Complete Guide for Rain in MK9.
Hello everyone Mr Aquaman here, I have been playing with Rain competitively for some time now, he is by far the greatest character in the franchise and I want to show my dedication to both the character and the community who represents him. I am here to break down every situation, setup, mind game, and knowledge that I know with this phenomenal character. The Rain community seems lost and is dying out, we have very few competitors left. I hope to give a new look on this character and to teach those wanting to learn Rain. To start, almost every competitive and amateur rain player I have ever seen plays this character what I like to call the “Bread and Butter” way. The BNB way (trademarked by Atlantis in a big friggin ocean Corp.) is doing the same combo every time, using the same setup, playing a character how 1,000 others play him/her. Rain is a perfect character to NOT FRIGGIN DO THIS. He has such potential to do whatever you want really. What I will be sharing with you today is my personal way to adapt and approach playing as Rain.
Let’s start with Zoning
Rains tools for zoning are wakeup invincibility on lightning, anti airs, watergun, and the infamous bubble. Nothing excites me more than getting someone with the random bubble. When you have someone spamming projectiles or you get knocked down and see the startup of one, the wakeup invincibility on lightning is a great tool to make your opponent respect throwing projectiles at you. The fact that it leads to full combo and setup is also pretty swag. Anti airs! My favorite anti air is standing 2 to bubble. This leads to very high damage. When you anti air an opponent into 40% they immediately RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF NOT JUMPING AT YOU :]. Another favorite if you read your opponent jumping from a distance is the sweet chin music back 3. Down 1 is a good anti cross up, not too great though, his geyser should stop any cross up leading to more damage than god. If you notice I won’t say what combos to use in all of this, I will show you in videos what I use and when to use them but I won’t say use only this or that. Another great zoning tool I started using a while back was against a cage in a tourny I found. During pressure I would throw a 4 RH or just a naked rh, it has pretty good block stun and push back, and noticed people like to jump after a blocked RH. Immediately after throw watergun. This stops pressure and a jumping very well. All of this will make your opponent want to stay away from you. They should be scared of being face to face with Rain to begin with, if they aren’t, MAKE EM. When you connect with a NJP I always have a teleport buffered, if you whiff or are just guessing it puts you back at an alright position that the opponent may not see coming. If you connect, after the teleport you are still in position to full combo with a 4,3 bubble or whatever you want. I'll post videos of crazy crap you can do off of this. I found this out especially useful in the corner getting out of Brady’s shory prison leading into a full combo in the corner. Now some of rains zoning is character specific, and in some cases it can be very hard to zone, but I will cover this best I can in matchups at the end.
Rushdown
Rushdown with Rain to me is a way to build meter, scare your opponent with good use of rains alright at best frame data, connect with someone small to lead to something big, and mind games. RH Cancels. I cannot tell you how to pressure with RH cancels, I personally don’t know what I do at times, I love to keep it random, throw in lows, throw in a 4, 3, 4 instead of rh, all of this keep it so your opponent has to guess, if you do the same thing you will get blown up. Down 3 into standing 4 is a phenomenal tool. 1,2 is 0 on block, keep the pressure on. A good mind game I play is jump in with a kick and cancel it to a tele in the air on block or hit. Late kick into 4,3 is godlike. Standing 2 into a rh cancel shenanigans is also fun. I personally hate back 2, 1+2 and back 2, 3 pressure, I just personally do not use it, I throw it in certain situations that leaves me with a 50/50 in a forced block situation, I will show this in a combo I use with splats in the corner. Other than that I get blown up and see people get blown up trying this pressure too much. I also personally NEVER use back 2, 1+2 as an anti air, my thoughts on the matter if you feel comfortable by all means go for it. (written after awhile)As I have been playing higher level players more I have felt the need to use this string, especially against characters that struggle waking up. Characters like shang tsung, freddy, sub zero, scorpion, ermac,and nightwolf to name a few. Against higher tier characters it’s hard to pressure with the 50/50s it creates. So play this string by ear.
Here is a list of rh cancels that should be used.
