS5 dpad. The hardest part for me is after sektors rockets and young Shang’s 3 fireballs, is transforming back into old shang and connecting the f4121 string quick enough for it to combo. I mean the entire combo is hard as fuck, but that’s my main issue. Definitely gonna take a break though because I’m losing my mind here

 

[Arqwart]

Kitana's T8 isn't overly hard, but it's definitely a poorly thought out joke. Had to look it up online to see what the actual timing for calling in Sonya is to allow for the Fatal Blow at the end. Equal parts hilarious yet stupefying to see the showcase is wrong to the point where it doesn't even get the combo right. It just does a little stance swap shimmy at the end and no Fatal Blow comes out. Absolutely wild that that passed NRS' QC and shipped.

Gotten some other T8s done and it's a VERY mixed bag. Some are braindead easy to the point where it feels like the tutorial going "Now put it all together! String, kameo, juggle, Fatal Blow. Great job!" while others are like a bat to the head.

 

[Jynks]

I'm having trouble with some of the tutorials. I forget the one I am on but it uses Jonny and you need to jump up but somehow meter burn it but I just can't work out how to do it lol... I'll find the exact one when I get home.

 

[Juggs]

Kitana's T8 isn't overly hard, but it's definitely a poorly thought out joke. Had to look it up online to see what the actual timing for calling in Sonya is to allow for the Fatal Blow at the end. Equal parts hilarious yet stupefying to see the showcase is wrong to the point where it doesn't even get the combo right. It just does a little stance swap shimmy at the end and no Fatal Blow comes out. Absolutely wild that that passed NRS' QC and shipped.

Gotten some other T8s done and it's a VERY mixed bag. Some are braindead easy to the point where it feels like the tutorial going "Now put it all together! String, kameo, juggle, Fatal Blow. Great job!" while others are like a bat to the head.

Didn’t have much of an issue with Kitana’s. Of course I didn’t get it immediately or anything, but it only took me about 5 minutes or so to finally understand the timing, but some of the T8’s are absolutely ridiculous. Like I was trying to do Shang’s T8 for 1-2 hours or so and I still wasn’t able to get it. Anyway with Kitana’s, the main thing I was doing wrong was not forward dashing after the EX bf1. I think the forward dash allows Sonya to leave the screen quicker aka allows you to do the Fatal Blow quicker. Because at first I was having the same issue where I kept just stance switching, lol.

 

[xKhaoTik]

So far Shang’s T8 is the hardest one

Ashrah’s and Cage’s T8 were pretty difficult too

 

[Juggs]

YO! Mileena’s T8 showed me something I didn’t even know was possible with Darrius. You had no idea after his regular Kameo kick that takes a full bar of Kameo meter, then you can do like b+kameo and your character does this mini uppercut. I had no idea you could cancel that like you can with a regular d2. It costs 2 bars of meter but that’s cool as shit! The combo wasn’t too too hard. But I keep comparing it to Shang’s T8 which I should stop doing. Because compared to his T8, every other one, even Johnny Cages and Havik’s are a walk in the park lol

 

[Juggs]

Okay, I have finished all Combo Trial 8’s for every character except Shang Tsung.
So here’s my Combo Trial 8 Difficulty tier list. The higher they are the more difficult their T8 is. Most were easy, some were pretty hard. Cage’s took me forever, and Shang Tsung’s is on a whole different level!

S++: Shang Tsung

S: Johnny Cage

A+: Ashrah, Havik, Geras

A: Tanya, Mileena, Reptile, Sub-Zero, Sindel, Scorpion

B+: Rain

B: Reiko, Raiden, Li Mei, Kitana, Liu Kang, General Shao, Baraka, Smoke, Omni-Man, Kenshi, Kung Lao

Rain didn’t belong in A or B, so made B+ for him. His T8 is relatively simple, but the double EX db1’s in quick succession is difficult to do especially after doing all of these T8’s combos, my thumbs are dead.

Almost got Kung Lao’s first try, but got it on the 2nd attempt. Some that are in B tier may belong in B+, but I don’t think any of them should be in A tier.

Sindel’s combo visually looks the longest and seems like it’s gonna be really tough, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as it seems when you first see all those inputs you’re about to have to do, lol.

Havik’s difficulty will likely depend on how good you are at getting bf motions consistently. Because as I said in the OP, it’s not a complicated combo, it’s just difficult to execute at least for me. The combo is just ex bf1, bf1, b+kameo, ex bf1, bf1, ff xx fatal blow. But yeah, took me awhile to get all those bf motions down consistently without my character jumping AND getting the correct timing.

