Discussion Anti-Airs Suck in MKX: Fact or Myth?

[M.D.]

Alien's jumping attack goes through the spin afaik.

 

[ShArp]

@Braindead I think you missed Garbagecan-face in your list!

 

[Eddy Wang]

Remember when AAs were godlike in MK9?

 

[WettyFapMan]

Anti airs only suck vs certain characters jump attacks. For example, Alien j2, Bo j2, Kotal half screen j1 etc. You just have to hold their jump ins or use a bar to anti air. But overall i feel anti airs arent too bad in this game. Also there are anti airs specific to certain matchups, for example Kung Jin has to d1 anti air vs sonya j1 because he can low profile the jump in but vs Tremor, Jin has to s1 because Tremor jump ins have hella vertical priority. Some people may just want a universal anti air move which i feel is the reason for d2 but even then some d2s suck.

 

[WiseM0nkey]

I want to address this idea that anti-airs suck at MKX. I want TYM to decide based on facts if it's an actual fact or just another myth (shoutouts to the safe armored launchers abundance myth).

So what I want to do is do a count of the characters that have good anti-airs vs the number of characters that struggle with anti-airing. I'll start with the characters I play (at any level) and have absolutely no trouble anti-airing with:

Subzero - S1 and EX Frost bomb, Slide if you have large-enough testies
Kotal Kahn - B1, D2, D3, air grab
Shinnok - LOL
Balanced Kenshi - D2 and RK/EX RK. I'm pretty sure the other variations have good AA tools as well.
Ferra/Torr - This is the only character I used to struggle to AA with, but BioHazard consistently rapes jump-ins with d3 so that's my fault not the character's. In Lackey you have DP and EX DP as well.

Characters I don't play but I know/it's agreed that they have good AA tools:
D'Vorah
Scorpion
Cassie
Sonya
Erron Black
Jax
Alien
Kung Lao
Kung Jin
Mileena
Tremor
Kano
Goro
Triborg
Kitana
Predator
Raiden
Ermac
Quan Chi
Jacqui
Takeda


Remaining characters, don't know enough about them, need information:
Reptile - Has a good armored launcher, anything else?
Jason
Tanya
Bo Rai Cho
Johnny Cage - I hear this guy struggles with AA - RIP MK9's F3/B3 OS
Liu Kang


If you disagree with the placement of any character let me know.

JC has ex nutpunch and a good s1, who the hell says he struggles?

also reptile has a good d1 for crossups

 

[THTB]

Reptile's d2 works decently if you don't jump kick or have a good jump punch. Otherwise, he's stuck using meter. His jab is a 10f, 1f active normal lmao.

 

[THTB]

JC has ex nutpunch and a good s1, who the hell says he struggles?

also reptile has a good d1 for crossups

I've rarely gotten d1 to work. Oftentimes it just whiffs. It low profiles decently vs some, but otherwise it just gets hit.

 

[Braindead]

His jab is a 10f, 1f active normal lmao.

God damn lmao

 

[Braindead]

@Braindead I think you missed Garbagecan-face in your list!

Took me a while to figure out who that is lol.
Thanks, added to the I-don't-know list.

 

[Gilbagz]

Also want to point out how true this is. And not to mention that neutral crouching can also make tons of jump-in attacks whiff because they need to be done VERY late if the opponent is neutral crouching, especially on crossovers.

THIS TIMES 100
Can equalise risk reward on jumps so much
Assuming you're character gets good damage off a trip guard

 

[STRYKIE]

While some jump ins are suspiciously auto-pilot by design, the problem actually extends both ways, some jump ins function differently from others, and people are still trying this antiquated practice of using just one all-purpose anti-air and expect it to cover every single option in the air the same way. I'm not going to pretend I have a 10 for 10 success rate on dealing with every jump in (nor did I in Queensbury rules home of footsies MK9 where no jumping was ever allow... ATTAAAAH. WUGIZAH) , but I've never felt like NRS go out of their way to "sabotage" anti-air options.

 

[Braindead]

THIS TIMES 100
Can equalise risk reward on jumps so much
Assuming you're character gets good damage off a trip guard

You have no idea how many d1s into command grab I get with Sun God off of trip-guarding whiffed cross-overs lol.

 

[Braindead]

While some jump ins are suspiciously auto-pilot by design, the problem actually extends both ways, some jump ins function differently from others, and people are still trying this antiquated practice of using just one all-purpose anti-air and expect it to cover every single option in the air the same way. I'm not going to pretend I have a 10 for 10 success rate on dealing with every jump in (nor did I in Queensbury rules home of footsies MK9 where no jumping was ever allow... ATTAAAAH. WUGIZAH) , but I've never felt like NRS go out of their way to "sabotage" anti-air options.

Lmfao Queensbury rules home of footsies

Also people on here cry too much about jump kicks not being able to get anti-aired like that wasn't a thing in MK9.

 

[Wigy]

Jc struggles with jump ins. Hes okay with crossups.

 

[Blewdew]

Cassies and dvorahs s1 are absolutely phenomenal aa's imo. Ferra torr's d3 is okay-ish, there are plenty of jump attacks that can blow them up though.

 

[WiseM0nkey]

I've rarely gotten d1 to work. Oftentimes it just whiffs. It low profiles decently vs some, but otherwise it just gets hit.

well, provided your opponent doesnt have dumbass jump punch, it works well for me. for crossups at least.

 

[Eddy Wang]

Lmfao Queensbury rules home of footsies

Also people on here cry too much about jump kicks not being able to get anti-aired like that wasn't a thing in MK9.

Jks in mk9 were as dumb and were safe on whiff hahah.

