The most honest and fair character variation in MK11

Ok, so for me the MK11 roster is pretty lame for the most part. I guess I just dislike the flashy moves and neutral killing BS that most characters have. With that said, I believe that some characters have very fair and honest variations.

For example, a variation that forces you to learn to use your normals, staggers and general footsie game, is a variation that I consider legitimate and honest.

Let’s take a perfect example of a crappy variation based on the average player (not top or bottom in skill, just mid level)

A mid level Sub Zero player is usually spoiled by his cheesy tactics. Many sub zeros up to demi god rank don’t even use normals. They focus on their 50/50 tactis and hope for the best. So in a way this type of character encourages bad habits, and in turn, people get discouraged when their tricks stop working at higher levels. On the other hand, a character like Jax Grinnin Barret forces you to learn the neutral and the stagger game. You are basically encouraged to learn fundamentals with an honest character variation, while a cheap one gives you terrible habits until you realize this is not viable.

Why Grinning Barret is the most honest variation in my opinion:

-The only truly overpowered move is his Fatal Blow

-it takes skills to perform many of his advanced combos

-None of his specials are unreactable

-None of his strings are true 50/50s

-His highest damage combos require practice and skill

-Hi jump has no delays, no projectiles and no variations at all

Note: Hunker down is boring, cheesy and way too easy to use. I can't even consider going back to it now that I understand the game a bit more and I have fine tuned my grinning combos. Ringer is alright, but I can't stand not having gotcha.

Now, my second runner up for the most honest is Baraka and unlike Jax, I think all of his variations are pretty honest. I would think no other character is as honest as grinning jax and all barakas, but maybe I'm wrong.

With that said, I would to hear what you guys think are the top 5 most honest or least the “least cheesy” variations in the game.

Jacqui Briggs - Upgraded is the most honest variation.

Metin said:

Jacqui Briggs - Upgraded is the most honest variation.

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So with her being the character that is said to be broken, there is a variation that is the most fair in the game? nice. I will look into it as I haven't used jacqui that much.

Fan fare kitana hands down.

John_NX said:

Fan fare kitana hands down.

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I'd go more fearless. The mix is completely fuzziable and low can be Flawless blocked on MB. But same premise tbh. Once I start AA the float on a read or react and find a 90 percent way to deal with B1 stagger its lights out.

John_NX said:

Fan fare kitana hands down.

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Ok, but how is it more of a fair variation than the ones I mentioned based on the list I gave?

I'd go Sups OD cassie cage. Not saying shes not good shes still cassie. But when you lose to her it's all pretty much in you.
Flawless Block when I glow kick to help the mid safe it's a punish.
Jump out the low projectile at close range to set up it's a punish.
Dont mash after your locked poke and I wont open you up with mids all day.
Dont jump at me ever but you will and its B3 or S1
BF3 is a high but super risky.
Not a lot of damage.

Being that i also play kano, I might add him as a third in my list of most fair characters with his ripper variation. There is pretty much nothing about kano that is overpowered in that variation.

SHOCK JOCK.
JOHNNY CAGE.

Baraka tenfold, mainly cause thats who I main and I am a downplaying son of a bitch. Playing Baraka in KL is like going into machine gun fire with a musket. I have to hope your whole clip of mix ups, staggers, and wifi bullshit misses to take my one little shot. And If I miss? I have to patiently reload and hope that your next clip of mix ups, staggers, and wifi bullshit misses me again.

ticklebandit! said:

Baraka tenfold, mainly cause thats who I main and I am a downplaying son of a bitch. Playing Baraka in KL is like going into machine gun fire with a musket. I have to hope your whole clip of mix ups, staggers, and wifi bullshit misses to take my one little shot. And If I miss? I have to patiently reload and hope that your next clip of mix ups, staggers, and wifi bullshit misses me again.

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Perfect

Rodney Quillz said:

SHOCK JOCK.
JOHNNY CAGE.

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SJ main here and I will agree. You’ve pretty much already lost if you’re playing against most of the chicks and some of the males in the cast cause every forceball is gonna whiff. Can’t count how many times I could’ve closed a round or match out if I could just do f344 amped forceballs on chip but I can’t cause NRS can’t design a hitbox.
S2’s ? Whiffing like a motherfucka. I know people hate Johnny so they’ll never fully acknowledge his issues but I feel like they overlook them cause they just go showstopper and say “ OH HE HAS THE BIG DAMAGE COMBO WHO CARES ABOUT WHIFFS. “ That ain’t shit though the real test is shock jock. Where you actually have to use his kit and the two things given to you aren’t really worth shit. I want people to play SJ to feel the real pain

Trevor said:

So with her being the character that is said to be broken, there is a variation that is the most fair in the game? nice. I will look into it as I haven't used jacqui that much.

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I think your sarcasm detector is broken, bud.

Trevor said:

Ok, but how is it more of a fair variation than the ones I mentioned based on the list I gave?

