Tech Killer Frost Round Clutch Vortex Options

[ApocaLips]

Killer Frost's resets offer plenty of damage (35% per rep) for reasonable meter expenditure (1 bar). KF players should almost always be using that option when it's available (i.e. when you have a bar).

Almost always. When your opponent is at the end of his life bar, you don't always need that full 35%. Sometimes 11% will do, and you're willing to increase the chance to land that 11% in exchange for damage. Or, your opponent might be far away from death, but you're sitting on a ton of meter.

The last hit of a match is more valuable because it ends the whole thing. There's no point in doing meter-efficient resets if that meter goes away when you kill. You also might want a better than 50/50 chance of landing that kill, even if it takes everything you have left. May as well spend it.

Here are some clutch options for ending a round under different conditions. These options increase the likelihood of getting that last bit of damage you need to end it.



Throw Setups
* When your opponent has 11% life left or less, a throw is just as good as landing another reset
* When your opponent has a hair over 11% life, a throw+chip might be more likely than a reset
* The key is knowing what frames you can throw your opponent when they're staggered
* Increases your odds to kill to 66% (up from 50%) - now the opponent's choices are block high (hit by throw or low), block low (hit by overhead or throw), or jump (hit by low or overhead)
Setups:
- j2, slight delay, throw - useful when you would normally set up a MB vortex. The opponent is throwable during some of the stagger state and can't poke out.
- u3, dash under, jump over, throw - opponent usually expects a j3 here
- Corner - f113, throw. Opponent is throwable during the entire hitstun of f113, making a throw practically guaranteed.
- Note - the opponent is NOT throwable during the release after MB freeze. do a j2, standing 2, d+1 - anything with hit advantage to get them out of that state to set up a throw. J2 works best.


MBDC Setups * MBDC f3 allows you to also threaten an overhead where you could normally only cancel into slide
* Although it costs 2 meters, it drastically increases your chance to land a reset while still doing great damage
* The meter cost is worth it if your opponent doesn't have clash and is under 43% life (but over 11%) - and your opponent will often blow clash early vs. KF to get out of the vortex
The Setup:
- The first mixup is the normal b1 or f3. However, if you do b1, you can cancel into either slide or MBDC f3.
- The result is that you get a second 50/50 mixup if your opponent blocks the low, which greatly increases your chance to land the hit.
- Damage is higher than your typical reset post 1.06 - around 43% for 2 bars and higher for 3.


If you have any other ways to squeeze out the win with KF, feel free to add.

 

[@MylesWright_]

End in f113 daggers then do a disrespectful mb f3
End in f112 trait pretending that your a new frost that doesn't know that the old vortex was patched, then do a mb f3

 

[ApocaLips]

End in f113 daggers then do a disrespectful mb f3
End in f112 trait pretending that your a new frost that doesn't know that the old vortex was patched, then do a mb f3

The point of this thread isn't to list dumb gimmicks that rely on your opponent being bad. The point is to list options that usually don't do enough damage or cost too much meter that become worthwhile at the end of a match because resource expenditure becomes moot.

 

[@MylesWright_]

The point of this thread isn't to list dumb gimmicks that rely on your opponent being bad. The point is to list options that usually don't do enough damage or cost too much meter that become worthwhile at the end of a match because resource expenditure becomes moot.

You should of made it clearer
Extend the actual combo if you started with b1u3 by doing j2 f113 mb iceberg b3 daggers/iceberg after freeze. 2 bars 45% as oppose to 35% vortex

 

[Rickyraws]

Typically I keep it simple and dash in and throw when they have wager, or vortex, freeze, then throw. They typically would have wagered any other hit after a freeze, and so I would use the space garnered by a grab to chip (or rather get them to THINK I'm trying to chip them) and keep my distance or spacing (maybe depending on stage) ultimately forcing them to come to me. An opponent low on health with a wager full screen avoiding projectiles and icebergs is in a fairly bad way, and will most likely come to you, depending on their character.

However I almost never spend the bar of meter when the opponent is close to death without wager. It takes no bars to do 37%(last hit being unwagerable)and 1 to do 43% both of which can be made Sliiiightly less damaging by dropping them early when the opponent is in the final (in the air after the penultimate slide upon which subsequent slides will end the combo)apex of the combo's scaling gravity, dash in, and presto, instant meterless vortex conversion. Whether or not they block or whatever the case may be, my main goal was the damage inflicted, everything else is just cake.

Speaking of cake, I also agree, that b1YOLO cancel into f3 is also extremely difficult for opponents to block consistently unless they read. If you do it frequently enough, they may catch on, but it's still a read/guess, as you can b1xxslide. So when they're low on health and you're trying to finish them off the added superficial success rate with your opponent less likely to block correctly and damage from the f3 are compelling enough to make them worth a shot, just not too liberally. When Pig of the Hut on the Kryponite Council misread the adjustment to universal hard attacks, thinking the cancels now only took one bar, REO mentioned just as I was thinking, how Killer Frost would benefit the most from this, due to the speed of b1YOLOcancel f3. Having that require only 1 bar and potentially increasing the damage would have been delicious but overkill. And it would have been interesting to see how more characters would tactically weigh utilizing their meter for quick low overhead shenanigans, especially for characters with limited overheads etc.