Lvl100Diglett
Noob
So a lot of ppl in here seem to think the Hat Trick variation is completely unviable this time around and i kind of want to challenge that idea a bit
In my honest opinion I think the Tempest Variation, while vastly better on combos, loses to Hat trick in meter management and pressure
Firstly lets talk about meter management, it costs nothing to use Z-hat by itself whereas to use orbiting hat costs both an offensive meter and defensive meter just to use the base version. The Caveat to this is that Z-hat without any meter burn is-8 on block which is jab punishable by I think most of the cast (so really in effect using it without meter is kind of gimmicky/risky, so I wouldnt do that in higher level play unless u have the spacing just right). So in order to make up for this u have two meter options which make this move very strong, one in which u spend 1 defensive bar to cancel the startup, and another where u spend 1 offensive bar in order to get u out of the locked animation to continue pressure. Now if the point of using orbiting hat in neutral is to make some strings safer (i.e. F21 which is -13 on block, where as orbiting hat is -7) then this variation does this job better and in stride since one option leaves u in advantage on block and the other just costs less for the same effect.
Tl;dr, it costs one less meter (of ur choice) in Z-Hat to do what Orbiting hat does in neutral and does it better in some cases
Secondly talking about pressure. a lot of ppl are upset about the fact that Z-hat has a long startup. well this can be remedied in two ways, first by using it in a standard string where its costly for the opponent to try to interupt it such as F214 where if u use it after F21, ur opponent wont want to try and guess the 50/50 because if they guess wrong then they get hit with a Krushing Blow (in other words make use of the fact that ur opponent is playing cowardly and/or doesnt understand ur strings). Second using it instead of a combo finisher so that it turns their wake-up into a meaty situation where if ur opponent doesnt roll or late WU, they have to eat a free mix-up if u spend offensive meter, and if they do roll and u spend the offensive meter then ur still safe. Also should be noted that most of the time if they dont roll or late WU then u dont have to spend any meter because most combos will put them in a far enough away so that they are too far away to jab punish the un-amplified Z-hat
Finally, and this is where i feel like most ppl are sleeping on this variation, the air teleport. This option is actually kind of nutty since now, not only does ur opponent have to worry about a potential gutsy Shaolin Drop (air.D4) at any part of the screen, now they have to worry about a teleport mixup. this is particularly good if u've conditioned ur opponent to play defensively when u jump, i.e. they see u jump back and start blocking in anticipation of the shaolin drop, well now u jump back and use air teleport, and since u know theyre blocking u can now get a free throw, or if u feel like they might press a button u can press 1 and get a full combo, or 2 if theyre getting cutesy and are ducking the 1 option from teleport. ALSO this move can be canceled into from any air option which makes it even crazier cuz now u can start teleporting at the end of combos instead of using air.D4 and getting some more free mix-ups (if they dont spend defensive meter or late WU)
All in all, the playstyle Hat trick offers less costly pressure at the expense of damage in combos, so if u really like playing a nasty pressure game, then i feel this variation is still ur speed, though i will agree i miss old Hat trick KL from MKX
But tell me what u guys think, if u think im an idiot, let me know why, just kind of want ppls thoughts on this
In my honest opinion I think the Tempest Variation, while vastly better on combos, loses to Hat trick in meter management and pressure
Firstly lets talk about meter management, it costs nothing to use Z-hat by itself whereas to use orbiting hat costs both an offensive meter and defensive meter just to use the base version. The Caveat to this is that Z-hat without any meter burn is-8 on block which is jab punishable by I think most of the cast (so really in effect using it without meter is kind of gimmicky/risky, so I wouldnt do that in higher level play unless u have the spacing just right). So in order to make up for this u have two meter options which make this move very strong, one in which u spend 1 defensive bar to cancel the startup, and another where u spend 1 offensive bar in order to get u out of the locked animation to continue pressure. Now if the point of using orbiting hat in neutral is to make some strings safer (i.e. F21 which is -13 on block, where as orbiting hat is -7) then this variation does this job better and in stride since one option leaves u in advantage on block and the other just costs less for the same effect.
Tl;dr, it costs one less meter (of ur choice) in Z-Hat to do what Orbiting hat does in neutral and does it better in some cases
Secondly talking about pressure. a lot of ppl are upset about the fact that Z-hat has a long startup. well this can be remedied in two ways, first by using it in a standard string where its costly for the opponent to try to interupt it such as F214 where if u use it after F21, ur opponent wont want to try and guess the 50/50 because if they guess wrong then they get hit with a Krushing Blow (in other words make use of the fact that ur opponent is playing cowardly and/or doesnt understand ur strings). Second using it instead of a combo finisher so that it turns their wake-up into a meaty situation where if ur opponent doesnt roll or late WU, they have to eat a free mix-up if u spend offensive meter, and if they do roll and u spend the offensive meter then ur still safe. Also should be noted that most of the time if they dont roll or late WU then u dont have to spend any meter because most combos will put them in a far enough away so that they are too far away to jab punish the un-amplified Z-hat
Finally, and this is where i feel like most ppl are sleeping on this variation, the air teleport. This option is actually kind of nutty since now, not only does ur opponent have to worry about a potential gutsy Shaolin Drop (air.D4) at any part of the screen, now they have to worry about a teleport mixup. this is particularly good if u've conditioned ur opponent to play defensively when u jump, i.e. they see u jump back and start blocking in anticipation of the shaolin drop, well now u jump back and use air teleport, and since u know theyre blocking u can now get a free throw, or if u feel like they might press a button u can press 1 and get a full combo, or 2 if theyre getting cutesy and are ducking the 1 option from teleport. ALSO this move can be canceled into from any air option which makes it even crazier cuz now u can start teleporting at the end of combos instead of using air.D4 and getting some more free mix-ups (if they dont spend defensive meter or late WU)
All in all, the playstyle Hat trick offers less costly pressure at the expense of damage in combos, so if u really like playing a nasty pressure game, then i feel this variation is still ur speed, though i will agree i miss old Hat trick KL from MKX
But tell me what u guys think, if u think im an idiot, let me know why, just kind of want ppls thoughts on this