Oh and Scorpion might be lower. But I main him so it was easier for me than it might be for others. Especially the low to the ground air 111 into spear, I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with that and have gotten questions several times on my videos asking how to time it.

And most of the ones on A tier are either difficult to execute or they require some technical skill. Geras’ could be considered to be close to as hard aa Cage’s, but that could just be me. Cage’s T8 is difficult to execute, long, and requires technical skill.

Shang Tsung’s T8 is absolutely ridiculous. You have to have godlike execution, timing, technical skill, patience, it’s fairly long, and I bet it’ll take even Shang mains awhile to complete it if they even can. It’s literally the only one I haven’t completed yet. So yeah…

 

[Plop]

I'm so glad they included combo trials. I've been begging for them since mk9. I can't tell you how long it took me to finish the MCDC ones. They were brutal, but I'm glad they were included. I think all fighting games should have them in some shape or form.

I gotta say though, I don't know who's bright idea it was to have the touch pad to a demonstration instead of just resetting it. It's so annoying. The amount of times I've been convinced that I've done the trail, but the game hasn't registered it...only to find that it was just the demo.

 

[Juggs]

I'm so glad they included combo trials. I've been begging for them since mk9. I can't tell you how long it took me to finish the MCDC ones. They were brutal, but I'm glad they were included. I think all fighting games should have them in some shape or form.

I gotta say though, I don't know who's bright idea it was to have the touch pad to a demonstration instead of just resetting it. It's so annoying. The amount of times I've been convinced that I've done the trail, but the game hasn't registered it...only to find that it was just the demo.

Yeah you have to press it twice, which is really annoying. But luckily you can tell it’s a demo by both the sounds (there’s like a weird ticking & beeping sound), and on the controller at the bottom left, the inputs show up as redish, where as when you’re controlling it they show up as a blueish color. Still dumb though to have the demo be the same button as the reset and having to press the touchpad twice to actually reset.

 

[Plop]

Yeah you have to press it twice, which is really annoying. But luckily you can tell it’s a demo by both the sounds (there’s like a weird ticking & beeping sound), and on the controller at the bottom left, the inputs show up as redish, where as when you’re controlling it they show up as a blueish color. Still dumb though to have the demo be the same button as the reset and having to press the touchpad twice to actually reset.

Yeah you have to press it twice, which is really annoying. But luckily you can tell it’s a demo by both the sounds (there’s like a weird ticking & beeping sound), and on the controller at the bottom left, the inputs show up as redish, where as when you’re controlling it they show up as a blueish color. Still dumb though to have the demo be the same button as the reset and having to press the touchpad twice to actually reset.

Yeah when you're on your 20th attempt though it's easy to lose track of what's a demo and what's not. It's so stupid

 

[Juggs]

Yeah when you're on your 20th attempt though it's easy to lose track of what's a demo and what's not. It's so stupid

Yup absolutely, it’s beyond frustrating especially on the super hard ones like you said that you’re constantly having to reset on.

 

[xKhaoTik]

Okay, I have finished all Combo Trial 8’s for every character except Shang Tsung.
So here’s my Combo Trial 8 Difficulty tier list. The higher they are the more difficult their T8 is. Most were easy, some were pretty hard. Cage’s took me forever, and Shang Tsung’s is on a whole different level!

S++: Shang Tsung

S: Johnny Cage

A+: Ashrah, Havik, Geras

A: Tanya, Mileena, Reptile, Sub-Zero, Sindel, Scorpion

B+: Rain

B: Reiko, Raiden, Li Mei, Kitana, Liu Kang, General Shao, Baraka, Smoke, Omni-Man, Kenshi, Kung Lao

Rain didn’t belong in A or B, so made B+ for him. His T8 is relatively simple, but the double EX db1’s in quick succession is difficult to do especially after doing all of these T8’s combos, my thumbs are dead.

Almost got Kung Lao’s first try, but got it on the 2nd attempt. Some that are in B tier may belong in B+, but I don’t think any of them should be in A tier.

Sindel’s combo visually looks the longest and seems like it’s gonna be really tough, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as it seems when you first see all those inputs you’re about to have to do, lol.

Havik’s difficulty will likely depend on how good you are at getting bf motions consistently. Because as I said in the OP, it’s not a complicated combo, it’s just difficult to execute at least for me. The combo is just ex bf1, bf1, b+kameo, ex bf1, bf1, ff xx fatal blow. But yeah, took me awhile to get all those bf motions down consistently without my character jumping AND getting the correct timing.

