General/Other - Ermac Ermac General Discussion Thread

[Dope Dojo]

So guys, Tremor comes out on Tuesday. You know what that means? Balance patch on Monday. Can't help but feel a bit nervous.

 

[Harlequin969]

We can hope. Is there usually a balance patch before a new character gets released?

 

[BoromiRofGeo]

So guys, Tremor comes out on Tuesday. You know what that means? Balance patch on Monday. Can't help but feel a bit nervous.

i stopped worrying because i know ermac is not a subject of nerfs LOL
and i stopped hoping for buffs.

 

[Da Tac0]

We won't get hit by the nerf bat. Everyone knows ermac lives by the sword and dies by it. We bite the bullet every time we mess up.

 

[jharris]

yo i was online on xbox live in a very laggy game and came across a weird bug. was playing MOS and in the last 2 rounds my souls just dissapeared. i dont mean for the normal recovery time they just went and i couldt use soul ball at all. never had that before. anyone else?

 

[Da Tac0]

yo i was online on xbox live in a very laggy game and came across a weird bug. was playing MOS and in the last 2 rounds my souls just dissapeared. i dont mean for the normal recovery time they just went and i couldt use soul ball at all. never had that before. anyone else?

Yeah it's weird. I've ran sets like 20 matches and everything is all good till I switch the ermac and it starts lagging.

 

[14K]

Sup Guys, How you guys feel about the MUs with Shinnuky? I mean this match up seems really bad for Ermac, Specially against Imposter...
The raw online teleporters i can easily deal with, a couple jabs knocks them right out of the air into a pretty decent combo, but i just feel once in the vortex the fact that they steal the Ex Version of our move really improves their game.... @Big D @zaf

 

[jharris]

its tough, you can just get vortexed to death. imo shinnok should be given the option to meter burn it but it shouldnt be done free

 

[14K]

its tough, you can just get vortexed to death. imo shinnok should be given the option to meter burn it but it shouldnt be done free

Yeah, i mean i feel like some character suffer on this match up, but Ermac takes the cake =S i mean its not all bad ofc its a doable MU but not a fun one =S you really gotta work...

 

[Da Tac0]

I don't use ermac when I fight shinnok. Fuck dat cause you don't know if your fighting someone who knows how to use him or not.

 

[fobley]

Fellow mains, anybody know how to play the Liu Kang matchup?

I've been playing against multiple LKs the past couple of days and it's one of my harder match ups tbh. Idk when to poke out of His FB cancels in Dragons Fire, and in Flame Fist, I get chipped down before I can mount any semblance of offense.

 

[14K]

Fellow mains, anybody know how to play the Liu Kang matchup?

I've been playing against multiple LKs the past couple of days and it's one of my harder match ups tbh. Idk when to poke out of His FB cancels in Dragons Fire, and in Flame Fist, I get chipped down before I can mount any semblance of offense.

Well i never suffered on this MU, couple things i can say is, dont try to be to offensive, Ermac can actually Zone out Liu Kang as surprising as that sounds, a mixture of Levitate to Gp, and Soul projectiles actually gives you the advantage everytime, cause if he hits you he gains little dmg but nothing more, if you hit him you get a free combo. Also try to learn his strings, he doesnt have mix ups, or least not ones you should be afraid of. And lastly in Flame Fist, its all a matter of attention he has a lot of gaps in his 2in1 stuff, you can D3 him out of stuff but if you dont feel confident you know the timing, try buffering a EX Force Push or jumping...

EDIT: i would tell you to pratice a lot of Instant Air FireBall, but heres the deal my execution is pretty good and even i have a hard time doing it online... Offline its quite ok, but the online lag eats just enouth frames that even if you do it perfectly it might not hit a standing opponent. Really good connections sometimes allow for a few Instant Fireballs but its very tricky =S, Regardless its a great tool VS LK

 

[Da Tac0]

Fellow mains, anybody know how to play the Liu Kang matchup?

I've been playing against multiple LKs the past couple of days and it's one of my harder match ups tbh. Idk when to poke out of His FB cancels in Dragons Fire, and in Flame Fist, I get chipped down before I can mount any semblance of offense.

Luckily for you one of my training partners uses Lui. First things first always block low. When Lui does 113 / 111 poke after the 2nd 11. You can also low profile his launching elbow. Don't be afraid to try and get a reaction by going invisible in the air into lift, telly etc. After you poke out of 113 / 111 you can now apply your own pressure back. I use d1 personally. Now also some Lui's will accidentally use a bicycle kick while your blocking low. If they don't have meter you can get a free uppercut if they do it becomes tricky. I try to block low as long as I can because most players will wait till the final hit to ex.

