Strategy Anti Airing vs Not Anti Airing

[SpecOps2013]

Over the course of MKX, I have tried to anti air and have received mixed results. Here are my personal pros of anti airing vs not anti airing
ANTI AIR
If ur char has a good anti air move, by all means go ahead and anti air e.g ermac's d4. However, if ur char has a trash anti air that requires precise timing e.g. kenshi's standing 1, u risk getting ur anti air stuffed and eat a 30+%-40% combo just for simply doing a fundamental. This is especially risky against good jump in attacks e.g. Mileena's jump in punch/kick or Scorpion's jump 3. Moreover. u can input ur anti air move wrongly and get a different move altogether e.g. Scorpion's stand 3 into back 3 (recovery on b3 is also huge) when moving back and risked getting comboed. Now this isn't a huge factor if your execution is good but the risk is STILL THERE. Plus if I mistime my d2 and it whiffs, my opponent gets a free whiff punish into full combo.

NOT ANTI AIRING
This is what I do most of the time unless I am super confident with my char's anti air e.g Ermac's d4. I eat the full jump in into block string and if im lucky, I get out of it unscathed. However, the problem comes when my opponent starts mixing it up using jump ins into 50/50s or grab.

P.S. Asking this in the wake of Immortal Angel's dominance in the kombat cup. He beats most opponents by just jumping around and his opponent not anti airing him.

My question is, should u anti air or more precise WHEN should u anti air? Thanks for any reply/help

 

[The_Tile]

I've decided that the problem in MKX isn't the anti airs, the anti airs are actually pretty decent for the most part. It's just some characters like Scorpion with his J3, Mileena, Predator, Alien, damn even Quan, all have stupid jump ins so it makes it feel like your anti airs are shit when against any of the normal jump ins it would work fine. No matter how much they buff anti airs if the jump ins are still dumb it won't really make a difference.

Any advice I could give is just know which jump ins are stupid and try to trip guard those instead of anti airing. The rest of the jump ins can be anti aired normally, go into the lab and just test the ranges on some jump ins. Just make sure to realize that anti airing in practice mode is a lot easier than in a real game.

 

[TrulyAmiracle]

Idk if this is serious or not, but ideally you should anti-air every time it's possible. There are a lot of factors that come in play here, your character, your opponent's character, what move is used on both sides, spacing, what's the situation (neutral/knock down/jump over etc), your reaction/execution and so on.

Lets say you are kung jin vs scorpion, and you're in neutral. Scorpion decides to jump in with 3. Ideally you want to snipe the jump with up 1 for a full combo in mid range, but this needs a quick reaction so that you won't get beat or trade.
Same scenario only Scorpion is now closer before he jumps, you'd want to do down 2 here or stand 1 to anti-air but it is riskier than the previous range as you have less time and space to play with. If you saw it early enough or had a read go for the anti-air, otherwise blocking is a better bet.

Same thing again only now Scorpion is close enough that he jumps over you and does jump 3, here you can EX cartwheel the other way or try a down 1, but both are risky. The best option here is to run under if you're quick enough or backdash after blocking the jump.

In fantasy land you'd want to anti-air every jump and go for the option that nets a combo for maximum damage, but there's too many variables to do that everytime, even the best players will miss some chances that seem obvious from a viewer's perspective.
If you're too focused on the ground game waiting for a projectile or a run and they jump instead your reaction will be delayed. Focus on anti-airing too much and you'll get clipped by a low or miss an opportunity to punish an obvious projectile. It's all part of the meta game and the mindgames that happen in neutral.
Character strengths and weaknesses is also a factor, if I'm Scorpion and I'm playing against shotgun Jacqui I'll jump a lot coz I know her anti-airs generally suck and she needs to be super on point to stop my godlike jump 3. Hell, I could do it to test them and see what they'll do. Do you know how to stop this? Can you do it? If they do what did they use? Did they have to blow meter for 9% or was it a float to full combo? Just jumping in from an obvious distance can give you so much info about your opppnent and what they can do.

