Ermac General Discussion

[Afumba]

A week later, this character is looking ridiculously good. Are there any situations / characters that anyone is actually struggling with or even feels disadvantaged? Feels kind of like a different flavor of Peacemaker.

Wouldnt say struggling but Shang is annoying.

I also wish Ermac had better knockdowns, they feel really weak to me.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

Playing Mileena vs Ermac, I find that his pressure is mostly a non issue. 1,2 cancel into backdash? Hold my 1,2 roll combo. His armor is also death on block, and a random roll can deal with much of his spacing game.

 

[wsj515]

Playing Mileena vs Ermac, I find that his pressure is mostly a non issue. 1,2 cancel into backdash? Hold my 1,2 roll combo. His armor is also death on block, and a random roll can deal with much of his spacing game.

Isn't his 12 cancel only -2? They should be able to blow up any Mileena reversal 12 attempt pretty safely with a poke.

I don't see armor being punishable as a notable thing, most characters in the game have punishable armor. If you really want you can use one of the many kameo options to make it safe.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

Isn't his 12 cancel only -2? They should be able to blow up any Mileena reversal 12 attempt pretty safely with a poke.

I don't see armor being punishable as a notable thing, most characters in the game have punishable armor. If you really want you can use one of the many kameo options to make it safe.

Yes, but most Ermacs I'm facing like to keep doing cancel after cancel, so they pretty much give up their turn pretty quickly. Also, I have only faced Ermac/Janet so far, no Kano, Cyrax or Stryker in sight to keep his armor safe. Its early to tell, but Im thinking its a match up in favour of Mileena.

 

[ArmageddonUMK]

What's everyone been using Kameo-wise? I've used Sonya and Scorpion so far mostly, they seem to help accentuate his strengths and cover some holes. I want to try Cyrax next. If you haven't check out what Mustard's been doing with Ermac/Cyrax, looks cracked af.

 

[ticklebandit!]

A week later, this character is looking ridiculously good. Are there any situations / characters that anyone is actually struggling with or even feels disadvantaged? Feels kind of like a different flavor of Peacemaker.

I'm new to him still, but I struggle a lot vs characters with long range pokes. S2 or a raw bf2 will just go over them so it's hard to get the whiff punish

 

[Marinjuana]

How Technical do we think Ermac is compared to other characters?

The float combos, soul punch cancels, setups and kombo variety are more technical than most of the kast but you could run a simple gameplan with him that doesn't require much execution

 

[Fatality o]

Was messing with Sektor and honestly think he’s great with ermac. We want to end every combo we can with 123 3+4 into oki missile. This gives us freedom to use our highs and levitate pressure on knockdown.

We also get a safe teleport when calling in a missile if they try and punish the tele they get blown up.

 

[BlazingShrapnel]

Was messing with Sektor and honestly think he’s great with ermac. We want to end every combo we can with 123 3+4 into oki missile. This gives us freedom to use our highs and levitate pressure on knockdown.

We also get a safe teleport when calling in a missile if they try and punish the tele they get blown up.

For some reason Sektor was the kameo I immediately gravitated towards to learn Ermac lol. With all the normals and specials that push full screen, the safe teleports help keep the pressure up.

Missle hitting the opponent mid air can let you combo of of s34 and I think some others as well. Probably more of a playstyle pick rather than an optimal one, though.

 

[Wigy]

In the corner with janet

b24 d+K (buffer 3 b4) then do 43float and jk.

you will break armour and then you can delay the jk a few frames either side of the low.

armour breaking HTB

 

[ImpostorOak]

I may try to write up more with Kano but you'll get the idea from this I'm sure:

Main BnB 7f Punish:
12xshriek, dash, f4xfloat(f), j12(Bkano)3xtele(d), 4xpush for 323 damage, no bar, 1 Kameo.

And damage is not Kano's big appeal. Kano let's you combo off of lift in the corner, sweep, and some other things meterlessly that you'd otherwise not be able to, but his big help is making teleport pseudo safe and a meterless launcher, along with enforcing Oki and approaches with Kano Ball. Knives can also help you approach, and if you're full screen, knives plus tricky ghoul low hands is something they have to hold.

I see a lot of potential with Kano/Ermac, but I've been dealing with Wisdom tooth junk and DRs and Surgery and all that so I haven't really had time to put all my thoughts down yet.

 

[hatyr]

Was messing with Sektor and honestly think he’s great with ermac. We want to end every combo we can with 123 3+4 into oki missile. This gives us freedom to use our highs and levitate pressure on knockdown.

We also get a safe teleport when calling in a missile if they try and punish the tele they get blown up.

Find any sauce with the flamethrower?

 

[Fatality o]

Find any sauce with the flamethrower?

Need to lab it, might be worth going for the restand in the corner.

but check out this 50/50 set play potential I posted in the combo thread

 

[hatyr]

Need to lab it, might be worth going for the restand in the corner.

but check out this 50/50 set play potential I posted in the combo thread

Nice. Looks like he also gets a throw combo from the shove while Sektor is still out. Not sure if everyone has a way to set that up or convert after. I know there's at least a handful that can.

