Help countering pressure?

[Fate]

First I wanna say this site is amazing. The things I've learned just browsing it for the last few weeks have helped so much. I never get into "2D" fighters competitively but I have played MMA fighting games as a top player (Both UFC, EA MMA) so the genre is fun. That along with the fact that I loved MK1-3 as a kid made me have to pick this title up. Moving on..

I'm getting better each day. I main SZ and I have a few things I get destroyed by. Pressure absolutely kills me if someone is just jumping back and forth over my head doing combos. How do you deal with this? Especially with someone fast like Liu Kang for example. I'll block his string and then he has an advantage so he gets a jump over to the other side doing either the same combo or a different one. Throw in sweeps, grabs, etc and I'm lost. I just sit there turtled. I try to slide away, that works sometimes but eventually they get back in on me from constant rushing and it begins all over. I have no room to breath. I can't clone because they're right on me and it doesn't come out.

I'm not complaining saying this game is broken or anything because obviously it's not. It's just a flaw in my game I need to fix. How do you work around this? I think the punches are referred to as cross up punches right? It's like constant block strings + cross ups leave me sitting there. Combos eventually do land for damage and it starts all over plus my opponent gets easy meter from all that chip damage. Any tips on dealing with this type of pressure and countering it?

 

[An R Key5993]

If you're playing Sub Zero try Ice Clone as they're coming near you. If you play as another character try and punish it with different moves, for example Ermac's Force Push is good for countering jumping enemies, etc. For Sub Zero though definitely try and use your ice clone as they are jumping at you but I do believe if he gets too close it won't work for some reason. Also if you do get to use your ice clone and that did not catch him just hide behind it and use your freeze, for characters with teleport sometimes that can be a problem. I've seen Sub Zeros who will stand INSIDE their Ice Clone to be able to be protected while shooting Ice Blasts. Remember with Sub Zero there is no shame in winning by allowing the time to run out, he is one of the best characters for keeping others at bay. Hope this helped some =).

 

[Dark_Rob]

First I wanna say this site is amazing. The things I've learned just browsing it for the last few weeks have helped so much. I never get into "2D" fighters competitively but I have played MMA fighting games as a top player (Both UFC, EA MMA) so the genre is fun. That along with the fact that I loved MK1-3 as a kid made me have to pick this title up. Moving on..

I'm getting better each day. I main SZ and I have a few things I get destroyed by. Pressure absolutely kills me if someone is just jumping back and forth over my head doing combos. How do you deal with this? Especially with someone fast like Liu Kang for example. I'll block his string and then he has an advantage so he gets a jump over to the other side doing either the same combo or a different one. Throw in sweeps, grabs, etc and I'm lost. I just sit there turtled. I try to slide away, that works sometimes but eventually they get back in on me from constant rushing and it begins all over. I have no room to breath. I can't clone because they're right on me and it doesn't come out.

I'm not complaining saying this game is broken or anything because obviously it's not. It's just a flaw in my game I need to fix. How do you work around this? I think the punches are referred to as cross up punches right? It's like constant block strings + cross ups leave me sitting there. Combos eventually do land for damage and it starts all over plus my opponent gets easy meter from all that chip damage. Any tips on dealing with this type of pressure and countering it?

Ok this is a fairly common problem with newcomers especially against Liu Kang and Smoke. Liu Kangs B3,1,2 is a good pressure string that starts with a low. The first time every player gets locked down by this they feel helpless because it appears to be safe on block AND give Liu Kang advantage. Well it is safe on block but Liu kang is at disadvantage after a blocked string. You can interupt with D+1 or D+3 and cancel into ice clone to create space. You can also jump out of it as long as you release block quickly enough after the last hit. When he starts the string again the first hit is a low and you will already be in the air so it will whiff.

Alright for your other problem lets use Smoke as an example. Alot of new Smoke players will relentlessly hunt with his 3,D+1,2 string looking for that launcher.Smokes 3,D+1,2 is a 3 hit popup string that leads into his hugely damaging 50% OTG smoke bomb combos, so you definitely dont want to get hit by it. So they keep hopping back and forth over your head trying to hit this popup so they can get they're big damage.
So basically they will try to do JP,3,D+1,2,crossup JP,3,D+1,2,crossup JP,3,D+1,2 over and over again until they connect it.
Here some simple ways out of it.

1. As soon as they finish one rep of 3,D+1,2 you know they are going to jump over you. Jump back with a quick jump kick and knock them out of the air.(This works against anyone in the cast but be careful doing it to Smoke to much because if he catches on he will air throw you as you jump leading to his OTG smoke bomb) You'll get away with it once or twice.

2. You mentioned you use SubZero. Subzero's 2,2 maybe the most godlike normal in the game. 2,2 is a quick strike followed by a sweeping upward swing of his ice sword. The arc of this second hit is amazing. It covers everywhere infront of Subzero, and the hitbox actually extends over his head and even in back of it. The range is also amazing. 2,2 may be the best normal in the game. Anytime someone tries to crossup jump you and you know its coming, just throw 2,2 out there. It will most likely catch them and you can link in a freeze as they are landing for a full combo.

3. Jump in the opposite direction. When they jump behind you remember they are looking to start with a JP again. They have to wait until they are on the other side of you and fairly low to the ground to start with a JP. When they leave the ground jump foward to just get out of there. When they land you arent even there.