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No real staggers, no mix-ups, no huge damage, no insane zoning. She's basically the most honest whiffpunisher in the game that can exist.

The most honest is the one I'm playing. The most unfair is the one you're playing, beating me with

This the pain-olympics? My character is worse than yours stuff?

Dunno why people refer to "honest" in fighting games instead of just saying bad.

the most honest and fair characters are obviously 1st round ko and upgraded jaqui, because they are the only ones without those unfair coward spammer projectiles.

I used to think like this but frankly most characters in this game are decently honest. I feel like people usually use dishonest to describe any strong tool and honest to feel proud of playing weak characters. Downplaying other peoples success and OSing your own deficiencies as a player

John_NX said:

no huge damage

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Wait a minute lol fan fare has some of the best meterless damage in the game. But I agree with everything else. She’s very honest

Pitch Black Noob Saibot. You deserve your own fully-functioning real life Shadow double as a reward for your suffering.

Whoever designed Sickle Toss, and the 10 Shadow Special KB that ONLY counts Tackle and Slide, so it's all but is invalidated in his most Shadow Special-heavy variation, should be wished well in their future endeavors and sent back to school.

This game makes me want to eat my own head.

I agree with Jax GB, kiiiinda with Baraka (Bone picker for sure I'd say is the most honest) and agree with FanFare as well.

I'd say all three of the above take actual dedication, skill, and proper MU knowledge to properly utilize. Hands over fist more honest than a sub zero like you mentioned.
I'd probably throw in Dvorah Buzzed in the conversation honestly. Noob Dark Sabbath is up there. Dark Sabbath is like Fanfare in that it's a whiff punisher with no real staggers that is easily defended and shut down. You gotta know your shit to succeed imo. In fact Sabbath has much in common with what you said about GB, esp in regards to skill for execution of truly damaging combos.

I don't know who I'd say is the MOST but I think all the above are in the "honest" category.

DixieFlatline78 said:

I used to think like this but frankly most characters in this game are decently honest. I feel like people usually use dishonest to describe any strong tool and honest to feel proud of playing weak characters. Downplaying other peoples success and OSing your own deficiencies as a player

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Nah, you see, it's pretty evident that any character that ruins the footsie game and the neutral is a piece of sh$t, and it really has nothing to do with winning or losing. Honest characters don't force you to play a conservative crappy style that is not fun at all.

Also, to say this is downlplaying people's succes is like not calling a fighter a cheater in real life if he uses a baseball bat in a bareknuckle fight. I think a perfect example of how a character can help you win is with Sonicfox and his Joker. He destroys people wth mixups with that character, but he got his ass handed to him left and right for the duration of his Robocop tenure lol - specially when he used non-low auto 9 variations that are too fair and too stripped of shennanigans. By this I am not taking away from his skills, but it was evident that a fair character was making him struggle big time.

Fair and unfair characters in MK are a real thing and it's heavily unbalanced.

Trevor said:

Nah, you see, it's pretty evident that any character that ruins the footsie game and the neutral is a piece of sh$t, and it really has nothing to do with winning or losing. Honest characters don't force you to play a conservative crappy style that is not fun at all.

Also, to say this is downlplaying people's succes is like not calling a fighter a cheater in real life if he uses a baseball bat in a bareknucle fight. I think a perfect example of how a character can help you win is with Sonicfox and his Joker. He destroys people wth mixups with that character, but he got his ass handed to him left and right for the duration of his Robocop tenure lol - specially when he used non-low auto 9 variations that are too fair and too stripped of shennanigans. By this I am not taking away from his skills, but it was evident that a fair character was making him struggle big time.

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I find a lot wrong with this post.

People act like dash punches, wave dashes, and the like ruin the neutral, but they're part of the neutral. There are ways to deal with these tools, and to exploit them if people use them as a crutch.

Using strong characters is well within the rules of the game. Theres always an implication that using stronger characters is underhanded in some way, which is not true. They're playing the same game that you are and the game is designed so that characters have strong tools. If you dont want to use a top tier because you feel like they're too powerful and a crutch, that's fine but you should also accept the consequences of playing a weaker character. Sonic struggling with Robocop isnt necessarily because the character is "honest" it's because the character is lacking.

Separating characters into honest/dishonest is a dishonest way of talking about the game tbh

Also I do want to say this is all in the context of MK11. There definitely are characters whose playstyles are detrimental to the game's health but I dont see them in MK11

Zer0_h0ur said:

I'd probably throw in Dvorah Buzzed

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Agreed! It takes skill to do the setups required to make Buzzed work. It's not easy especially against zoners but it's so much fun if you can make it work.

I'd like to add Kabal's Mean Streak as well. Honest damage and relies on the NMD cancels for pressure. I havn't seen many of them around and even less that bring out the best of this variation. Lovethoughts has always been my go-to example of how to play him.