Baraka General Discussion

[Kombat Chef]

What im getting sick of is beating turds online that mash and just aren't good then getting messages about being a teir whore lol. My favorite was a Raiden player telling me how op baraka is. This baraka outrage is real. People are acting like using him is an auto win. I've been beat by good players that know the matchup with a lot of different characters. Baraka without cyrax is good but nothing crazy. He has a hard time opening people up compared to alot of the cast.

 

[Jynks]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1708328588997546155

 

[Fractured_Shadow]

Man. This thread is pure gold. People here raging against Baraka clearly haven't played anyone high enough level to properly block and punish him. Here is the key. Very much like playing Raiden, just low block or low crouch. Once you've played Baraka enough he REALLY isn't that hard to punish.

Wanna see dumb? Watch me phase through Baraka's strings with Cage and full combo punish him 10/10 times. The gap at the end of Baraka's df2 is massive. Give it about a month and you'll see mostly everyone armoring out of it, or in the case of Cage, phasing through it. Cyrax is an issue, but to be completely fair here Baraka without Cyrax is not a top 5 character. Now Cage on the other hand.... yikes

 

[Jynks]

I think what makes radian and baraka scary is the chip, not the strings.

 

[Temptress]

I think what makes radian and baraka scary is the chip, not the strings.

It's both. They're not mutually exclusive.

 

[Fractured_Shadow]

I think what makes radian and baraka scary is the chip, not the strings.

You can armor out, or in Cages case, phase through and full combo punish his chip strings. Baraka's df2 is hella easy to interrupt. At this point I can do it 10/10 times

 

[Immortal]

Yup it gets me every time, when people playing Cage, Raiden, Ashrah, Kenshi... probably more - rage about Baraka it's not even funny anymore. The shit that Cage can do when played at really high level is crazy. But hey, we need to nerf Baraka.

 

[ticklebandit!]

I’ve noticed that too, Baraka is public enemy number one for some reason. Even when I use him with a different kameo people will rage quit on me. Raiden does even more chip with no way to get out or punish. Johnny cage is insane in this game, straight out of mk9. Kung Lao and Goro are turning the game into pre patch day one mkx.

its still too early I think to genuinely ask for buffs/nerfs but Baraka seems like a very leaky boat. Cage/Kenshi/raiden are U.S aircraft carriers and everyone is seemingly rooting for them lol

 

[Fractured_Shadow]

I’ve noticed that too, Baraka is public enemy number one for some reason. Even when I use him with a different kameo people will rage quit on me. Raiden does even more chip with no way to get out or punish. Johnny cage is insane in this game, straight out of mk9. Kung Lao and Goro are turning the game into pre patch day one mkx.

its still too early I think to genuinely ask for buffs/nerfs but Baraka seems like a very leaky boat. Cage/Kenshi/raiden are U.S aircraft carriers and everyone is seemingly rooting for them lol

Look, I suffered in MK9 as a Cage main against Freddy and Kenshi.... I NEED this time for Cage. Don't take this from me. We NEED IT

 

[ticklebandit!]

Look, I suffered in MK9 as a Cage main against Freddy and Kenshi.... I NEED this time for Cage. Don't take this from me. We NEED IT

dude you ever try Baraka in mk9? Did you main him for years in mk11? I did! I need this too lol. I take my Cage rant back, let’s just quietly continue dominating this game and when people complain just pretend like we can’t hear them I dunno. Maybe just play dead??? Possums do alright with that

 

[Ptehu]

The complaints are real, because on casual level (let's say KL - V/VI) Baraka + Cyrax is the most threatening combo and it's seen the most probably (outside Smoke maybe), hence most people can actually feel how it is not to be able to press a fucking button, because if you read incorrectly once or twice you can just put down your controller. And that's frustrating, especially when his regular move is casually beating armored reversal and setting another 100hit combo, which is silly af.

I don't encounter many Kenshi players, probably because to actually do something with his sento stance you have to be above average in fighting games.

So yea - tier lists are for the pros, but we - the casuals - also want to have fun with the game.

 

[Immortal]

On casual level Baraka for sure seems insane and he is easy to pick up, thou same can be said for Cage or Raiden.

