Help finding a MK11 main

[Waterwithoutanyice]

So I have been considering playing competitively but I don't know what characters would suit me. What I go for when choosing a character is.
Strong punish game.
Ability to zone and play mind games.
Viability.
All suggestions are appreciated.

 

[C-Sword]

Liu Kang

 

[skahwt]

Baraka hits every point you listed. He’s a pretty straightforward pick up and play character, but a lot of fun. He’s good and doesn’t break any of the rules a lot of the S-tier characters do so he’s also a good pick for learning the games mechanics and brushing up on fundamentals.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Liu -- oh somebody else said it.

But yeah, Lui C. Kang

 

[Vhozite]

So I have been considering playing competitively but I don't know what characters would suit me. What I go for when choosing a character is.
Strong punish game.
Ability to zone and play mind games.
Viability.
All suggestions are appreciated.

Sonya can zone, has mixups, hits like a truck, and is definitely at least viable.

 

[MKF30]

If you want easier wins, just go with LK lol or Baraka has insanely dumb easy damage. But if you want to use a more honest, challenging character go with Kotal Kahn, Raiden, Sub, Jade, Skarlet someone like that. Or just use who you enjoy the most. If you want to zone well I'd go with Sonya or Jade, both are solid zoners though Sonya is the best of both worlds. She can hold her own up close and zone the shit out of you.

 

[Jynks]

This gets asked a lot now and then and the answer for me is pick a character you enjoy playing.. no matter where that enjoyment comes from.. like winning or liking the characters back story or liking the look of them... w/e. IMO, if you do not like the character you will never want to sit and learn it. Most of us are not playing at a pro level and the entire cast is viable for casuals. Personally I play Shao Khan and Kano.

So my advice is to just pick the one you think is the coolest. You'll get losses for sure but you will win a ton as well.

 

[Espio]

Baraka and Jade cover a lot of bases you want. Baraka has strong punish, good pokes, decent zoning. Jade has solid zoning, poking and her restand plus frames/staggers and counter zoning are nice. Gives you a good perspective on the game.

 

[MagicMan357]

Baraka bar none

 

[ZeroSymbolic]

CETRION... no seriously. She does everything you asked and more, and she's not as big-brain as she's made out to be.

Zones for days and an away teleport. Only needs 1 string more or less.

 

[ExpectFlames]

Try cetrion

 

[xenogorgeous]

Liu Kang, Cetrion or Sonya, you can pick and choose any of those and everything will be fine then, hehe

 

[SwiftEagle]

Like others here have said, just use Liu Kang. It doesn't matter how bad of a player you are. You'll beat superior players using one string alone. Then after you have a winning record you can visit any thread on here and tell everybody how balanced the game is.

 

[GLoRToR]

So I have been considering playing competitively but I don't know what characters would suit me. What I go for when choosing a character is.
Strong punish game.
Ability to zone and play mind games.
Viability.
All suggestions are appreciated.

Sonya and Lewis K. Ceng are both basically instant gratification with rushdown and zoning both at top tier quality. No weaknesses whatsoever.

 

[LawAbidingCitizen]

So I have been considering playing competitively but I don't know what characters would suit me. What I go for when choosing a character is.
Strong punish game.
Ability to zone and play mind games.
Viability.
All suggestions are appreciated.

For strong punish game, good zoning and mind games I can honestly say every character meets those requirements except D'Vorah, Jacqui who have no zoning or awful projectiles and a few others.
All characters are now viable after the patch.

My best recommendations are:

Well Rounded Characters:

Sonya:
Has great zoning and rushdown with top 5 fireballs and crazy 50/50's.
She lacks fast mids and her 10f mid has almost less range than most pokes.
Amazing damage (50%)

Jax:
Amazing Rushdown, Staggers, AA's, good gap closers and very respectable zoning once heated up. The best FB. Can be zoned out.

Kabal:
Great range with hurboxless normals, great AA's KB's, FB, good staggers, 9f mid with 50/50's, great zoning and gap closers.
His mix can be fuzzied but he has no gaps.

Liu Kang:
Pretty much good at everything but suffers from footsie range and can be out spaced.
Low damage from most used normals and his highest damage midscreen is 13f and punishable but has amazing jails into +3. He makes up for sub 30 damage with his KB's

Cetrion:
One of the best zoners, great range, low profiles normals, escapes corner and has great footsies and staggers.
Lacks fast mids but has a 10f low to compensate.

Sub Zero:
Great range, good damage from KB, true 50/50's, good buttons, best punisher, 8-11f starters.
Doesn't do much damage midscreen in Thin Ice without KB/FB. Good damage with his DOW variation and he can start combo with both overhead and low.

Baraka:
Is more of a rushdown char. He does insane damage 40-70% with KB/FB. Uses staggers and frame traps to open up the opponent but only needs to touch them twice.
Harder to open up players than some characters but hurts. Great projectiles and flag gives them damage boost to out trade other zones. Jack of all trades master of damage.

Shang:
Great zoning, does less damage now but has great buttons, staggers, punishers, AA's, Footsie, frame traps, mixup.
Has trouble with some characters up close but has tools to deal with them. Can change into opponents and gets huge damage boost.

Nightwolf:
Same as shang but less about zoning and more about footsies. Good at basically everything. If you have good footsies you will do very well with him. Great damage, punishers, corner carry, damage buff, staggers, buttons

 

[Vslayer]

Cassie Cage