So since we were going to start talking about mid tier characters, I'd like to start talking about my favorite mall kop. So I'm going to break this down into strengths and weaknesses as I see them. Feel free to add anything if you know something I don't. Stryker doesn't seem like a very explored character as of yet, and the only pro I know of trying him is OnlineTony, and he hasn't been on stream yet. (Guess he didn't make top 8 at WNF.
)
Pros:
Gunshot- Can be delayed, can be faked, start-up is meh, but it's instant once it's out. Does two hits so beats some armor. Works as a long range anti-air. Pretty much the core of his offense.
Decent damage at mid screen, netting 34% plus a reset or 37-39% Also by switching his combo ender between roll and
he can move you forwards or backwards toward the corner.
Good corner damage off both high and low combo starters, (45%) his overhead is good in the corner, can anti-air a jump attempt out of the corner to about 35-40% depending on ex.
Can use
to gunshot as a midscreen reset that you can't wake up from. Gunshot can be fired, or canceled into dash for throw/sweep mixup, or jump for crossup punch mixup. Not perfectly safe but good anyway.
Long range poke/anti-air in
causes a weird semi-stagger that you can fake gunshot/dash after. Not long enough for a safe jump, but good for a quick high/low/throw mixup and reset-ing distance. If it hits as an anti-air, nets 18% or 25% for 1 meter. Can be followed by a full combo if anti-airing the opponent into a corner.
Fast sweep and fast uppercut.
Cons:
Slow normals/chains- Nothing except
comes out quick. His
while it could be a good poke takes so long to get to active frames that it's ridiculous.
is a super obvious overhead that he can be punished out of on block. He can't follow his
,
with anything. In fact his only two chains that lead to real damage are only useful as obvious punishes or after a jumping punch.
Zoning- His gunshot and grenades can be ducked. They're unsafe from midscreen, especially on whiff. The grenades are finicky and take forever to get out on screen. Teleporters can basically devastate him on reaction, and while you can fake gunshot to try and bait things the fact that you cannot block until you complete a full dash animation means that fast teleports like Raiden's still go through and he can still punish you. Also he can't keep up in a zoning war against noob. He will trade badly with clones no matter which projectile he uses, and without a teleport, and with his fast special (roll) causing them to be far, he can't even really stay on him. Worse unlike other zoning heavy characters, none of his projectiles knock down, so approaching him is much easier than approaching Noob or Shang. Also his projectiles never lead to more than 9% damage, so unlike Reptile/Shang/Ermac/Smoke, your opponent isn't afraid of being scooped into huge damage.
Bad punishes- For many things with tight punishment windows like Kung Lao's spin, his best punish is dash up
for 8% damage. It makes it completely worth risking things like spin/superman/shadow kick on him because his punishment is insubstantial.
Situational AA- For as much as I like
as an anti-air it isn't nearly as fool proof as something like up-clone or tele push. It has to be done early, it has a long window of vulnerability before active frames and even done perfectly often trades with jumping kicks. It nets him good damage, but still less than some characters, and at closer ranges he has to fall back on uppercut.
Nothing exceptional- Stryker can win, but I feel like all his tools are replicated elsewhere more effectively. He basically falls back on the basic guessing game to win. I don't feel like I'm playing the strengths of the character as much as the engine. Especially with how easily his zoning breaks down in certain matchups and the weird almost buglike issue with his fake gunshot cancel being unsafe for so long, it's hard to see how he is really supposed to be used.
Worst matchups- Hard to say since I haven't played a ton, but Noob is stupendously hard, as is Ermac, anyone who forces you to approach really, his block dash isn't super fast, so he has to block a lot on his way in, and his combo enders/specials tend to create distance. Kung Lao, since he isn't afraid of spinning you. His teleport mixup is brutal on your zoning attempts, and your anti-projectile special (roll) doesn't work against ground hat. Raiden- Honestly it feels almost unwinnable, his teleport beats everything you have for free. At the right distance you can't punish superman for any damage. His chains come out faster than anything you have. You can't ever whiff an attack against him. It's just bad.
Also I haven't played a good one since PowerUp but I feel like Reptile is probably a bad match too. If your zoning trades he wins because he gets a full combo. Plus he gets most of his good damage opportunities from crossup jumpin punch which Reptile gets out of for free. Also reptile doesn't approach much by jumping, so you can't expect to pick up anti-air damage either.
I have a feeling Smoke/Shang are probably bad matchups too if only because trading projectiles against them costs you so much.
Some people think sheeva is decent she has more tools than baraka thats for sure!
