NERFS:
Grandmaster: For Klone shatters to launch from the ground in the corner, they must be meter burned, I think 48% for an armour shattering, safe low launcher to be a bit much.
This can be achieved by just changing the damage scale of the Shatter. Currently it's 0.95 (I recently made a thread listing among other things the damage scale for every move Sub-Zero has) which is the same as any other regular jab. Make it 0.85 or 0.8 and all that damage goes down without asking players to meter burn and you can regulate the amount you want to reduce just altering that number.
Also keep in mind that it doesn't really launch, it just hits an airborne opponent, altering his fall and gravity properties while you recover from the burst, allowing you to act before he falls. It's like using pokes to juggle with an opponent, the poke won't launch against grounded characters but can keep them in the air for longer time, so it's not really a mater of it launching with or without MB (unless you remove the hit advantage of Ice Burst which kills the move for every variation, including GM when used midscreen).
EDIT: Note that despite suggesting a way to reduce the damage different than the one you proposed, I don't really think that damage is such a big problem considering GM damage midscreen is really low, I guess you could trim it a bit, but it's nothing so game breaking when evaluating the variation as a whole and other characters can do similar numbers.
Frost bomb DB1 and MB DB1 to be much more punishable on block and on wiff.
Slides on wiff should have much more recovery frames to promote better play from Sub Zero players, it shouldn't be an excuse for bad mobility on the player's behalf.
I don't agree this should be done. The bombs would be trash if the punish window was higher and you're damaging Cryo and UB more than GM (that uses the safety of Klone Shatter because the last one to hit is applied).
Also Cryo and UB need Slide for movement purposes to navigate the screen without the protection of the clone. You kill both of them if you remove their ability to maneuver no mater which buffs you add.
GENERAL:
F4 - Has better recovery, allowing for F4 staggering.
F4 is already the best move Sub-Zero has and as others mentioned, that recovery is what allows it to make literally everything safe. It has really long reach and on whiff if you tried to cancel into any special with a 2 (like Iceball or Hammer) it will just do F42 which has amazing range and is hard to punish. F4 by itself has really good range so it's ok if it has bad recovery if you whiff it without a cancel.
112 = 0 on block, good amount of push back as he literally has no strings to push the opponent off.
114 = -6 on block, currently doesn't have a HKD quality, nor is it safe or damaging.
B334 = -8 on block.
Completly agree on all of those. Those are the strings that Sub-Zero simply will never use in their current state. 112 animation looks so much strong than an unsafe hit that doesn't even pushback (can be hit by the moves with the shortest ranges in the game) and 11 staggers into regular Ice Burst on block anyway. 114 should offer a safe option considering you can 11slide or 12 for much better lows, same for B334.
CRYOMANCER:
D2 to be high and much faster on start up, currently mid and 13 frames, never in a competitive game will anyone gamble on landing a Sub Zero D2, it is a death wish…also, it is mid but fully punishable on block…
I don't think D2 is so bad, it's just not designed to be used like your typical uppercut, but it's a good tool if used from the range Cryo should be playing (at the limits of his F4/D4 range) and from there you can easily see stuff comming. Would be better if it was faster, but it's not Cryo's main problem.
NJP and J2 to include a Cryomancer Sword animation, same for every other weapon character in the game. Other characters with weapons have them added to the range on their NJP and J2, but for some reason, Cryo doesnt…even Lasher has this added.
Agree on NJP having the sword, not really a necessity and won't solve Cryo's problems but Subbie NJP is one of the worsts in the whole game so making it decent would be a plus. It won't be used on combos though (UNLESS Air Hammer is altered and made useful, more on that later in the post).
JIP2 is fine, it's perfect to jump over opponents after HKD and the cancel is great. JIP1 can insta punch from starting distance (something most JIP in the game can't do no matter their range, including sword JIPs) and JIP2 can also insta punch from close distance. I'm sure if a sword was added they would change the properties of the move and it's already fine.
Why Sub Zero Cyromancer wasn't given Erron Black’s impale move still boggles me to this day considering they already have this animation in stock with his MK9 Throw (which was amazing, and included a sword being broken off in the chest), I never seen a charcater with a sword and dagger variation with less sword and dagger moves centred around the variation.
It also boggles me (and I also though about the MK9 animation) but to be honest, at this point it really wouldn't add much to the variation, just "cool factor".
F12 = +2 On block, for an offensive character, he literally has no or stagger game whatsoever.
The thing is, Cryomancer is NOT an offensive character IMHO. The fact that he has cool weapons is misleading there, but if you try to play him as an offensive guy, you will be counterpoked and pressured to death.
F12 is fine at 0, wouldn't be a bad thing to make it +2, but the string is fine specially given how easy it's to confirm into F122 on hit.
MB Air Hammer should be Overhead then low, and launch. This is basic, judging by the animation.
I've given a lot of thought to Air Hammer. In fact I think Air Hammer holds the key to make Cryomancer jump into truly competitive.
I agree there should be a MB version that launches (but keep it OH-Mid, you can JIK/JIP into different lows anyway), but also the regular Air Hammer should get a couple of things:
- Extended range on the second hit (so it hits at the same distance than other pounds).
- A bit of pushback on block (it was made safe recently, but at -2 it's still bad for Cryo if it doesn't add some pushback), probably just adding the mentioned range includes some pushback.
- The second hit shouldn't knock down. This is the most important part because the first hit is a restand (test it in the corner or against the armor spell of Sorcerer Quan Chi) but the second hit nullifies it. If the second hit gave hit advantage instead of knocking down, for a guaranteed 50/50, Sub-Zero would gain the following:
>Corner meterless vortex with better damage than the current ColdBlooded into EX IB combos that aren't even true vortex because only one option leads to a repeat. I've been toying in the lab with possible combos ended in Air Hammer and it could land 1 bar around 40% combos into vortex (around 44% IF NJP is given a sword for extended range). You sacrifice the damage of the HKD combos (which you can still do if you want it and you're fine with the HKD) but get a vortex.
>Armor breaking wakeups in the corner with Air Hammer leads to a guaranteed 50/50 instead of soft knock down like it currently does, so it will be rewarding (currently that's the only use of Air Hammer and most times it's better to use any other option).
>Mid screen he gets a tool to spice things a bit as he can jump into Air Hammer if the area of effect of the second hit is increased. This way he has a tool to initiate a proper assault which currently he lacks.
>The move balances itself given how slow it is and how uppercuts go through the hammer to hit you (including fist uppercuts), so you can't be predictable with it and you have to play mind games and make your opponent think you're going for a JIP1 or JIK3 (or if you will meterburn for the armor launcher).
I truly think this is what would add that mojo Cryomancer needs to make the jump. That and fixing F122 into B2 randomly launching backwards, of course.
I'm surprised you didn't mention removing the 0.85 damage penalty for using the aura mid combo (it makes no sense considering how many characters, including GM Sub-Zero, can extend combos with non hitting moves without any damage penalty).
I think the parry should be enhanced, maybe making it safe at the cost of removing the aura, which means:
- It's safety is conditional on having the aura, so it's not safe by default.
- It removes the aura on use, allowing you to use your aura combos after a parry (currently you can't have the aura active if you want damaging combos... which goes against the variation supposed defensive philosophy and creates a personality crisis for Unbreakable).
I agree that the aura effects should be equal to other similar effects and that the aura shatter should do something more than just adding damage. Maybe even make the aura improve Subbie's other special moves at the cost of its removal too, but I haven't dedicated as much time to Unbreakable as I have to Cryomancer so probably others know better than me what's the solution for this variation (if any).
