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Guide How to Start the Fire - Smoke Guide

Bio

"Originating from Prague, Tomas Vrbada was recruited by the Lin Kuei for his impressive ability to escape capture. Able to transform into a wisp of smoke, his talent has proved useful on countless missions. Smoke has no memory of his childhood. His only family is the Lin Kuei, more specifically the younger Sub-Zero, who is like a brother to him. It has been Smoke's hope that through the Lin Kuei he will discover his past - and the origin of his power."

Legend

B = Back
F = Front
D = Down
U = Up
1 = Front Punch
2 = Back Punch
3 = Front Kick
4 = Back Kick
xx = Cancel
--> = Link
j. = Jump or Jumping
nj = Neutral Jump
cr. = Crouching
AA = Anti Air

Strategy

Unlike some other members of the cast, there is no one particular playstyle for Smoke that is noticeably more advantageous than everything else. Unlike Cyrax, who relentlessly searches for an opportunity to use his command throw reset, or Ermac, who plays careful footsies with his opponent to best use his long-range special moves, Smoke can work well at a variety of ranges, but he does not excel in any particular category. Playing Smoke requires the player to be clever, versatile, and knowledgeable about what situations his opponent is weakest in.

Advantages

- Excellent anti-zoning toolset
- Great Mobility
- High Abare (damage off of random hits)
- Odd style causes opponents to play differently and be more susceptible to mind games

Disadvantages

- Mostly slow normals with little high/low mixup opportunity
- Smoke bomb whiffs on moving opponents and does not cause chip damage, making his full-screen pressure game lacking

Special Moves

Shake (B, F+1) - Smoke vibrates in place. If he is hit by a projectile, Smoke teleports above the enemy and strikes straight down. The retaliation is unblockable and unavoidable by any means. Startup and recovery is fairly small, making this an excellent move to use on reaction to projectiles to shut down enemy zoning attempts.
Enhanced Version: Smoke counters everything except for low attacks and x-rays. A good move to get out of pressure or to use when you're waking up.

Smoke Cloud (D, B+2) - Smoke throws a ball of smoke at the feet of the opponent, which teleports the opponent in the air in front of you to be juggled. This move tracks, but it will whiff if the opponent is moving quickly enough, and it will always miss an airborne opponent. It causes no chip damage, but you still gain meter for the enemy blocking it. Fairly fast and decent enough damage to usually come out ahead in trades with other projectiles (if you don't combo after it, the fall causes an extra 6% damage, for a total of 12%). Doesn't actually count as a projectile, so projectile counters such as Jade's Shadow Flash, Nightwolf's Reflect, or Smoke's Shake won't protect against it. Colloquially referred to as Smoke Bomb.
Enhanced Version: It deals more damage and has a larger hitbox. Not too useful.

Air Throw (Throw in air) - Smoke tosses the opponent behind him. Takes priority over other air attacks and can combo into Smoke Bomb if done low enough to the ground. Can be combo'd from j.3 or j.4.

Teleport (D, B+4) - Colloquially referred to as Teleport Punch. Smoke appears on the other side of the screen and punches the opponent then appears on the other side of the opponent and punches him again. Smoke's TP is the fastest of its kind, beating Ermac's and Scorpion's by miles. It's much more viable than either of the other two as an anti-air or full screen punish attack due to it having much more priority, and you can punish some projectiles on reaction with it (but be careful, against some opponents your enemy can block in time). Also, unlike the other two, Smoke's TP causes knockdown. Blocking this attack leaves you in a vulnerable aerial roll state, so be careful using it.
Enhanced Version: Adds a third hit that's an overhead. Decent for getting a bit of extra damage on your punishes, and the extra hit and overhead can sometimes surprise your opponent, but like the non-enhanced version, it is very punishable so be careful.

Invisibility (D, U+3) - Makes Smoke translucent, but you can still see vaguely where he is. Causes a small period of projectile invincibility. Useful for masking your approach patterns, but it's hard to buy the time necessary to perform the move.
Enhanced Version: Smoke is completely invisible. The only way to tell where he is is by camera movement. Not really worth spending meter on IMO, but your mileage may vary.

Smoke Away (F, B+3) - Smoke turns into a cloud of smoke that travels backwards a short distance. Has some startup, so not particularly useful for getting out of pressure situations, but it can be useful for spacing. It is completely invincible and you can block as soon as the invincibility ends, so it is quite safe.
Enhanced Version: Lower startup and travels farther. Useful if you need to make a major retreat and know the enemy isn't going to attack you in the next couple of frames.

