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Question - Jax Is Jax one of the most "underused" characters?

RoboCop

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I mean "underused" as in, under-represented for his abilities. Maybe "slept on" is a better term. I'm genuinely curious why we don't see more Jax representation in the tournament scene.

He's got...
  • 6-frame punishers into 25%+ meterless damage.
  • 50/50s that can break 40% meterless in the corner (along with massive corner carry to get them there).
    • Not to mention mid-string 50/50s off of 1-2. 1-2-3 goes low into special, 1-2-bf2d goes into overhead launcher; no gap, total guess, but unsafe.
    • Since he has low and overhead starters, every blocked jump-in punch leads to a true 50/50; the low option is totally safe and easily confirmed.
    • His 50/50s have pretty good range, unlike characters like Reptile and Kano. They extend almost to sweep range, especially his safe low starter.
  • Frame traps on frame traps on frame traps.
  • Very solid anti-air options which can lead to easy 25%+ meterless midscreen damage.
  • Safe armored wakeups (and unsafe armored wakeups that lead to 30%+ midscreen).
  • Solid/Excellent zoning (depending on his opponent).
  • Easy, safe armor-breaking tech (with and without meter).
  • Tick-throws in Wrestler.
  • +frame advancing normals (f2, f21).
  • An advancing low string that allows him to advance while avoiding projectiles.
  • Fast advancing mid that blows up low pokes (f3).
  • Extremely safe except for Overhead Dash Punch and b2.
  • Amazing d4, almost rivals Kano and SZ.
  • Hitbox on Gotcha Grab is insane, can catch jumpers with ease.
  • A great d2 that can combo if the opponent is caught while airborne.
His only real problem that I'm aware of is that he can have a hard time getting in against strong zoners, such as Jacqui and HQT Pred. Otherwise, does he have any really uphill MU's? Even GM Sub-Zero I'd argue is a 6/4 at worst.

Am I missing something?
 
You're right, you don't see a lot of Jax players anymore. Also, you're right about a lot of his strengths. He's very good char. To answer your question, he losses (but not badly) to chars that naturally keep a low profile during their normal game. (like Cage for example, down 4 all day hurts Jax) I would say the sub mu is a very strong 6-4 to weak 7-3. Also piercing is 7-3 IMO. He dose fine against zoners usually, zoning is booty in MKX.
 

RoboCop

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Yea. You're missing that Jax is hard as shit to learn how to play compared to other characters just as viable.
Is he, though? The only thing that's even kind of tough is learning his run cancels after Overhead Dash Punch, and even that doesn't take very long. Everything else is just f21 or 11, with the occasional 50/50. His corner combos are stupid easy and almost impossible to mess up. So it's really just learning a single run-cancel into f21.
 

RoboCop

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What are his bad match ups?

Imo he loses to Piercing, Sub Zero and Goro. I'm sure there are others, I just haven't played Jax enough to know.
I forgot about Goro, ha. Yeah, that one is very rough thanks to super armor. He has a lot of trouble getting in on HQT, thanks to the speed and safety of the zoning. He can't use d1d2 or MB.Dash Punch to get in, and Predator can out-footsie him all day. From my experience, this is his worst MU.

Mileena can be rough, but I think Jax has the tools necessary to punish her TP. If he connects a d2, he can combo into f21 for a nice chunk of meterless damage and corner-carry. His b3~MB.Gotcha breaks every armored wakeup option she has.

[Edit] What is Punchwalk on block? I can't remember, but Jax might be able to punish it with his 6-frame standing 1 (assuming Goro doesn't just go into another MB.Punchwalk).
 

AeWhole

Noob
His combos are easy and he's not overwhelming to learn how to play but his mix-up game is dooky unless you get them on the ground. You aren't missing anything but, whenever I try playing him his neutral seems really odd. When an opponent is pushing a lot of buttons and actively trying to avoid Jax he is really hard to play well in my opinion. Playing keep away against Jax is the best way to beat him in my opinion. I love playing against people who don't know what they are doing against him though. 11 11 11 11 D12 11 123 B2 into COMBO city haha and not a single uppercut was thrown this day.
 