Oh and Scorpion might be lower. But I main him so it was easier for me than it might be for others. Especially the low to the ground air 111 into spear, I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with that and have gotten questions several times on my videos asking how to time it.

And most of the ones on A tier are either difficult to execute or they require some technical skill. Geras’ could be considered to be close to as hard aa Cage’s, but that could just be me. Cage’s T8 is difficult to execute, long, and requires technical skill.

Shang Tsung’s T8 is absolutely ridiculous. You have to have godlike execution, timing, technical skill, patience, it’s fairly long, and I bet it’ll take even Shang mains awhile to complete it if they even can. It’s literally the only one I haven’t completed yet. So yeah…

Idk how far you got with Shang but I can give tips

you have to do f4121 dbf1 rapidly. And it has to be done before you morph to young Shang.

Sektor has to be dialed in during f4121 on the third hit in order for the sequence to work. I literally did f4121 dbf1 kameo in rapid succession and he comes out right before the last hit of f4121

After that, you have to morph into old Shang WHILE inputting f4121

Wait a split second after landing the first db1 before doing 24 ex db1, then wait a split second after that before doing dbf1. That’ll give you the right time to land the FB

This combo was crazy lol

 

[Juggs]

Idk how far you got with Shang but I can give tips

you have to do f4121 dbf1 rapidly. And it has to be done before you morph to young Shang.

Sektor has to be dialed in during f4121 on the third hit in order for the sequence to work. I literally did f4121 dbf1 kameo in rapid succession and he comes out right before the last hit of f4121

After that, you have to morph into old Shang WHILE inputting f4121

Wait a split second after landing the first db1 before doing 24 ex db1, then wait a split second after that before doing dbf1. That’ll give you the right time to land the FB

This combo was crazy lol

Yeah I realized/figured out all of this except the bold part I’ve been trying to do without morphing during the beginning of that string. But clearly you need to because I cannot connect the f4 after morphing back into old shang during the 3 fireballs. This is the only part of the combo I can’t get down. The first part is technically the hardest since you have to input f4121 + neutral kameo + d+L1 + dbf1 all at pretty much the same time. Which you have to input all of this before the d+L1 (old/young morph, it’s L1 for me), and you have to input that string while also calling the kameo around the “2” in the string as well doing dbf1. And if you accidentally press down when you call the Kameo, it doesn’t work because Sektor’s missile will land in front of the opponent. Actually the hardest part is getting the dbf1 to come out because as I’ve said, the PS5 is garbage for bf inputs and since you have to press so many directional inputs just in this sequence alone, it’s very difficult to get the dbf1 to actually come out. I notice that with this dpad, when I’m trying to do all of this in quick succession, the up directional gets accidentally hit like… a lot of the times.

Anyway, the main issue that has been preventing me from completing the combo is after all that, the 2nd f4121. As I said, I kept trying to morph during the dbf1 from young shang, but it like prevents you from being able to combo after it for some reason. But doing f4121 and having to do f4,d+L1,121 is also super difficult to do. Because if you don’t do it quickly enough, the rest of the string just doesn’t come out.

I’m just pissed I finally got super lucky one time and somehow got it all to connect and literally failed on the last ground fb before the Fatal Blow. It was simply an input issue, as once again, dbf/dfb inputs are super inconsistent for me especially on the PS5 dpad. But I’ve practiced each section and practiced that one a lot, but was so excited I got the rest of the combo to connect, I rushed the input and failed.

Regardless, I’ll get it eventually. It’s just wild to me how difficult the combo is in general, but also just how much more difficult it is than every other T8 combo. Like, I have Johnny Cage as the next hardest and his, while it took awhile, was nowhere near as hard as Shang’s. The biggest issue with Cage’s was connecting the charged b2 after the kameo Jax grab and also memorizing the rest of the combo.

Seriously though, go do Kung Lao’s T8 and then look at Shang’s and tell me how it makes any sense that with one of them you probably could get it first try, while the other is ridiculously complicated and by far the most difficult NRS combo I’ve ever tried doing, lol.

Also I’m curious, do you think you could pull off Shang’s T8 again within 10 tries or so? Not saying to go try it because fck that, just curious if you THINK you’d be able to?

 

[xKhaoTik]

Also I’m curious, do you think you could pull off Shang’s T8 again within 10 tries or so? Not saying to go try it because fck that, just curious if you THINK you’d be able to?

Once I got it down, I was doing it back to back. The part you highlighted bold really is the hardest part of the combo tho.