4 RH
4,3 RH
3 or 3,3 RH
2 RH
B2 RH
D4 RH
1,2 RH (Personal one I use to mess with people ;])
Avoid using these in succession, don’t become predictable, cmon guy’s don’t let them get a rhythm and blow you up. Down 3 is my secret weapon in rains pressure. After a d3 follow it with standing 4, this jails in almost every frame situation you may find yourself in, I have meter drained a lot of opponents with this. Utilize this in pressure, mix up, and poke out situations. Another little trick that can be done is when you RH in pressure, cancel it into a backdash into B2 pressure, this avoids a poke out and can blow up your opponent guessing. Don’t forget to throw in throws as well, it is a key in pressure mix up. So remember 3 things when pressuring with Rain. Don’t be predictable, build meter, and capitalize if you see a normal connect that can lead to big damage.
Armor
With the meter building you should be doing, and with the meter you have I will give you what and when to use armor. The obvious is the EX RH. Blow up pressure and eat an attack to lead to full combo. The flash parry is equally as useful and leads to bigger damage. The flash parry is doing an EX RH canceling it forward into a combo while still having the armor from the rh. 9 times out of ten you are coming forward with a 4,3. The other 1 time you should dash and look to see if the opponent jump and get back into a neutral position by double dashing to avoid the cross up, if someone jumps out of a flash parry and you commit to 4,3 that a full blow up into full combo. So when you flash parry, always be looking at your opponent. When you are feeling overwhelmed by pressure, and need to armor out, a lot of times your RH will be jumped, pros read RH very well. Throw out the armored geyser just to keep them honest, if they read RH, they get blown up into full combo. You may feel this is a waste of armor if it hits normal, but in the end it will keep your opponent second guessing himself. The naked damage is good but keep that in mind.
The only other time you should use armor is with an EX Teleport, use this against only a handful of characters. Kabal, Kenshi, Kitana, Freddy, Sub Zero, and a high level Sindel if you come across one. This is the ultimate tool to blow up zoning, it costs meter but again it’s all about putting it in your opponents head. This move is also Rains best finishing move, I have won more matches with EX teleport than anything, when it comes down to a hit, you can’t go wrong looking to finish with it. These situations is all meter should be used for, calculate your risks, don’t be afraid to burn it.
At the highest level you need to become great at conversions. Look at videos of GGA Waffles, he will convert a air to air, anti air, poke, and situation and turn it into the highest damage or go into the best setup or position. Rain has the best corner game in MK9. Any chance to get your opponent there do it, even if you sacrifice damage. Your opponent will be terrified because they know 1 mistake and the round is over. Most of your conversions are leading to bubble, standing 2, a 4, or 4,3. This grants you full combo and potential for setups.
Corner Game
Rain’s corner game revolves around which side of your opponent you are on, how far from the corner you are, and if you have armor or not. When you are facing an opponent in the corner, put him under pressure, your primary goal should be to land a roundhouse in this position, if you feel skilled enough to actually see and react to a 4 or 4,3 connect go ahead and bubble into an uppercut combo for damage, RH is a much safer risk, if a RH connects, back dash into an uppercut than corner combo back into a setup. This can be something like 4, RH, back dash, Uppercut, 4,3 geyser, 4,3 geyser. High damage and leaves your opponent still in the corner. If you don’t feel comfortable back dashing after a RH into uppercut, after the RH do standing 2, bubble, then uppercut back into the corner. If you have your back to the corner you have a few options. Flash parry, EX RH, geyser to get your opponent off of you, NJP into tele, and EX tele. Flash parry should lead to full combo and you can setup your opponent back in the corner or keep them mid screen and zone. When you connect with RH, go straight to 4,3 geyser rape and drop them into the corner. This is tech that I have just started using, finish 4,3 geyser in the corner with a 4,3 lightning, then NJP. This splats the enemy in the corner, preventing wakeup and putting them in a forced block situation, this should be prime time to reapply FREE pressure. You can come in with 4,3 pressure or as I have done for mind games come in with b2, 1+2 or b2, 3. This is a 50/50 that will mess up your opponent, use this to your advantage. When you make em respect the low, come in with the overhead for full corner combo. If you have your back to the wall and have no armor, play it safe, block and either try and poke out or look for an opportunity to geyser. The bottom line is rain in the corner should steal half of your enemy’s life and keep them petrified of even being near the corner, on both sides of you.
