Mortal Kombat (2011) Matchup Chart

[CY MasterHavik]

Yeah, it'll get updated. I haven't touched it much as of late, but it's getting VERY close to being filled up.

Cool let's see how ex dash punch and gp cancel help Jax match up wise.

Nori: It's not only this kommunity. It goes for the whole FG community in general.

 

[Altaire]

I disagree, because CSZ can use that parry just once to make Sub think twice about pressuring him. And CSZ has his own decent corner-pressure. Besides, CSZ doesn't have to go for block-strings after teleporting, he can always throw, or low, or mix up in other ways.

It's at least 5-5 in my opinion.

...You DO know that the parry can be punished with an ice ball for a full combo if it's read, right? With the refreeze, that's 35% every time he successfully reads a parry. Cyber Sub's parry is a great way to get out of pressure, but it's not the godsend it's made out to be. So many characters can punish it with full combos, and even if they can't, you can poke them out of it 100% of the time. Hell, a lot of contact specials go through the parry, such as Nightwolf's hatchet and Sektor's telepunch. No, I'm not even talking about the EX versions. The bottom line is that no matter what the matchup may be, overusing the parry will cost you the match. It may shut down scrubs, but to a good player, parrying too often is just a quick way to get bodied.

Cyber Subs vs. Subs is a 6-4 for the simple fact that Sub Zero can dictate the pace of the matchup. Subs is strong both offensively and defensively, where Cyber Subs is limited to offensive tactics. Bomb setups are real cute and all, but naked bombs should be used sparingly (and only to get your opponent off his spot). The underlying issue here is that Subs has an answer to Cyber Sub's pressure and can easily apply some of his own, yet he can still turtle it out to force Cyber Subs from advancing. Again, Sub Zero can set the pace of the matchup very easily, and while Cyber Subs can beat him, he has to play by Sub's rules to do it. The only way Subs is at a disadvantage is if his clone setups are too predictable, in which case Cyber Subs is just going to EX divekick for 18% whenever he has the meter to spare. QED, a good Sub Zero is always going to be a 6-4 with a good Cyber Subs.

 

[RWDY Nori]

Nori: It's not only this kommunity. It goes for the whole FG community in general.

I half agree w/this. There are some games where there are STILL S tiers in the game. As THTB said, S tiers in the past were fucking stupid. I'm about to be 28 and I remember Dictator (M. Bison for non SF players) in Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition. He was the stupidest SF char created minus Akuma. He was unbeatable at high level, everybody picked him to win.

Tekken 4 has Jin, Tekken 5 has Steve, MK2 has Mileena/Jax, SF4 had Sagat, 3S had Ken/Yun/Chun. THOSE are all S tier chars. S Tier chars DOMINATE the rest of the cast.

MK9 has A tier, top tier chars only. KL, Raiden, Kabal, Cage, Reptile, throw your favorite char of the week, ALL top tier. I just wish people actually gave more thought to their posts instead of jumping on this S tier bandwagon that doesn't exist in MK9

 

[Altaire]

I really hope one day the MK community drops the whole "S tier" garbage, cause NOBODY in this game is S tier. There are some top tiers, mid tiers and a couple of low tiers

100% fully relative to the game in question, so no. "S-tier" in Street Fighter terms means absolutely gamebreaking, a la vanilla Sagat or the wonder twins. S-tier in MK9 is mostly just used to refer to the top 5-10 characters.

I personally don't give a shit about the letters at face value, and neither should you. When I see S-tier in MK9 terms (the context that most people seem to use it in, anyway), I see a top-tier character. When I see A+, I see high-mid. When I see A, I see mid. I think it's a little weak to have the overwhelming majority of the cast in A+ or A, as it does a poor job of establishing a character hierarchy, but it is what it is. Tiers are tiers, the letter in front of them is inconsequential.

 

[THTB]

S-tier in general for fighters usually meant god-tier. Now it refers to top-tier, but w/e. It's a really grey area in comparison to just straight top tier, bottom tier, etc.

But based on what I feel is S-tier, Kung Lao comes really, REALLY close, but because he actually has a problematic matchup, he doesn't really cut it as a god among characters.

On a sidenote, a proposal for numbers...are halves okay? Like 6.5-3.5 or 4.5-5.5? Sometimes you hit grey areas in matchups where it's not hard enough to be a higher number, but it's too hard to be a lower number.