 

[zaf]

Sup Guys, How you guys feel about the MUs with Shinnuky? I mean this match up seems really bad for Ermac, Specially against Imposter...
The raw online teleporters i can easily deal with, a couple jabs knocks them right out of the air into a pretty decent combo, but i just feel once in the vortex the fact that they steal the Ex Version of our move really improves their game.... @Big D @zaf

Cant really say that I played this match up extensively yet. I would like to, just need to find a shinnok main.... I haven't had issues with imposter shinnok in the past. Raw teleports are easily dealt with like you mentioned. You can just NJP them on reaction, as well. His overhead is not really hard to deal with, you just need to fuzzy guard for when you are in a 50/50 situation and always be ready to tech since this is a lot better to use in imposter with the grab damage increase. You just need to be more liberal with your pressure and keep the pressure on him to not let him get his game started.

 

[zaf]

Fellow mains, anybody know how to play the Liu Kang matchup?

I've been playing against multiple LKs the past couple of days and it's one of my harder match ups tbh. Idk when to poke out of His FB cancels in Dragons Fire, and in Flame Fist, I get chipped down before I can mount any semblance of offense.

Would help to have a bit more information as to what is giving you a problem. I know that you mentioned poking out of FB cancels, but that is something you just need to learn about liu kang and not so much an ermac problem. When you better understand liu kang, you will no what you can and can not do. Take liu into the lab i suggest. As for Flame fist, there are actually a lot of gaps you can poke or armor out of. Most of the strings in fire fist special move, you can hit him right out of. It is only EX fire fist that actually gives him some advantage.

 

[14K]

Cant really say that I played this match up extensively yet. I would like to, just need to find a shinnok main.... I haven't had issues with imposter shinnok in the past. Raw teleports are easily dealt with like you mentioned. You can just NJP them on reaction, as well. His overhead is not really hard to deal with, you just need to fuzzy guard for when you are in a 50/50 situation and always be ready to tech since this is a lot better to use in imposter with the grab damage increase. You just need to be more liberal with your pressure and keep the pressure on him to not let him get his game started.

Yeah, Tho i Dunno if you experienced the following : really good Shinnukis are doing something that is really tricky, they get you into the EX Jazz hands and then do a JP crossup into teleport, as low to the ground as they can make it, and then its a full mixup of, JP into low or Overhead or fall to the ground and Low... its quite fast and really hard to predict which is coming specially online... -.- must say i do not enjoy this MU at all

 

[fobley]

Well i never suffered on this MU, couple things i can say is, dont try to be to offensive, Ermac can actually Zone out Liu Kang as surprising as that sounds, a mixture of Levitate to Gp, and Soul projectiles actually gives you the advantage everytime, cause if he hits you he gains little dmg but nothing more, if you hit him you get a free combo. Also try to learn his strings, he doesnt have mix ups, or least not ones you should be afraid of. And lastly in Flame Fist, its all a matter of attention he has a lot of gaps in his 2in1 stuff, you can D3 him out of stuff but if you dont feel confident you know the timing, try buffering a EX Force Push or jumping...

EDIT: i would tell you to pratice a lot of Instant Air FireBall, but heres the deal my execution is pretty good and even i have a hard time doing it online... Offline its quite ok, but the online lag eats just enouth frames that even if you do it perfectly it might not hit a standing opponent. Really good connections sometimes allow for a few Instant Fireballs but its very tricky =S, Regardless its a great tool VS LK

Looking back at it now, in one of my matches last night, I noticed that I was zoning LK out in a couple of spots. I didn't really pay attention to it then, but I'll commit to that gameplan more next time.

Luckily for you one of my training partners uses Lui. First things first always block low. When Lui does 113 / 111 poke after the 2nd 11. You can also low profile his launching elbow. Don't be afraid to try and get a reaction by going invisible in the air into lift, telly etc. After you poke out of 113 / 111 you can now apply your own pressure back. I use d1 personally. Now also some Lui's will accidentally use a bicycle kick while your blocking low. If they don't have meter you can get a free uppercut if they do it becomes tricky. I try to block low as long as I can because most players will wait till the final hit to ex.

Yeah it always perplexes me when LK suddenly bicycle kicks when I'm fully blocking. Usually that is when i punish them. Didn't think of poking with a d1, though, so that is admittedly a brainfart on my end.