Tech, Information, and Situationals
Here are a few tricks and hidden little tactics probably not seen or used before. First lets start in the corner, a few things for blowing up an opponent trying to poke out of pressure. A lot of people try to poke out of 4,3. In the corner throw in the occasional 4,3 geyser or 4,3, b+4. If you see this blow them up, you can get a full combo off a d+1. D+1 geyser 3 times, or D+1 lightning for full combo. Standing 2 can be used to get combos above 40% without the need for an uppercut. Especially off of 1, 2, f+4. You will see this in combos.
Canceling EX RH
Canceling EX RH will give you armor on whatever you decide to cancel into, whether it is movement, normals, or another special move. The number one use is the flash parry, EX RH into a 4,3 immediately, countering almost any move in the game when timed after your opponent does something. Leading to 48% with no more meter spent. You can during pressure cancel into a cross over by pressing up forward twice and gaining armor on the cross over punch landing on your opponent. A third use of this is canceling into a special move, mostly if not only used for lightning. I have done this into h20 boost just to be a dick with a health lead at times, armored boost. But in a projectile heavy war, see the projectile animation, once its released, let the EX RH rip, Hold 4 down and do the lightning input and boom. Absorb the projectile and get an armored lightning. Leading to roughly a third of your opponents life at max damage and use. Risky against Kabal and a few other characters.
Whiffed 4,3 for max possible damage
See combo list for the big damage combos
Rain Combo List
Most combos for the max damage you want to end with a lightning into RH, immediately input 4,3 the 4 will whiff giving you higher damage with 7% from the 3 into geyser. This makes his highest BNB 50% mid screen, that's ridiculous. In the corner and midscreen you have the unique option to hit the big damage and decide which side you want you opponent to be on, whiffing it late with a reversed input on geyser will cause it to hit on the opposite side of you.
Watergun as a combo ender in the corner
You want to do this for 2 big reasons, prevent wake up, and it only leaves you at -2, making a d1 only 8 frames after. This is absolutely huge big characters like kabal and kenshi rely on wake ups, and with slow normals this could work absolute wonders against them
A little meter building trick, when zoning or playing footsies, feeling out in the beginning of the round, rh cancel spam to build quick and high meter, you can use this to bait jumps or projectiles, always having an ex rh in the wing.
Hello everyone Mr Aquaman here, I have been playing with Rain competitively for some time now, he is by far the greatest character in the franchise and I want to show my dedication to both the character and the community who represents him. I am here to break down every situation, setup, mind game, and knowledge that I know with this phenomenal character. The Rain community seems lost and is dying out, we have very few competitors left. I hope to give a new look on this character and to teach those wanting to learn Rain. To start, almost every competitive and amateur rain player I have ever seen plays this character what I like to call the “Bread and Butter” way. The BNB way (trademarked by Atlantis in a big friggin ocean Corp.) is doing the same combo every time, using the same setup, playing a character how 1,000 others play him/her. Rain is a perfect character to NOT FRIGGIN DO THIS. He has such potential to do whatever you want really. What I will be sharing with you today is my personal way to adapt and approach playing as Rain.
Let’s start with Zoning
Rains tools for zoning are wakeup invincibility on lightning, anti airs, watergun, and the infamous bubble. Nothing excites me more than getting someone with the random bubble. When you have someone spamming projectiles or you get knocked down and see the startup of one, the wakeup invincibility on lightning is a great tool to make your opponent respect throwing projectiles at you. The fact that it leads to full combo and setup is also pretty swag. Anti airs! My favorite anti air is standing 2 to bubble. This leads to very high damage. When you anti air an opponent into 40% they immediately RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF NOT JUMPING AT YOU :]. Another favorite if you read your opponent jumping from a distance is the sweet chin music back 3. Down 1 is a good anti cross up, not too great though, his geyser should stop any cross up leading to more damage than god. If you notice I won’t say what combos to use in all of this, I will show you in videos what I use and when to use them but I won’t say use only this or that. Another great zoning tool I started using a while back was against a cage in a tourny I found. During pressure I would throw a 4 RH or just a naked rh, it has pretty good block stun and push back, and noticed people like to jump after a blocked RH. Immediately after throw watergun. This stops pressure and a jumping very well. All of this will make your opponent want to stay away from you. They should be scared of being face to face with Rain to begin with, if they aren’t, MAKE EM. When you connect with a NJP I always have a teleport buffered, if you whiff or are just guessing it puts you back at an alright position that the opponent may not see coming. If you connect, after the teleport you are still in position to full combo with a 4,3 bubble or whatever you want. I'll post videos of crazy crap you can do off of this. I found this out especially useful in the corner getting out of Brady’s shory prison leading into a full combo in the corner. Now some of rains zoning is character specific, and in some cases it can be very hard to zone, but I will cover this best I can in matchups at the end.