 

[The_Riddler]

...You DO know that the parry can be punished with an ice ball for a full combo if it's read, right? With the refreeze, that's 35% every time he successfully reads a parry. Cyber Sub's parry is a great way to get out of pressure, but it's not the godsend it's made out to be. So many characters can punish it with full combos, and even if they can't, you can poke them out of it 100% of the time. Hell, a lot of contact specials go through the parry, such as Nightwolf's hatchet and Sektor's telepunch. No, I'm not even talking about the EX versions. The bottom line is that no matter what the matchup may be, overusing the parry will cost you the match. It may shut down scrubs, but to a good player, parrying too often is just a quick way to get bodied.

Cyber Subs vs. Subs is a 6-4 for the simple fact that Sub Zero can dictate the pace of the matchup. Subs is strong both offensively and defensively, where Cyber Subs is limited to offensive tactics. Bomb setups are real cute and all, but naked bombs should be used sparingly (and only to get your opponent off his spot). The underlying issue here is that Subs has an answer to Cyber Sub's pressure and can easily apply some of his own, yet he can still turtle it out to force Cyber Subs from advancing. Again, Sub Zero can set the pace of the matchup very easily, and while Cyber Subs can beat him, he has to play by Sub's rules to do it. The only way Subs is at a disadvantage is if his clone setups are too predictable, in which case Cyber Subs is just going to EX divekick for 18% whenever he has the meter to spare. QED, a good Sub Zero is always going to be a 6-4 with a good Cyber Subs.

I completely agree with you. Sub beats Cyber Sub because of his superior defense and superior ice blast. And he can dictate the pace of the match, as you pointed out. We saw an extreme example of this at PowerUp when Reo played Tom Brady. Reo's Cyber Sub had to totally flip his play style to match up with Brady's Sub Zero.

 

[RWDY Nori]

I think it's a little weak to have the overwhelming majority of the cast in A+ or A, as it does a poor job of establishing a character hierarchy, but it is what it is. Tiers are tiers, the letter in front of them is inconsequential.

Exactly. This just astounds me the community does this

THTB: Maybe I'm old school but yes, exactly, I remember S tier being a fucked up tier that you expect to win every tournament now it's just........nvm. I'm at a loss for words

 

[THTB]

It's kinda why my tier list is gonna change as soon as we get all the numbers filled in.

 

[sleepykyo]

S Tier chars DOMINATE the rest of the cast.

S tier doesn't necessarily equate to god tier. VF games have always had S tier, but VF itself is considered fairly balanced.

Though I would agree if were about 7-3 and 8-2 being around liberally. People need to watch some Zangief v. Akuma in SSF4 was 7 - 3 despite Zangief having to navigate a fireball obstacle course, being big enough that the second hit of Akuma's f+rh (which gives frame advantage) always hit and Akuma having two meter less options for getting out of the corner. And then he gets to look forward to doing again on another round with positions reset.

 

[RWDY Nori]

S tier doesn't necessarily equate to god tier. VF games have always had S tier, but VF itself is considered fairly balanced.

Though I would agree if were about 7-3 and 8-2 being around liberally. People need to watch some Zangief v. Akuma in SSF4 was 7 - 3 despite Zangief having to navigate a fireball obstacle course, being big enough that the second hit of Akuma's f+rh (which gives frame advantage) always hit and Akuma having two meter less options for getting out of the corner. And then he gets to look forward to doing again on another round with positions reset.

Or Sim vs Cammy in SSF4. HORRIBLE for poor Sim. And yes, VF is the ONLY balanced game that has had S tier, but it's generally understood, even from Japan where it was created, that S tier is undisputed top near broken tier. We don't have anything like that in this game, not even KL who everybody whines about

 

[The_Riddler]

It's kinda why my tier list is gonna change as soon as we get all the numbers filled in.

Do you think the DLC characters will get numbers any time soon? It's obviously early, but filling in matches that seem straightforward can't really be a bad thing.

Also, I would seriously consider changing Cyber-Sub vs. Raiden to a 5/5.

 

[THTB]

Now that EVO is over, people are going to concentrate on playing DLC characters if they were planning on using them after.

 

[M2Dave]

S tier doesn't necessarily equate to god tier. VF games have always had S tier, but VF itself is considered fairly balanced.