Mix these up to so your opponent is never sure what your gonna do. Jumping either at or near Subzero is just never a good idea though. Jump at him and you land on an ice clone. Jump near him or over him and 2,2 will knock you out of the air. Stick with it man, Sub is a beast.

 

[Fate]

Sub will always be my main. I've loved him since I was little. His style in this game is amazing. You could be defensive or rush in on an opponent and leave him wondering what comes next. I have most of his combo's down but they become a little tricky with lag online. All I need to work is being good defensively to become an above average player. I will put all tips to work next time I encounter this. I just have to get a hold of myself because when it happens I just get lost. If I pick an opening correctly and strike then I break it instead of becoming overwhelmed I could turn it around. I'll get used to using 22 as an AA. I really need to practice hit confirming it too so that'll help. thanks for the tips.

Do you have any small tips per character? Things like no use blocking low against Smoke or Raiden besides a sweep (I've read around here)? It could really help me understand what each character is going to be looking for.

 

[An R Key5993]

If it's directly Sub-Zero we're talking about I'd say:

Scorpion: Don't stay in one place too long, because a good Scorpion uses Hellfire strategically
Liu Kang: Stay behind your Ice Clones and do not rush him, a good player can Parry people who rush
Kung Lao: I really can't help you, he's my weakness
Sub-Zero: When using Sub-Zero I don't know you just have to play better, block high though because people like to use Y,Y,Y which has a overhead hit
Sindel: From what I notice try to get in close, she doesn't seem like the best close ranged fighter
Ermac: Be safe, he's a really good punisher
Reptile: Keep your distance and duck when you do, his acid spit is the only long distance THREAT (forceballs can be slid under I think)
Kitana: Ice Clone, stay defensive, not sure if it's the best but most Kitana players I play against are aggressive
Johnny Cage: Play defensive, he has no immediate long range threats but can really dish out damage close range.
Jade: Really tough battle because she is one of the safest characters I know, but I'd say stay defensive and block low when away high when close
Mileena: Block high, luckily all of her dangerous attacks are high blocks, her little split kick thing is troublesome but not really life threatening
Nightwolf: Slide a lot, in my opinion at least, not sure if Ice Blast can be reflected or not
Cyrax: Just stay in close and I think you'll be ok, not seen any good Cyrax players online
Noob: Stay close because most players just spam his Shadow moves, not sure what to do with high level players because I've never been around any
Smoke: Yes block high and just punish his teleport because that seems to be the spam everyone uses, along with smoke bomb which my be punishable with a slide, haven't tried
Sektor: Block high and punish his Teleport Punch, play more close range though because long range Sub-Zero would easily lose to Sektor
Sonya: Haven't seen any good Sonya players, play defensive and you should be good cause I see a lot of people spam the Dive kick attack
Jax: Long range is not Jax's forte but unfortunately he has a long distance ground pound, get your distance and slide when he starts up the pound animation and you should be good
Kano: Only seen spammers, but just slide a lot to counter his Knives, I don't think you can slide under a roll though
Stryker: Play aggressive, haven't seen any good Stryker players so just keep playing aggressive and they should be taken care of
Shang Tsung: Very annoying if they play him right, be unpredictable cause Tsung can play every part of the field well
Baraka: Play about midrange with him, he has a nice wake-up chop chop for close defense but his projectile is way to slow to worry about
Kabal: Block low, from what I see his Air Ball, Dash, and Saw can be blocked with a low block
Raiden: Never ever ever ever ever seen a good Raiden player, I know they're out there though cause of this forum, but anyway just block and wait for them to Electric Fly at you and punish punish punish, high blocks of course
Cyber Sub-Zero: Play defensive, his ranged game seems to be lacking
Sheeva: Play defensive, if a good Sheeva player gets you close range it can be over quickly
Quan Chi: I say defensive again, with high blocks and lot's of Ice Clones

Hope this helped =)

 

[Mechacide]

2. You mentioned you use SubZero. Subzero's 2,2 maybe the most godlike normal in the game. 2,2 is a quick strike followed by a sweeping upward swing of his ice sword. The arc of this second hit is amazing. It covers everywhere infront of Subzero, and the hitbox actually extends over his head and even in back of it. The range is also amazing. 2,2 may be the best normal in the game. Anytime someone tries to crossup jump you and you know its coming, just throw 2,2 out there. It will most likely catch them and you can link in a freeze as they are landing for a full combo.

Quick question to do with this:

I often find that when I'm at point-blank range, and the opp is jumping back and forth over my head for pressure, if I throw out 2,2 to AA them, the lack of auto-correct in the game causes Sub to perform the move the wrong way. Is there a way to manually correct it? Such as tapping a direction a frame or two before 2,2? Or is it just to do with when you time it?
Or should I be unBLKing and using 2,2 to catch them at the start of their jump arc, as opposed to after they get over my head?

Something to add for the OP: I find that a NJP can be a great counter-pressure tool when you KNOW they're gonna jump over you. The follow-up combo does nice dmg, too, because there's no need to use freeze in it (which increases scaling). However, don't get predictable with it, because if you're baited into it, it's very punishable.

 

[noobharvester]

I have a real hard time against constant cross over jump punchs. 2,2 doesn't auto track, his uppercut is too slow and ice clones do not come out. This leaves jump away kick as the only thing left to try. Hope it works.

 

[princemurphy]

When u know they are going to jump, NJP. It works