help for a beginner?

[Mondo Cool]

hey guys i picked up mk9 last week and thought i would try and take it a bit more seriously than i do normaly with fighting games(learn combos, get decent online etc). So i started using scorpion and managed to get some decentish combos down around the 30% damage mark and thought i would try out some player matches to get a feel for the online and basically i struggled to pull of most of the combos i could do 80% of the time offline due to some minor input delay (which i know is something i will have to get use to) and even though i won most of the matches i played, nearly all of them disolved into me overly using my teleport and spear.
So i was just wondering if there is a different character i should be trying to main that has i guess more..online friendly combos so i can get a better feel for the online without getting my but handed to me but doesnt have too steep a learning curve for a beginner like me, or is scoprion as noob friendly as it gets?. Any help advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Kombo]

hey guys i picked up mk9 last week and thought i would try and take it a bit more seriously than i do normaly with fighting games(learn combos, get decent online etc). So i started using scorpion and managed to get some decentish combos down around the 30% damage mark and thought i would try out some player matches to get a feel for the online and basically i struggled to pull of most of the combos i could do 80% of the time offline due to some minor input delay (which i know is something i will have to get use to) and even though i won most of the matches i played, nearly all of them disolved into me overly using my teleport and spear.
So i was just wondering if there is a different character i should be trying to main that has i guess more..online friendly combos so i can get a better feel for the online without getting my but handed to me but doesnt have too steep a learning curve for a beginner like me, or is scoprion is a noob friendly as it gets?. Any help advice would be greatly appreciated.

For a beginer use Kung Lao and Ermac and learn which style fits you zoning or rushdown. Then start exploring a charecter you really like and main him. Then once you make that choice learn pokes, setups, mixups, bnb combos and just play the game. The only way to get better is by playing people better than you. My advice from personal experience stick to your charecter. The worst misstake you can make is getting really good with a charecter then switching to someone else.

 

[Kwon]

What Kombos are you usually doing with Scorpion?

 

[Velvet Sack]

I'd recommend playing some arcade ladder with different characters and seeing which one you like best. After you decide, stick with that character. There's great resources here and on YouTube for every character in the game.

Regarding the lag: is your connection wired? If it's possible, it makes a big difference.

 

[Sao87]

I always tell everyone trying to learn some of the games fundamentals to pick liu kang and practice his instant air fireballs and dash combos.

To do his instant air fire balls you press up + back then forward + 1(fp). Try to get these really close to the ground.

The dash combo he has is probably the simplest in the game and will make it easier for your hands to perform dash cancels when you figure out who you want to main. (Most good combos incorporate dash canceling)

I assume you know naming conventions but if not you should learn them.

1 = fp, 2 = bp, 3 = fk, 4 = bk

when I say dash I mean press forward forward

Here is the combo.

back 3,1,2 (dash) back 3,1,2 (dash) back 3,1,2 (dash) back 3,1,2

mid screen you can get 4 repetitions of the same string and all need to be dash canceled into each other, this will program your hands to dash cancel almost everything.

Once you are comfortable with those concepts you want to build an offense around mix ups, and liu kang has them. Try to mix between overheads and low attacks, in training mode a medium attack means it is an overhead and low means it will hit a standing opponent.

The only other suggestions I have once you have built a pretty good pressure game is to get comfortable sticking out d1's and d3's which is good with any character to stop pressure or to fill gaps in between your strings since d1 is typically the fastest move in the game for every character and d3 is a low hit. Also get comfortable anti airing (typically with uppercut or a good special move), anti airs will be more difficult online but a lot of people jump and you want to condition them to stop so that you can land your combos.

You get all of this stuff down and you have set the groundwork to pick up almost any character and get good with them quickly.

