Baraka Kustom Guide to Ultimate MK11

[Apex Kano]

I'm enjoying this change to the fighting system so much now! Just like MK Tom Brady scream on his Livestream, "FREEDOM"!!! We have FREEDOM BOYS, finally to play the game like we choose. Like we want and how we want, with our favorite kharcters to play. Baraka hits like a beast up close but can snuff out due to the breakaway, but with the right tools he can stay in and get guaranteed max damage even WHEN the opponent breaks out.

So my favorite Kustom build so far are two different purposes

Hard Hitter Build: Name: Razor Edge (a nod to Razor Ramon)
Moves are: Gutted and Blade Charge
Reason: Gutted does amazing damage when hit, but people will break out. This is when Blade Charge comes in handy. When you try to break out of any combo Baraka does, he will still say "NO NO NO" and hit you with his Armor Breaker Blade Charge move. Baraka is going to get guaranteed damage anytime he wants; so the opponent must think how much damage are you willing to take for the exchange. The first Krushing Blow from Blade Charge alone can get you close to 41 dmg off his amp Gutted if they choose to break out. After that you still looking at some good dmg if they break out later in the fight.

Grappling Build: Name: Nip Tuck
Moves are : Blood lunge and Baraka Barrage
Reason: to annoy the opponent with his long pokes and when they least expect it, then pounce with his Blood Lunge. I'm still experimenting with this but so far it's fun. The tournament build gave him his Spine Spike move and I believe his Blade Chop Chop is to valuable to give up. So with his longer pokes, this will cause some to block low plus his low combo starters. Key is to condition the player to keep blocking low so your Blood Lunge can work.

50/50 build : Name: Swisher
Moves are the Berserker but I just replace Baraka-sereker with his Barrage moveset.
Longer pokes but same mind game as before with this tourney variation.

Try out this builds for him and tell me what you think! Have fun Baraka Fans!

 

[ticklebandit!]

Don't take this personally, as I am just a down playing son of a bitch. But your first one is solid (although break away never hurt V1, opening people up with it is the problem), but your other two (at first glance) seem like poorer versions of his V2 and V3 load outs. Like poke poke poking into occasional blood lunge seems almost comically bad compared to what other characters are now capable of. And I'm not trying to be critical of you, I just really don't think Baraka has a very flexible custom potential with his current move pool. But kudos to you for being creative and I need to actually try these out. I do see the potential for them to be "death by a thousand cuts" variations. Also I thought his tourney V2 was a joke until i saw Bio play it so WTF do i know, lol.

Anyway, here's one I've barely tested but I think it has some potential maybe, at least with the tools we currently have.

Moves: Spine burst, Blade Charge, Leg Kabob.
Spine burst makes this variation a no fly zone, and every anti air combined with blade charge nets guaranteed 17%. And when mahfuckas respect the blade charge you can sneak in spine burst dash f21 blade charge for 21%, or you can do f4 leg kabob for re-stand. Where this set up really shines is in the corner tho. With spine burst you can safely launch for solid meterless damage ending with a restand (or blade charge for a lil more damage), and its not hard to alter/shorten your combo if you sniff out a break away (like spine burst d1 blade charge). However I like to end in the plus on hit leg kabob to continue pressure. So a bnb would be like 112 spine burst d1 d1 112 leg kebob for 27%. Then I just down poke into spine burst and can loop that combo if they press buttons/jump or I can just be safe on block. Also if you really want damage you can end your combo with enhanced leg kebob. So 112 spine burst, d1 d1 112 amp leg kebob does 30%.

 

[Apex Kano]

My other two version are just me trying to be creative. I do like your variation and I will test it out to see my results! This is making me actually just feel like labbing and having fun again on this game. I been missing in the forums cause this game had nothing new to learn. Now this change brought me back here.

 

[The Ultimate]

This post will mainly be speculation for what the MK11 Ultimate patch might give to Baraka.


Right now, I'm holding out on the possibility that Blood Lunge will get changed into a one slot move, as I currently believe it does not need to be a two slot move. I know it's a very long reaching command throw, but it still hits high, and it has a KB that can be kinda difficult to obtain. It's the only command throw in the game to be two slots, I believe. Not even Kotal's MID hitting command throw is two slots, and that move buffs his damage while also giving Kotal the chance to switch sides. Blood Lunge has no MB, can't switch sides and is high. In my opinion, it needs to be switched to a 1 slot move.