On competitive level i feel he starts to fall of as people get more familiar with the MU. Almost everybody now on higher level just armor throu the gap in d,f2 so there is no chip and some characters straight up punish you for doing it. More and more people understand that blocking low and letting of block to catch people doing b3,1 is the way to go. Good Cage, Kenshi, Raiden players just shits on you and its not like you're fav. to win vs Ashrah.

I'm pretty sure that when they nerf Cyrax - which is pretty much certain, Baraka will fall into obscurity as many characters have way better base kit and synergize way better with many Kameos not just one. Time will tell.

 

[ReD WolF]

On casual level Baraka for sure seems insane and he is easy to pick up, thou same can be said for Cage or Raiden.

On competitive level i feel he starts to fall of as people get more familiar with the MU. Almost everybody now on higher level just armor throu the gap in d,f2 so there is no chip and some characters straight up punish you for doing it. More and more people understand that blocking low and letting of block to catch people doing b3,1 is the way to go. Good Cage, Kenshi, Raiden players just shits on you and its not like you're fav. to win vs Ashrah.

I'm pretty sure that when they nerf Cyrax - which is pretty much certain, Baraka will fall into obscurity as many characters have way better base kit and synergize way better with many Kameos not just one. Time will tell.

Don't make me sad.

 

[Immortal]

I really need some advice from other Cyraka players in Cage MU. Coz im getting smoked by good Cage players.

There are several problems but lets start with the most obvious ones:

1. How do you stop the pressure when they go with Cyrax/Lao and just do plus normal/string into another unsafe string, use Cyrax/Lao to make it safe and continue from there... repeat. Feels like im just dead in the corner. Not to mention with Lao low hat its often like a true 50/50.

2. You can't use df2/Cyrax in that MU coz he just goes throu the gap and straight up punish me, so how do you keep pressure? Also his d4 beats my S2 every time and once im hit its into the pressure again.

There is also Kenshi MU(feels awful in neutral not to mention when Sento is out) but for now lets focus on Cage.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

My worst matchups are cage and raiden as well. I'd say agaisnt cage, you can only hope to upblock his overhead ender or his low ender into rising star and punish hard. Trying to contest his pressure is most of the time a death sentence. You might also want to try staying in b1 range and whiff punish him, upclose pressure with 2,1,2 will probably just get you his d4 into plus pressure, as you might have experienced.

Kenshi is mostly manageable if you upblock his downward cuts, or at least consistently flawless block them, which isnt that bad really. At midrange, most kenshis will try to stagger with that sword unsheat normal (not sure what button it is, maybe b2), so again you have to be smart and try to whiff punish and be patient. Against Sento pressure, try armoring the 22 slashes through the gap, most people online dont have the execution to make it gapless. Another thing is just YOLO death spin + cyrax helicopter to close the distance if Kenshi keeps backdashing, but obviously you have to use this sparringly, as a mistiming will get you punished.

 

[Fractured_Shadow]

I really need some advice from other Cyraka players in Cage MU. Coz im getting smoked by good Cage players.

There are several problems but lets start with the most obvious ones:

1. How do you stop the pressure when they go with Cyrax/Lao and just do plus normal/string into another unsafe string, use Cyrax/Lao to make it safe and continue from there... repeat. Feels like im just dead in the corner. Not to mention with Lao low hat its often like a true 50/50.

2. You can't use df2/Cyrax in that MU coz he just goes throu the gap and straight up punish me, so how do you keep pressure? Also his d4 beats my S2 every time and once im hit its into the pressure again.

There is also Kenshi MU(feels awful in neutral not to mention when Sento is out) but for now lets focus on Cage.

Man... Do be completely honest Cage/Lao vs Baraka/anyone is like a 7-3 MU imo. I play Baraka, Raiden, and main Cage and with Lao's low hat being +2 on block it give Cage stupid chip strings that force you to armor and with a single bar I can phase through and full combo your chip strings. I also low crouch against Baraka and blow him up because his mids and overhead are easy to react to. What give me trouble is when Baraka starts grabbing a lot. 21% off a grab can get annoying and Baraka does have MUCH better reach than Cage. But at the end of the day I feel like this is just a really bad MU for Baraka

 

[PrinceGoro]

a meterless midscreen launch from standing 2 in case he has no meter for 41% with cyrax

21(hold neutral kameo)2,back dash,b1xxdf2(neutral kameo)jump air14xxdf2

 

[ticklebandit!]