Smoke Towards (B, F+3) - Smoke turns into a cloud of smoke that travels forwards a short distance. Again, the teleport is completely invincible and you can block or attack as soon as it ends, so it is a safe and effective approach tool so long as you don't get so close to the enemy that he can beat your slow normals with his quicker ones. A good tool for approaching through projectiles without jumping, which can throw off enemies' zoning routines. Many people get scared when you use the move, not knowing what to expect, so throwing immediately after the move can be an effective offensive pattern. If the enemy performs a move while you are in front of them and you travel behind them, their move will whiff and give you a free mixup opportunity, but the distance that you must do the teleport from to get the cross-up isn't particularly safe.
Enhanced Version: Has much quicker startup and travels much farther, making it much easier to approach with this move. It can also cross-up from a much safer distance. Leads to good mixups if you perform it after you land a throw.

Fatalities

Smoked Out (Sweep) - B, F, B, F+1
Tremor (Sweep) - B, B, D, F+2
Stage Fatality (Touching) - F, U, U+1
Babality (Jump) - D, B, D, F, D (you cannot block during the winning round to perform a babality)
 
Important Target Kombos

1, 1, 2 - Fast high attacks that leads to a knockdown. Moderately useful for escaping pressure.

B+2, 3 - Starts with a fairly fast medium attack. Can combo into Smoke Bomb for an easy 31%.

3, D+1, 2 - A 3-hit string that launches. The second hit is an overhead. This is your big damage string. Decent for mixing up and your go-to punisher.


Beginner Combos

Combo 1 - 3, D+1, 2, j.k, Teleport Punch (25%)
Combo 2 - Smoke Bomb, dash, 3, D+1, 2, j.k, Teleport Punch (24%)
Combo 3 - B+2, 3, Teleport Punch (18%)


Advanced Bread and Butter Combos

Off of a Jump-in Punch or 3, D+1, 2
Combo 1 - 3, D+1, 2, j.k, air throw, Smoke Bomb, dash, 3, D+1, 2, j.k, air throw (42%)
*Make sure to wait as late as possible so that you're close to landing before performing the first j.k to air throw. Doing so makes linking the Smoke Bomb much easier. Also buffer the Smoke Bomb while you're landing from the air throw so that it comes out as soon as you land.
Combo 2 - 3, D+1, 2, dash, 3, 2, dash, 4, Smoke Bomb, dash, 3, D+1, 2, j.k, air throw (37%)
Combo 3 - 3, D+1, 2, j.k, air throw, Smoke Bomb, x-ray (49%)

Off of Smoke Bomb
Combo 4 - Smoke Bomb, dash, 3, D+1, 2, dash, 3, 2, j.k, Teleport Punch or air throw (28%)
Combo 5 - Smoke Bomb, nj.punch, dash, 3, D+1, 2, j.k, Teleport Punch or air throw (29%)

Off of B+2 Overhead
Combo 6 - B+2, 3, Smoke Bomb, dash, 3, D+1, 2, dash, 3, D+1, 2, j.k, Teleport Punch (35%)

Off of Jump-in Kick
Combo 7 - j.k, air throw, Smoke Bomb, dash, 3, D+1, 2, j.k, air throw (38%)


Technical Tricks

Jump Kick Option Select
If you land a jump kick, you can combo into an air throw. Air throws leave you in a recovery state that your opponent can capitalize on. However, if you perform a jump kick and press air throw at the same time you would combo it, if the opponent is blocking, the air throw won't come out. That means if you use this option select, you land a full otg smoke bomb combo if your opponent does not block, and if your opponent does block, you have advantage and can continue to mix up on the ground. The best options for mixup are B+2 to 3 combo for a fast overhead, sweep for a fast low and another jump kick OS, 3 to D+1 to 2 for a high damage overhead, or throw.


Okizime (options while your opponent is waking up)

When you knock your opponent down, their options are limited while almost all of yours are available. Pressing this advantage is called okizime, or wake up game. Here are some of the best options off of any given knockdown situation.