Anyway, if Blood Lunge gets turned into a one slot move, one of my ideal variations would be Gutted/Lunge. I feel that Lunge would help Marauder's problem of opening people up. You'd lose out on Blade Charge's armor breaking, but you'd gain a long reaching command throw that can help open people up.


Another big thing that Baraka players are speculating is how his flag moves are gonna be changed. I'm of the opinion that his whole flag mechanic, and the moves surrounding it, need big buffs to be any good. I could post a bunch more speculation for the flag, but I'll leave it at that for now as I don't want to flood the topic too much with speculation.


Right now, with the moves we currently have, the only custom variation I'd want to use is Gutted/Blade Charge and Blood Lunge/Leg Kabob or Barrage. I hope that a lot of my speculated changes come to pass, because Baraka would be much more fun if his customs got more leniency.

 

[Apex Kano]

If they do change his command grab into a 1 slot, this could really help him out indeed. Baraka is fun to use, but hard to open people up with.

 

[Apex Kano]

If Blood Lunge gets 1 slot then Gutted, Lunge, and Charge will be the ideal way to play him to me.

 

[Syzoth]

I would like to see flag become faster and last longer. Because that's how bad it is. I'd settle for an enhanced version.

Flag really struggles to be placed safely, with the only string that allows safe placement putting your opponent out of range of everything except sparks. It's also slower and shorter than comparable other buffs. Outside of gutted flag struggles to make a difference. It disappears in KBs and lasts about the length of one chop chop blades.

If flag does get buffed then I'd like skewer to get a larger activation range. It's literally shorter than baraka's reach. He could extend and grab the flag but the move won't let him. With that, I think it's atleast usable in niche situations which I think is okay.

Most particularly I'd like to see a big change in Baraka as far as giving his moves enhanced. Baraka-serker only has an enhance if you use two slots on it.

Blade charge doesn't have an enhance.
Flag plant and all flag moves don't have an enhance.
Blood lunge doesn't have an enhance.


Flag charge would need a hefty speed buff. It runs far too slow. It seems to be applicable for getting in on zoners because of the armor and zoning being a weakness of Baraka, HOWEVER it basically gives the opponent free armor breaking KBs.

Blood lunge at 1 slot would be amazing. I'd go with a SEVEN KB variation.

Throw.
F44.
122.
D2.
Blood lunge.
Kebob.
Blade charge.

 

[The Ultimate]

Unfortunately, both Blood Lunge and Blade Charge conflict with each other, so we will likely not see variations with both Lunge and Blade Charge.


In regards to the flag, I think the biggest problem with the flag and the flag moves is that it's a lot of setup, for very little reward. There's a reason why the only times we really see flag is after Baraka's fatal blow; the mechanic and the moves surrounding it just suck right now.

The easiest way to buff the flag right now is to just increase the flag's duration by double the time or more than double. The base flag setting move also needs faster startup and recovery, but not by a whole lot. Just so that it's in line with moves like Scorpion's burning spear or Raiden's quick charge.


In regards to the actual flag moves, I think Flag Bash needs to be faster, and safer on block. I also think it should deal more damage or perhaps not knock the opponent so far away. It knocking the opponent so far away, compounded with the fact that the flag only last for five seconds, makes the move kinda useless, in my opinion.

Flag Charge needs big buffs, I feel. I think it needs to be faster overall--startup, the run and the recovery on both hit and block need to be faster, and it needs to be cancellable during the run like how it's cancellable when you hold the move on startup. Right now, I think the idea behind the move is to either blast through enemy zoning, or hold it and anticipate the enemy jumping, so you can just charge into them during their jump. Well, if the enemy has any good armor breaking moves or teleports, then you're kinda boned during the run. I think all the buffs listed above would make the move much better.

Skewer/Low Flag is I think the flag move that's the most "fine", for lack of a better term. That said, I would like it if the move turned into a command throw, as it would be much more useful that way. As is, it's only really useful in the corner as comboing into it at midscreen requires really precise spacing, due to the short interactable range of the flag--

Which, another buff to all flag moves is to increase the interactable range of the flag, by at least doubling it's current length. The flag is essentially an interactable that only Baraka can use, but the interactable range is really small. You pretty much have to be hugging it to use Flag Charge or Skewer.


If the flag and the flag moves got buffs of this sort, I think a flag variation could actually be good. Maybe not great, but worth using and not just a meme variation. We might be getting patch notes here pretty soon, so here's to hoping that a Flagbearer variation could be good!