What kameo's are you guys having fun/success with these days? Other than Cyrax, Jax, and sareena since she's a lil boring.

Just trying to gauge what our options are should cyrax get nerfed.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

What kameo's are you guys having fun/success with these days? Other than Cyrax, Jax, and sareena since she's a lil boring.

Just trying to gauge what our options are should cyrax get nerfed.

I saw someone in a tournament use Sektor with great success. The gameplan is mostly the same - you do a string into df2 on block and call sektor rocket to keep you safe. The thing is, unlike Cyrax, Sektor's rocket will hit someone if they armor through the gap of df2, therefore negating their turn and maybe even having you start a combo. Of course, the trade off is that you will deal less damage when you do connect a combo.

 

[The Ultimate]

What kameo's are you guys having fun/success with these days? Other than Cyrax, Jax, and sareena since she's a lil boring.

Just trying to gauge what our options are should cyrax get nerfed.

I’ve personally been considering Kung Lao, as Baraka wants a kameo to help enable his chip damage & blockstrings, and I think Kung Lao with low hat might be able to help, to an extent. Cyrax, while undeniably great, I feel is a crutch. Baraka needs to move past Cyrax, for when he inevitably gets nerfed.

Plus, Kung Lao gives Baraka a good invincible reversal on wakeup.

 

[Immortal]

Lao is a non starter for me, no point in playing him as i'm sure he gonna get normalized just like Cyrax, low hat is way to good. Sektor kinda works like it was said above, SZ also kinda works and gives you a decent combo extension on top of immunity to projectiles. However at this time, there is just no reason to play anybody else than Cyrax and its hard to predicts how it's gonna be after first balance patch. Time will tell.

 

[The Ultimate]

Welp, our boy did get nerfed. His normal combos by himself do around 5% less, and the combos with Cyrax do around 5-10% less depending on the combo. I was hearing his walk speed got nerfed, but I'm not sure. Forward walk speed still feels fast, but the back walk speed feels slow, or perhaps slower? As far as I can tell, none of his frame data changed.

Even after the nerf, I still think Cyrax is Baraka's best kameo for now, until better tech is found. You can still combo off of Baraka's back throw, and off of his anti-air db+1 using vertical copter. Vertical copter still costs 50% meter, it's only horizontal copter that costs 100% now. You just can't unga bunga blockstring into horizontal copter anymore, it's more of a commitment this time.

 

[ticklebandit!]

I agree that Cyrax is still his best kameo, which to me is a little disappointing since I have become a bit bored of cyrax. I was having a lot of fun with Sektor but now with Baraka's base damage being what it is Baraka/Sektor may be too steep of an uphill battle.

I think after this patch Stryker's stock has gone way up, for all characters not just Baraka. I think Kung Lao is the best kameo in the game now. With baraka Lao gives us a nice hard to blockable and a decent zoning option. He can also teleport Baraka out of a blocked df2 for a bit of safety since that kinda fucks with the opponents punish, but I know this is gimmicky.

Personally I'm gonna mess with Stryker/Kano/Goro and see what I can do with ending my combo's with EN db1 and use kameo for chip set ups. Killing my opponent on block is when I'm having the most fun with Baraka lol. Might hit the same wall as sektor tho.

What about Jax tho?? Apart from Cyrax being as strong as he was, was delayed wake up what kind of killed Baraka/Jax on arrival? I mean we can also jail our opponent on block to get hit by the unblockable and only take 2% ourselves. Seems good, no...?

 

[ReD WolF]

I've still been using cyrax as a kameo as well just because of the combo potential, but I am looking at other potential kameos. Stryker seems interesting but only from a blockstring/pressure standpoint. @ticklebandit!, How did you like Baraka/Lao team? He's on my radar as well.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

I also still think Cyrax is the most viable option for Baraka. To be honest, he perhaps is even MORE mandatory, as his damage was nerfed. Only difference is now you cant be safe everytime with horizontal helicopter, or throw random air deathspins anymore.