Is it possible to master shang tsung without using MORPH?

[NaWtiBoi]

Shang looks awesome in this game. i love his fire skulls and his combos, but i hesitate on using him because of his morph. I usually just play 1 or 2 characters in MK games. To be good with morph I'll have to use almost every MK9 character and learn their basics and specials which is going to make my brain hurt. So my question is can you be a master with shang without morph?

 

[Luxus Nights]

In my opinion. No yo can not, the soul steal is a big part of Shangs game, not only does it do the obvious (Morph & Damage boost) but it is a key tool to make Shangs strings super safe. Just grind it out bro, the pay off will be gold in the end if your serious about Shang.

 

[Error Macro]

To be fair you will have to learn seven characters moderately max.And yes good Shangs will be a sight to behold. Good luck

 

[NaWtiBoi]

To be fair you will have to learn seven characters moderately max.And yes good Shangs will be a sight to behold. Good luck

Well I guess I'll have to go with my boi Noob then. he will be my main character. See you boys in the noob forum. lol

 

[Luxus Nights]

 

[gryphin81]

Only Shang Tsung

I think you can be very effective without the soul steal. I do agree that eventually you will need to know atleast the specials for everyone. What I like to do is go to practice and always just select someone different. When I get bored of doing combos working on strats for that player I start using the morph and doing there moves. Or some of their bread and butter combos. Not everyone is used alot though so just learn the big names Kung Lao Sub and so on...

 

[Kwon]

Shang looks awesome in this game. i love his fire skulls and his combos, but i hesitate on using him because of his morph. I usually just play 1 or 2 characters in MK games. To be good with morph I'll have to use almost every MK9 character and learn their basics and specials which is going to make my brain hurt. So my question is can you be a master with shang without morph?

Hope this helps!

 

[Zandorath]

Simplified BnBs with the whole cast is easy to learn. Just learn some basic ways to stay out of risk and put out some threats. You don't need to use morphed state to win, but you might have to morph as defence once in a while.

And you only need to know the other characters mirrors, not vs the whole cast.

 

[smalltalk]

IMO just learn some of the overused and top tier characters that everyone uses.. Ermac, Lao, Kano are some of the characters that ALWAYS seem to pop up in online matches. And I don't think you need to know that much about them, I have seen what that damage boost can do and if you can just get off a small combo with any of those characters you will cause some pain.

 

[Sequel]

Valle primarily uses Shang as a zoning character and doesn't incorporate morph into his game. He's got all the tools for zoning and unbreakable 30%+ combos. You don't really need to soul steal to be effective with this guy.

 

[Mad Daimond]

Basically i dont like to use soul stell as combo finisher, im prefere mixups with up skull. But Shangs one of the best overhead combos is +, Soul Steal.

 

[GNG Iniquity]

Personally, I feel the biggest emphasis on Shang is flawless execution into his skulls. There is no room for error in that regard, I'm not disagreeing that learning the basic BNB and movesets of the popular character is a bad idea, but his skulls are unbreakable and do high amounts of damage.

Yes, his damage boost is very handy as well, but who can argue with unbreakable juggles? All you can do is strap in for the ride and kiss your ass goodbye. I find it quite difficult to execute the skulls consistently on a pad, though, but perhaps that's just me.

Wish I had a stick to see if I fared any better with Shang.

 

[PANDEMlC]

To "master" a character you would need to be able to utilize every single ability they have to your advantage. So no, you cannot master a character and leave something out that could be useful at the same time. You could however still play the character very well. Look at Valle, best Tsung we've seen so far in tournaments and he never uses soul steal.

 

[Riggs]

What the hell can you do on wakeup? Was sparring vs my friends smoke and as soon as i was knocked down it was game over, dont really want to waste a bar on ex soulsteal every time i get knocked down and ground skull seems pretty awful tbh.

 

[GNG Iniquity]

EX soulsteal is his only viable wakeup option, his wakeups are awful. B2 fireball/B2 soulsteal or B3,4 med, far, ex far ground skull, jump back, close ground skull/morph are his best get off me moves once the opponent is in your grill after getting up.

I think most people learn to respect Shang's low juggle though and expect it.

 

[leek]

My problem with the soul steal is the button combination for the actual move. The input. I can't stand having to do f,d,b for it.

Any one else feel that way?..

 

[NullVZTZ]

to me im just glad its not a variation on a current move like everything else he has. If I had a nickle for every time up fireball came out when I wanted close ground fireball I would be rich. I know its just me imputing the wrong thing but christ, it seems like in training I can land any of his combos flawlessly, but then I get online and I fall apart and lose to just random shit. Its like i know what I need him to do, but I cant seem to get my hands to produce...extremely frustrating when you have no invul wake up move to cover poor inputs (kung spin, kano upball, jax dash punch, nighwolf shoulder ram, noob shadow kick, cage....everything, and many many more).

 

[chessmaster]

IMO just learn some of the overused and top tier characters that everyone uses.. Ermac, Lao, Kano are some of the characters that ALWAYS seem to pop up in online matches. And I don't think you need to know that much about them, I have seen what that damage boost can do and if you can just get off a small combo with any of those characters you will cause some pain.

i like how that sounds except i say scorpion and smoke are more overused than ermac or kano. so learn at least those 3 but unless you learn everybody else just don't morph.

 

[leek]

Guess not. :/

 

[GNG Iniquity]

My problem with the soul steal is the button combination for the actual move. The input. I can't stand having to do f,d,b for it.

Any one else feel that way?..

It doesn't bother me, it's an easy input. Just pretend Shang suddenly learned a light hurricane kick!

 

[Niflheim]

Soul Steal is a bitch for me to pull off, so when I play as Shang Tsung I can never play well. Just learn to play as Kung Lao, Raiden, Scorpion, Smoke, and Kano. Honestly, all you need is one combo for each of them and their specials. Kung Lao is 1,2,1,2 and spin and x-ray mixed in. Raiden is 3,3,4 is the corner mixed with teleport and superman. Scorpion is 1,1,1 and basically button mashing. Smoke is 3,d+1,2 with teleport and smoke cloud, maybe parry too. I'm not even going to explain Kano. Honestly, just master the characters specials and one combo, because the most common ones are quite cheap.