Now to be fair I haven't seen footage of Immorta Angel, but my point is that saying all he did was jump around and won is a very shallow perspective, look at the other factors. If all he did was really jump all day why didn't they stop him? Is there lag involved? What distance does he jump from? Does the opponent have a good option in that range? Did they even try? Has other stuff happened in the match to distract their attention from anti-airing? (ex: got hit by too many low Sais so now their attention is on protecting their shins)

 

[Solomon Gorondy]

I'd like to play a fighting game where they use Earth's gravity instead of Pluto's.

 

[youthinkyoubadyouaintbad]

It's pretty much impossible to antiair in mkx, save your antiairs for injustice 2

 

[DC4-3]

I found that if you can eliminate the fear of getting your anti-air attempt blown up, your anti-air game will improve significantly.

I know I really need to improve my game in other areas, but I'll just say this for now;
I got bodied in a set 20-5 against a very good player yesterday and 4 of my wins came from converting an anti-air into game ending 20-30% combos.

P. S. Kenshis s1 is definitely not a trash anti-air tool.

 

[Kooron Nation]

Honestly most D2's are pretty lenient with timing, just don't do them too early and they'll connect.

Some people just have jumping incorporated into their play style and won't stop even if you anti-air every jump.
Prime example was two nights ago I fought a Sub Zero player (I was Piercing Mileena) who got me first round from doing Sub's ridiculous JIP1 into 50/50/ice clone. I realised this was his strategy and so next round I only focused on anti-airing.
Mileena's B1 in Piercing is a great anti-air, can lead to about 40% if you spend a bar, anyways beat him using only B1 anti-air.
First thing he did in third round was jump 1.....after losing a round from only anti-airs, he just still continued to jump in.

Moral of the story is you need to get your anti-airs down as it can make easy work of people who rely on jumping.

 

[Wigy]

Kung jin is a perfect example of a totally broken jump in.

He can do instant jip and then if see's you've gone for the trip guard can ex divekick to save his ass and punish you.

risk reward on dealing with his jumps is SO screwed up.

Just gotta pick your matchups.

 

[Kooron Nation]

Kung jin is a perfect example of a totally broken jump in.

He can do instant jip and then if see's you've gone for the trip guard can ex divekick to save his ass and punish you.

risk reward on dealing with his jumps is SO screwed up.

Just gotta pick your matchups.

Kitana also with that stupid fkin float and J1

 

[SpecOps2013]

P. S. Kenshis s1 is definitely not a trash anti-air tool.

It aint trash, but it requires precise timing and a lot of practice. That is why tweedy uses d2. I have seldom seen him use kenshi's s1 as an anti air tool.

 

[SpecOps2013]

Now to be fair I haven't seen footage of Immorta Angel, but my point is that saying all he did was jump around and won is a very shallow perspective, look at the other factors. If all he did was really jump all day why didn't they stop him? Is there lag involved? What distance does he jump from? Does the opponent have a good option in that range? Did they even try? Has other stuff happened in the match to distract their attention from anti-airing? (ex: got hit by too many low Sais so now their attention is on protecting their shins)

One yungmonster was using jacqui (as u said her anti air game is trash) and tweedy was using kenshi with less than optimal anti airs also. With that being said theres no excuse for not trying to stop angel's jumping with d2. To be fair tho, he was also uses jump in into empty tele or tele.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Just depends on your character and who you're fighting. Sub's S1 is a good anti air for normal jump ins but after the frost bomb nerf you're kidding yourself if you think you can anti air characters like Kung Jin.

 

[Wigy]

Kitana also with that stupid fkin float and J1

Kitanas float is retarded. The amount of d2's they float over.

You spend all day creeping on her to get around fans, you back her into the corner and then she has very strong mindgames off of her jump. Complete nightmare.

Miss mk9 where the mixup in the air was jip or jip and they werent instant air or had 1/2 screen range or can be cancelled into full combo specials to catch a whiff punish

This game has way too much freedom to yolo in the air

 

[Kooron Nation]

Kitanas float is (soap bar in my mouth). The amount of d2's they float over.

You spend all day creeping on her to get around fans, you back her into the corner and then she has very strong mindgames off of her jump. Complete nightmare.