Rushdown
Rushdown with Rain to me is a way to build meter, scare your opponent with good use of rains alright at best frame data, connect with someone small to lead to something big, and mind games. RH Cancels. I cannot tell you how to pressure with RH cancels, I personally don’t know what I do at times, I love to keep it random, throw in lows, throw in a 4, 3, 4 instead of rh, all of this keep it so your opponent has to guess, if you do the same thing you will get blown up. Down 3 into standing 4 is a phenomenal tool. 1,2 is 0 on block, keep the pressure on. A good mind game I play is jump in with a kick and cancel it to a tele in the air on block or hit. Late kick into 4,3 is godlike. Standing 2 into a rh cancel shenanigans is also fun. I personally hate back 2, 1+2 and back 2, 3 pressure, I just personally do not use it, I throw it in certain situations that leaves me with a 50/50 in a forced block situation, I will show this in a combo I use with splats in the corner. Other than that I get blown up and see people get blown up trying this pressure too much. I also personally NEVER use back 2, 1+2 as an anti air, my thoughts on the matter if you feel comfortable by all means go for it. (written after awhile)As I have been playing higher level players more I have felt the need to use this string, especially against characters that struggle waking up. Characters like shang tsung, freddy, sub zero, scorpion, ermac,and nightwolf to name a few. Against higher tier characters it’s hard to pressure with the 50/50s it creates. So play this string by ear.
Here is a list of rh cancels that should be used.
4 RH
4,3 RH
3 or 3,3 RH
2 RH
B2 RH
D4 RH
1,2 RH (Personal one I use to mess with people ;])
Avoid using these in succession, don’t become predictable, cmon guy’s don’t let them get a rhythm and blow you up. Down 3 is my secret weapon in rains pressure. After a d3 follow it with standing 4, this jails in almost every frame situation you may find yourself in, I have meter drained a lot of opponents with this. Utilize this in pressure, mix up, and poke out situations. Another little trick that can be done is when you RH in pressure, cancel it into a backdash into B2 pressure, this avoids a poke out and can blow up your opponent guessing. Don’t forget to throw in throws as well, it is a key in pressure mix up. So remember 3 things when pressuring with Rain. Don’t be predictable, build meter, and capitalize if you see a normal connect that can lead to big damage.
Armor
With the meter building you should be doing, and with the meter you have I will give you what and when to use armor. The obvious is the EX RH. Blow up pressure and eat an attack to lead to full combo. The flash parry is equally as useful and leads to bigger damage. The flash parry is doing an EX RH canceling it forward into a combo while still having the armor from the rh. 9 times out of ten you are coming forward with a 4,3. The other 1 time you should dash and look to see if the opponent jump and get back into a neutral position by double dashing to avoid the cross up, if someone jumps out of a flash parry and you commit to 4,3 that a full blow up into full combo. So when you flash parry, always be looking at your opponent. When you are feeling overwhelmed by pressure, and need to armor out, a lot of times your RH will be jumped, pros read RH very well. Throw out the armored geyser just to keep them honest, if they read RH, they get blown up into full combo. You may feel this is a waste of armor if it hits normal, but in the end it will keep your opponent second guessing himself. The naked damage is good but keep that in mind.
The only other time you should use armor is with an EX Teleport, use this against only a handful of characters. Kabal, Kenshi, Kitana, Freddy, Sub Zero, and a high level Sindel if you come across one. This is the ultimate tool to blow up zoning, it costs meter but again it’s all about putting it in your opponents head. This move is also Rains best finishing move, I have won more matches with EX teleport than anything, when it comes down to a hit, you can’t go wrong looking to finish with it. These situations is all meter should be used for, calculate your risks, don’t be afraid to burn it.