 

[thlityoursloat]

I listed the characters I play in the OP. I play against random characters there isn't a specific character.

The fact that I can AA Kotal's J1 with Subzero is also something to think about lol.

Kenshi's rising karma is a trash tier anti air lol, it's too fucking slow to be used on reaction and has serious whiffing issues as demonstrated by ando. His B4 and d2 are aight but are low reward.

 

[rubmytaco]

Good luck AAing SubZero with 90% of the cast.

You don't have to anti air Sub Zero's jump ins. Walk back and whiff punish. Crossovers are a different story.

 

[Gilbagz]

You have no idea how many d1s into command grab I get with Sun God off of trip-guarding whiffed cross-overs lol.

mfw d1 doesnt combo into a cmd grab on hit haha
Anti air d1 in to cmd grab? :L

needs balls to do it

Some other aa concepts that people need to apply

Blows up everything except takeda j4

High accel characters take advantage of this so much better

 

[Braindead]

mfw d1 doesnt combo into a cmd grab on hit haha
Anti air d1 in to cmd grab? :L

needs balls to do it

Some other aa concepts that people need to apply

Blows up everything except takeda j4

High accel characters take advantage of this so much better

No Kotal's d1 is +14 on hit and cmd grab starts in 15f. If timed correctly it's a semi-guaranteed throw because it's hard to armor out in that 1 frame (it's not a reversal so there's no buffering). I do d1 on hit into command grab a lot with Sun god, it's almost like he has a 21% 6f punisher.

And if people don't respect my d1 on hit I can just do a full combo instead. D1 on hit guarantees most of Kotal's combo starters. Win/win for me lol.

 

[MadeOfMetal]

If i had to say, i think its not hard to AA with any character, it takes practice with whoever you use, With that said. don't try to AA NJP's or JIK's and you should do fine. there are a couple that its harder like Kotals JIP1 or alien's JIP2. some of them just out trade even the best.


But when iot comes down to the majority of matchups, there are plenty of characters that can AA just fine. and get some decent damage out of it I.E. 20% or more.

Example: Standing 1's are a great way to anti air, i hardly like to use Uppercuts because Crossovers can make them hit the wrong direction. so i tend to stick with what move has the following:

Large hitbox on said move, Minimal Recovery, Juggle properties(meaning can be easily followed up by another fast normal. and a move below 10 frames startup. as long as you have that covered then you have a decent AA.

@Braindead you said the following you was not sure correct? let me try to help you out on this.

Reptile - Has a good armored launcher, anything else? also has a good Hitbox on standing 1 and 2 decent enough to have low recovery and can follow up.
Jason - Has B1 which works just fine and obviously goes into additional damage and has B2 i think is the double handed launcher that works with crossovers. Good hitbox, decent recovery
Tanya - Im not sure aqbout her at all!!!
Bo Rai Cho - B14 i think i linked some shit on this and it has massive Hitbox and Special cancel.
Johnny Cage - umm had a friend that i tought to play him, and he could use him like none other i played, I am the LK may have been kinda rude, but could play him very well none the less. and he used 12, F4, Nutpunch, Projectileinto combo, and F3. and AAed off all of them pretty well.
Liu Kang - Um not sure of Liu......
Leatherface: @CrazyFingers do you know if LF has any normals that AA well, have good hitbox, juggle, small recovery and is below 10 frames?

 

[CrazyFingers]

If i had to say, i think its not hard to AA with any character, it takes practice with whoever you use, With that said. don't try to AA NJP's or JIK's and you should do fine. there are a couple that its harder like Kotals JIP1 or alien's JIP2. some of them just out trade even the best.


But when iot comes down to the majority of matchups, there are plenty of characters that can AA just fine. and get some decent damage out of it I.E. 20% or more.

Example: Standing 1's are a great way to anti air, i hardly like to use Uppercuts because Crossovers can make them hit the wrong direction. so i tend to stick with what move has the following:

Large hitbox on said move, Minimal Recovery, Juggle properties(meaning can be easily followed up by another fast normal. and a move below 10 frames startup. as long as you have that covered then you have a decent AA.

@Braindead you said the following you was not sure correct? let me try to help you out on this.

Reptile - Has a good armored launcher, anything else? also has a good Hitbox on standing 1 and 2 decent enough to have low recovery and can follow up.
Jason - Has B1 which works just fine and obviously goes into additional damage and has B2 i think is the double handed launcher that works with crossovers. Good hitbox, decent recovery
Tanya - Im not sure aqbout her at all!!!
Bo Rai Cho - B14 i think i linked some shit on this and it has massive Hitbox and Special cancel.
Johnny Cage - umm had a friend that i tought to play him, and he could use him like none other i played, I am the LK may have been kinda rude, but could play him very well none the less. and he used 12, F4, Nutpunch, Projectileinto combo, and F3. and AAed off all of them pretty well.
Liu Kang - Um not sure of Liu......
Leatherface: @CrazyFingers do you know if LF has any normals that AA well, have good hitbox, juggle, small recovery and is below 10 frames?

His AA game is pretty poopy. F1 can anti air but it needs to be one a read and you need to step back. AA Instant NJPs are decent on a lot of the cast tho, leatherface's is decent I guess but yea, he basically gets jumped in on for free AND his jump in game sucks because his jump is pretty floaty so he gets AA'd for free by characters with even decent AA's (Scorpion S3 for example)

 

[MadeOfMetal]

Remember when AAs were godlike in MK9?

damn sick music, eddy. was that old school MK music? i miss it, i actually prefer it to the music now.

back atcha

 

[CrazyFingers]

Oh and for cross ups sometimes chain sparks is decent for that (only sometimes in my experience)