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Baraka Preliminary Guide

Shock

Administrator
Premium Supporter
Baraka is reasonably ranked somewhere between the top 5 and 10 in MKT. He is a direct trasnfer of his character from MKII and whiel he benefits from the MK3 engine, he still isn't exactly a tactical monster, rather brute force. He has all his moves and a new special, which is considerably broken. Fortunately it's not as broken as can be but we'll get to that a bit later. Baraka's collision detection is a bit funky in MKT. He has a similar property when being comboed after a starter that is similar to the female ninjas in UMK3 and MKT. This is to say, a good number of characters cannot perform certain combos him after a starter because the first hit will always miss, at least mid screen that is. He also suffers from a higher than normal collision box on the ground, which leaves him vulnerable to comable attacks, and infintes, similar to Sheeva, however he's not that difficult to juggle, perhaps more like Kano.

Baraka has low damage mid screen autocombos that can be extended in the corner a bit, even into an infinite. However, he has very high damage, anywhere juggles that are particularly dangerous because he doesn't need a punisher to get them, he can perform a simple aa Counter with his new super deadly Blade Spin. Run Jabs mixed with the knee lift to Blade Swipe combo, and random Blade Swipes might be your friend, at least for a little while. Remember after either of his B+HP, F+HP combos, Baraka can take a quick step in and sweep just about anyone except Shang Tsung. Utilize his fast sweep, and excellent anti air moves to keep your opponent grounded and remember that his jump attacks are nasty just like in MKII. Basically anything can set up Baraka's corner infinite of aaHP, Blade Swipe. It sounds easy, but it's gotta be done quickly. Also, all of his hits deal MKII damage, meaning he's a bit stronger than the rest of the MK3 and UMK3 specific characters. Baraka has his 2 hit kick combo similar to MKII, however it's part of a 4 hit combo and does not have the mini launch/pop up property of MKII.

Basic Moves:

If you played a lot of MKII, you might find yourself relying far too much on his special moves and zoning, and forget that you can still run jab with him, and that other characters have a bit easier time against his zoning than in MKII. Baraka has a great standing HK, fantastically wicked Round House, a good anti-cross up uppercut, fast sweep, and technically the Blade Swipe operates like a normal since it's just a directional press, but we'll keep that in the specials list. His JP has awesome range, similar to MK3 Kung Lao's. Abuse this, and his JK is excellent as well. Remember the option to use jab lock down after his corner combos, as it sets up perfect positioning for it.

The Blade Swipe cancels is an old favorite returning from MKII and it has no push back this time, ever. You can also perform the move while blocking, without releasing block, similar to using Sheeva's Teleport Stomp for example. The move has some anti air potential in MKT and has good range, with sufficient damage. It's pretty fast and cancels jabs until like in MKII, so you might want to mix that into your jabs for confusion. Remember Baraka can be swept out of the Blade Swipe from extreme distance, so try to use it within, or just a tiny bit outside of it's collision range to snuff counters. And of course, he can semi-infinite with the Blade itself in the corner, and full infinite off alternating jabs to Swipes. Overall, it has some zoning potential. The Blade Swipe has zero usage limitations.

The Blade Spark also makes its return, but doesn't have juggle potential or staggering ability. Opponents seem to recover quickly from it and get knocked down fast, and it might be most useful to counter jumping ack opponents. It hits very high up and is easily sweepable, so be sure to eat a lot of sweeps if you try to spam this move. The Blade Spark has no limitations of use other than connecting it will terminate any combo.

The Blade Fury is as useful as ever. Fantastic anti-air, anti-cross up, and corner combo finish option. Be careful not to use it too much, as it is easily swept during vulnerability and he performs the action for a considerable amount of time. The Blade Fury has no limits, and can even combo into itself near the corner. Follow up hits are possible as well mid screen, like a JP or JK, on run in LK or HK, or perhaps a blockable sweep for a mix up.

The Blade Spin, or Corkscrew, is Baraka's new move for MKT. It's a horrendous, unforgiving creation of violence. Fortunately they decided to limit this move, but apparently not enough. This move can be down twice in a row, does 19% on its own, and does not activate damage protection. It's excellent for anti air anti cross ups, but has alternating collision per side, so you can actually be countered fairly easily during start up depending which side the attack comes from. Baraka can meander about the screen while performing this move and tapping block. It can miss during punishers if you attempt it too quickly, so learn the perfect way to connect it and keep them high, allowing you to connect another one immediately after (or one after any other hit), and then the hit limit has been reached. After that, use the containment properties, which are along the lines of Kitana's air fan, that allow some juggle hits to follow. If you perform the move without tapping block, the collision only happens on each side once, and then stops and Baraka continues to spin much like Kung Lao's Spin, leaving him vulnerable.

HP, HP, B+HP, F+HP - 4 hits 22%
HK, HK, B+HP, F+HP - 4 hits 23%
HK, HK, LK, B+HK - 4 hits 23%

Blade Spin (BS), BS, Blade Swipe - 3 hits 51%
BS, BS, LK - 3 hits 54%
BS, BS, JK - 3 hits 54%
BS, BS, HK - 3 hits 57%
BS, BS, RH - 3 hits 59%
BS, BS, HP, Blade Spark - 4 hits 59%
BS, BS, HP, JK - 4 hits 60%

Potential corner finishes depending on the character for B+HP, F+HP combos:
LK, HK, RH, Uppercut, Blade Fury, Blade Swipe, aaLP/aaHP, Blade Swipe infinite etc. Test them out for yourself.

If you catch someone with an anti air blade spin, the possibilities go up because they are higher in the air, here are some examples:
aaBS, BS, Uppercut - 3 hits 62%
aaBS, BS, aaHPHP, JK - 5 hits 67%
aaBS, BS, aaHP, Blade Fury - 4 hits 69%
aaBS, BS, aaHPHP, RH - 5 hits 72%

Also try, aaHP, BS - various combo finishes

Near corner: Be careful with double BSes because it can freeze the game, (technically bannable in tournament by all standard tournament rules for all games since it is a game breaking glitch)

Utilize a single BS into various corner juggles for wild amounts of damage. Even something like BS, aaHP, Blade Swipe, RH, run LK/HK is 74% to 78%.
 

BeRB

Noob
I don't know if this has any priority or good use but on cpu's it works pretty good, after a block with baraka, It seems i can press u+f kick and it hits or they block and i can follow up. I don't play baraka really at all.
 

Shock

Administrator
Premium Supporter
Baraka definitely has a good jump kick, up+forwards work well like Kano, Jax or Sheeva, etc.
 

BeRB

Noob
Yea, I stopped alot of cpu's from jumping in on me which seems really hard with most of the other cast because it seems there kick is always favored