Miss mk9 where the mixup in the air was jip or jip and they werent instant air or had 1/2 screen range or can be cancelled into full combo specials to catch a whiff punish

This game has way too much freedom to yolo in the air

It's just so frustrating knowing she's going to jump but not being able to AA cause you gotta hold if she's gonna float or not, and then it's too late and you're getting pressured again. I'm lucky with Mileena and her roll but still annoying as hell

 

[Overlord Pram]

It's just so frustrating knowing she's going to jump but not being able to AA cause you gotta hold if she's gonna float or not, and then it's too late and you're getting pressured again. I'm lucky with Mileena and her roll but still annoying as hell

Agreed, Mileena's D1 and roll are top tier anti-airs that I'm happy to have.

 

[Cobainevermind87]

It's just so frustrating knowing she's going to jump but not being able to AA cause you gotta hold if she's gonna float or not, and then it's too late and you're getting pressured again. I'm lucky with Mileena and her roll but still annoying as hell

Her hurtbox is also jacked. Seen a lot of AA's go right through her. Or hit her cleanly on a telegraphed jump in, but then she somehow ends up behind them, essentially getting out of an AA combo for free.

 

[RequiemOfaVortex]

Could I get some thoughts on Jason's AA's ( Non slasher) I think his S1 B2 and B1 are pretty solid or spend meter on EX Choke

 

[ismael4790]

Sadly, even after all patches, mkx promotes jumping, since the reward is higher than the risk in the majority of cases.

 

[TyCarter35]

For me I AA as much as I can to let them know they can't jump in on me. However a lot of AA's I make are based off reads like if I have someone in the corner and since I play ninjutsu, I try to have myself in a range where I can play a grounded game and be able to AA on reaction. From what I've noticed njp for the most part get the job done since they seem to hold high priority over jump ins including broken jump ins. Sometimes I'll force a whiff with Scorpion d4 and make them go through recovery frames and what not. But yes AA from my experience is often based off reads and reactionary ones for me are the d2 since ur already ducking so ur hurtbox is lower

 

[omooba]

other then mileena and subzero (and in very rare cases against a few characters) if you're ready for it you can consistently run under and standing 1 with most people in the game. what i think jumping should be is if i didn't press a button before you jumped i can anti air you clean

 

[ABACABB]

I've decided that the problem in MKX isn't the anti airs, the anti airs are actually pretty decent for the most part. It's just some characters like Scorpion with his J3, Mileena, Predator, Alien, damn even Quan, all have stupid jump ins so it makes it feel like your anti airs are shit when against any of the normal jump ins it would work fine. No matter how much they buff anti airs if the jump ins are still dumb it won't really make a difference.

Any advice I could give is just know which jump ins are stupid and try to trip guard those instead of anti airing. The rest of the jump ins can be anti aired normally, go into the lab and just test the ranges on some jump ins. Just make sure to realize that anti airing in practice mode is a lot easier than in a real game.

what is trip guard ?

 

[Wigy]

For me I AA as much as I can to let them know they can't jump in on me. However a lot of AA's I make are based off reads like if I have someone in the corner and since I play ninjutsu, I try to have myself in a range where I can play a grounded game and be able to AA on reaction. From what I've noticed njp for the most part get the job done since they seem to hold high priority over jump ins including broken jump ins. Sometimes I'll force a whiff with Scorpion d4 and make them go through recovery frames and what not. But yes AA from my experience is often based off reads and reactionary ones for me are the d2 since ur already ducking so ur hurtbox is lower

Its fine with scorpion. Ninjistu's j3 f2 b2 are all really good and s3 is the best aa in the game without bar.

Would be great if a lot of characters had a s3-esque move

 

[Kooron Nation]

what is trip guard ?

When your opponent misses their jump attack and you punish them when they land

 

[Eddy Wang]

Its not that you shouldn't, jump attacks in MKXL are super strong, they start at 6 to 7 frames can be done earlier in the air and they have from 13 to 16 active frames while doing it, which makes anti-airs a dificult task to achieve unless your character has concealed hitbox normals like Scorpion's s3, or ermac's d4.

 

[DavesHotnJuicy]

I usually anti-air when I'm confident that it will hit. I main kitana so I usually do s1/b1/d1 but doing it on ermac/mileena is a huge pain