Universal Options

No matter how you knock your opponent down, you can always try to throw a smoke bomb as your opponent gets up. The smoke bomb is so fast that they can't do anything but block. It's a good idea to start your first one or two okis in any match with this to test your opponent. It's totally safe and gives you meter even if they block. It does no chip damage, however, so you can't use it as genuine pressure.

Another option off of any knockdown is enhanced teleport. It's fast enough and goes far enough to get you right in the face of the opponent. From there, you can throw out meaty 3, meaty B+2, or meaty sweep, or you can try a cross up jump kick. There's always trusty throw if they're blocking too much. It uses meter but gives you the most options.

Off of a Combo ending in Teleport Punch or Air Throw

As always, you can check the opponent's blocking ability with smoke bombs. After a couple of those, making sure to train your opponent to block, you can input a teleport punch right when you land from your combo. The teleport punch will whiff, which makes it recover much faster than a blocked TP. From this position, you can quickly input B+2 or sweep and they'll come out as meaties. Standing 3 isn't fast enough to be meaty, but it might still work. Throw will work if you know that they'll block. Doing this also might mess them up if they try to roll backwards - they may end up holding forward by mistake since you switch sides so fast.

You can also try for a cross up j.k, but your opponent has a bit of time to react to it.

After a Sweep

Smoke boasts one of the fastest sweeps in the game. People knock it as a low option because it doesn't do a ton of damage compared to low strings, but it leads to some great wake up options.

Pretty much any of your ground options can come out as meaty. If they don't do an invincible wake up attack after a sweep, they have to block your normals. Again, your options are B+2 for a fast overhead, sweep for another knockdown, and standing 3 for very big damage. Throw if you think that they're very scared and will turtle hard.

You can also easily cross up jump kick from this range, and they almost certainly have to block it. If you perform the jump kick OS (explained above), you'll either get big damage or an extra mix up opportunity. Jump kicking at this range also has the added benefit of tech chasing rolls. If they roll, they have to block the jump kick (wake up attacks lose their invincibility if you roll). It's almost always worth it to try this first because it's so much more advantageous than the other options. Only stop doing it if they display the knowledge of how to get out of it (which is very hard to do).

Off of a Front or Back Throw

You recover too slowly after a regular throw to be able to whiff a TP, which limits your options. The universal options of Smoke Bomb and enhanced Smoke Towards still work though.

You also have time for two dashes in either direction (and if you do them towards, you can threaten a jump in), or one smoke teleport. You can use this as an opportunity to adjust your spacing if you know he's going to block the smoke ball and don't want the tiny bit of meter it gains.
 
Videos


Kredits

Format stolen from the Cyrax boards on SRK. I found their beginner's guide very helpful and informative, so I figured I'd make a similar one for Smoke.
 

Totshy

Noob
I am new to the forums and am working to improve my smoke game.

I have a question for you about your air throw in combos. I know it is getting patched, but understanding the mechanics will help regardless. How do you catch the jk + air throw so early in the air. I seem to be able to only connect at the peak of the launch, or in longer combos where the opponent falls faster I miss completely. Is there a dash cancel to get the jump off quicker? I hold jump after inputing 3, D+1, 2, but from the vid it looks like you get airborn much quicker than I and even catch them on the way up off the launch. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
It's not early, it's late. You want to do the j.k to air throw after the first 3, D+1, 2 as late as you possibly can without the air throw missing. That'll make you as close to the ground as possible.

After the relaunch, you have to do the j.k to air throw very fast, so you have less wiggle room to play with the timing, but since gravity decays you won't have launched your opponent as high. That means you might still be able to get the second smoke bomb after the second air throw, but if you miss it you only lose 2% damage so it's not a big deal.

If you land a j.k to air throw against a grounded opponent, you don't need to worry about how high you are. You'll be low enough to get the smoke bomb.

Similarly, if you catch your opponent midair with an air throw, you'll probably be too high to get it, so don't worry about missing it.

A lot of people think the timing is strict, but it's really not. You can buffer the move after you throw the opponent on your way down, so you have plenty of time to mash it out. The real issue is where exactly you are when you connect with the air throw.


Edit: Working on formatting. Changed some things to hopefully make it a little more readable. The black background with white letters makes formatting a bit more difficult.
 

Synraii

So Salty...
Certain X rays can be parried by shake - eg. Sektor's
I'm unsure whether you need the enhanced or just standard as I haven't really tested it, I just accidentally parried Sektor's with E bf1 last night.
Abuse, people!
 