 

[Mondo Cool]

i guess the combo for him am most confortable is 1 1 Spear, Neutral Jump Punch, Dash, Back+2, Jump Kick, air grab but if i can ill try to teleport,dash, sweep instead of the airgrab but the teleport is really inconsistant for me so for me it was next to impossible online when i finally did get the combo going and the only other one ive kinda got down fairly consitantly in practice is back+2, dash, 1 1 teleport, spear, forward 2 1 4 and i wasn't too succesfull with that either oh an i guess spear+ xray if you count that lol

 

[Mondo Cool]

I'd recommend playing some arcade ladder with different characters and seeing which one you like best. After you decide, stick with that character. There's great resources here and on YouTube for every character in the game.

Regarding the lag: is your connection wired? If it's possible, it makes a big difference.

i dont think its my connection i play other games online (mainly fps games) but its not unplayable its was just a bit of input lag and wasnt really too noticeable until i was trying to string moves together quickly but i think when i play more online ill jus adjust was just asking around to see if there was a better character to make the transition (offline 2 online) with/ better beginner character

 

[Mondo Cool]

I always tell everyone trying to learn some of the games fundamentals to pick liu kang and practice his instant air fireballs and dash combos.

To do his instant air fire balls you press up + back then forward + 1(fp). Try to get these really close to the ground.

The dash combo he has is probably the simplest in the game and will make it easier for your hands to perform dash cancels when you figure out who you want to main. (Most good combos incorporate dash canceling)

I assume you know naming conventions but if not you should learn them.

1 = fp, 2 = bp, 3 = fk, 4 = bk

when I say dash I mean press forward forward

Here is the combo.

back 3,1,2 (dash) back 3,1,2 (dash) back 3,1,2 (dash) back 3,1,2

mid screen you can get 4 repetitions of the same string and all need to be dash canceled into each other, this will program your hands to dash cancel almost everything.

Once you are comfortable with those concepts you want to build an offense around mix ups, and liu kang has them. Try to mix between overheads and low attacks, in training mode a medium attack means it is an overhead and low means it will hit a standing opponent.

The only other suggestions I have once you have built a pretty good pressure game is to get comfortable sticking out d1's and d3's which is good with any character to stop pressure or to fill gaps in between your strings since d1 is typically the fastest move in the game for every character and d3 is a low hit. Also get comfortable anti airing (typically with uppercut or a good special move), anti airs will be more difficult online but a lot of people jump and you want to condition them to stop so that you can land your combos.

You get all of this stuff down and you have set the groundwork to pick up almost any character and get good with them quickly.

Wow dude thanks seems like liu kang is a good character forme to learn will have to take him in to practice and see what he can do, also i know this is a noob question and probably completely obvious but in the combo you mentioned above is there a difference from doing a dash cancel and just dashing as soon as te first combo ends and then inputing the buttons for the second part as soon as soon as you can

 

[Sao87]

Wow dude thanks seems like liu kang is a good character forme to learn will have to take him in to practice and see what he can do, also i know this is a noob question and probably completely obvious but in the combo you mentioned above is there a difference from doing a dash cancel and just dashing as soon as te first combo ends and then inputing the buttons for the second part as soon as soon as you can

I say dash cancel but you don't really cancel inputs its more that you just get a feel for the instant you can dash after the 3rd hit in the string ends. When performed right they will be launched up, you will dash and then the next back 3,1,2 string will connect.

 

[CrashLand]

I've been doing what Sao87 advised for like a week or two now... ie, pick Liu Kang and start w/ the basics. Helps that I like what they've done with Liu's design in this game, I was sold on him as soon as I saw his throw.

I actually started a thread about dash cancel combos right here that might be helpful: http://testyourmight.com/forum/showthread.php?7560-string-dash-string-dash-string-juggling

The basic B+321 repeat seemed very difficult for me at first, especially online, where I still have a tendency to drop it. A lot of times it really is a lot easier for me to win with low fireball spam, even though that's not really how the character is 'supposed' to be played in general. But if you can combo off of B+213 and 321 (his second-best string, it hits mid and launches), you have the tools to troll a lot of beginners pretty badly with very simple tactics...

Once you have B+321 down it's a pretty smooth transition to his cooler combos.