How to Defeat Any Character

[Deleted member 5032]

Smoke
(based on my fights with him and posted information)

Smoke has no low chains. His sweep is incredibly fast but won't lead to any real damage. This means you can pretty much block high constantly and Smoke won;t have any real tools to deal with it. One trick you will need to watch out for it a throw following his Smoke Forward maneuver.

Smoke has the fastest teleport in the game. It can punish pretty much any action you take, so don't commit to anything too lengthy. Definitely don't jump at any point against him. There's just simply no need, unless you are going for the occasional crossup. Your best be is to try to wavedash bait his Teleport and punish accordingly. You should have no issues baiting out the Teleport.

Always be on the defensive because Smoke just has an incredibly fast move set. His X-Ray is almost instantaneous and his Smoke Ball can lead to 30+% damage kombos.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Sonya

I have almost no good info on Sonya. I'm going to continue to do research and get my findings posted as soon as possible.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Stryker
(based on my fights with him and posted information)

I really don't have much good info on Stryker yet, so this post is going to be very light.

All I can say is that he only has 1 good mid-launcher as part of a chain, meaning your are usually going to want to block low but don't get lazy or you will eat a mild kombo.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Sub-Zero
(based on my fights with him and posted information)

Most of Sub-Zero's kombos stem from his mid-hitting chains. He does have 2 low-hitting chains so don't get lazy, but they don't kombo into anything worth mentioning. This means that up close you'll want to block high most of the time. At range it becomes the exact opposite. Sub-Zero has no tools to deal with a low-blocker from range. However, if you do nothing but block low you will never be able to bait out and punish his Slide. This means you need to block high at range (only for baiting purposes!), but always be ready to go low as soon as you see that slide come out.

Do not get into a zoning war with Sub-Zero. The odds of you tagging each other are just too good. The problem is that while you did 8% damage with your projectile he will be able to get in a full kombo from his. The Ice Ball can be punished on block from close range.

The Ice Puddle is very unsafe, but because of this you pretty much won't see it in an actual match. I've probably fought 100 different Sub Zero players and I can't remember the last time I even saw this move, much less got caught in it.

As with most characters you will want to keep your ass on the ground against Sub-Zero. Jumping in on him is one of the worst mistakes you can make in Mortal Kombat. Unless you have a specific strategy in mind to deal with his Ice Clone you will get frozen. It is possible to bait out the Ice Clone with a jump-in as long as you have a Teleport or some other trajectory-changing move to circumvent and punish the Clone. Also be careful trying to counter Sub-Zero's chains because he can tack on an Ice Clone to the end to make them safe.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Skarlet
(based on posted information)
Rule #1: Break her kombos at the earliest opportunity. She can easily do 50+% damage, even with the use of no meter! All of your meter should be dedicated to breaking her retardedly strong kombos!

Skarlet has a fantastic mixup game from close and long range, making her a very dangerous kombatant.
Her Red Dash special is what gives her the ability to mixup from range. However, unlike most characters with dash specials it can be difficult to use the projectile barrier maneuver against her because of her very fast Blood Drop teleport. The good news is that her dashing low attacks don't seem to kombo, meaning you really need to be on guard against her dashing mids. Upslash and Downslash are not safe on block so punish away!

Skarlet's front throw does a pretty standard 11% damage. However, her back throw does a whopping 17% damage! I'm sure this is a glitch and will be patched, but for the time being you will almost always want to try to break a back throw (by inputting FP or FK).

Her Dagger toss is not safe up close, but don't be fooled be a delayed 2nd dagger.

Her Blood Drop teleport is very unsafe on block and shouldn't be too hard to bait.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Kenshi
(based on my fights with him and posted information)

Kenshi has a killer mixup game and most of his chains leave him with advantage on block. You do not want Kenshi mounting a close-range offense against you. At range you are typically safe blocking high (he has a mid-hitting ranged attack) but his moves are very hard to punish from outside sweep distance.

His Spirit Charge is safe on block but can be punished with a full kombo if jumped over.

Telekinetic Slam can be punished if whiffed from close range.

Tele-Flurry is not safe up close.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Rain
(as posted by BookBurning)

Rain's biggest strength relies in burning meter for damage and honestly in the future he's going to revolve around cancelling his EX-RH kick.

As far as what type of character he is, he's definitely a rush down-Mixup character. Back 2 1 is an overhead that allows you to dash forward and juggle them with a quick 43 into a superroundhouse. Or you can do back 2 3 which is a high low once they conditioned to the overhead or vise versa.

Check your opponents with lightning occasionally, it's hit confirmable and you can then link it into a water ball. What you do afterwards is self explanatory; drag them to you and perform a combo.

Rain's best block string in my opinion is a simple 12 which you can also juggle with a quick forward 3. His most damaging move is a 43 into lightning which you can then combo off of. My personal philosophy with Rain is mix them up and rush them down; hell you can even mixup their wakeup with an EX Roundhouse, absorb their hit and then smack them with it.

But the biggest thing with Rain is USE YOUR METER. His Enhanced moves are godlike and personally, you shouldn't even have X Ray with him if you are using him correctly. Abuse his armored Enhanced moves and abuse cancelling RH to link normals into combos for amazing damage.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Freddy Krueger

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Filler #1 (of 4)

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Filler #2 (of 4)

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Filler #3 (of 4)

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Alright, well thanks to everyone for not posting! I was holding my breath that entire time...