TyCarter35

Bonafide Jax scrub
Jax is definitely under represented and one of the few characters where all 3 variations are excellent. I definitely see my fair share of wrestler and pumped up. Heavy Weapons is extremely underused as he has decent zoning tools and the rocket is a really good AA. He does as others said before struggle against characters with really strong pokes and low profile as 11 11 11 11 into mixup staggers can be low profiled and has some solid mixups and pokes as a block string is bonkers
 
I forgot about Goro, ha. Yeah, that one is very rough thanks to super armor. He has a lot of trouble getting in on HQT, thanks to the speed and safety of the zoning. He can't use d1d2 or MB.Dash Punch to get in, and Predator can out-footsie him all day. From my experience, this is his worst MU.

Mileena can be rough, but I think Jax has the tools necessary to punish her TP. If he connects a d2, he can combo into f21 for a nice chunk of meterless damage and corner-carry. His b3~MB.Gotcha breaks every armored wakeup option she has.

[Edit] What is Punchwalk on block? I can't remember, but Jax might be able to punish it with his 6-frame standing 1 (assuming Goro doesn't just go into another MB.Punchwalk).
I think HQT vs Jax is 5-5 but it depends on who gets going first.. I main both characters. If Jax gets HQT to the corner its a rap. Predator can't get off the ground. If HQT gets the first big combo and then starts zoning, HQT has the advantage. It's hard for Jax to get past the lasers and discs.
 

RoboCop

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Can Cutthroat really replace Jax like that? How good was Cutthroat in KP1? I play on PC, so I don't have access to all the cool new KP2 updates...
 

Undeadjim

Green Lantern Corps.
Cutthroat in KP2 is basically Jax but better in 90% of ways, safe forward advancing mid that leads to high meterless damage, safe or plus on block overhead or low strings (Compared to Jax's raw overhead or raw low in HW makes enforcing mixups on knockdowns better) he has a good D4 a special he can just throw out at the end of stuff like gotcha to catch button presses (Downside is there is a gap) and does more damage than Jax.

Might be forgetting things, like that his projectile is also very good.
 

Indecisive

We'll burn you all—that is your fate!
Just to clarify some stuff. The low is not safe. B34 has a gap. He gets shit damage for no bar mid screen except in Heavy Weapons. F3 into anything can be interrupted. His command grab is minus on hit lol. His zoning isnt that great TBH. I feel he only loses to Grandmaster and cassie. Also jax has issues with female hitboxs and crouching opponents. His corner combos are not that hard if you can tell how high upthe opponent is. He has issues with some zonings but when he gets in its his game for the most part. i can also see his probably losing to mileena.
 

TheGangstaFace

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I forgot about Goro, ha. Yeah, that one is very rough thanks to super armor. He has a lot of trouble getting in on HQT, thanks to the speed and safety of the zoning. He can't use d1d2 or MB.Dash Punch to get in, and Predator can out-footsie him all day. From my experience, this is his worst MU.

Mileena can be rough, but I think Jax has the tools necessary to punish her TP. If he connects a d2, he can combo into f21 for a nice chunk of meterless damage and corner-carry. His b3~MB.Gotcha breaks every armored wakeup option she has.

[Edit] What is Punchwalk on block? I can't remember, but Jax might be able to punish it with his 6-frame standing 1 (assuming Goro doesn't just go into another MB.Punchwalk).
Punchwalk is -5
 
Is he, though? The only thing that's even kind of tough is learning his run cancels after Overhead Dash Punch, and even that doesn't take very long. Everything else is just f21 or 11, with the occasional 50/50. His corner combos are stupid easy and almost impossible to mess up. So it's really just learning a single run-cancel into f21.
I'm talking Jax at the highest level. Take Heavy Weapons for instance. You can't get the most out of that variation without being able to nail those run cancels, and they aren't easy my friend. We've seen the best of the best screw them up. Also, one thing that gets me is having to press down for the midscreen overhead dash punch into combo. It's just aggravating. There are just other characters just as good as Jax that are easier to learn. It's just not worth the time unless you're a character loyalist.