 

[Fatality o]

Sektor corner setplay, safe jumps can’t be unblocked on wakeup and it loops off both 50/50 options. Can bait armor if you empty levitate or cancel it.

You can opt to end any corner combo in flamethrower instead of f4 levitate for a +19 restand which guarantees everything but his overhead.

 

[Fatality o]

F throw combo option loop for Sektor in the corner. Need to time the missile a little later I do it between f4 and db2. If you spend a bar it’s 18,. FB it’s 22%, if you don’t spend bar and end in 123 3+4 it’s 19%.

Again instead of the loop you can opt for flamethrower restand ender too for 20% but you gotta spend a bar.

 

[JDE]

What do y'all think his best reversal is? Trying to find a kameo with a good wake up for him, but he doesn't seem to have one. Or which kameos that covers him?

 

[fr stack]

Darius spinaroony catches jumpers and even hits behind him if they jump over, the armour on it is terrible tho it never works

 

[Cobainevermind87]

bf1 and bf3 brutes don't work even after spending 2 bars on air exdb3 for the restand They really went out of their way to make sure those brutes never see the light of day

 

[JDE]

Darius spinaroony catches jumpers and even hits behind him if they jump over, the armour on it is terrible tho it never works

Yeah see this a problem. Everyone is posting dope setups & good tech, but he himself has his pros & cons just like every other character. No reversal against strings & as a wake up option implies you're blocking more often than others defensively. Not that I have a problem with that, but once you get knocked down in the corner, it's hella brutal. That's the biggest weakness that I'm noticing too. That & he's more meter positive than a lot of characters (again, not that this is bad because meter builds hella fast in this game)

So I did some testing last night & found that some of the kameos give him a reversal option. I didn't get to all of them, but I'm going to.

- Sonya's leg takedown - Midscreen wake up, but not fully invincible as a wake up, full invincible against armored strings. Good reversal overall though

- Scorpion's spear - Helps him escape & repositions himself in neutral on wake up, but no true reversal option against strings other than same purpose. In the corner you get beaten out. Not the best by any means

- Sub-Zero's Cold shoulder - fully invincible for both options Great reversal

- Sektor's flamethrower - fully invincible on both options (from when I tested, could be wrong) Still great reversal

- Kung Lao's spin - Fully invincible from when I tested Great reversal

- Janet Cage's Nut punch - Fully invincible as a reversal against strings, but situational (2 hits beats it out after armor) on wake up but still a good wake up option Great reversal

 

[wsj515]

Yeah see this a problem. Everyone is posting dope setups & good tech, but he himself has his pros & cons just like every other character. No reversal against strings & as a wake up option implies you're blocking more often than others defensively. Not that I have a problem with that, but once you get knocked down in the corner, it's hella brutal. That's the biggest weakness that I'm noticing too. That & he's more meter positive than a lot of characters (again, not that this is bad because meter builds hella fast in this game)

So I did some testing last night & found that some of the kameos give him a reversal option. I didn't get to all of them, but I'm going to.

- Sonya's leg takedown - Midscreen wake up, but not fully invincible as a wake up, full invincible against armored strings. Good reversal overall though

- Scorpion's spear - Helps him escape & repositions himself in neutral on wake up, but no true reversal option against strings other than same purpose. In the corner you get beaten out. Not the best by any means

- Sub-Zero's Cold shoulder - fully invincible for both options Great reversal

- Sektor's flamethrower - fully invincible on both options (from when I tested, could be wrong) Still great reversal

- Kung Lao's spin - Fully invincible from when I tested Great reversal

- Janet Cage's Nut punch - Fully invincible as a reversal against strings, but situational (2 hits beats it out after armor) on wake up but still a good wake up option Great reversal

I'm confused by this framed as a particular weakness of the character - his armor seems pretty serviceable compared to a lot of characters, outside of it being a high. You're definitely going to be able to wake up with it, and blow up most string gaps without issue, and with certain kameos can then combo into very respectable damage or keep it safe. Cancel characters also build ridiculous amounts of meter.

If your opponent is making a hard read on wakeup to neutral duck or poke the high armor, that's a crazy risk you can punish. They're potentially just giving up their oki, or getting launched.

 

[JDE]

I'm confused by this framed as a particular weakness of the character - his armor seems pretty serviceable compared to a lot of characters, outside of it being a high. You're definitely going to be able to wake up with it, and blow up most string gaps without issue, and with certain kameos can then combo into very respectable damage or keep it safe. Cancel characters also build ridiculous amounts of meter.

If your opponent is making a hard read on wakeup to neutral duck or poke the high armor, that's a crazy risk you can punish. They're potentially just giving up their oki, or getting launched.

Maybe I'm missing something then. I tried it against Raiden's storm cell into Kano call his bf2 & bf3 exed

 

[ImpostorOak]

Ermac's actual weakness is that his regular backdash sucks

 

[CrimsonShadow]

There's a crazy sequence that happens in the Kombat vs. Sonic video here

Ermac's space control in the hands of a good player is pretty wild.