Correct. Some Tekken 6 tier lists also use "S" albeit the game is very balanced. The letters are arbitrary. They do not necessarily represent god, top, mid, and low tiers.

@ Raidenwins, I was talking about b+3,1~d,f+2, for example. d,f+2, even though very unsafe, stops Reptile's elbow dash. Again, I dislike this match up a lot for Raiden.

@ Pig, I am aware of Kenshi's weakness to cross ups when he is grounded. Many characters in the game have the same weakness unless they have a wake up move that advances forward (i.e., Reptile's elbow dash, Nightwolf's shoulder, Skarlet's red dash, etc.) or they are named Kung Lao (spin) and Rain (gesyer kick). When you cross him up when is standing, Kenshi can jump back, punch, d,b+1 + minor combo which is solid.

 

[CY MasterHavik]

I half agree w/this. There are some games where there are STILL S tiers in the game. As THTB said, S tiers in the past were fucking stupid. I'm about to be 28 and I remember Dictator (M. Bison for non SF players) in Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition. He was the stupidest SF char created minus Akuma. He was unbeatable at high level, everybody picked him to win.

Tekken 4 has Jin, Tekken 5 has Steve, MK2 has Mileena/Jax, SF4 had Sagat, 3S had Ken/Yun/Chun. THOSE are all S tier chars. S Tier chars DOMINATE the rest of the cast.

MK9 has A tier, top tier chars only. KL, Raiden, Kabal, Cage, Reptile, throw your favorite char of the week, ALL top tier. I just wish people actually gave more thought to their posts instead of jumping on this S tier bandwagon that doesn't exist in MK9

I can agree with that.

 

[mingzang]

Now KL is the best ? Why ? IMO Reptile > KL .

 

[CptXecution]

Correct. Some Tekken 6 tier lists also use "S" albeit the game is very balanced.

HAHAHAHAHAHA did you see EVO? This is clearly a joke. Over 20 characters and 4 were used and 70% was Bob 25% was Law 3% was Bryan and 2% was Miguel. Pretty balanced.

 

[Klunker]

I think that Raiden, Reptile and KL are all about even in terms of fighting against the rest of the cast, and this is in no particular order. Everyone else is below them. But they are easily the three best in the game at the moment.

Everyone else is pretty much at their own even level. Not saying that the top 3 are ridiculously overpowered or anything. It's just when the game comes down to who has the best tools, these three top everyone else.

 

[D. R.]

HAHAHAHAHAHA did you see EVO? This is clearly a joke. Over 20 characters and 4 were used and 70% was Bob 25% was Law 3% was Bryan and 2% was Miguel. Pretty balanced.

Don't let EVO be the deciding factor of "balance" in T6. The game is very balanced and alot of top players using a plethora of characters didn't make it to EVO this year. Top characters are Bryan, Steve, Bruce, Law, Bob, Lars, Julia, and Jack6. Bob is just easy to use with almost all the offensive tools, so he's used more at top level as mistakes in T6 usually are punished hard to the point of a lose or damn near it. Tekken is very balanced. No top player will say otherwise.

 

[hardwire]

Don't let EVO be the deciding factor of "balance" in T6. The game is very balanced and alot of top players using a plethora of characters didn't make it to EVO this year. Top characters are Bryan, Steve, Bruce, Law, Bob, Lars, Julia, and Jack6. Bob is just easy to use with almost all the offensive tools, so he's used more at top level as mistakes in T6 usually are punished hard to the point of a lose or damn near it. Tekken is very balanced. No top player will say otherwise.

this is very true

back b4 i stoped playing it (damn you mvc3) i could beast any one of thows with a hworang he was considered a very very low teir fighter

 

[stuffy]

Hi im new, i think this chart is pretty accurate. although i disagree with one matchup.

ermac vs cyrax: Ive played alot of good cyraxs and i disagree with this being 4:6 cyraxs favour. Firstly ermac can trade safely with net at full screen. At mid screen a blocked net can be punished with tkp. Ermac does pretty heavy damge of his own, although not as good as cyraxs damage, he can hold his own in the damage department.