I now look forward to hearing all of your valuable information on characters' strengths, weaknesses, and anti-character strategies.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

This is definitely going to be a work in progress. I've got most of the raw information in a word document. I'm going to go ahead and start formatting it into readable form and getting it posted as soon as it's ready. Please remember, what I currently have are very loose facts mostly based on info taken from Shoruken and TYM posts. My xbox is in repair so I can't test some of these statements, but as soon as I am able I plan on doing plenty of field testing. Also, as frame data becomes more available it will be posted along with more detailed information about every aspect of each character.

 

[Permodius]

Baraka's strongest strings start from a low hit. You DEFINITELY have to block low against him. Plus he has one of the strongest mix-up options available, an instant low and an instant overhead attack that both lead to combos. I know that a lot of the information you got is not from playing as the character or against them, but this is misinformation. I thank you for writing all of this though. It is very helpful when the information is accurate, which was everywhere else I read.

 

[BookBurning]

Dude we all already know how to do that.

You just pick Raiden.

That was the valuable part, now I'll get to the less-valuable parts.

Rain's biggest strength relies in burning meter for damage and honestly in the future he's going to revolve around cancelling his EX-RH kick.

As far as what type of character he is, he's definitely a rush down-Mixup character. Back 2 1 is an overhead that allows you to dash forward and juggle them with a quick 43 into a superroundhouse. Or you can do back 2 3 which is a high low once they conditioned to the overhead or vise versa.

Check your opponents with lightning occasionally, it's hit confirmable and you can then link it into a water ball. What you do afterwards is self explanatory; drag them to you and perform a combo.

Rain's best block string in my opinion is a simple 12 which you can also juggle with a quick forward 3. His most damaging move is a 43 into lightning which you can then combo off of. My personal philosophy with Rain is mix them up and rush them down; hell you can even mixup their wakeup with an EX Roundhouse, absorb their hit and then smack them with it.

But the biggest thing with Rain is USE YOUR METER. His Enhanced moves are godlike and personally, you shouldn't even have X Ray with him if you are using him correctly. Abuse his armored Enhanced moves and abuse cancelling RH to link normals into combos for amazing damage.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Baraka's strongest strings start from a low hit. You DEFINITELY have to block low against him. Plus he has one of the strongest mix-up options available, an instant low and an instant overhead attack that both lead to combos. I know that a lot of the information you got is not from playing as the character or against them, but this is information. I thank you for writing all of this though. It is very helpful when the information is accurate, which was everywhere else I read.

Awsome, thank you very much for that update. I'm going to note it in my word document so I can do some research into it and make sure to get the best information posted. At the moment I'm having to go what other posts and guides have stated for characters like Baraka and Sheeva who I don't really get to fight online. In the meantime, hopefully your post will assist players having trouble with Baraka. Thanks again!

 

[Theme]

Not really necessary thread since most of these info can be found on the characters sections, but thanks for the effort!

 

[Eight]

Not really necessary thread since most of these info can be found on the characters sections, but thanks for the effort!

I'd say it is an excellent idea to bring all that information together in one place. I will certainly be making use of this thread in the future.

Not really necessary post since all you did was criticize, but thanks for the effort!

 

[Kombo]

Not really necessary post since Eight beat me to it, but thank me for the effort!

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Hey Bookburning, thanks a lot for tthat Rain info! I'll go ahead and add it to my word doc and get it put into the main guide in just a bit. As far as the necessity of this guide goes, "Eight" hit the nail on the head. This is meant to be a central locations where TYM members can come for information on how to beat specific characters. Plus I constantly see posts for "How do I beat this character" so apparently the posts in the individual forums aren't cutting it. And please remember that this is just the start. I don't know if you've seen my Ultimate Kano Guide, but I can be very thorough. Once I get my 360 back be prepared to see a ton of more concrete info as well as videos and specific scenarios. I want this to be a one-stop shop for players having issues with specific characters.

 

[Kombo]

Karaoke what other characters do you use? Hopefully you can make a ultimate guide for them too.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Karaoke what other characters do you use? Hopefully you can make a ultimate guide for them too.

Haha, well if I can collect the proper info I'd be happy to make an "Ultimate" guide for any character. Unfortunately I am purely a Kano player (which is funny because my 360 was broken the entire time his Upball was unstoppable... I'm kinda glad I missed that). I play him 100% exclusively. And currently I am dividing my time between organizing a repeating Xbox Live tournament (http://testyourmight.com/forum/showthread.php?8533-Karaokelove-s-TYM-Xbox-Live-Tournament-Thread&p=107171#post107171) and doing research into the ins and outs of every character in the game. Luckily I've got a ton of free time during weekdays and weekends but it might be awhile before this thread is anywhere close to where I want it to be.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Alright, well after almost 12 hours of research, typing, and organizing, I'm calling it a night. I'll finish posting the bare-bones strategies tomorrow and then begin my research into the specifics of what makes each character dangerous and how to overcome those strengths.

 

[Sentry_Gun]

Baraka
(based on info, not experience)

Baraka has a few mixup option but his best kombos are started from chains that only hit mid or high. His low chains don't really seem to lead anywhere. This means you are typically safe from his most damaging maneuvers by simply blocking high. Obviously Baraka is a close-range character so either way you don't want him on you, but if you find yourself in that situation it can be an important thing to remember.

Sorry I just gotta say here, this isn't really true. Actually one of Baraka's best launcher strings is a low starter that leads into 30%-40% combos.

 

[Lyuben]

Sorry I just gotta say here, this isn't really true. Actually one of Baraka's best launcher strings is a low starter that leads into 30%-40% combos.

Was gonna say that but someone beat me to it.

He has 2 overheads that can lead to stuff. 2,2,1+2 (last hit being overhead) and forward 2 (does not really lead to very high damage though). Back 3,1 can lead to 30%+ midscreen or 40%+ corner from a LOW. Baraka has good mix ups.