I spent the most time of this trial. Took me a good 10-15 mins. I even had to rewatch the demo a few times just so I can see the sequence being put in. That helped a lot

 

[PrinceGoro]

idk if its because i play shang and i use sektor with a few characters too but i find his t8 to be easy.
the only annoying part was the fact that you had to morph on their specified timing for the morph back to old before the seconde loop instead of just morphing mid string.But if you start the missle call on the third hit of f4121 you have plenty of time to do it

edit: @Juggs you dont need to input it like that,you can just dial it in,and make sure to input morph before the cancle frames of dbf1 start.
so you do f4121,by the time you press the last 1 the 3rd hit happens and you press kameo button and then press dbf1 and then after all of it morph

 

[acowsik]

I have been trying to knock off the combo trials for chars including trial 8 and I am nowhere near the skill of you folks. I have only finished all trials for like 4 or 5 chars and the pending ones I am stuck on T6/T7/T8.

 

[xKhaoTik]

Finished all of them and I stand by Shang’s trial 8 being the hardest.

 

[Juggs]

idk if its because i play shang and i use sektor with a few characters too but i find his t8 to be easy.
the only annoying part was the fact that you had to morph on their specified timing for the morph back to old before the seconde loop instead of just morphing mid string.But if you start the missle call on the third hit of f4121 you have plenty of time to do it

edit: @Juggs you dont need to input it like that,you can just dial it in,and make sure to input morph before the cancle frames of dbf1 start.
so you do f4121,by the time you press the last 1 the 3rd hit happens and you press kameo button and then press dbf1 and then after all of it morph

No I’m not having an issue with that, I figured that out. It’s the after the 3 fireballs hit, you having to start f4121 as young shang and morph into old shang at the same time you press f4. Because as you said, they make you do it on their specific timing which is really stupid. I’ve gotten the combo like 3 times but it didn’t count because of that.

Anyway, it’s still wild to me how much more difficult Shang’s T8 is than everyone else’s.

 

[PrinceGoro]

No I’m not having an issue with that, I figured that out. It’s the after the 3 fireballs hit, you having to start f4121 as young shang and morph into old shang at the same time you press f4. Because as you said, they make you do it on their specific timing which is really stupid. I’ve gotten the combo like 3 times but it didn’t count because of that.

Anyway, it’s still wild to me how much more difficult Shang’s T8 is than everyone else’s.

yeah i failed a few times because of that too,i did the switch mid string but it didnt count,the one that worked for me was to manual switch before i start the seconde f4.

 

[Tony at Home]

Is there a way to reset without going into demo mode first?

I've done the first 7 for all characters and now I'm doing the 8's and this is driving me absolutely crazy.

I get half way through some combos just to realize it's a demo playing

 

[SeanTheGaymer]

I’m about to try it. Just finished Johnny Cage’s T8 and my god that was difficult.

I typically practice sections of the combo depending on how hard or long it is (giggity). And definitely had to do that with Cage’s. The hardest part is connecting his b2 where you have to hold it after Jax’s b+kameo. You’ll know what I mean when you see the combo.

In fact, it’s: 212, j2, 212, b32, b+kameo, hold b2, fdb4, bd1 xx bd1 xx df3, 214 xx bd1 xx bd1 xx Fatal Blow

I cant connect the jax he just jumps striated past. I input 2 back Kameo at the same time but nothing any tips?

 

[Juggs]

I cant connect the jax he just jumps striated past. I input 2 back Kameo at the same time but nothing any tips?

So up until that part, this is what the combo looks like in the T8: “212 -> j2 -> 212 -> f32 -> b+Kameo”

When you do the f32 input, you do f3,b+kameo,2 all in quick succession.

Once you get that down, then comes one of the hardest parts of the combo, at least for me. And that’s connecting his fully charged b2. You have to press and hold b2 as SOON as you possibly can after doing the “f3,b+kameo,2” sequence. Which, you can’t just mash it out, you have to time it, which is how most combos work in this game I’ve noticed. You can very rarely mash something out and have it actually work, it certainly doesn’t work consistently.

Anyway, then after you get the charging b2 to actually land after doing it as fast as possible after that sequence, then you have to pop his Star Power quickly as you can after the b2 connects. The rest after that still isn’t “easy”. But what I did, and what I did for a lot of the harder combos is I’ll practice them in sections. So for Johnny’s, I’d practice the combo from doing a fully charged b2 and on. That way when I finally was able to land the fully charged b2, I would be ready to complete the combo.

This definitely isn’t an easy combo by any stretch, and I’d say it’s the 2nd hardest T8 combo.