Would help to have a bit more information as to what is giving you a problem. I know that you mentioned poking out of FB cancels, but that is something you just need to learn about liu kang and not so much an ermac problem. When you better understand liu kang, you will no what you can and can not do. Take liu into the lab i suggest. As for Flame fist, there are actually a lot of gaps you can poke or armor out of. Most of the strings in fire fist special move, you can hit him right out of. It is only EX fire fist that actually gives him some advantage.

You're right, it's absolutely a Liu Kang problem; Ermac definitely has all the tools to contend. I should be able to lab him today, as I didn't have much time to do so over the weekend and just went straight into those LK sets.

I visually see the gaps, but I was crippled by my hesitance to poke out and establish some sort of foothold.

 

[zaf]

Yeah, Tho i Dunno if you experienced the following : really good Shinnukis are doing something that is really tricky, they get you into the EX Jazz hands and then do a JP crossup into teleport, as low to the ground as they can make it, and then its a full mixup of, JP into low or Overhead or fall to the ground and Low... its quite fast and really hard to predict which is coming specially online... -.- must say i do not enjoy this MU at all

I would really need to play an imposter shinnok who does these things to get a better idea of the match up.
ermac has a lot of tools to contest shinnok IMO.
If shinnok is going for a jump punch, you can armor him and stop him from getting his game going.
I almost never break as it is so much of a use of resources. meter and stamina.
so I will save meter for these situations. Only breaking when it will be necessary ( last combo before I die etc)

 

[I GOT HANDS]

I'm playing against a good Ermac lately... I gotta say, this character seems to have great design through and through. A lot of cool unique and useful abilities.

Just wondering, other than his punishable specials, what would you guys say Ermacs weaker points are? He seems very solid all round but this is from an opponents perspective. Any tips to playing against him?

 

[zaf]

I'm playing against a good Ermac lately... I gotta say, this character seems to have great design through and through. A lot of cool unique and useful abilities.

Just wondering, other than his punishable specials, what would you guys say Ermacs weaker points are? He seems very solid all round but this is from an opponents perspective. Any tips to playing against him?

His weakpoints other then the punishable specials would be

- walk speeds
- a lot of strings and normals that are highs.

You cant zone him out, because he has teleport and he can shoot a forceball to trade with zoning which always ends in his favour
You also can not jump on him. His uppercut and D4 are very strong anti airs. One of the better characters at anti-airing in this game.
You kinda have to rush him down and not let his game get started.

 

[Dope Dojo]

@zaf for the life of me I just can't do it. I've been at it all morning and now into the evening. I set Liu Kang to d3 then immediately F44 without walking forward and the best I can get is a d1/2/3 on one note if you delay the d2 just a second the first low kick will trade with the uppercut. So you'll recover fast enough to catch them with ex lift and combo into soul ball.

Yet I look at ATK''s video and he's doing 222, or iab or njp and all this stuff. I've literally been stating at my screen for hours trying different timings for releasing block and poking and nothing outside of the aforementioned moves seems to work.

 

[zaf]

@zaf for the life of me I just can't do it. I've been at it all morning and now into the evening. I set Liu Kang to d3 then immediately F44 without walking forward and the best I can get is a d1/2/3 on one note if you delay the d2 just a second the first low kick will trade with the uppercut. So you'll recover fast enough to catch them with ex lift and combo into soul ball.

Yet I look at ATK''s video and he's doing 222, or iab or njp and all this stuff. I've literally been stating at my screen for hours trying different timings for releasing block and poking and nothing outside of the aforementioned moves seems to work.

Lemme look into it and get back to ya

 

[zaf]

@Dope Dojo
So liu kang d3 into f4 makes f4 9 frames. Ermac 2 comes out at 9 frames.

Best I could do was get 2 to trade.

D1 /d3 is easy to time to beat out f4 from liu.

Air blast is easy to, you just have to do a jump back air blast.

Back dash is easy.
Not sure how atk did 222. Maybe his liu kang record timing is off. It looks slower then how I set up liu but I dunno... He does play liu so...

 

[Dope Dojo]

That's what I figured. I watched the video a hundred times and I swear when he did 222, Kang took a step forward after the d3. Which makes sense because that extra step gives Ermac all the time he needs.

If nothing else, I'll just try to stick with d1/d3. The +10 to +15 frame advantage is all i'll really need to get something going. Though ill look into jump back air blast. Worse comes to worse I guess you could just burn meter on Soul Burst, but if it isn't going to win the round I'd pocket that option. Thanks for looking into it though.

 

[zaf]

Yea when liu kang did d3 into f4 when he hit with 222 I also noticed liu walked forward... Thought it was just me.

D1 and d3 should be just fine