I'm pretty sure that I've used Shake on Kitana's x-ray as well. So long as it has the projectile property, shake will parry it no questions asked it seems.

That means that Smoke Bomb doesn't have the projectile property though. Very weird.
 

Synraii

So Salty...
My argument for that is that it's not actually hitting them; more the ground under them. It's like Ermacs psychic stuff, there's no projectile hitting the body to parry.
 
Thanks! I like to know when stuff I write is useful.

Post patch, I think that smoke is gonna have it rough. His bnb goes down to 37% (from 44%), and his jump kick --> air throw combo goes from 39% to 14%, which is a big hit. That puts his j.k OS air throw in the same category as most of the cast with air throws (and weaker than quite a few), where it was once one of his biggest selling points.

I'm going to try him out for a bit, but I'm preparing to jump ship if things don't work out. Hopefully Kenshi is good. He looks cool.
 
I thought the Smoke Towards/Away was only immune to projectiles and you had to use the enhanced version for full immunity? I could have sworn that I've been knocked out of one in the middle of the move before.
 
Nope, it's 100% invincible after startup. You have no lag after the invincibility ends either, so you can block whatever your opponent tries to time as a meaty. As Reyscarface pointed out in the matchup thread, it completely goes through sub's clones (I've actually ported into the clone and held block before, destroying the clone safely). I've also gone through johnny's shadow kick with it.

The enhanced version basically has no startup time and goes further. That's it for the differences.
 

BATTLEBEAR

NJ Jobber
i think as smoke players we should be dropping otg smoke bomb combos now so that we dont depend on it when its gone
 
I included a 37% replacement bnb combo that doesn't use otg smoke bomb. Nothing can replace the lost damage off of an air throw though.

Remember that the otg being removed in the patch is still in rumor status, and we can hope that NRS has a change of heart and leaves it in.

There's really no need to stop using it right now though. It won't take a lot of adjustment to get used to it being gone. Smoke will just be worse.
 
I'm going to revamp the okizime section soon to make it more specific as to what your options are after any given landed hit. Smoke can get a pretty good vortex going if he knows how to do it.
 
Revamped Oki section is up. It's more specific on what exactly your options are off of any given knockdown. You can keep your opponent trapped in wake up for quite a while if you play your cards right.
 
Nope, it's 100% invincible after startup. You have no lag after the invincibility ends either, so you can block whatever your opponent tries to time as a meaty. As Reyscarface pointed out in the matchup thread, it completely goes through sub's clones (I've actually ported into the clone and held block before, destroying the clone safely). I've also gone through johnny's shadow kick with it.

The enhanced version basically has no startup time and goes further. That's it for the differences.
Ok I see it's doing it now. Was the game patched to do that at some point? I was at the midnight opening for L.A. Noire at Gamestop the other night and they had a PS3 with unpatched MK hooked up and every time I did it I would get knocked out of it.


Also what's a good move to use against crouch guarding. I have fought against a buch of people that crouch and guard/poke the whole time and it gets kind of frustrating.
 
As far as I know it wasn't patched. Remember that you can't begin an attack during the teleport while your enemy can. That means his attack will come out faster and if you aren't blocking when you come out, you'll get hit. You can block in time though.

Against crouch guarding, 3, D+1, 2 the combos do good damage. The second his of that string hits mid, which will hit crouching guard if their reaction isn't fast enough to switch to standing guard during the string.

If they're a bit more awake on defense, B+2, 3 starts with a very fast overhead that's almost sure to catch someone in a crouching guard. Leads to a solid 35%.

Check the combo section for your combo options off of those strings.
 

hardwire

Noob
Ok I see it's doing it now. Was the game patched to do that at some point? I was at the midnight opening for L.A. Noire at Gamestop the other night and they had a PS3 with unpatched MK hooked up and every time I did it I would get knocked out of it.


Also what's a good move to use against crouch guarding. I have fought against a buch of people that crouch and guard/poke the whole time and it gets kind of frustrating.
back 2 3 smoke bomb watch em squirm
 
Updated combo damage to match the new stealth patch. Air throw now prorates slightly more, causing OTG smoke bomb combos to do slightly less damage.
 

REYTHEGREAT

..........................
Thanks for the updates. Haven't gotten a chance to test him out. I was already testing raiden a few days back just in case. You still thinking about jumping ship?