At the highest level you need to become great at conversions. Look at videos of GGA Waffles, he will convert a air to air, anti air, poke, and situation and turn it into the highest damage or go into the best setup or position. Rain has the best corner game in MK9. Any chance to get your opponent there do it, even if you sacrifice damage. Your opponent will be terrified because they know 1 mistake and the round is over. Most of your conversions are leading to bubble, standing 2, a 4, or 4,3. This grants you full combo and potential for setups.
Corner Game
Rain’s corner game revolves around which side of your opponent you are on, how far from the corner you are, and if you have armor or not. When you are facing an opponent in the corner, put him under pressure, your primary goal should be to land a roundhouse in this position, if you feel skilled enough to actually see and react to a 4 or 4,3 connect go ahead and bubble into an uppercut combo for damage, RH is a much safer risk, if a RH connects, back dash into an uppercut than corner combo back into a setup. This can be something like 4, RH, back dash, Uppercut, 4,3 geyser, 4,3 geyser. High damage and leaves your opponent still in the corner. If you don’t feel comfortable back dashing after a RH into uppercut, after the RH do standing 2, bubble, then uppercut back into the corner. If you have your back to the corner you have a few options. Flash parry, EX RH, geyser to get your opponent off of you, NJP into tele, and EX tele. Flash parry should lead to full combo and you can setup your opponent back in the corner or keep them mid screen and zone. When you connect with RH, go straight to 4,3 geyser rape and drop them into the corner. This is tech that I have just started using, finish 4,3 geyser in the corner with a 4,3 lightning, then NJP. This splats the enemy in the corner, preventing wakeup and putting them in a forced block situation, this should be prime time to reapply FREE pressure. You can come in with 4,3 pressure or as I have done for mind games come in with b2, 1+2 or b2, 3. This is a 50/50 that will mess up your opponent, use this to your advantage. When you make em respect the low, come in with the overhead for full corner combo. If you have your back to the wall and have no armor, play it safe, block and either try and poke out or look for an opportunity to geyser. The bottom line is rain in the corner should steal half of your enemy’s life and keep them petrified of even being near the corner, on both sides of you.
Tech, Information, and Situationals
Here are a few tricks and hidden little tactics probably not seen or used before. First lets start in the corner, a few things for blowing up an opponent trying to poke out of pressure. A lot of people try to poke out of 4,3. In the corner throw in the occasional 4,3 geyser or 4,3, b+4. If you see this blow them up, you can get a full combo off a d+1. D+1 geyser 3 times, or D+1 lightning for full combo. Standing 2 can be used to get combos above 40% without the need for an uppercut. Especially off of 1, 2, f+4. You will see this in combos.
Canceling EX RH
Canceling EX RH will give you armor on whatever you decide to cancel into, whether it is movement, normals, or another special move. The number one use is the flash parry, EX RH into a 4,3 immediately, countering almost any move in the game when timed after your opponent does something. Leading to 48% with no more meter spent. You can during pressure cancel into a cross over by pressing up forward twice and gaining armor on the cross over punch landing on your opponent. A third use of this is canceling into a special move, mostly if not only used for lightning. I have done this into h20 boost just to be a dick with a health lead at times, armored boost. But in a projectile heavy war, see the projectile animation, once its released, let the EX RH rip, Hold 4 down and do the lightning input and boom. Absorb the projectile and get an armored lightning. Leading to roughly a third of your opponents life at max damage and use. Risky against Kabal and a few other characters.
Whiffed 4,3 for max possible damage
See combo list for the big damage combos
Rain Combo List
Most combos for the max damage you want to end with a lightning into RH, immediately input 4,3 the 4 will whiff giving you higher damage with 7% from the 3 into geyser. This makes his highest BNB 50% mid screen, that's ridiculous. In the corner and midscreen you have the unique option to hit the big damage and decide which side you want you opponent to be on, whiffing it late with a reversed input on geyser will cause it to hit on the opposite side of you.
Watergun as a combo ender in the corner
You want to do this for 2 big reasons, prevent wake up, and it only leaves you at -2, making a d1 only 8 frames after. This is absolutely huge big characters like kabal and kenshi rely on wake ups, and with slow normals this could work absolute wonders against them
A little meter building trick, when zoning or playing footsies, feeling out in the beginning of the round, rh cancel spam to build quick and high meter, you can use this to bait jumps or projectiles, always having an ex rh in the wing.