If cyrax trys to get in on ermac with a teleport, ermac can punish it on reaction and get a free tks combo through low punch->tks. If cyrax goes for a bomb trap ermac can teleport (although this could be baited). Since cyrax has to go threw alot of prep for his bomb trap (long bomb, mid bomb net or mid bomb, long bomb net) this leaves a good thresh hold for ermacs teleport. Ermac can also screw up these traps with a fireball. Ermac has alot of tools to deal with cyrax and keep him out. Ermac should ALWAYS be saving his meter for breakers as cyraxs damage and resets are too painful. I do not know how good cyraxs close up game is so this is where my conclusion could be wrong, just know cyrax is going to have a difficult time getting in.

IMO this is 5:5 or 6:4 ermacs favour but im leaning more towards 5:5 as cyraxs damage is just insane.

Go easy on me im new

 

[THTB]

Now KL is the best ? Why ? IMO Reptile > KL .

Kung Lao's matchup numbers are generally better, having more matchups in more favorable numbers and having less bad ones.

 

[Konqrr]

Hi im new, i think this chart is pretty accurate. although i disagree with one matchup.

ermac vs cyrax: Ive played alot of good cyraxs and i disagree with this being 4:6 cyraxs favour. Firstly ermac can trade safely with net at full screen. At mid screen a blocked net can be punished with tkp. Ermac does pretty heavy damge of his own, although not as good as cyraxs damage, he can hold his own in the damage department.

If cyrax trys to get in on ermac with a teleport, ermac can punish it on reaction and get a free tks combo through low punch->tks. If cyrax goes for a bomb trap ermac can teleport (although this could be baited). Since cyrax has to go threw alot of prep for his bomb trap (long bomb, mid bomb net or mid bomb, long bomb net) this leaves a good thresh hold for ermacs teleport. Ermac can also screw up these traps with a fireball. Ermac has alot of tools to deal with cyrax and keep him out. Ermac should ALWAYS be saving his meter for breakers as cyraxs damage and resets are too painful. I do not know how good cyraxs close up game is so this is where my conclusion could be wrong, just know cyrax is going to have a difficult time getting in.

IMO this is 5:5 or 6:4 ermacs favour but im leaning more towards 5:5 as cyraxs damage is just insane.

Go easy on me im new

Ermac doesn't have anything safe to stop Cyrax up close and a blocked teleport with little to no meter = 100% combo dead with one meter for Cyrax. A good Cyrax isn't going to be throwing out nets at random up close. Bombs are pretty much safe because for Ermac to punish them, he has to get off of the bomb first or he gets hit by it. It's not a trade he wants to get stuck in often. Cyrax can teleport without fear of being punished on reaction to an Ermac projectile. If you think to try a lift and the Cyrax player blocks it or jumps over it... you are dead.

Don't get me wrong, Ermac can absolutely win, but it's not easy and definitely in favor of Cyrax.

I adjusted some of Kitana's matchups from new technology learned at EVO. She goes 6-4 vs both Nightwolf (small hitbox nullifies his f3 pressure game) and Sektor (his wakeup is completely useless against her f21, he is required to block it or get hit), and 5-5 vs Stryker (d1 stops all rolls, even enhanced. She can also advance under gunshots to get in with ff~d1. He can't zone her out.) I feel that Cage vs Kitana is 6-4 in her favor as well because of her hitbox ducking under the second hit of f32, but more testing is required for his other options of pressure.

 

[16 Bit]

I don't know about Kitana vs. Sektor at 6-4. I roomed with Sektroll so we were playing hella casuals in addition our tourney set. Even though she kills his wakeup it still felt even. I had to be very careful with fans because of instant air teleport and I could not punish whiffed flames on reaction. I don't see how it's possible, it recovers too fast.

 

[Konqrr]

I don't know about Kitana vs. Sektor at 6-4. I roomed with Sektroll so we were playing hella casuals in addition our tourney set. Even though she kills his wakeup it still felt even. I had to be very careful with fans because of instant air teleport and I could not punish whiffed flames on reaction. I don't see how it's possible, it recovers too fast.

Good stuff. I'll have to experiment with the matchup more.

You have to play the match from just outside of flame range. That way, it is much more difficult for him to reaction teleport your fans and you can punish his jumps, flames, and missiles. You basically play it just like the Smoke match.

If you are watching for it, flame is punishable by EX Fan. I punish Noob's up shadow on reaction lol

 

[D. R.]

...I punish Noob's up shadow on reaction lol

:'( Damn Kitana.